Day: June 18, 2021

Erosion was recently detected in three sections measuring about 1,700m of the embankment in Tran Van Thoi and U Minh districts in the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

The damage was caused by Storm Koguma, the second one hitting the East Sea this year, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Department has instructed the irrigation division to arrange personnel to keep watch on the eroded parts and proposed the provincial People’s Committee strengthen the dykes before the stormy season arrives.

Projects to strengthen the current sections of the dyke and build new parts as well as residential areas, are lagging behind due to high prices of building materials, labour shortages and land clearance issues.

After inspecting erosion that recently occurred, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Thanh Trieu ordered the acceleration of the projects, especially constructions to build pavements and strengthen the embankments.

Natural disasters and climate change have worsened erosion cases in Ca Mau, which has a coastline spanning 254km.

About 20-50m of land is being eroded and the province loses some 450 ha of land and coastal preventive forests each year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Northern and north-central provinces are sizzling in a severe hot wave, with temperatures ranging from 37-40 degrees Celsius and even over 40 degrees C in some places, announced the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

The extreme weather, which will cause the temperatures to stay at above 35 degrees C from 10 to 19 hours per day, will come along with low humidity of between 40 and 60 percent.

Medical experts warn of dehydration, exhaustion, and heat stroke as the human body is exposed to high temperatures for a long time.

Hanoi capital city will experience an extremely hot day, with the lowest temperatures being 29 – 31 degrees and highest 39 – 40 degrees. There will be places where the temperatures will exceed 40 degrees.

Demand for electricity is likely to increase during the day. Vietnam Electricity (EVN) has advised agencies, production establishments and households to use electricity safely, economically and effectively.

The country is projected to face more widespread heatwaves this month./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has been supporting farmers, cooperatives, and enterprises to promote the consumption of farming products via modern distribution channels in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deputy director of the department Nguyen Ngoc Son said that, to expand the agricultural product market, the department has strengthened the connection between Hanoi and other provinces and cities in consuming safe agricultural products.

Of which, it has cooperated with the municipal Department of Industry and Trade to support localities’ trade promotion activities in the capital city to increase the consumption of agricultural and seafood products.

“Besides that, the department has also organised direct connection activities among manufacturers – distributors – consumers in the city, and launched the website https://chonhaminh.gov.vn to promote connections on the e-commerce platform,” Son said.

“Hanoi has also supported businesses in building and advertising their brands of agricultural products to promote consumption via supermarkets, food chains, restaurants, and hotels.”

Specifically, the department has connected with supermarket chains, such as Central Group, MM Mega Market, Vinmart and BRG, to consume more than 130 tonnes of Chi Linh chicken of Hai Duong province; 56,000 tonnes of mango and 98,000 tonnes of longan of Son La province; 12,000 tonnes of vegetables, fruits and seafood products of Hai Duong, Quang Ninh and Ha Giang provinces, and Vinh Chau purple onions of the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang.

The first-ever livestream promoting products of Hanoi’s “One Commune, One Product” (OCOP) programme was held early this month by the Hanoi Coordination Office for New-style Rural Area Building together with the ASEAN Digital Conversion Research Institute (ASEAN Academy).

This event aimed to support stakeholders in the production, sale and marketing of OCOP products through digital technologies and e-commerce platforms, especially against the backdrop of COVID-19.

Nguyen Van Chi, standing deputy chief of the Coordination Office for the New Rural Development Programme in Hanoi, said: “Hanoi considers livestreaming one of the effective solutions to promote online consumption of agricultural products, especially OCOP products and regional specialities.”

Dang Thi Cuoi, Director of the Cuoi Quy Hi-tech Organic Vegetable Cooperative in Dan Phuong district, Hanoi, said that due to the impact of the COVID-19, collective kitchens and restaurants must close while foreigners to Vietnam are also limited, so it is difficult for her cooperative to sell vegetables. However, with online trading channels, the cooperative has stability in vegetable consumption with an average volume of 200-300 kilos of vegetables per day.

According to Dao Thi Luong, Director of the Tam Anh Cooperative for Production and Trading of organic vegetables and fruits in Phu Xuyen district, Hanoi, with the support from the city Women’s Union, the cooperative has sold 200 kilos of vegetables every day. Along with that, the cooperative has been promoting online trading activities, especially on Facebook.

Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Chu Phu My said that the department will continue to coordinate with the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade and the Hanoi Trade and Investment Promotion Centre to promote the implementation of a programme on regional cooperation, and support consumption between Hanoi and other provinces and cities.

This programme includes support in introducing farming products and connecting Hanoi and other provinces and cities to promote the consumption of those products, especially products facing oversupply in harvest seasons.

It will support connections between domestic and joint venture enterprises with foreign partners abroad in the distribution and processing of those products, and encourage the businesses to develop e-commerce platforms and apply information technology in consumption activities./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Surging international crude oil price on improving demand has helped many oil and gas companies record big profits in the first quarter of this year, after losing in 2020.

