Japan

Low productivity and lack of high-quality manpower are issues that Vietnamese firms should work on to join the production chains of Japanese enterprises.

There remain huge opportunities for enterprises in supporting industries from Vietnam and Japan to strengthen cooperation.

General Secretary of the ASEAN – Japan Center (AJC) Masataka Fujita. Sources: MoIT

General Secretary of the ASEAN – Japan Center (AJC) Masataka Fujita gave his remarks at the 2021 online trade conference between Vietnam and Japan held on June 11.

While lauding the Vietnamese government’s efforts in containing the Covid-19 pandemic and boosting economic growth, Fujita said the AJC is committed to further boosting trading activities between Vietnam and Japan.

Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Vu Ba Phu said the country’s effective utilization of free trade agreements has been key to help ensure positive trade performance.

During the first five months of this year, Vietnam’s exports rose by 30.7% year-on-year to US$130.94 billion, in which the external turnover from machinery and equipment surged by 74.8%, followed by electronics products (26%), phones and parts (19.6%).

Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency Vu Ba Phu (middle)

“Such positive performance was thanks to the contribution of the local supporting industries,” Phu said.

Over the years, the number of local enterprises in the fields has been on the rise, accounting for nearly 4.5% of the total in the manufacturing and processing sector, while creating jobs for over 600,000 workers, or 8% of the total in industrial production.

Revenue in the industry was estimated at over VND900 trillion (US$39.2 billion), representing 11% of the total in manufacturing and processing.

“Certain products from the supporting industries, including parts for bicycles, motorbikes, plastic and rubber products, or tires have to meet domestic and international standards, including those of Japan,” said Phu.

Akutsu Michio – an expert from the Japan Association of International Business Advisors

On challenges that Vietnamese enterprises in the supporting industries are facing, Akutsu Michio, an expert from the Japan Association of International Business Advisors, noted the low productivity and lack of high-quality manpower are issues that local firms should work on.

“The government should revise current legal framework for small and medium enterprises to better access capital resources,” Michio suggested.

As an industrial product is made of thousands of components, missing a single piece would disrupt an entire chain of production, Michio called for Vietnamese enterprises to improve capabilities in supplying products in mass quantity and with consistent quality.

“These are requirements for Vietnamese firms to join production chains of multinationals, including their Japanese peers,” Michio asserted.

Phu from the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency noted that given the fact that the supporting industries are identified as a key driving force for economic growth, the government has been creating favorable conditions for the development of this sector.

“The MoIT has set up three technical centers to promote the development of supporting industries in three economic zones in the north, central and south in this regard,” added Phu, saying the goal is to help local firms in the field to enhance productivity and promote innovation, in turn having a better chance to join global supply chains.

Last June, the MoIT launched a database of over 3,600 enterprises in the manufacturing and processing sector, which serves as a reference for international companies to look for potential partners.

Vietnam is one of the countries in Southeast Asia having the lowest rate of vaccinated people with 1.4% of the population injected.

Japan will donate one million coronavirus vaccine doses to Vietnam, said Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio at a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi on June 15.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, right, and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio in Hanoi. Photo: baochinhphu.vn

In a message sent to the Vietnamese Government’s leader, Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide emphasized that the donation is evidence of the deep friendship between Vietnam and Japan. Japan wishes to cooperate with the international community, especially Vietnam, to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the meeting, Ambassador Yamada also announced that Japanese associations and 36 businesses in Vietnam have donated VND39.2 billion to the Vietnam Fund for Vaccination Prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019. They will contribute more to the fund.

Prime Minister Chinh, on behalf of the Vietnamese Government and people, expressed his sincere thanks to his Japanese counterpart Suga Yoshihide, the Japanese Government, and people for the donation to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is a precious and timely gift, showing sympathy and mutual sharing in times of difficulty, proving the friendship between the governments and people of the two countries,” Chinh said.

Chinh also thanked foreign associations and businesses in Vietnam, including Japanese businesses, for their meaningful contribution to support the Government and people of Vietnam in the Covid-19 prevention and control.

