FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS

----------***----------

GRADUATION INTERNSHIP REPORT

Major: International Business Economics

PROCESS OF IMPORTING PRECIOUS METAL SALTS

AT KIM THINH TRADING
COMPANY LIMITED

Student: Trinh Huyen Linh

Student ID: 1701015421

Class: K56CLC3

Supervisor: Ph.D Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga

Ho Chi Minh City, December 2020

 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material
published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified
for or been awarded another degree or diploma.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgements in the thesis. This
thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary
institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, 21/12/2020

Author
(Signature with full name)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Upon completing this report, the author would like to express sincerest thanks to Board of
Directors and all the staffs of Kim Thinh Trading Co., Ltd, specifically Mrs. Nguyen Kim
Uyen for guiding the author through the internship period. The author is also very grateful
for providing specialized knowledge, support and guidance of all lecturers in Foreign Trade
University - Ho Chi Minh Campus, especially the author’s supervisor, Ph.D Nguyen Thi
Quynh Nga. Due to the limited time to prepare and insufficient knowledge, this report
cannot fully satisfy all the expected requirements, and shortcomings are unavoidable.
Therefore, the author is really looking forward to straightforward and contributive
feedbacks from the Supervisor for this report and supervisor at Kim Thinh Trading Co.,
Ltd to improve the performance of this report.

Ho Chi Minh City, 21/12/2020

Author
(Signature with full name)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES

1.1.General information.................................................................................................... 1

1.1.1. General information and main Business Sector ..............................................1

1.1.2. Functions and Missions ...................................................................................2

1.2.Development Process ................................................................................................. 2

1.3.Organizational structure and human resources condition .......................................... 3

1.3.1. Organizational structure ..................................................................................3

1.3.2. Departments’ functions ...................................................................................4

1.3.3. Human resources management ........................................................................5

1.4.Business outcomes from 2017 to Oct 2020 ................................................................ 6

1.5.Roles of the Importing activities of precious metal salt in Kim Thinh Trading Co.,
Ltd .... ................................................................................................................................ 7

1.6.Summary of the internship ......................................................................................... 8

2.1.Overview of the Precious metal salts import procedure in Kim Thinh Trading Co.,
Ltd .... .............................................................................................................................. 10

2.2.Detailed process of the Precious metal import procedure in Kim Thinh Trading Co.,
Ltd .... .............................................................................................................................. 11

2.2.1.Negotiating and signing the contract .................................................................11

 2.2.2. Contacting to the Forwarder in Singapore for transportation process: ............ 13

2.2.3. Checking Shipping Documents issued by the Exporter: .................................. 14

2.2.4. Applying for License of Precursor Chemicals and Chemical declaration: ...... 15

2.2.6. Accomplishing Inspection, Customs Clearance, and receiving the goods: ...... 18

2.4.1. Strengths ........................................................................................................... 23

2.4.2. Weaknesses and reasons: .................................................................................. 25

3.1. Development prospect of Kim Thinh Trading Co., Ltd ......................................... 27

3.1.1. Opportunities .................................................................................................... 27

3.1.2. Threats .............................................................................................................. 29

3.2. Orientation .............................................................................................................. 30

3.3. Recommendation to improve importing process for precious metal salts in Kim
Thinh Trading Co., Ltd. ................................................................................................. 31

3.3.2. Distribution channel enlargement by implementing marketing strategy ......... 31

REFERENCES
APPENDIX
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations Meaning
D/P Document against Payment
L/C Letter of Credit
TTR Telegraphic Transfer Reimbursement
MT Metric Ton
FTA Free Trade Agreement
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CFO Chief Finance Officer
CCO Chief Customer Officer
 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1 Main Business sector of Kim Thinh ..................................................................2
Figure 1-2 Organizational Structure chart of Kim Thinh ....................................................3
Figure 2-1 Proportion of used payment method in Kim Thinh in 2020 ............................20
 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1-1 Human resource management in Kim Thinh (2020) .......................................... 5
Table 1-2 Business outcomes from 2017 to Oct 2020 ........................................................ 6
Table 1-3 Import turnover of precious metal salt and total revenue ................................... 7
Table 1-4 Summary of the internship .................................................................................. 8
Table 2-1 The Import procedure of precious metal salts in Kim Thinh ........................... 10
Table 2-2 List of Commodities in Sales contract between Kim Thinh and Metalor No.
KT-MTS 044/20 ................................................................................................................ 11
 1

PREFACE

The development in economy has been improving the quality of life for Vietnamese.
They have higher income and demand for their self-esteem and personal caring. Due to
that reason, the demand for jewelry and accessories has been increasing remarkably. In
addition, thanks to the support of Vietnam government, Decree 24/NĐ-CP has brought
stability to the gold market and creates favorable conditions for large enterprises in the
jewelry field to develop production facilities and business expansion on the national scale.
Noticing the potential development of output goods for precious metal salt, Kim Thinh has
always tried their best to perform well in this market. With approximately 11 years of
experience, the Company has gained some certain achievements and proved themselves on
such a competitive market to have the ability to be the supplier for some of the well-known
jewelry companies such as PNJ, DOJ and BHFlex Vina.
With an aim to understand the details of import procedures of this interesting business
field, and in accordance with the requirements of Foreign Trade University concerning
graduation internship, the author has worked as an intern for more than three months in
Kim Thinh Trading Limited Company and decided to choose the topic “PROCESS OF
IMPORTING PRECIOUS METAL SALTS AT KIM THINH TRADING
COMPANY LIMITED” to obtain the overview of metal import situation by engaging in
the reality and then analyze the opportunities and challenges in order to suggest some
recommendations for improving process with the author’s viewpoints. This report is
composed of three main parts as the following:
Chapter 1: Introduction of Kim Thinh Trading Limited Company
Chapter 2: Analysis of the procedure of importing Precious Metal salts at Kim
Thinh Trading Limited company
Chapter 3: Development prospect, Orientation and some recommendations for
Kim Thinh Trading Limited company.
For the fulfillment of this report, the author wish to express her gratitude to Board of
Director, Mrs. Nguyen Kim Uyen, CEO – Chief Executive Officers and Mrs. Bui Thuy Vy,
Senior Manager of Import- Export Department, for all their helpful and detailed guidance
throughout my internship.
 2

Despite all my efforts, due to limited time and restricted self-capabilities, this report
must contain ineluctable errors and mistakes. Thus, I am grateful for all precious comments
and contributions to make this report better.
Ho Chi Minh City, 21/12/2020
Author
(Signature with full name)
 1

INTRODUCTION TO KIM THINH TRADING LIMITED

COMPANY

1.1. General information

1.1.1. General information and main Business Sector
Kim Thinh Trading Limited Company was first established on July 17th, 2009 as a
private company under the tax code: 0309117250. At that time, industry in Vietnam was
in the first stage of development, however, metals - main input supply for hard industry,
was not really abundant in Viet Nam as the mining industry still faced many obstacles. For
that reason, the company decided to purchase the main used metals such as Aluminum,
Zinc and its alloy. Up to now, Kim Thinh has had 11 years of experience in supplying
Aluminum, Zinc, precious metals and precious metal salts. The company is also the
representative and distribution channel for well-known global corporations such as Metalor
Group, Luvata, Nyrstar, Vale Inco to provide customers in Vietnam with the highest and
most consistent quality products. Based on the business registration certificate granted by
the Ho Chi Minh Authority for Planning and Investment with the following basic
information:
Company name: Công ty trách nhiệm hữu hạn Thương mại Kim Thịnh.
Transaction name: Kim Thinh Trading Limited Company
Tax code: 0309117250
Since taking advantage of being the sole representative of Metalor in Vietnam and
having long term relationships with famous metal producers worldwide as mentioned
above, the company has gradually developed and gained a considerable range of customers
and their beliefs. Until now, Kim Thinh focused mainly on these business sectors:
Aluminum, Zinc, or I may call non-ferrous metals, precious metals such as Gold, Silver
and precious metals salts such as Rhodium, Gold, Silver, Palladium imported from
Australia, Singapore, Korea. The following figure briefly illustrate the mentioned business
sectors of the company:
 2

Figure 1-1 Main Business sector of Kim Thinh

•Aluminum
Non-ferrous metals •Zinc

•Palladium Gold
Precious metals •Rhodium Silver

•Gold Cyanide 68.3%

Precious metal salts •Silver Cyanide 80.5%
•Other addictives

(Source: Background report of Kim Thinh Trading Co.,Ltd and compiled by the author)

1.1.2. Functions and Missions

Kim Thinh continues to grow with the future goal missions and its philosophy:
Firstly, the Company always keeps performing the business operation in accordance
with the registered industry and the purpose of establishment (non-ferrous metals and
precious metals).
Secondly, the Company also ensures to comply with the economic policies and
constantly do research and establish the appropriate types of business suitable for
Vietnamese law.
Thirdly, maintaining available core values and developing and expanding import and
also export activities with other foreign customers to build up business relationship is
another duty of the Company.
Last but not least, along with above duties, the Company also cares about developing
staff’s knowledge and skills, labor safety, environment and natural resources protection.

