VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS JULY 25/2023

Fertiliser enterprises apply modern technology to reduce emissions hinh anh 1

Fertiliser manufacturers have implemented solutions to significantly reduce their carbon emission in production and improve energy efficiency.

Phung Ha, general secretary and vice chairman of the Vietnam Fertiliser Association said that global agricultural output would decrease by 50% if no fertilisers were used. However, about 2.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions are related to fertiliser.

Domestic fertiliser manufacturers have taken many measures to significantly reduce carbon emissions in production.

Energy consumption of ammonia production plants has decreased by more than 15% in the past decade. Several fertiliser companies have implemented greener methods of fertiliser production, including supply of renewable energy sources for the ammonia production process.

Another solution is to develop fertiliser products such as the decomposing, slow-dissolving, and controlled-release fertilisers that will help increase absorption and reduce harm to the environment.

Along with production, the right type, right rate, right timing and right placement of the fertilisers is also an effective solution to reduce emissions.

In addition, replacing synthetic fertilisers with manure or compost products has the potential to reduce emissions by 10-20% or more.

Le Hoang Kiet from Ca Mau Petroleum Fertiliser Joint Stock Company (PVCFC) said the company prioritises investment in developing sustainable green production, and reduction in using fertilisers to achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

PVCFC is researching energy-saving technologies and solutions. Of which, it applies green technology in production lines to optimise the efficiency of using input materials of its nitrogen fertiliser plant.

In addition, the company is studying production technologies and feasibility on projects to produce industrial gases such as nitrogen, argon, green hydrogen and food CO2.

For fertiliser product development, PVCFC has developed a number of modern technologies such as Bio-Coating technology, Humate complex technology, biotechnology, controlled release fertilisers (CRF) technology, and slow-release fertilisers (SRF) technology, to develop fertiliser product lines having high efficiency in agricultural production. Those will increase crop yield and resistance to pests and diseases, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The application of Bio-Coating technology has helped PVCFC to create economical fertiliser products, disease resistant fertiliser products and bio fertiliser products. That helps reduce the amount of used urea nitrogen fertiliser by 15-20%.

PVCFC also builds a soil nutrient map by ecological region integrated with a database to digitize the soil database and crop nutrient needs, contributing to improving efficiency in fertiliser use and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The company has also studied and applied using biomass-fuel to replace fuel oil (FO) in drying NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) fertiliser products and additive products to help slash production costs and carbon emissions.

The company has also made the use of steam and excess heat from sulfuric acid production lines to run turbines to generate electricity, contributing to economical and efficient use of energy.

Two new regulations on financial activities to take effect from August

New regulations on the operation of money exchange agents of bordering countries and eligibility requirements for foreign loans without the Government’s guarantee will officially take effect from August, 2023.

The State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular 04/2023/TT-NHNN dated June 16, 2023 specifying regulations on the operation of money exchange agents of bordering countries which takes effect on August 1.

Under the circular, the agents may only operate in the form of using Vietnamese dong to buy money from bordering countries sold by individuals.

Those located at departure waiting rooms at international and main border gates may sell bordering countries' currency in cash for Vietnamese dong to individuals.

They may also sell money of bordering countries in cash to foreign individuals who have completed exit procedures.

Regarding requirements for foreign loans that are not guaranteed by the Government, the central bank’s Circular 08/2023/TT-NHNN dated June 30, 2023 stipulates that those subject to this regulation include residents that are enterprises, cooperatives, cooperative unions, credit institutions and foreign bank branches (FBBs) established and operating in Vietnam and known as the parties applying for foreign loans (borrowers), and credit institutions or FBBs in Vietnam where borrowers’ accounts are opened to serve their foreign borrowing and repayment of foreign loan debts.

Borrowers of foreign loans in the form of international bond issuance, in addition to meeting the conditions for foreign loans that are not guaranteed by the Government, must comply with the provisions of law on the offering of corporate bonds to the international market and other relevant regulations.

Borrowers who are state-owned enterprises, in addition to meeting the loan conditions, must comply with regulations on management and use of state capital invested in production and business at enterprises and other relevant regulations.

This circular will come into effect on August 15.

