Southern industry and trade sector towards sustainable growth pole

The 11th Conference of Industry and Trade of Southern Provinces and Cities - 2025, organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in coordination with the People's Committee of Tay Ninh province, took place on the afternoon of October 20 in Tay Ninh province.

A booth displaying products from 100% natural ingredients.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang said that the Southern industrial and commercial region currently includes Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho City and 6 provinces: Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Vinh Long, An Giang, Dong Thap, Ca Mau, with an area of over 64,000km², population of about 41 million people (accounting for more than 40% of the country's population). This is a dynamic economic region, contributing more than 35% of export turnover, nearly 47% of total retail sales of goods and is the largest industrial and commercial center in Vietnam.

According to the report, in the first 9 months of 2025, the industrial production index (IIP) of localities increased sharply, of which An Giang increased by 14.32%, Dong Nai by 14.03%, Tay Ninh by 13.4%, Dong Thap by 12.95% - all higher than the national average of 9.1%. The whole region has 150 industrial clusters with an area of nearly 7,900 hectares, attracting 1,176 projects, creating jobs for more than 120,000 workers.

Trade and services continued to flourish, with total retail sales and service revenue reaching VND2.93 trillion, up 12.47% over the same period, accounting for 46.8% of the country. Export turnover reached 124.9 billion USD, with a trade surplus of 18.1 billion USD, a bright spot in the national economy.

However, Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang commented that the Southern industry and trade sector still faces many limitations such as: slow development of supporting industries, domestic production capacity depends on FDI enterprises, low localization rate; high logistics and credit costs; weak digital transformation capacity.

"To create new sustainable growth poles, the region needs to focus on developing green industry, renewable energy, e-commerce, modern logistics, while removing bottlenecks in capital, infrastructure and high-quality human resources," Ms. Thang emphasized.

Within the framework of the event, on the evening of October 20, the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with the People's Committee of Tay Ninh province to open the exhibition fair of typical rural industrial products in the Southern region - Tay Ninh 2025, taking place until October 26 at Long An ward park, gathering more than 350 booths of hundreds of enterprises, cooperatives and rural industrial establishments from more than 25 southern provinces and cities.

Viet Hieu

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/nganh-cong-thuong-phia-nam-huong-toi-cuc-tang-truong-ben-vung/20251021121347195