1.2. Development Process

With the increasing demand for input supply of such industries, the company is
extending its products provided with new innovative metals such as Zinc Aluminum Alloy
and with new exporters.
Kim Thinh Trading Limited Company is a Vietnamese firm specialized in providing
two main non-ferrous metals which are Aluminum and Zinc from Australia, Singapore and
Korea for electroplating industry. Some significant partners can be mentioned are Hoa Sen
 3

Group, Nam Kim Steel Vietnam, Dong A Steel & Metal. Other main product categories
are precious metals and precious metal salts used in jewelry industry which are in the
supply or two main partners: PNJ, DOJ and BHFlex Vina. Kim Thinh is also looking
forward to integrate exportation of the company’s reproduced metals in Laos and
Cambodia.
In 2016, the company opened a new branch in Hanoi with 10 employees in order to find
more customers and enlarge the market shares. Up to now, Kim Thinh has had two
warehouses together with two bonded warehouses and consignment stock in Ho Chi Minh
City and one warehouse in Hanoi. In order to expand the business activities, in 2018, the
company has built a factory with 100-employees large to produce its own special metal
alloy supplying for both domestic and foreign markets.

1.3. Organizational structure and human resources condition

1.3.1. Organizational structure
The organizational structure is a pyramid-shaped one. Mrs. Nguyen Kim Uyen is the
General Director of Kim Thinh Trading Trading Co., Ltd and the legal representative of
the company, who is responsible for managing all business activities of the company and
last but not least, making critical decisions in development orientation for the company.
The following is a diagram illustrating the organizational structure of the Company:

Figure 1-2 Organizational Structure chart of Kim Thinh

Human Resource
CEO
Department

Sales Department

Import-Export Deparment
General CCO
Director
Market Research Department

Logistics Department

CFO Accounting Department

(Source: Human Resource Report 2020 compiled by the author)

 4

Under the General Director, there are other positions who are CEO, CFO and CCO
take overall control and manage inferior department. Each department is in charge of
certain business activity of the company. Through this model, the uniform and association
in implementing policies and rules of the Company is clearly shown through such way of
management. As a result, the Company is able to fulfill their goals properly and has proven
the definite place in the absolutely competitive market.

1.3.2. Departments’ functions

Boards of Directors
Including the General Director and other vice directors, who are CFO, CEO, CCO. In
particular, Mrs. Nguyen Kim Uyen is the General Director of Kim Thinh Trading Co., Ltd
and the legal representative of the company, who is responsible for managing all business
activities of the company and last but not least, making critical decisions in development
orientation for the company.

Sales Department
The major activities of this department are in the territory of Vietnam such as finding new
customers, keeping the business relationship with past customers, and advising the best
products that are suitable with the customers’ needs in order to push sales volume for the
company.

Import - Export Department

This department has the responsibility for all stages related to foreigner supplier such as
contacting the suppliers or the customers based on the plan of the Sales Departments then
preparing all necessary documents for customs clearance and transactions.

Logistics Department
This function plays an important role of one transaction as their job relates to most of the
other departments. They will prepare any other required documents for customs clearance
inside the country such as Import License, accomplish customs clearance procedures in
ports, and in case of exporting, book vessels. All of their tasks must based on appropriate
delivery plans created at first.
 5

Market Research Department

Their mission is to grasp the market conditions, opportunities and threats in Viet Nam and
also the world, make research and report data about the development of industry that
consumes metals especially Aluminum and Zinc.

Accounting Department
Their role is to calculate, analyze and evaluate the financial activities, manage the investing
project and monitor all assets and capital of the company for the most efficiency of the
company operation. The Department has the well-qualified and experienced employees as
this function of the company manages the flow of money and an assessment base for the
Board of Directors

1.3.3. Human resources management

It is undeniable that human capital is an indispensable and vital element for the
development of one company. Overall, at the end of July 2020, Kim Thinh has 33
employees in total as the company is small and has insufficient changes during 4 years.
The table below illustrates the current human resources management of the company:

Table 1-1 Human resource management in Kim Thinh (2020)

Quantity (People) Percentage (%)

Male 15 45,5%
Gender
Female 18 54,5%
Above 30 25 75,8%
Age
Under 30 8 24,2%
(Source: Annual Human Resources report 2020, summarized by the author)

From the above table, we can see that the number of male and female employees
doesn’t have much differences (45.5% and 54.5% respectively). In the age perspective,
employees who are above 30 are three times larger than those who are under 30. It can be
assumed that the company is old based on the reason being that most of the employees are
transferred from Gia Kim Company - the premise company of Kim Thing Trading Limited
Company and have been working until now. Moreover, the company does not have much
 6

changes in the number of staff in the last 4 years, every year increases one or two members
only.

To sum up, the company is a small type of business. However, the company is being
rejuvenated by recruiting a number of young candidates to create a dynamic and balanced
working environment. Therefore, the Human Resource Department should have a renewal
of the labor forces to make it consistent with the development of the company and also
with day-by-day advancement of the economy.

1.4. Business outcomes from 2017 to Oct 2020

The data of turnover is a crucial element to analyze and determine the performance
of the trading activities. In terms of the orientation of the company which is importation,
import turnover is extremely vital. The following chart is summarized by the author based
on the data provided by Import- Export Department:

Table 1-2 Business outcomes from 2017 to Oct 2020

Unit: billion VND

2017 2018 2019 Oct 2018/2017 2019/2018 2020/2019
2020 Value % Value % Value %
Total revenue 623.50 1,021.90 1,532.10 1,895.8 398.4 163.9 908.6 149.9 1,272.3 123.7
Total cost 620.00 1,016.60 1,529.4 1,891.2 396.6 164.0 909.4 150.4 1,271.2 123.7
Profit before tax 3.50 5.30 2.70 4.60 1.8 151.4 -2.6 50.9 1.9 170.4

(Source: Annual Financial Report 2016 -2019, summarized by the author)

The above table indicates the comparison of revenue, cost and profit before tax
between 2017, 2018, 2019 and Oct 2020. In general, the business outcome of the company
follows an upward trend in the period of four years but it still has a fluctuation in the profit
before tax over the years.
In 2017, the profit was 3.5 billion VND with the revenue and the cost were 623.5
billion VND and 612.0 billion VND respectively. In the next year, there was a sharp
increase in three figures, especially in the profit, which was 5.3 billion VND. This is
because the period from 2017 to 2018 was a prosperous stage of the economy in Vietnam
 7

as well as the world. The required input supply increased in canned industry, housing
equipment, transportation.
With a vision of this potential market and the increase in profit in the previous year -
2017, in 2019, the company decided to operate a factory producing special alloy of zinc
and aluminum. For this reason, the cost in 2019 was very high (1,529.4 billion VND) that
almost reached the total revenue of the year, leading to a decrease in profit which was 2.6
billion fewer compared to the previous one. However, the company recovered remarkably
in 2018 with the increase of 1.9 billion VND by 4.6 billion VND, nearly double the
previous year figures. Moreover, because of the characteristics of the products which are
metals and precious metals, it depends heavily on the world market prices, especially the
gold prices. The more fluctuating the world prices are, the more unstable the trading
activities are. This challenge requires the company to quickly adapt with the unexpected
changes and flexibly build plans for recovery and development. And it seems that Kim
Thinh was successful in maintaining a positive rate of return continuously and having
effective and efficient strategies.

