KTFA:  Vietnam

Henig:  VNĐ7.4 trillion earmarked for rail infrastructure development this year

09:00 | 22/02/2023

Six projects worth over VNĐ7.4 trillion (US$310.46 million) are expected to begin this year serving railway infrastructure upgrade.

Of the five of these, using State capital for the middle-term public investment plan for the 2021-25 period, three with a total valued at more than VNĐ 3.1 trillion involved the Hà Nội-Vinh, Vinh-Nha Trang, and Nha Trang-Sài Gòn sections of the North-South railway. The upgrade of these sections, which are about 1,725km long in total, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Meanwhile, two others is to repair the northern rail station with some VNĐ476 billion and to upgrade the Đuống rail bridge with nearly VNĐ1.85 trillion.

The last of the six is for the upgrade of the Khe Nét mountain pass with a value of over VNĐ2 trillion partly sourced from official development assistance by the Republic of Korea via its Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF).

Construction of the first railway in Việt Nam and Indochina with a length of 71km connecting Sài Gòn with Mỹ Tho was started in 1881. By 1936, the railway length increased nearly 37 times, with a total length of 2,600km across the three regions of the country.

Việt Nam’s railway, however, is lagging behind. Investment for it in many decades only accounted for about 3 per cent of the total investment from the Central budget for transport infrastructure projects.

Currently, Việt Nam’s railway network covers a total length of 3,162.9km, of which 2,703.2km are main lines, 459.7km of station’s inner lines and branch lines.

Yet its railway infrastructure is limited as the 1,000mm gauge lines still account for 84 per cent of the total railway length (2,656.2km). Việt Nam’s railway speed is only about 50-60km per hour for freight trains and 80-90km per hour for passenger trains.

Although railway freight has achieved some more positive results, the growth in rail freight transportation has seen a downward trend. The average annual growth rate of freight carried by the railway in the 1991-2000 period increased by 10.3 per cent. It was 2.3 per cent in 2001-2010 and 4.7 per cent in 2011-2019.

The volume of freight carried by railway in 1990 reached 2.3 million tonnes, then after 30 years, by 2020 was 5.1 million tonmes, while by road it was nearly 29 times more than in 1990, inland waterways were 20 times and airways 130 times.

Source: VNS   LINK

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Henig:  Last undersea Internet cable connecting Vietnam with the world breaks down

09:47 | 22/02/2023

The SMW3 cable, the last fully functional Internet cable of Vietnam, has encountered a problem on its S2.7 segment that connects with Singapore, an Internet service provider in the country said on February 21. ​

The SMW3 cable, the last fully functional Internet cable of Vietnam, has encountered a problem on its S2.7 segment that connects with Singapore, an Internet service provider in the country said on February 21.

This means all the five undersea cables connecting Vietnam with the world have been partly or wholly affected.

Earlier, AAG and APG suffered from serious failures and are now completely unable to carry the Internet traffic. Two others, IA and AAE-1, also recorded breakdowns and are only functional partly.

However, Vietnamese service suppliers said the failures on the five cables will not have great impact on the speed of Internet connection between the country and the world.

The SMW3 cable is outdated and going to be decommissioned, so it has not been used for fixed broadband Internet services, they explained, adding that the latest breakdown didn’t occur in the peak time, and they immediately carried out responding measures to reduce impact on the Internet speed.

Service suppliers are implementing the best measures to ensure users’ Internet access, they noted.

Source: VNA   LINK

Henig:  Nationwide production resumes after Tet holiday

13:00 | 21/02/2023

(VEN) - The Lunar New Year has gotten off to a good start with manufacturers resuming production in the expectations of improved performance and achievements.

New orders

After a week-long holiday over Tet, the Lunar New Year holiday marked in January, nearly all employees of the Vina T&T Group Joint Stock Company have returned to work with renewed energy.

Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of the Vina T&T Import-Export Trading Service Co., Ltd, said the company aims to grow by 30-40 percent this year compared to 2022. To that end, its Mekong Delta plants in Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces resumed near-normal operations on the second day of the Lunar New Year. “The orders in early 2023 are rich for both export and domestic market. Export orders to markets such as China and the US are quite regular, while our fruit products also sell well at home,” Tung said.

At the Dong Nai Rubber Corporation, workers in some farms returned to exploit rubber latex on the fourth day of the holiday. In 2022, the company’s output reached more than 29.2 thousand tonnes, 18 percent higher than the plan.

More than 90 percent of workers at the Dai Dung Group’s factory in Ho Chi Minh City have resumed production in order to fulfill export orders to the US, Europe and Japan for the first and second quarters. Given the positive outlook for these export markets, the company expects to exceed 20 percent growth in 2023. "We focus on the Japanese, the US, and European markets and have already secured contracts from these customers,” a company representative said.

Meanwhile, the Trung An High-Tech Agriculture JSC in Can Tho Province had to operate throughout the Tet holiday because the company committed to deliver more than 30,000 tonnes of rice to Malaysia, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea in the first quarter of 2023.

Major targets

In order to get the year off to a productive start, the Garment 10 Corporation (Garment 10) organized several entertainment programs for its officials and employees. Than Duc Viet, General Director of Garment 10, said the corporation will seek new customers and markets, especially the Chinese market given the country’s very large and potential domestic demand.

Many units of the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited (Vinacomin) also resumed production and business activities on the first working day after the holiday. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Vinacomin’s plant loaded the first 41,000 tonnes of coal onto the Viet Thuan Star ship for transport to domestic markets. By the end of January, Vinacomin had produced 2.6 million tonnes of raw coal and sold 3.8 million tonnes.

The Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Corporation has set a target of producing and selling over 780,000 tonnes of rolled steel, total revenue of VND15.826 trillion and employment and stable income for all its staff.

Nguyen Van Lam, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said 95 percent of workers at 1,361 enterprises returned to work on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year as planned.

Ha Duyen & Thu Huong   LINK

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Henig:  Turkey natural stone trade mission to Vietnam

15:55 | 21/02/2023

A B2B event to connect trade between Turkish and Vietnamese natural stone enterprises to create opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to approach international quality supplies.

Turkey is a country with abundant, rich and high-quality mineral reserves. This helps Turkey become one of the world's leading producers of building materials. According to 2022 static, Turkey's mineral exports reached $6.5 billion, up 6.5%, providing 80 out of 90 types of minerals in the world, including natural stones.

Natural stone exports account for the majority of Turkey's exports. Thanks to its generous nature, Turkey is known as the country with the richest natural stone resources, especially in marble, granite, limestone, onyx, travertine… Turkey has diverse natural stone designs, spread evenly in all segments from economy to luxury class. As a result, Turkey natural stone is exported to more than 200 countries, including major markets such as China, the United States, India, Middle East, European…

The typical characteristics of Turkish natural stone include: in terms of quality, there are absence of any cracks or defects; various colors, many options; capable of providing large block sizes; consistency in quality; beautiful pattern; naturally resistant to air pollution, abrasion and dirt.

In order to create opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to access international quality supplies, and at the same time create an environment for trade connection between Vietnamese businesses and leading Turkish suppliers, Istanbul Mineral Exporters Association (IMIB) and Minh Vi Exhibition and Advertisement Services Co., Ltd. (VEAS) jointly organized this Trade mission to connect businesses in the natural stone industry. The event will take place on 23rd, February 2023 at Sheraton Saigon Hotel, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

At this trade mission, 13 leading natural stone exporters from Turkey will come to Vietnam to meet with importers, distributors and retailers. In addition, participants will learn about export policies into Vietnam market.

Mai Ca   LINK