Vietnam is the world’s largest exporter of black pepper, accounting for half of global trade. The country is also the world’s largest producer of Robusta coffee, which has a bitter taste and is used mainly in instant coffee.
The five, led by Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan, 43, were arrested on suspicion of violating food safety regulations after they were caught mixing coffee waste with a black, tar-like liquid made from manganese dioxide found in the batteries, the report said.
Police seized 40 litres of the liquid, along with more than 21 metric tonnes of dyed coffee waste and over 200 kg of used battery parts from Loan’s home in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong, the report said.
Calls to police in the province went unanswered on Tuesday.
The Central Highlands is Vietnam’s largest coffee-producing region. It also produces much of the country’s black pepper.
Loan sold three metric tonnes of the mixture to a black pepper trading firm in the neighbouring province of Binh Phuoc, the Ministry of Public Security newspaper said.
Police seized nine tonnes of pepper at the firm which had been blended with the battery and coffee mixture, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. The firm had been selling pepper mixed with the battery-laced coffee granules for years, the paper said.
“Whatever purpose they may have, what they are doing is posing threat to people’s health. If they mix that substance with coffee or pepper, it would be awful and unacceptable,” said Nguyen Nam Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Pepper Association.
“I don’t understand why they do it. Vietnam accounts for half of the world’s black pepper output and 60-65 percent of global black pepper trade and prices are falling,” said Hai.
“It’s just a small firm and I don’t think this dirty product could end up being exported.”
If found guilty, the five face up to 20 years in prison.
The stock market regained calm on April 24 after a nosedive on the previous day to end at 1,080 points thanks to the recovery of key stocks.
On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE), selling pressure still dominated the market at the beginning of the trading session, pulling the VN-Index down to 1,049 points.
However, demand appeared at the end of the morning session. Notably, up to 8.7 million VIC shares were traded at approximately 1.1 trillion VND (48.34 million USD), helping VIC to close at 127,000 VND per share (up 0.38 percent).
Among large-cap stocks, GAS, MSN, VCB and BID attracted buyers and were coloured green at the end of the trading session.
While insurance stocks grew by 2.74 percent, utilities and property stocks respectively increased 2.95 percent and 2.18 percent.
The VN-Index rose 3.96 points to close at 1,080.74 points. Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange inched up 0.16 point to 126.3 points.
However, UpCoM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UpCoM) fell 0.08 point to 57.06 points.
Steel sector has potential for 22% growth
Viet Nam’s steel industry has high potential to reach a production growth rate of 22 per cent and expand export markets this year. — Bizhub
Vietnam to cut black pepper farm area as global prices fall
Vietnam plans to slash its black pepper growing area by 26.7 percent in response to falling global prices, the chairman of the country’s pepper association said Tuesday. — Reuters
Foreign automakers switch to trading as Vietnamese scale up production
While foreign-invested manufacturers have shifted to importing cars for domestic sale, Vietnamese enterprises have increased investments and expanded production, vowing to develop a domestic automobile industry. — VietNamNet Bridge
Caffeine boost: Makers of battery-powered coffee mixture arrested in Vietnam
Vietnamese police have arrested five people suspected of using battery chemicals to dye waste coffee beans, the Ministry of Public Security’s online newspaper, Cong An Nhan Dan, said on Tuesday, apparently passing the mixture off as black pepper. — Reuters
Internet connections slows in Việt Nam as int’l undersea cable down
The Asia-Pacific Gateway (APG) international undersea cable broke down at 23:50 on April 23, disrupting Internet connections from Việt Nam to other countries, according to the Việt Nam Posts and Telecommunications (VNPT). — Viet Nam News
PM calls for new measures to boost exports
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has affirmed that having more control over the market will help the Vietnamese economy in the long run. — Bizhub
Techcombank highlights booming Vietnam IPO market
April brought Vietnam’s biggest ever IPO, but in a market that is finally delivering on its promise after years of disappointing investors, the Techcombank listing might only hold its record for a matter of weeks. — Euro Money
