Vietnamese seafood exports expected to reach $8.8B in 2021
THE Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has forecast that seafood exports will hit $8.8 billion this year, a year-on-year increase of five per cent.
The association said the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted global trade in seafood, changing consumption trends for aquatic products.
However, the main importers of Vietnamese seafood such as the EU, China, South Korea, and Japan only slightly decreased their imports from Vietnam by three-to-six per cent, while the largest market, the US, still increased significantly at 10 per cent.
Other markets like Russia, the UK, Australia and Canada even hiked by 10-32 per cent.
Vietnamese seafood exports fell sharply by 10 per cent and seven per cent in the first quarter and second quarter of last year respectively, but from the third quarter began to recover.
The country’s seafood output was estimated at 8.4 million tonnes by the end of last year, a slight increase of three per cent compared to 2019.
Seafood exports hit $8.4 billion, down 1.9 per cent yearon-year.
Entering the new year, VASEP believed the fisheries trade situation was still strongly affected by the pandemic, even though this was still the main factor that dominated seafood exports and imports in Vietnam.
However, Vietnam was still able to maintain a competitive advantage in raw material supply compared to other countries. In addition, free trade agreements would continue to be a lever for its seafood exports to recover in some markets, said VASEP.
Enterprises would also have more experience and flexibility to adapt to fluctuations and changes in the needs and tastes of the market after a year of the pandemic, it added.
On the stock market, seafood exporting enterprises had a tough year due to the pandemic.
Cuu Long Fish JSC was one such impacted seafood enterprise, with revenue and profit last year decreasing by 49 per cent and 80 per cent respectively compared to 2019.
Similarly, other businesses in the same industry as Vinh Hoan JSC’s profit fell from 1.18 trillion dong ($51.3 million) in 2019 to 704 billion dong last year.
Ngo Quyen Processing Export JSC faced accumulated losses of up to 31 billion dong due to interrupted transactions with customers and no export orders.
WHILE the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) housing market has gone quiet after the renewed outbreak of Covid-19, the market in the Vietnamese city’s neighbouring provinces like Dong Nai, Long An and Binh Duong has seen robust growth this year, experts said.
Distance is no longer a problem for developers in and around HCMC thanks to improved transport infrastructure, and they are increasingly looking at neighbouring provinces where prices are more reasonable and have potential for property development.
A recent report by the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS) said the development of Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai and Thu Duc city and the construction of new roads and bridges connecting the south-eastern region with HCMC have led to increased activity in the real estate market.
Pham Lam, director-general of real estate services firm DKRA Vietnam, said this is creating a wave of investment in emerging markets while traditional markets are reaching saturation point.
In Binh Duong province, land in areas adjacent to HCMC which have potential for economic development, such as Thuan An and Di An cities, have become ideal for affordable apartment projects, a product the city lacks.
VARS said apartment prices in Binh Duong increased sharply last year despite Covid-19 – from 25-30 million dong ($1,0801,300) per square metre to 30-35 million dong – but remain much lower than in the city.
In Dong Nai, land prices in areas close to the eastern part of HCMC have also increased, especially thanks to the construction of the airport in Long Thanh.
In 2019 the average land price was 12-14 million dong per square metre, and rose to 22 million dong last year. In Long Thanh town, the price has surged to 100 million dong in some areas.
The real estate market in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province is also hot since it is adjacent to HCMC and has great potential for tourism development.
Investors also are keen on Long An province, which too borders HCMC. Some projects with high potential go for 21-26 million dong per square metre while in other areas they are 13-15 million dong.
No land is available in recent projects at less than 15 million dong.
VENEZUELA’S National Assembly (NA) on February 23 called for the government to expel EU ambassador to Caracas Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, in response to new EU sanctions against 19 Venezuelan officials.
The NA, which is controlled by President Nicolas Maduro’s party, approved a “rejection agreement” of the sanctions and plans to “urge” the head of state to “declare persona non grata the head of the diplomatic delegation” from the EU in order to proceed with her “expulsion”.
The text, unanimously approved by the deputies, also calls for a revision of the agreement on the EU’s presence in Caracas.
“I vote with both hands for the European Union representative to be declared persona non grata,” NA Speaker Jorge Rodriguez said before calling for the vote.
The Venezuelan government on February 23 said foreign minister Jorge Arreaza will meet with Brilhante Pedrosa on February 24, along with ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
EU foreign ministers agreed on February 22 to sanction 19 Venezuelan officials for “undermining democracy” and human rights abuses.
The move brings to 55 the total number of members of Maduro’s regime to be slapped with asset freezes and travel bans by the bloc.
The EU expanded the list after rejecting a December legislative election that saw Maduro win total control of parliament after an opposition boycott.
On July 29, after a previous round of European sanctions, Maduro declared Brilhante Pedrosa persona non grata and gave her 72 hours to leave the country.
When the deadline passed, however, the government backed down.
