Vietnam has continued to make gains in agro-forestry-fishery production, and seen increases in agricultural exports thanks to its successful COVID-19 containment.

As of mid-May, about 2.67 million ha out of 4.28 million ha of rice from the winter-spring crop had been harvested, up 3.6% over the same period last year, with total output of about 17.7 million tonnes.

In the first five months, Vietnam shipped 2.86 million tonnes of rice overseas, a year-on-year rise of 10.3%, raking in 1.39 billion USD.

According to Nguyen Nhu Cuong, head of the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam has about 7.3 million ha of rice and 1 million ha of vegetables. Basically, the country faces no risk of food security.

In husbandry, cattle farms have grown by 1.6% compared with May 2021, while pig populations rose 5.7% and poultry by 1.9%. Only buffalo numbers decreased by 1.5%.

Vietnamese processed chickens have been exported to seven countries and territories, while milk and dairy products have been shipped to nearly 50 countries, including China. Vietnam has also exported pork and eggs to a number of markets.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said to boost the export of animals and their products, units, agencies and localities should focus on building production chains and breeding areas that should satisfy international standards as well as the requirements of importers.

Party Central Committee urges sweeping changes to real estate market

The Party Central Committee has just issued a resolution demanding sweeping changes to the real estate market, applying progressive tax rates on those with large areas of land or properties with an aim to ward off speculation and develop the real estate market in a healthy manner.

Resolution 18-NQ/TW of June 16 issued by the fifth plenum of the Party Central Party required that higher tax rates be imposed on those people using large areas of land or owning multiple real estate properties, those speculating on land, failing to put land to use as scheduled, or leaving land idle.

The Party Central Committee urged relevant bodies to build laws and policies on land tax with reference to international norms but suitable to the domestic market development and conditions and with a feasible roadmap.

A fully-fledged legal corridor for the real estate market must be established, with the land use rights to be strongly commercialized. There must be policies to develop the market for land use rights, especially the market for farmland leasing, according to the resolution.

While stressing the need to apply higher taxes in such a way to prevent speculation on real estate, the Party Central Committee also demanded preferential land taxes and fees for poverty-stricken areas and for poor and policy people including ethnic groups.

The Party stated that people’s land use rights are protected by law, but reiterated that the land use rights are not the rights to ownership. Still, specific rules must be issued to protect the legitimate rights of land users and to prevent land-related corruption and inappropriate retraction of people’s land use rights.

According to the resolution, land can only be redeemed after schemes on compensation, support and resettlement are approved. For certain specific cases, resettlement must be done before land is retracted to ensure that the affected people have a decent living place with equal or better conditions than their old places.

The scheme for reconciliation and negotiation between the people and enterprises must be ensured when the latter seek to have land for housing or urban development.

The Party Central Committee required that amendments to the 2013 Land Law and some related laws be completed in 2023. By 2030, a synchronous legal system must be completed to prevent the wastefulness of land and to settle all land disputes that have been protracted due to historical reasons.

PM attends Da Nang 2022 Investment Forum

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on June 25 attended the Da Nang 2022 Investment Forum held in both online and in-person formats in the central city of the same name with the participation of a total of 900 delegates.

The forum was held to popularise the potential, advantages and chances of investment of the city; and to attract both domestic and foreign investment.

Participants spoke highly of the city’s business and investment environment and expressed their hope that Da Nang will pay attention to the strategic infrastructure and concertedly implement the laws related to investment so as to create favourable conditions for firms in their investment, business and production.

The PM thanked the international community for its support to and positive assessments of Vietnam in the pandemic fight, and stressed his government is committed to continuing the building of an investment environment which is fair, open, and transparent in the win-win spirit.

Vietnam will continue its consistent implementation of the foreign policy of independence, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, diversification and multilateralisation of foreign relations, he reaffirmed and stressed that Vietnam is a trustable partner, friend and an active and responsible member of the international community.

The leader proposed a number of tasks and solutions for Da Nang to absorb the investment waves, and ordered relevant ministries, sectors and localities to coordinate in a more effective way so as to create a favourable investment and business environment. They must also consider suitable policies and mechanisms to create a premise for Da Nang to accelerate its development.

