Viet Nam's export turnover for the first month this year reached US$6 billion, almost two times of the set target, Government Office chief Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at a press conference yesterday.

Phuc also said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had requested ministers and provincial leaders to set priorities for maintaining a stable macro economy, keeping inflation under control and maintaining manufacturing efficiency.

Social affairs should also be taken care of, especially during lunar New Year holidays, Dung had said.

In the first month of this year, all ministries and localities had carried out tasks assigned by the Government, Phuc said. The trade deficit ratio had decreased compared to the previous month.

The service sector had been boosted, especially tourism; and agricultural production, although affected by the prolonged cold weather, had still remained stable.

The Consumer Price Index in January increased 1.74 per cent but was lower than the index of the two previous months.

There were, however, still many problems, Phuc said. They included the prolonged and extreme cold which had resulted in a lack of water for agriculture in the north and Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands).

This had caused the death of more than 20,000 buffaloes and delayed the period for growing rice and forestry plants. Pressure from the international market to push up prices had also made it difficult to control inflation.

Phuc said PM Dung had requested ministries to maintain the supply of essential goods, including oil and petrol, and called for action to overcome difficulties caused by the weather and to supply sufficient irrigation water. Food quality and hygiene also should be inspected to prevent diseases and epidemics.

Tra fish taken off WWF's red list

Viet Nam's tra fish (pangasius) has been removed from the WWF's red list published by the WWF for Nature in Belgium and Norway, said deputy director of the Fisheries General Department Pham Anh Tuan.

Viet Nam and the World Wildlife Fund signed an agreement last December to remove the fish from the organisation's red list.

The country expects to export 1.2-1.3 million tonnes of tra fish this year, worth US$1.45-1.55 billion.

HCM City stabilises staples

HCM City authorities have approved a plan to create buffer stocks of several essential goods to stabilise prices this year.

Producers and distributors will stock an extra 20 – 30 per cent of rice, sugar, vegetable oil, meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, and fruits – rising up to 40 per cent before the 2012 Lunar New Year – and sell at least a minimum of 10 per cent lower than market price.

The programme will last from April 1 to December 31.

When the new school year begins in August, books, bags, and uniforms will be added to the programme, with additional stocks of 20 – 40 per cent and prices 15 per cent lower.

Businesses are encouraged to join the programme but they are required to have healthy finances, meet other requirements, and pledge not to hike prices.

Auto imports double in January   

Vietnam imported over 6,000 automobiles in January of this year, nearly twice as many as the same month last year, according to the National Statistics Office.

Despite the year-on-year increase, the figure still fell short of the previous month by 1,000 units.

Experts said the increase was due to high demand before Tet combined with an automobile import tax cut that took affect at the start of the year. However, Vietnam's General Department of Customs has announced new car tax rates, effective from January 29, that will see an increase of between 1 and 6 percent.

The minimum tariff to be applied by customs will generally increase from 500 USD to 1,500 USD against last year. Some automobiles, such as the five-seater Toyota Corolla, will be subject to a new tariff of 11,000 USD replacing for current tariff at 9,500 USD.

Most experts and traders are still optimistic about the market recovery in 2011 after the sharp dip in 2010.

Director of the Truong Hai Automobile Joint Stock Company Tran Ba Duong said that they had invested strongly to widen their business. His company planned to leave the difficulties of 2010 behind to sell 32,000 automobile in 2011. Last year, he added, his company sold 26,500 units.

A representative from Audi Vietnam said demand in Vietnam was increasing, shown by the number of orders his company had recently received. In January, they had received three times as many orders compared with the same period last year, he said.

In 2010, the automobile market was strongly affected by the global recession.

A report by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association said that last year, 150,000 units were sold in the country, a year-on-year decrease of 17 percent.

Experts said that the reasons for the dip were tax policies, exchange rate fluctuating and high interest.

Due to these challenge, some experts are worried that the market might not recover. The marketing director of a famous automobile company in Vietnam predicted that the market this year would not change much compared with 2010, based on the fact that many importers and manufacturers had increased prices due to the devaluation of the Vietnamese dong.

The Ministry of Finance has also recently asked the Government to increase registration tax from 15 to 20 percent this year. If this proposal was approved, the market would fall into the same situation as 2010, he said.

Cruise liners to bring foreign visitors to VN during Tet 

Saigon Travel Service Co., a member of Saigontourist Holding Company, will receive three cruise liners with 3,650 foreign tourists aboard during the traditional New Year Festival (Tet), which falls on the first week of February.

The tourists are scheduled to tour a flower festival and some pagodas in Ho Chi Minh City, enjoy specialties in the southwestern region, visit pottery workshops and experience a floating market in the Mekong delta to witness jubilant atmosphere of welcoming Tet of local people.

They will also visit world heritage sites in the former imperial city of Hue and the northern province of Quang Ninh.

In 2010, Saigontourist welcomed more than 45,000 foreign tourists arriving by sea, mostly from Europe.

Gov't approves key economic zone

The Government has approved a project to build the Nam Thanh -Bac Nghe Economic Zone with a vision to 2025 and beyond.

The project will be key to the economic development of the northern part of central Viet Nam with sectors for oil refinery and petrochemistry, a deep-sea port, tourism and agricultural, and forestry and fishery production.

The project will include an oil refinery and petrochemistry complex, a shipbuilding yard, cement factories and a thermo-electrical plant.

There will be two urban areas in Nghi Son District in Thanh Hoa Province and Thai Hoa Hoa township in Nghe An Province.

The Nam Thanh-Bac Nghe Economic Zone will cover an area of 3,413sq.km including Thanh Hoa Province's districts of Tinh Gia, Nong Cong, Nhu Thanh and Nhu Xuan, and Nghe An Province's districts of Quynh Luu and Nghia Dan, and Thai Hoa township.

Construction Deputy Minister Nguyen Dinh Toan said the economic zone would be an active economic and favourable investment environment with high competitiveness and would be key to the country's marine economic strategy.

Transport routes and two cargo stations will also be built at Nghi Son to serve the deep sea port.

Under the project, 68km of Highway 1A and 80km of the Ho Chi Minh National Highway will be upgraded and 65km of coastal highway will be built.

PV