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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 28/7
Opportunities
await rice exporters
Experts said
opportunities are waiting for Vietnamese enterprises to boost rice exports in
the final months of the year as the Philippine government plans to import an
additional 400,000 tons of rice and China’s demand is bouncing back.
According to the
National Food Authority (NFA) of the
Vietnam News Agency
cited Francis Pangilinan, President Assistant for Food Security and
Agricultural Modernization, as saying that the government would work with NFA
soon to finalize the rice import plan to prevent a domestic price hike.
Speaking to the
Daily, Lam Anh Tuan, director of Thinh Phat Co., Ltd., a member of the
Vietnam Food Association (VFA), said the Philippines has high demand for rice
though the country has yet to decide where to import.
Nguyen Cong Khanh,
a rice trader in the northern city of
Rice prices in the
Mekong Delta region have continued to hike in the past days due to the higher
demands of domestic enterprises.
Unprocessed rice
prices in Tien Giang and Dong Thap provinces were VND7,200-7,300 per kilogram
of IR 50404, VND8,400-8,500 for IR 50404 rice and VND8,900-9,000 for the
processed rice of OM 5451 and OM 4218 on Sunday, up VND200-300 per kilogram
from around five days ago.
The price of IR
50404 fresh paddy in the region has inched up to VND4,600-4,700 per kilogram
compared to VND4,400-4,500 offered by traders some days ago. A kilogram of
long-grain rice is sold at VND5,000-5,100, up VND200.
As the domestic
rice prices have increased significantly in recent days, some Vietnamese
traders have turned to
Duong Van Men, a
rice trader in
According to VFA,
its members have signed contracts to sell nearly 5.2 million tons of rice as
of this month, with commercial contracts accounting for nearly 3.6 million
tons.
Besides, VFA
members have exported over three million tons of rice at FOB price, with
total revenue of US$1.3 billion this year, down 13.71% in volume and 13.77%
in value compared to the same period last year. The average export price is
US$431.5 per ton, down US$0.31 per ton.
The rice inventory
at VFA members is over one million tons, with Vietnam Northern Food
Corporation (Vinafood 1) accounting for 114,500 tons and Vietnam Southern
Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) for 281,570 tons.
Vietnamese
auto industry aims high by 2020
This is part of the
goals under a master plan on
Under the plan,
nine-seat cars will make up 60 percent of the total production by 2020 and 70
percent by 2030. Those with more than 10 seaters will account for 90 percent
and 92 percent by 2020 and 2030, respectively.
By 2020, trucks and
special-purpose automobiles will make up 78 percent and 15 percent. As many
as 20,000 will be made for export while spare parts exporters are expected to
bring home 4 billion USD at this time.
Support industry
for automobile manufacturing will satisfy 30-40 percent of home demand. By
2025 and 2030, the figure will be 45 and 50 percent.
To achieve the
goals, the government will make it easier for industry players to access
preferential credit and incentives, especially manufacturers of eco-friendly
automobiles.
It will also
encourage the public use by offering the lowest taxes on 16-24 seat coaches.
Vehicles of nine
seats and more will be subject to maximum taxes while models with an engine
capacity of more than three litres will face high environment fees.
Foreign
funds seek to invest in local tech firms
Two foreign
investment funds Monk’s Hill Ventures and Digital Media Partners will look
for opportunities to pour their money into new Vietnamese technology firms
taking part in Tech in Asia Arena, which kicked off in
The Saigon Times
Daily said the two funds are expected to invest approximately 30 million USD
in the five technology startups chosen to make presentations at the event.
As scheduled,
Monk’s Hill Ventures director Kou-Yi Lim and Digital Media Partners president
Khor Chieh Suang will participate in Tech in Asia Arena.
Tech in Asia Arena
gives firms the opportunity to call for funds and learn how to expand their
presence to
The event also
includes seminars for seasoned investors to share expectations from technology
business startups and experiences for companies to expand their operations to
the region and the world.
Monk’s Hill
Ventures intends to invest 1-5 million USD and Digital Media Partners plans
from 500,000 USD to 1 million USD in each of the firm they pick at the event
in the initial time. Digital Media Partners will add 3 million USD to every
of its chosen firms when they expand.
