Local press highlight 5th February 2009
1 - Tea industry eyes larger export volume this year
Tea trees are broadly known as a key crop for poverty reduction, even enriching residents in remote and mountainous areas. In addition, they serve to cover uncultivated lands and bare hills, protecting environment.
Vietnamese tea products are available in over 110 countries and territories; especially, the brand name of “CheViet” (Vietnamese tea) has been registered in 70 national and regional markets.
To realize the set target, the sector is sparing no effort to carry out a sustainable strategy to modernize its processing industry, improve productivity and quality, and provide tea products of high quality and acceptable price. Moreover, the sector will renew processing lines and technologies to ensure quality and food hygiene as well as figure out tastes of customers. In the near future, made-in-Vietnam tea products can be introduced to more international markets, such as German,
(www.Chinhphu.vn)
2 - Rice exporters look to better year
Rice farmers can expect a lucrative 2009 after trade officials forecast the world’s rice demand would increase one percent from last year to roughly 426 million tonnes.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, global demand for rice will be higher than usual this year as people in developing countries substitute rice for more expensive foods such as meat, fruit and vegetables.
The Vietnam Food Association (Vietfood) also predicted that rice exports would grow–but only during the second half of this year.
Vietfood Chairman Truong Thanh Phong believes the country can easily meet this year’s export target of 5 million tonnes, which was set by the Government earlier last month. His company will pay more attention to farmers’ interests this year instead of focusing exclusively on export volumes. He expects farmers to enjoy a 30 percent profit increase this year. He predicts that a kilogram of unhusked rice this winter-spring will go for roughly 3,500-4,000 VND (0.20-0.22 USD). But he remains concerned that the country’s lack of warehouses can stymie Vietfood’s plans. Due to the shortage of storage space, exporters may not be able to buy up large volumes of rice to protect themselves from fluctuating market prices.
As it is, the country’s warehouses have the combined capacity to store roughly 2 million tonnes of rice. This needs to be expanded but cumbersome administrative procedures and land clearance issues make this difficult.
The Vietnamese Government has required relevant bodies to increase the number of warehouses so that roughly 4 million tonnes of rice can be kept in storage. And it is reported that the Government would grant preferential lending policies for warehouse building.
Last year, the country exported 4.65 million tonnes of rice (each tonne costed roughly 550 USD , earning 2.9 billion USD- twice as much as the year before.
(website
3 – Ba Ria – Vung Tau attracted foreign investment
The southern
Of the total projects, seven are financed by foreign investors. The largest foreign invested project is a tourist complex, the Saigon Atlantis Hotel, backed by US-based Winest Investment Company Ltd with registered investment totaling US $4.1 billion. The hotel will be located in
The biggest of the seven domestic projects is being undertaken by Tuan Hung Company Ltd, which is providing more than VND3.6 trillion (US$212.2 million) to develop a residential quarter in Ba Ria –Vung Tau. An Investment project in
The combined cost of the domestically-funded schemes is just under VND8.3 trillion (US$488.2 million).
At a licensing ceremony the same day, provincial People’s Committee Chairman Tran Minh Sanh pledged to resolve as many of the difficulties and obstacles standing in the way of investors as possible.
During 2008’s Lunar New Year festival, Ba Ria – Vung Tau authorities had granted investment licences to eight projects, capitalized at US$1.7 billion. As a result, almost US$12 billion in FDI and over VND26 trillion (US$1.53 billion) from domestic investment sources were pumped into the oil-rich southern province over the course of last year.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the province was a leader nationally for bringing in investment projects. The ability of the province to lure investment despite difficult economic times showed that investors still had confidence on long-term development potential in the country.
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