Month: April 2022

The export of aquatic products recorded strong growth last month although the Russia-Ukraine crisis has disrupted shipments to the two European countries since late February and caused spikes in shipping costs and input expenses, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

In March, Vietnam exported 920 million USD worth of aquatic products, a year-on-year increase of 25 percent, VASEP reported. However, the rate reflected a slowdown after the sector posted spectacular growth of 44 percent in January and 62 percent in February.

Total shipments reached 2.4 billion USD in the first quarter of 2022, up 40 percent against the same period last year.

This was attributed to the impressive recovery of tra fish exports which expanded 88 percent to hit 646 million USD during the period on the account of surging demand from major markets, such as the US, China and the EU. The fish has again become a key export item, accounting for 27 percent of the total aquatic exports, the association said.

Shrimp contributed the largest export share of 37 percent in March, earning more than 345 million USD in turnover, up 21 percent. The Q1 revenue exceeded 900 million USD, up over 37 percent year-on-year.

The seafood processing sector has been struggling as soaring fuel prices, triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, are imposing a heavy burden on offshore fishermen. Last month, seafood exports expanded by just below 3 percent to total 312 million USD, largely thanks to good growth (20 percent) in shipments of tuna, squid and octopus.

By the end of the first quarter, Vietnam shipped some 878 million USD worth of seafood abroad, of which 234 million USD came from tuna, up 55 percent; and 156 million USD from squid and octopus, up 35 percent. The largest growth was seen in the shipments to the US (42 percent), China (77 percent), and the EU (37 percent).

Vietnam’s aquatic exports are expected to pick up 25 percent to 934 million USD in April./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) announced on March 31 that it will send a women’s football team to the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) in Vietnam.

This will mark the first time for the Cambodian women’s football team to join the biggest sport event in the region.

Cambodia has been fielding its men’s football team in SEA Games, but not a women’s team, though such team has been in existence for several years.

The Southeast Asian nation also has a regular Women’s League, where the best female players in the country play.

There are currently eight teams in the Women’s League, including Boeung Ket FC, Phnom Penh Crown FC, Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng FC and NagaWorld FC. The top players from these clubs are expected to form a national team for SEA Games 31.

Cambodia also reported earlier that it will field a women’s basketball team in SEA Games 31 for the first time since the 1970s.

SEA Games 31, themed “For a stronger South East Asia”, will run in Hanoi and 11 neighbouring localities from May 12 to 23. It will feature 40 sports with 526 events and expect to attract around 10,000 participants. The biennial event was initially slated for late 2021 but delayed due to the pandemic’s impact./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ho Chi Minh City’s credit growth has rebounded, growing by 3.65 percent as of the end of March, up 13.1 percent year-on-year, according to the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City branch.

Nguyen Duc Lenh, deputy director of the branch, said credit growth had rebounded as the pandemic had been put under control and the economy returned to normal.

He added that credit growth was expected to give extra leverage to post-pandemic economic recovery.

The banking sector would continue to offer credit support programmes to help firms restore production based on the guidelines and regulations of the Government and the central bank.

The measures include debt restructuring, interest rate exemption and reduction.

Commercial banks in the city have provided 1,851,864 customers with credit support programmes worth 3.2 quadrillion VND (139.1 billion USD), according to Lenh.

As of the end of February, the city’s total outstanding loans were estimated at more than 2.9 quadrillion VND (126 billion USD), up 12 percent year-on-year.

In addition, outstanding loans provided by the HCM City-based Vietnam Bank for Social Policies reached 7.186 trillion VND as of February, up 2.9 percent year-on-year.

Outstanding loans for addressing unemployment and sustainable poverty reduction accounted for the highest, about 57 percent of the total outstanding loans provided by the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies.

In addition, the foreign exchange rates remain stable in line with the central bank guidelines.

The central bank has increased its exchange rate between the dong and the US dollar by 0.08 percent as of the end of March, while the exchange rate at commercial banks was up by 0.35 percent.

Non-performing debt is well controlled below the prescribed level, he said. Commercial banks continue to promote e-banking services.

Meanwhile, deposit mobilisation by credit institutions in HCM City grew by 1.29 percent as of February 25.

Deposits in dong were up by 1.3 percent for the year, while deposits in foreign currencies were up 1.24 percent.

Experts said credit growth had rebounded on surging capital demand and firms ramping up production.

They recommended that the Government and central bank continue offering more stimulus packages, accelerate public investment disbursement, and remove challenges to boost credit growth.

The central bank plans to raise the country’s credit growth target to 14 percent this year, compared to 12 percent last year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A gathering was held on April 1 for Khmer ethnic members of the Vietnam – Cambodia Friendship Association in Can Tho and Cambodian students of universities in this Mekong Delta city to mark Chol Chnam Thmay, the traditional New Year festival of Khmer people.

Nguyen Van Can, Chairman of the friendship association, said 2022 is a special year for the two countries as they will celebrate the 55th founding anniversary of their diplomatic ties (June 24, 1967 – 2022).

A wide range of activities will be organised throughout this year to mark the anniversary, including gatherings, culinary – cultural – sports exchanges between Cambodian and Can Tho students, a seminar on the countries’ friendship, and contests exploring bilateral relations.

Those activities will help not only maintain and develop the neighbourliness, traditional friendship, and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia but also educate people, especially the young, on the importance of nurturing the countries’ ties in the new context, according to Can.

The association will also boost people-to-people exchange and social activities in Cambodia, he went on, adding that it will work to help develop Can Tho’s twin relations with Kompong Chhnang and Battampang provinces of Cambodia and increase its membership, thereby contributing to the Vietnam – Cambodia friendship, solidarity, and all-round cooperation.