Vietnam’s HDBank taps into state oil group through acquisition
Vietnam’s HDBank will acquire a Petrolimex-backed peer, part of the newly listed lender’s strategy to expand its reach and secure its position as one of the country’s leading retail banks. — Nikkei Asian Review
Lending rate reduction still far away despite good liquidity
It will take the banking industry difficult to make a lending interest rate cut this year though some factors, such as good liquidity, can support the move, experts forecast. — The Hanoi Times
Power project to begin operations ahead of schedule
The US$1.75-billion Vinh Tan 1 thermal power project will begin operations ahead of its schedule owing to concerns about the risk of power shortage in the southern provinces in future. — VietnamNet Bridge
Maybank Kim Eng Securities increases capital
Maybank Kim Eng Securities Limited has added 10 million USD to its charter capital to 1.06 trillion VND (46.38 million USD) in Vietnam. — VietnamPlus
Volunteers clean up nation on Earth Day
A community clean-up event to mark Earth Day brought together more than 2,000 volunteers from associations, organisations and universities besides local residents, who picked up garbage at 12 locations in HCM City yesterday morning. — Viet Nam News
Rural areas – potential market for enterprises: Nielsen Vietnam
Businesses should bring their new products to rural areas as the consumption in the rural market is equal to that of the urban market, Nielsen Vietnam said in its fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) report. — VietnamPlus
Vietnam, Cambodia border guard forces boost cooperation
Vietnam’s armed forces and border guards in particular always treasure solidarity, friendship and cooperation with neighbouring countries, including Cambodia, to build borderlines of peace and development, said Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang. — Nhan Dan Online
If you own a Vietnamese mobile subscriber and you have not submitted your portrait photo to mobile service provider, your subscriber you will be terminated outgoing call very soon.
According to a government decree effective since April 2017, owners of every mobile subscriber have to provide not only a scanned copy of their ID card but also a portrait photo to legally own a prepaid or post paid subscribers of all Vietnamese mobile carriers. This with the number of affected subscriptions estimated at nearly 120 million.
Mobile network operators had been given 12 months to request their subscribers updating their portraits to the customer profile at the service counter or on the website. But, as per a report of VietnamBiz.vn, there will be more than 30 millions mobile subscribers being impacted and terminated right after April, 2018.
Any user, who does not provide requested information, their mobile subscriber be terminated after 30 days from the first reminder by the service operator.
Mobile service operators have conceded that it is a challenge to encourage existing users to provide a portrait by that time.
The current regulation on telecommunication stipulates that every individual must provide accurate personal information as per ID card to register for a SIM card.
Foreigners are required to provide their passport to complete the registration.
Many experts told us that the portrait regulation is unnecessary and will waste the time of subscribers as well as the resources of mobile carriers.
Warren Cammack, General Manager, Capability Exchange Program of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) at Vietnam International Bank (VIB) said even banks do not demand a portrait of their customers, so it is questionable whether the mobile carriers really need to do so.
From a customer’s perspective, Warren, said it would be a huge waste of time and a nuisance.
A swarm of visitors gravitated toward a culturally significant mountaintop temple in northern Vietnam to pay tribute to the country’s founding fathers on Sunday, three days before the start of a public holiday to celebrate the occasion.
Every year on the tenth day of the third month in the lunar calendar, people in Vietnam commemorate the death of Hung Kings, 18 successive monarchs sharing the title Hung, who are considered in legend as the first founders of ancient Vietnam.
The day, which falls on Wednesday this year, is also a public holiday in the Southeast Asian country.
On this occasion, the Hung Kings’ Festival is being held from April 21 through 25 in Phu Tho Province to pay homage to these 18 rulers, believed to reign over Vietnam from around 2879 to 258 BC.
The Hung Temple, where the rulers are worshipped on the province’s Nghia Linh Mountain, is a sacred destination for many Vietnamese people, who may come to the place to ask for good fortune and health, as they do at pagodas during the country’s Lunar New Year festival.
