Some "Vietnam News" Posted by Henig at KTFA Sunday 2-19-2023
KTFA: Vietnam
Henig: Shan Tuyet, tea as nature intended
06:00 | 19/02/2023
The Shan Tuyet tea trees on top of the mountains in Phin Ho region of Ha Giang Province have been silently witnessing the passage of time for centuries and starring as central characters in folk tales.
Shan Tuyet tea is very precious to the Red Dao people in Phin Ho. Trieu Mui Nghinh, a veteran resident of Thong Nguyen Commune in Hoang Su Phi District, has spent her whole life making the tea specialty, which has a slight bitter taste of tea leaves at first, but leaves a sweet after-taste.
Ly Mui Muong, Deputy Director of the Phin Ho Tea Cooperative, said Nghinh’s image was chosen to represent Phin Ho green and red tea, which has been recognized as national five-star One Commune One Product (OCOP) products.
Shan Tuyet tea grows completely naturally, without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Currently, 10 percent of more than 4,000 hectares of Hoang Su Phi's tea area are certified organic. Some 140 hectares of Phin Ho’s Shan Tuyet tea are certified by the European Union (EU), reflecting the producers’ vision and efforts in the tea brand’s development. After being harvested, the leaves are dried and often hung above fire stoves for preservation.
Phin Ho Tea Cooperative is the first large-scale tea processing unit in Hoang Su Phi District. Its products are sold via a system of distribution agents in big cities like Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and exported to a number of markets including China, Russia and some EU countries.
“Over the years, we have been strictly following three principles: Clean raw materials, meticulous processing at each stage and well-packed products with transparent information to create trust among consumers,” said Muong.
The efforts by Muong and her cooperative are gradually improving the lives of local residents, selling its products at advantageous prices in order to obtain the best possible incomes for farmers.
Probably a relic of past cultivation, wild tea trees continue to grow naturally in several of the northernmost provinces of Vietnam. Free from any human intervention other than harvesting, the broad leaves and deep roots give the teas an added depth rarely found in farm-grown equivalents. Although some trees may be as old as 800 years the typical age is believed to be between 80 and 200 years.
Viet Nga & Hoang Lan LINK
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Henig: Bình Định, a “hidden gem” for tourists
07:00 | 19/02/2023
With wild landscapes, clear and turquoise water at beaches and abundant cultural sites, the central province of Bình Định has become a rising star on central Việt Nam’s tourism map, said the vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.
Speaking at a conference to promote Bình Định tourism organised recently in Ho Chi Minh City, Lâm Hải Giang said the event aims to promote tourism in Bình Định to attract more local and international tourists.
Tourism is one of the five pillars of the province’s socioeconomic growth in the 2021-2025 period, he said.
The province aims to make tourism a spearhead economic sector with a goal of 8 million visitors by 2025, with tourism revenue contributing 20 per cent to the province’s GRDP.
Bình Định and HCM City have in recent years cooperated in tourism development with the former participating in a number of tourism events organised by HCM City, including the HCM City Tourism Festival, HCM City International Travel Expo, and the Southern Food Festival.
The conference was organised by the Bình Định Department of Tourism and HCM City Department of Tourism to strengthen cooperation in investment, especially in tourism development, between the two localities, according to Giang.
Last year, Bình Định received more than 4 million visitors and revenue of more than VNĐ13.1 trillion (nearly US$556 million).
“Maldives of Vietnam”
The Sydney Morning Herald called Quy Nhơn the “Maldives of Vietnam” with long, sandy beaches and crystal-clear water.
The town is considered one of the three tourism hotspots in the central region along with Đà Nẵng and Nha Trang.
It is blessed with a 42-kilometre coastline, diverse topography comprising mountains, forests, salt marshes, plains, lagoons, lakes, rivers, peninsulas and islands.
Travel magazine Lonely Planet also put Quy Nhơn on the list of top must-try experiences and must-visit places in Việt Nam.
Eo Gió (Windy Pass) and Kỳ Co beach are the most famous attractions in Quy Nhơn.
Eo Gió in Nhơn Lý Commune, 20km from the town, is situated between two tall rocky cliffs that drop straight into the clear waters of the sea below, giving it a beautiful crescent shape.
Kỳ Co beach is situated on Nhơn Lý Island, 25km away and a 20-minute boat ride from Quy Nhơn. On one side of Kỳ Co beach is the calm turquoise sea, and the other is magnificent rocky mountains.
The best time to visit Quy Nhơn is from January to August, when the weather is warm most of the time.
The fastest way to get there from Hà Nội and HCM City is by flight (only a one hour flight from Hà Nội and a one hour flight from HCM City).
Source: vietnamnews.vn LINK
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Henig: Bank lending rate hikes hurt businesses in HCM City
February, 19/2023 - 10:22
Lending interest rates have surpassed the 10 per cent mark, piling pressure on many businesses in dire need of funding, a conference has heard.
HCM CITY — Lending interest rates have surpassed the 10 per cent mark, piling pressure on many businesses in dire need of funding, a conference has heard.
Most rates were now above 10 per cent, Nguyễn Ngọc Hòa, president of the HCM City Union of Business Associations, told the conference held on February 17 to discuss solutions to promote the city's economic growth.
“High borrowing costs are a big challenge for businesses.”
Many find it very difficult to get loans, with banks claiming they have run out of credit quotas and demanding collateral that businesses often lack, according to Hòa.
The 2 per cent interest rate subsidy the Government is offering for enterprises, co-operatives and business households is not easy to get due to tortuous paperwork and inspections.
To meet the demand for funding and support financially constrained businesses, it is vital to cut interest rates and enlarge credit quotas.
"The Government needs to keep value-added tax rate at 8 per cent for all sectors until the end of this year," he recommended.
Lý Kim Chi, president of the HCM City Food and Foodstuff Association, said businesses in the food processing industry had seen steady growth and operated at peak capacity since the beginning of this year.
Some companies had export orders that could take several months to fulfil.
Amid the current two-digit interest rates, rising costs of raw materials, water and electricity, companies had been struggling to stabilise production and had little hope of making profits.
“Businesses need support in terms of interest rates to overcome challenges and expand their business, she added.
Đỗ Phước Tống, president of the HCM City Mechanical - Electrical Enterprises Association, said there were policies to extend credit to the industry at low interest rates, but it was extremely difficult and took much time to actually get a loan.
Some business owners had to sell their houses to repay loans and avoid defaults, he added.
Increasing signs of economic slowdown
A survey of enterprises by the city Union of Business Associations found that business activities had slowed down since the fourth quarter of last year.
Only a fifth of respondents reported an increase in revenues in the fourth quarter compared to a fourth the previous quarter.
The number of businesses paying average monthly salaries of more than VNĐ10 million (US$420) fell to 65 per cent from 80 per cent in the second quarter of 2022.
Some required their employees to work in shifts or go on furlough due to lack of orders.
In two of the main export markets for Việt Nam’s textiles and garments, the EU and the US, demand declined by 60 per cent and 30-40 per cent, according to the HCM City Association of Garment, Textile, Embroidery and Knitting.
Businesses’ inventories have risen by 20-25 per cent amid limited or no orders since the fourth quarter of last year.
Nguyễn Văn Nên, Secretary of the city Party Committee, said administrative reform, digital transformation and investment promotion would be speeded up to boost the economy.
The city planned to restore its investment stimulus programme to help businesses access funding for production and expansion amid the economic uncertainty.
He called on the business community to strive to overcome challenges and inform the city People’s Committee if there are inappropriate policies that hinder economic growth.
—VNS LINK
Henig: Many foreign funds enjoy profits in January
February, 18/2023 - 13:14
After recording a difficult year with heavy losses in 2022, earlier this year a series of investment funds reported strong growth in profits.
HÀ NỘI — After recording a difficult year with heavy losses in 2022, earlier this year a series of investment funds reported strong growth in profits.
In the recently published January performance report, Pyn Elite Fund announced that the fund's investment performance reached 10.33 per cent. This is the highest level this foreign fund has ever achieved in January since pouring capital into Việt Nam 10 years ago.
As of January 31, 2022, the net asset value per certificate of PYN Elite reached more than 436 Euros. Assets under management (AUM) amounted to more than 759 million euros, equivalent to VNĐ19.24 trillion, an increase of 77 million euros, equivalent to an increase of VNĐ1.9 trillion compared to the end of 2022.