Addressing the event, Cambodian Consul General in HCM City Sok Dareth highly valued the Can Tho association’s active contributions to people-to-people diplomacy, noting that during COVID-19 outbreaks, many humanitarian organisations have donated medical supplies to frontlines forces while assisting low-income earners and disadvantaged students in Cambodia.

He affirmed that the Cambodian Consulate General in HCM City will exert more efforts to bring the relationship with Can Tho to a new height in order to help intensify the two countries’ relations.

The diplomat also expressed his hope that the connections between Can Tho and Phnom Penh capital, Battambang, and other localities and agencies of Cambodia will be increasingly reinforced in the time ahead./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam Electricity (EVN) has proposed to the Government and relevant ministries and sectors a number of measures to ensure power supply, especially in the northern region, including the issuance of mechanisms to develop renewable energy in the region.

Under the proposal, by 2025, the region expects to have an additional 5,500 MW of renewable energy, including 4,000 MW of wind power and about 1,500 MW of solar power.

Along with some mechanisms to encourage the development of rooftop solar power for self-supply, EVN suggested the Government permit to the group to invest in offshore wind power in the northern region to increase power supplies for the region and ensure national security.

The proposals are expected to ease difficulties in power supply in the northern region, especially in summer, and help Vietnam implement its commitment delivered at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

According to EVN, the northern region many suffer a shortage of electricity in the hottest days in summer. Demand in the region accounts for nearly 50 percent of the country’s total demand for power, which is forecast to continue seeing higher growth than the national average. However, there are only few new generation sources in the region in 2022.

Meanwhile, the supply of coal for power production is becoming limited. In March, the whole system saw a shortage of more than 3,000 MW of electricity from hydropower plants due to a lack of coal.

The Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) and Dong Bac Corporation reported that difficulties will continue in coal supply in the time to come, leading to a power shortage from April./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Blockchain technology is booming in Vietnam and a bright future lies ahead for the industry, according to US-based Globe Newswire, one of the world’s largest newswire distribution networks, specialising in the delivery of corporate press releases, financial disclosures and multimedia content to media, investors, and consumers worldwide.

Globe Newswire said that many Vietnamese enterprises attended the Vietnam Blockchain Expoverse, held in Dubai on March 27. The event was an opportunity for blockchain enthusiasts and companies to share their experiences and views on blockchain’s vision, potential, challenges and technology applications.

Gwendolyn Regina, Investment Director of BNB Chain Fund, said that Binance Chain had experienced rapid growth in the last year. Blockchain technology was widely applied, especially to Defi (Decentralised Financed).

She predicted that the interference of Defi, GameFi, and NFT will appear in the next five years. Tokens will be a valuable long-term asset in the future instead of just being a currency or a means of trading. It is currently known as a digital asset that is issued and operated on a blockchain platform of available projects without owning its own blockchain.

Meanwhile, James Wo forecast that blockchain technology would be even more common, with the market expanding ten times larger. The number of users will be as many as the number of Internet users.

According to Lynn Hoang, Binance SEA Director, Binance is also making efforts to promote the development of blockchain technology in Vietnam

She said Vietnam will soon become the frontrunner in the global blockchain industry. The country is in the top 10 on Binance for various aspiring blockchain projects and products that attracted attention from the global community.

Tran Dinh, CEO of AlphaTrue, a Vietnamese company specialising in Blockchain products, said Vietnam has abundant human and technology resources and a large blockchain community.

According to him, Vietnam has advantages to become a potential land for blockchain projects, such as diverse choices and low costs. However, he also acknowledged that challenges lie ahead namely human resources, infrastructure and policy. Therefore, Vietnamese blockchain businesses urgently need the support of the government and large corporations./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Despite suffering the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict which affects international trade, import and export activities of Ho Chi Minh city still achieved impressive growth in the first quarter of this year.

Statistics from the municipal Statistics Department showed that the city’s foreign trade was valued at nearly 17.4 billion USD between January and March, up 18.4 percent year on year.

The city’s export value hit nearly 11.9 billion USD in the period, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Of the figure, the FDI sector accounted for the highest proportion of more than 6.5 billion USD, followed by the non-State and State sectors with more than 3.2 billion USD and 564.4 million USD, respectively.

In terms of export structure, the group of industrial products saw the highest export value, reaching 7.4 billion USD, up 19.1 percent over the same period and making up 75.3 percent of the combined export turnover. They included such items as computers, electronic products and components, textiles and garments, machinery, and other types of equipment.

Notably, the group of agricultural products recorded a turnover of over 1.1 billion USD, up 54 percent year on year and accounting for 11.7 percent of the city’s total export value while the group of aquatic products had export earnings of 270 million USD, up 70 percent.

During the three-month period, China was the biggest buyer of HCM city’s enterprises with over 2.5 billion USD in revenue. It was followed by the United States and Japan with 1.6 billion USD and 701.8 billion USD, respectively.

In March alone, export earnings were estimated at nearly 4.6 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 42.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the city’s import turnover was up 30.6 percent, hitting nearly 6.8 billion USD./

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The number of new COVID-19 infections continued to drop with 72,556 cases, including an imported case, recorded on April 1, down 8,272 cases from the previous day, according to the Ministry of Health.

Hanoi continued to report the highest number of infections on the day with 7,734 cases, followed by Nghe An with 3,226 and Dak Lak with 3,099.

The northern province of Vinh Phuc added 13,498 cases to the national caseload after verifying information.

The national tally reached 9,650,663.

A total 87,463 patients were given the all-clear during the day, raising the number of recoveries to 7,606,476.

There are 2,541 patients in critical conditions, while an additional 33 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the total fatalities to 42,526, equal to 0.4 percent of the total caseload.

By March 31, the country had injected 206,338,189 doses of COVID-19 vaccines./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency