Up to 80 percent of real estate trading floors have resumed operations, along with the establishment of new ones, according to the Ministry of Construction (MoC).

The ministry’s report on the real estate market in 2021 and the first three months of this year, which has been submitted to the Prime Minister, showed that real estate trading floors have bounced back.

The report noted there were more than 1,600 real estate trading floors nationwide in 2020. However, due to the heavy impact of the pandemic, only 20 percent maintained operations.

At the end of last year, there was a revival, with 40 percent of property trading floors returning to work.

According to the MoC, the real estate market has gradually picked up and the number of transactions has been on the rise since the first quarter of this year after most provinces and cities returned to the “new normal”.

Notably, many floors have invested in facilities and training staff to professionalise the services. There has also been an exchange of information among the floors to enhance their effectiveness.

However, the ministry pointed out some real estate trading floors are perceived to collude with each other for price gouge.

Two foreign ETFs likely to add more stocks in Q2 restructuring

Two of the biggest foreign exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Việt Nam, FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF (FTSE ETF) and VanEck Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM ETF), will release their portfolios for the second quarter of this year.

According to SSI Research's forecast, shares of Sài Gòn – Hà Nội Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), Nam Long Investment Corporation (NLG) and Vĩnh Hoàn Company (VHC) may be added to the FTSE Vietnam Index, while An Phát Holdings (APH) may be excluded in the second quarter structure.

ETFs are about to restructure their portfolios in the second quarter of 2022. The two index groups of FTSE and MV Index Solutions (MVIS) will need to complete their portfolio structure on June 17, while the MSCI indexes have an earlier restructuring schedule, on May 31.

Assuming the above changes, the index portfolio will include 31 stocks. Total assets of the FTSE ETF on May 23 reached US$275 million. SSI Research gives an estimate of the weight of the FTSE Vietnam Index portfolio and the trading of the FTSE ETF.

In the next restructuring period, this ETF can buy more than 7 million shares of SHB, nearly 1.7 million shares of NLG and more than 700,000 shares of VHC. Meanwhile, most of the stocks in the FTSE ETF's portfolio will be sold. APH is forecasted to sell 1.5 million shares.

The MVIS fund will announce the results of the second quarter portfolio structure of the MVIS Vietnam Index - the base index of the VanEck Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM ETF) on June 10. For VNM ETF, the fund will trade during June 13 -17.

Based on updated data on May 23, SSI Research forecasted that no stocks will be added to the MVIS Vietnam Index portfolio in this restructuring period.

The MVIS Vietnam Index portfolio will have 56 stocks, of which there are 42 listed stocks in Vietnam and 14 related foreign stocks. The total asset value of the VanEck Vectors Vietnam ETF on May 23 reached $404 million.

The Yunta Securities Company also provided forecasts on the two funds. With the FTSE ETF, according to Yuanta's estimate, only SHB and NLG which are the two stocks that meet the criteria, will be bought 15.3 million shares and 4.7 million shares respectively.

With the VNM ETF, Yuanta forecasts that the fund will buy three new stocks, including SHB, FPT Securities Joint Stock Company (FTS) and Viglacera Corporation (VCG). This VNM ETF could buy 13.8 million SHB shares with a value of more than VNĐ200 billion. They could buy 4.5 million VCG shares and 1.8 million FTS shares.

Petrol companies to benefit from rising prices
     
Petrol producers and traders are expected to benefit from low-priced inventories as the price of petrol rises.

The two leading enterprises in the industry, Petrolimex and PV Oil, recorded that the value of their inventories at the end of the first quarter was nearly double the beginning of the year.

Petrol price has been adjusted up five consecutive times to reach VND31,250 per litre, a rise of 31.3 per cent compared to the beginning of the year.

According to a report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the world petrol market has undergone many great changes in recent years. Supply to the market, especially to the European region, continues to be affected by the embargo on products from Russia, while US crude oil inventories continue to remain low.

These factors have pushed up petrol prices. During the price management period from May 11 to May 23, the average world price of petrol products reached US$141.4 per barrel, up 64 per cent compared to the beginning of this year. Diesel oil reached $142 per barrel, up 67 per cent and kerosene touched $137.9 per tonne, up 64.6 per cent.

In the domestic market, as business activities recover again the demand for petrol has increased.

By May 23, the petrol price had increased for the fifth time in a row and set a new record. Specifically, the price of RON 95-V gasoline in region 1 reached VN D31,250 per litre, up 31.3 per cent compared to the beginning of this year and up 59 per cent over the same period last year. Diesel prices reached VND26,350 per litre, up 47 per cent compared to the beginning of the year and 74.3 per cent over the same period last year and kerosene prices reached VND24,400 per litre, up 48 per cent and 76.6 per cent, respectively.