The transport of
goods and passengers on road will hold a respective market share of 54.4
percent and 93.22 percent. National Highway 1A linking
Land for urban
traffic will make up 16-26 percent with priority given to public transport,
especially in
The project also
aims to upgrade the north-south railway system and consider building hi-speed
railways connecting Lao Cai and
By 2020, domestic
transport of goods and passengers by sea aims for 32.38 percent and 0.17
percent of market share, respectively. Along with major routes, river lines
linking the Mekong Delta with
National shipping
operators will reach a 25-30 percent increase in the handling of exports and
imports. The development of national seaports and international gateway ports
in key economic zones will continue with Lach Huyen and Cai Mep – Thi Vai
seaports in Hai Phong and Vung Tau being put into the best use. At the same
time, foreign investment will be drawn to Van Phong international
transhipment port.
About aviation
services, budget airliners will broaden their market shares by extending
their links with regional and global partners. Besides traditional markets in
Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia,
International
airports such as Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat,
This year, the
national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines will be equitised with the State
holing a stake of 65-75 percent.
MOST
promotes post harvest technologies of seafood, fruits
The Ministry of
Science and Technology (MOST) has decided to boost the application of
post-harvest technology in agricultural production to be able to gain
stronger foothold in global markets, the Vietnam Economic News reported.
Minister of Science
and Technology Nguyen Quan said post-harvest preservation and processing
technology is an important phase to improve product quality and
competitiveness of agricultural products.
The project on
application of post-harvest technology in producing surimi for export has
brought an encouraging result. This project aimed at exporting surimi to
hard-to-please markets like Japan (100 tonnes) and the
Project director Le
Duc Manh said “in the future, products of the project will surely be exported
to
Another successful
project was the application of heat pump drying to reduce tea material losses
by10-15 percent compared with the old technology. This processing method met
the standards regulated by the Ministry of Health. At present, these products
started to be supplied to institutes of traditional medicine and medical
centres nationwide. In addition, many advanced technologies in preserving
woods, mushrooms, fresh milk and seafood have also been applied and produced
good results.
The MOST has
recently carried out a project applying
In the future, more
post- harvest technologies are expected to introduce to the preservation of
Seven-month
CPI sees lowest rise in 13 years
The consumer price
index (CPI) in July rose only 0.23 percent over the previous month, driving
the seven-month figure up 1.62 percent, the lowest increase in 13 years.
The July figure
also represented a rise of 4.94 percent compared to the same period last
year, announced the General Statistic Office (GSO) on July 24.
In the month, all
11 groups in the commodity basket experienced price hikes ranging from 0.04
percent to 0.44 percent. The highest was recorded in transport services as a
result of petrol price increases in late June and early July.
Meanwhile, culture,
entertainment and tourism services registered the most modest price rise.
Prices of
restaurants and catering services continued to see a remarkable increase of
0.26 percent. Medicine and health services had their prices unchanged.
Experts forecast
the CPI will continue to rise in August as the new school year begins.
Green
infrastructure for small and medium sized cities discussed
Mega-cities and big
cities have endured dangerous impact from climate change, but small- and
medium-sized towns will suffer the most, according to experts.
Like many other
towns of its size in the world, Can Tho has faced many challenges, including
rapid urbanisation, climate change and increasing urban population, Assila
Pathirana, representative of the Netherlands-based UNESCO-IHE Institute for
Water Education, said.
Pathirana spoke at
an international conference held in Can Tho on climate-change adaptation and
green infrastructure for medium-sized cities on July 23.
Can Tho, with a
population of 1.2 million, is located on a land depression in the
Water is a rare
resource but also a potential threat to the city, Pathirana added.
In recent time, the
Climate change,
which has increased the average temperature, has caused more thunderstorms
and whirlwinds.
"However,
daily human activities have also been responsible for severe flooding, as
well as dry weather, land erosion and saltwater intrusion," said Ky
Quang Vinh, Director of the Can Tho Climate Change Co-ordination Office.
"Therefore,
stabilising livelihoods for the local resident community and developing a
green economy is required, which Can Tho's authority will put into
practice," he added.
Vinh also said the
Can Tho City People's Committee has set up a steering committee for climate
change and a climate change co-ordination office.
International
experts from the Bangladesh Delta Master Planning Project said that managers
and scientists should learn from real experiences of global cities to build
development plans and solutions for a sustainable future.
Sharing and
learning experiences from studies about several medium-sized cities in the world
would help cities increase their own capability in flood prevention and green
infrastructure development, while maintaining economic growth and the local
community's livelihood, Pathirana said.
According to a
report from the Netherlands-based UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education,
the world has had the fastest urbanisation rate in human history in recent
times.
Around 50 percent
of the global population now lives in cities and the rate is increasing.
Urbanisation is
continuing to occur rapidly in poor and developing nations, and in small- and
medium-sized towns, where 70 percent of the world's urban population lives.
Urbansation is
putting pressure on cities and town authorities to develop solutions to
accommodation, public services, environmental pollution, flooding and climate
change impact.
Major
coastal apartment and resort projects in Danang stalled
Many projects in
what Vietnamese investors once termed the "golden land", along
coastlines in
The Da Phuoc New
Urban Area Project in Hai Chau District,
The complex was to
include a resort, an 18-hole golf course, a marina, an large hotel, a meeting
hall, high-end offices, trade centres and villas. The total cost was
estimated at USD 300 million.
However, only the
site clearance phase has been completed, leaving the entire land unused for
years.
The Hon Ngoc A Chau
project on
The project
initiated in early 2010 with a spectacular ceremony. However, to date the
high-end apartments and villages have remained on paper for nearly four
years. The construction site has been abandoned and materials are aging.
Dozens of other
projects in Danang and
When asked about
the situation, leaders from the Danang municipal Department of Environment
and Natural Resource confirmed that they would seek for approval from the
municipal government to revoke land from stagnant projects.
In early 2014, the
city’s Party Committee requested the municipal government to scruntinise all
investment projects citywide and to revoke investment licenses of incompetent
investors.
In March, the
municipal Department of Environment and Natural Resources had requested that
the investors of three sluggish coastal projects sign commitment agreements.
They intend to ask around 20 more project investors to do the same.
“We’ll seek city
government approval for revoking the investment license of any stagnant
project,” said an official from the department.
After 41 old trees
in front of the Opera House were felled to make room for construction of
Metro Line No. 1, the HCMC Urban Railway Management Unit said it will replant
trees in the area after the first station is completed.
Le Khac Huynh,
deputy head of the unit, explained that the area would be excavated to move
in equipment and machinery to build underground works for the four-floor
metro station.
According to Huynh,
the trees on
Che Dinh Ly, deputy
director of HCMC National University’s Institute of Environment and Natural
Resources, told the Daily that the lines of trees in front of the Opera House
are not rare species and so chopping down the trees for the metro line
development is necessary.
However, Ly
recommended that trees to be replanted should not be the ones with taproots
as they may affect the station.
According to HCMC
Green Tree and Park Company, to facilitate construction of the underground
station of Metro Line No. 1 and upgrade
Fuel firms
earn much profit as import prices down
Local fuel trading
firms are making much profit though the domestic prices of diesel, kerosene
and heavy fuel oil were revised down last week thanks to lower fuel prices
from the main suppliers of petroleum products for
A fuel price chart
posted on the website of the Vietnam Petroleum Association indicated the
price of RON 92 petrol in Singapore fell to US$117.02 per barrel on Monday,
the lowest in the past month and down nearly US$2 per barrel against last
Friday. The RON 92 price had gone down by Monday but inched up to US$118.13
on Tuesday.
The association
reckoned the 30-day base price used to calculate fuel retail prices in
The world’s average
30-day price was US$122.45 per barrel on Monday and US$122.26 per barrel on
Tuesday.
With the current
base price and VND670 per liter extracted from the national fuel price
stabilization fund, local trading firms can earn VND128 per liter of RON 92,
VND135 a liter of diesel 0.05S, VND143 a liter of kerosene and VND103 a
kilogram of heavy fuel oil. These earnings exclude a pre-calculated profit of
VND300 per liter for the fuel trading firms.
NHO begins
work on Binh Duong condo project
National Housing
Organization Joint Stock Company (NHO) has started work on its First Home
Premium condo project with a total investment of VND582 billion (US$27.45
million) in the southern
The project on an
area of 9,740 square meters comprises 952 apartments measuring 49-73 square
meters each and priced at around VND13 million per square meter.
NHO chairman
Lawrence Tham said the housing project consists of two buildings with each
having 18 stories and will be ready two years after its groundbreaking on
Tuesday.
Home buyers of the
project are offered loans worth up to 85% of an apartment’s value and with an
annual interest rate of 8% from the Bank of Investment of Development of
Vietnam (BIDV) and Vietnam International Bank (VIB).
Located on
NHO is a joint
venture between Singapore-based TAG JSC and HCMC-based NIBC Investment Co.,
Ltd.
Report on
market-oriented economy completed
The Party Central
Committee’s Economic Commission has completed a final report on developing a
market-oriented economy for
Vuong Dinh Hue,
head of the Economic Commission, told a meeting in
The report has been
sent to a limited number of agencies under the Party Central Committee
responsible for reviewing the renovation period in the country.
The Economic
Commission has also finalized another report on boosting industrialization
and modernization in
The commission will
complete a draft version of another report on five years of implementing
Resolution 6 of the 10th Party Central Committee on further improvements of
the market-oriented economy for submission to the Politburo.
The authority said
last Monday, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced to initiate
anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into the oil country tubular
goods (OCTG) shipped from
The decision of
CBSA came after two Canadian steel firms Tenaris
This is the first
time
Previously on July
11, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced its final decision
confirming dumping margins for the OCTG imports from
Steel firm SeAH
Steel Vina Corporation, one of the two compulsory defendants in Vietnam
subject to the U.S. investigations, was imposed an anti-dumping duty of
24.22% while Hot Rolling Pipe must pay a general anti-dumping margin of 111.47%
for steel exporters in Vietnam as it refused to fill in DOC’s questionnaire.
The rate levied on
Hot Rolling Pipe and other companies in
By August 25, the
U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is expected to decide whether the
Cho Dui Trading and
Services Co., Ltd., a unit of Hoa Lam Corporation, and its partners have
organized a topping-out ceremony for Lim Tower II in HCMC to mark the
completion of the shell building of the office and trade center project. The
project is scheduled to be up and running in the first quarter of next year.
The property at the
corner of Vo Van Tan and Cach Mang Thang Tam streets in District 3 consists
of three basements and 18 floors with total floor space of more than 25,460
square meters.
Tran Thi Lam,
chairwoman of Cho Dui Trading and Services Co., Ltd., said when in place, Lim
Tower II would set aside some 12,700 square meters for lease to banks and
companies in other sectors. The building also has three basements covering
6,255 square meters able to service about 120 vehicles.
Lam added there are
12 elevators and escalators, including four high-speed lifts for office workers
installed at the second
The first
McDonald’s
Vietnam says no meat imported from China
McDonald’s
McDonald’s Vietnam
takes food materials from the global suppliers of McDonald’s, Nguyen Huy
Thinh, director of McDonald’s Vietnam, told the Daily after a Chinese firm
was reported to supply expired meat for fast-food restaurants.
According to
Reuters,
In addition to
chicken imported from
Thinh said
McDonald’s Vietnam does not require the franchisee to buy material from
producers of the fast-food chain and the franchisee can use material meeting
quality standards of McDonald’s but the U.S. fast-food chain has a team in
charge of supervising this.
McDonald’s
Another reason for
the low ratio of local material used by McDonald’s
Once McDonald’s
Draft rule
on State agencies’ IT outsourcing remains unclear
A draft rule
allowing State agencies to use outsourced information technology (IT)
services was released early this week but it fails to stipulate important
issues such as payment mechanism, evaluation methods and supplier selection.
The Ministry of
Information and Communications has published the draft on its website to field
suggestions from enterprises in the industry.
Given the draft
rules, IT firms will provide software products and technology systems under
the mode of service packages to State agencies.
The systems will
run on the suppliers’ platforms. Customers can order the services they want
and pay for service packages, while the service providers will take the
responsibilities for all the stages of the service deployment, from operation
to maintenance.
Therefore, State
agencies can cut expenses, save time, improve productivity and reduce labor
cost.
However, many
enterprises have raised questions on the draft, saying this is just a general
frame regulating IT services that can be offered to State agencies. The draft
has yet to make clear key issues such as payment, financial sources for
agencies to use the services.
Do Cao Bao,
chairman of FPT Information System Company, said that relevant agencies must
give specific instructions to State agencies.
Nguyen Xuan Hoang,
general director of Misa Joint Stock Company, said the Government should have
a mechanism allowing State agencies to use the service, and instruct them to
choose suppliers.