Vietnam deals with India’s ban on rice exports

Vietnamese rice traders and the Vietnam Food Association have been required to implement some important tasks after India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade announced to ban rice exports from July 20.

The Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade has sent an official letter to issue the requirement, and the department considered that India’s ban on rice exports is likely to affect the global rice market.

Particularly, the Import-Export Department proposed the Vietnam Food Association to urge its members, especially big enterprises playing leading roles comprising Vietnam Northern Food Corporation, Vietnam Southern Food Corporation and so on to purchase and consume rice, rice products, ensure benefits of farmers in accordance with the current policies.

Besides, the association members are proposed to strictly implement the regulations of the Government on rice export activities and regularly maintain the minimum circulation reserve to ensure the balance between export and domestic consumption. This aims to contribute to stabilizing rice prices in the domestic market.

As for businesses, the Import-Export Department proposed relevant ones to closely monitor the market situation, implement appropriate production and export plans ensuring effectiveness; strictly implement the periodic report on the volume of rice, unsold rice as well as on signing and implementing rice export contracts.

According to experts, India’s ban on rice exports is expected to raise fear of global food price rises.

Rice sector needs more support to shift from quantity to quality

Despite a bright outlook predicted for rice exports in the second half of 2023, the rice sector still needs more support to shift from quantity to quality to seize global market opportunities.

About 6.6 million tonnes of milled rice in the Mekong Delta, the biggest rice production centre of Vietnam, is planned to be exported in 2023, including 3 million tonnes of high-quality rice, 2.1 million tonnes of fragrant and specialty rice, 0.9 million tonne of medium-quality rice, and 0.6 million tonnes of glutinous rice.

In the first six months of 2023, about 4.27 million tonnes of rice worth 2.3 billion USD was shipped abroad, rising 22.2% in volume and 34.7% in value year on year. Export prices averaged 539 USD per tonne, up 10.2%, according to the Quality, Processing and Market Development Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Favourable conditions are now in place for rice export, especially during the second half of 2023, as major markets like China, the Philippines, and Malaysia are still purchasing large volumes of the grain.

However, there is not much room left to boost the export volume. Vietnam is also stepping up crop restructuring to convert ineffective rice farming land into areas for other crops. Given this, promoting the rice value chain and processing to raise the produce’s value is compulsory to raise export revenue.

A representative of the Loc Troi Group said that to further increase rice value, aside from varieties and cultivation techniques, it is necessary to pay attention to processing and export markets. Importers have high demand for deeply processed rice, but Vietnamese businesses haven’t gained enough capital to invest in this step. Meanwhile, the weakness in origin tracing has also led to low prices.

In terms of brand building, the Loc Troi-branded rice is priced at up to 4,000 USD per tonne in the EU while the normal grain is sold at about 800 - 900 USD per tonne. The price difference is attributed to the shortage of capital to develop production and storage.

The sector also lacks information about markets. With sufficient and updated information, Vietnam can seize opportunities, the Loc Troi representative added.

Truong Sy Ba, Chairman of the Tan Long Group, pointed out problems in post-harvest preservation, noting that the rate of lost-harvest losses is still high, about 10 - 30% (depending on weather conditions).

In addition, the Mekong Delta is also facing logistics-related weaknesses. Rice must be dried within five - seven hours at the latest after being harvested to ensure good quality. However, due to poor and long transport, the product sometimes is dried after even 24 hours, making it hard to ensure quality.

Logistics is critical to reducing post-harvest losses, Ba went on.

The MARD is stepping up the building of a plan on sustainably developing 1 million hectares of land specialised in high-quality rice farming in connection with green growth in the Mekong Delta.

With this plan, Vietnam will be the first country to connect rice production with green growth, according to Le Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the MARD’s Crop Production Department.

Ba held that the plan will help the sector improve rice productivity and quality and have competitive production costs.

For her part, Bui Thi Thanh Tam, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Food Association, underlined the importance of quality, and that Vietnam should not wait for other countries to issue requirements but needs to proactively develop quality and brands.

Mentioning the issue of capital, she said banks have provided considerable assistance for rice businesses, but it is still very difficult for the companies to access bank loans as their assets are not big enough to be used as collateral.