According to Kyodo News , the provision of the vaccine developed by Britain’s AstraZeneca Plc and produced under license in Japan came in response to a request from Vietnam. It follows Japan’s donation of 1.24 million shots to Taiwan earlier in the month.

“After considering comprehensively the infection situation (in Vietnam), the shortage of vaccines and relationship with Japan, we have come to that decision,” Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi at a press conference held in Tokyo on June 15.

Vietnam is well-known for its successful containment of the Covid-19 outbreak that has occurred in the country since early last year, however, it is facing coronavirus variants that combine characteristics of strains first detected in Britain and India.

Vietnam is one of the countries in Southeast Asia having the lowest rate of vaccinated people with 1.4% of the population injected.

A photo collection depicting Japan’s apprentice geishas, known as a maiko, is on display in Hanoi at the Japan Foundation Centre for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam.

The Power Construction Joint Stock Company No. 1, a major local company in Vietnam in the field of renewable energy development and electromechanical works, and RENOVA, Inc., a leading renewable energy IPP developer in Japan, are managers of the project.

Three project companies namely Lien Lap Wind Power Joint Stock Company, Phong Nguyen Wind Power Joint Stock Company, and Phong Huy Wind Power Joint Stock Compan are the borrowers. The loan is co-financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Export Finance Australia under the Australian government.

This project is JICA’s first finance for a wind power generation project in Vietnam and is expected to serve as a model case for private sector wind power generation projects in the renewable energy sector in Vietnam, including those by Japanese and local companies.

In addition, the project will contribute to the Initiative on Overseas loan and Investment for ASEAN announced at the Japan-ASEAN Summit Meeting on November 4, 2019, and is the first investment by a Japanese company in a new-large scale wind power project in Vietnam.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, electricity demand in Vietnam is expected to increase by 8-8.5 percent per year from 2021 to 2025, and demand for electricity is expected to be strong.

The Vietnamese government has also set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 9 percent in 2030 compared to the base-case scenario without climate change measures and has adopted the introduction of renewable energy as a specific measure.

In order to increase the supply of electricity and combat climate change at the same time, the government has set a target of using renewable energy sources for about 15-20 percent of the 125-130 GW of power generation capacity in its power development plan for 2030 of which 6000 MW will be supplied by wind power projects.

Reported by Thu Nguyen

Bac Giang (VNS/VNA) – An online portal has been launched to help farmers in pandemic-hit Bac Giang province sell their lychees.

“Thank God, it’s so effective,” vice director of Bac Giang Enterprise Consulting and Assistance Centre (BECA) Duong Thanh Son said about the portal launched by the centre. Bac Giang has been hit hardest by COVID-19 during its fourth wave in Vietnam, causing difficulties for local farmers.

The portal www.hotrotieuthuvaithieubacgiang.com was launched about three weeks ago and a Facebook page hotrotieuthuvaithieubacgiang was created just a few days later when Bac Giang started entering the lychee harvest season.

Consumers can register to buy a large volume of lychees – a minimum of a tonne – after inputting basic information like name, e-mail, phone number, address and amount of lychee.

Son, who specialises in information technology and communication, said that the portal looked simple but behind it were automatic customer management and customer care programmes that help with online sales.

The portal and the Facebook page have reached hundreds of thousands of users, Son said, adding that he has received positive feedback on social media.

“We connect Bac Giang lychee farmers and co-operatives with buyers. We pledge that our consumers can buy high-quality lychee at very good prices,” Son said.

“If we had thought of the portal earlier and prepared for it about three months ago when lychee was still green, we could have reached more consumers,” Son said.

He said the idea for the portal came up when Bac Giang farmers entered lychee harvest time but the province was struggling to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, the province has about 28,100 ha of lychee with an estimated production of 180,000 tonnes. The COVID-19 outbreaks caused difficulties for harvesting, transporting, selling and exporting the fruit.