The top 10 largest investments in the portfolio, which account for 86.9 per cent, included 5 banking stocks and VNFinLead ETF fund certificates simulating financial groups of banking, securities, and insurance. VNFinLead ETF has had the third consecutive month in the top 10 largest investments of PYN Elite Fund.
Lumen Vietnam Fund also recorded a growth performance of 14.11 per cent in January. The above performance was achieved thanks to the fund's focus on allocating industrial, real estate and financial stocks. January 2023 was the highest-performing January since the fund started operating in Việt Nam in 2013.
Vietnam Enterprise Investment Limited (VEIL), a fund under Dragon Capital, also recorded a positive performance of 10.9 per cent in January.
According to VEIL, the performance improved thanks to a more positive domestic and global macro outlook. Domestically, the easing of monetary policy, allowing liquidity to return to the market, coupled with an impressive 8 per cent economic recovery in 2022, the highest growth rate in ten years.
The top 10 stocks of VEIL currently include Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Vpbank (VPB), Mobile World Group (MWG), Hoà Phát Group (HPG), Vietcombank (VCB), FPT Corporation (FPT), Becamex IDC Corp (IDC), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), Vinhomes (VHM) and Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ).
Two other foreign funds including Vietnam Holding Limited and Vaneck Vectors Vietnam ETF also recorded positive performance in January 2023. Accordingly, Vietnam Holding Limited grew by 7.72 per cent and Vaneck Vectors Vietnam ETF recorded a yield of 9.09 per cent.
VNS LINK
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Henig: VN-Index to struggle at 1,060 points due to weak demand force
07:00 | 19/02/2023
The selling pressure was quite clear in the last trading session of the week as the market’s breadth inclined to the downside.
The market traded in different directions on the last trading of the week, with rising selling pressure weighing on investors' sentiment.
The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) ended slightly higher on Friday at 1,059.31 points, up 1.02 points, or 0.1 per cent.
However, on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index declined 0.89 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 209.95 points.
The selling pressure was quite clear in the last trading session of the week as the market’s breadth inclined to the downside.
Especially, 175 stocks on the HoSE decreased and 146 ticker symbols inched higher, while on the northern bourse, 88 stocks hit lower and 66 stocks finished up.
Liquidity of the two main exchanges remained at low levels and decreased slightly by 3 per cent compared to the previous session to a total of over VNĐ7.8 trillion (US$327.5 million). Of which, the matching value on HoSE was similar to the February 16 session of nearly VNĐ7 trillion.
The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks on the southern exchange, dropped 1.54 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 1,053.72 points.
In the VN30 basket, 18 stocks went down, while nine settled higher, and three ended flat.
Leading the market’s bearish trend were manufacturing stocks, with the biggest loser being Masan Group (MSN), down 1.72 per cent.
It was followed by Hoà Phát Group (HPG) and Sabeco (SAB), down 1.41 per cent and 1.37 per cent, respectively.
Others stocks influencing the down risk were PV Gas (GAS), VPBank (VPB), Vinamilk (VNM), MBBank (MBB) and Petrolimex (PLX).
The market’s benchmark VN-Index pared losses and inched higher on gains in some large-cap stocks. Particularly, BIDV (BID) saw the greatest gain in market capitalisation of 1.78 per cent.
Meanwhile, foreign investors continued to be net sellers on the market. Of which, they net sold VNĐ12.28 billion on HoSE, while net bought a value of VNĐ9.56 billion on HNX.
Analysts from Saigon-Hanoi Stock Exchange (SHS) said that in a medium-long-term perspective, even if the benchmark VN-Index breaks below 1,050 to return to the medium-term downtrend, there are still two important support levels of 1,000 and 950 points. “Therefore, we still expect the VN-Index to form a medium-long term bottom of 950 points,” said SHS.
In the short term, SHS expected that it is highly likely that the market is moving in the recovery wave and is quite positive, especially after the past three consecutive recovery sessions, while for the medium term, the benchmark will enter the balance and accumulation zone after the recovery period.
Source: VNS LINK