The mountainside path leading to the temple was teeming with tens of thousands of pilgrims inching uphill on Sunday morning.
A large number of police officers and volunteers were brought in to marshal the visitors, a job which proved difficult due to crowdedness.
Several impatient pilgrims climbed over the slope adjacent to the path to ascend quickly, with some having their attempts thwarted by police.
The festival organizer said it was determined to preempt undesirable situations which happened in previous festivals, including traffic tie-ups, price gouging, panhandling, uncivil conduct, and contaminated food.
Local police have worked with their counterparts in neighboring provinces to monitor traffic, and are expected to perform regular patrols at the festival.
Food vendors have been required to hang a price list at their stands and banned from overcharging.
Police in green and volunteers in blue (foreground) control the influx of visitors to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Visitors walk up to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Visitors fill the path leading to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
A man holds his child above the crowd in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
A volunteer brings a child out of the crowd in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
A policeman uses a megaphone to ask people to move in order in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
A woman holding her baby walks against the stream of visitors in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
A policeman asks a man to return to the path in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Visitors choke the path leading to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Girls take a shortcut to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Policemen talk while managing the movement of visitors to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Set up by a Vietnamese army veteran, Ho Chi Minh City’s Russian Market is a maze of stalls peddling high quality winter wear sprawling across the two bottom floors of 328 Vo Van Kiet Boulevard, Co Giang Ward, District 1.
According to Vu Anh Duong, a member of the market’s management team, the vast majority of the market’s 200-plus stalls export warm clothing to cold-weather markets such as Russia, Europe, America, South Korea, and Japan.
To aid these businesses, three Russia-based forwarding companies also work out of the building.
Apart from wholesale transactions, many of the market’s retailers target tourists looking for a good deal on clothing they will be able to make good use of after their trip.
The sheer volume of international brand names from Russia and the U.S. is the major draw for tourists looking to get a good deal on high-end products.
Many of the salespeople at the Russian Market attempt to draw in international clientele by switching seamlessly between greetings in English, Russian, and Vietnamese.
“Customers come here looking for the warm coats. What we offer is reasonably priced and high quality,” said Hoa, a stall owner.
She then turned to a Korean customer and explained, “We don’t overcharge around here, but I can lower the price just a bit for you.”
On the market’s second floor, a large food shop specializes in packaged and fresh goods bearing ‘Made in Russia’ labels.
The store offers a one-stop shop for Russian Vodkas, fish, feat, and spices.
Household gadgets and souvenirs highlighting Russian culture, such as stacking dolls and ceramic castles, are also displayed throughout.
Nguyen Viet Dung, a customer browsing the store, shared that he was shopping for Russian foods he remembers from his time spent as a student in the Soviet Union 40 years ago.
Tourists flock to the Russian Market to seek warm clothing. Photo: Tuoi Tre
From veteran to entrepreneur
Nguyen Manh Tong, the owner of this Russian Market, first experienced Russian culture during a pilot training program in Russia in 1982.
“I am just a discharged soldier. My primary goal here was to create a gathering spot for Russia lovers. Most stall owners here are academics, engineers, or skilled laborers who once worked in Russia,” he said.
Tong returned to Vietnam in 1986 to serve as a captain in the Vietnamese army.
In the 1990s, he stumbled across the Tax Mall on the corner of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi Streets in District 1.
The mall has since been demolished to make way for the city’s new metro system, but in its heyday it served as a hub for Russian and Eastern European goods.
Tong felt like he had been transported back to Russia from the moment he walked into the Tax Mall.
Throughout its aisles, salespeople spoke mainly in Russian, pushing their goods on customers from former Soviet republics.
Tong decided to seize the opportunity and open a stall at the Tax Mall, making headways into the clothing market with the support of his personal contacts at leading textile companies in Vietnam.
After several years, however, business began to slow and store owners in the clothing section of the Tax Mall began moving to more modern markets, such as Hoang Thanh Market, now Saigon Square, in District 1.
