How much of Noble House's remaining assets and how its debts will be handled are still unclear as this depends on asset sales and the judgment of the US court. Sources said a company would buy Noble House’s assets this October.

However, the information about the bankruptcy of the US interior and exterior furniture manufacturer, distributor and retailer has affected the prices of Vietnam’s stocks.

On October 9, the price of PTB shares of Phu Tai JSC dropped by 4 percent to below VND60,000 per share. Phu Tai is a big wooden furniture and ashlar paving stone exporter to the US. It is expected to earn big money from woodwork exports to the US after Vietnam and the US decided to upgrade its relation to Comprehensive Strategic Partner.

Phu Tai’s financial report showed that by the end of June 2023, Phu Tai had receivables of VND79 billion from Noble House, an increase of VND71 billion compared with earlier this year. The receivables are equal to 10 percent of revenue from woodwork division of the holding company.

Cam Ha JSC has also been adversely affected by the US corporation’s bankruptcy with 50 percent of its revenue from Noble House. In a notice released October 3, Cam Ha said the company was under court proceedings to recover receivables from the US corporation.

However, there has been no change in CHC share trading and the no-transaction situation has existed for many years.

The US is a large trade partner of Vietnam, which explains why upheavals with the US companies can affect the operation of Vietnamese partners immediately.

In late 2022, Binh Thanh-Gilimex (GIL) reported a decrease of VND600 billion in capitalization value within one week after a lawsuit with Amazon.

Gilimex announced its decision to sue Amazon Robotics LLC for the latter’s behavior of breaking commitments made before.

Amazon has been accused of sharply lowering the expected demand for the rest of 2022 and 2023 to a very low level, causing Gilimex to suffer from production capacity excess and raw material abundance. Amazon has cut imports because consumer demand in the US has declined and the inventories are high.

In 2020, Song Hong Garment Company also underwent hardships when its large partner RTW Retailwinds filed for bankruptcy. 

In 2018, Thanh Cong Textile and Garment incurred a big loss because of the filing for bankruptcy by Sears Holdings.

Exports to the US large retail chains have brought prosperity to many Vietnamese enterprises, including Gilimex, Phu Tai, Song Hong Garment, Vinh Hoan Seafood and Minh Phu Seafood.

Phu Tai, for example, which was a small company with modest profit of less than VND70 billion in 2012, has become one of the largest domestic woodwork exporters with a profit of VND500 billion in 2022, a seven-fold increase, thanks[1]  to exports to the US.

Vinh Hoan Seafood 's profit soared from VND200 billion in 2012 to VND2 trillion in 2022; its most important market is the US. Meanwhile, Minh Phu, the largest shrimp exporter, made a legendary breakthrough with profit soaring from VND17 billion to VND800 billion.

In the field of textile and garment, TNG also witnessed rapid growth from VND22 billion to VND300 billion. 

Economists all commented that US capital inflow to Vietnam and imports-exports have increased rapidly in the last 10 years and will continue to increase in the next 10-year period. 

However, diversifying import partners and expanding export markets are necessary as the No1 economy in the world is facing problems.

A number of well-known retailers, including JC Penney, Neiman Marcus, J. Crew, Pier 1 and Modell's Sporting Goods, True Ton, RTW RetailWinds, Lucky Brand, The Paper Store and Men's Warehouse, and Lord & Taylor collapsed after the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The same also occurred with other large retail chains, including Canada’s Sail Outdoors (sportswear retailer), and British Debenhams (fashion retailer), Laura Ashley and fashion brand Karen Millen.

In 2022, Vietnam-US trade turnover reached $139 billion, much higher than the $25 billion gained in 2022. The US has become the largest export market for Vietnam with annual turnover of over $100 billion in 2021-2022.

 
 Luong Bang