Domino effect hits VN economy

VietNamNet Bridge – The country dodged the direct impacts from the global financial crisis, but it is now beginning to be hit by the domino effects of the world recession.
Producers and exporters are reporting that prices for many export products including rubber, coffee, pepper, rice and seafood are all seeing downward trends.
The price of rubber sap has dropped from VND58 million (US$3,400) per tonnes to between VND30 - 27 million. The Viet Nam Rubber Association claims producers must spend roughly VND28-30 million to churn out a tonne of rubber sap, while the product’s sale price is currently only VND27 million.
It is also proving difficult for producers to find customers at the price of VND27 million. This is different from previous years when rubber often saw high prices and demand in October, say industry insiders.
With the cost of production being higher than sale prices, rubber producers are stockpiling their product. Rubber producers of Dong Nai, Phu Rieng and Dau Tieng provinces, for example, say they have roughly 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes of rubber sap in stockpile.
General secretary of the Viet Nam Rubber Association Tran Thi Thuy Hoa, attributes the sharp decrease in rubber prices to the global financial crisis.
However, general director of the Viet Nam Rubber Industries Group Le Quang Thung, expresses optimism about the industry’s outlook.
The higher prices earlier this year can help rubber farmers and producers to compensate for the current low prices, says Thung.
The domestic coffee industry is also experiencing a similar trend.
Coffee export prices fell from US$2,000 per tonne last month to only $1,669 in the London Exchange due to the impacts of the global crisis, says Doan Trieu Nhan from the Viet Nam Coffee and Cocoa Association.
In the domestic market, the price for coffee currently hovers around VND26 million ($1,570) per tonne, while last month it was over VND35 million ($2,110).
Industry insiders are concerned that coffee prices will continue sliding with the beginning of the harvesting season at the end of October, which is expected to yield about 1.3 million tonnes of product.
Prices of pepper sharply decreased by roughly 25 per cent, according to the Viet Nam Pepper Association.
A kilo of black pepper in Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces, one of the country’s leading pepper cultivation areas, has dropped from VND60,000 ($3.5) to roughly VND38,000 - VND39,000.
Domestic rice farmers and exporters also have a significant volume in stockpiles, due to difficulties in finding export markets. The price for a kilo of 5 per cent broken rice in the domestic market was reduced from VND10,000-9,000 per kilo to VND7,000.
Seafood industry insiders are concerned that it may be too difficult to meet the annual export target of $4.2 billion due to low demand for their products in the global market, especially the US.
World demand is significantly reduced; several importers have even cancelled contracts that were signed with Vietnamese seafood exporters, says vice chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers Le Van Quang.
Viet Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade projected the country would earn $15.7 billion from exports in the fourth quarter of this year. This would mean that the country would earn about $5 billion for each remaining month of the year, much lower than the monthly average figure of $6 billion in the third quarter.

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Vietnam’s tourism potentials to be shown in UK

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s tourism potentials and landscapes will be introduced to the World Travel Market (WTM) fair scheduled for London, the United Kingdom, from Nov. 10-13.

Visitors will have the opportunity to explore various tourism forms available in Vietnam such as ecotourism, countryside tourism, sea tourism, adventure tourism and cultural tourism as well as its special culinary, said the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) on Oct. 21.

Information updates on a series of major tourism events to be hosted by the country in 2009, including the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF 09), the Year of Central Highlands Tourism, the Da Lat Flower Festival and activities in the lead up to the 1,000th anniversary of Hanoi-Thang Long will be available at the annual fair.

Worthy of note is the ATF 09 that will be held in Vietnam for the first time, expecting to draw 1,500 foreign delegates, including those from 400 travel firms in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The future event is seen as a valuable chance for the country to introduce its land, people and culture to international holidaymakers and partners.

According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam welcomed 315,000 foreign tourists in September, bringing the total number in the first nine months of the year to 3.3 million, up 5.8 percent over the same period of 2007. China topped the list of foreign tourists to Vietnam, followed by the Republic of Korea.-Enditem

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PM calls on Hainan businesses to come to Vietnam

Hainan (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told Chinese businesspeople, including Hainan ones, that it is now a good time to do business in Vietnam.

Attending the Vietnam-China Business Forum held in Hainan province on Oct. 21 during his China visit, PM Dung said, “The purpose of this visit by the Vietnamese government delegation is to work with Chinese leaders on measures to concretise the two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership with the priority given to trade and investment cooperation.”

The PM stressed that the close proximity to each other is a favourable condition for Vietnam and China to boost their comprehensive cooperation in general and Vietnam’s ties with Hainan province in particular.

He urged Hainan to increase cooperation in tourism, shipping, and the processing of farm, forestry products and seafood with Vietnamese localities towards a trade value of 1 billion USD by 2010.

Hainan Governor Luo Baoming, said the sisterhood ties between Hainan and Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province has laid a firm foundation for bilateral cooperation and the province’s two-way trade with Vietnam reached 260 million USD in 2007.

The Governor proposed the establishment of a dialogue mechanism on economic and trade cooperation between Vietnamese and Hainan relevant agencies.

He also stressed on the acceleration of maritime transport cooperation, the opening of direct flight route from Hainan to Vietnam and the promotion of services links with a focus on tourism.

At the forum, Prime Minister Dung witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements between the Hainan authorities and the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade before leaving the locality for Beijing to continue his four-day official visit to China.-Enditem