HCM City has advanced an additional VND1.2 trillion (USD54.5 million) to pay contractors for the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro project which is facing capital delays.
This is the third time the city has advanced for the project finance while it awaits ODA capital allocation.
Earlier, the city advanced VND500 billion (USD22.7 million) and VND900 billion (USD40.9 million) for the project contractors.
Chairman of the city people’s committee Nguyen Thanh Phong asked the Department of Finance to arrange capital for the project.
Phong also urged District 1 to speed up site clearance to hand over the land for the project implementation.
The HCM City urban railway management board has been required to send a report on the project’s implementation, including the ODA capital allocation from the central budget during the 2016-2020 period.
According to the HCM City urban railway management board, the current ODA for Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro project only meets 36% of what is required, a problem attributed to slow ODA disbursement. The project needs around VND21 trillion (USD954.5 million) between 2016 and 2020, but to date, only VND7.5 trillion has been provided.
Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro project has a total investment capital of USD2.49 billion. Being started in August 2012, the 20-km route is scheduled for completion in 2020.
Both Uber and Grab Taxi have reported losses, with Grab Taxi incurring VND938bn (USD41.3m) in losses due to too much promotion, discount programmes and subsidies to drivers.
At a press conference on October 27, Dang Duy Khanh, deputy inspector of the General Department of Taxation, said Grab Taxi has earned VND1.7trn (USD74.8m) from 2014 to 2016 and paid VND9.5bn in taxes. After the inspection, HCM City Department of Taxation has collected nearly VND2.3bn in tax arrears.
Grab has VND20bn (USD880,000) in chartered capital but in the report, Grab announced that it had incurred VND938bn in losses due to too much promotion, discount programmes and subsidies to drivers.
Since entering Vietnam in 2014, Uber has earned a total VND2.7trn (USD118m) and paid VND77bn in taxes. However, the authorities still had to collect VND67bn in tax arrears.
“Uber misunderstood Document 1882 issued in 2016 about corporate income tax,” Khanh said.
Uber only paid the taxes after the document was issued, however, Khanh said the taxes for the past three years must be collected.
Many traditional taxi firms have complained about unfair treatment in relation to tax policies in their competition with app-based taxi services.
According to the General Department of Taxation, the operation and legal status of Uber and Grab Taxi are different from each other. Grab Taxi is considered a local business. Uber is a foreign firm that has not had any official branch in Vietnam so it has to pay outstanding tax.
Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Dean of Chemistry, at the HCMC University of Natural Sciences, has discovered that Vietnam’s propolis has very strong anti-cancer activity, especially for pancreatic cancer.
Biologically, propolis is a mixture of resins and secretions from the honey bee’s salivary gland, which is flexible and glutinous at high temperatures but hard and fragile at low temperatures.
Studies have found more than 149 compounds and 22 different types of minerals in propolis. These compounds have many biological activities: antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer.
Most of the products made of propolis take full advantage of its antibacterial characteristics. Bees use propolis to stabilize the structure of the nest, reduce vibration, mend tears and cracks of the nest. This strengthens the defense of the nest by blocking the entrance, prevents parasites and invasive bacteria, restricts the development of bacteria, fungi, and prevents any possibility of spreading harmful disease.
The best known propolis products available in the market are from South American countries, including Green Propolis which has very strong antibacterial activity, used to prevent flu.
Mai and her co-workers found that the propolis of Apis mellifera, which is raised in Vietnam, has flavonoid and polyphenol compounds much lower than the Brazilian honey bee, by 3-10 times.
Therefore, Vietnam’s propolis has weaker antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. However, Vietnam’s propolis has very strong anti-cancer activity, especially pancreatic cancer.
According to Mai, her team is joining forces with the research team led by Prof Suresh Awale from Toyama University in Japan to carry out new research used specifically for pancreas cancer cells. If the experiments and treatment mechanism can be clarified, this would be used as medicine for the treatment of pancreas cancer in the future.
