At Orion factory (Photo: VNA)- The sales revenue of the Republic of Korea’s Orion confectionary maker in Vietnam has surpassed 200 billion KRW (150 million USD) for the first time, further solidifying its highly positive growth trend in the Vietnamese market According to the data announced by the company on August 11, its total revenue hit 224.1 billion KRW in the first half, up 14.5% annually.If this growth trend continues, this year’s figure is projected to exceed 500 billion KRW for the first time, amounting to around 540 billion KRW. The 2022 revenue was 473 billion KRW.With a population of nearly 100 million people, Vietnam is emerging as a potential market that can serve as an alternative to China, with its estimated dairy market size of around 7 trillion KRW. For Orion, Vietnam plays a pivotal role as a bridge to tap into the Southeast Asian market and expand its reach in the region./.

The Government assigned the health ministry to guide localities in purchasing vaccines, ensuring thrift, efficiency, and safety. Launched in 1981, the national expanded programme on immunisation is providing vaccines to 12 preventable diseases, including tuberculosis, measles, and rubella. According to the World Health Organisation, the programme has saved 42,000 lives and prevented more than 6.7 million childhood diseases in Vietnam. The health ministry said new kinds of vaccines will be included in the programme in the coming time. Meanwhile, vaccines against pneumococcal disease, cervical cancer, and seasonal flu, will be supplied from 2025, 2026 and 2030, respectively./.

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) will have more wholesale policies to create a more transparent legal corridor, making it easier for virtual mobile carriers to negotiate when buying traffic. Nguyễn Phong Nhã, deputy director of the Việt Nam Telecommunications Authority (VNTA), said that mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) was no longer a new concept. These are businesses that do not own telecommunications infrastructure but still provide mobile services by renting infrastructure from carriers. Up to now, MIC has licensed five businesses to provide virtual mobile network services in Việt Nam, including Indochina Telecom, Mobicast, ASIM, Digilife and VNSky. Virtual carriers only need to sign contracts to buy SIMs from other mobile carriers to be able to provide services.

HÀ NỘI — The insurance sector is attracting the attention of investors when it comes to investment portfolios because businesses in this group have recorded positive results in recent years. Bảo Việt Insurance Group recorded positive growth with total consolidated revenue of VNĐ28.35 trillion, up 6.3 per cent over the same period in 2022. But thanks to the insurance premiums accumulated in the past, plus the investment profits over time, the total investment value returned to the economy of the insurance businesses achieved positive results. Currently, insurance companies in Việt Nam own a business model based on two main sources of profit, net profit from insurance business and financial profit from investments. A survey by the Việt Nam Assessment Report Company shows that insurance technology (Insurtech) is developing strongly and applied in all stages of the current insurance industry value chain.

250 firms from 22 countries and territories showcase products, services, and latest technologies in the fields of transport and forwarding, services and warehouse systems, packaging and cold chains, and logistics IT. As part of the event, a series of thematic workshops and conferences focusing on urgent issues and the latest trends, ranging from IoT smart technology and export-import competitiveness to cross-border e-commerce, are also taking place. The 3-day expo is attracting the participation of logistics service, equipment, and solution providers, facilitating enterprises’ bids to access international solutions and markets./.

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam Trade and Investment Arbitration Center (VTIAC) coordinated with Việt Nam’s reputable law firms and offices to implement the programme "Support to Review Legal Risks of Contracts” on August 1. The programme, which is completely free for registering from August 1 to October 31, 2023, is open to credit institutions, including banks, financial companies, finance leasing companies and people's credit funds, and businesses of all types and sizes. Under the programme, VTIAC will assist credit institutions and businesses to review and assess legal risks in contract templates, drafts and signed contracts, consulting them to overcome legal risks and simultaneously proposing amendments to the dispute settlement provisions to prevent and limit legal risks. VTIAC is committed to ensuring absolute confidentiality of the provided information and delivering practical results to the business community with thoughtfulness. Please visit VTIAC's official website https://vtiac.vn for details.

Vietnam News in Brief: Weekly Roundup August 11Vietnam Briefing keeps track of what’s happening in Vietnam’s business and economic news so that you don’t have to. The US has actively been pursuing a closer relationship with Vietnam as it seeks to counter China’s influence in Asia. Australian cotton week is underway in VietnamA delegation of cotton industry professionals from Australia is currently in Vietnam to showcase Australian cotton at a series of events in Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, and Hanoi. Vietnam became the biggest market for Australian cotton last year when it imported over US$1.17 billion worth. The cotton industry delegation will be looking to build on that success with this round of events.

Illustrative image (Photo: baochinhphu.vn)Hanoi (VNA) - The United Nations in Vietnam marked the International Youth Day (August 12) with a ceremony in Hanoi on August 11, with over 50 young people taking part. In line with the theme of this year’s International Youth Day - Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World, young delegates and stakeholders engaged in meaningful dialogues about education and the use of green skills in two round-table discussions and various interactive activities conducted both in-person and online. United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pauline Tamesis said by 2030, 60% of young people could lack the necessary skills for development in the green economy. She underlined the need to fill the gap and ensure that everyone has equal access to green skills. According to her, seizing new opportunities to foster green employment and future skills is not just an investment in the potential of youths, but also a commitment towards a sustainable world./.

Accordingly, Mitr Phol Sugar, Thailand’s and Asia’s biggest sugar and bio-energy producer, and four associated companies, would be subject to an anti-dumping tax of 32.75 per cent. An anti-dumping tax of 25.73 per cent and an anti-subsidy tax of 4.65 per cent would be applied to Thai Roong Ruang Industry and its five affiliates, the ministry’s announcement said. The ministry said that the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy taxes were additional import taxes, applied to imported sugar products originating from Thailand, including imports under tariff quotas. Việt Nam, in June 2021, decided to officially impose an anti-dumping tax of 42.99 per cent and an anti-subsidy tax of 4.65 per cent on sugar products originating from Thailand in a period of five years starting from June 16, 2021. According to the Việt Nam Sugarcane and Sugar Association, sugar imported from Thailand to Việt Nam caused 3,300 people to lose their jobs and 93,225 farming households to be affected due to difficulties of the domestic sugar industry.

HÀ NỘI — Thai conglomerate SCG witnessed a business recovery in the second quarter of this year due to swift adjustments to operational plans amid a slowing ASEAN and Chinese economy, the company announced on Wednesday. In Q2 alone, SCG reported revenue from sales of US$3.7 billion and its profit excluding extra items of $154 million, up 14 per cent quarter-on-quarter, largely due to dividend income from the investment business. Despite this, the company's profit for the period increased by 31 per cent year-on-year to $726 million, primarily due to the one-time gain from fair value adjustment of investment. Profit excluding extra items hit $289 million), down 49 per cent year-on-year. Of these, the total assets of SCG in ASEAN (ex-Thailand) were US$ 11.9 billion, or 45 per cent of SCG’s total consolidated assets.

Vietnam's economy is predicted to grow strong in the next two years. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The World Bank forecasts that Vietnam’s economy will grow 4.7% in 2023, and accelerate to 5.5% in 2024 and 6.0% in 2025. The bank made the prediction in its latest economic update entitled “Making Public Investment Work for Growth” released on August 10. The report said Vietnam’s economic growth slowed from 8% in 2022 to 3.7% in the first half of 2023, noting that a challenging external environment and weaker domestic demand is leading to a slowdown in economic growth in Vietnam. The report’s special chapter studies Vietnam’s public investment management and how it can contribute to the goal of climbing the income ladder.

A comprehensive and unified database system on climate change, resources and environment has been initially established. The resolution set out the Party’s major policies in responding to climate change, resource management and environmental protection in Việt Nam. The capacity of natural disaster prevention, combat and climate change response has increased. The conference pointed out that the damage caused by natural disasters is still huge, and the evolution and impacts of climate change are increasing. The paintings feature a wide range of topics such as the landscapes and people of Vietnam and Indonesia, climate change, environmental protection, and aspirations for peace.

Input prices for cement production continued to increase, also putting a burden on enterprises. Since the beginning of this year, cement production and consumption have faced many difficulties. Given the slow domestic consumption, many cement enterprises have chosen to export as a temporary solution to deal with excessive cement sources. Occupying about 36 per cent market share, Việt Nam Cement Corporation (VICEM) has also suffered. Facing the situation of slow domestic consumption, many cement enterprises have chosen to export as a temporary solution to deal with excessive cement sources.

24-NQ/TW on proactively responding to climate change, strengthening natural resource management and environmental protection was issued by the Party Central Committee in 2013. The resolution set out the Party’s major policies in responding to climate change, resource management and environmental protection in Việt Nam. The capacity of natural disaster prevention, combat and climate change response has increased. Việt Nam has also integrated climate change response and environmental protection objectives into development plans and established an integrated and unified database system on climate change, natural resources and the environment. Experts also recommended mission updates in the resolution and key solutions of climate change response in the context of emerging environmental issues.

The statement from the US Department of Agriculture’s body outlined that the department has conducted an internal assessment to comprehensively evaluate the Vietnamese husked coconut. This assessment has been aligned with the subsequent stages of the market entry process. The outcome of this evaluation affirms that the Vietnamese husked coconut satisfies the processing criteria established by the US and presents a negligible risk of spreading plant pests. This streamlined approach significantly speeds up the authorisation process for importing coconuts from Việt Nam into the United States. According to APHIS, Vietnamese producers are eligible to commence the export of husked coconuts to the US immediately.