Farm exports up 13%

Viet Nam's agriculture, aquaculture and forestry exports earned US$1.6 billion during the first month of this year, a year-on-year increase of 13.3 per cent, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Agriculture exports earned $910 million, an increase of 19.34 per cent over the same month last year. Meanwhile, fisheries and forestry exports both earned close to $320 million each.

Coffee, cashews, rubber and pepper continue to be the key exports that are fetching high prices globally.

"The weather in January was not good. Moreover, demand for these products has been increasing because the Lunar New Year Festival is coming.

These two reasons have pushed prices up," said head of the ministry's Information and Statistics Centre Nguyen Viet Chien.

Rubber is still the most valuable export. In January, the country earned $250 million from exporting 70,000 tonnes of rubber, an 82.8 per cent increase in value and 28.8 per cent jump in volume over the same month last year.

Cashews is the country's second highest earner. The country sold 15,000 tonnes on the international market earning $98 million, a year-on-year increase of 14.3 per cent in volume and 38.3 per cent in value.

About 7,000 tonnes of pepper and 11,000 tonnes of tea were exported.

In January, Viet Nam's coffee export volume decreased by 30.3 per cent to 100,000 tonnes.

However, the bean earned $175 million, a 13.2 per cent increase over the same month last year.

"The global supply of coffee has decreased so the price continues to rise," said Chien.

This month, about 380,000 tonnes of rice were exported, worth $200 million.

E-tax declaration services to go national

Online tax declaration services will be expanded in 19 provinces and cities already employing them, like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang City and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

It will also be developed in 22 new provinces and cities in 2011, bringing the total number of e-tax using businesses to 30,000.

Municipal tax departments will have to upgrade IT infrastructures and human resources to ensure fast and stable service systems.

Tax departments and relevant government agencies, working in concert with digital certification verifying companies, will be responsible for providing online tax forms and digital signature certification service for every business and individual using these services.

Vietnam digital signature certification service currently has five providers including Military Telecoms Group (Viettel), the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), the NacenComm Technologies Joint Stock Company, the BKAV Network Security Company and the FPT Corporation.

The business community showed much interest and support to online-tax declaration in 2010 as it helped reduce the costs, time, and work force used for tax declaration, according to the general department of taxation.

Online tax declaration also helped prevent the overload of tax-declaration registrations at the end of every month.

7,727 businesses had been participating in these tax declaration services by the end of 2010.

Can Tho City aims for higher growth

Can Tho City is targeting to increase its GDP per capita to US$2,150 this year, in an aim to maintain its leading position in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta region.

The targeted growth would be $200 higher than that of last year's figure. In 2002, GDP per capita was $330.

To fulfil this year's target, the city is planning to gain success in socio-economic programmes to have its GDP increased by 16 per cent higher than last year.

The city registered the country's fastest growth in GDP in 2009 at 7.8 per cent.

Productivity from industry, construction and commerce take up 90 per cent of the economic growth value of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta's biggest city, home to around 1.5 million people.

Upgrading equipment and machines, together with reducing production costs and industrial product prices, are the key goals of the city's plan to boost its industrial value to VND22 trillion ($1.1 billion).

Can Tho plans to complete its strategy of increasing domestic product competition to integrate better into the international market, hoping to reach more than $1 billion in total export value this year.

The city's revenue from the services sector is expected to be VND81.8 trillion ($4.09 billion).

Another task to help fulfil this year's target will be speeding up the transition to production of high-quality agricultural items.

Located in the centre of the delta, the biggest rice producer of the country, Can Tho is also planning a high-quality rice centre in the key districts of Thot Not, Vinh Thanh and Co Do to maintain its rice productivity of more than 1 million tonnes.

Last year, Can Tho exported over 570,000 tonnes of rice, earning nearly $229 million to account for 25.7 per cent of the city's total export value.

After 120 years of development, the city, 170km south of HCM City, is the delta's most important centre of commerce, culture, science and technology.

More than 22 per cent of Can Tho's budget is spent every year on education as the city is aiming to become the delta's high-quality education centre and provider of human resources training to southern provinces.

Fashion outlets reap big bucks before Tet

Fashion and garment outlets in Ho Chi Minh City are earning substantial revenues as purchasing activities are becoming more hectic as Tet is just several days ahead.

Pham Thi Quynh Ny, marketing manager of Vietnamese chain outlet Vinatex Mart, said sales currently double from the same period last year and even increase three- or fourfold compared to normal consumption.

Seventy percent of the garments the outlet stocks for the Tet shopping spree has been sold out, Ny added.

Le Mac Thuan, deputy CEO of Nha Be Garment Corporation (NBC), told Tuoi Tre NBC’s turnover during the final week before Tet has surged 30-40 percent over last week and the firm’s stock for Vietnam’s biggest festival is also running out now.

Shoppers tend to be tempted by discounts so sale is an effective technique to boost proceeds at year’s end, Phuong Nga, a shop owner on Le Van Si Street in Phu Nhuan District, revealed.

Fashion items like dresses, trousers, shirts, handbags, and shoes can be bought at her shop at prices which are 35-60 percent cheaper than normal at the moment.

“Thanks to the discounts, my sales have risen by almost 100 percent this week,” Nga said.

Discounts of up to 70 percent are now offered at most of the shops along the ‘fashion streets’ around the city like Hai Ba Trung, Le Van Si, Tran Huy Lieu, and Nguyen Dinh Chieu.

Middle-end outlets like Big C, Maximart, and Co.op Mart have also joined the sale-off race by slashing 50 percent in prices of shoes, clothing items, accessories, and others.

High-end shopping centers like Zen Plaza or Parkson currently offer discounts of up to 30 percent as well.

Most of the discounted items in the city have been imported from China, the US, South Korea, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

Local clothing items sell pretty well thanks to good design and more competitive prices.

For instance, Vietnamese fashion brands like N&M, NinoMaxx have rolled out trendy and stylish designs to cater to customers’ changing tastes.

Most of the domestic fashion companies have tried to maintain a stable price and frequently introduce new products to keep customers coming back, explained Dang Quynh Doan, director of Viet Thy Production, Trading and Fashion Company Limited.

Agricultural products on display at fair

Farm products for the upcoming Tet (lunar new year) are being showcased at a spring fair which was opened in Ha Noi on Wednesday by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

More than 200 outdoor booths are displaying diversified agro-forestry and aquaculture products, handicrafts, food and foodstuffs.

Beside traditional items, the fair also introduces specialities such as Amakong wine, Shan Lung wine, Seng Cu rice and special fruits. The annual fair, a cultural and trade promotion event, aims to speed up consumption of farm produce and traditional handicrafts as well as advertising local brands. The fair will end on Monday.

Green Label products to be honoured

Indochina Procter&Gramble's Tide washing-powder and a fluorescent lamp of Dien Quang Lamp Joint-stock Co achieved trial criteria under the Viet Nam Green Label Programme, the Viet Nam Environment Administration announced on Thursday.

The programme began in March 2009 to continuously improve and maintain quality of living through reduced consumption and production wastes. The programme evaluates controls on the environmental impact of a product or services, basically by reviewing its life cycle.

PV