Day: January 17, 2022

The scarcity of rubber raw materials is forecast to continue in 2022, and world rubber is entering a new price increase cycle due to the decreasing supply, opening an optimistic picture for Vietnamese rubber enterprises to enjoy the dual benefits in terms of both export volume and value.

According to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2021, thanks to the continuous increase in rubber prices, although the export volume only increased by 11.7 percent, the turnover soared by 36.2 percent year-on-year.

China maintained Vietnam’s largest rubber importer, with 1.2 million tonnes worth 1.96 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2021, equivalent to increases of 1.71 percent in volume and 26.3 percent in value over the same period in 2020. In addition, some rubber export markets saw sharp rises in the past year such as the US, the European Union (EU), Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and India.

The Vietnam Rubber Association (VRA) forecasts that the global supply of natural rubber may lack due to the impact of the prolonged rainy season in some Asian countries at the end of 2021. Therefore, the export momentum is showing no sign of decreasing. Not to mention, when the scarcity of raw materials may maintain, the price of rubber latex will continue to increase or stay at a high level, thus improving the profit margin of businesses.

According to VNDirect Securities Joint Stock Company, the growth of the rubber industry, especially export-oriented firms, in 2022, is further supported by the strong surge of oil prices, as well as economic recovery expectations.

A total of 100,000 ha of rubber plantations of Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) are expected to get an international sustainable forest management certificate in accordance with the Vietnam Forest Certification Scheme (VFCS) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) in the first quarter of 2022.

So far, 55,000 hectares of rubber plantations of VRG have been awarded the certificate.

With the existing certified area, 85,000 tonnes of natural rubber and 300,000 tonnes of certified sustainable rubber wood will be exploited for commercial production.

This is expected to help increase the value of the rubber exploitation chain, towards sustainable development in the entire supply chain to meet the needs of the export and domestic markets for sustainable products.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Contemporary art lovers in Vietnam have been familiar with Emmanuel Vincent and Truong Minh Thy Nguyen whose installation art exhibitions were held in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Their works are closely linked with Vietnamese people’s daily life and appreciated by the public and art critics.

French dancer and choreographer Emmanuel Vincent started performing Vietnamese traditional dances a decade ago.

Before COVID-19 broke out, she and her Vietnamese-Belgian husband Nguyen shuttled between Brussels and HCM City to carry out projects in association with the city’s University of Fine Arts.

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Emmanuel (R) and her Vietnamese-Belgian husband Truong Minh Thy Nguyen (Photo: VNA)

The female dancer first visited her husband’s hometown of HCM City in 2011 and gradually fell in love with the bustling southern hub.

Women in Vietnam who cover themselves thoroughly while driving their scooters to avoid sunlight and dirt, and then remove their cover to show off gorgeous clothing underneath inspired Emmanuel to compose a solo dance entitled ‘Mutante’ (Mutant) in 2017. The dance was performed in many places across the globe.

The couple are members of the ‘Blender’ art group which has rolled out various projects with the HCM City University of Fine Arts and hosted exhibitions in HCM City and Hanoi. Emmanuel and her husband joined classes to provide training for art students of the university as well as supported the students during their study trips to Belgium.

When the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, the largest traditional festival of Vietnamese people, draws near, Emmanuel helps an art group of the Vietnamese association in Belgium stage musical performances. She is fond of Vietnamese dishes, particularly pho, fried spring rolls and Hue cuisine, the artist said.

She is carrying out her activities in Brussels and eager to travel to Vietnam to kick-start new art projects.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam pales in comparison with Japan and China in regard to the size of the luxury market, but it has a great potential to become a highly profitable market in the near future, according to Jing Daily, a leading digital publication on luxuries in China.

Jing Daily said the bright outlook for Vietnam’s luxury market could be attributed to the rising income of its people in recent years as high-income consumers are the backbone of luxury consumption.

Between 2002 and 2020, Vietnam’s GDP per capita grew 2.7 times, reaching nearly 2,800 USD. A 2016 report prepared by the World Bank has also highlighted that the country could reach upper-middle-income status by 2035, with a per capita income topping 7,000 USD.

Vietnam’s middle class population has been expanding massively as well, expectedly climbing to 95 million by 2030, according to predictions by Nielsen. Meanwhile, the number of High Earners, Not Rich Yet Individuals, and ultra-wealthy are also growing. The number of people with a net worth of 1-30 million USD will soar by 32 percent to over 25,800 by 2025.

In addition, luxury brands should be bullish on Vietnam because their goods are increasingly in high demand in the country. This is even more the case now as consumers are restricted at home and cannot travel to Singapore or China to gratify their appetite for luxuries.

“The appetite for luxury goods is more pronounced than ever in Hanoi and HCM City”, said Tran Thi Hoai Anh, founder of GlobalLink Co Ltd.

Just one decade ago, it was all about knowing the difference between Gucci and Prada, but now a new generation of high-end shoppers are driven by the quest for quality, distinctiveness and craftmanship, the founder added.

For obvious reasons, the luxury sector benefited from the EU-Vietnam trade agreement and the investment protection agreement in 2019 that removed 99 percent of all tariffs and lowered many regulatory barriers.

With luxuries becoming more affordable, consumers could get their hands on these high-end products more easily.

At that point, some renowned brands have sensed the opportunity and turned the growing domestic demand for luxuries to their advantage by gaining footholds in the country.

orsche has inaugurated Porsche Studio in Hanoi, its second retail space in Southeast Asia. According to Arthur Willmann, chief executive officer of Porsche Asia Pacific, Vietnam has become one of Porsche’s fastest-growing markets.

At the same time, DAFC, which runs over 60 luxury brands, including Cartier and Rolex, announced its sales in Vietnam were up by 35 percent in 2020.

Likewise, Bvlgari decided to return to the market in March 2021 with the inauguration of its first physical store in HCM City.

“It was the right time to return since we were able to approach our potential customers”, a Bvlgari Vietnam spokesperson noted.

According to Statista, revenue from Vietnam’s personal luxury goods market reached 976 million USD in 2021 and is expected to grow by 6.67 percent annually in 2021-2025.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Fifty ethnic minority students in Ho Chi Minh City received scholarships, each worth 5 million VND (219.97 USD), at a ceremony on January 17.

On this occasion, businesses, collectives and individuals raised nearly 5 billion VND to provide scholarships for local ethnic minority students who are in difficult circumstances.

The ceremony was jointly held by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in HCM City, the municipal Board for Ethnic Minority Affairs and the People’s Public Security Newspaper.

Colonel Tran Kim Tham, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the People’s Public Security Newspaper, said since 2007, the newspaper’s fund for poor and ethnic minority students has presented 26.6 billion VND to outstanding students in HCM City and other localities.

Earlier, through the fund, donors provided 60 tablets for children of officers and soldiers belonging to the Khmer group in the southern provinces of Soc Trang and Tra Vinh.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate for the US dollars at 23,085 VND/USD on January 17, up 3 VND from the last working day of previous week (January 14).

With the current trading band of +/-3, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day is 23,777 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,392 VND/USD.

The opening-hour rates at commercial banks stayed stable.

At 8:25am, Vietcombank listed the buying rate at 22,540 VND/USD and the selling rate at 22,850 VND/USD, unchanged from January 14.

BIDV also kept both rates unchanged at 22,570 VND/USD (buying) and 22,850 VND/USD (selling).

During the week from January 10-14, the reference exchange rate fluctuated but ended the week up 43 VND from the beginning of the week.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son has affirmed that Vietnam had a successful tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for 2020-2021, a difficult period for the world and the UNSC in particular due to complicated, uncertain and unprecedented developments in the world.

Chairing a press conference in Hanoi on January 17, Son said it is the result of Vietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of ties; making responsible contributions to multilateral mechanisms, including the UN and firstly the UNSC.

Vietnam attaches importance to and wants to raise its voice to promote work at the UNSC in general for common benefits of the UN member states while contributing to maintaining global peace and security, he said.

He added that with the consistent motto “Partnership for sustainable peace”, Vietnam joined the UNSC in an active, positive and responsible manner, proposed a number of initiatives to make practical contributions to the UNSC’s work, upheld the council’s role in seeking solutions to preventing and dealing with conflicts and responding to challenges to global peace and security in line with the UN Charter and international law.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (centre) at the press conference (Photo: VNA)

At the event, Son also highlighted 10 outstanding hallmarks made by Vietnam at the UNSC during the tenure, including promoting multilateral approach and consistently upholding international law and the UN Charter, seeking sustainable and comprehensive solutions to conflicts while stepping up humanitarian actions, protecting civilians in conflicts, directing the UNSC and international community’s attention to long-term consequences of conflicts and wars on lives as well as national security and development.

He said Vietnam showed its own identity when joining the UNSC’s work, namely promoting common consensus, cooperation and dialogue, and easing tension.

Experience earned during the 2008-2009 and 2020-2021 tenures at the UNSC together with major external activities laid a solid foundation for Vietnam to continue joining multilateral forums and international organisations within and out of the UN framework, he said.

In the immediate future, Vietnam will continue pushing forward its resolutions and initiatives at the UNSC as well as promote the effective operation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Group of Friends, he stressed.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A national conference was held in central Da Nang city on January 17 to look into the continued promotion of judicial reform to serve the building and completion of a law-governed socialist state of Vietnam.

This is the second national conference held by the steering committee for drafting a strategy for building and completing a law-governed socialist state of Vietnam by 2030, with a vision to 2045. The first event took place last December.

In his opening remarks, Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue said developing a judicial reform strategy is one of the key tasks of this work and also an urgent issue in the current context.

After 15 years of implementing the Politburo’s Resolution No. 49 on the judicial reform strategy by 2020, many significant outcomes have been recorded, he said, elaborating that the judicial sector has made a great stride in protecting justice, human rights, citizens’ rights, the State’s interests, as well as legitimate interests of organisations. The law making and completion have basically managed to institutionalise the Party’s guidelines on judicial reform.

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Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue speaks at the conference in Da Nang city on January 17 (Photo: VNA)

However, the top legislator also pointed out certain problems, adding that strong impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the country’s intensive and extensive integration into the world require judicial reform be further enhanced to better meet requirements in the new context.

Providing a brief overview of the meeting, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, head of steering committee, noted the new judicial reform strategy should continue identifying the reform of courts as a breakthrough step. Besides, it is necessary to push ahead with reforming the judicial system while ensuring effective control of power in judicial activities.

Participants also shared the view that judicial reform must be placed under the Party’s comprehensive leadership and firmly maintain the nature of a law-governed socialist state of Vietnam that is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Judicial reform must be carried out in tandem with legislative and administrative reform to guarantee that the State power is consistent, with task assignment, coordination, and control among State agencies in exercising the legislative, executive, and judicial powers, President Phuc added.

In the time ahead, the steering committee will hold a third conference to discuss new and breakthrough issues in the building and completion of a law-governed socialist state of Vietnam. Some specialised workshops will also take place.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An art programme was broadcast live on Vietnam Television and local TV channels on January 16 as part of activities marking the Party’s 92nd founding anniversary (February 3, 1930-2022).

With two parts highlighting the Party’s good deeds and Party building work, the event treated the audiences to documentary screens and musical performances that reenacted the Party’s formation and achievements in national protection, construction and development causes.

On the occasion, leaders of the Party and State presented insignias to 30 Party members with outstanding performance on the frontline of COVID-19 prevention and control.

The Party’s coming into being on February 3, 1930, was a great turning point in the history of the country’s revolution. Only 15 years later, the Party made the first miracle with the success of the August Revolution in 1945, and subsequently the resistance wars to liberate and defend the nation.

In 1986, the Party launched “Doi Moi” (Renewal) policy, opening up an important era in socialism building in Vietnam, helping the country get out of an economic crisis and become a developing country with orientations to industrialisation and modernisation, deeply integrating into the world and raising the country’s position in the region and the world.

To date, Vietnam, with a population of nearly 100 million, has secured a yearly per-capita income of 2,800 USD and joined almost all of the international organisations, becoming an active and responsible member of the international community.

Source: Vietnam News Agency