1.5. Roles of the Importing activities of precious metal salt in Kim Thinh Trading
Co., Ltd
With the beginning aim of the company’s establishment which was to bring quality
metals into Vietnam production, importation was the oriented operation of Kim Thinh that
can be seen from the increase of volume of importing precious metal salt from years to
years illustrated from the following table:

Table 1-3 Import turnover of precious metal salt and total revenue
Unit: billion VND
2017 2018 2019 Oct 2020
Total revenue 601.50 911.90 1,092.10 1,612.80
Import turnover of 101.90 294.40 402.70 487.60
precious metal salt
Percentage (%) 16.94 % 32.28 % 36.87 % 30.23 %

(Source: Annual Import and Export Report 2017 – Oct 2020, summarized by the author)
The increase in revenue is due to many opportunities from economical conditions in
Vietnam: the tax applied for this field has the preferential tax rate of zero percent.
 8

Obviously, it plays an important role of the company’s business orientation in current times
and is expected to be boosted in the future. However, the proportion of total import revenue
of precious metal salt against total import revenue increase annually but minorly, from
16.34% to 25.72% within 4 years. The reason is that the company has been expanding their
activities not only in importation but also in exportation and concentrating in

1.6. Summary of the internship

The author has been working as an intern in the Import- Export Department of the
company. After the internship period, the author gained more knowledge and experience
through some real cases and instructions of her mentors by accomplishing assigned tasks
listed in the below table. These tasks helped her to have a clearer perspective about the
practical working environment and her future career.

Table 1-4 Summary of the internship

Month Tasks achieved

21/09/2020 – - Learning about the basis of the company (organizational structure,
31/10/2020 departments, history
- Being instructed to use photocopier and scanner.
- Being introduced about basic procedures of processing an orders.
- Gathering data for the report.
- Checking copy documents: Invoice, Certificate of Origin, Packing
List, Bill of Lading, Custom Declaration form, Certificate of
Insurance sent by the Supplier.
01/11/2020 – - Preparing documents for Logistic Department to do the custom
30/11/2020 declaration
- Having a trip to Tan San Nhat Port and making custom clearance for
imported goods and inspection procedures.
- Implementing payment: TTR, DP and issuing LC and amending LC
(if any).
- Meeting online with foreign Supplier for the year contract.
 9

01/12/2020 – - Continuing to collect information and data from departments

31/12/2020 - Having a trip to Kim Thinh factory and also bonded warehouse for
aluminum and zinc.
- Contacting Ship Liner to check information on Bill of Lading and
Arrival Notice.
- Researching and reading information about markets for the
company’s products – non-ferrous metals and precious metals.
- Having a trip to Cat Lai Port to accomplish an Import custom
clearance.

To sum up, Chapter 1 briefly presents some general information about Kim Thinh
Trading limited company. To be specific, the readers can approach the company’s
formation and development progress, organizational structure and human resources
management as well as the business performance from 2017 to Oct 2020. From that, it can
be implied that the company is a developing and potential firm in the trend of globalization.
Further more, these information and data would be a fundamental basis for further
analysis of the importing procedures of precious metal salt in the next Chapter.
 10

ANALYSIS OF THE PROCEDURE OF IMPORTING

PRECIOUS METAL SALTS AT KIM THINH TRADING LIMITED COMPANY

2.1. Overview of the Precious metal salts import procedure in Kim Thinh Trading
Co., Ltd
Kim Thinh Trading Limited Company has 11 years of experience in importing
precious metals as being the sole representative office of Metal, a well-known corporation
of Switzerland, in Vietnam. The general process of importation for precious metals is
described according to the table 2.1:

Table 2-1 The Import procedure of precious metal salts in Kim Thinh

Negotiating and Signing the Sales contract

Contacting to the Forwarder in Singapore

Checking Shipping Documents from by the Exporter

Applying for License of Importing Chemicals

Doing the Customs Declaration

Executing Customs Clearance and receiving the goods:

Executing payment process

(Source: summarized by the author)

On top of that, the prerequisite requirements of being a trader for precious metals is
important and strictly based on the Decree No. 113/2017/ND-CP which specified detailed
conditions on chemical manufacturing and trading. Because of this, the company who acts
as a trader in this precious metal field must obtain themself a certificate which is known as
the “Business License for Trading restricted Chemicals in the Industrial sector” (Appendix
01) issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam. This License issued by the
 11

Ministry of Industry and Trade for Kim Thinh has unlimited expiry period but will limit
the imported quantity every year. The company is then allowed to import the listed
chemicals in this Decree.

2.2. Detailed process of the Precious metal import procedure in Kim Thinh
Trading Co., Ltd
The following import procedure is expressed in general and in specific based on the
Sales Contract No. KT-MTS 044/20 (Appendix 03) between Kim Thinh Trading Co., Ltd
and Metalor Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd. from Singapore to Vietnam.

Table 2-2 List of Commodities in Sales contract between Kim Thinh and Metalor
No. KT-MTS 044/20

Unit Price Amount

Item Commodity Quantity Unit
(USD/unit) (USD)
1 Potassium Gold Cyanide 68.3% 2 Kg 42,500.00 85,000.00
Silvordec 100 Make up
2 5 Unit 50.00 250.00
Brightener
Silvordec 100 Replenisher
3 5 Unit 65.00 325.00
Brightener
Silvordec Replenisher
4 1 Ltr 480.00 480.00
Brightener
Met-Rh S515W Make up
5 50 Gram 456.86 22,843.00
(20g/l, 10 Rh)
Met-Rh Infinity Replenisher
6 330 Gram 448.34 147,952.20
Solution (5gr Rh/100ml)
TOTAL 256,850.20
(Source:Contract No. KT-MTS 044/20, summarized by the author)

2.2.1. Negotiating and signing the contract

To begin with, when the company has any order from domestic customers or the stock
is running out, which will be handled by the Sales Department, the Purchasing Order will
 12

be sent from the Sales Department to the Importing Department. After having all
information of the required goods such as Name, Code, Quantity, estimated delivery
schedule, The Importing Department shall contact by online call to the Sales Department
of Metalor. The draft sales contract after that will be sent via Email to Ms. Hien, who is in
charge of the precious metals field in Kim Thinh.
After briefly checking all the terms and conditions in this contract, Ms. Hien will
confirm and notify the Exporter via Email to proceed signing and faxing email to Ms. Hien.
This process usually takes 01 day only.
This sales contract was signed on 19th October, 2020, between METALOR
TECHNOLOGIES SINGAPORE PTE LTD who is “The Seller” and KIM THINH
TRADING CO., LTD. who is “The Buyer”. Here are some of the significant terms and
conditions for a Contract of precious metal salts:
- Shipment: including Shipment term (Ex-works Singapore), Partial shipment
is allowed, Transshipment is allowed, Port of loading (Singapore Airport)
and Port of discharge (Tan Son Nhat Airport, HCMC, Vietnam)
- Payment: TTR after receiving the goods
- Documents required:
Full set of Original Airway bill, marked “Freight to collect”
Commercial invoice
Detailed Packing List
In terms of shipment, due to the characteristics of Precious metal Salts which are
valuable and not bulky, normally about 20-100 kilograms only, these goods will be
delivered by Air with Ex-works terms. As the company has been working with a familiar
forwarder so all goods delivered by air shall be in Ex-works. Moreover, Kim Thinh is the
representative office of Metalor in Vietnam, the business relation is connected, so the
payment term is TTR (Telegraphic Transfer) after receiving the goods. In addition, the
required documents listed in the Sales Contract do not conclude a CO (Certificate of
Origin). For most importing and exporting sales contracts, this document is extremely
important because it will cut off the tax rates depending on the type of CO. However, for
this business field which is Precious Metals or Precious Metal Salts, the import tax rate is
0%. Therefore, the exporter does not need to issue the CO for Kim Thinh. However, as
 13

what the author has mentioned in the above part, the first and foremost condition to work
in this kind of field is to acquire the “Business License for Trading restricted Chemicals in
the Industrial sector” (Appendix 01) issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