In the first quarter financial result, Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex, PLX) posted a slight fall of 0.6 percent in net revenue to nearly 38.2 trillion VND (1.6 million USD). However, it was still profitable thanks to a cut in expenses in financial activities and others, and gains in other incomes.

Of which, the company’s profit after tax was nearly 736.2 billion VND in the first quarter after reporting a loss of 2.3 trillion VND in the same period last year.

During the period, Petrolimex’s domestic output rose 4.7 percent year-on-year to 2.27 million m3. Retail sales accounted for 55 – 60 percent of its total sales but contributed around 80 percent of its profit.

SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) said that the company’s production growth will continue until the first half of the second quarter, boosted by the Government’s restriction on illicit petrol, especially in the south.

Similarly, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR) witnessed its revenue reach 21 trillion VND in the first quarter with a profit of over 1.8 trillion VND, while it reported a loss of 2.33 trillion VND in the same period last year.

The main driving force for the recovery in profit was higher crude prices in the international market and crack spread of gasoline products.

Crack spread is the spread created in commodity markets by purchasing oil futures and offsetting the position by selling petrol and heating oil futures.

PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PVOIL)’s profit after tax was 190.6 billion VND, after losing 537.7 billion VND in the same period last year.

Notably, Thu Duc Trading & Import Export JSC (TMC) even reported net profit of more than 4 billion VND, nine times higher than that of last year.

Another company witnessing profit rise sharply was Nam Song Hau Trading Investing Petroleum JSC (PSH). The company’s revenue was up 10 percent over last year to more than 1.7 trillion VND, resulting in a profit of 44 billion VND, 2.1 times higher than that of the same period in 2020.

Even though there were still some companies recording declines in profit or even losses during the first quarter, in general, oil and gas companies’ results were quite positive.

With positive oil demand outlook, the oil price is expected to continue to rally. Therefore, there is still more room for oil and gas firms to recover.

SSI forecasted that Brent crude price will trade at an average of 68 USD per barrel in 2021, up 62.6 percent year-on-year, and can even go up to 70 USD in 2022.

According to SSI, developed economies are gradually opening again as they have pushed the vaccination rollout. Businesses activities will also recover quickly when countries continue to ease measures to contain COVID-19.

Brent crude was traded at 74.23 USD per barrel on June 17, and on track to head toward 75 USD./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

HCM City(VNS/VNA) – Many Indian companies want to come to Vietnam and explore investment opportunities after the COVID-19 situation comes under control, Dr Madan Mohan Sethi, Indian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, has said.

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and “is the country to watch out for” and “every provincial government has an open door policy and always encourages investments,” he told the first ever Invest Vietnam conclave organised by the Indian Investors Federation, the Vietnamese embassy in India and Leaps and Bounds Consulting Vietnam.

The webinar, which aimed to present Vietnam as an investment destination in various sectors, attracted the participation of 110 investors from India and other parts of the globe, officials from both governments and Indian business executives in Vietnam.

Vietnamese Ambassador to India Pham Sanh Chau said Vietnam is one of the most open economies in the world and “the Government’s vision is to make it a digital economy.”

He spoke about the potential for cooperation between the two countries, especially in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, manufacture of automobile parts and technology.

Vietnam has an eco-system for start-ups as well, and investors could also look to invest in these young companies with strong vision, and the Vietnamese embassy in New Delhi has a business-centred approach towards economic diplomacy and is keen to provide all kinds of support to the investor community, he said.

Raghu, Director of TATA Coffee Vietnam, said the smooth connectivity between industrial parks and ports is making the supply chain more efficient in the country.

He thanked the authorities for providing strong support to his company.

Sanjay Jain, CFO & HR head of Wipro Vietnam, said getting young and skilled manpower is never an issue in Vietnam, and his company plans to expand its operations, thanks to the Government’s open and supportive policies.

Ravi Vajpeyi, HCL Vietnam resident director, spoke about the rapidly growing information technology sector in Vietnam (worth 11.5 billion USD 2019) and large IT talent pool.

“The strong IT talent pool is of the biggest strengths of Vietnam’s IT industry.”

Speaking about the garment and textile sector, Selvaraj Gopal of TAP International said, “Vietnam is currently importing 85 per cent of its fabric needs from other countries, and so the scope for producing the same in Vietnam is high.”

Vishwas Saraswat, founder and director of Leaps and Bounds Consulting, said: “Given the current COVID situation, the Vietnam government is doing an excellent job and in fact last year the country’s GDP grew by 2.91 percent despite the turmoil in the global economy due to COVID-19.

“Vietnam’s open market policy with 14 plus free trade agreements will surely provide bigger markets to investors.”/.

Source: Vietnam News Agency