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| The Kien Binh-Phu Quoc 220kV offshore overhead power transmission line, the longest in Southeast Asia, was put into operation on October 14. (Photo: VNA) |
The project, connecting Kien Binh commune of Kien Luong district in the mainland and Phu Quoc Island, has been developed by Vietnam Electricity (EVN)’s Southern Power Company (EVNSPC) with a total investment of over 2.2 trillion VND (nearly 90.4 million USD).
Construction of the 80.4-km power line started in March 2019. It consists of 169 transmission towers, including 117 installed at sea across a distance of 64.7km.
According to Nguyen Phuoc Duc, director general of EVNSPC, completion of the project is expected to ensure stable supply for Phu Quoc, easing overloading for the existing undersea 110kV power cable.
Since 2019, the corporation has implemented a series of projects with a total investment of more than 4 trillion billion VND to improve the power supply capacity to meet the increasing demand for electricity in the resort island.
Vietnam’s first monkeypox patient discharged from hospital
The first patient with monkeypox in Vietnam was discharged from hospital on October 14 after three weeks of treatment, reported Vietnam News Agency according to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
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| Vietnam's first patient with monkeypox discharged from hospital (Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases) |
After treatment, the female patient’s fever has gone. The blisters on her face, hands, and feet have dried up, flaked off, and cicatrised, while those inside her throat have been healed. With her pain gone, the patient now eats well, gains weight, and is optimistic.
The 35-year-old patient, residing in Ho Chi Minh City, fell ill on September 18 while traveling in Dubai with symptoms of fever, fatigue, chills, muscle aches, headache and a cough, as well as red, itchy bumps on her arms, body, and face. She returned to Vietnam on September 22.
On September 23, she was admitted to the city’s Tu Du Hospital and then transferred to the municipal Hospital of Dermato Venereology, where she was quarantined. Two days later, she tested positive for monkeypox and was transferred to the municipal Hospital for Tropical Diseases for further quarantine, treatment and genetic sequencing.
Vietnam's garment export value up in nine months
Vietnam's textile and garment export value reached 35 billion USD in the first nine months of 2022, up 21% over the same period last year, reported Vietnam News Agency.
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| Illustrative image (Photo: baochinhphu.vn) |
To achieve the result, textile and garment enterprises have made great efforts to cope with the challenges of the market.
The enterprises did not depend on the five traditional export markets, including the US, Europe, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, but also expanded the exports to Russia and some other countries.
In Europe, they not only focused on a few large export markets such as Germany, France, Spain and the UK as in the past, but also expanded the exports to other countries in the EU.
In addition, many businesses have eyed Mexico and other countries in Africa.
They also promoted the production of knitwear products for export instead of making only traditional products such as jeans, khakis or T-shirts, due to a shortage of orders for those traditional products.
Among textile and garment exporting countries in the world including Bangladesh, India and China, Vietnam had the earliest opening-up policy for normal operation after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, in the first six months of the year, Vietnam's textile and garment industry had a large number of orders and good business results.
Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), said in the first half of 2022, the textile and garment industry gained growth in export orders, but entering the third quarter of 2022, the market began to see signs of a decrease.
The export order reduction was due to lower demand in major export markets like the US and the EU. High inflation in those markets caused people to reduce their spending significantly. In which, apparel was a commodity seeing strong cuts.
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| Illustrative image (Photo: baochinhphu.vn) |
Meanwhile, markets that are important trade partners of Vietnam such as China, Japan, and Taiwan are still applying strict measures against the COVID-19 pandemic. That affected supplies of raw materials, auxiliary materials and the consumption of textile products from Vietnam.
To cope with those challenges, businesses rearranged working hours to ensure stability for workers.
Enterprises in the textile and garment industry are still able to overcome the challenges in the fourth quarter, but difficulties are likely to continue until the first quarter of 2023, Giang said.
Tran Nhu Tung, Chairman of the Thanh Cong Textile – Investment – Trading JSC, said almost all countries exporting textiles to the US and EU markets have experienced a decline in orders due to high inflation and lower demand for apparel products.
According to Tung, for companies focusing on these two markets, they faced a large decline in production and business. Meanwhile, firms expanding exports to other markets, like Thanh Cong, saw a softer decline than others.
Thanh Cong saw a reduction in orders larger than expectations, but it was not too much. In the first nine months of the year, the company has fulfilled 80% of the revenue plan and 85% of the after-tax profit plan, he said.
Experts said that if in the first eight months of the year, the average export value per month was 3.7-3.8 billion USD, the value is expected to be 3.1-3.2 billion USD per month in the last four months of the year.
According to VNDirect Research, the textile and garment industry will be brighter in the first quarter of 2023 because the export tariffs on some kinds of Vietnam's textile and garment products to the EU market will be reduced by 2-4% thanks to the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
In addition, the European Commission forecasts inflation in the EU will reach 8.3% in 2022 and fall to 4.3% in 2023. The lower inflation will stimulate demand for fashion and garments in 2023.
Therefore, some local garment enterprises exporting suits, shirts, pants and skirts to the EU such as Song Hong Garment, May 10 and Viet Tien, will enjoy more benefits from the EVFTA.
Vietnamese Pho among world’s 100 most popular dishes: TasteAtlas
Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup sold in almost all street corners in Vietnam, finds itself at the 34th place in a list of 100 most popular dishes in the world as complied by international food magazine TasteAtlas, reported Vietnam News Agency.
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| TasteAtlas magazine described Pho as one of the most beloved Vietnamese dishes in the western hemisphere due to its complex, unique flavors, and elegant simplicity.(Photo: Vietnam Plus) |
The magazine described Pho as one of the most beloved Vietnamese dishes in the western hemisphere due to its complex, unique flavors, and elegant simplicity.
The soup is traditionally served with chicken or beef broth where the bones simmer lazily for at least three hours until the broth is perfect, it said, adding that the addition of herbs and spices accentuates the flavors, and the chewy rice noodles, juicy beef slices, and crunchy sprouts elevate the dish to another level.
Pho is also among three Vietnamese dishes – along with Banh mi and iced coffee –named in the CNN’s list of “50 of the best street foods in Asia” which it calls just a “small sampling of the region’s wonderful food traditions./.