FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS

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

MID-COURSE INTERSHIP REPORT

Major: International Business Economics
THE PROCESS OF EXPORTING STEEL AT NGUYEN
MINH STEEL GROUP JOINT STOCK COMPANY

Student: Nguyen Tri Dat

Student ID: 1801015184
Class: K57CLC3
Intake: 57
Supervisor: Le Tuan Bach

Ho Chi Minh City, August, 2021

 FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY
HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS
---------***--------

MID-COURSE INTERSHIP REPORT

Major: International Business Economics
THE PROCESS OF EXPORTING STEEL AT NGUYEN
MINH STEEL GROUP JOINT STOCK COMPANY

Student: Nguyen Tri Dat

Student ID: 1801015184
Class: K57CLC3
Intake: 57
Supervisor: Le Tuan Bach

Ho Chi Minh City, August, 2021

This page is intentionally left blank
FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS Independence - Freedom - Happiness

MIDTERM PROFESSIONAL REPORT REMARKS

Student’s full name: Nguyen Tri Dat Student code:1801015184

Name of the report: THE PROCESS OF EXPORTING STEEL AT NGUYEN MINH
STEEL GROUP JOINT STOCK COMPANY ..................................................................
Assessment of compliance with regulations, progress, and work ethics (Maximum
of 1.0 point, with one decimal number): .............................................................................
Remarks (circle the appropriate one):
1. The student has completed the report properly under the guidance of the supervisor.
The supervisor is responsible for the title, purpose, subjects, scope and research
method(s), and chapters’ titles, and main headings of the report. (3 digits): 0.8-1.0
point(s)
2. The student has failed to carefully follow the supervisor’s instructions. The
supervisor is responsible for chapters’ titles, purpose, subject, scope and research
method(s), and titles and main headings of the report. (2 digits): 0.5-0.7 point(s)
3. The student has failed to carefully follow the supervisor’s instructions. The
supervisor is not responsible for the report: 0.1-0.4 point(s)
4. The student has totally failed to follow the supervisor’s instructions. The supervisor
rejects the submission of the report: 0 point
Ho Chi Minh City, August 20th, 2021

Supervisor
 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Except where reference is made in the text of the report, this report contains no
material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a report by which
the author has qualified or been awarded another degree or diploma. No other person’s
work has been used without due acknowledgement in the report. This report has not
been submitted for the reward of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary
constitution.

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2021

Nguyen Tri Dat

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author of this report would like to express the sincerest gratitude towards Mr.
Le Tuan Bach – the author’s supervisor teacher at Foreign Trade University, Ho Chi
Minh City campus, for his considerable support and precious guidance. The author
would also like to express his sincere thanks to the teachers at the Foreign Trade
University, Ho Chi Minh City campus II, for their dedication to spread professional
knowledge so that he could have the opportunity to learn, practice as well as learning
on the basis of comparison between theoretical and practical knowledge which help
him to fully complete the middle-course internship report.

In addition, the author wants to stress his sincere gratitude towards Ms. Kim Dung
and other seniors of The Export Department at Nguyen Minh Steel Group Joint Stock
Company for having accepted the author to become an Export Executive Intern,
wholeheartedly guiding, helping the author to recognize and learn how to effectively
fix his mistakes during the internship, providing the necessary materials and carefully
explaining many of the author’s questions about the topic so that he can accomplish the
report with the best result. Although some mistakes are made due to his shortage of
knowledge and experience, the author is looking forward to receiving comments and
shared knowledge and understanding from the readers.

Ho Chi Minh City, August 20th, 2021

Nguyen Tri Dat

 Table of Contents
PREFACE………………………………………………………………...……………1

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ABOUT NGUYEN MINH STEEL GROUP

JOINT STOCK COMPANY ......................................................................................... 2

1.1 General information and brief history of Nguyen Minh Steel ........................ 2

1.1.1 General information of Nguyen Minh Steel ................................................ 2

1.1.2 Brief developmental history of Nguyen Minh Steel Group ........................ 3

1.2 Main business activities ....................................................................................... 4

1.3 Organizational structure and Human Resources of Nguyen Minh Steel ...... 4

1.3.1 Organizational structure of Nguyen Minh Steel .......................................... 4

1.3.2 The Import and Export Department ............................................................. 6

1.3.3 Human Resources structure ......................................................................... 7

1.4 General assessment of the business performance from 2019 to 2020 .......... 9

1.5 Internship period at Nguyen Minh Steel ......................................................... 10

1.5.1 Brief description of Internship activities .................................................. 10

1.5.2 Personal aims and expectations for the Internship .................................... 11

CHAPTER 2 THE EXPORTING PROCESS AT NGUYEN MINH STEEL

JOINT STOCK COMPANY ..................................................................................... 12

2.1 The procedure of exporting at Nguyen Minh Steel Group ............................ 12

2.1.1 Receiving order and price offer ................................................................. 13

2.1.2 Discuss terms of condition and prepare the contracts ............................... 14

2.1.3 Contact shipping line for booking ............................................................. 16

2.1.4 Notify the customer for the goods condition ............................................. 17

2.1.5 Offer clearance service (optional).............................................................. 18

 2.1.6 Issue Bill of Lading (B/L) .......................................................................... 18

2.1.7 Send pre-alert to foreign agents ................................................................. 20

2.1.8 Make records.............................................................................................. 20

2.1.9 Save files and follow up the consignment ................................................. 21

2.2 General assessment of the internship on export operations at Nguyen Minh

Steel Group Joint Stock Company ............................................................................. 21