As for investors and entrepreneurs, PM Chinh asked them to build long-term and sustainable business strategies and to seriously abide by their investment commitments and cooperation agreements.

The Vietnamese Government encourages and facilitates every organisation, individual, firm, and investor to conduct legal and legitimate investment and business activities in Vietnam, the leader reiterated.

Also at the forum, the PM witnessed the handover of investment certificates and cooperation agreements to 27 projects, both domestic and foreign, with a combined capital of 5.6 billion USD.

Travel firms make plans for summer vacation

Saigontourist said it expects to serve more than 280,000 customers and the number may be higher because the demand for domestic and outbound tours is still growing strongly.

Up to 160 package tourism products have been built by the tour operator to match market trends, meeting the requirements of resort tourism.

A representative from Vietravel said there has been a sharp rise in the number of tours but the way Vietnamese tourists travel this year has also surprised the market.

Many families are willing to spend on high-class tours, demanding more stringent requirements on the quality of accommodation facilities and food services.

Meanwhile, Fiditour said the demand for tours to the seas and highlands has risen strongly, adding that visitors must book tours early to ensure their places and reasonable prices.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in the first five months of this year, the number of foreigners arriving in Vietnam reached some 365,000, growing by 4.5 times compared to the same period last year. 
The volume of domestic travelers hit 48.6 million in the period and the revenue from the tourism sector was estimated at 9.1 billion USD.

Vietnamese tra fish sector enters new development cycle

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in the first half of this year, tra fish processing factories have operated at their full capacity to meet export orders. So far, tra fish export revenue is estimated at 1.4 billion USD.

The association reported that growth has been recorded in all the 117 export markets, especially China and the US.

Particularly, good signs have been seen in the markets covered by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) such as Mexico, Canada, Australia and Japan. To date, CPTPP market is the second largest export market of Vietnamese tra fish after China, Hong Kong (China), and the US.

The demand for fish from the CPTPP market has risen strongly in the first six months of this year to 170 million USD, up 64 percent year on year. The export revenue of frozen tra fish to the market is forecast to increase 35 percent to more than 110 million USD in the second quarter of this year.

With the current strong development trend, along with the recovery of import markets, Vietnam’s tra fish export is expected to recover strongly this year with a revenue of 2.6 billion USD.

Te Giac Trang oil field reaches production milestone of 100 million barrels

Te Giac Trang (White Rhino) oil field has officially reached a production milestone of 100 million barrels of crude.

The field is situated in Block 16-1, about 100km southeast of the southern Vung Tau City.

Its commercial development was announced in September 2009.

The new milestone has turned its operator – the Hoang Long - Hoan Vu Joint Operating Company (HLJOC) - into one of the five oil companies on the Vietnamese continental shelf making such record.

The HLJOC was established by PetroVietnam Supervision Company (PVSC), SOCO Vietnam Ltd. (SOCO), Amerada Hess Vietnam Ltd. (HESS), and OPECO Vietnam Ltd. (OPECO).

By now, the company’s total revenue has reached 8.3 billion USD, contributing more than 2.8 billion USD to the state budget.

HCM City works to clear hurdles for RoK investors

Investors from the Republic of Korea (RoK) in Ho Chi Minh City are facing a number of bottlenecks related to labour regulation and administrative procedures that need to be promptly removed, heard a June 24 dialogue between the municipal leaders and the business community.

The collection of seaport infrastructure fees was also pointed to by many participating businesses. From April 1, 2022, all container vehicles entering and leaving the city’s Cat Lai port have to pay an additional fee for using seaport infrastructure.

Korean firms proposed the establishment of a monthly gross payment process and a reduction of the fee, given their difficulties from increased logistics costs.

Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said the southern economic hub is working to recover after two years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Such recovery sees a significant contribution of the business communities, including those from the RoK.

Hue Festival Trade Fair connects Vietnamese localities

A trade fair within the framework of the 2022 Hue Festival opened in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on June 24 evening, offering a good chance for businesses in the province and other localities nationwide to step up trade promotion and investment cooperation.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Phan Quy Phuong said that, after 10 editions since 2000, the Hue Festival Trade Fair has gradually affirmed its position and professionalism and improved in terms of quality and the number of participants.

