Authorities in border areas of the northern province of Lang Son have tightened inspection and management, and used modern specialised equipment to rigorously control the safety of agricultural products exported to and imported from China via border gates, in a bid to prevent the spread of both traditional and exotic diseases.

Statistics from the Management Board of the Dong Dang border gate economic zone showed that an average of 1,100 to 1,300 trucks undergo customs clearance at local border crossings a day, including between 400 – 500 trucks transporting exports (primarily agricultural products and fresh fruits).

Tan Thanh border gate records the largest volume of import-export goods. It is considered the "gateway" for exporting agricultural products from southern provinces to the Chinese market.

Particularly, thousands of tonnes of goods are processed through customs clearance points every day to serve the increasing demand during the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival, mainly vegetables, fresh fruits, and dry goods, which carry the inherent risk of bringing exotic diseases.

The Lang Son Regional II Animal Quarantine Branch has directed the Tan Thanh border gate plant quarantine station to increase human resources for strictly controlling agricultural products imported through border gates to avoid risks and minimise economic losses.

Tran Van Hieu, deputy head of the agency, said the unit has directed its affiliated quarantine stations to pay attention to monitoring and handling quarantine-related procedures for businesses, helping them meet regulations on the quality and safety of goods.

Lang Son province has seven border gates recording imports and exports customs clearance activities at the beginning of 2023, namely Tan Thanh, Coc Nam, Chi Ma, Na Nua, Na Hinh, Huu Nghi, and Dong Dang.

Recent efforts made by the local authorities and businesses have contributed to ensuring quarantine regulations and the quality of goods, and stabilising the import and export environment at local border gates.

Profits still out of reach for pig farming companies

Despite the total herd increasing to a new high, 2023 has been called a poor year for the pig farming industry, with businesses and farmers failing to make a profit.

At a 2023 summary conference by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in early January, leaders said that the pig farming industry was likely to have incurred losses over the past year, greatly affecting the profit plans of each enterprise and the entire industry.

The results of listed husbandry businesses in the first nine months of 2023 just released echo the results. In the first three quarters of 2023, the after-tax profits of Dabaco Group were $780,000, equalling only 3 per cent of the yearly plan.

Vissan JSC earned $5 million in pre-tax profit as of end-October, equalling 66 per cent of the yearly plan. The company has adjusted its plan 24 per cent lower compared to last year.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai JSC estimated profit for the whole year of 2023 to be $90.7 million, nearly double its projection, but most of this comes from liquidation and asset transfer activities.

Elsewhere, BaF Vietnam Agriculture JSC reported only $2.2 million in after-tax profit, equivalent to 17.6 per cent of the annual target.

BaF aims to expand the size of the pig herd to 800,000 by the end of this year and double the net profit compared to 2023. VNDirect Securities forecasts that BaF Vietnam’s revenue may increase by 7.4 per cent in 2024, enabling net profit to increase by an estimated 15.9 per cent compared to 2023.

Last week, BaF Vietnam acquired pig farming company Thanh Dat Gia Lai CNC in Gia Lai province. Last year, it invested in seven new farms in Tay Ninh province. In 2024, it plans to put two new farms into operation in the next month or so.

Meanwhile, Do Xuan Huy, vice president of C.P. Vietnam, said that the selling prices of live hogs in 2023 were low, on average $2.06 per kg.

“Both livestock households and major businesses are suffering losses in pig farming,” Huy said. “The price of live pigs was lower than in 2022, mainly because of weak consumption, increased domestic meat supply, and African swine fever issues.”

Local meat has had to compete with smuggled pigs from neighbouring countries with lower prices, despite the risk of disease infection and food insecurity (see above).

Since June 2023, there have been six reductions in animal feed prices in the country, but they are still around 45 per cent higher than before the coronavirus pandemic.

Tong Xuan Chinh, deputy director of the MARD’s Department of Livestock, said that the selling price of live hogs was lower than the production cost.

“The cost of breeding livestock is about $2.30-2.50 per kg. With the selling prices in 2023, farmers cannot earn any profit,” Chinh said.

In 2023, the country’s total pig herd was estimated to reach 30.3 million, an increase of 4.2 per cent compared to 2022; live pork output reached 4.68 million tons.

VNDirect said that the Vietnamese pork market still had growth potential and businesses covering the feed-farm-food model would benefit from the trend of clean meat in urban areas.

Some businesses expressed optimism about 2024. Dabaco has set a revenue target of $1.1 billion and after-tax profit of $30.8 million, an increase of 3 and 28 per cent compared to the 2023 plan.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai also expects that 2024 profits will be about 25 per cent higher than last year’s results.