2.2.2. Contacting to the Forwarder in Singapore for transportation process:

As what the author has mentioned in the previous part, the transportation method is
mostly by airplane. However, delivery by sea with LCL (Less than Container Load) can
still be used if the shipment is only Additives not precious metal or precious metal salts.
For that reason, depending on the type of goods in each shipment, the Import-Export
Department will choose and arrange them into appropriate shipment to utilize the transport
method. Accordingly, if that shipment includes precious metals or precious metal salts,
they will be Ex-works terms and delivered by air. Hence, shipment with less valuable goods
will be CIF terms and delivered by sea.
Specifically, the contract that the author has been working on includes Precious metal
salts which are Potassium Gold Cyanide 68.3%, Met-Rh S515W Make up and Met-Rh
Infinity Replenisher Solution. Hence the chosen transportation method is by Air. Due to
the fact that the Logistic Department in Kim Thinh is not specialized in Air Transport so
the company will outsource and contact a forwarding agent. Therefore, after accomplishing
the sales contract, Ms Hien in the Import Department contacts Transpeed, a forwarder in
Singapore for requesting a shipment service of delivering the imported goods as the
shipping term is Ex-works. Transpeed then send to Ms.Hien a Freight Bill and a draft of
the AWB (Airway Bill) (Appendix 05) for checking information of the goods. If all of the
information in the AWB is accurate, Ms. Hien will notify the forwarder to proceed the
shipping. These documents must be carefully checked as they will be used to do the custom
clearance and for the payment process. If the information in the AWB is not in conformity
with other documents or there is any inaccuracy of the information on the AWB, the
importer not only cannot do the customs clearance and receive the goods, but also have to
request for a new AWB that would cost a lot of money and time. The original documents
are then issued by the TSP Limited Company, the Transpeed’s branch office in Vietnam,
located in Tan Binh District which facilitates the progress of receiving documents and
solving any issues if any. These documents are not only sent in the original version but
also sent by email in copy versions to Kim Thinh one days before the delivery date. When
 14

receiving this email which includes Freight Bill (Appendix 08), VAT Invoice (Appendix
09), and copy AWB, Ms. Hien will notify the Accounting Department to pay for these
invoices. The total payable amount for this transaction is about 15 million VND. These
copy documents are saved and sent to the Import-Export Department for checking delivery
status and for doing payment afterward, Logistics Department for customs declaration and
Accounting Department for cost and money tracking.

2.2.3. Checking Shipping Documents issued by the Exporter:

When the sales contract is in validity, the Exporter will prepare required documents
listed in the sales contract. Commercial Invoice (Appendix 04) , Certificate of Analysis
and Material safety data Sheet will be sent first in copy versions by email. If there is any
mistaken or false data in these documents, Ms. Hien will notify the Exporter immediately
for rechecking and confirmation. When checking these documents with Ms. Hien to ensure
consistency and accuracy, the author found out that the draft Invoice has mistyped the
number in Total Value and the Address of the Importer. These mistakes seem to be minor
but will affect all the consequent stages such as customs clearance and payment. To
illustrate, the author was explained about this by Ms.Hien that if these mistakes are found
in the last-minute, for example when doing the customs declaration, this Custom
declaration system will reject the included documents which leads to the result that the
goods will be stuck in Customs until the Importer can present the correct and accurate
original documents. This delay not only cost money but also took for 2- 3 days including
the time for resending the original versions of signed Invoice by courier. Hence, all of the
documents must be double-checked carefully before presenting the original ones.
After remedy all the above mistakes, the Exporter will send copies by email and
originals by courier. All of these documents are then transferred to the Logistic Department
for custom declaration. This step must be properly finished before ETA - estimated time
of Arrival of the goods that when the Logistic Department receives the Arrival Notice, they
can instantly receive the goods in the conditions that the customs has already been cleared
to import.
 15

2.2.4. Applying for License of Precursor Chemicals and Chemical

declaration:
This step is executed contemporaneously with the third step the author has mentioned
and before applying for the Customs declaration and the Logistic Department will be in
charge of this stage. According to Annex in the Decree No. 113/2017/ND-CP specifying
the list of dangerous substances, the 5th and 6th Good which are Met-Rh S515W Makeup
(20g/l, 10 Rh) and Met-Rh Infinity Replenisher Solution (5gr Rh/100ml) do include
Rhodium. Therefore, in order to execute the customs declaration, Kim Thinh must acquire
the “License of Precursor Chemicals” (Appendix 02) and complete declaring Chemicals
on Vnsw.gov.vn - Vietnam National Single Window website firstly. These two activities
will be done online on vnsw.gov.vn.

In term of License of Precursor Chemicals, Mr. Luan in the Logistic Department

started to execute this step under my observation. He logged into the company’s account
on VNSW and clicked in the title of “Licensing for precursor chemicals in Industry.” To
do this, he has to fill in the information thoroughly. The first page requires general
information about the exporter and importer: Name, address, Tax code, Nationality, and
Telephone number. The second page requires general information about consignment: Bill
of Lading number or AWB number, Date of issuing B/L or AWB, Year, Contract number,
Invoice number, Number of containers or bales, Total gross and net weight. ETA -
Estimated time of Arrival, Port of Loading and Port of Discharge, and Name of bonded
warehouse, etc. The next page requires specific information of precursor chemicals:
Commercial Name, Chemical formula, CAS number, HS code, Total value of contract.

After filling in all required documents and attaching all the related copy documents
on the website, he clicked on the Finish button and waited for the Customs executives to
admit. The whole process until receiving acceptance from the Ministry of Industry and
Trade and Vietnam Chemical Agency may take about one day. When the system notify
that the License has been approved, it will send a copy of this License. However, the
documents admitting to Custom Declaration require the originals of this License not just
only the copy version. As a result, Mr. Luan had to contact the Logistics Department in
 16

Kim Thinh Ha Noi branch to receive this License at the office of Vietnam Chemical
Agency in Hanoi and send it by DHL to Ho Chi Minh City.

The second important step is declaring Chemicals components. The required

information for this step is identical with those in applying for precursor chemicals. In
addition, the attached documents must include the MSDS (Material Safety data sheet) of
each claimed goods. However, any goods that are already claimed in Precursor License do
not need to be declared in this step again. Specifically, in this Contract, the Precious metal
salt which is called as Potassium Gold Cyanide 68.3% is requested to apply for this
procedure. The other goods in this contract which are Brightener do not need to be declared
in this form as they do not include hazardous chemical substances as specified in the Decree.

The total period of time for the whole procedure takes about 1-2 days. Hence, this
step must be finished completely before applying for the custom declaration so it needs
careful and proper preparation for this.

Comments: This process is complicated and lengthy due to the redundant procedures
and rigidity of the government policies, the required Licenses are many and only
applicable for only one shipment. Normally, as the author mentioned above, it takes one
to two days to accomplish this step, however, in some bad cases, it can still take more than
three days to obtain the License. Hence, in order to meet the requirements of the company’s
Buyer, which is the output supplement. The Import- Export Department must cooperate
with the Sales Department to manage and balance the goods in stock and buy any goods
that may be shortage in advance. Moreover, even though this step is implemented within
Vietnam and not entirely related to foreign trading, it is a premise background and
requirement to conduct a foreign trading activities.
 17

2.2.5. Doing the Customs Declaration:

When the Logistic Department collects enough required documents and there is
Arrival Notice sent by the Ship Liner, Mr. Luan will start to apply for the custom
declaration. In previous years, this step is much more complicated because everything is
done by paperwork, meeting customs executives in their office. However, in the past few
years, when the 4.0 Industrial Revolution started to develop, everything can be done in
online websites and systems. Thanks to this innovation, this step reduces the time, money
and effort efficiently.