It is necessary to
create a legal foundation for data assets. For instance, cloud
computing-based data must bear ownership verification, Hoang said.
The ministry in the
draft also proposed two projects encouraging State agencies to use the
services.
The Ministry of
Finance, Ministry of Planning and Investment and local authorities will take
responsibility for balancing budgets and arrange annual financial resources
for State agencies to use the service.
Booth rent
discount offered to local exhibitors at VSI Expo
Local firms will be
given a 50% discount for booth rent when they put their names down to join
VSI Expo 2014, an exhibition for supporting industries to take place in HCMC
on September 17-20.
This large-scale
exhibition, which will be held in the city for the first time, has been
recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade as part of the national
trade promotion program, said Nguyen Phuong Dong, deputy director of the HCMC
Department of Industry and Trade, the organizer of the event.
Dong told a press
conference in HCMC on Tuesday that participating local enterprises will pay
rent of only VND6 million for a nine-square-meter display booth, just half of
the normal rent for exhibitors at the event.
The four-day event
will be organized at HCMC’s Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Center (TBECC)
for enterprises of the sectors of apparel-footwear, electronics-information
technology, automotive, engineering and high technology. The objective is to
prop up development of supporting industries.
The exhibition is
also expected to help build a strong bridge between enterprises, establish a
value chain for industrial products, find outlets for supporting industries,
and increase ratios of local content and added value of locally-made
products.
Dong said the event
will create opportunities for domestic supporting-industry enterprises to
improve product quality, spur exports, join the global supply chain, and
reduce their reliance on accessory and component imports.
Around 200
companies will introduce their products and services at more than 300 booths
at VSI Expo 2014 to local and foreign partners.
Also on the agenda
will be seminars on the Government’s policies and incentives as well as
solutions for development of supporting industries in
The Prime Minister
has recently approved a number of master plans and strategies for development
of industries and supporting industries that are deemed as crucial for
sustainable development of the industrial sector.
Agricultural
Ministry seeks measures to develop dairy breeding
The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development on July 23 held a conference discussing
measures and policies to develop dairy cattle breeding industry to reduce
reliance on foreign milk in
Deputy Minister Vu
Van Tam said that
After 13 years,
milk productivity averaged 5.18 tons per cow, higher than that in other
countries in the region. It is 3.2 tons in
Large domestic
companies have joined in milk processing industry like Vinamilk and TH True
milk.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai
Group has built a project to breed 100,000 milk cows in 2014-2016 and work
with three large companies from
Some businesses in
the southeastern region have planned to convert some low-yield rubber areas
into dairy farms.
However
Deputy Head of the
Livestock Department Nguyen Xuan Duong proposed to develop not only
large-scale dairy farms but also household breeding to increase output and
reduce imports.
Private breeders
will be gathered and managed under cooperatives to ensure food safety and
facilitate consumption, he said.
Betting on
the future of Vietnamese dairy industry
There is at least
one official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) who
is not optimistic about the prospect of milk processing factories in Vietnam.
The dairy industry
in
This week MARD, in
conjunction with the U.S Diary Export Council, held a meeting on new
technologies and the development of
La Van Thao, an
official from MARD’s Department of Animal Husbandry said that selling prices
for dairy farmers in
Thao added,
"In the long-term the situation for milk processors in the country does
not look bright since Vietnamese consumers are becoming more aware and prefer
fresh milk to reconstituted milk products. Also, domestic processing
factories rely largely on imported milk powder."
Relevant
ministries, including MARD, Ministries of Health, Science and Technology,
Industry and Trade and the police should intensify inspection to test the
accuracy of the amount of fresh milk advertised on labels.
Nguyen Xuan Duong,
deputy dector of the Department of Animal Husbandry, said that after recent
drastic measures, labeling of fresh milk has become more accurate and
transparent.
Duong also commented
that
He noted that one
of the biggest challenges to
“If we really want
to foster sustainable development of our domestic diary industry, it’s
important to increase the size of dairy farms. Currently the average dairy
farm is just five cows. This should be increased to 25 to 35. Farmers must
also take an active role in the industry. This way we could increase production
and generate jobs," he noted.
SCIC says
hard to transfer State stakes
The State Capital
Investment Corporation (SCIC), in a recent report on its operation in this
year’s first half, said that it encountered many difficulties in receiving,
selling and transferring State stakes.
