Day: January 4, 2022

The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) on January 4 held a gong-beating ceremony to start the first trading session of the Vietnamese stock market.

According to HNX Deputy General Director Nguyen Tuan Anh, last year, the Vietnamese stock market saw strong growth and became an attractive investment channel.

By the end of the year, the market capitalisation had reached over 750 quadrillion VND (329.3 billion USD), a 45-percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year and equivalent to 100 percent of the GDP. VN-Index exceeded 1,500 points for the first time on November 26, marking a historical peak in Vietnam’s securities market, he said.

Addressing the event, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that Vietnam had a tough year in 2021 with many challenges from COVID-19. However, the year ended with positive results, he added.

With GDP expanding 2.59 percent, Vietnam still managed to remain microeconomic stability and good control over inflation, interest rate and exchange rate, he said, adding that last year, the stock market contributed nearly 11 trillion VND (483 million USD) to the State budget, higher than 5.2 trillion VND in 2020.

Meanwhile, along with new records in many indications, the market liquidity also rose strongly, exceeding 1 billion USD in many sessions and even 2 billion USD in some sessions. The number of newly registered securities accounts in 2021 was equivalent to the combined number of the four previous years.

Capital mobilisation on the stock market increased 25 percent year on year, with the value of issued corporate shares and bonds rising 2.3 times compared to 2020.

However, Minister Phoc also pointed to a number of loopholes in the market that need more efforts in legal framework completion to fix.

Although congestion on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) has been settled, the minister asked the Vietnam Stock Exchange and technology solution provider FPT to work together to avoid similar situation in the future.

Holding that the economy still faces many challenges in 2022, he asked the securities sector to become more active to meet all targets, continuously completing relevant institutions and organisation for higher efficiency.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Mekong Delta’s 12 provinces and Can Tho city have developed more OCOP products under the country’s “one commune – one product” (OCOP) programme, creating brand names for speciality products and promoting their sales.

Under the programme begun three years ago, OCOP products are commercial products and services, including food, beverages, handicrafts and rural tourism services. OCOP products are classified under a five-star system.

In Can Tho, the municipal People’s Committee recognised 21 OCOP products in 2021.

Le Van Tinh, deputy head of the city’s Coordination Office for New-style Rural Area Building Programme, said the city had recognised 41 OCOP products so far.

They include 21 four-star OCOP products and 16 three–star ones. The products belong to production establishments, households, cooperatives and companies.

The OCOP products include fish paste products of Pham Nghia Food Company, Rong Vang purple rice of Duy Duc Hung Company, two tea products – one from red bean and brown rice and another made from five kinds of bean – of Thuan Hoa Production Establishment.

The delta’s provinces have recognised many OCOP products in 2021 and aim to develop more OCOP products.

Ca Mau province recognised 18 OCOP products in 2021. They are three kinds of fish sauce products, Tu Tam biological rice, Minh Duy fermented bulrush, Minh Quan dried soft banana, crocodile leather men’s shoes, crocodile leather men’s purses, and crocodile leather waist belts and other products.

The province has a total of 51 OCOP products, ranging from two to three-star levels.

The delta, which is the country’s largest rice, fruit and seafood producer, has 375 OCOP products, accounting for 17.3 per cent of the country’s total OCOP products.

The OCOP product programme has helped the delta’s provinces and Can Tho to enhance the competitiveness of their products and increase income for the producers, according to local authorities.

The delta has many OCOP products with high quality, but their sales still face difficulties because of the lack of linkages among OCOP product producers and sellers, and the lack of promotion activities for the OCOP products.

According to Le Trung Hieu, Director of An Giang province’s Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, most OCOP products are made in villages by farmers and they do not have high awareness about promoting and marketing their products.

In addition, many localities have not paid proper attention to promoting OCOP products.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected trade promotion activities of OCOP products.

To help OCOP producers promote the sale of their products, local authorities in the delta have supported them to design packages and labels for OCOP products.

Pham Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of Bac Lieu province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said many agricultural products and products of handicraft villages had been developed into OCOP products, contributing to economic efficiency and income for people.

However, the programme has not met the province’s potential and advantages since some localities do not pay proper attention to the programme, according to Hải.

Many households, co-operatives and companies are reluctant to participate because they are afraid of spending too much time on procedures needed to recognise OCOP products.

The province will boost advocacy activities to enhance the awareness of local authorities about the programme, improve the quality of evaluating OCOP products, and reform administrative procedures on recognising them.

Promotions

To boost the sales of OCOP products, the delta’s provinces and Can Tho city are strengthening trade promotion activities for the products via showrooms, trade fairs and exhibitions.

They have promoted the registering of OCOP products for sale on e-commerce platforms and linked up with supermarkets to sell the products.

An Giang province has linked up with Co.opmart, Bach Hoa Xanh and other supermarkets to sell OCOP products.

The province in cooperation with the delta’s Dong Thap and Ben Tre provinces and Can Tho has developed a system for showcasing OCOP products of the four localities.

An Giang plans to establish a OCOP product site in combination with offering tourism services in 2022.

It also plans to choose one or two OCOP products to promote abroad and export in 2022.

Nguyen Si Lam, Director of An Giang province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “The OCOP product programme is one of the most important solutions for restructuring agricultural production and rural areas in combination with the province’s inner strengths, natural conditions and local cultures.”

“It has contributed an important role in implementing the National Target Programme on Building New-Style Rural Area,” he said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Up to 49,083ha of coffee in the Central Highlands, the coffee cultivation hub of Vietnam, have been cultivated following all the sustainable production criteria thanks to Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation (VnSAT) project.

The VnSAT project, implemented from 2015 to June 30, 2022, consists of four components, namely enhancement of institutional capacity to serve agricultural restructuring, sustainable rice development, sustainable coffee development, and project management. It covers the five Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, and Lam Dong, along with An Giang, Can Tho, Dong Thap, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, Long An, Soc Trang, and Tien Giang in the Mekong Delta.

Since 2015, 52,461 farming households in the Central Highlands have been trained in coffee production process. As a result, all the sustainable coffee production criteria have been applied to 49,083ha, heard a meeting held in Buon Ma Thuot city of Dak Lak province on January 4.

Besides, the project supported the development of seedling nurseries, drip irrigation, spay irrigation, and production infrastructure.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said thanks to the project, Vietnam has managed to develop drought-resistant and high-yield coffee varieties that can be grown in different points of time. Though prices have fallen sharply over the past years, coffee farms remain strong and have rising productivity.

He asked the provinces to speed up all the parts of the project to ensure it is completed by June 30 this year with quality and effectiveness guaranteed.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Department of Tourism of Quang Ninh has completed a draft plan called “Green-lane tourism” to revive the COVID-19-stricken tourism in the northern coastal province.

Director of the department Pham Ngoc Thuy said it is important to provide tourists with information about where is safe to travel to, regarding the COVID-19 situation.

The “Green-lane tourism” will offer holidaymakers safe services and make them feel comfortable and relaxed when experiencing tourism services, Thuy explained, adding that joining the scheme will also be a way for businesses to promote their services and provide their staff with a COVID-19 free working environment.

The department has tightened its set of 35 compulsory and optional requirements for COVID-19 safety. Accordingly, the department has required tourism services providers to give away face masks to tourists and check temperature of visitors and input suppliers. Restaurants are encouraged to install table partitions to limit direct contact among diners.

Quang Ninh’s “Green-lane” plan to recover tourism in 2022 hinh anh 2

Quang Ninh Museum (Photo: baoquangninh.com.vn)

Quang Ninh has adopted new tourism stimulus policy, which plans to slash admission charges to popular destinations, such as Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh Museum and Yen Tu Complex of Monuments and Landscapes, by half in the first half of 2022 to lure holidaymakers.

This weekend, the province will welcome its first group of foreign visitors, from the Republic of Korea, under Vietnam’s pilot programme for vaccinated travellers.

Since tourism activities resumed in late September, Quang Ninh has welcomed around 800,000 visitors. The province is pining high hope on tourism this year as it expects to receive some 9.5 million domestic tourists and 1.5 million foreigners.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Jeollanamdo province of the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan’s Okayama city on January 4 presented medical supplies to Can Tho to aid the Mekong Delta city in the COVID-19 combat.

The gifts, comprising 60,000 face shields and masks worth about 470 million VND (20,655 USD), will be transported to the municipal health department and the Vietnam Fatherland Front in Can Tho to serve the work.

Speaking at the hand-over ceremony held virtually, Vice Chairman of the Can Tho city People’s Committee Duong Tan Hien said the donations demonstrate the solidarity and friendship of the RoK and Japan towards Vietnam, and between the countries’ localities in particular.

