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| Illustrative photo (Source: VNA) |
But earnings were only 9% higher, at 2 billion USD, since global rice prices have fallen by over 10% to 489 USD a tonne on average.
Exports to the US grew fastest at 65.3%, followed by the Philippines, Vietnam's top market, at 48.6%.
Domestic prices also fell as adverse weather affected rice quality and demand was low compared to previous months.
Exporters have slowed down purchases from farmers and await the peak harvest season.
Vietnam is currently the second biggest rice exporter in the world, just behind India.
Da Lat among world’s top five destinations for flowers
Da Lat resort city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong ranked 3rd in the list of top destinations around the world to admire flowers. The flower power ranking came from tourists surveyed in 28 countries, according to US-based online booking travel agency Booking.com, reported Vietnam News Agency.
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| A flower space in Da Lat attracts visitors (Photo: VNA) |
“Often known as the city of thousands of flowers, Da Lat is home to various flower parks, farms and festivals, each decorating the city with colorful blooms and rich green landscapes,” said the agency.
Coming here, visitors are mesmerized by fragrances from hundreds of flower species. The most famous garden that attracts visitors all year round is in the center of Da Lat featuring arches of flowers arranged in a gate, facing Xuan Huong Lake, it said.
The lavender flower gardens by Tuyen Lam Lake, sunflower fields at Da Lat Milk Farm, Trai Mat hydrangea flower fields and cherry blossom roads are other lovely spots that travelers should not miss when visiting the city, it added.
Situated on a plateau around 1,500 meters above sea level, Da Lat enjoys year-round cool weather that is in contrast to Vietnam's tropical climate.
Da Lat is one of Vietnam’s biggest flower-growing regions, producing around three billion flowers every year, 10 percent of which are exported to foreign markets including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China), Australia and mainland China.
Da Lat has also been dubbed "Little Paris," given its colonial standing as a summer hideout for French officials who built villas on the hills to escape the heat and humidity of the lowlands.
The list of the world's destinations for flowers include Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Funchal in Portugal, Gramado in Brazil, Cameron in Malaysia, Cordoba in Spain, Victoria in Canada, Toowoomba in Australia and Istanbul in Turkey.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore ranked 5th. The most famous and outstanding place to admire year-round flowers in the country is still in Singapore at Gardens by the Bay - a modern park famous for Supertrees, Flower Dome and Cloud Forest.
The list was based on a survey conducted with 20,934 respondents across 28 countries and territories who have traveled for business or leisure in the past 12 months and plan to travel again in the next year.
This year, the People’s Committee of Lam Dong province will hold the 9th Da Lat Flower Festival from November to late December to honour the value of flowers and floriculture in the resort city.
Last year, the locality decided to skip it due to the complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic. All funding for the event was used to provide computers and telecommunication services for students with difficult circumstances in the locality.
As the pandemic is under relative control and in line with the Government’s regulations on safe, flexibly adaptation to the COVID-19, the province has determined to organise the festival to push up tourism, trade and investment in the region.
The biennial national and international cultural-tourism festival also aims to promote tourism and trade, and call for greater domestic and international cooperation and investment throughout the locality.
The event will continue to promote the brand of Da Lat as the country’s Flower Festival City, as well as introducing the city’s culture and people to visitors.
Along with hosting traditional art flower spaces, organisers will arrange a wide range of activities during the festival. These include a helicopter tour of Da Lat city, a youth music programme, a hot air balloon festival, and street carnivals with the participation of international dancers. National trade fairs and a football tournament will also be held on this occasion.
Notably, there will be a seminar on investment, trade, and tourism promotion in Lam Dong province, which is scheduled for October. There will also be a workshop to build a strategy for sustainable development for the flower industry in Da Lat in the context of climate change and international integration until 2030.
Vietnamese economy is likely to grow 10% in Q3: VinaCapital
The Vietnamese economy is likely to grow 10% year on year in the third quarter of this year, driven by strong domestic consumption, according to Michael Kokalari, chief economist at VinaCapital, one of the country’s leading investment management and real estate development companies, reported Vietnam News Agency.
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| Vietnam’s real retail sales, excluding the impact of inflation, grew by 7.9% year-on-year in the first six months of 2022. (Photo: VNA) |
Earnings growth are expected to exceed 20% this year, Kokalari said in a report entitled “The divergence between Vietnam’s strong economy & weak stock market,” which outlines expectation for Vietnam’s economy in the last five months of 2022. It is attributed to the country’s solid economic performance, he added.
Vietnam’s real retail sales, excluding the impact of inflation, grew by 7.9% year-on-year in the first six months of 2022. This figure surged to 11.9% in the seven months, which is far above the 7% year-on-year growth that VinaCapital had previously been forecasting for 2022.
“This is important because we are often asked now whether the ongoing slowdown in the US economy - which is Vietnam’s biggest export market - will weigh on Vietnam’s economic growth,” Kokalari said.
A slowing US economy is likely to temper Vietnam’s export and economic growth, however, the impact of that slowdown will be offset by the country’s strong domestic economy, he said.
The revenues and earnings of companies listed on Vietnam’s stock market are primarily driven by the domestic economy, which is why VinaCapital expects the stock market to benefit from the unexpectedly strong domestic growth.
According to Kokalari, Vietnam’s stock market rose 37% last year, driven by a 36% surge in earnings. The consensus expects 16% earnings growth in 2022 and earnings growth of over 20% this year, as expected by VinaCapital, supported by Vietnam’s strong economic growth. All of this makes it somewhat surprising that the VN-Index is currently down 17% compared to the beginning of 2022.
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| The Vietnamese economy is likely to grow 10% year on year in the third quarter of this year, driven by strong domestic consumption, according to Michael Kokalari, chief economist at VinaCapital. (Photo: vietstock.vn) |
The US Federal Reversal (Fed)’s interest rate hike has dampened global stock market investors’ sentiment, but VinaCapital expects Vietnam’s strong domestic economy to offset weak stock market sentiment in the US and other markets. The main reason for the recent dour sentiment among Vietnamese retail investors is the Government’s crackdown on illegal practices by certain companies that started at the end of March.
"But we believe the Government’s efforts to improve corporate governance and transparency will ultimately benefit Vietnam’s stock market, and the country as a whole,' he noted.
The economist said that Vietnam’s stock market should be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a Fed pivot because the country has the most attractive valuation in the region, and the second highest expected earnings growth next to Indonesia, adding that he believes the quality of Vietnam’s corporate earnings is currently much better than that of Indonesia and other regional peers.
Work on Long Thanh airport’s terminal to start in October
Construction on the Long Thanh International Airport’s passenger terminal in the southern province of Dong Nai will begin in October, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has told an inspection delegation of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, reported Vietnam News Agency.
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| A perspective of Long Thanh International Airport (Photo: ACV) |
The ACV said that the piling work for the passenger terminal, the most important work of the Long Thanh Airport project, is completed one month ahead of the schedule, and more than 14 million cu.m of soil has been dug, filled and leveled.
Covering more than 5,580 hectares, Long Thanh International Airport will spread across six communes in Long Thanh district. Its construction has been divided into three phases.
In the first phase, a runway and one passenger terminal, along with other supporting facilities, will be built to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo each year. This phase is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
The project started in 2021. Once fully completed in 2050, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo annually.
Located 40km to the east of Ho Chi Minh City, the airport is expected to relieve overloading at the southern metropolis’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which is currently the largest in Vietnam./.