Export 'boss' and the suffering of war-torn goods

Mr. Phan Minh Thong - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phuc Sinh Joint Stock Company - recounted the "heart-stopping" times when exported agricultural products were facing war - Photo: QUANG DINH

Behind the story of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and standing firm with the "sweet fruits", for the first time Mr. Thong opened his heart about the hardships of an export business, over 20 years in the international market.

"Heart-stopping" as 100 cargo containers were about to meet... missiles

In the past 2 years, Phuc Sinh Joint Stock Company has encountered countless "hot" situations when goods were loaded onto ships leaving the port. Steering to keep the goods safe, the company had to struggle many times.

In 2022, when 100 pepper containers were on their way to St. Petersburg and the port city of Odessa (Russia), Ukraine fired missiles at the city.

Phuc Sinh and his customers were surprised because no one was prepared. Shipping lines to Russia were all stopped, Ukraine was having financial difficulties. 90% of customers said they would take the goods back or find other customers to sell to.

"Like a thousand pounds hanging by a thread", the company met to discuss and stopped the goods at the transit port, at the same time contacted customers from Switzerland, Germany, Spain... After a week of working like a shuttle, 100 containers were sold and the full payment was collected.

Thinking it was just a scare, in October 2023, the company spent 30,000 euros to attend Europe's largest food and beverage fair in Kohn, Germany.

While attending, news of the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out, and the plan to prepare to sell to customers at the fair was put on hold. Customers from Israel and Palestine were worried about the risks of coming here. One customer said a bomb exploded 20 meters from their warehouse and did not want to do business yet.

A big "disaster" has struck for the second time, and businesses must find a solution to sell their products while still ensuring customer safety.

Another difficulty that can be mentioned in 2024 is the terrible increase in raw material prices, business management is not easy, having to constantly change strategies, find alternative sources of goods, find new markets... from Europe, to the US and the Middle East, Asia...

Phuc Sinh Joint Stock Company is among the top companies in Vietnam in exporting pepper to the European market - Photo: QUANG DINH

Too difficult to force businesses to think new

Selling to international markets is very difficult, requires new thinking, and requires double the effort to have a large customer base.

This proposition and result fall into Phuc Sinh's coffee business story. Because of his love for coffee and exploration of new raw material areas, the Son La Arabica coffee factory was established with a not small capital. When doing business, he encountered a big problem: no one bought!

If dozens of containers of Robusta coffee are easy to sell, Arabica coffee is very difficult because it belongs to a different segment, buyers choose and consider carefully. Unable to sell products, feeling isolated, deadlocked, everywhere like hitting a wall and overcoming the wall, businesses also find solutions to find a way out and develop.

Many times sitting down to find ways to let many purchasing companies in the world know about Phuc Sinh and the key lies in the ESG sustainable development that the business has built for 6 years. A busy and lucky Arabica coffee business season, starting from the middle of last year.

From here, the company was "spreading roses" when calling for capital from two funds in the Netherlands with 25 million USD and 575,000 euros. The successful capital calling during the difficult time of the world economy for agricultural companies has created a lot of inspiration for the Vietnamese agricultural sector.

Businesses need tax refunds to promote production and exports.

The export sector is facing many difficulties, the decline in supply has caused commodity prices to skyrocket and fluctuate constantly. The supply chain is also constantly facing difficulties, increasing transportation costs, not to mention other trade barriers.

In such a context, export enterprises have made great efforts to stay strong, continue to create output for industries and jobs for workers.

All business inputs have VAT. Exports have zero VAT, so businesses need to get a tax refund. If they don't get a tax refund, businesses will face problems along the chain, including: production, business and export.

Meanwhile, businesses that pay taxes late will be fined 0.05%/day. The amount of tax refund is very large, but from 7, 8 months to a whole year, businesses do not receive any support. Businesses recommend that tax authorities actively refund taxes to promote production and export.

PHAN MINH THONG
(Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phuc Sinh Joint Stock Company)

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ong-trum-xuat-khau-va-noi-kho-hang-gap-chien-tranh-20241012192042698.htm