Legal landscape adjusted for global pharma groups

Multinational corporations operating in Vietnam are expected to benefit from new legal changes in the months to come, after years of delay.

Gregory Charitonos, chairman of the International Quality Medicines - Generic and Biosimilar Sector Committee, under the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, is satisfied after hearing about a number of solutions in regards to marketing authorisations (MAs) and the rights of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs), announced by the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV) at the 2024 Whitebook launch over a week ago.

“These are the topics we have discussed for a considerable duration with the DAV. The responses indicate that they adopted many of our proposals, which will help to lift the procedural burdens and foster a more conducive environment for foreign enterprises like ours to invest in Vietnam and facilitate technology transfer,” he said at the launch.

“We hope that the procedures for the registration of products will be further simplified, and there will be an automatic renewal of the MA, similar to the process in Europe,” Charitonos added.

At the launch, Nguyen Thanh Lam, deputy director of the DAV, said, “We are continuing to complete the legal framework by amending the Law on Pharmacy 2016 (LoP). The Ministry of Health (MoH) has worked with the Ministry of Justice to appraise its draft amendments. They include a number of regulations on drug registration.”

In particular, the DAV will maximise administrative procedure reform related to registration of new drugs, and extension of MA.

“For this, we propose the automation mechanism, similar to what many other countries do. With this, businesses will not have to wait for issuing an extension,” Lam added. “We also invited four universities in the industry to join the appraisal of clinical records of new drugs registration. From July 2023, we apply IT in drug registration from submission of documents, appraisal to licensing.”

Regarding the expansion of the rights of FIEs, which has been among their top concerns among multinational corporations in the industry, Lam said that the amended LoP clarifies some content related to distribution rights of FIEs, facilitating and encouraging transfer of production and tech in Vietnam.

“Expansion of some other rights of FIEs is being proposed to the government. They include the rights to import excipients and materials to supply for factories doing outsourcing and technology transfer,” he said

The Law on Bidding took effect on January 1. At present, the MoH is completing a circular to guide the bidding at state-owned health facilities. “We still maintain a price negotiation process along with bidding packages of brand-name drugs,” Lam said.

According to the DAV, over the past two years, the MoH has revised a number of legal documents towards simplifying administrative reform and improving state management efficiency in drug registration.

To deal with problems related to MAs and ensure the continuation of production and supply of drugs in the country, the MoH submitted for approval and issuance of a resolution to extend for drugs with expired MAs to the end of 2024.

These latest announcements are good news for multinationals, as MAs and the expansion of the rights have been among top concerns for years. “We recognise the exigency of extension in MAs. To this end, we urge the revision of the LoP to streamline processes,” said Charitonos of EuroCham.

“Our recommendations encompass the establishment of clear guidelines, feasible timelines, and accountability mechanisms for delays – all slated for implementation by January 2025. We underscore the immediate implementation of select regulations upon the LoP’s enforcement to preclude potential drug shortages.”

He added that it expects to address constraints imposed on foreign-invested pharmaceutical enterprises.

“Our emphasis lies in the expansion of our rights and the revision of tender regulations to enhance the attractiveness of the Vietnam market. Furthermore, we advocate for incentives supporting localised production of high-quality products, a measure designed to attract heightened foreign investment and stimulate innovation within the sector,” he said.

Regarding generic drugs and biosimilars, the sector committee advocates for early issuance of guidance, specific definitions within the LoP, intensive healthcare professional training, and extended educational initiatives. These endeavours are envisioned to enhance comprehension and utilisation of biosimilars in clinical practice, ensuring a diverse range of effective treatments for patients.

Vietnam’s pharmaceutical market is being valued at about $6.4 billion a year. BMI Research forecasts that the market will reach over $16 billion by 2026, with a compound growth rate of up to 11 per cent.

According to the Vietnam Pharmaceutical Companies Association, by 2022, Vietnam had 51 foreign-invested pharmaceutical enterprises, 228 enterprises meeting WHO-GMP standards, and 12 enterprises meeting high GMP standards. As recently as 2017, only two enterprises achieved such standards in Vietnam.

Vietnamese spend $1.4 billion on online food deliveries

In 2023, Vietnamese people spent $1.4 billion on online food delivery platforms like Grab, ShopeeFood, Baemin, and GoJek.
 
The information was revealed in a report titled Food delivery platforms in Southeast Asia 2024 by Momentum Works on January 30.

According to the report, Southeast Asia’s food delivery platforms' gross merchandise value (GMV) climbed by a modest 5 per cent on-year to reach $17.1 billion in 2023, mirroring the growth rate observed in 2022.

The increase was driven primarily by the region’s smallest food delivery market, Vietnam (+$300 million or 27 per cent on-year), followed by Malaysia (+$200 million or 9 per cent on-year). Thailand and Indonesia registered low single-digit growth, while Singapore’s topline remained flat.

With continuous pressure to achieve sustainable profitability, most incumbent food delivery players have continued to rein in food delivery subsidies and adopt differentiated strategies to compete.

As of the end of 2023, Grab is estimated to account for 55 per cent or $9.4 billion of the region’s food delivery GMV, a 6.8 per cent increase from the year before.

Most food delivery markets in Southeast Asia experienced very modest growth, except for Vietnam, where total GMV grew by almost 30 per cent despite cost controls from almost all the players. Vietnam led the growth across all six major markets.

Among all food delivery platforms, Grab continues to maintain a significant market share of 47 per cent in Vietnam. ShopeeFood has risen to become the second most popular option in the country, holding 45 per cent of the market share. It is followed by Baemin and Gojek with 5 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively.

The report highlighted that the food and beverage (F&B) sector has recovered, but competition intensified, with most major shifts expected to continue into 2024. In 2023, the total F&B service expenditure in Southeast Asia finally exceed pre-pandemic levels, with many large operators seeing clear growth.

In 2023, there was a significant increase in the number of Chinese chain restaurants expanding overseas, and many of them chose Southeast Asia as their first destination. Mixue opened its first overseas store in Vietnam in 2018, and the Chinese brand now has close to 4,000 stores in the region.

Aside from the F&B recovery and entry of Chinese brands, the other two key trends are the digitalisation of F&B, as well as the divergence of platform strategies with the common theme of consolidation.

After one to two years of cost reductions, operational optimisation, and sometimes lay-offs, most platforms have achieved some level of profitability. The consolidation that is already happening in the sector is expected to continue into 2024.

IP developers hungry for financial bankroll

Limited financial resources for industrial park technical infrastructure is preventing new investments and project expansions.
 
The interim executive committee of the Vietnam Industrial Park Finance Association (FAIP) was recently launched in Hanoi.

One of the key missions of the FAIP, which is a member of the Vietnam Financial Consulting Association (VFCA), is to become a trusted focal point for investors and partners, connecting supply and demand in terms of finance for organisations and individuals operating in industrial parks (IPs).

In addition, it will represent the IP developer community to advise state management agencies in building relevant policies, while advising the VFCA in consulting and social appraisal activities.

According to the VFCA, the new entity is necessary in the context that demand for capital from industrial real estate developers is large.

According to Vietnam’s land use planning strategy, by 2030 the land area for IP development will reach almost 211,000 hectares. Thus, from now to 2030 there will be about 120,000ha of IPs, of which the area of industrial land for rent is about 80,000-85,000ha.

According to a survey by the Institute for International Investment Studies, the current average estimated investment cost to develop one hectare of IP land is about $600,000. The need for capital to develop infrastructure in IPs before 2030 and carry out construction is about $72 billion.

If the average investment rate of $6.5 million per ha of industrial land is taken into account, the need to attract investment capital to fill the remaining area of Vietnam’s planned IPs is about $600-650 billion.

In a report summarising 30 years of industrial and economic zone development by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the government agrees that by 2030, up to half of localities will have plans to convert existing parks to eco-IPs, and 8-10 per cent of localities will plan to build new eco-IPs.

Large real estate corporations are seeking foreign rather than domestic capital because the latter market remains cool.

The capital demand is large and capital resources for green economic development in general and eco-IPs in particular are still very limited, according to Le Minh Nghia, chairman of the VFCA. The current financial policy system applied to Vietnam’s IPs only focuses on tax policy, land policy, investment incentive policy and other local support policies. Meanwhile, the role of credit policy is still relatively obscure.

“There are almost no preferential credit policies prescribed to promote capital access for IPs in general and eco-IPs. Without timely investment, it is very difficult for the eco-IP model to develop in reality, and this may cause Vietnam to miss the wave of green funding that is increasingly becoming a central trend of international investors,” said Nghia.

As of the start of 2023, the total outstanding green credit debt in Vietnam reached $20.37 billion, accounting for about 4.3 per cent of the total outstanding bank credit debt for the economy, according to VFCA statistics.