Jeong Jong Gyun, chief representative of Jeollanamdo in Ho Chi Minh City, said Can Tho and Jeollanamdo have maintained their friendship since they reached an agreement in 2012.

According to Can Tho’s Department of Foreign Affairs, since the fourth wave of COVID-19 broke out last April, the city has received medical supplies from many countries and territories with a total value of around 1.7 billion VND.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s 2021 coffee export revenue is estimated at over 3 billion USD despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an industry official

Nguyen Nam Hai, vice president of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), said the country remains the second largest exporter of the drink in the world, second only to Brazil, accounting for 8.3 percent of the global market share.

Coffee is one of the six agricultural products that bring back over 3 billion USD per year for Vietnam. It is now present in more than 80 countries and territories, mainly the European Union (EU), the US, Russia, Japan, and the UK.

Yet, the value of coffee is not high as most of it is exported raw.

According to Vicofa, the average price for a tonne of processed coffee is nearly 3,600 USD while that of coffee beans is only about 2,400 USD.

To improve the situation, enterprises have promoted processing instead of exporting coffee beans. Currently, roasted and instant coffee is accounting for 9.1 percent of the total exports, creating opportunities for the industry as Vietnam is penetrating deeper into the international market through free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Europe-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

The EU is Vietnam’s largest coffee market, accounting for 40 percent of the country’s total volume and 38 percent of the total value. It is followed by the Association of Southeast Asia Nations with 13 percent. Over the past five years, the export value to the EU has reached between 1.2 billion – 1.4 billion USD per year. Vietnamese coffee also accounts for 30 percent of the total coffee import of China- the world’s most populous market.

For the next 10 years, Vicofa aims to raise coffee export turnover to between 5 and 6 billion USD, Hai said, adding that the export of processed will be increased for a higher added value.

According to Vicofa, the country has 97 coffee processing establishments with a total designed capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Labour Federation of Ho Chi Minh City will spend over 700 billion VND (30.76 million USD) to organise activities and present gifts to labourers in the city on the occasion of the upcoming lunar New Year (Tet), the federation said at a press conference on January 4.

Under the motto “Tet for all trade union members, all labourers,” trade unions at all levels will hold Tet celebrations for labourers who cannot return to their home village for the festival.

A prominent event is the “Tet sum vay” (Tet reunion) programme, expected to gather 10,000 worker families to welcome the Year of the Tiger. Another programme will organise trips to the Dam Sen entertainment park for 10,000 families of trade union members during the Tet holiday.

According to Pham Chi Tam, trade unions at all levels will pay attention to children, female workers and union members who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. They will coordinate with enterprises and donors to hold Tet celebrations for children and present savings books to orphans of union members who died from COVID-19.

Trade unions will also continue to implement a programme to help poor workers to return to their home villages for Tet, with 35,000 coach, train and air tickets to be presented.

Besides, the municipal labour federation will send delegations to visit workers in sectors with hard working conditions such as health care, pandemic prevention, environmental sanitation, or in enterprises in remote areas.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnamese expats living in Europe hope authorities from both sides to work together so as to soon resume international flights, allowing them to visit family back home, according to Hoang Dinh Thang, Chairman of the Union of Vietnamese People Associations in Europe.

The resumption will also help boost trade, tourism and investment between Vietnam and European countries, revive the economy and bring life back to normal, Thang said in an interview to the Vietnam News Agency following a recent pilot plan to this effect.

It is very important to do so after two years of closure because of COVID-19, he said, adding that overseas Vietnamese communities long to fly home on the occasion of the traditional New Year, the most important festival in Vietnam, for family reunion.

He held that the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which took effect two years ago, has not come into full play due to travel restrictions as a result of the pandemic, so the move will set the scene for accelerating the bilateral trade, investment and tourism.

Echoing Thang’s view, Le Anh Hung, Managing Director of the Bien Dong Travel Services Trading Investment Co., Ltd., said there is a large number of Vietnamese expats looking to fly home, particularly ahead the holiday; plus, it has been easy for visitors fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with two jabs to travel among European countries.

He expressed his delight at the Government of Vietnam’s policy to soon restore international flights, saying he expects Vietnamese authorities will provide detailed instructions for the effective implementation of the policy.

Source: Vietnam News Agency