Years later it struck Tong that owning an entire market might be better than owning a single stall. That was when the Russian Market came into being.
In its first stages, shop owners were reluctant to join him in the new premises, and sales were low because the location was far from downtown.
Stall owners left, but Tong stood his ground, trying his best to keep the market running while seeking new clients.
After some time the business was back on track.
How did it happen? According to Tong, the market’s core principle is its driving force: “Stall owners here know well that getting customers to pay is very difficult, so they seldom overcharge.”
Vietnamese police have arrested five people suspected of using battery chemicals to dye waste coffee beans, the Ministry of Public Security’s online newspaper, Cong An Nhan Dan, said on Tuesday, apparently passing the mixture off as black pepper.
Vietnam is the world’s largest exporter of black pepper, accounting for half of global trade. The country is also the world’s largest producer of Robusta coffee, which has a bitter taste and is used mainly in instant coffee.
The five, led by Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan, 43, were arrested on suspicion of violating food safety regulations after they were caught mixing coffee waste with a black, tar-like liquid made from manganese dioxide found in the batteries, the report said.
Police seized 40 litres of the liquid, along with more than 21 metric tonnes of dyed coffee waste and over 200 kg of used battery parts from Loan’s home in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong, the report said.
Calls to police in the province went unanswered on Tuesday.
The Central Highlands is Vietnam’s largest coffee-producing region. It also produces much of the country’s black pepper.
Loan sold three metric tonnes of the mixture to a black pepper trading firm in the neighbouring province of Binh Phuoc, the Ministry of Public Security newspaper said.
Police seized nine tonnes of pepper at the firm which had been blended with the battery and coffee mixture, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. The firm had been selling pepper mixed with the battery-laced coffee granules for years, the paper said.
“Whatever purpose they may have, what they are doing is posing threat to people’s health. If they mix that substance with coffee or pepper, it would be awful and unacceptable,” said Nguyen Nam Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Pepper Association.
“I don’t understand why they do it. Vietnam accounts for half of the world’s black pepper output and 60-65 percent of global black pepper trade and prices are falling,” said Hai.
“It’s just a small firm and I don’t think this dirty product could end up being exported.”
If found guilty, the five face up to 20 years in prison.
New factories
Truong Hai Automobile (Thaco) on March 25 opened Thaco Mazda, which is considered Mazda’s biggest and most modern factory in South East Asia, with total area of 30.3 hectares and capacity of 100,000 products a year.
On the same day, Thaco opened the Japan – Chu Lai international maritime route and received APL’s first ship from Hiroshima docking at the Chu Lai Port.
The cargo carried by APL included Mazda car parts and machines that serve the manufacturing and assembling of cars at Thaco Mazda and the Chu Lai – Truong Hai Automobile Mechanical Engineering Industrial Zone.
Prior to that, in 2017, Thaco put Bus Thaco, the biggest bus manufacturing factory in ASEAN with the capacity of 20,000 products a year, into operation. The enterprise also spent money to upgrade car parts and accessory manufacturing factories which provide components to assemblers.
The newly opened factories, analysts say, show that Thaco is strictly implementing the commitments on making investments for Thaco’s new development period in Chu Lai Open Economic Zone.
The automobile manufacturer made the commitment to Quang Nam provincial leaders.
Thaco’s president Tran Ba Duong said that Thaco is raising the localization ratio step by step, expected to reach at least 40 percent for cars.
In its plan to export cars to regional markets, Hyundai Thanh Cong is considering opening a second factory in Vietnam.
The existing factory, in Ninh Binh province, now has capacity of 60,000 products a year. It makes Hyundai SantaFe, Elantra, Grand I, Tucson and New Porter 150 models.
4.0 technologies
Anticipating the new tendencies in the 4.0 era, Thaco many years ago decided that it needs to develop the Chu Lai – Truong Hai Automobile IZ into a modern multi-purpose mechanical engineering and automobile production center.