Initial studies found that the propolis from the bees raised in the western part of the southern region contain much cycloartane triterpene which can poison pancreas cells.
To find out why Vietnam’s propolis contains a lot of triterpene, Mai and her team analysed the chemical elements of mango plants, which is the major source of food for honey bee farms. And they found that mango plants also contain much cycloartane triterpene and have a cytotoxic effect on pancreatic cancer cells.
With the discovery, scientists have shown that Vietnam’s propolis has a value different from Brazilian propolis and that it is necessary to carry out further research to develop medicine to support the treatment of pancreas cancer.
According to Mai, in order to obtain active ingredients such as flavonoids, polyphenols and triterpene from propolis, it is necessary to use heat extraction method or immersion in alcohol and apply certain steps to refine propolis.
Vietnamese photographer Nguyen Linh Vinh Quoc has won first prize at the 2017 International Photo Contest on Environment (EPOTY 2017).
Quoc’s photo titled ‘The hopeful eyes of the girl making a living by rubbish’ was taken in a garbage dump in the Central Highland province of Kon Tum.
The photo is a poignant image of a girl who is following her mother to collect waste to make her living. With a happy face, she looks up at the dark clouds and chats to her mother.
The girl’s eyes are filled with the hope for a better future, escaping this miserable life.
Nguyen Linh Vinh Quoc (from Pleiku, Gia Lai province) is a professional photographer. He has always visited the suburbs to capture the images of the daily life of people as well as localities with devastated forests.
The annual EPOTY contest was held by CIWEM agency (the UK), which is specialised in sustainable water and environmental management and development.
The contest is for both professional and amateur photographers around the world to express their concern about the environmental pollution in the planet. It is hoped that it will inspire people to pay more attention to environmental issues.
More than 2.26 million travelers visited Phu Quoc Island in the first nine months of 2017, an increase of 8.8 percent over the same period last year.
In some countries, expat investor programs are being applied, under which people are eligible to apply for permanent residence if they make investments there.
To obtain permanent residence cards, investors have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy properties or government bonds. The investors are generally wealthy people who can make great contributions to the development of local economies.
Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island is considering a similar plan. Under the draft document on the organization of special economic zones, the government is considering allowing foreigners to get long-term residence cards in Phu Quoc if they can satisfy requirements.
If a foreigner invests $5 million or more in Phu Quoc, lives there for five years and more and doesn’t violate the laws, he will have the opportunity to get a permanent residence card which will replace a visa.
To increase the attractiveness of Phu Quoc, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has proposed other investment incentives, such as extending the duration investors can use land and allowing foreigners to own houses for up to 99 years. They might also be allowed to use property as collateral for bank loans.
Vietnam is also planning to slash tariffs for large conglomerates and foreign specialists in an effort to the compete with the well-known ‘tax havens’ in the world.
Troy Griffiths, deputy CEO of Savills Vietnam, said that Phu Quoc has great potential in selling residence cards. Being an island, it is easy to put it under control when eliminating restrictions on residences to attract foreign investors’ cash flow.
However, he said that Vietnam may not follow the existing models applied in tax havens. Some countries offer attractive job opportunities and commitments to slash taxes, becoming rivals to the tax havens.
British Virgin Islands (BVI) has stable economic structure and high competitiveness. However, with more and more taxation agreements and global revenue recognition policies adopted, BVI’s advantages are declining.
Griffiths said that Phu Quoc would focus on industrial development and investment rather than selling residence cards or becoming a place for investors to register business. Therefore, the model Phu Quoc pursues will be different from BVI’s.
By June 2017, Phu Quoc had licensed 233 projects with total capital of $14.4 billion.
Marc Townsend, CEO of CBRE Cambodia, said foreign investors, retired men and wealthy people are interested in the stable political regime, healthcare system and good weather, capability to access international schools, flights connecting with the US, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore and modern entertainment amenities.