“State budget capital to support IP infrastructure development is still low compared to demand. In the medium-term public investment plan 2016-2020, the capital allocated to support IP infrastructure development only met half of the demand,” said Can Van Luc, chief economist of BIDV.

“It takes a long time to invest the IPs and recoup the capital, thus the industrial real estate developers depend heavily on credit capital and corporate bonds, so their need for medium and long-term loans is huge, which serve to clear land, rent land, build infrastructure,” Luc added.

Experts share mixed sentiments on forex in 2024

Banking experts have mixed views about the foreign exchange situation amid volatile landscape at home and abroad.
The US Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting on January 31 ended with the interest rates held stable at the highest level in nearly 23 years at 5.25-5.5 per cent.

Dinh Duc Quang, cash management executive director at UOB Vietnam, said that the VND-USD exchange rate ended at around VND24,300, with a depreciation below 3 per cent against the US dollar in a year with large volatilities in interest rate policies from major central banks and complicated geopolitical relations worldwide.

This once again shows the stability of VND compared to the US dollar in the face of consistent governance from the central bank (SBV).

“The core factors for this stability in 2023 relate to major balances associated with growth pace, inflation, trade surplus, foreign investment attraction and inward remittances. Entering 2024, our recent report once again continues to have positive assessments of Vietnam’s macro factors and major balances including the stability of the VND-USD exchange rate,” said Quang.

Quang revealed that in the first weeks of 2024, the VND-USD exchange rate at commercial banks had inched up slightly to 24,700, growing at about 1.5 per cent, and that was completely consistent amid the current appreciation of the US dollar compared to major world currencies.

“On the free market, the VND-USD exchange rate has greater fluctuations than in the banking system. The trading volume in this market, however, is minor in the overall activity of the domestic forex market. Therefore, these larger fluctuations, if any, from the free market are not critical factors casting pressure on the stability of the forex market,” Quang said.

Meanwhile, a senior executive at major state lender BIDV said that the domestic forex market was now more difficult to predict in the face of growing connection with the international market.

For 2024, that executive expects the VND-USD exchange rate to be in a slight upward trend of less than 2 per cent overall and that the pattern shall be an up-and-down struggle due to a combination of factors.

First, the landscape in the international environment may pose a moderate pressure as the DXY which reflects the strength of the USD is expected to struggle sideways.

“During the periods when the US economy had a soft landing, such as 1995 or 1998, the US dollar tended to increase slightly in the face of the Fed’s policy transition. I think the current context may be more similar to the period of 1995 or 1998 with the probability of a soft landing for the US economy as higher. Accordingly, the trend of the US dollar Index (DXY) may be sideways, fluctuating in a wide range of about 99-106 points,” said the BIDV leader.

In fact, the DXY has been on steady rise, reaching 103.4 points at the end of January.

Second, in the domestic market, the foreign currency supply and demand balance is expected to be positive with an estimated surplus in the range of $8-10 billion.

Recent strategic partnership agreements with the US and Japan could be a boost for Vietnam's foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow and international trade along the year, although the basic outlook is not entirely favourable amid slowing global growth.

It is forecasted that the trade balance in 2024 may maintain a surplus of about $13-14 billion, while disbursed FDI volume may grow by 8-10 per cent to reach $23-24 billion.

“Leveraging recent experience, the SBV will likely continue to operate exchange rates flexibly with appropriate margins in 2024, and is ready to intervene for stability in times of great pressure,” said the BIDV leader.

“The UOB forecasts a slight increase in the value of the Vietnam dong in 2024 in the prospect that domestic macro factors will improve positively and US dollar interest rates may begin to be cut from mid-2024. The VND-USD exchange rate might be stabilised at around VND23,500-VND24,500 in 2024,” Quang from UOB said.

Ngo Dang Khoa, head of Markets and Securities Services at HSBC Vietnam, predicts that the VND-USD exchange rate might risk going upward in the first quarter of 2024 for several following reasons.

First, the difference in monetary policy approach between the Fed and the SBV will likely remain wide.

Vietnam's current policy priorities supporting growth, while in the US, growth figures are still higher than expectations and core inflation has slowly cooled, causing the Fed to maintain prolonged monetary policy tightening.

Second, VND liquidity in the interbank market is likely to remain ample because there have not been many significant changes in the credit growth as well as the speed of public investment disbursement, at least in the first quarter of this year.

Third, while Vietnam's trade surplus and FDI volume may remain high, some global and regional geopolitical tensions may cast negative impacts on Vietnam's dong.