The newly inaugurated Thaco Mazda is equipped with the most advanced automatic production lines. These include a robotic welding line with laser technology and an 80 percent automatic assembling line.
According to Thaco, the group now has 20 car part manufacturing and assembling factories using 4.0 technologies.
VinFast, another Vietnamese automobile brand, also is thinking big with its plan to become the leading automobile manufacturer in South East Asia with the capacity of 500,000 products by 2025.
To reach that goal, Vinfast has signed a contract with Siemens on building a modern digital factory similar to the factories of world famous manufacturers like Mercedes, BMW, Maserati and Volkswagen.
Vinfast plans to launch two models this year, one sedan and one SUV.
Another problem has occurred to the one of Vietnam’s essential submarine cable systems, resulting in sluggish Internet connection in the upcoming days.
The Asia Pacific Gateway (APG) communications cable system suffered an error at around 11:50 pm on Monday, slowing down international connectivity in Vietnam.
The issue was detected at the station in Chongming, China.
Following the incident, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), a major Internet service provider in Vietnam, has redirected international traffic to other working cables that Vietnam is connected to as a temporary measure.
VNPT is now working with its global partners to fix the problem, which is expected to take about two to three weeks.
An error previously happened to the same cable system on February 27, affecting international connectivity in the Southeast Asian country.
It broke down at a spot 125 kilometers away from Hong Kong.
As of April 1, about 95 percent of the system’s capacity had been recovered.
APG, which runs about 10,400 kilometers underwater across the Pacific Ocean, connects Vietnam with mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore.
It can deliver a capacity of up to 54Tbps, the greatest of all networks in Asia.
This is the fifth problem that has occurred to the cable system since it was launched in 2016.
The other systems that are vital to Vietnam’s international connectivity are the Asia America Gateway (AAG), South-East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 3 (SMW-3), and Intra-Asia (IA).
AAG is a 20,000-km submarine communications cable system connecting Southeast Asia with the U.S. mainland across the Pacific Ocean via Guam and Hawaii. It strikes land in Vietnam in the southern beach city of Vung Tau.
SMW-3 is the world’s longest cable system, which is 39,000 kilometers long, connecting Vietnam and 39 other countries through the landing point in central Da Nang City.
With a total length of 6,800 km, IA links Internet users in Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.
There’s always been that expat who chooses a place based solely on how cool and validated it makes them feel. They could’ve gone to France or Poland or even Turkey, but that just wasn’t “foreign” enough. Basically they needed to get away from (fellow) white people. They need to feel like they’re beating their own path in the jungle and no one else will have Facebook photos like they do. They need to come back to tell everyone about how many crazy things they’ve seen and how much they’ve learned and how you wouldn’t believe it, but people there actually eat duck fetuses and live with their grandmothers and have never had Taco Bell.
These are the types that generally trade Vietnam in for a suit and stock options down the road.
2. The sexpat
Let’s just get this one out of the way.
3. The dude who just can’t grow up
You’ll find him on a red stool on Bùi Viện promptly at 6pm. If you’ve missed him then, he’s probably getting hammered at T&R, hitting on chicks at Lush on ladies’ night, or, and he says he does it to be ironic, pounding down red wine at OMG. He’s a nice guy, but he’s 27 now. He moved out of his parents’ house and went to community college for a year or so, but quickly realized he just wasn’t ready to make any big life decisions. Now he’s killing time, and his only important decision is between Saigon Đỏ or Saigon Xanh.
4. The one with the silver spoon
Then there’s the expat who wanted to do something different — something commendable, something ballsy — with daddy’s money. They’re similar to the look-how-exotic-my-life-is expat, but they don’t shop at street-side markets, and please, don’t suggest you go to any restaurants that force them to use those little squares of thin paper as “napkins” and take their toothpicks out of a communal jar on a table where dozens of grubby hands have rendered them unusable. Often this type manages to recreate their home life as much as possible, and the only Vietnamese they manage to know is “đi đi.”