A Korean cultural festival will run for over three weeks from next month in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate more than two decades of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and South Korea.
Lasting 23 days, Gyeongju International Cultural Festival 2017 will feature performances by artists from 15 different countries.
The cultural festival marks 25 years of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and South Korea.
Running from November 11 to December 3, the fest will boast unique gigs at well-known venues such as Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street, 23/9 Park, Municipal Theater, Hoa Binh Theater and so forth.
At a ceremony to introduce the festival on October 25, Lee Yong Seok, director of international relations in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, South Korea, said that the main activities will be organized into four areas.
Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street and 23/9 Park will host opening and closing ceremonies, fashion shows, and artistic performances.
Apart from that, 23-9 Park will also be home to an exhibition on South Korea’s culture during the Silla period, the old capital Gyeongju, and another exhibit on distinctive Confucianism.
Tourists will have the chance to visit The way of light on both sides of the park as well as Vietnamese and Korean businesses’ stands.
Musicals, orchestra performances, art exhibitions and others will be held at other venues such as Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Arts, Ben Thanh Theater, Hoa Binh Theater and Conservatory of Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Doan Tuan Linh, an external affairs official in Ho Chi Minh City, around 800,000 people are expected to visit the festival, including those from Ho Chi Minh City, Koreans and foreign citizens living in the city.
Gyeongju International Cultural Festival is a biennial event held by Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.
The festival was first held in 1998 in South Korea. The first fest abroad was in 2006, and ever since the venue has alternated between a foreign country and South Korea.
Until now, the festival has been held eight times, including twice abroad.
Ho Chi Minh City will be the third venue abroad chosen for the festival thanks to the flourishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and South Korea.
A young contestant has been crowned Miss Ocean Vietnam 2017 to the disappointment of the audience, despite the chief of the organizing board claiming she met both knowledge and beauty requirements.
Le Au Ngan Anh, 22, burst into tears when knowing she had been chosen as the winner of the beauty pageant in the finale organized at Hoa Binh Theater in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday.
There was rumor that Anh had paid to win the title, given her physical appearance, but the chief of the organizing board Vo Viet Chung, who is a famed local designer, refuted it, saying she deserved it.
“This is a good result,” Chung claimed. “She met many requirements, from looks to knowledge.”
Regarding reports that Anh had undergone cosmetic surgery, which is a taboo, before attending the contest, Chung said he had nothing to explain as the winner had passed an anthropometric test.
The beauty from Tien Giang Province in southern Vietnam made light of public criticism, underlining her own victory.
“What matters is that I have overcome myself,” Anh said
The woman said she had done well in the Q&A round, a very important part of the pageant, answering a question of the jury, headed by the chief executive officer of Interactive Co. Ltd., Forbes Vietnam, Duong Thu Huong, about the importance of learning foreign languages.
Anh thought she had spoken English with a “pretty good” accent while the audience had to guess what she was talking about when she described a beach in Vietnam.
Many members of the audience took to Facebook, saying that either the first or second runner-up, Nguyen Thi Dieu Thuy or Dang Thanh Ngan, should have been crowned.
The beauty contest had been ongoing for two months before 30 contestants were selected for the finale on Saturday.
The winner was given VND500 million (US$22,020) together with a crown worth VND3.2 billion ($140,928), plus other benefits.
Anh will represent Vietnam at Miss Supranational 2018, whose host country has not been known.
Miss Ocean Vietnam 2017 Le Au Ngan Anh
Le Au Ngan Anh poses during the finale in Ho Chi Minh City on October 28, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Le Au Ngan Anh in the finale. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Le Au Ngan Anh walks onstage in the finale. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Le Au Ngan Anh (C), first runner-up Nguyen Thi Dieu Thuy (R), and second runner-up Dang Thanh Ngan. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The only payment methods allowed in the country are issued or controlled by the State Bank.
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin remain illegal in Vietnam, the State Bank affirmed in a statement released on Saturday.
