Category: Affairs

 

Nha Ba Nu (The House of No Man) has been the highest-grossing Vietnamese film during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

 

The directorial debut of film producer Tran Thanh raked in 280 billion VND (10.61 million USD) in just eight days after releasing on January 22, the Lunar New Year.

 

It has sold around 2.8 million tickets so far.

 

The film revolves around a family of three generations living under the same roof, and the troubles and tribulations such families face.

 

It features People’s Artists Ngoc Giau and Viet Anh, Uyen An and Song Luan.

 

Thanh rose to fame as producer with his debut movie and smash hit Bo Gia (Dad, I’m Sorry) in 2021, directed by Vu Ngoc Dang, which broke box-office records for Vietnamese films by earning 400 billion VND (16.04 million USD).

 

The film was also sold to Malaysia, Singapore, the US, and Australia.

 

Besides, at the annual Vietnam Film Festival it won the Silver Lotus Award for Best Feature Film and for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Screenplay.

 

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism chose the film as the Vietnamese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the 2022 Oscar Awards.

 

Director Vu Ngoc Dang this year had a chick flick released during Tet, Chi Chi Em Em 2 (Sister Sister 2).

 

It has collected 59 billion VND (2.5 million USD) so far, according to Box Office Vietnam, a box office analysis website.

 

Set in Saigon 100 years ago, the film portrays two beautiful women named Ba Tra and Tu Nhi who fight with each other to be claimed as the most beautiful women in the region.

 

It stars Minh Hang and Ngoc Trinh in the lead roles.

 

Both Nha Ba Nu and Chi Chi Em Em 2 are still in cinemas nation-wide./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,610 VND/USD on February 1, up 1 VND from the previous day.

 

With the current trading band of +/- 5%, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,790 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,491 VND/USD.

 

The opening hour rates at commercial banks dropped.

 

Vietcombank listed the buying rate at 23,250 VND/USD and the selling rate 23,230 VND/USD, both down 10 VND from the end of January 31.

 

BIDV reduced both rates by 20 VND to 23,300 VND/USD (buying) and 23,600 VND/USD (selling)./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Two-way trade between Vietnam and India saw a yearly increase of 13.6% to 15.05 billion  USD in 2022, statistics from the General Department of Customs showed.

 

During the year, Vietnam’s exports to India topped 7.96 billion USD, up 26.8% year-on-year. Among its export items, mobile phones and accessories posted the highest turnover with 1.52 billion USD, up 18.4%, making up nearly 20% of the total export value. Computers, electronics and parts came next with 1.03 billion USD, up 25%, or 13%, while machinery and equipment ranked third with 804 million USD or over 10%.

 

Other staples with the highest value increase were coffee with 165%; iron and steel (97%) and footwear (96%).

 

Some items, however, posted large decreases in export value, such as animal feed and raw materials with 23.04 million USD, down 76.5%, and coal with 7.68 million USD, down 46%.

 

As per the data, Vietnam imported $7.09 billion worth of goods from India last year, a yearly hike of 2%. Its major import commodities from the market were iron and steel with nearly 775 million USD, down 44.6%; machinery and equipment (549.3 million USD, up 28%) and ordinary metals (515 million USD, up 26%).

 

According to the Vietnamese Trade Counsellor in India, Bui Trung Thuong, Vietnam and India could supplement each other in economic production. India is an important supplier of materials, while Vietnam has a high demand for materials in service of production and export.

 

India is Vietnam’s leading provider of aquatic, garment and textile, leather and pharmaceutical materials. The 1.4-billion-strong Indian market has diverse demands with various market segments – a good condition for Vietnamese exporters.

 

Besides trade, bilateral cooperation in tourism and investment also grew with the resumption and launch of direct air routes. Adani Group, for example, has committed to pouring 10 billion USD in Vietnam.

 

However, Thuong said, the presence of Vietnamese businesses in the market remained modest. In contrast, India’s administrative and legal system had been complicated by the toughest trade defence measures, which had caused great difficulties for Vietnam in approaching the market.

 

As part of the efforts to support Vietnamese firms to penetrate the market more deeply, the Vietnam Trade Office in India organised online trade promotion activities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the official said.

 

His office had also connected many Vietnamese firms with their Indian peers and helped deal with trade conflicts while providing domestic businesses with trade defence cases initiated by the Indian side, he said./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

Vietnam is paying attention to mobilising resources to invest in developing green agriculture with an aim to raising the market share of its agricultural exports to the European Union.

 

Last year, Vietnam’s export revenue of agro-fishery-forestry products set a record high of 53.22 billion USD, up 9.3% year-on-year. However, Europe accounted for only 11.3% of its market share.

 

This is a modest number, although the agricultural sector has optimised many advantages of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

 

One of the main reasons is said to be the union’s high requirements on farm imports, while Vietnam’s agricultural production has yet to meet green growth requirements.

 

According to the World Bank’s report, agriculture is the second highest emitter, accounting for 19% of the nation’s total gas emissions in 2020. About 48% of the sector’s emissions and more than 75% of methane emissions are from rice production.

 

Therefore, to boost farm exports to the EU, the sector is advised to pay more attention to green growth indicators through making policies and roadmaps to reduce greenhouse gas and methane emissions in accordance with international commitments.

 

Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development approved an action plan to implement the National Strategy on Green Growth from 2021-2030, which aims to specify goals, tasks and solutions to realise the strategy and the national action plan for green growth.