5. The midlife crisis-er
When you reach 50-years old and you look back at your accomplishments and you see a pile of booze, ex-lovers, and a cubicle, sometimes the only answer is ‘Nam. In a strange turn of events, this country symbolizes hope and a new beginning to many, regardless of nationality. It handles the crises that even a new Jag or a 19-year-old girlfriend can’t touch, and it doesn’t cost nearly as much or require you to stay fit. A few turn into sexpats, a few more turn into lifers, but the rest make a pretty penny, have a good story for their next OKCupid date, and hopefully boat it back home a little more centered and self-actualized.
6. The one with the useless degree
In today’s economic climate, some expats become expats because it’s the lesser of two evils: sit at home being a waitress with a psychology degree or go make a buck across the pond and do something cool while you’re at it. They probably threw a dart at a map (or their resumes at the Internet), and they wound up here. They don’t want to be here, they don’t not want to be here, it just is what it is. They’ll play out their year contract and see what happens. Maybe their expat days are over, maybe they’ll turn into a lifer, who knows? They definitely got something out of the year, though, even if it was just a love of sticky rice, VPop, and a sweet tan.
7. The do-gooder
Within this category, you generally have two camps: the one that’s always been and always will be a do-gooder and the one who had a personality stroke and is looking to make some changes. The former isn’t that remarkable: she’s always been into charity work, drinks a lot of soy milk, and there just so happens to be a ton of NGO opportunities this side of the China Seas. The other half was on track to be a tobacco lobbyist and make six figures straight outta graduating from NYU, but one morning she woke up crying, didn’t go into work that day, and claims ghosting on her corporate life is the best move she ever made. Which one is more commendable? It’s hard to tell.
8. The one there to make a buck
When it comes to dollar bills (or euros or pounds), there are few markets left in the world that are as unsaturated as Vietnam. Whether it’s teaching or fashion design or real estate, there are voids in the market and profits to be made. Locals are scrambling to gobble up as much capitalism as possible, and there’s space for at least a few thousand more KFCs. Aside from that, the best phở you’ll ever taste will cost you just over a dollar, the best bánh mì you’ll ever have will be half that, and for the cost of a couple weeks’ worth of lattes, a maid will come with your apartment. In other words, it’s a utopia for poor men and entrepreneurs alike, and it’s not a bad resume boost to boot.
9. The lifer
Odds are you’ve probably run into him more than once. He came here five years ago on a three-month contract to teach English and now he’s fluent in Vietnamese, part-owner of a British-Vietnamese fusion restaurant on some prime real estate in Nha Trang, and his Vietnamese wife is four months pregnant. He screams in Vietnamese while he watches Manchester United down at his local bar on the canal, smells curiously of nước mắm, and pulls his shirt up above his belly when he gets too warm. He got sucked in, and let it serve you as a warning: this country is a vacuum, and unless you’re willing to swim upstream and take a few bribes, you’re never going to get out.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) yesterday declared that China’s temporary ban of fishing activities in Việt Nam’s territorial waters is null and void.
The ministry made the statement in response to an announcement released by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture which says that the fishing ban will last from May 1 to August 16, 2018, covering Việt Nam’s East Sea, including the Gulf of Tonkin and Việt Nam’s territorial waters.
In a document issued on April 23, the ministry asked competent agencies to inform fishermen about China’s fishing ban.
Coastal localities were also requested to encourage fishermen to maintain their normal fishing activities in Việt Nam’s waters and go sailing in groups in order to support each other at sea.
Of note, fishing boats licensed to go fishing in the shared fishing grounds in the Gulf of Tonkin in 2017-2018 should not operate in the eastern area of the demarcation line in the Gulf during the period of the Chinese fishing ban, the ministry said.
People’s Committees of coastal cities and provinces were asked to instruct competent agencies to closely monitor the operation of fishing boats during the period, and promptly report incidents emerging at sea to the MARD.