In the context of increasing prices, the inventory value of many petrol businesses also increased sharply. Considering the five petrol production and trading units listed on the stock exchange, the value of inventory at the end of the first quarter reached VND49.3 trillion, up 47 per cent compared to the beginning of the year.

By the end of Q1, Petrolimex (PLX) had the largest inventory of VND24.25 trillion, up 84.2 per cent compared to the beginning of the year.

PV Oil (OIL) doubled its inventory value from VND2.58 trillion to VND5.16 trillion.

For petrol manufacturers such as Binh Son Refinery and Petrochemical (BSR), inventories at the end of the quarter reached VND11.94 trillion, an increase of 15.3 per cent compared to the beginning of the year.

Binh Son Refinery (BSR) reported a 65 per cent increase in revenue to VND34.78 trillion; profit after tax reached VND2.3 trillion, up 23.7 per cent. Gross profit margins decreased from 9.7 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

PV OIL (OIL)'s revenue doubled from the same period last year to VND23.29 trillion. Gross profit margins decreased from 6.6 per cent to 4.5 per cent and net profit increased only 54 per cent to VND219 billion.

Petrolimex reported that first-quarter revenue increased 75 per cent to VND67 trillion and profit after tax decreased by 65 per cent ​​to VND208 billion.

Viet Nam Dairy 2022 to be held in Ha Noi
     
The third Viet Nam International Milk and Dairy Products Exhibition (Viet Nam Dairy 2022) will take place at the Ha Noi International Exhibition Centre from May 31 to June 4, the event's organisers have announced.

Co-organised by Vietnam Dairy Association (VDA) and Vietnam Advertisement and Fair Exhibition JSC (VIETFAIR), the upcoming exhibition will have 200 booths from 150 domestic and foreign exhibitors. Among them will be Vinamilk, Friesland Campina, Nestle, Nutifood, Abbott and Vinasoy.

Participated firms will showcase milk and dairy products, ingredients and technology in the dairy industry, processing and packaging lines in the industry, animal feed and veterinary machines, dairy cattle breeds, environment treatment technology, food safety standard management system and other services in the dairy sector.

Chairman of VDA Tran Quang Trung described the event as a major trade promotion event to connect domestic and foreign businesses.

Several conferences discussing the development of the local dairy industry in the new normal conditions; the use of high technology in dairy farming and Industry 4.0 and the role of milk, and dairy products in enhancing the people's health and in preventing the COVID-19 pandemic will be held on the sideline of the event, Trung said.

Despite the prolonged pandemic, the domestic dairy industry still produced over 1.76 billion litres of fresh milk in 2021, up 3.5 per cent year-on-year. Powdered milk production volume also saw positive growth of 14.5 per cent year-on-year to 150,000 tonnes, congthuong.vn reported.

In 2021, the sector had a turnover of nearly US$300 million. Among its export outlets last year, Iraq was the largest one, accounting for over 50 per cent of the sector's total export value.

Hau Giang's investment promotion conference slated for June
     
The Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang will advertise its potential and strengths, promote trade and tourism while introducing a list of projects calling for investment during an upcoming investment promotion conference in the locality.

The conference, slated to be held from June 15 to June 18, will create favourable conditions for domestic and foreign businesses to learn about the province's mechanisms and policies, its investment incentives besides its prioritised projects, director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment Tran Ngoc Hung told a press conference in HCM City on Wednesday.

Five seminars discussing Hau Giang's potentials and opportunities in the fields of industry, agriculture, urban development, tourism and IT will be held on the sidelines of the conference.

Recently, the province approved the list of 35 projects seeking foreign direct investment between now and 2025.

These projects, worth a total US$876 million, are in a wide range of sectors including construction of industrial zones and clusters, industry, farming, trade and service, tourism, and healthcare. 

VND5.1-trillion southern region bridge approved

The Ministry of Transport has approved a VND5.1-trillion (USD219.82 million) project to build the Rach Mieu 2 Bridge across the Tien River.

The information was given by chairman of Ben Tre Province People’s Committee Tran Ngoc Nam.

The project is aimed to ease traffic on National Highway 60 and shorten the travel time from HCM City to the Mekong Delta provinces of Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau.

According to Nam, the ministry has also approved a project worth VND1.158 trillion to build roads to lead to Rach Mieu 2.

Work on the Rach Mieu 2 Bridge is scheduled to be kicked off on March 29. Project capital will be sourced from the state budget.

The bridge will be 17.6 kilometres long and has six lanes. It is slated for being put into operation in 2026 at the latest.

Around 48 hectares of land will be used for bridge construction, affecting some 800 households in Ben Tre. Roughly VND457 billion will be used for site clearance and compensation for the affected households.