2.2.1 Strengths .................................................................................................... 21

2.2.2 Weaknesses ............................................................................................. 22

CHAPTER 3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT ........................ 24

3.1 Lessons learned from the internship at Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC. .. 24

3.2 Recommendation to improve the process of exporting Steel products at

Nguyen Minh Steel Group Joint Stock Company ..................................................... 25

3.2.1 Improving occupational skills of the staff ................................................. 25

3.2.2 Improving facilities .................................................................................... 25

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………….28

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………….29

APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………...30

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.2 The distribution and proportion of Human resource 2018-2019 ..................... 7
Table 1.3 Revenue, cost, profit of Nguyen Minh Steel. LTD from 2018 – 2019 ............ 9
Table 2.1 List of products in Contract No PLN/001227/19 ........................................... 15

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 NGUYEN MINH STEEL CO., LTD’s organizational Hierarchy chart ........ 4
Figure 2.1 The process of exporting at Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC ....................... 12

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Full meaning

NMI Nguyen Minh Steel Group
JSC Joint Stock Company
FOB Free On Board
B/L Bill Of Lading
RHS Rectangular Hollow Section
L/C Letter of Credit
 1

PREFACE

Despite the Covid-19’s negative impacts and Vietnam’s steel products being
subject to anti-dumping investigations in several markets, 2020 was a successful year
for Vietnam's steel exports. In 2021, as the second outbreak affect the majority of the
economy, steel production and exporting in general has been declined sharply. In fact,
many businesses have decided to postpone construction until they can offset the cost of
materials, which can slow down progress by 6-18 months. However, in recent months,
the gear of the economy starts to turn again as export and import still prevails despite
the pandemic. In the first quarter, steel companies continued to sharply increase their
output and profit thanks to large demand from both domestic and export markets. This
was the result of improvement and adjustment in exporting process, especially the
utilization of E-commerce, assuring operations runs properly with restricting logistics.
Nguyen Minh Steel Group is no exception. For over 20 years the company aim to
develop stabilization, albeit what adversities may arise. In hope of further study this
mentioned advancement and base on the valuable internship period, the author decided
to select the topic: “THE PROCESS OF EXPORTING STEEL AT NGUYEN
MINH STEEL GROUP JOINT STOCK COMPANY”. The paper’s structure
consists of three dedicated chapters:

- Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ABOUT NGUYEN MINH STEEL GROUP

JOINT STOCK COMPANY
- Chapter 2: THE EXPORTING PROCESS AT NGUYEN MINH STEEL
JOINT STOCK COMPANY
- Chapter 3: CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2021

Student

Nguyen Tri Dat

 2

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ABOUT NGUYEN MINH STEEL GROUP

JOINT STOCK COMPANY

1.1 General information and brief history of Nguyen Minh Steel

1.1.1 General information of Nguyen Minh Steel

Business name Công Ty Cổ Phần Tập Đoàn Thép Nguyễn Minh

English name Nguyen Minh Steel Group Joint Stock Company

Name in abbreviation NMI Steel Group JSC

Website http://nmisteel.com/vi/

Phone number 028 7301 2345

Tax 028 3760 0440

Email export@nmisteel.com

Company’s logo

Slogan Stabilization for Development

Tax code 1101359647

Company code 1101359647

Business registration date 10/3/2011

Legal representative Nguyen Minh Huy

 3

Head office D6/31, 4th Tan Tuc Town, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi
Minh City

Business activities 1. Producing welded steel pipes for construction and

multiple applications
2. Producing stainless steel pipes, steel coils and
PPGL/PPGI coils

1.1.2 Brief developmental history of Nguyen Minh Steel Group

NMI - Nguyen Minh Steel Trading - Production Joint Stock Company (Nguyen
Minh Steel Group Joint Stock Company) was first established in 1999, and through the
long development history of the enterprise, has proved its position in the Vietnamese
market.

Nguyen Minh Steel continuously invests in modern machinery and equipment

with production lines according to advanced technology of Italy, Spain, Japan and
Taiwan. To produce high quality products, diversify categories to meet the needs of
domestic and international markets. The factory's products are high-grade steel pipes
meeting international quality standards, suitable for many levels of construction works
and other applications. In parallel with the vision and slogan "Sustainable
Development", besides maintaining existing strengths, the company also exploits
potential opportunities in providing products, goods and services. to meet and develop
the needs of customers and partners. All production stages will always be safe and
respectful of issues related to pollution of the natural environment. Sincerely and
grateful for the valuable support of our companions, Nguyen Minh Steel is committed
to always aiming to create opportunities to bring good benefits to all employees and
customers.
 4

1.2 Main business activities

Nguyen Minh Steel specialize in manufacturing steel with various size, weight
and type for various construction purpose. The company also modify metal products
according to requirements such as galvanized with specific amount of other metal
factors, most notably galvanized wave steel. Although the company mainly produce for
domestic needs, Nguyen Minh Steel also export to many abroad business partners in
Myanmar, Thailand, India, Korea and Australia. In the future, the company aims to
shift products toward export primary.