Mr. Luan then started to implement this process under the author’s observation. He
logged into the account of the company in ECUS, an app for doing the customs declaration.
This step takes more than 1 -2 hours depending on the number of commodities. The more
type of goods the longer it takes to do the customs clearance. In specific, with this Contract,
Mr. Luan filled specific information for six (06) commodities with the following
information: general information of importer and exporter, Invoice number, Contract
number, Gross weight, payment terms, delivery term. Tax rate, HS code, total value,
number of License for Precursor chemicals, Description of good, Taxable value. This step
requires proper accuracy because if there are any mistakes to be found, this customs
declaration form will be rejected and lead to the result that the goods will be stuck in
Customs, and the Logistic Department will have to explain to the customs executive about
the mistakes and make an amendment form that takes much more time and effort for
remedy.

After doing the double-check all the filled information on ECUS and attached a full
set of documents on the app which includes the following documents: License of Precursor
Chemicals (Appendix 02), Sales Contract (Appendix 03), Metalor Tax Invoice, (Appendix
04), Air waybill (Appendix 05), Arrival Notice (Appendix 07), the screenshot of
vnsw.gov.vn page showing successful declaration of Chemical (Appendix 10), Mr. Luan
pressed the button and waited for the result of specifying Customs line whether it is Red
line, Yellow line, or Green Line. This took about 5-10 minutes only as the selectivity
profile system of ECUS will quickly scan the information and admit the result. The
shipment that the author has been working on is unfortunately divided in the Red Line.
 18

Hence, Mr. Luan must continue to provide paper form and apply for the inspection form
for the goods in the Customs office in Tan Son Nhat port.

2.2.6. Accomplishing Inspection, Customs Clearance, and receiving the goods:

Based on the ETA - Estimated time of Arrival which is 27th Oct in the Notice Arrival
sent to the Logistic Department by email, Mr. Luan and the author went to the customs
broker to accomplish the customs clearance and inspection procedure to receive the goods.
But first, he arrived at the Forwarder to receive the authorization paper and EDO showing
that Kim Thinh is authorized to receive the imported goods in the SCSC bonded warehouse.
After acquiring all necessary documents, they arrived at the Tan Son Nhat import
warehouse at the address which is 30 Phan Thuc Duyen Street, Tan Binh district.
Depending on the goods whether imported or exported, the place would be different, one
for importing warehouses and one for exporting warehouses. The security in this bonded
warehouse is considerably strict. As the author first arrived in this warehouse, she had to
fill in her information, apply her residence card and the reference letter of Kim Thinh,
showing that she is a staff in Kim Thinh, then she was allowed to enter. This whole step is
divided into three more specific steps in three places: first is the SCSC office, second is
Tan Son Nhat international custom broker and third is the importing bonded warehouse of
SCSC. However, these places are next to each other, and all in the importing section of
Tan Son Nhat Airport, so it won’t take much time for moving between these places.

Firstly, in the SCSC office, the author was instructed to obtain the order of taking-out
the goods. In order to have this order, Mr. Luan had to pay for the storage fee and importing
charges first. After the payment was done, he received the tax invoice and added it to the
documents applied to the custom broker. This is as important as other documents, showing
that you have paid for all the fees and charges before releasing the goods. This step
occurred in just about 20 minutes as there were about 4-5 executives ready to support in
this section.

After that, they walked to the custom broker. Except for the registered vehicles, no
other vehicles were allowed to move in this whole area. In the custom broker, Mr. Luan
arranged all the documents in a particular order: custom declaration form, Airway bill,
 19

goods’ invoice, C/O, SCSC Invoice, Transpeed’s Order, C/I and C/A. These documents
were firstly submitted to the vice manager, and then he would appoint an import executive
randomly. Mr. Luan transferred the documents to the appointed executive for custom
clearance procedure.

This executive considered that this shipment is classified in the Red line which was
shown on the custom declaration form, so she then transferred these documents to an
inspection executive. This step is only required in case of the Red Line arising from doubts
regarding the customs declaration, monitoring, or suspicion of smuggling or trademark
violations. But before contacting this inspection executive, Mr. Luan had to acquire the
permit to move the goods out of the warehouse for inspection first. He came to meet the
warehouse executives and submitted the shipping documents for the goods releasing permit.
Based on the information of these documents, the executives filled in the data and exported
a permit. Mr. Luan then received the documents and the permit. While the goods are moved
from the warehouse to the receiving area, he then contacted inspection executives to
accomplish the inspection step. These executives unpacked the goods and examined all the
information on the goods compared to the submitted documents and asked Mr. Luan some
major questions of the goods, for instance: the commercial name, its substances, purposes,
business field, value, origin, etc. After examining, if all the information and the goods are
found to be rational and accurate, these inspectors called the import executive to
acknowledge the custom declaration and the goods can be released. Mr. Luan came back
to the customs broker and received the cleared documents.

Finally, Mr. Luan and the author walked back to the bonded warehouse to apply for
a good-release allowance. He then once again submitted the acknowledged documents to
the warehouse executives for the release permit. This permit is different from the previous
permit as the previous one is only for the inspection process. After obtaining the permit,
these executives will construct a logistic coordinator to move the goods from the bonded
warehouse to the receiving area. In the meantime, the author and Mr. Luan did the
registration for transportation. As what the author has mentioned, only registered vehicles
can move around the warehouse. The goods are then moved to a specific location based on
the registration of the vehicles and finally placed on the trucks and moved to Kim Thinh’s
 20

warehouse. This whole process occurred in more than five hours due to the inspection
procedure.

2.2.7. Executing Payment process:

Figure 2-1 Proportion of used payment method in Kim Thinh in 2020

30%
35%
Telehraphic Transfer

Documents against
Payment
Letter of Credit

35%

(Source: Accountant Report 2020, summarized by the author)

In Kim Thinh, there are 3 types of payment methods being used, which are: Letter of
Credit (L/C), Documents against Payment (D/P) and Telegraphic Transfer Reimbursement
(TTR). The frequency usage of each payment method is briefly described in Figure 2.1.

Even though there are various terms of payment, and also particularly with Precious
metal salts filed, the Supplier who is Metalor has allowed Kim Thinh to pay by Telegraphic
Transfer after receiving the goods. Normally, this payment terms would be unfavored with
the Seller as it would be too risky. However due to the business relationship between
Metalor and Kim Thinh which is the representative office of Metalor in Vietnam for more
than 10 years, this kind of payment is allowed to be used. By using this kind of payment
term, Kim Thinh not only can save much time for payment but also reduce the bank fees
compared to other methods of payment. Because of using TTR payment, the original
documents are couriered by DHL before the ETA - Estimated time of Arrival to the office
of Kim Thinh for the Logistics to do the customs clearance.
 21

Following the financial arrangement of Mrs. Nga, CFO of the company, the author
under the instruction of Ms. Quynh in the Import-export Department, prepared the set of
documents while waiting for the exchange rate negotiating between Kim Thinh and the
International Payment Department of the bank. The required documents are different from
terms of payment and from every bank. Normally in terms of Telegraphic Transfer after
receiving the goods, the required documents are including but not limited to these
following documents: custom declaration form marked as “clearance”, Signed Commercial
Invoice, Signed Sales contract, Bill of Lading or Airwaybill. After the exchange rate was
confirmed by both sides, the author filled in the information on the bank’s form of Money
Transfer Order. When this form is signed and marked with the red stamp of the company,
it becomes valid and legal to proceed payment. The documents are then sent by fax-email
to confirm with the bank that payment can be implemented. The originals are then later
sent to the office of the bank with the aim of saving documents for government auditing.
The whole process of paying by Telegraphic Transfer only takes for more than one hour.
As far as what the author knows, the amount of money paying for these shipments mostly
come from loans of the bank. Therefore, while the author prepared for documents of the
international payment step, the Accounting Department also prepare documents for
domestic loan with the bank.

