Readers attend a book fair, many of which are regularly opened in HCM City.

They have also called on municipal authorities to help establish associations for different branches of the publishing industry in order to boost information exchange and co-operative work.

The municipal Information and Communications Department says that local printing, publication and distribution businesses recorded revenues of VND7.08 trillion (US$394 million) last year.

The printing industry held a lion’s share of this revenue with VND6 trillion ($333 million), followed by distribution with a little more than VND1 trillion ($55.5 million), and the publications, VND80 billion ($4.44 million).

At a meeting of the city’s printing, publishing houses and distributors held on Tuesday, the department said 3,229 book titles and nearly 8.32 million copies of books had been printed and published in 2008.

The HCM City Book Fair 2008 held at the Le Van Tam Park was a successful event, the meeting heard. More than 300 bookstores participated in the fair, attracting more than 600,000 visitors.

Pham Minh Thuan of the HCM City Book Distribution Company (FAHASA) said city businesses had expanded their reach by establishing outlets nationwide.

However, the publishing industry has to cope with more difficulties in 2009, the meeting heard.

Local publishers suggested the department deal strictly with the issue of illegal books sold on the city’s streets.

Quach Thu Nguyet, director of the Tre (Youth) Publishing House, said street vendors were breaking the law by selling illegal and low-quality books.

The meeting also heard about the difficulties faced in organising the HCM City Book Fair annually.

Thuan, of FAHASA, said the head of the publishing department had asked the city to hold the fair as an annual event. But this should be done after 2010, he said.

The organisers had difficulties in finding an appropriate site for the event given the high costs involved.

Thuan suggested the department hold book fairs in the city’s outlying districts where children and people had a great love for books.

Nguyen Trung Truc, deputy head of Communication and Education Board under the city’s Party Committee, promised that the local authorities would pay due attention to concerns of legal book publishers.

Local authorities would try their best to establish associations for the city’s printing houses, publishers and distributors, he said.

Nguyet said establishing associations would “help us not to publish the same products and take further steps towards developing the industry”.

Truc said he hoped that local publishers would co-operate with foreign counterparts to increase the reach of domestic publications.

VietNamNet/VNS