The firm received
documents from some ministries and provinces which wanted to transfer State
stakes in State-owned enterprises under their management to SCIC, but many
issues remained to be solved before SCIC could take over such stakes.
SCIC has assessed
and identified numerous issues and demanded that such issues be made
transparent in the process of equitization before the Government’s finance
arm could receive such stakes, but no progress has been made, according to a
report released by SCIC’s general director Lai Van Dao.
The report gives
the names of administering agencies that want to transfer State stakes to
include the ministries of Industry and Trade; Agriculture and Rural
Development; and Transport; as well as
Lai Van Dao said
that the progress of transferring State-owned shares from ministries and
localities has been slow.
Regarding the
selling of State stakes held by SCIC, the corporation has divested State
stakes in 31 companies, including sales of entire State stakes at 26 firms
and partial stakes at five enterprises. SCIC collected VND863 billion from
such transfers, meeting 65% of its target and surging 47% year-on-year.
However, SCIC said
that the number of companies where State capital has been transferred is
still far smaller than its target due to recent difficulties in the economy,
the stock market and the investment environment.
On the other hand,
SCIC has contacted some State-owned groups and corporations to obtain
information on their plans to divest capital from non-core businesses, and
SCIC will consider whether to take over those stakes.
Some big
State-owned enterprises have sent their information to SCIC to help it
consider stake transfers, including Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG), Vietnam
Electricity Group (EVN), Vietnam National Oil and Gas Industries Group (PVN),
Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industry Group (Vinacomin), and Vietnam National
Shipping Lines (Vinalines) among others.
As of now, SCIC has
invested VND12 trillion in many projects and enterprises and is eyeing more
investment plans this year in financial, transport infrastructure, and
medicine areas.
Relating to
financial investment, SCIC has sold corporate bonds issued by Development
Investment Construction Corporation (DIC), which helped it regain VND350
billion in its initial investment and VND154 billion in profit.
As of June 30,
SCIC’s portfolio had included stakes in 335 enterprises with the value of
over VND15 trillion and combined chartered capital of VND65 trillion.
As of December last
year, the value of State-owned capital managed by SCIC at 349 companies had
reached VND71 trillion or 6.8 times higher than the book value of VND10.5
trillion.
SCIC will withdraw
capital from 376 enterprises, according to its restructuring plan toward
2015.
Steel
makers hike prices to offset rising input costs
The Vietnam Steel
Association (VSA) said steel producers in the country have started to
increase their prices in the third quarter of this year to offset rising
input costs following decisions of Government agencies to allow higher fuel
retail prices and a slight devaluation of the local currency.
Pomina Steel Joint
Stock Company will increase its selling prices by VND100,000 a ton of steel
from today and this is the company’s second price hike since the beginning of
this year. The company sells a ton of steel at around VND14.9 million in
HCMC.
Do Duy Thai,
general director of Thep Viet Steel Corporation, the parent company of
Pomina, said the price rise resulted from soaring input costs, including
those for transport and raw materials.
VSA said more steel
makers will increase their prices towards the year-end although demand for
this product has not improved remarkably, particularly in the third quarter
as construction activity is usually low in the rainy season.
In the first half
of this year, local companies turned out nearly 2.6 million tons of
construction steel, up 4.6% year-on-year.
VSA estimated
The association
projected 12 million tons of steel would be consumed this year, a
year-on-year increase of 5-7% over last year.
Currently, steel
supply still outpaces demand and this is why local construction steel mills
run at only 40-60% capacity, according to VSA.
Farmers
unwilling to sell sugarcane to refineries
Farmer in the
Mekong Delta are not willing to sell their sugarcane to local refineries due
to low buying prices and the different practices of sugarcane delivery.
The Hau Giang
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development estimated farmers in the
province have grown sugarcane on around 16,000 hectares in this year’s crop
and have already found mills for their products.
Can Tho Sugar
Company, which has agreed to consume the cane grown by farmers in
However, grower
Nguyen Van Dua in Phung Hiep District in
Nguyen The Tu, head
of the Agriculture and Rural Development division of Phung Hiep District in
Hau Giang Province, calculated the production cost is VND760 per kilogram of
sugarcane for this year’s crop and farmers will not earn profits if they have
to transport their sugarcane to the company at a price of only VND830 per
kilo.