Earlier, the Việt Nam Fisheries Society (VINAFIS) has voiced its protest against China’s unilateral decision to ban fishing in the East Sea, saying that it has no validity.
The ban hampers fishing activities of Vietnamese fishermen and violates Việt Nam’s sovereignty over Hoàng Sa (Paracel) archipelago and territorial waters in the Tonkin Gulf as well as its legitimate rights and interests.
The ban also infringes international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and related international legal documents, and runs counter to the spirit and wording of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC) signed between ASEAN and China in 2002.
China’s unilateral action is not in line with the development trend of Việt Nam-China relations and is not beneficial to peace and stability in the region, the association said.
The VINAFIS urged Vietnamese authorities to take effective measures to stop China’s action and increase patrols in the sea to protect fishermen and facilitate their fishing activities in Việt Nam’s territorial waters.
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has come up with two scenarios for increasing retirement age to 60 for women and 62 for men; or 60 for women and 65 for men.
Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Đào Ngọc Dung, said either of these options, if approved, will be implemented with a planned timeline so that it would not be an immediate change for labourers.
Speaking at a meeting of the National Assembly’s Committee on Social Affairs yesterday in Hà Nội on the Government’s report on Social Security policies implementation and social security fund management, Dung said the amendment of the social security policies were made in compliance with international practices.
He said the project would consist of three layers. In the first layer, the Government will pay social security fees for those who are beneficiaries of State supporting policies and these people will enjoy a pension from these payments. The second layer includes those who have to buy compulsory social security, and the third layer includes those who pay for voluntary social security.
The project also suggested that labourers receive pensions relative to the amount of social security premiums that they have paid, even if the payment time period is less than 20 years, as is currently required by regulations.
“We want to make the project universal, so that everyone can have insurance after they retire. Social security is one of the two pillars that make up the security of the country,” Dung said, “it’s necessary to adjust the period of time of payment as some people can’t afford 20 year period.”
“They can get a pension relative to the amount they pay for social security,” he said.
Dung said at the end of 2017, there were 13.6 million people in Việt Nam buying compulsory social security. While there were more than 600,000 enterprises operating in Việt Nam, only 230,000 buy social security for their workers.
There were about 3 million people who had not bought compulsory social security from about 300,000 enterprises, Dung said.
He also mentioned voluntary social security, adding that currently 66 per cent of labourers are from non-official sectors, which makes the goal of having 50 per cent of labourers buying compulsory social security difficult.
“The State needs to revive their policy in order to support a certain percentage of the social security fees for those in need, so that these people can have pensions when they get old,” Dung said.
After a quiet period, the online food market has become more active with the appearance of many new service providers.
Dang Hoang Minh, the founder of Foody.vn, recently complained that rivals were trying to poach his deliverymen.
The complaint and the big changes in the staff of companies in the business field show the stiff competition in the market.
An analyst confirmed that there is a ‘quiet war’ among logistics firms in the field of online food ordering. Only Foody, a website that helps customers find and rate entertainment venues and restaurants in Vietnam, has made investments in developing a delivery division of its own.
Because food items require good preservation and strict delivery times, and cannot be delivered with other products such as clothes and footwear, delivery firms tend to refuse invitations for cooperation from food companies.
Meanwhile, the demand for ordering food online and getting deliveries at given addresses in large cities has increased rapidly. According to Bamboo, the research division of Havas Riverorchid, 80 percent of surveyed people said they use food delivery services.
In the past, Foodpanda.vn, belonging to Rocket Internet, once had its own team of deliverymen, about 100 workers for Hanoi and HCMC. However, later, Foodpanda.vn changed hands as Rocket Internet met with difficulties in cash flow. Vietnammm.com, the new owner of Foodpanda, doesn’t have a delivery division.
However, Foody is no longer the only company which has a delivery division of its own. The market has seen a newcomer, Lala, a new project of Scommerce which operates under a shared economy mode.
Meanwhile, a source said Grab Vietnam has begun launching a delivery service.