It has created a change in the “Vietnamese people prioritise Made-in-Vietnam product” movement and created a push to promote and expand export markets, and increase competitiveness in the international economic integration, added Phuong.

This year’s fair comprises over 350 booths of more than 200 enterprises showcasing agro-forestry-aquatic products, handicrafts and specialties.

A lot of activities such as cultural exchanges, trade connectivity and promotion will be held within the framework of the event, which will remain open until June 30.

Wooden cabinet exporters advised to review activities related to US’s investigation

The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV) has recommended that wooden cabinet producers and exporters continue to review the export activities of their products subjected to the US Department of Commerce (DOC)’s anti-circumvention and anti-subsidy investigation.

The recommendation was made given DOC’s fresh announcement on extending the time to submit comments and provide feedback to the case by one week. As such, the new deadline is 5pm of June 30 (Eastern Time) or 4am of July 1 (Vietnam time).

The authority also requested the producers and exporters to study thoroughly the US’s anti-circumvention regulations and investigation procedures.

They were also asked to fully comply with the US side’s request for information provision while working closely with the TRAV during the case settlement.

On May 24, DOC launched a probe to find out whether or not wooden cabinets from Vietnam and Malaysia that include components imported from China are subject to the trade remedies the US is levying on similar products of China.

So far, DOC has initiated investigation for both scope ruling and anti-circumvention requests filed by the petitioner.

Festival on OCOP products associated with tourism underway in Hanoi

A festival promoting the sale of farm produce and handicrafts, recognised by the One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme, in association with tourism opened in Hanoi on June 24 evening.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nguyen Anh Duong, Director of the Hanoi Promotion Agency (HPA) – the organiser of the event, said that the festival is an opportunity for businesses to popularise their brands, products, and agricultural models associated with ecotourism to visitors and consumers in the capital city, thus contributing to improving brand value, preserving traditional craft villages, and diversifying OCOP products associated with local tourism.

The festival comprises 73 booths, including 20 of businesses from other localities across the country. Many activities held on the sidelines of the festival such as art performances and folk games are expected to draw more visitors to the event, which will last until the end of June 26.

Da Nang receives record number of flights over two-year period

The central city of Da Nang welcomed a total of 114 domestic and international flights on June 25, a record high figure over the past two years.

On average the central city welcomes nine international flights per day at present, a rather low figure compared to the pre-pandemic period, but that signals the recovery of the local aviation industry following the success of Routes Asia 2022 in early June, according to Da Nang International Airport.

Le Trung Chinh, head of the municipal government, said that the city has set the goal of restoring its aviation industry to levels seen in the pre-pandemic period within the next two years, with a primary focus on  potential markets such as the United States, Europe, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia.

The Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center reported since a number of airlines from Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand resumed flights to Da Nang in late March, the city has welcomed 300 flights and tens of thousands of tourists so far.

Korean Air, the largest airline and flag carrier of the Republic of Korea (RoK), recently restored flights to the coastal city, bringing 200 passengers on June 22 following a two-year hiatus caused by COVID-19.

Currently, Korean Air is operating two charter flights per week to Da Nang running on Wednesday and Saturday, It plans to launch regular flights to the central city as of July 27 with a frequency of one flight per day.

Lam Dong seeks Govt approval for smaller-scale expressway

The government of Lam Dong Province has sought the Government’s approval in principle for developing an expressway linking Dong Nai’s Tan Phu District with Bao Loc City in the Central Highlands province, with two traffic lanes instead of four as previously proposed.

Lam Dong wants the project to be developed under the public-private partnership format, with a total cost of VND16.2 trillion compared to VND19.5 trillion for the 66-kilometer section in the previous plan, the news site VnExpress.net reports.

A consortium comprising Deo Ca Group, Hung Thinh Corporation, and Nam Mien Trung Group Joint-stock Company is expected to serve as the project developer. Of the total investment, some VND6.5 trillion will be sourced from the State budget, VND1.45 trillion from the investor’s own funds, and VND8.26 trillion from loans.

A leader of Deo Ca Group said the smaller scale – a reduction of VND3 trillion total cost – would make it easier to attract other investors.