Together with the Government, provincial authorities, organisations and individuals, BECA helped farmers in lychee consumption. All BECA staff, mostly IT and media personnel, have helped with online sales.

On the first day of launching the portal, Son said they received hundreds of messages asking to buy lychees. Orders for small amounts, for example a few kilos, were transferred to local retailers while BECA would concentrate on large orders, especially those from enterprises, which as Son said, had financial ability and willingness to buy large amounts.

Within the first week, BECA helped to sell nearly 140 tonnes of lychee.

“We have a goal to help farmers sell 1,000-1,800 tonnes of lychee. It’s a big goal, so we need help from associations, enterprises and businesses,” Son said.

Son is also looking for other potential consumers – community groups. He said, for example, the Duong community – sharing the family name Duong in Vietnam – was very large. Son received an order of 17 tonnes from the Duong community in HCM City, and they were set to order two more containers. The Duong communities in Binh Thuan and Binh Duong ordered two containers each.

Dinh Thi Anh from the northern province of Nam Dinh said that on seeing news about COVID-19 hotspots in Bac Giang province, she wanted to do something for people there, especially farmers who faced difficulties in selling lychee.

She said that she was very happy to find a reliable source that supplies Bac Giang lychees and she asked her friends to add their orders on hotrotieuthuvaithieubacgiang.com and then sell the fruit to people in Nam Dinh city.

All the funds raised would be donated to the national COVID-19 vaccine fund, Anh said.

Anh and dozens of volunteers on June 7 received the first shipment of lychee from Bac Giang and by the afternoon of the same day, they sold nearly a tonne of lychee at two stalls located at 757 Vu Huu Loi and 440 Tran Hung Dao in Nam Dinh city.

“We unloaded the lychees, weighed and divided them into bags of 2kg, received orders and then delivered them to consumers or sold them at the stalls,” Anh said, adding that people not only bought lychee but also donated to the fund.

“We will be with Bac Giang! We can not do big things, so we offer a little help,” Anh said.

Support, not rescue

Son said that he deeply understood the hardships that local farmers faced as well as the importance of lychee fruit – a source of pride for people in Bac Giang.

They are more proud of the fruit, as now, lychee is grown with VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards. The farming products are not only tasty but also safe. For years, Bac Giang lychee has been exported to 30 countries all over the world including demanding markets like the US, EU and Japan. In the domestic market, the fruit is sold in major supermarket chains.

Son said that since the beginning of harvest time, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Bac Giang lychee could reach consumers both in and outside of the country.

Bac Giang authorities were determined to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lychee harvesting and consumption.

Particularly, the authorities set up COVID-19-free lychee growing areas, meaning that in lychee growing areas, all people suspected to have close contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases are taken to concentrated quarantine areas and none of such areas are located in lychee growing areas.

Checkpoints have been set up to strictly control and monitor people and vehicles entering the lychee growing areas. All drivers, workers and traders arriving in lychee growing areas must take quick COVID-19 tests.

All vehicles carrying lychee must be disinfected.

Tran Quang Tan, director of the province’s Trade and Industry Department, said that lychee farmers would feel hurt if they hear their fruit needed rescuing.

The province’s authorities called for support, not rescue. To some extent, when it comes to “farming product rescue campaigns”, people tend to think about abundant, cheap, low-quality products.

“Bac Giang lychee does not need rescuing,” Son said, adding that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, since the beginning of harvest time, the lychee consumption was still going on.

“Difficulties? Yes, we face a lot of difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we need your support to overcome them. Bac Giang will overcome all such difficulties,” Son said.

“Bac Giang people are now proud to offer tasty lychee at reasonable prices. As the consumption goes smoothly, both farmers and consumers are happy for the benefits they get,” Son said.

The lychee harvest time in Bac Giang province will last about one and a half months. The province reported more than 70,000 tonnes were sold, meaning that more than 100,000 tonnes of Bac Giang lychee still needs to be sold. This year, lychee prices are similar to those of last year, ranging from 13,000 VND to 30,000 VND per kilo ($0.5-1.3)./.

VNA