The source said both Uber and Grab plan to jump on the bandwagon as they have realized the great potential of the food delivery service market.
The mobile phone-based apps UberEats and GrabFood, together with the skilled delivery teams UberMoto and GrabBike have helped them gain considerable market share in Hanoi and HCMC.
Luong Duy Hoai, CEO of Scommerce, thinks the value of the Vietnamese food delivery market, like the Chinese market, amounts to 6-8 percent of total revenue of the e-commerce market, saying that there are similarities in both Vietnamese and Chinese markets.
As for the scale of the online food ordering market in Vietnam, Euromonitor said the value is expected to be $33 million in 2018 and $38 million by 2020, while the growth rate is 11 percent per annum.
There is no official figure about market share. However, Doanh Nhan Sai Gon quoted its sources as saying that Now.vn is leading the market in number of daily orders
Nation’s gauge has surged 130 percent from 2016 low to April
Samsung’s Richardson says currency pressures not priced in
Asia’s best performing stock market is having its worst month in more than two years, with a $14 billion loss in the value of Vietnam’s equities since April 6’s record high.
Alan Richardson, portfolio manager at Samsung Asset Management, whose fund has outperformed 94 percent of its peers on a five-year return basis said the “market has peaked” after the nation’s benchmark index gained 130 percent from a low in 2016 through a record high on April 6. The fund sold a majority of its Vietnam equity holdings in March.
Emerging market stocks and currencies are suffering the brunt of investors’ jitters as a surge in U.S. Treasury yields overshadowed easing trade and geopolitical tension. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is poised to drop for a third month, the longest losing streak since a four-month rout that ended in February 2016.
“There appears to be currency pressures in the Asia region. I have yet to see the market price that in for Vietnam,” said Hong Kong-based Richardson by email Monday. Vietnam’s benchmark index fell 1.7 percent as of 9:51 a.m. in Ho Chi Minh to its lowest level since February 13.
IPO Bonanza
A stocks rally and a privatization program by the government has also led to a flurry of companies seeking to tap the capital markets amid rising foreign-direct investment and accelerating economic growth that boosted the nation’s benchmark. The VN Index rallied 48 percent in 2017 and climbed another 22 percent this year when it reached its April 6 record.
Techcombank, a Vietnamese lender backed by Warburg Pincus is seeking to raise about 21 trillion dong ($922 million). This would be Vietnam’s biggest initial equity offering ever, surpassing mall operator Vincom Retail JSC’s sale in October, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
These potential offerings could also be the reason behind the selloff as investors divest current holdings to use capital for the upcoming IPOs, Joshua Crabb, head of Asian equities at Old Mutual Global Investors AP Ltd. said by phone.
“IPOs are coming in at slightly cheaper valuations to some and with better growth prospects,” said Crabb.
About $536 million of foreign inflows so far this year has boosted the market to a record while valuations surged to 20.7 times its 12-month forward earnings in January, the highest ever on record. The gauge currently trades at 17.7 times of earnings compared to 15.3 on the MSCI Southeast Asia Index.
“It has been a lot more volatile recently. The market has done very very well,” Crabb said.
Vietnam’s border guards have recently detained a 62-year-old Lao man for smuggling and transporting 40 kg of methamphetamine, 120,000 pills of lab-made drugs and two cakes of heroin totaling some 885,000 U.S. dollars.
The man was detained at a Vietnam-Laos border area late last week, when he was preparing to transfer the drugs to a Vietnamese drug dealer, according to border guards of Vietnam’s northern Son La province on Monday.
Increasingly bigger amounts of methamphetamine are being smuggled into Vietnam, because such kind of drug is being made in bigger volumes in the Golden Triangle at the borders of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar at lower prices, according to local border guards and police forces.
Selling prices of methamphetamine at the Golden Triangle currently stand at 200-250 million Vietnamese dong (8,800-11,000 U.S. dollars) per kilogram, posting a three-fold decrease against some years ago.
According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty.