“From January 1, 2018, the act of issuing, supplying or using illegal means of payment may be subject to prosecution in accordance with the provisions of Article 206 of the Penal Code 2015,” the statement said.
The only payment methods allowed in the country are issued or controlled by the State Bank.
People who attempt to use illegal means of payment will be subject to a fine ranging from $6,600-9,000.
Earlier this week, Vietnam’s top technology university FPT announced plans to allow students to pay for their tuition fees using Bitcoin.
Some service providers have already started accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Vietnam, but they are mostly used for trading and speculation on the free market.
The central bank has warned organizations and individuals in Vietnam not to invest in Bitcoins or conduct transactions in the currency, saying they would be taking a huge risk with no legal protection.
“Bitcoin transactions are anonymous and can be used for money laundering, drug trafficking, tax evasion and illegal payments,” the bank claimed.
Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group will speak with more than 3,000 students from 5pm to 6:30pm at the National Convention Centre, Hanoi on November 6.
The event is co-organized by FPT Group, HCM City Communist Youth Union Central Committee, and online newspaper VnExpress.
Alibaba’s billionaire founder will hold an exchange with over 3,000 students and inspire them with stories of his career and technologies.
The event aims to encourage a spirit of entrepreneurship in the young generation, offering opportunities for students to learn from the experiences of one of the world’s most inspiring billionaires.
Before visiting Vietnam, Jack Ma spoke to students of the Republic of Korea, and the US, during which he stressed the importance of technologies and foreign languages and told stories of his start-up process and difficult childhood.
Jack Ma is the founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba with a total value of US$460 billion, ranking among world’s fastest growing businesses. The group has funded major investments into research activities and technological developments as well as start-ups.
The HCM City Department of Planning and Investment has asked the city’s People’s Committee to approve a new flood-prevention project funded by Denmark.
The US$15 million project will be funded with a loan from the Danish government.
The money will be spent on improving hydrologic and rainfall forecasting and flood-control projects, and flood research and evaluation efforts, with the aim of improving the city’s natural disaster responses.
The project is expected to begin next year and run through 2022 if approved. It will be applied in HCM City and in the provinces of Đồng Nai and Long An.
The city in recent years has faced severe flooding due to rising tides, water discharge and torrential rains.
Sites with heavy flooding include Nhiêu Lộc –Thị Nghè, Kênh Đôi-Kênh Tẻ, Bến Nghé-Tàu Hũ, Tân Hòa-Lò Gốm and Tham Lương-Bến Cát, located in the districts of Bình Thạnh, Tân Phú, Tân Bình, Thủ Đức, 8 and 12.
Property damages from flooding are estimated to be around VNĐ5 trillion (US$234 million) each year.
On Nguyễn Sơn Street in Hà Nội’s Long Biên District, there is a small alley which is home to dozens of mini-shops standing close to each other.
In each store, there is a variety of goods, including cosmetics, food, beverages, clothes, tooth brushes, cigarettes, glasses, knives, chopsticks and cooking pans.
All of them are foreign branded and hand carried to Việt Nam on airlines. For this reason, Alley No 158 is infamously called the “paradise of hand carried goods (HCGs)” in Hà Nội.
The goods sold by residents are not low cost compared to Vietnamese products, however, they are cheaper than legally imported products.
Being sold at only slightly lower cost than market prices, hand-carried perfumes, cigarettes and wine are the favourite products because legally imported goods often bear high taxes and also, there are many fakes.
Nearly 20 years ago, mini shops started to appear on this street, also home to a lot of airline agencies. It has another nickname – “airline street”.
At that time, life for Hanoians was getting better. People often asked relatives working for airlines to carry foreign products back home to sell them for local consumption.
The products are purchased at duty-free stores at airports. Regulations allow each airline staff member to carry about 30kg of luggage and a small suitcase. If airline staff take full advantage of the regulation, each flight attendant or pilot is able to carry up to 40-50kg of goods per flight without bearing taxes. Airline staff can carry bigger amounts of goods if they ask for help from colleagues or corrupt custom officers.
The sellers can earn greater profits through promotions and sales campaigns. If they buy a large number of goods, they will enjoy a discount of 20-30 per cent, presents and free shipment. The profits are therefore multiplied many times.
Selling HCGs is also performed by officers or young mothers, some of whom earn a daily profit of up to VNĐ500 million (US$22,200) by selling goods worth VNĐ2 billion per day during Lunar New Year.
Tax free: A variety of hand-carried goods are sold on Nguyễn Sơn Street, Hà Nội. — Photo laodong.vn
A store owner named Vân (not her real name) told the Lao Động (Labourers) newspaper that the products were mostly from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hongkong, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States. Profits are divided based on product value. The higher value, the higher the profits.
“For example, an airline worker receives a profit of VNĐ200,000-300,000 (US$8-13) for a perfume bottle worth VNĐ2 million ($87). Profits are counted based on product weight if the product values are low,” she said.
However, in recent times, retail customers visiting the shops are on the decline due to the popularity of online shopping.
“Hand carried goods are now mainly sold in bulk for localities. A bill of products delivered to a province can be worth VNĐ1 billion ($43,500),” another store owner said.
Disguised as customers who want to buy a large quantity of goods, Lao Động reporters were introduced to one of the biggest shops on the street. The shop has more than 1,000 to 2,000 product codes and is famous for selling products with no big difference between retail and wholesale prices.
Staff at the store said the products were all hand carried from overseas. However, most of them, including cigarettes to wine, did not pay tax bills due to evasion.
“Our products are best sellers because they are all authentic,” a shopkeeper told reporters.
Another staff said “Some hand-carried goods have invoices, others do not, but the bills are not important. Customers who buy our products all have trust”
Other store owners also fail to show invoices, but all of them confirm the quality of the goods. Customers can order any kind of goods in any quantity. It takes at most one week, even only two or three days to send ordered goods to Việt Nam.
When asked if they are aware of penalties for tax evasion, a shop assistant said: “We must have a “relationship” (which means relationship with custom agencies)”
Being asked how such a large quantity of goods was hand carried on airlines, an old cashier said goods were also carried through other ways.
A shop worker in one of the biggest stores said the goods were carried in massive quantities in big containers by sea. Shipping fees were paid by shop owners based on the weight of their goods.
The goods are delivered to Hải Phòng port in northern Hải Phòng City and have their taxes reduced at most thanks to a “relationship” between shop owners and customs agencies.
According to store owners, they often declare low-cost and simple goods to avoid customs check. Products related to human health such as cosmetics, functional food, medicine skip the watch of authorised agencies. The products are then sold at low cost because they do not have to bear taxes and checking fees, bringing huge profits to local sellers.
However, not all products are authentic. A woman who has more than 10-years experience in selling hand-carried goods said that sellers mix authentic products of developed countries with Chinese low-quality goods to increase the quantity.
After receiving goods from other countries, shop owners will send them to China where factories mix the product content. One week later, the goods claimed to be authentic by many sellers are delivered back to Việt Nam for consumption, she said.
Hand carried goods are now available for online sales. Typing “HCGs” on Google search, reporters could find thousands of results from Việt Nam. The prices of these products sold on websites and Facebook pages also vary greatly.
Due to the love of foreign products, many customers are still lured by both online and tax-free stores.
Quách Thành Lực, director of Hà Nội Tinh Hoa Law Company, told the Lao Động newspaper that airline crew were able to carry tax-free goods once every 90 days.
“The regulation is not strictly implemented. If we want to control hand-carried goods, we must control from the root. We must answer the questions why overseas goods easily skip the supervision of authorities. The popularity of the goods, both authentic and fake, shows loopholes in the management.”