1.3 Organizational structure and Human Resources of Nguyen Minh Steel

1.3.1 Organizational structure of Nguyen Minh Steel

Nguyen Minh Steel Group is currently based on a centralized design model, and
its structure is a linear strategy model. The vertical hierarchy diagram is shown below.
In the following organizational hierarchy diagram, it can be clearly seen that the
company's operating structure is quite clear, tight and transparent, and the system has
the ability to adapt to changing conditions. The reason is simple. Each operator has a
unique responsibility in his/her field.

Figure 1.1 NGUYEN MINH STEEL CO., LTD’s organizational Hierarchy chart

Source: Nguyen Minh Group Human Resource

 5

According to the following organizational hierarchy chart, the highest power of

operation management is the Board of Shareholder, taking directions from them are the
Board of Management which is supervised and also co-lead by the Board of
Supervisor. Below the Board of Management is the Board of Directors which consist
of distinguished Departments with unique functions but highly correlated. These
characteristics enable the directors of the company to easily control the situation of
each department, and also reduce the burden of each department, because the
responsibilities of the departments at all levels are fixed and unified, and the authority
is clear. So everyone knows who is responsible for himself and who is really
responsible for himself. More importantly, the system can be adjusted to adapt to
changing conditions. The reason is visible: each operator has a particular responsibility
in their field. Besides, the shortcomings of such a corporate structure are its rigid and
inflexible organizational forms. The concentrated power system tends to be dictatorial,
and there are no rules for experts or professional work, which is essential for growth
and optimization. A more decentralized structure may offer a better overall
performance.

Working closely with me are the followings departments with particular

functions and role in the organization:

Finance Department: Strictly performing professional accounting and finance jobs

according to the State's regulations on accounting standards and accounting principles.
Monitoring, reflecting the movement of the Company's business capital in all forms
and advising the Board of Directors on relevant issues. Accounting promptly and fully
all assets, equity, liabilities; financial revenue and expenditure activities and business
results according to the internal regulations of the Company, ensuring good service for
business activities. Making financial planning of the company. Advising the leaders in
order to direct and perform the inspection and supervision of the management and
compliance with the State's and internal financial and accounting regimes.
 6

Logistic Department: Planning transportation to reach the requirements of freight and

raw materials. Transporting the goods and raw materials in the required time.
Arranging, managing and dispatching the fleet effectively and safely.

Import & Export Department: This is the department where the author resided and
worked during his internship. The main function of it was planning and implementing
the business strategy of import and export. Organizing and managing international
market activities, finding export and import markets. Organizing, monitoring and
managing the import and export process. Doing the foreign trade operations (opening
L/C, Certificate of Origin, Custom declaration). The author will describe more
specifically this department down below.

Technical Department: Advising the Management Board in the field of technical

management and production technology. Managing the entire system of machines and
equipment at the production lines. Proposing and solving technical problems related to
the production process. Researching and applying the advanced techniques of new
technologies into production in order to improve product quality, increase productivity
and develop new types of products. The technical department working closely with the
sales department and Export department to modify orders and provide technical
support for the customer, suggesting packaging and transportation for best handling
and conditions of steel.

1.3.2 The Import and Export Department

The department involves any procedures related to foreign trade, especially

exporting steel, which is the company main business activity. Paperwork associates
with drafting brochure for new steel product, preparing contracts, directly contact with
customers through email or through intermediaries and collect required documents for
exporting process (Bill of Lading, certificates, …). In term of e-commerce, despite that
the company still mainly gain customers through brokers and business associates’
 7

recommendations, the department is developing a more convenient and direct platform

aiming to access into larger client pools. Currently an entirely new section of the
company’s website is being built. This movement promise to bring ease of contact for
both the customers and our agent, especially the real time ordering system of website e-
commerce would shorten the company’s process by lengths. Before that, the export
department still rely heavily on email for orders and offers. The department also holds
account of imported raw material such as heavy metal, metal cutter, galvanizer,
industrial frames, ... For such activities, the department report directly back to the
Finance Department for cost and expense. The quantity of material, what type and
requirements would be assessed and decided by the Technical Department and Head of
Factory. Finally, the delivering of products to the customer is planned by the export
department with close association with the Logistics Department. As far as
everything’s concerned, the Export Department is in close collaboration with most of
all other departments.

In terms of human resources, the department has a total of 32 employees

(excluding the author), most of whom are senior with many years of experience in the
field of logistics and exporting procedures. There is Mr Thanh, the head of department,
who supervise the other 31 administrators and report back to The Board of Director.
The author works directly with a mentor who is also a senior, Ms Dung. Detail of daily
task and work can be found in Brief description of Internship section below or in Table
of summary of internship in Appendix.

1.3.3 Human Resources structure

Table 1.1 The distribution and proportion of Human resource 2018-2019

Number Ratio (%)

Gender Male 534 89

Female 66 11
 8

Type of Administrative office 126 21

work
Factory worker 474 79

Age 18 - 45 437 72,8

over 45 163 27,2

Education University Degree 150 25

College Degree 125 20,83

High School 325 54,17

Total 600 100

(Source: NGUYEN MINH STEEL CO. LTD Human Resource internal report 2020)

As drawn from the table above, there are a total of 600 hundred workers
currently working at the head office, among which 534 are males and 66 females. In
other classification, such as type of work, there are 126 clerical workers and 474
factory workers. For age division, the majority of employees are in the 18 - 45 age
group and a small portion of 27% of the total workforce are above 45 years. Education
wise, there are 150 employees with university degrees and 125 workers graduated
college.

It is useful to take into account the fact that factory workers made up the most of
the workforce (79% to 21%) due to the characteristics of steel manufacturing. This key
point also accounts for the high proportion of male workers. On the other hand, the
company created many jobs for the local people from the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh
city, which utilize workers from different levels of education for the most effective and
efficient productivity. The low ratio of females could be due to the majority of the
labour force being male workers.
 9

Overall, the company's work structure is quite adequate for strategy, production and
operation. However, with the increasingly fierce competition among import and export
companies, companies must give priority to recruiting more and more qualified
candidates as their employees to operate more effectively and create more job
opportunities for people living there.

1.4 General assessment of the business performance from 2019 to 2020

Table 1.2 Revenue, cost, profit of Nguyen Minh Steel. LTD from 2018 – 2019
(Unit: thousand VND, %)

2018 2019 2020

Revenue 14.658.131.716 18.979.401.379 11.762.341.422

Cost 14.392.123.445 18.486.979.872 11.231.888.314

Profit before tax 266.008.281 220.199.200 110.322.237

Profit after tax 225.774.139 182.632.869 78.857.962

From table 1.3 above, it can be seen that the business landscape of Nguyen
Minh Steel CO LTD was heavily affected by COVID-19 second outbreak in 2020
despite the fact that the firm made a remarkable recovery in 2019 after the economic
crisis in 2018 due to the pandemic. Overall, the company witnessed a steep fall in
revenue and profit decreased accordingly. For the revenue, from about 18.979 million
VND of revenue in 2019, Nguyen Minh Steel humbly earned 11.762 million VND in
2020, that is equivalent to a decrease of almost 45% of previous figures. The
downward trend in revenue could account for the negative global impact of COVID-19
to the economy. In fact, it has been forecasted that construction (which is steel is in
huge demand) business will be reduced in size by 20% after the pandemic.
 10

Due to the economic crisis and existing competition with other competitors, the
company faces many challenges, Nguyen Minh Steel is now under the pressure of
making the profit rise again. This encourages the Director Board of the company to
develop better strategies and set higher goals for your business's further development in
2021 and beyond. The first goal is to retain and increase revenue with an equivalent or
more than the amount made in 2019 compare to 2018. With the country is now in
course of vaccinated, a relatively close future where business runs normal again is
anticipated and the company has prepared for the better or worse.

1.5 Internship period at Nguyen Minh Steel

1.5.1 Brief description of Internship activities

The first day of work was the first of July when the author was first introduced
to many aspects of the company such as cultures, workplace, staff and the factory
where steel are made and galvanized. The first field trip was mostly sightseeing as a
welcome. On second of July, the writer took part in The Orientation Day of the
company. This is when the author has the opportunity to meet all of the staff at Nguyen
Minh Steel and observe the culture as well as certain attributes such as value, vision of
the company, and the demography of the human resources to some extent. After that,
the author went through his first week with paperwork with close supervision and
guidance from the mentor. It is also in this week came the acknowledgement of
difference in reality business from theory learnt in university in the process of
receiving orders from the customer and exporting in general. Several weeks later was
many clerical training sessions and more paperwork as the author was efficient at his
job. Currently, the writer now can handle orders and prepared necessary documents but
still require guidance from mentor since there are occurrence of abnormalities in
standard procedure. Much to my awe, these absurdities can be arranged and sometime
even considered the norm in the world of trading. Later on, the author will provide
 11

such case with unprecedented requirements according to his knowledge, however, is

conformity in export.

1.5.2 Personal aims and expectations for the Internship

This report of the steel exporting process in Nguyen Minh Steel is a practical
opportunity for the writer to apply classroom theory to the real working environment,
weighing pros and cons of what theory offers and what practices business makers
actually administer to their contracts and policies. Furthermore, the author was also
provided the chance to learn more about the international markets for the steel and
galvanized metal products industry and being polarized to the working environment as
well as fortifying knowledge and necessary skill sets for future career path.

Despite the restrictions of amount and scope of work due to being an intern, the
writer managed to grasp as much of the education from the real case of contracts from
the past as well as a few sales that occur in the period of internship.
 12

CHAPTER 2 THE EXPORTING PROCESS AT NGUYEN MINH STEEL

JOINT STOCK COMPANY

2.1 The procedure of exporting at Nguyen Minh Steel Group

The process of exporting products at Nguyen Minh Steel Group includes 9 main
steps mentioned in Table 2.1. In some situations, the process might be added to more
specific activities to build more proper contracts, which depends mostly on the type of
product or special requirements of the client. For more specific, there would be detailed
instructions for each step of the procedure along with the explanation of the process in
the real contract NMI.GSG 140121 between Nguyen Minh Steel Group and GS Global
Corp for exporting Zinc from Vietnam to Korea.

Figure 2.1 The process of exporting at Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC

(Source: Nguyen Minh Steel Group exporting procedure report)

 13

2.1.1 Receiving order and price offer

Normally, the first step of any exporting process would be receiving orders and
offering prices. The Import and Export department will directly contact the customers
and acquire their necessary information related to the goods and the business: is it
nominated or freehand, what kind of steel, weight, size, type of container, port of
destination and discharge, INCOTERMS, ... These attributes will be later specified on
contract. The staff in the Exporting department is also responsible for consulting the
customer for what kind of container or shipping lines and fees is suitable for their
commodity matching their requirements.

Based on that information, the Exporting Accountant will contact the shipping
line, ask for vessel scheduling, transportation time, and sea freight. Then, the Sales
employee sends a quotation to the customer via mail or fax. If the sea freight and vessel
schedule satisfy and has been accepted by clients, the Sales staff will contact the
shipping line for booking.

Specifically, GS Global Corp sent an email to the Accounting Department at

Nguyen Minh Steel Group, requiring the company to quote price and vessel schedule
on 12th January 2021. The customer provided information to the company as follows:

Type of goods: Freehand

Commodity: Groove RHS Pre Zinc
Goods packed in mill’s standard for export packing with 8 straps per bundle. All
bundles are tagged with secure straps.
Port of discharge: Sydney and Melbourne for two shipments
Estimated delivery date: Exact on 15th May, 2021.
Consignee: GS Global Corp
INCOTERMS: FOB, Ho Chi Minh port, Vietnam
 14

After synthesizing customer information provided, Nguyen Minh Steel Group

consulted freight, vessel schedule, and chose the suitable shipping line for the
consignment of GS Global Corp. Nguyen Minh Steel contacted OOCL shipping line
for booking.

Notice: The order above was characterized with shipments to two different ports
albeit they are in the same country. For such orders, ask the customer for more
information relate to discharge goods matters, additional fees, or even their preferred
shipping line since two different shipments increase the expense significantly, and as
the business has always been very competitive, it’s the department’s duty to make it as
convenient as possible with low cost to retain partners for future trading relationship.

2.1.2 Discuss terms of condition and prepare the contracts

The contract is often made by the Nguyen Minh Steel and then sent to the
customers via mail for checking. It includes the order, price list, quality, quantity, time
of delivery, discharging place, a form of payment, and other terms. After sending and
discussing heterogeneous terms, finally, when both parties agree with all articles, they
will sign the contract. The time for negotiating depends on the characteristics of the
order and partner. The Exporting Accountant process through every article of the deal
then sends the contract to the head of export department, who gives the contract one
final proof read and if no errors are found, the contract will be signed.

In the example, on January 14th, 2021, Nguyen Minh Steel Group has signed
contract No: NMI.GSG 140121 with GS Global Corp (Address: 10th Floor, GS Tower,
508, Nonhyeon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06141, Korea). The goods ordered were
packed in Mill’s standard for export with 8 straps per bundle. The contract specified
that the port of destination was Melbourne/ Sydney, Australia, under the condition of
Free on Board (FOB). The payment was to be made by LC 100% at sight 120 days
after the B/L date.
 15

In this contract, the Buyer made an order for Zinc products with different
specific detail about sized, quantity, unit price, amount ordered and the required
technical content as follow:

Table 2.1 List of products in Contract No PLN/001227/19

Port PO Size (mm) Kg/ Piec Pcs/ Quanti FOB Amou

No. m e Bdl ty (MT) (USD/M nt
T) (USD)

Melb CG1 Groove RHS 2.82 768 32 13.24 1070 14,16

ourn 0567 Pre Zinc 50 6 6.80
e SSW x 100 x 1.20
x 6100

Groove RHS 2.82 1248 32 28.21 1070 30,18

Pre Zinc 50 6 4.70
x 100 x 1.20
x 8000

Source: SALE CONTRACT No: NMI.GSG 140121

Notice: This step usually requires many discuss with the customer as there are
many factors that affect the final products such as packing, condition of goods, which
shipping line to use and even the INCOTERMS should be thoroughly considered.
 16

2.1.3 Contact shipping line for booking

Based on the order confirmation, the Exporting Accountant shall contact the
shipping line for booking. The shipping line then confirms successful booking to the
Sales staff by giving booking confirmation. After having booking confirmation from
the shipping line, the Exporting Accountant shall immediately send the booking to
confirm to the customer so that they arrange for packing goods and make the necessary
export customs clearance.

In principle, shipping line issues booking confirmation to company, the

forwarder/consignor (depending on Incoterms) shall bring with him booking confirm to
the depo at port (i.e. Valencia port), present booking confirms to the shipping line to
get an empty container release order. However, in practice, due to the difference in
shipping line regulations and for the convenience of the customer, there may exist the
case that the shipping line issues booking confirm in form of empty container release
order so that shipper/forwarder staff can take empty container release order in
exchange for the container, carry out loading in the container. Usually, information on
the empty container release order is consistent with that in the booking confirmation.

After checking the information provided by Global GS. Nguyen Minh Steel
Group contacted the OOCL shipping line for booking. OOCL confirmed booking
successfully and sent an empty container release order to the Exporting Accountant of
Nguyen Minh Steel Group on 18 January 2021. The information on the empty
container release order should be noted as follows:

Customer: Nguyen Minh Steel Group Joint Stock Company

Requirement to take container: 20GPX1
Marking: OOCL;
Vessel name: ELA 024S
Container pick up date: 24 June 2021;
Container return date: 25 June 2021
 17

Closing time: 9h00, 28 June 2021

Packed goods at: Factory
Departure date: 30 June 2021
Port of loading: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Place of discharge: Melbourne/ Sydney, Australia

After receiving an empty container release order issued by the shipping line, the
Exporting Accountant shall immediately send it by fax to the OOCL shipping line.

2.1.4 Notify the customer for the goods condition

The Exporting Accountant of Nguyen Minh Steel Group who shall base closing
time on empty containers release order, remind the customer to pack goods and drop
containers prior to closing time.

Normally, the Exporting Accountant of Sunrise Logistic Co. ltd will take
container release orders to Container Yard (CY) in exchange for empty containers.
They also have to monitor and coordinate with the customer to arrange an empty
container to pack goods, transport to the port ready for loading on the vessel and finally
conduct customs clearance for the consignment. However, the person who packs the
goods can be changed depending on the Incoterms being used. Note that Sunrise
Logistic Co. ltd was nominated by the buyer since its FOB INCOTERMS.

To be specific, OOCL Line exported Zinc products to Australia under FOB

terms, OOCL Line is liable for packing goods. After receiving empty container release
order from Exporting Accountant of Nguyen Minh Steel Group, OOCL Line are in
charge of taking the empty container release order to CY to take back the empty
container for packing goods at their warehouse and deliver the container to the port of
loading prior to 9.00 am 28 June (closing time).
 18

2.1.5 Offer clearance service (optional)

In this step, OOCL Line exported the consignment of mattress handles on CFR
terms. Therefore, Nguyen Minh Steel Group will be responsible for conducting
customs formalities by themselves. The customs declaration process in Nguyen Minh
Steel Group shall be performed in two main steps: prepare customs documents and
transmit declaration data. In the phase of declaration data transmission, Nguyen Minh
Steel Group goes on to transfer to the customs office through the electronic customs
software “ECUSKD”.

Notice: Although this is indeed an optional service, it is necessary to build a

strong business relationship with the customer. As the standard process is long and
inconvenient, if company makes the process simple, the better.

2.1.6 Issue Bill of Lading (B/L)

During the time waiting for dropping the container, the consignor shall
immediately provide a Shipping Instruction to the Documentation Department and
require the staff to issue B/L. At the same time, the consignor has to prepare a
Certificate of Weight and Quality from Vina Control which is used to affirm the cargo
weight and quality carried in a packed container. Certificate of Weight and Quality is
sent to the Documentation staff which thereafter is put into the shipping line system. In
that way, the company can assure the weighing containers are in compliance with the
actual weight before loading onboard vessels (error permitted is 5%).

The process of issuing B/L can be divided into two sub-steps here below:

Issue House B/L: require the customer to provide information needed for House B/L
issuance. Particularly, shipper will give Shipping Instruction to Documentation staff to
issue House B/L. The content specified on House B/L encompasses Shipper,
Consignee, Vessel/Voyage, Port of Loading, Container/Seal No, Container No,
description of goods, number of packages, gross weight.
 19

Once the above information is available, the staff will issue a draft House B/L
and send a draft B/L to the shipper by fax for the purpose of double check and mistake
avoidance. Provided that the customer is fully checked and confirmed the information
given, the company will issue an official House B/L.

Provide information to the shipping line to issue Master B/L: this stage will be
conducted after issuing House B/L. Document staff will make a back-to-back Shipping
Instruction, primarily based on original Shipping Instruction, along with information of
the good, whereby send those documents to the shipping line to issue Master B/L.

OOCL Line gave Shipping Instruction to Documentation staff on 26 June 2021.

Upon their request, Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC issued official House B/L which
contained the information such as:

Shipper: Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC;

Consignee: Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC;
Notify party: GS Global Corp; Delivery agent: OOCL Line
Container No/Seal: OOCU8429796/OOLGTE4434;
Freight and charge: Freight collected;
Freight payable at: Port of destination

In the next step, a back-to-back Shipping Instruction, as said before,

will be sent to the shipping line to issue Master B/L. To be specific, OOCL
shipping line issued a Master B/L after the vessel’s departure on 30th June
2020

Shipper: Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC;

Consignee: Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC;
Notify party: GS Global Corp; Ocean Vessel Voyage No: ELA 024S
Description of goods: GROOVE RHS PRE ZINC, Z270, C350 HS Code:
73066190;
 20

On CY-CY terms, Ocean freight is prepaid, shipper’s load, count and seal.

Regarding Certificate of Weight and Quality, the shipper – Nguyen Minh Steel
Group JSC was required to disclose all information related to container weight. To be
more concrete, on 19 January 2020, Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC sent a Certificate
of Weight and Quality to Documentation staff at OOCL Line.

Notice: Make sure to obtain a clean Bill of Lading by checking the products
thoroughly, the packing was correctly, if there are any errors at this step, it is advised to
halt the exporting, go as far as change the shipment time and different voyage,
especially with FOB terms, to make sure the condition of the goods on board was of
the best. Simply due to the fact that the majority of the cases the customer always
stated it is required a clean Bill of Lading, if not comply, default is inevitable.

2.1.7 Send pre-alert to foreign agents

After issuing B/L, Documentation employee will send pre-alert via email to the
foreign agent at the place of destination to confirm all information of the consignment
such as container number, container type, shipper/consignee, vessel name/voyage, the
port of loading/port of destination, ETD/ETA, B/L number, type of B/L (original or
surrender), consignment freight (collect or prepaid). House B/L and Master B/L are
enclosed in the pre-alert before sending to the foreign agent. If the foreign agent has
not confirmed the receipt of pre-alert, then the Documentation staff will resend the pre-
alert until receiving confirmation. After receiving confirmation, the staff will create a
folder in the mailbox to save confirmation mail from foreign agents.