2.3. Comparison in the process between importing Precious metal salts and
importing other goods of Kim Thinh:
The process of importing in Kim Thinh is classified in two categories which is by air
and by sea. Transportation by air is particular for only precious metal salts or other valuable
and light commodities while transporting by sea is for other commodities. The two
processes are distinctive in some aspects as mentioned below:

2.3.1. Contacting a forwarding agent:

As what the author has mentioned in Step two, the Logistic Department shall contact
a third party which is a forwarding agent in case of airway. However, to be specific, in case
of importing or exporting the non-ferrous metals which are Aluminum, Zinc, Gavalume,
etc, the Logistic Department of the company will do on their own without referring other
forwarders. The reason is that Precious metal fields even have the same percentage in
 22

turnover with other fields but are low in the number of orders. Therefore, the Logistic
Department doesn’t concentrate in specializing in the supply chain for airways but only the
seaway since the number of shipments by sea normally ranges from three to four shipments
per day. As a result, to save cost and human resources, the Logistic Department suggested
outsourcing the forwarding company specifically for Airway Order which is Precious
metal salts.

2.3.2. Applying for Chemical License:

Unlike other fields, trading precious metals is extremely complicated and must
comply to all the government regulations strictly since chemicals in some of these
substances are listed as Imported goods requiring Government License according to Decree
69/2018/NĐ-CP ON GUIDELINES FOR THE LAW ON FOREIGN TRADE
MANAGEMENT. Thus, the License for each shipment is many and is able to be applied
for only that shipment particularly, which means that the number of shipments per year
equals the number of obtained License. Nevertheless, in terms of other business fields of
the Kim Thinh, this step is not required as non-ferrous metals are classified as normal goods
for trading purposes, especially Zinc which are being applied import duty of zero percent.
For that reason, to proceed a shipment of this kind of trading takes more effort, money and
time compared to other imported goods.

2.3.3. Payment terms:

Thanks to the special business relationship between Kim Thinh and Metalor, the
payment terms are optional for Kim Thinh to choose the most suitable and saving one.
consequently, TTR after receiving the goods is applied. In addition, as the goods are
delivered by air, shipment is only two or three days only. So the Seller is able to cover its
cost or expenses when payment is made after delivering the goods. On the contrary,
contracts for other goods of the company are less flexible but suitable for foreign trade,
which are Letter of Credit (L/C), Document against Payment (D/P), Telegraphic Transfer
before receiving the goods. Despite the good business relationship with suppliers, it is still
reasonable to apply this kind of payment in other business fields of Kim Thinh which is
importing and exporting non-ferrous metal since this kind of goods are transported by sea.
The period of shipment normally ranges from 8 days for the shortest to 40 days for the
 23

longest depending on the port of loading. Therefore, TTR after receiving the goods is
unwilling to be allowed, while other terms of payment allow the Seller to receive the
remittance after sending the goods from five to ten days, which depends on the presentation
of the Seller for original documents, especially Ocean Bill of Lading. When these
documents are presented with the banks correctly and receiving acceptance from the Buyer,
the payment must be proceeded.

2.4. General evaluation

2.4.1. Strengths
By obtaining the following strengths, Kim Thinh has been able to gradually improve
and standardize the business performance in general and the importing procedures
particularly.

Technology
Technology contributes significantly to facilitate the company system thoroughly and
foreign trade activities accordingly. In fact, when mentioning technology as one of the
strengths that Kim Thinh may obtain, it is not proper to classify here. However, the author
considered that it is the strength of Kim Thinh when it recognized and set the priority for
the importance of technology even though the technology is purchased from other sources.
Hence, the company established its own internal network, any necessary and confidential
information are shared strictly and particularly among related departments. To be more
specific, the Logistic Department can share the same folder of any information required by
the Import- Export Department such as Custom Declaration forms, but not be able to share
the information such as Transport VAT Invoice or the Precursor Chemicals Licenses. Thus,
appropriate sharing and mutual cooperation between Departments can reduce the
interruptions and maximize the efficiency especially when issues arise unexpectedly and
need for prompt solvement.

In addition, the company invested in some advanced technologies for enterprises such
as Outlook mail, Base.vn and other fee-subscription websites to ensure the fastest
information, accuracy, security, confidentiality of the information. The author has once
experienced a risk of computer hackers and seriously been aware of the importance of
 24

security for information. It was because the author worked in the Import-export department
which mostly contacts and implements payment through mail, the hacker noticed the
author’s email account, disguised and sent the authors some emails from a counterfeit but
similar to one of the company staffs’ accounts. This incident was then quickly solved by
the Customer service of Outlook where the company purchased the network. Another
example of the importance of secure information is the incident of CMA CGM when its
internet system crashed and leaked out the information in September 2020. Therefore,
realizing the role of technology in business is one of the strengths that would help the
company to develop in the near future.

Flexibility
This is one of the general strengths of small enterprises. They can flexibly adapt with
any changes of the external environment or internal issues. For instance, external factors
such as the application of new Decrees and government laws on import or exporting or
international law on Certificate of Origin, which is the basic for preferential tax rate,
changes all the time. Other significant factors to be mentioned must be the demand of the
market, when any changes happen, Kim Thinh can discuss and alter with suitable strategies
immediately. It is necessary for any enterprises to promptly train and acknowledge new
information and knowledge in a short period of time. Therefore, with the small size of each
Department, the alteration is implemented successfully and effectively. Moreover, the
flexibility that the author mentioned here is also the flexibility in one Department. As Kim
Thinh is a small-scale company, the work range of each staff is much higher than bigger
enterprises which they may separate work range more distinctively. For that reason, when
there are any difficulties or issues arised, they can flexibly deal with it.

Standardized procedures
Established in 2009 with 11 years development, Kim Thinh Trading Limited
company has always modified, altered, and improved the process of importing or exporting
the commodities in the business field and the process of importing Precious metal salts as
well. Thus, the procedure is standardized to comply with the conditions of the company.
Considering the human resources management, the business structure is not very
complicated, tasks are assigned comprehensively among staff. The steps in a whole process
 25

of trading activities are divided clearly and distinctly, no tasks are duplicated and confused
among Departments, communication is made all the time and issues are quickly to be
solved. Furthermore, each step of each Department is strictly managed and examined the
Head of each department before passing to other Departments. Thus, mistakes and
negligence are minimized.

2.4.2. Weaknesses and reasons:

Despite the mentioned strengths, weakness can be found in some aspects that may
prevent them from further development in some extent.

Lack of human resources in Import- Export Department

At the moment, this department only includes three staff in total, one is the
department Manager, one is in charge of non-ferrous metal and one is in charge of precious
metal. Even though this Department is in charge of four steps out of seven steps as
described in Table 2.1, the workload in these steps are abundant and including many tasks
such as doing price dealing, negotiating, checking documents, signing contracts, issuing
Letter of credit, contacting forwarder, conducting payment and claiming for indemnity.
Besides these steps, there are always other external troubles during the shipment that they
have to deal with such as delays in ports, inaccurate documents to be presented to the banks,
unarrived documents, stuckment in discharging ports. This can cause them to be
overwhelmed, mentally disorder and stressed due to the high workload. Consequently, it
may lead to poor results and low efficiency in work performance. Therefore, from the
authors’ perspective, the Import-export department should request the Human Resources
Department to recruit one more staff to re-distribute the work range.