According to Hà Nội’s Market Surveillance, in the first nine months of this year, the unit inspected 19 cases of hand-carried goods, mostly cosmetics of unknown origin, imposed total fines of more than VNĐ61 million ($2,650) and confiscated goods worth nearly VNĐ145 million ($6,300).
The team said that illegal sales and transport of overseas products with unclear quality and without tags was complicated, adding that there were a lot of tricks. A small number of cosmetics are manufactured illegally in Việt Nam. Others are made abroad and then smuggled through different channels, mostly in small volumes, to Hà Nội and consumed in other provinces.
Nguyễn Thành Phong, head of Food Safety Department under the Ministry of Health, advised customers not to trust tax-free products because they “might carry potential risks”.
Việt Nam’s benchmark VN Index fell slightly on Thursday as large-cap stocks traded in the negative territory on strong investor selling.
The HCM Stock Exchange’s index inched down 0.07 per cent to close at 830.11 points, stepping back from a two-day increase of nearly 1.3 per cent.
More than 187.4 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4 trillion (US$178.3 million).
The trading figures represented an increase of 17 per cent in volume and a decline of 7.2 per cent in value compared to Wednesday.
The market breadth was negative with 185 declining stocks, 77 gaining and 51 stocks that closed flat.
Large-cap stocks underperformed as 19 of the 30 top companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 Index saw share prices drop.
Among the worst decliners were PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Kinh Bắc City Development Holding (KBC) and Thành Thành Công Tây Ninh Sugar Co (SBT).
However, the VN30 Index managed to rise 0.13 per cent to 822.53 points on the back of FLC Faros Construction (ROS) and food and beverage producers Masan (MSN), Sabeco (SAB) and Vinamilk (VNM).
Shares of banks and brokerage companies contributed to the decline of the benchmark index.
Six of the seven bank stocks on the HCM Stock Exchange declined, including Vietcombank (VCB), MBBank (MBB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID).
VCB lost 0.4 per cent and MBB declined by 0.9 per cent after having gained a total of 2.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent in the previous two sessions.
Among declining brokerage stocks were the largest firms such as Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), HCM City Securities (HCM) and Viet Capital Securities (VCI).
HCM fell 2 per cent following its two-session gain of total 4.1 per cent, while SSI and VCI lost steam after advancing on Wednesday.
According to Bảo Việt Securities Co’s analyst Trần Xuân Bách, the benchmark index offered little indication of how it would move in the upcoming sessions, though it was saved by investors’ pick-up purchases.
The market depended heavily on large-cap stocks, which underperformed on Thursday, indicating that investors were becoming more cautious with the market conditions, Bách said in a company note.
Such underperformance and divergence of large-cap stocks also increased pressure on mid-cap and small-cap ones, signaling possible further drops for the VN Index in the next sessions, he said.
On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX Index lost 1.01 per cent to end at 106.31 points. The northern market index had advanced total 1.1 per cent in the previous two sessions.
Nearly 57.2 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ650 billion
The authorities in HCM City have asked Grab and Uber to stop recruiting new cars while waiting for the Ministry of Transport review of the two-year implementation of Decision 24 on the pilot application of science and technology in passenger transportation.
The Department of Transport had proposed several solutions to manage app-based taxi services in HCM City previously including asking Uber and Grab to not add new cars to their system. The department wants to stabilise the traffic in the city while waiting for the Ministry of Transport to review two-year implementation.
The Department of Taxation was asked to work with related agencies to closely monitor Uber and Grab and similar app-based services. The authorities will publicise the management and tax collecting methods to avoid cases where traditional taxi firms complain that Uber and Grab are given preferential treatment.
According to the Department of Transport’s inspectorate, they have recorded 86 violations by Uber and Grab and issued VND276m (USD12,100) in fines since early October. Eight cases involving cars without required badges were fined VND2.8m, while 71 cases that didn’t have the phone number and name of the services on the cars were fined VND213m.