The proposed expressway will have two traffic lanes and two emergency lanes in the first phase between now and 2025. It will include 11km in Dong Nai and 55km in Lam Dong. In the next phase from 2025 to 2035, the expressway, with a width of 22 meters, will have four automobile lanes and two emergency lanes.

The Tan Phu-Bao Loc Expressway is in fact a section of the Dau Giay-Lien Khuong Expressway stretching 208km and having four traffic lanes, which has been included in the national expressway development plan to 2030.

The Dau Giay-Lien Khuong Expressway is divided into three sections, namely Dau Giay-Tan Phu, Tan Phu-Bao Loc, and Bao Loc-Lien Khuong, which had previously been proposed to use State capital from the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period. Once in place, it will link with the existing HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway to connect the Central Highlands and the southeastern region.

In February last year, Lam Dong authorities sent a proposal to the Government to develop the Tan Phu-Bao Loc Expressway with four traffic lanes at a total cost of VND19.5 trillion to be developed under the PPP format.

PDR seeks to transfer property project

Phat Dat Real Estate Development JSC (PDR) has a plan to transfer the Astral City commercial center and apartment complex project in Binh Duong to earn VND3.34 trillion.

The deal is expected to help PDR reach its pre-tax profit target for this year, at over VND3.6 trillion.

The transfer of the project is part of the company’s plan to restructure its investment portfolio in the 2019-2023 period and expand the combined area of accumulated land in HCMC, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Danang and Binh Duong.

PDR currently owns more than 5,800 hectares of land. If industrial park land is taken into account, the total area will be over 7,400 hectares.

According to PDR, the company’s capital flow will improve after the transfer of the Astral City project.

In HCMC, PDR has approved the acquisition of an 89% stake at Hoa Binh Investment Real Estate JSC, which currently manages a land lot at 197 Dien Bien Phu Street in Binh Thanh District.

If successful, Phat Dat will have the right to develop and operate the Hoa Binh-Thanh Yen complex project covering 4,200 square meters on the land lot and including 28 floors and two basements.

Phu Quoc expected to welcome 15 million visitors annually by 2040

Phu Quoc, an island city off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, is looking to serve some 15 million visitors per year by 2040, it was announced at a conference held in the city today, June 24.

The figure was included in a draft of the city’s master plan that the Vietnam Institute for Urban and Rural Planning presented at the conference, reported Lao Dong newspaper.

According to the draft, the island city will focus on developing the entertainment industry, island tourism, international finance and trade, and the blue economy to become an economic hub in Kien Giang and the delta, as well as a major tourism, trading, and service hub of the country, the region, and the world.

To welcome an annual volume of 15 million tourists by 2040, participants at the event, such as experts and investors, suggested measures to help complete the city’s master plan. They also proposed some special mechanisms for Phu Quoc to become a class-1 city and a national and world-class island city.

Earlier at the event, Le Quoc Anh, vice chairman of the provincial government, stressed that the efforts to develop Phu Quoc in line with the prime minister’s Decisions 633 and 868 have helped convert it from an island district facing many obstacles into a class-2 city. Besides, it is oriented to becoming a class-1 city in the years to come.

HCMC Transport Dept says to attract passengers to new coach station

The HCMC Department of Transport will come up with solutions to increase the number of passengers at the new Mien Dong Coach Station in Thu Duc City next month, said Vo Khanh Hung, deputy director of the department.

The city’s first metro line will be put into operation at the end of next year, according to the Management Authority for Urban Railways of HCMC.

In addition, projects linking to the coach station, including expanding Hanoi Highway and developing an overpass on Hanoi Highway in front of the new Mien Dong Coach Station, Hoang Huu Nam Street and road A8, are being executed, Hung noted.

Private passenger transport services from the Mien Dong Coach Station to the Binh Phuoc Intersection remain in place, resulting in fewer passengers at the new Mien Dong Coach Station.

Since October 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit HCMC and other localities, the number of passengers has declined.

Saigon Transportation Mechanical Corporation, the investor of the new Mien Dong Coach Station project, has also faced multiple difficulties. It has yet to complete land-related procedures and has plans to offer services at the coach station.