Fourth, the USD in general is expected to maintain its strength in the first months of 2024, while the Chinese renminbi could continue to be weakened with China's economic rebound being slower than expected.

“However, the exchange rate outlook for the whole year 2024, especially in the second half of the year, will improve when the above factors reverse, especially when the local economy and credit growth gradually resume growth pace. We forecast that the VND-USD exchange rate will end the year at the price range of VND24,400 per USD,” said Khoa.

Hai Phong expands industrial parks to draw more FDI

The northern port city of Hai Phong is rolling out measures to make breakthroughs in the development of economic zones (EZ) and industrial parks (IP) to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI).

The city plans to build 15 more IPs with a total area of over 6,200 hectares. To date, the construction of two has been approved by the Prime Minister, covering nearly 1,200 hectares.

Alongside, as the city aims to develop sustainably, it is switching traditional IPs into ecological IPs at DEEP C IP and Nam Cau Kien IP, heading to the circular economy model, thus saving resources, reducing costs and protecting the public health and the environment.

Hai Phong has also built a project to adjust the general planning of the Dinh Vu-Cat Hai EZ until 2040 with a vision to 2050. The city also aims to construct an EZ in the south of the city, which is expected to take shape in 2025 with an area of 20,000 hectares.

So far, the city has had 14 IPs with an average occupation rate of 63.25%.

Le Trung Kien, head of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority, said that last year, the city drew 3.5 billion USD of FDI, raising the total in the city to 26.5 billion USD, with priority to projects with high and environmentally friendly technologies.

Retailers fully prepared for soaring Tet shopping demand

As there are only few days left before the Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays, purchasing power is rising sharply and retailers are ready to serve.

Despite some previous forecasts of modest consumption growth ahead of the biggest traditional festival due to economic difficulties, purchasing power recorded at retail networks, traditional markets, as well as e-marketplaces has been surging, reported Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review).

Paul Le, Vice Chairman of Central Group – owner of the supermarket chains of GO!, BigC, and Tops Market, said his firm has geared up a wide range of goods with discounted prices and many promotional programmes. In particular, it has prepared more than 3,000 essential goods such as confectionery, candied fruit, tea, coffee, rice, sugar, and cooking oil for Tet. The number of essential products stockpiled to serve Tet consumption demand increased by over 20% from a year earlier.

Many retailers said the number of consumers coming to their outlets has surged three - four times compared to normal days. Sales of confectionery, candied fruit, and fresh food have risen considerably.

Supermarkets have readied abundant supply and launched a wide range of promotions to cater for Tet shopping demand.

The Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade said the value of goods prepared for this year’s Tet in the city is estimated at 40.9 trillion VND (1.7 billion USD), up 10% year on year. Thirty-two units have engaged in a programme on supplying essential goods with stable prices at over 14,530 outlets across the city.

The volume of goods for sale at retail outlets has climbed 15 - 20%, and up to 90% of the supplies are Vietnamese products, it noted.

Le Viet Nga, Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the ministry has coordinated with businesses to increase the goods of the “One Commune, One Product” programme at distribution systems in order to raise the share of domestic items in consumers’ Tet shopping baskets.

To gear up for Tet, WinCommerce – owner of the Winmart retail chain – worked with suppliers three months ago to ensure quality and stable prices.

Besides, Winmart supermarkets will serve consumers until 11pm each day and until the noon of the 30th day of the last month in the Year of the Cat (February 9). They will reopen on the fourth day of the Year of the Dragon (February 13), said Deputy General Director of WinCommerce Nguyen Tien Dung.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi Trade Joint Stock Corporation (Hapro) has stockpiled 1 trillion VND worth of goods for Tet, including essential products with stable prices like rice, pork, chicken, eggs, aquatic products, cooking oil, vegetables, processed food, and confectionery.

Its Deputy General Director Do Tue Tam said Hapro built the 2024 Tet business plan early last year. It also has strict examination process to guarantee product quality.

Though economic difficulties remain, total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue in January still went up 8.1% year on year to stand at 524.1 trillion VND as consumers have been in the mood to shop for Tet, according to the General Statistics Office.

Hai Phong expands industrial parks to draw more FDI

The northern port city of Hai Phong is rolling out measures to make breakthroughs in the development of economic zones (EZ) and industrial parks (IP) to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI).

The city plans to build 15 more IPs with a total area of over 6,200 hectares. To date, the construction of two has been approved by the Prime Minister, covering nearly 1,200 hectares.

Alongside, as the city aims to develop sustainably, it is switching traditional IPs into ecological IPs at DEEP C IP and Nam Cau Kien IP, heading to the circular economy model, thus saving resources, reducing costs and protecting the public health and the environment.

Hai Phong has also built a project to adjust the general planning of the Dinh Vu-Cat Hai EZ until 2040 with a vision to 2050. The city also aims to construct an EZ in the south of the city, which is expected to take shape in 2025 with an area of 20,000 hectares.

So far, the city has had 14 IPs with an average occupation rate of 63.25%.

Le Trung Kien, head of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority, said that last year, the city drew 3.5 billion USD of FDI, raising the total in the city to 26.5 billion USD, with priority to projects with high and environmentally friendly technologies.

Consumer demand up 20-30% in run-up to Tet

A surge in consumer demand, particularly after the Kitchen God's Day, has been recorded through Hanoi, with a notable uptick ranging from 20-30%, reported a working delegation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the municipal People’s Committee following their inspection on February 5.

Supermarkets and businesses, which anticipated an increasing demand in the run-up to the Lunar New Year (Tet) Festival, have strategically formulated plans and inked contracts to augment the supply of goods by an average of 7-25% compared to the same period last year. The focus was primarily on essential goods, particularly food and groceries. At retail points, the inventory has increased by 15-40% to satiate demand, with 90% of the products being of Vietnamese origin.

Businesses are also escalating their efforts in the digital arena, from fortifying online sale channels to the seamless integration of electronic payment methods. They are also providing home delivery services and proactively connecting with cities and provinces to promptly supply goods to Hanoi when there is high demand or unforeseen fluctuations.

At present, Tet goods at distribution systems are abundant and diverse, with prices remaining stable, ready to meet shopping needs of residents.

So far, a total of 32 firms have joined the market stabilisation programme for essential food items, including industry leaders such as Saigon Co.op, Satra, Bach Hoa Xanh, Central Retail, MM Mega Market, Lotte, Aeon and key suppliers like Vissan, CP Vietnam and Ba Huan.

Germany – a key market for Vietnam Airlines in 2023

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is considering increasing the flight frequencies, and expanding routes to Germany, one of its key markets in 2023.

According to acting head of Marketing and Product Sales at Vietnam Airlines Pham Thi Nguyet, its brand in Germany exceeded the revenue plan in 2023, even higher than the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

Germany remained one of the five most important international markets of Vietnam Airlines last year, she said at a ceremony to honour Vietnam Airlines’ agencies with the highest number of tickets sold in 2023.

Cao Chinh Mien, Director of Vietnam Airlines branch in Germany, said that after the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam Airlines resumed routes connecting Vietnam with Germany in March 2022. Since then, the airline has continuously increased its frequency. By the end of 2023, Vietnam Airlines’ flights to Germany had reached and exceeded the pre-pandemic levels.

Now, there are 12 flights from Frankfurt to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City weekly, two higher than that in the pre-pandemic period.

In 2024, Vietnam Airlines will add two more flights weekly. It also plans to introduce more products to the German market with three Munich-Vietnam flights weekly starting from October. It expects to increase to four flight by the end of this year.

Lang Son ensures smooth trade activities at border gates during Tet

The northern province of Lang Son, home to seven border gates with robust trade activities, has rolled out various measures to ensure smooth flows for goods during the Lunar New Year (Tet) Festival.

In the run-up to the New Year, the flows of goods, people and vehicles through the Chi Ma, Coc Nam, Tan Thanh, Na Nua, Na Hinh and Huu Nghi border gates have doubled and even tripled the figures recorded in normal days.

Around 4,000 passengers undergo immigration procedures at the Huu Nghi International Border Gate from 7am to 10pm every day.

Major Pham Tuan Hung, head of the border guard station of the Huu Nghi International Border Gate, said that as the number of passengers traveling through the border gate has increased during Tet, eight booths have been arranged at the site to guide and help passengers with immigration procedures.

Hung added that the border guard force has also routinely conducted patrols around the gate to detect and prevent any violations.

According to Deputy Head of the Huu Nghi Border Gate Customs Branch Phung Van Ba, along with arranging officers to handle business procedures, the customs authority has enhanced examination of customs declarations to prevent cross-border trade fraud.

While at the Na Hinh border gate where trade activities have been resumed since July, soldiers have been on duty to regulate vehicles and settle emerging issues so as to improve the efficiency of the border gate management.

Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Thuan, head of the Na Hinh border guard station, said the station has also joined hands with competent authorities to facilitate trading while averting border crimes.