 

Under the plan, the ministry will work to develop the agricultural sector in an ecological, organic, circular and low-carbon direction to improve growth quality, added value, competitiveness and sustainable development, while reducing pollution in agricultural production and rural areas, and promoting energy efficiency towards carbon neutralisation by 2050. Specifically, the sector aims for 2.5-3% in annual growth, and 42% in forest coverage.

 

It will also strive to increase the use of organic fertilisers to 30% of all those consumed, along with 30% of pesticides and at least 30% of farm areas using water-saving systems.

 

The sector will switch 300,000 hectares of rice to other crops with higher economic and environmental efficiency, while aiming for over 2% of organic farms out of the total farming area./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Thailand exported 7.69 million tonnes of rice in 2022, up 22.1% from a year earlier, the country’s Commerce Ministry said on January 31.

 

The exports exceeded a target of 7.5 million tonnes, with top markets being Iraq, South Africa, China, and the US, it said in a statement.

 

Thai rice exports were strong last year because of the weak baht, according to Ronnarong Phoolpipat, head of the ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office.

 

Earlier this month, the Thai Rice Exporters Association lowered its target for 2023 from 8 million tonnes to 7.5 million as the baht, which is which is now trading around 32.50 to the US dollar, has appreciated dramatically after reaching a low of 38 last October.

 

The price of benchmark 5% white rice remains high in world markets, having risen from 465 USD a tonne in mid-December to 523 USD as of January 18, said the association.

 

Thai rice exports also benefited last year from export curbs imposed by India in order to shore up local food security.

 

Authorities in Delhi are now considering removing some of those curbs as domestic prices have stabilised and government stockpiles are adequate to meet the needs of welfare programmes./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

With stronger tourism growth forecast for this year, the domestic market is expected to give the strongest boost to the recovery of this sector.

 

Not Chinese travellers or any other sources of international tourists, it is the domestic sector that will remain the “brightest” factor helping Vietnam’s tourism continue recovering strongly in 2023, Nguyen Huu Y Yen, General Director of the Saigontourist Travel Service Co. Ltd, said as cited by Thanh nien (Young people) newspaper.

 

He said before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the three biggest sources of foreign visitors to Vietnam were China, Russia, and the Republic of Korea (RoK).

 

Charter flights from the RoK have been resumed just recently while there haven’t been many Chinese tourists, and Russian tourists haven’t returned. The European and US markets have begun to bounce back but are unlikely to record a breakthrough in 2023, he pointed out.

 

Yen expected the number of international tourists in 2023 will return to about 50% of the 2019 level. Meanwhile, in just over six months of 2022, the number of domestic travellers rebounded to over 50% of the pre-pandemic level, and this year’s figure will definitely reach 70 – 75%. Outbound tourism will also share the same trend.

 

The domestic market can regain the 2019 growth in 2024, the Saigontourist CEO predicted.

 

About 9 million Vietnamese travelled during the recent Lunar New Year holiday, surging 47.5% year on year, statistics show.

 

Nguyen Trung Khanh, General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, expressed his belief that 2023 will be a vibrant year for Vietnamese tourism in terms of both domestic and international markets.

 

He cited some experts as saying that the world will witness vigorous growth in travel demand this year. As a bright spot in the global tourism map, Vietnam will definitely not be out of this trend./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Thailand’s economy could grow as much as 4% this year, the fastest rate in five years, thanks to the recovery of the tourism sector and domestic consumption, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow said on February 1.

 

New investments are expected to make a positive contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Supattanapong, who is in charge of economic affairs, told a seminar.

 

“The economy will definitely be better than last year despite some impact from energy prices,” he said, adding that the economic situation is in recovery and will soon return to normal.

 

Last week, the Thai Finance Ministry maintained its economic growth outlook for 2023 at 3.8% but cut its 2022 growth estimate to 3% from 3.4% as exports weakened.

 

Official GDP figures for 2022 will be released by the Thai government on February 17.

 

Thailand’s Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) said on February 1 that the Thai economy is still expected to expand 3-3.5% this year, unchanged from its previous forecast, as tourism picks up but exports slow.

 

A strong baht and a global slowdown continue to pressure exports, the committee said, adding that the Southeast Asian nation’s economy was estimated to grow 3.2% last year./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

The Economic Intelligence Centre of the Siam Commercial Bank forecasts the CLMV countries, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, will gain a stronger growth momentum in 2023, but remain below its growth potential prior to the COVID-19 outbreaks.

 

The rebound will be uneven across countries, depending on economic fundamentals and country-specific risks, the centre said in its February 1 report.

 

SCB EIC expects that the Cambodian economy will grow 5.5% this year, 3.0% in Laos and Myanmar, and 6.2% in Vietnam.

 

According to the report, domestic demand and tourism will be key drivers for CLMV economic recovery in 2023.

 

Domestic demand will gain support from improvements in the labour market, as seen in Vietnam’s Q4/22 employment soaring to its highest level since the COVID-19 outbreaks. Meanwhile, the service sector will benefit from rising tourist arrivals this year, particularly Chinese visitors who made up about 30-35% of total foreign tourists in 2019.

 

China has authorised outbound group tours traveling to Cambodia and Laos starting from February 6, 2023, and is expected to add more destinations to the list soon. In particular, Cambodia and Vietnam are poised to benefit the most from tourism rebound, considering the high contribution of tourism (both domestic and foreign) to GDP at 18.2% and 9.8%, respectively./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency