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
PREFACE.................................................................................................................... 1

CHAPTER 1.INTRODUCTION TO KIM THINH TRADING LIMITED

COMPANY....................................................................................................................... 1

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

CHAPTER 2. ANALYSIS OF THE PROCEDURE OF IMPORTING

PRECIOUS METAL SALTS AT KIM THINH TRADING LIMITED COMPANY
......................................................................................................................................... 10

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

2.2.5. Doing the Customs Declaration:......................................................................17

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

2.2.7. Executing Payment process:............................................................................20

2.3. Comparison in the process between importing Precious metal salts and importing
other goods of Kim Thinh:...............................................................................................21

2.4. General evaluation..............................................................................................23

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

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

CHAPTER 3. DEVELOPMENT PROSPECT, ORIENTATION AND SOME

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR KIM THINH TRADING CO., LTD.........................27

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

3.3.1. Recruitment for additional labor forces............................................................31

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

3.3.3. Improvement for specialized expertise in Logistics Department.....................32

CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................33

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
 2

Thuy Vy, Senior Manager of Import- Export Department, for all their helpful and
detailed guidance throughout my internship.
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)
 3

CHAPTER 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:
 4

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
 5

Hoa Sen 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)

 6

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.
 7

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
 8

have much 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
 9

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.
 10

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.
 11

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.
 12

CHAPTER 2. 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 2-5 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
 13

issued by the 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 2-6 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
 14

Order will 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
 15

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
 16

days before the delivery date. When 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.
 17

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
 18

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.
 19

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.
 20

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
 21

arranged all the documents in a particular order: custom declaration form, Airway bill,
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
 22

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

2.2.7. Executing Payment process:

Figure 2-3 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
 23

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.

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:

 24

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 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,
 25

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 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.
 26

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
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
 27

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 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.
 28

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 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.
 29

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.
 30

CHAPTER 3. 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
 31

strategies. With the changes in world economics every day, the government has always
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.
 32

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.
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. 
 33

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 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.
 34

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.

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
 35

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 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
 36

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.
 37

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.
38
 1

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
1
 1

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