The association called for increasing short-term loans for businesses during harvest periods, and helping them access the loans with low interest rates so that they can purchase rice in a timely manner to serve production.

Mekong Delta looks to awake night-time economy potential

Developing night-time entertainment in popular urban areas, including dining, boat tours and shopping, can help to boost sustainable development in the Mekong Delta based on the local ecosystem, culture and people.

Assoc. Prof. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, said developing the night-time economy is an inevitable move that matches the global trend and will generate a new impulse for the national economy.

The night-time economy, which includes entertainment, tourism, culinary services and shopping activities, among others, often develops in populous areas such as urban and tourism - service areas, he noted.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said the night-time economy will help maximise benefits from the resources that are not fully used during daytime. In Vietnam, night-time economic activities are mainly shopping, culinary services, and entertainment at trade centres, night markets, wholesale markets, night food streets, but mostly in big cities and developed tourism areas.

Although the night-time economy is expected to bring about new opportunities and momentum for economic growth, many experts said it is now just in the initial stage of development in the Mekong Delta as well as Vietnam at large.

Night-time products and services, including cultural activities, in many localities are not diverse. Some night markets or night streets are not yet well developed. Meanwhile, many services haven’t been properly connected with one another to create truly attractive sightseeing and boat tours for locals and visitors.

Existing culinary spaces just focus on selling foods and drinks instead of giving visitors true experiences to help them learn about the local culture and life via cuisine. Several public arts spaces open during night-time also haven’t received due attention from local authorities.

To effectively boost the night-time economy based on advantages of the whole region and each of its localities, Assoc. Prof. Pham Tien Dat, Rector of the University of Finance - Marketing, said that Mekong Delta localities should complete development plans to ensure that the potential of this type of economy is fully capitalised on.

He underlined the need to build comprehensive transport infrastructure, apply pilot mechanisms, and issue incentives to attract and facilitate investment in night-time economic activities.

Dr Nguyen Anh Tuan, from the Institute for Tourism Development Research, noted that each locality should select locations suiting its advantages and the demand of local residents and tourists to organise night-time economic activities, which depend much on tourism development and will help persuade visitors to prolong their stays and increase spending.

A leader of the People’s Committee of Can Tho city said that in efforts to boost trade and services to meet locals and visitors’ shopping and entertainment demands, the administration has released a plan on night-time economy development carried out on a trial basis in Ninh Kieu district – a tourist magnet in the city.

Accordingly, Can Tho will extend the time for night-time entertainment, food, shopping, tourism, cultural, and sports activities until 6am at certain popular tourist attractions that have favourable conditions for risk management. It will also hold and maintain many pilot models such as the Ninh Kieu pedestrian street, the Ninh Kieu night market, and the Can Tho old market, and connect tourist attractions with river tourism boats operating until 6am.

Meanwhile, the People’s Committee of Ca Mau province has approved a night-time economy development plan by 2025, with orientations towards 2030. In the short term, it will pilot the extension of night-time services until midnight at some popular tourist sites. Based on that, it will consider expansion to Song Doc towns, Nam Can town, Dat Mui commune, and other areas with favourable conditions.

Ninh Thuan reports 7.4% increase in seafood catch in H1

Fishermen in the south central coastal province of Ninh Thuan brought ashore 55,802 tonnes of seafood in the first six months of 2023, up 7.4% year on year.

The high catch is attributable to favourable weather and fishermen’s eagerness to apply advanced technology in fishing.

Khu Van Thanh, owner of a 450CV fishing boat in Phan Rang – Thap Cham city said he could earn a profit of between 60-80 million VND (over 2,500 to over 3,380 USD) after a fishing trip, which usually lasts about 15 days.

According to Dang Van Tin, head of the province’s Fishery Bureau, the province aims to catch 124,000 tonnes of seafood this year, with about 70% to be caught offshore.

The bureau has provided information on fishing grounds and markets to help fishermen make production plans.

Fishing logistics facilities have also stocked up on fuel, food, ice and other essential supplies as well as transport services to fully meet demands of fishermen.