Lack of Marketing Department

Based on Figure 1.2. Organizational Structure chart of Kim Thinh in Chapter 1, it can
be seen that Kim Thinh doesn’t have a Marketing Department as well as a official website.
Nevertheless, this drawback of Kim Thinh can be reasonably explained due to the special
features of the business field that the company is working in. Obviously, It is unlike other
kinds of goods such as foods, agricultural products, FMCG - Fast Moving Consumer
Goods in which Marketing plays a significant role in total revenue. In the mean times, in
 26

this kind of field, to have the output supply, the Sales Department must directly connect
with some of the biggest industrial enterprises such as Hoa Sen Group, Nam Kim Steel
Vietnam, Dong A Steel & Metal and other main players for precious metals in Vietnam
market such as PNJ, BHFlex Vina, and other local brands for precious metals. Therefore,
normal marketing strategy is not very appropriate to apply with the situation of Kim Thinh
entirely. However, as the world is changing to the 4.0 Technological Revolution day by
day, improving this weakness is one of the potential strategies required to conduct in the
near future for the expansion of Suppliers and also Customers’ range of the company.

Inadequate duty arrangements for human resources

This disadvantage lies in the fact that Kim Thinh is a small-scale company, human
resource is insufficient and imbalanced, regarding the development and expansion of
trading activities in the upcoming years. The current situation of this weakness is that
employees in some departments have wider work responsibilities additional with the
shortage of human resources. Indeed, this weakness can be a hidden risk for the business
performance. For instance, in bad cases that issues from different factors arise at the same
time, but still in the duty responsibilities of that Department, especially the Import- Export
Department, he/ she may not be able to promptly solve the problems and may lead to some
loss of money and time. Or another risk that can easily happen is the employees’
abandonment due to high workload, or stress.

Chapter 2 explains the importing procedure in detail by both graph and words. Those
are the most basic and standard steps that the Company has been following through years
of operation. Furthermore, with several strengths coming from technology, awareness,
flexibility, and standardization, the Company is able to enhance their competitiveness and
productivity through the years. Their good relationships with Suppliers are bringing them
many attractive and preferential offers. However, there are still some weaknesses
preventing them from further and faster development. Notably, it is the limited human
resources and improper human resources arrangement in the Company.
 27

DEVELOPMENT PROSPECT, ORIENTATION AND SOME

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR KIM THINH TRADING CO., LTD

3.1. Development prospect of Kim Thinh Trading Co., Ltd

Throughout the years, the world is evolving every second influenced by different
factors such as changing demographics (the rise of millenials), new technology and
changing behavior and attitude of humans. It is more complicated and sophisticated to
predict the market and the consumers’ behaviors and it requires all businesses from small
to large scale to seize the opportunities and avoid threats timely and instantly. Therefore,
with the aim to further and massive development and expansion of KIm Thinh, they may
have to consider these following opportunities and threats and then to outline the
appropriate strategies for that evolution.

3.1.1. Opportunities
Firstly, the most significant opportunity arises from the active participation of
Vietnam in world organizations. As of September 2020, Vietnam has had 13 FTAs (Free
Trade Agreement) in validity and 3 FTAs in negotiating so far. These Free trade
Agreements have helped Vietnam to gain numerous opportunities in developing exporting
and importing markets between Vietnam and other countries. In terms of the business field
of Kim Thinh at the moment, only importing and exporting aluminum are applied to the
tax duty of 10 percent, but due to the validity of these FTAs which are ACFTA, AFTA,
AKFTA, VJEPA, AIFTA, AANZFTA, EVFTA, CPTPP, all commodities trading in Kim
Thinh which are imported from China, India, Malaysia, Korea, Australia, Japan, Peru, etc.
can have the preferential tax rate of 0 percent. In compliance with WTO and these Free
Trade Agreements, reduction in tariff which also leads to the reduction in cost and price
for output supply, has become a significantly influencing factor to encourage Kim Thinh
to sharply increase the importing and exporting activities and develop themself in the
upcoming years.

Secondly, we have to mention the supportive and positive changes of the Vietnam
government for the whole economics in general and with the metal trading activities in
specific along with other changes in policy and advanced technology and economics
strategies. With the changes in world economics every day, the government has always
 28

tried their best to revise, reform, improve, and complete the regulations relevantly, simplify
administrative procedures and enhance the business environment, speed up the
organizational restructuring, and actively serve domestic enterprises and habitants.
Moreover, when joining in world organizations, it is a great chance for Vietnamese
enterprises to acknowledge the advanced technology from other member countries and
apply for themselves. The more barriers are eliminated in economics, the more enthusiastic
and active domestic enterprise in general and Kim Thinh in particular becomes.

Thirdly, recognition of opportunities in the market of metal is the most decisive factor
for Kim Thinh’s development. According to research agency Fitch Solutions Country Risk
& Industry Research, it was said that the global primary aluminum market would remain
largely in oversupply, owing to absolute production remaining higher than consumption in
2020, but the surplus is likely to start narrowing from 2021. The global aluminum demand
picture will be stable over the coming years, driven by steady demand growth in Asia and
the growing application of aluminum in industries such as automotive and aerospace,
especially when countries all over the world are recovering from Covid-19 Epidemic, and
world smelters are also recovered and pushing their mining and producing accordingly. In
addition, Kim Thinh was able to keep their input and output distribution stable thanks to
the profound and daring strategy during the Covid-19 Epidemic. This has created a good
reputation of the company for their customers and suppliers. Therefore, the authors would
consider their good performance during the hard time is an optimistic internal opportunity
for Kim Thinh to expand their market shares in Vietnam metal market and exporting
market in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, Kim Thinh can see the potential chances in the
output supply when industries using metal has started to develop and recover after the
Covid-19 Epidemic based on the chart of Manufacturing PMI index – Manufacturing
Purchasing Managers Index, of Vietnam and also other Southeast Asia where Kim Thinh
is exporting to. This means that the demand for metal has increased among these markets.

Last but not least, interest rate and other financial factors such as exchange rate, and
payment terms at the moment in the international and Vietnamese market also create a
potential opportunity for Kim Thinh and also for other enterprises. The interest rate after
the peak of Covid-19 has been decreased with an aim to recover from the epidemic.
 29

Exchange rate of United Dollars and Vietnamese Dong has also decreased accordingly and
significantly. This is a crucial advantage for those bank loans of Kim Thinh to settle the
payments at the moment. Besides, the application and changes in Letter of credit
regulations such as L/C UPAS - Letter of Credit Usance but paid at sight, also offers Kim
Thinh a favorite advantage in interest and loan.

3.1.2. Threats
To begin with, the fact that Vietnam is willing to open for foreign investors brings
both advantages and disadvantages, especially a new challenge of competition. Obviously,
Free trade in FTAs offers new markets to access opportunities, but in the meanwhile, it
may put pressure on the domestic market when foreign companies may enter. Furthermore,
the supportive business environment would also attract more and more new businesses to
enter the industry, making the market more and more intensive than ever. The competition
between companies on product price as well as preferential policies to attract customers
has caused many difficulties for businesses that want to stand firm in the market. Without
planning an effective strategy for input and output distribution, Kim Thinh could have
faced real challenges against local competitors and new competitors.
Secondly, the current situation all over the world this year with the outbreak of
Coronavirus has extremely affected the economics in a large range and economic recession
seems to just begin. The Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented in its global reach and
impact, posing formidable challenges. On the supply side, infections reduce labor supply
and productivity, while lockdowns, business closures, and social distancing also cause
supply disruptions. On the demand side, layoffs and the loss of income due to quarantines,
and unemployment worsened the economic prospects , household consumption and firms’
investment. Nevertheless, looking on the bright side when economies all over the world,
especially developed countries, have started to recover, even with the highest speed ever
before the previous economic crisis in the past.
Thirdly, Covid-19 Epidemic has created numerous negative consequential effects on
other sides and surely posed numerous threats in the near future for not only businesses on
the world but also to Kim Thinh. It can be seen that, recently, these threats are being
revealed gradually. For instance, lockdowns in ports have led to delays of shipment period.
The liner was unable to control the shipment and the consignee was also unable to receive
 30

the goods leading to the shortage in stock, loss for money and business reputation when
goods are continuously delayed. Another example to be mentioned is the massive increase
in sea freight from the shipping liners. The sea freight for Europe and Asia has multiplied
ever before and was predicted to reach the peak of USD 10,000/ 40-foot containers. The
World Transport Council based in Washington DC Stated that no one could predict the
freight rates that were stressing the current containers shipping network as demand and this
current situation is unlike any other in the past. If this threat cannot be solved soon, it is
certain that a lot of foreign trading enterprises, especially small company could go bankrupt
if they cannot balance the costs as transportation in foreign trading is the survival factor
that they have no choice but to face and deal with it.