Tran Van Tam, head
of the Agriculture and Rural Development division of My Tu District in Soc
Trang Province, said Long My Phat Sugar Company has agreed to purchase
sugarcane produced on 700 out of 2,400 hectares in the locality.
Tam said Long My Phat
will buy a kilogram of sugarcane at only VND700 at growers’ fields, which is
lower than their production cost.
Agriculture
authorities said farmers in Hau Giang, Soc Trang and other provinces in the
Mekong Delta start to harvest their sugarcane of the 2014-2015 crop in the
middle of September this year.
Statistics of the
Vietnam Sugar Association showed farmers yielded 1.58 million tons of
sugarcane in the 2013-2014 crop from more than 289,000 hectares.
HCMC needs
17,000 workers in August
Employers in HCMC
are predicted to need about 17,000 laborers next month, according to the HCMC
Center for Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labor Market Information (FALMI).
The demand for
manual workers and workers of intermediate vocational level is the highest
with approximately 5,100 in each segment, while the demand for college
graduates is estimated at 4,250 people. The demand for skilled workers and
those of basic vocational level makes up the balance.
Tran Anh Tuan,
deputy director of FALMI, said employers will still focus on recruiting
employees with skills and qualifications in the final months of this year.
Therefore, new graduates from colleges and universities should equip
themselves with useful knowledge and skills to meet enterprises’ demands.
In the third quarter,
the city’s labor demand is estimated at 55,000 in a wide range of areas
including manufacture, business – retail/wholesale and information technology
(IT), the last-named sector needing more skilled workers due to the expansion
of the foreign IT companies in Vietnam.
Tuan estimated the
city will need 150,000 laborers in July-December, in which the demand for
seasonal workers is estimated at 40,000.
The labor demand
will continue to rise in the sectors of business, services, textile-garment,
leather-footwear, tourism, consulting and real estate.
Firms
support rice farmers to shift to higher yield crops
A number of
enterprises have teamed up with research institutes and agricultural
promotion centers for pilot schemes to support farmers to shift their low-yield
paddy fields to corn and other high-yield crops.
The enterprises and
organizations have joined forces after the Government has a policy to provide
finances for farmers to buy seeds to replace their poor paddy production with
high-yield crops. As a result, corn is proved as one of the alternatives for
farmers.
Syngenta Vietnam
Co., Ltd. said in a statement that the company has cooperated with the
Institute of Agricultural Science for Southern Vietnam to develop a model in
support of corn production on 20 hectares of former paddy field in My Hanh
Bac Commune, Duc Hoa District in Long An Province.
The company said
one hectare could bring average output of 8-10 tons of corn and farmers could
gain profit of VND8.4 million per hectare higher than rice production if a
kilogram of fresh corn is sold at VND4,000.
Dekalb Vietnam has
worked with the Agricultural Encouragement Center of An Phu District in An
Giang Province over a pilot program on crop change. Initial results indicated
farmers could yield 10.8-12.3 tons on one hectare for two harvest seasons of
a year and earn VND50 million per hectare, including profit of nearly VND24
million. This profit is three times higher than that farmers can obtain from
rice production.
According to the
Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, some provinces in the Mekong Delta such as Dong Thap, An Giang,
Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and Long An have carried out programs to replace rice with
corn to help farmers improve earnings.
Nguyen Thanh Tung,
director of the Agricultural Encouragement Center of Long An Province, said
the province considers corn as the most important option in the program,
followed by sesame and peanut.
Tung said more corn
would be grown on low-productivity paddy fields and the firm Ecofarm has
invested in a complex of facilities to dry and process corn in preparation
for buying all the corn produced by local farmers.
The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development estimated around 112,000 hectares of
low-yield paddy field in the Mekong Delta will make room for corn and soybean
farming. To facilitate fast changes, the Government will provide farmers with
VND2 million to buy seeds for each hectare.
The Government
issued the policy on the fact that rice farmers have not been able to obtain
a 30% profit margin as targeted and Vietnam has to spend US$4.5 billion
importing corn, soybean and other materials for animal feed production every
year.
The ministry
expected shifting from rice to corn and soybean will help the country reduce
imports.
The
“We encourage
farmers to change low-productivity rice production to other crops to improve
their incomes,” said Le Quy Kha, deputy rector of the institute.
Source:
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Chủ Nhật, 27 tháng 7, 2014
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