Ninh Thuan has established over 170 fishing groups with the participation of 1,018 fishing boats so that fishermen can help each other at sea.

So far all fishing boats fishing offshore of the province have received fishing licences, and 99.6% of them have gained food safety certificates. Besides, 100% of fishing vessels with a length of 24m or more in Ninh Thuan have installed vessel monitoring systems.

The province has also completed the updating of fishing vessel date in the national fishery database.

By far no fishing vessels of Ninh Thuan have been found violating foreign waters.

Webinar discusses e-commerce opportunities in Singapore, regional countries

A webinar on e-commerce opportunities in Singapore and countries in the region for Vietnamese goods was held on July 21 by the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Asia-Africa Markets and the Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency (iDEA).

The event was part of a promotion programme to bring more Vietnamese goods to Singapore and regional countries, contributing to attracting foreign investment in industries related to e-commerce, facilitating joint ventures between both countries, and promoting cross-border connectivity in payment, goods transportation, logistics and customs.

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Mai Phuoc Dung said Singapore is now Vietnam’s fifth biggest trade partner in ASEAN. Two-way trade reached 9.1 billion USD last year, up 11.6% annually.

He added that the Vietnamese Government considers e-commerce one of the pioneering fields in the digital economy. The Prime Minister has issued a decision approving a comprehensive plan for the development of the national e-commerce for the 2021-2025 period, with specific goals and measures.

Commercial Counsellor Cao Xuan Thang, head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, advised firms to keep updated on e-commerce trends in Singapore, such as e-commerce for smartphones, live streaming, commerce on social media, online payments and voice commerce.

Head of the iDEA’s International Cooperation Office Bui Thanh Hang spoke about Vietnam's regulations on e-commerce, mechanisms to facilitate e-commerce and digital economy in Vietnam, and the goals of Vietnam's e-commerce development programme until 2025.

The event attracted about 280 representatives from Vietnamese enterprises and Singaporean partners, including manufacturers, farms, trading companies, software and technology solution providers, printing and packaging companies, wholesalers, retailers, garment and household appliance companies, legal consultancy firms, digital transformation companies, investment firms, research institutions and business associations.

HCM City international innovation event in August

Around 50 investment funds and 200 start-ups and tech companies will participate in InnoEx 2023, an international innovation event to take place in HCM City on August 24-25.

The annual event with the theme “Innovation & Green Economy” this year will bring together policymakers, senior Vietnamese government officials, regional private equity and venture capital funds, and founders and CEOs of large corporations and start-ups, according to organisers.

There will be a range of activities to promote innovation and development by the business community in Southeast Asia and enhance connections and business partnerships.

The highlights will include an exhibition to showcase innovative products and services, advanced technology solutions from 200 local and foreign businesses and a forum with the participation of leading experts, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors from the region.

The annual competition for domestic and international start-ups to explore business opportunities in Southeast Asia, Startup Wheel, and the programme designed for tech companies and investors to explore investment opportunities, Investment Zone, will be held.

More than 50 universities and other educational institutes from the region will send their students to the Talent Hub employment programme in fields such as technology, marketing, finance, and business.

The event is organised by the Business Startup Support Centre, HCM City Young Business Association and Investment and Business Partners.

Profit growth of banking industry forecast to slow in 2023

Pre-tax profit growth of the whole banking industry will decelerate in 2023 and there will be a significant difference in the growth between small- and large-sized banks, experts forecast.

The Securities Joint Stock Company of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCBS) forecast the industry's pre-tax profit in 2023 will grow by only about 10%, much lower than the rate of nearly 35% last year.

Besides, VCBS believed there would be a difference in profit prospects among different groups of banks and this difference would continue to be stronger in 2024. Specifically, some small-sized banks would continue to decelerate or even grow negatively in 2024 if the real estate market and the global macro situation deteriorate, which could cause credit to slow and the debt repayment ability of borrowers difficult to recover while the Government’s supporting policies expire.

Similarly, the Ho Chi Minh City Securities Joint Stock Company (HSC) forecast the average profit of a group of banks that HSC was studying would increase by only 12-15% in 2023. However, in the last six months of 2023 alone, HSC expected the bank group’s profits to increase by more than 20% over the same period last year.

According to VCBS, one of the main reasons for this deceleration comes from the difficulties of banks in recovering bad debts due to the frozen real estate market. Real estate is the main collateral for most loans of banks.

According to Pham Nhu Anh, General Director of Military Bank (MB), in the last six months of 2023 and 2024, the real estate market is expected to face many difficulties and pose potential risks. Many real estate projects are still in the process of completing legal procedures or have not completed construction and handed over apartments to homebuyers as planned. At the same time, the declining confidence of homebuyers continues to directly affect the demand for loans, the compliance with payment commitments under purchase and sale contracts with investors and loan repayment commitments with banks.

The above difficulties are forecast to directly affect the stability of the real estate market and a number of related industries such as iron and steel, building materials and construction. The uncertainty would reduce the credit quality of the banking industry, Anh said.

However, VCBS expected the bad debt ratio and provisioning level of banks would not increase dramatically in 2023 thanks to the Government's Decree No 08/2023/ND-CP supporting the extension of corporate bonds and Circular No 02/2023/TT-NHNN allowing the restructuring of outstanding loans.

By 2024, VCBS forecast the risk of bad debt might increase again and there would be a divergence. Specifically, the group of banks with good asset quality would record bad debt and debt restructuring at a moderate level. In contrast, banks with a high proportion of loans to real estate and corporate bonds, and low coverage of bad debts might face rising bad debt risks and provision pressure in 2024.

Besides, VCBS also pointed out another factor affecting the business results of the whole banking industry. It was the decrease in non-interest income in most of the main activities of banks such as services and securities investment, over the same period last year.

In particular, income from bancassurance, which accounted for about 30% of banks’ service income, was affected by the decrease in people's income and the inspection strengthening of the State management agencies, VCBS said, adding after the first four months of this year, new revenue through the bancassurance channel of the whole market recorded a decrease of 38% over the same period last year and the profit from insurance premiums for the whole year was forecast to decrease by 10-15%.

Steel producers await positive results in H2

While steel prices have continued to fall and demand remains low, the steel industry is expected to recover at the end of this year.

A recent monthly report from the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) showed that construction steel production decreased by 9.1% month-on-month to 738,196 tonnes. Sales also fell by 6% to 874,441 tonnes, of which sales to international markets declined by 21.5% to 149,623 tonnes.

Construction steel manufacturing output for the first half of the year totalled nearly 5 million tonnes, a 25.5% decrease from the same period last year, while sales and exports decreased by 22.7% and 38% over last year, respectively, to roughly 5.1 million tonnes and 831,000 tonnes.

VSA said that weak steel demand in most regions of the world and negative sentiment had both weighed on the selling prices of finished steel. Also pressuring steel prices, Chinese producers were boosting exports by lowering prices at a rapid rate to compete, the association added.

Since the beginning of the year, construction steel prices have been revised down 12 to 13 consecutive times. Currently, CB240 steel is quoted at 13.74 - 14.48 million VND per tonne (580.85 - 612.13 USD), while prices of D10 CB300 are about 14.06 - 15.1 million VND per tonne.

According to the report, prices of raw materials were stable last month, but sluggish domestic demand drove manufacturers to decrease selling prices competitively. In addition, few social housing projects have been undertaken because the real estate market has not yet shown signs of recovery.

While local demand is suffering, Vietnam's steel sales to the EU have increased significantly.

The General Department of Customs reported 1.13 million tonnes of iron and steel were shipped in May. In the first five months of the year, the accumulation of steel exports increased by 10.4% to 4.38 million tonnes. Italy is the top importer of Vietnamese steel, with roughly 696,000 tonnes, up 121% year-on-year.

Outside the EU, exports to Malaysia grew 23% to 383,000 tonnes, while shipments to the US were 297,000 tonnes, a gain of 4%.

The World Steel Association (WSA) forecast at the end of May that global steel consumption would begin to rise this year after declining 3.2% in 2022.

Moreover, recent business-friendly measures, such as rate cuts and public investments, were projected to assist steel manufacturers.

Lowering loan costs would enhance enterprises' profit before tax while promoting public investment and infrastructure would alleviate the output problem and encourage the growth of the local iron and steel sector.