The HCMC Department of Transport is not in charge of these jobs; it is the municipal Departments of Natural Resources-Environment, Tax, and Information-Communications, Hung added.

However, the department has directed bus line No. 150 to run to the lobby of the coach station to better serve passengers and improve the quality of services at the coach station. Moreover, there will be more bus lines from the old to the new Mien Dong Coach Station, Hung said.

Cashew exports down due to rising oil prices, epidemics, Russia Ukraine conflict

According to general statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, in the first five months of 2022, approximately 206,110 tons of cashew kernels of all kinds were exported earning over US$1.19 billion in export turnover, down 7.81 percent in volume and 6.81 percent in value. However, the average export price was about $5,792 a ton, up 1.45 percent from the same period last year.

Regarding imports in the first five months, enterprises imported about 968,000 tons of raw cashew nuts from abroad with a value of nearly $1.4 billion, down 35.24 percent in volume and down 37.84 percent in value over the same period in 2021. However, prices of imports from Africa increased by 15 percent-20 percent since the beginning of the season.

More importantly, importers are tending to be slow to purchase raw materials due to many reasons but the most common is the price difference between imported raw cashew nuts and export kernel prices.

The price of raw cashew nuts is at a very high level compared to the price of kernels being sold, the cost of processing and exporting is high while the price of kernels is low. Processing plants hardly earn a profit.

Furthermore, Russia ranked 11th out of 104 export markets of Vietnamese cashew kernels in 2021 accounting for 1.63 percent of the country’s market share with an export value of $61.8 million out of the total of $3.6 billion in exports of Vietnam cashew nuts.

Because Russian banks have been excluded from the international payments messaging system SWIFT system, the export of Vietnamese cashew nuts to Russia has difficulty in payment, greatly affecting cashew exports to this market meanwhile China, the other major market of Vietnam's cashew nuts still maintains the stringent ‘Zero Covid’ policy, which continues to have a certain adverse effect on foreign trade and the export of cashew kernels.

According to Vinacas, the country’s export in 2022 will continue to face difficulties with high freight rates compared to previous years. The export kernel price did not increase synchronously with the increase of raw cashew nuts, the factories could not balance the processing cost and export price.

Registration number of Viet A Company's SARS-CoV-2 test kit revoked

Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen signed a decision to revoke the registration number for circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 test kit and in vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Directive for detecting SARS-CoV-2, type LightPower iVA SARS-CoV-2 1st RT-rPCR Kit of Viet A Technology Joint Stock Company.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Health (MoH) decided to revoke the circulation of medical equipment 2000001ĐKLH/BYT-TB-CT issued by the Ministry of Health under Decision No. 5071/QD-BYT dated December 4 of 2020.

Medical equipment name is In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Directive detecting RNA of SARS-CoV-2, type LightPower iVASARS-CoV-2 1st RT-rPCR Kit.

The Ministry of Health stated that the decision was valid from the signed day and canceled the contents related to Viet A Technology Joint Stock Company in Decision No. 5071/QD-BYT dated December 4, 2020, of the Minister of Health on the publication of the list of medical devices granted with the registration numbers for circulation in Vietnam.

Hanoi identifies public investment central to economic recovery
 
The main goal is for Hanoi to achieve the highest possible disbursement rate during the last six months of 2022, with the city continues focusing on addressing the concerns of districts and wards in public investment.

Hanoi’s authorities identify the realization of the public investment target in 2022 as a key priority for socio-economic development, according to Director of the Hanoi’s Department of Planning and Investment Do Anh Tuan.

In 2022, Hanoi allocated a total of over VND51 trillion (US$2.2 billion) in public investment, of which VND34 trillion ($1.46 billion) are for city-level projects and VND16 trillion ($688 million) for district-level ones.

An estimate of VND10.2 trillion ($443.2 million) would be assigned to rural and urban districts for developing their respective infrastructure projects, including the construction of new schools, upgrading healthcare facilities, and preserving historical sites, which reflects the city’s attention to supporting the growth at grass-roots levels.

As of the end of the first quarter, the disbursement of public funds remained at only 8% of the year’s plan but would reach 35% in the six months, representing an increase of 73.1% year-on-year.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes