HÀ NỘI — Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) achieved a pre-tax profit growth of up to 51 per cent, reaching over VNĐ2.36 trillion (US$103.8 million) in 2016.

This was stated at a conference to review the firm’s production and business in HCM City on Tuesday.

Addressing the event, Standing Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình urged VRG to promote the equitisation of the parent firm and its subsidiaries and continue to withdraw capital from non-core businesses. It must also restructure shareholders of the group’s major companies, he said.

Along with enhancing further trade promotion and seeking new markets, the group needs to devise solutions on saving production costs to cut prices and increase competitiveness towards promoting the industry’s sustainable development in the future, he stressed.

The group should enhance processing of industrial products from rubber and rubber wood to reduce the export of raw materials and increase export value, Bình said. Medium density fiberboard (MDF) factories should promote production following the reduction in the price of material to increase market share.

VRG General Director Trần Ngọc Thuận said in 2016, the agriculture in general faced the most difficulty due to the impact of climate change. Meanwhile, the rubber industry, in particular, suffered significantly from high rubber supply, the price reduction of natural rubber and fluctuation of global oil prices.

However, VRG has outlined orientations and measures to tackle these problems, Thuận said. In 2016, VRG focused on restructuring the sector, applying further advanced technologies in production to improve the quality of products.

He said VRG’s total revenue grew 14.4 per cent against the set plan, reaching over VNĐ15.4 trillion. It contributed VNĐ1.15 trillion to the State budget, up 39.9 per cent year-on-year.

The company has targeted earning an estimated profit of VNĐ4.18 trillion in 2017, up 47 per cent from 2016. — VNS