Rice enterprises complain about difficulties in getting bank loans

Many businesses in Can Tho City have to cut down their production activities as much as possible. However, there are too many difficulties in the face of the sudden production shutdown.

An Giang farmers are entering the rice harvest season. Photo: HD.

Forced production shutdown

According to Mr. Do Lap Nghiep, Deputy General Director of Nam Viet Corporation (Navico), previously, the company had worked with the People's Committee of Can Tho City to request maintaining “3 on-spot” production. On the afternoon of August 16, Can Tho City People's Committee and Center for Disease Control (CDC) inspected the factory and deemed it eligible for “3 on-spot” production. However, the Management Board of Industrial and Export Processing Zones of Can Tho City announced that all businesses must close to counter the epidemic.

Mr. Nghiep added that it has been over a month since the Covid-19 epidemic first appeared, so the food processing factories have strictly complied with regulations, ensuring “3 on-spot” production, strict disease control. So far, no cases of F0 and F1 have occurred; they now wish to maintain production because the company has invested many billions of VND to be eligible to organize “3 on-spot” production.

At present, due to the requirement to suspend production, many enterprises are facing hardship. More than 1,300 workers are clueless about the future, while more than 90% of them are in An Giang but Long Xuyen City (An Giang) is implementing Directive 16. Another issue that causes great concern is the tens of thousands of tons of oversized fish at the moment.

Difficult to access bank loans

Mr. Pham Thai Binh, General Director of Trung An Hi-Tech Farming JSC, located in Thot Not, Can Tho City, said that until now, the company has focused on consuming all the summer-autumn rice according to the plan of association on large fields signed with farmers' cooperatives in Can Tho and some neighboring provinces. Enterprises are still able to purchase rice from outside but require additional capital.

After recently hearing that the State Bank allows commercial banks to open more out-limit credit packages for businesses to borrow and purchase rice, Trung An Company has contacted three commercial banks in the Can Tho City area, but they have not yet responded.

Not only Trung An Company, but other enterprises in the rice industry are also struggling, trading activities are moderate. Rice exports have not been cleared due to the lack of workers for packing, loading and unloading, while the vehicles transported to the port cannot have the goods loaded, and it is still very difficult for shipment.

From July 20th, Can Tho City requested businesses, production and business establishments in the city to execute the "both isolation and production" method. If companies and production facilities fail to comply, they must suspend operations.

By the afternoon of August 11th, 974 businesses in Can Tho City had temporarily suspended operations, with over 60,700 employees stop working. To be more specific, the number of export processing zones and industrial zones having operations suspended is 135, accounting for over 79% of the total number of enterprises in the export processing zones and industries.