3.2. Orientation
In terms of orientation for Import procedures, the company orientation in following
years is to proactively recruit additional employees, especially for the Import- export
Department. Moreover, allocating appropriate tasks to workers depending on items is the
future step of the Company, one particular staff will be wholly in charge of some specific
items for better management and surveillance.
In terms of Market expansion, Kim Thinh has outlined their business strategies both
in input supply and output demand for the next two years. Firstly, in the input supply, Kim
Thinh will expand their suppliers, and the types of imported goods, they are still non-
ferrous metal and precious metals but in different brands. Secondly, in the output supply,
they will remain the domestic market stable and constant in 2021 as the effect of Covid-19
would be aggressively negative to the market at the moment. Meanwhile, they will expand
into Southeast Asia for exportation instead of domestic as export duty tax appl. However,
in the far future, they will increase the percentage of market share gradually.
Simultaneously, the Board of Director intends to have a training course for the
Logistics Department to acknowledge and gain experience in the Air transport fields. If the
Logistics Department can soon successfully have a firm background for Air transport and
apply it in the real cases, the company can minimize the cost of outsourced forwarders and
other external agencies.
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3.3. Recommendation to improve importing process for precious metal salts in

Kim Thinh Trading Co., Ltd.

3.3.1. Recruitment for additional labor forces

As what the author has mentioned above, the whole company are insufficient
compared to workload. What Kim Thinh should do right now is to carry out an effective
recruitment policy to attract new employees so as to relieve the work pressure of the current
staff and also to meet all the needs of the business operations. Recruitments shall be
executed in a strict and serious way for the aim of attracting new, young, energetic and
talented employees.
Moreover, the Company should associate with and advertise itself to related-industry
Universities, such as foreign trade majors, to select high-qualified students and provide
them with opportunities to intern at the company whilst studying at school for them to get
access to practical operations, especially in the import and export aspects. Thus, after their
graduation, the Company can have an available source of new employees who are
passionate about international trade and proficient in practical application.

3.3.2. Distribution channel enlargement by implementing marketing strategy

Broadening market is the essential measure for sustainable development. The goal of
this activity is to meet the third objective of the company – expanding the brand, being the
supplier of top production and gaining a certain reputation in the domestic market. For that,
the company will reach out, and seek out more potential customers that not just familiar
customers.

In the past, the company did consider that marketing is important. However,
traditional and normal marketing is not helpful and applicable to the field the company is
working: metals. The company has to seek out customers themselves but not the customer
finds them through marketing. Nevertheless, with the development of Fourth Industrial
Revolution 4.0 and rapid changes in economic conditions everyday, the author suggests
that the company should enhance this issues by recruiting a digital marketing officer in the
Market Research department who will be in charge of marketing online to improve the
website and social channel by updating information, pictures, maximizing market search
tools on the Internet, participating in online payment gateways and utilizing social
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networks. The current team in charge of this job is working fairly efficiently in the Market
Research Department, so there is no need to hire anymore. The staff just need to be trained
monthly to get access to new marketing methods and trends as well as soft skills to support
creativity. Then, they can transfer information and support the Sales Department for final
settlement and result.

3.3.3. Improvement for specialized expertise in Logistics Department

Obviously, Human is the determining factor in the success of any organization and
labor force investment and development play a crucial role in enhancing the operational
capacity of a system, especially in international trade, where the requirements for Human
factors are also higher and more sophisticated.

At the above parts the author has mentioned, the company needs to enhance the
capability of all staff who get involved in the performance of import and export activities,
which is the main element for the development of the company. To implement this, the
Company should establish or sponsor classes and courses training import export operations,
customs formalities, international payment, customer relations as well as info days
displaying amendments in laws and regulations which influence the professional
operations of the Company, particularly tax modifications. Guiding activities should occur
in both short-term and long-term programs.

To conclude, the last Chapter is some of the considerate opportunities and threats
that Kim Thinh Trading Co., Ltd may have to face and deal with in the near future. Based
on them, the company outlines some oriented strategy and viewpoints to adapt with any
changes required to be made. In addition, the author suggests some overall
recommendations for the company on her viewpoints not only to enhance and improve the
import procedures of precious metal salt but also for other goods and the business perform
overall.
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CONCLUSION
Trading precious metals salt depends largely on the fluctuation of gold price, or
rhodium price, and these prices are influenced by economic factors respectively. Therefore,
this kind of business field is not stable or regular in development, changes are numerous
and forced Kim Thinh to be firm and steady in such changes. Even though precious metal
industry faces many challenges and strict regulations for many years, demand for these
goods are continuously increasing about five percent per year. The reasons for this
development are their enhancing strengths, seizing opportunities at the right moment, and
always eliminating weaknesses for the best performance. Thus, with 11 years of established
and growing, Kim Thinh Trading has recognized outstanding achievements. The
performance of trading precious metals salt, a potential business field, has also been
perfected and improved during such a long time of existence and development of the
Company. As a result, this process has several striking strengths such as time and cost
efficiency, high level of security and cooperation, and high technology. Yet, such a process
also contains inevitable limitations, including governments regulations, price
competitiveness. Thus, it is time for Kim Thinh to consider some necessary remedies such
as enlarging the distribution channels, recruiting potential personnel, improving
specialized expertise for the staffs more strictly.

I strongly believe that the currently-executing process and innovative policies

together with the positive development of the metal industry and related industry along
with the economic growth potential of the Company will ensure the promising future of
Kim Thinh. Although the internship period has been over, this precious chance has left the
author with valuable practical experience which helps consolidate the specialized
knowledge the author has learned at the university.

Finally, the author would again send her sincere thanks to all staff members and her
mentors in Kim Thinh Trading Limited company and especially Ph.D Nguyen Thi Quynh
Nga for her support and guidance during the graduation internship report.
34
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REFERENCES

1. Import- Export Department, ‘Kim Thinh Limited Company’s annual report’ in 2016
2. Import- Export Department, ‘Kim Thinh Limited Company’s annual report’ in 2017
3. Import- Export Department, ‘Kim Thinh Limited Company’s annual report’ in 2018
4. Import- Export Department, ‘Kim Thinh Limited Company’s annual report’ in 2019
5. Voxeu.org, (2020, “Economic consequences of Covid-19: A counterfactual multi-
country analysis”. Available at: https://voxeu.org/article/economic-consequences-
covid-19-multi-country-analysis
6. Do Minh Tri, (2018). “Opportunities and potentials of the Vietnamese gold jewelry
industry” [pdf]. Available at:
http://www.asiapacificpmc.com/appmc2018/presentation/24_Do_Minh_Phu.pdf
7. Hanoitimes.vn, (2020). “Vietnam gold prices hit all-time high amid Covid-19
resurgence”. Available at: http://hanoitimes.vn/vietnam-gold-prices-hit-all-time-
high-amid-covid-19-resurgence-313499.html
8. Tuoitrenews.vn, (2020). “COVID-19 sends Vietnam's gold price soaring to 8-yr
high”. Available at: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20200222/covid19-sends-
vietnam-s-gold-price-soaring-to-8yr-high/53111.html
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APPENDIXES
No. Name of Document
1 Business License for Trading restricted Chemicals in the Industrial sector
2 License of Precursor Chemicals
3 Sales Contract No. KT-MTS 044/20
4 Metalor Tax Invoice No. 95049056
5 Air Waybill
6 Custom Declaration Form
7 Arrival Notice
8 Transpeed VAT Invoice for Freight
9 Transpeed VAT Invoice for service fees
10 The screenshot of vnsw.gov.vn page