The number of cars using app-based service is on the rise in HCM City. In late 2015, there were 300 cars that used app-based services. This number increased to 15,000 in June 2016. The Department of Transport announced that they had recently issued permits to 24,000 cars.
Vietnam is expected to see intermittent rainfall over the next 10 days, which together with recent crop-friendly rains may affect harvesting in the second biggest coffee producer, while Indonesia’s market was quiet, traders said.
Vietnam’s main coffee belt, the Central Highlands, is likely to see a mix of rain and sunny weather in the next 10 days, the National Meteorological and Hydrological Center forecast.
Recent rainfall has prevented beans from turning ripe and ready for harvest, traders said.
“Beans need about two to three weeks of sunny days to be fully grown…It looks like new beans might not be available until the second half of November,” said a Ho Chi Minh City-based trader on Thursday.
The country’s coffee crop starts from October and ends in September.
In Vietnam, the 5 percent black and broken grade 2 robusta was quoted at a discount of $20-$50 to the London ICE January futures contract, but low stocks and weak demand from importers kept the market dull, traders said.
“Some farmers have started harvesting, but only a few, and they mostly use drying machines…It’s not so sunny yet,” said Phan Hung Anh, deputy director of Anh Minh Co in Daklak, Vietnam’s top coffee-growing province.
The harvest could peak by mid-November, he said.
Farmers in Daklak were offering coffee beans at 42,400-43,000 dong ($1.87-$1.89) per kg , traders said, steady from last week’s offer at 42,000-43,000 dong.
In Indonesia, the grade 4 defect 80 robusta beans was being traded at a $40 premium to the January contract in the main coffee growing province of Lampung, a trader said, the same as last week.
Vietnam’s new Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has promised to prioritize finding solutions to all problems related to BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects during his office.
The was elected as the country’s new transport minister on Thursday afternoon after receiving a 93.98 percent approval rate from members of the lawmaking National Assembly.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Wednesday afternoon recommended him for the position and requested approval from the National Assembly.
The has taken over from Truong Quang Nghia, who had become Secretary of the Party Committee in the central city of Da Nang.
Nghia replaced Nguyen Xuan Anh on October 6 after the latter was dismissed for wrongdoings committed by the standing board of the Da Nang Party Committee.
Anh blatantly broke the Party’s rules, breached regulations on what Party members are not allowed to do, and went against other standards set by the Party, inspectors said, adding that his violations were severe and negatively affected the Party’s credibility.
Before his appointment, Minister of Transport The was Secretary of the Party Committee in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang and previously a deputy transport minister for the 2013-15 tenure.
The was born on November 27, 1966 in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap. He has a doctoral degree in transport.
In 2005, The was appointed deputy director of the Dong Thap Department of Transport.
He became the vice-chairman of the provincial People’s Committee in 2012.
He was voted as Minister of Transport in 2013 before becoming Secretary of the Soc Trang Party Committee in 2015.
In 2016, The was elected as a member of Party Central Committee and the National Assembly for the 2016-21 term.
During an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday, The stated that his new position represents an honor and responsibility given to him by the Party, state, National Assembly, government, and people.
“I will exert my best effort to fulfill my responsibility,” he asserted.
The said he would first focus on resolving issues regarding BOT projects across the country.
BOT is a project-financing framework in which the developer receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct and operate a facility for a certain period, during which it has to raise the finances for, and is entitled to retain all revenues generated by, the project.
The facility is then transferred to the public administration at the end of the concession agreement.
BOT projects have caused quite a stir in Vietnam as drivers keep complaining that tollgates are misplaced and tolls unreasonably high, which might in turn cause commodity prices to rise.
The official will seek ways to expedite major traffic projects including the north-to-south expressway and Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai.
Priority will also be given to the construction of elevated railways in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as well as measures to alleviate congestion in the two cities.
The will propose possible plans to utilize the capital investment for the 2017-20 period.