EARLY bird customers of a military-owned bank queued anxiously as dawn light crept over Yangon, after a strict new limit on daily cash withdrawals fuelled rumours of a money shortage in post-coup Myanmar.
Myawaddy Bank is among scores of military-controlled businesses in Myanmar facing boycott pressures since the generals ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power on February 1.
Nationwide protests have called for employees – including bank workers – to skip work, seizing up a banking sector heavily dominated by the military and its cronies ahead of the monthly payday this Friday, February 26.
For those in need of cash, it does not help that no clear information has been released.
In commercial hub Yangon, private banks remain mostly closed, government banks seem partly open, and getting cash from ATMs appears to be a touch-and-go endeavour.
The uncertainty has fuelled worries of cash shortages, said Tun Naing, a 43-year-old businessman who has queued up daily for the past week to withdraw six million Myanmar kyat – or about $4,500 – from his Myawaddy bank account.
He said: “Because of rumours about this bank, I came to withdraw my money.”
Despite being the sixth-biggest domestic
bank in Myanmar, Myawaddy is only allowing 200 customers per branch to make withdrawals limited to 500,000 kyat a day – about $370.
Getting a spot in the morning is key, with “some people staying at nearby hotels to queue early for tokens”,
Tun Naing said.
Others are not so lucky.
Retired teacher Myint Myint has been queueing every day for a week but still has not been able to make a withdrawal.
The 64-year-old said: “I’m really
fed up . . . They should announce through [state-run media] that our money is okay . . . Although my savings are not much, I’m worrying because of rumours.”
Despite the irregular opening schedules of banks across Yangon, a notice in state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar claimed that daily services were still being provided.
“People are requested to take part in this process for ensuring economic stability of the country,” read the Central Bank notice.
‘Elevated political risk’
While the risk of cash shortages in the country is high, the timeframe is unpredictable, said Myanmar-born international business expert Htwe Htwe Thein from Australia’s Curtin University.
She said: “In the past under the previous military government, they had been known to print money and that of course hyped up inflation.”
The pre-coup Myanmar economy was already facing severe economic headwinds from the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures.
And the situation is expected to get worse because of a civil disobedience movement that has government employees boycotting work.
The generals have already been hit with sanctions by the US, Britain, Canada and the EU, and the larger economy is also at risk of suffering reputational damage and a decline in foreign direct investment.
International credit ratings agency Fitch swiftly revised the country’s growth estimates for most of 2021 down from 5.6 per cent to two per cent on the day of the coup, citing “elevated political risks”.
DUE to the declining population, it is inevitable that many local governments in Japan will become short of staff. It is necessary to maintain public services through such measures as simplifying administrative procedures and using artificial intelligence.
According to an estimate by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, the number of municipal employees nationwide in 2040 will be 10 to 20 per cent lower than in 2013. It is certain that such burdens as dealing with inquiries from residents, inputting data from handwritten documents and compiling minutes of municipal assemblies will become heavier.
AI allows computers to process large amounts of information, automatically analyse it and make decisions. If the introduction of AI can reduce the need for manpower, it will become possible to transfer employees to welfare and other sectors that lack personnel.
The trend of using AI as a solution to the declining number of employees is reasonable.
While 68 per cent of prefectural governments and 50 per cent of government-designated major cities have introduced AI, only eight per cent of municipal governments have done so. These figures indicate that small municipal governments are hesitant to use AI due to financial difficulties and lack of tech-savvy human resources.
To promote the introduction of AI, the central government intends to expand financial support in the next fiscal year for joint introduction of AI by multiple municipal governments. It plans to shoulder 50 per cent of the costs if municipal governments jointly introduce an AI system, compared to the 30 per cent support offered when they adopt the system on their own.
The joint introduction is expected to reduce the burden on small municipalities. Considering that the more input information a municipality has, the more accurate AI becomes, it can be said that the wide-area collaboration is reasonable.
In Nara Prefecture, which has many municipalities with populations of 50,000 or fewer, the prefecture and eight cities and towns have jointly introduced a service mainly on their websites that automatically responds to inquiries from residents, available 24 hours a day. The prefectural government took the initiative in inviting the participant municipalities to join in.
There are many small municipalities in which there are few staff with specialised knowledge, and their mayors and assembly members often lack interest in AI. It is hoped that prefectural governments and other entities will play an active role as “facilitators” in sharing advanced example
The central and local governments must cooperate to speed up digitisation
cases and coordinating opinions among municipalities that are willing to adopt AI.
Japan has been slow to digitise its administrative services, and the central government has been standardising the specifications of core systems that are different among local governments.
The promotion of AI is a separate initiative from such an effort, but the importance of avoiding duplication of investment and reducing the burdens of renovation remains unchanged. It is indispensible to unify specifications and take compatibility into consideration.
In the future, the central government should establish standard specifications based on examples of local governments that have successfully introduced AI, and should promote the use of AI among municipalities.
The central and local governments must closely cooperate to speed up digitisation and promptly make administrative procedures effective.