In 2023, a public investment plan with a total capital of about 700 trillion VND (29.59 billion USD) was authorised by the National Assembly, an increase of roughly 25% over the 2022 plan.

"With the Government's support, the steel manufacturing industry is expected to overcome difficulties in the last months of the year and reaffirm its position as a key industry in the development of the country's economy," said Pham Quang Anh, Director of the Vietnam Commodity News Centre under the Mercantile Exchange of Vietnam (MXV).

"Vietnam is the leading country in Asia in terms of infrastructure investment to boost the economy, with spending accounting for about 5.7% of GDP. Vietnam also aims to move towards becoming a high-income economy, and infrastructure development plays an important role in achieving that goal.

"As a result, increased public investment in infrastructure projects will serve as a driving force in assisting the domestic iron and steel market to overcome challenges by the end of this year."

Given the importance of iron and steel in construction projects and highway works, the current price ranges would help reduce cost pressures on businesses, he added.

The difficulties were expected to ease in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, as demand rises when construction projects would speed up, Le Xuan, an independent trader, told Vietnam News.

On the stock market, steel stocks would be able to continue to move positively in the near future thanks to the domestic steel market's recovery momentum, although this was not really clear.

The market ended July 20 on a negative note, weighed by losses in pillar stocks in the banking and real estate industries.

However, it was cushioned by gains of steel producers led by Hoa Phat Group (HPG), up 2.92%, while Hoa Sen Group (HSG) jumped 1.15% and Nam Kim Group (NKG) rose 0.8%. The stocks soared 56.7% from the beginning of the year.

In the first quarter, the country’s leading steel producers - Hoa Phat, Hoa Sen, and Nam Kim - all reported profits after losses for the previous two quarters.

Hanoi apartments rise by nearly 75 percent in five years

Prices of apartments in Hanoi have increased by 73 percent since the first quarter of 2019 according to a report on the local real estate market in the second quarter of 2023 released by real estate consultancy company Savills Vietnam.

Director of the Research and Consultancy Division of Savills Hanoi, Do Thu Hang, said that despite the quiet market, investors haven't decreased prices.

"The average apartment prices have reached VND 53 million per square metre in the second quarter of this year, up 17 percent from the same period last year and up 73 percent from the first quarter of 2019," Hang said. "The rising prices are attributed to the increasing prices of land and construction fees, and the higher quality of apartments."

Surveys showed that prices of apartments at projects near the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line have also increased by 22 percent compared to the same period last year.

According to the report, some 3,596 apartments were put for sale in the second quarter but only 2,500 apartments were sold, down 6 percent against the figure of the first quarter.

Savills Vietnam predicts that 11 projects will start selling some 7,000 new apartments in the final half of this year, mainly in the districts of Ha Dong, Nam Tu Liem, and Hoang Mai.

The company also forecasts that Gia Lam and Dong Anh districts will have more projects with some 19,500 apartments being built in the coming time.

Meanwhile, there were no supplies of villas and terraced houses in the second quarter of this year. Only 106 villas were sold in the city in the first quarter of this year with prices falling by 10 percent to VND100 million per square metres in Me Linh District.

Vietnam to export coconuts to China

The Plant Protection Department (under the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry) informed about the high potential of Vietnam to sell a large quantity of coconuts to China.

Accordingly, the Chinese General Administration of Customs has announced of an inspection field trip in the middle of this August to coconut farms and processing factories in Vietnam that have a plan to export their products to China.

Therefore, the Plant Protection Department proposed that the Agriculture and Rural Development Departments of provinces and cities urgently complete necessary documents as well as assigning suitable technical staff to support and guide coconut farms, fresh coconut processing facilities that are taking part in the online inspection as requested by the General Administration of Customs of China.

At present, China has a high demand of fresh coconuts, yet its farms in Hainan Island can only answer 10 percent of this need.

Meanwhile, Vietnam now has over 180,000ha of coconut farms, mainly sited in the Central Coast and Mekong Delta regions like Tra Vinh Province or Ben Tre Province. Vietnam is ranked 7th as to coconut production in the world.