Three tollgates in HCMC ordered to install ETC systems by July

The HCMC government on May 27 asked three investors of build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects to promptly install non-stop electronic toll collection (ETC) systems by July.

The An Suong-An Lac toll station developed by IDICO needs to install the ETC systems on four of its lanes, while the HCMC Infrastructure Investment JSC has been ordered to install the systems on eight lanes of the tollgate on the Hanoi Highway.

Vicem Ha Tien JSC is asked to install the non-stop ETC systems at the BOT tollgate on the road linking Nguyen Duy Trinh Street and the Phu Huu industrial park in Thu Duc City before putting it into service for toll collection.

The city assigned the HCMC Departments of Transport and Planning and Investment to oversee and evaluate the installation of ETC systems at these tollgates, the local media reported.

On the same day, the municipal government sent a report on the process of installing non-stop ETC systems at tollgates in the city to the prime minister. The city proposed not installing the systems on some lanes of the two toll stations as toll collection will be suspended there, including the Phu My bridge toll station on Vo Chi Cong Street in Thu Duc City and the tollgate on Nguyen Van Linh Street in District 7.

The two stations have only four or five years of toll collection to be completed and charge road users low rates, while the cost of installing the ETC systems is very high, according to the report.

Yeah1 chairman wants to make divestment

Nguyen Anh Nhuong Tong, chairman of Yeah1 Group Corporation (YEG), has announced to sell his four million-plus shares, or a 12.89% stake, at the corporation.

The transaction is expected to take place from June 1 to 10 under the put-through and order-matching methods. Tong said the share transfer is aimed at addressing his personal financial issues.

Tong made the move several days after YEG publicized documents for its annual shareholders’ meeting in 2022 which is planned to take place on June 15.

According to the documents, YEG will seek its shareholders’ approval for a plan to increase its charter capital by issuing more than 78.64 million shares at VND10,000 each to no more than 100 investors.

The share issue is expected to help YEG earn over VND786.4 billion. Of the total, YEG will use over VND572 billion to expand its investment in digital-tech media, technology, fintech and other relevant sectors to develop the firm’s ecosystem.

YEG will invest VND73 billion in the technology infrastructure and use some VND140 billion to pay debt.

Hanoi accelerates planning for industrial parks
 
Industrial parks in Hanoi are home to 707 operational projects with a combined investment capital of $7 billion, half of which came from foreign investors.

Hanoi would accelerate the planning for industrial parks in the city during the 2021-2030 period, with a short-term goal of putting into operation five new ones before 2025.

Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Thi Tuyen gave the remarks at the signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between the Hanoi Industrial and Export Processing Zones Authority (HIZA) and local districts on industrial parks management on May 26.

A report from HIZA revealed it has attracted US$20 million injected into four new projects and $61 million into existing projects during the first five months of 2022.

HIZA estimated total investment capital during the first half of 2022 would reach $100 million, or 25% of the plan for 2022.

To date, industrial parks in Hanoi are home to 707 operational projects with a combined investment capital of $7 billion, half of which came from foreign investors with a capital commitment of over $6.1 billion.

For the six months, the revenue of companies operating in industrial parks in Hanoi is estimated at $4.86 billion, and their export earnings were $3.12 billion.

HIZA is expected to attract an additional $400 million in investment capital in the last half of 2022, and launch the construction of one new industrial park this year.

HCM City to host ICT trade fair

Vietnam ICTComm 2022, an international IT, telecom and electronics trade show, will be held in HCM City from June 9 to 11 after a gap of two years.

The event will also feature international pavilions.

Taiwan Excellence will be organised by Taitra for firms to showcase software and hardware products and services and innovative and energy-saving products and solutions.

The Hong Kong pavilion hosted by the Hong Kong Software Industry Association will show off the latest AI, POS, finance/banking and e-commerce solutions, cloud computing and cyber-security services, online education platforms, and augmented and virtual reality technologies.

There will be B2B match-making, conferences and seminars hosted by experts to provide domestic and international firms with opportunities to exchange information, learn, share experiences, transfer technologies, and contribute to improve their competitiveness.

The exhibition, endorsed by the Ministries of Information and Communications and Industry and Trade, and organised by Adpex JSC, the Việt Nam Internet Association, the Việt Nam Association for Information Processing and the Việt Nam Digital Communication Association, will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in District 7. 

Hai Duong ships Thanh Ha lychees to Japan

The northern province of Hai Duong held a ceremony on May 29 to ship the first batch of lychees grown in Thanh Ha district to Japan.

The ceremony was part of a conference held on the same day by the Hai Duong provincial administration, in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to promote the trade in Thanh Ha lychees.

The conference was virtually connected to other localities in Vietnam and venues in 10 countries and territories worldwide, namely China, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong (China).

About 300 foreign importers worldwide took part in the conference in the online platform.