2.1.8 Make records

The Accounting Department of Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC will continue
checking whether the documents match with the consignment information or not.
Afterward, the Exporting Accountant settles customer transactions with payment.
Depending on whether freight to collect or freight prepaid, the staff will settle payment
 21

with the consigner. Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC usually receives payment on the
basis of remittance to the company’s account, 30% of the freight charges will be settled
upon booking confirmation, the remaining 70% becomes due until the Accounting
Department sends documents to the foreign shipping agent.

2.1.9 Save files and follow up the consignment

Accounting Manager and Exporting Accountant collaborate to perform the last

step. Exporting Accountants arrange documents and save files including booking
confirm or container release order; House B/L and Master B/L; pre-alert
acknowledgment; payment documents and a working sheet which lists forwarding
process steps, date, and time of performing each step for checking and comparing if
necessary.

After Exporting Accountant saved documents of steel products consignment of

GS Global Corp, they will monitor payment with OOCL Line. To end up the
forwarding process, Accounting Manager & Exporting Accountant, along with GS
Global Corp and OOCL Line followed up the consignment, including payment, type of
B/L, transportation information and the status of goods.

Notice: This step is crucial since the amount of new customer Nguyen Minh
Steel gain in recent years are much lower than the established time. Which implies
revenue usually comes from loyalty partner. Hence, following up the consignment and
offer additional service for retainment is necessary.

2.2 General assessment of the internship on export operations at Nguyen Minh

Steel Group Joint Stock Company

2.2.1 Strengths

The internship period is the experience necessary for each individual's career
path development. In addition, it is also an opportunity to take advantage of each
 22

individual's strengths to develop himself in the most optimal way. Without the
following strengths, the author himself will find it difficult to take advantage of
development opportunities related to export operations if only based on theoretical
knowledge and company guidance. The internship was close and applicable compared
to the knowledge learnt in university. This not only consolidate the expertise but also
broaden the author’s mind and skillset.

With the advantages of knowledge in computer skills such as Microsoft Office,

Excel, Data entry ...the author has accelerated the process of adapting to the working
environment at the company and increased the speed in which he completed daily task
with time for improvement. In terms of interpersonal skill, with a proactive learning
and independently working attitude, the author got to know other employees in rather
short time, despite the generation gap, this shortens the gap between author and co-
worker relationships and enjoys friendly help in the workplace. For the soft skills,
thanks to the solution-oriented and critical observation, the author solved the questions
and took direct action on problems that occurred or could occur during the practice.

2.2.2 Weaknesses

In addition to taking advantage of strengths in the workplace, the internship

process helps the author observed problems that need to be improved as soon as
possible.

Centralization of authority: As present in Organization Structure section,

NMI possess a linear power line and in human management terms, the company utilize
Line Authority instead of Staff Authority, which means orders from above are usually
absolute and there is no room for feedbacks and questions. Furthermore, certain
department finalized decision can be overridden by Managers and successive higher
position in the hierarchy can alter the final outcome. This not only jeopardy the
 23

exporting process in terms of logic but also devalue the efforts employees delivers as
many contracts were often adjusted by the directors without clear reasons.

Family business: The firm was tradition in terms of family business as ever
since the established era, higher seats were taken or given to the family of the founder.
This custom perpetuates to current days with the Head Manager Nguyen Minh Huy
who is the son of the previous Manager. Although no evidence of proof of the
inferiority or incapable of higher seats in the hierarchy were found, this trend signals an
unfair promotional system and healthy competitive workplace.

Low salary fund: The salary for employees is relatively low compared to
general assessment. The only way for a good pay is to be promoted for a higher
ranking. However, this is deemed arduous as the two factors mentioned above. This
cause low morale among the workforce and since wages are one of the most effective
motivators, the employees could experience down mood or unproductive at times.
Besides, with low salary, the staff neglects broadening expertise and cause difficulties
in work such as error in standard process and wrong use of terms.

Poor office facility: There is distinguished difference between the offices and
factories as the majority of capital was invested in to machinery to increase massive
production capacity. As a consequence, other facility was overlooked with poor
conditions. Slow and outdated hardware computers and projectors, inadequate lighting,
obsolete electricity system. This hinders many processes in the department such as
communicate or sending soft copies of information, documents and contracts.

Lack of training and requirements for the employees: The employees often
find themselves in frustration due to lack of essential training for specific proficiency.
Especially in formal English and IT skills. This could be resolve and lighten by raising
and specify the requirements in the hiring and acquisition process. There will be less
candidates but quality per se would increase and in turn increase productivity in the
long run.
 24

CHAPTER 3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

3.1 Lessons learned from the internship at Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC.

There is increasing competition in the job market with high standards for
employees. Therefore, the internship process is always an important personal
development opportunity for any individual through the values it brings. It can be seen
that there are many values that the author received after the course, which can be
divided into the following 3 main points:

Expertise in export: Aside from applying import-export knowledge learnt and

applied to work, the internship has revealed that there is distinction between theory and
practice. The period of working with real cases has demonstrated that the theory is
formal but slightly obsolete and working directly makes up for the lack of specialized
knowledge and abilities necessary for the present, ever-changing economic
development

Soft skills: Self-development is most visible when the author evaluate himself
before and after the course of internship. Typically, the ability to communicate has
improved more than shown when the author communicates directly with the customer
confidently, formally and the working custom is fluent when the author actively
supports to learn more from other seniors in the department outside of the position
where he is assigned to improve expertise and other work-related aspects.

Career path orientation: Although the internship is brief, the practical

experiences obtained as a result provide the author with several opportunities for
professional growth. The writer concludes that he should design a precise growth
strategy and should thoroughly analyse each clearly stated target. Furthermore, the
author should study more about the necessary competency in order to build
professional paths. Given the current situation, these are critical issues that the author
should prepare to prevent uncertainties and maximize opportunities in the future.
 25

3.2 Recommendation to improve the process of exporting Steel products at

Nguyen Minh Steel Group Joint Stock Company

3.2.1 Improving occupational skills of the staff

In light of perceptions during the temporary position time frame, the Company
is loaded with dependable laborers who are merchandise in working. There are no
authority preparing programs given to new staff and the manners in which newbies get
to know the undertaking are encountering without anyone else and asking from their
seniors. The circumstance is far more atrocious when the quantity of new staff
increments quickly as a result of the development in the extent of the Company. Be
that as it may, this is certifiably not a hard case to tackle. Indeed, the preparation
program consistently requires a speaker that is adequate to share insight and persuade
laborers to follow their impact. Consequently, for inside preparing, the firm ought to
pick one of the administrators who are of the best able to control all through the
instructional class. Then again, the Company may likewise offer their staff an outside
instructional class, delicate abilities course or English course for instance. By and by,
for this sort of preparing program, it requires the Company to have a specific measure
of assets and an appropriate working timetable to work with the specialists.

3.2.2 Improving facilities

As mentioned above, developing the occupational skills of workers is an

essential issue as well as the office conditions. With proper internal network and better
computers will result in a faster and efficient communication between departments and
this will shorten the processing times considerably. Better lighting and air conditioning
may result in a better environment for the administrator, which provide them an ideal
workplace with up mood and keep them motivated. Since the company manufacturing
and exporting steel, under the scope of this paper, the exporting process is primarily
aimed. Under no circumstances should the base of work where lies the office worker
 26

should be overlooked, improvement in facilities is a profitable and high return rate

investment which will set the company far in progress.
 27

CONCLUSION

In the light of today’s technology background and deep integration, application

of Internet especially is being utilized by firms to gain competitive advantages.
Vietnam is developing fast in trading, with logistics and exporting in general are in
tight demand. Every company should only base on theory for reference, real business
trading demand further knowledge which can’t be worded in books. Innovations in
process, use of technology, preference over standard procedure and ease of payment
are factors that will transform firms to leading names in the domestic market or even
the highly competitive international pool. Although integration has brought in many
competitors and hence, the market share is divided even further, it has also presented
opportunities.

Nguyen Minh Steel Group exporting process, although retain some outdated
methodology with a centralization authority makes less room for innovations, are
improving to compete with other competitors with the usage of website, flexible in
paperwork tailored according to customers’ preference. This result in a slight increase
in revenue in 2021 signals a slow but steady recovery despite the economy affected by
the pandemic. That being said, there are plenty rooms for improvement. As presented
in Chapter 3, the company should focus in investing its’ human resources and office
facilities, this may increase expense thus making profit margin small, but will provide
the firm with even higher productivity in the long run. As for structural hierarchy,
innovations or restructuring process is unlikely to happen in the near future considering
the long custom and establishing history of the company. However, the customer base
of Nguyen Minh Steel is large and favourable, retainment strategy should be primarily
aimed and taken into core of future planning as profit comes directly from the goodwill
the company build with the long-time partner.
 28

REFERENCE

1. Courtesy of Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC, Accounting Department SALE

CONTRACT No: NMI.GSG 140121
2. Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC Human Resource Department, 2021, Nguyen
Minh Steel Group JSC Human Resource Report.
3. Nguyen Minh Steel Group JSC Human Resource Department, 2021, Nguyen
Minh Steel Group JSC Annual Report.
 29

APPENDIX

1. Commercial Invoice

2. Bill of Lading No. 235000094639

3. Packing List

4. Sale Contract (Page 1)

5. Internship Summary Table

 30

Commercial Invoice
 31

Bill of Lading
 32

Packing List
 33

Sale Contract (Page 1)

 34

Internship Summary Table

Date Task Result

01/07/2021 Learn about the basis of the Understand the general

company (organizational structure, information about Nguyen
departments, history) Minh Steel Group

02/07/2021 Orientation day Get to know different

departments and the company
working process

03/07 - Assist Import and Export Consolidated knowledge learnt

15/07/2021 department process orders and from university and applied
implications from customer abroad into real contract

16/07/2021 Receive clerical training and other Broaden mind and adopt new
company cultures skills

17/07 - Paper sort and documents process Some errors were made but in
26/07/2021 for packaging and prepare necessary overall, the author learned
material for contracts applicable knowledge
throughout this period

27/07/2021 to Received and tracked an official Can handle paperwork like a

now order with supervised mentor normal employee