Vietnam enjoys trade surplus of US$520 million over five months

Vietnam produced an estimated export surplus of US$520 million in the past five months, an impressive figure that shows the country’s economy is gathering steam and its foreign trade is up and running from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s noteworthy that the economy endured an import surplus of up to US$1.2 billion between January and May 2021.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) reported on May 29 that Vietnam earned US$30.48 billion from export in May, a month-on-month fall of 8.5%. However, its five-month exports fetched US$152.81 billion, an increase of 16.3% year on year.

There are 26 export commodities that raked in more than US$1 billion each. Of them, five groups of commodities that attained an export value of more than US$5 billion each, are electronics, computers and components; machinery and equipment; phones and spare parts; garments; plastics; and iron-steel.

Also according to the GSO, the index of industrial production (IIP) in May 2022 increased by 4% over the previous month and by 10.4% over the same period last year. Overall, the past five months saw the IIP rise by 8.3% compared to the same period last year.

FDI disbursement up 7.8 % in five months

Up to US$7.71 billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) was disbursed in the first five months of this year, up 7.8 % from the same period in 2021, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

As of May 20, total FDI in Vietnam, comprising new, adjusted capital and share purchases by foreign investors, dropped 16.3 % year-on-year to reach only US$11.71 billion.

There were 578 new projects worth nearly US$4.12 billion, down 53.4 % in value, and 395 others registering to increase their investment by more than US$5.61 billion, up 45.4 %. The accumulative value of share purchase by foreign investors also rose 51.6 % to US$1.98 billion.

Foreign capital has been poured into 18 out of 21 economic sectors, with processing and manufacturing making up the lion share, US$6.8 billion or 58.2 % of the total investment, followed by real estate, information-communications, and science-technology.

Among the 79 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the reviewed period, Singapore took the lead with nearly US$3 billion, followed by the Republic of Korea (RoK), US$2.06 billion, and Denmark, some US$1.32 billion.

The southern province of Binh Duong, the northern province of Bac Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City attracted the most foreign investments, with more than US$2.52 billion, nearly US$1.65 billion and over US$1.3 billion, respectively.

Aquatic exports likely to reach 3 billion USD in Q2

The exports of aquatic products are expected to fetch 2.8-3 billion USD in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 36-38 percent, thanks to the strong growth of key products, according to Le Hang, deputy director of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP)’s Training and Trade Promotion Centre.

The aquatic export value in March exceeded 1 billion USD for the first time. In April, it continued to grow, obtaining 1.13 billion USD, raising the four-month value to more than 3.6 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 46.8 percent.

Aquatic exports in the second quarter are forecast to continue enjoying impressive growth as a bright future is predicted for key products.

Vietnam exported 406 million USD worth of shrimp in April, up 35 percent compared to the same period last year, bringing the four-month export turnover to 1.36 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 41.5 percent.

Strong growth was recorded in tra fish shipments to some markets in the period, such as China with 161 percent, the US 128 percent, and Canada 69 percent.

The increasing demand for Vietnam's key aquatic products post COVID-19 in large consumer markets including the US and China, rising prices and supply shortages due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict are offering an opportunity for export firms.

Vietnam’s media consumption grows strongly: YouGov

Media consumption in Vietnam has soared as people watched, listened, and surfed online more often in 2021, according to new research from YouGov, a market research and data analytics company headquartered in the United Kingdom.

The first-ever “Vietnam Media Landscape” report, based on interviews with 2,369 people across the country, also found that the growth in consumption continues to rise in 2022, with streaming and on-demand services shaking up the traditional media environment.

Over two-thirds of people used digital platforms such as social networks (69%) or websites and apps (66%) more often over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, around half streamed more music (49%) and read more newspapers or magazines either in print or online (47%).

Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime (41%) also became more popular over the last 12 months. However, traditional media channels such as live TV (36%) saw slower growth in 2021.

These trends are set to continue into 2022, with digitization driving growth in media consumption across platforms and channels. Catch-up TV and video-on-demand are set to be amongst the biggest winners, with a 10% rise compared to 2021.

However, there are significant differences between age groups when it comes to digital media consumption. Those born after 1997 – known as ‘Gen Z’ – are driving the growth in music streaming, with around half planning to stream more songs in 2022, around double the figure for “Boomers”, or those born before 1965. Meanwhile, people born between 1981 and 1996 – otherwise known as ‘Millennials’ – are behind the growth in video streaming.

The rise in digital media is also boosting the readership of print and online newspapers and magazines. Other than boomers, all age groups are predicting an increase in news media consumption in 2022.

However, in an ever-more crowded media marketplace, with a growing number of sites competing for consumers, traditional publishers face new challenges in attracting audiences and keeping them for the long term.

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