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Raw materials for the production of shipping containers are hot rolled coil (HRC) steel (Photo: Hoaphat.com.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Hoa Phat Group has surpassed Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh to become Vietnam’s largest steel producer after it produced 2 million tonnes of crude steel in the first quarter of this year, a 60 percent increase year-on-year.

Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh took the second spot with output of 1.62 million tonnes, 20 percent lower than Hoa Phat.

In March alone, Hoa Phat produced 700,000 tonnes of crude steel, up 56 percent year-on-year and its highest-ever output for a month. It continued to take the leading position in terms of construction steel and steel pipe, with market shares of 33.8 percent and 30.19 percent, respectively.

The group’s crude steel production has reached over 8 million tonnes a year, including over 5 million tonnes of construction steel and 3 million tonnes of hot rolled coil (HRC). Of the total, the Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Integrated Complex is the largest producer, with annual production of 5.2 million tonnes, followed by the Hoa Phat Hai Duong Steel Integrated Complex with 2.5 million tonnes a year. Its steel mill complex in Hung Yen province has a capacity of 400,000 tonnes a year. When the Hoa Phat Dung Quat 2 project comes into operation, the group’s crude steel output is expected to reach 14 million tonnes a year.

Hoa Phat is currently among the 50 largest steel companies in the world and the largest in Southeast Asia./.

Sustainable bonds are considered as an effective capital mobilization channel from the private sector for environmental and social projects.

The State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SSC) has launched a manual providing instruction on green, social and sustainability bonds.

Green bonds would help accelerate sustainable development in Vietnam. Source: World Bank/jamesteoh

The manual came from the cooperation among the SSC, Climate Bond Initiative (CBI), and Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), with the aim of providing guidelines for issuers and market participants to adopt regional, international and Vietnamese standards on green, social and sustainability bonds – or sustainable bonds, collectively.

“Those sustainable bonds are considered an effective capital mobilization channel from the private sector for environmental and social projects, which in turn support the realization of sustainable development goals and the 2015 Paris Climate Accord,” stated the SSC.

“As a member of the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF), the SSC has been actively involving in the promotion of the ASEAN Green Bond Standards (AGBS), ASEAN Sustainability Bond Standards (ASUS), which are based on the International Capital Market Association (ICMA)’s Green Bond Principles, Social Bond Principles, and Sustainability Bond Guidelines, with an aim to form sustainable assets in Vietnam,” added the stock market watchdog.

SSC’s Vice Chairman Pham Hong Son expected the manual to help local investors better understand international practices on the issuance and management of capital for green projects, as well as disclosing information on the social and environmental aspects of each enterprises.

“Such step is important to promote sustainable development in each enterprise and contribute to support long-term growth of the stock market via the development of green products,” he added.

IFC Regional Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos Kyle Kelhofer added the agency is looking for opportunity to join Vietnam’s potential green bond market in the coming time.

Kelhofer added the IFC expects green bond would open up opportunities for further fund raising for infrastructure and renewable projects, which are finding it hard to raise funds via traditional financial instruments.

The issuance of green bonds would help accelerate Vietnam’s efforts towards green and sustainable development, said Kelhofer.

Vietnam posts increasingly unbalanced sex ratio at birth at 111.5 male births for every 100 female newborns compared to the world’s normal rate of 105.

Harmful practices for women and girls like gender-biased sex selection and domestic violence continue to remain in Vietnam, requiring instant and persistent actions by the whole society and all stakeholders.

Vietnam and UNFPA have made efforts to increase the value of the girl child. Photo: UNFPA Vietnam

A benign tradition “son preference” which is anything but is a product of gender-biased systems that places higher social status to men and boys, and favors male over female children.

The manifestation of gender biased sex selection can be directly measured through “sex ratio at birth (SRB)” and Vietnam’s rate is the third highest in the world, following China and India.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the unbalanced sex ratio at birth was first identified in Vietnam in 2004. Since 2005, it has rapidly increased and reached 111.5 male births for every 100 female births in 2019 as indicated in the 2019 Population and Housing Census, against the biologically “natural” or “normal” sex ratio between 105 and 106.

Symphony concert “Girls Deserve to Shine” opens at the Hanoi Opera House on November 27. Photo: UNFPA Vietnam

Evidence shows that this demographic imbalance is a result of pre-natal sex selection, which is the termination of pregnancy when the fetus is determined to be female. UNFPA’s State of the World Population Report estimates that every year, 40,800 female births are missing in Vietnam. It means that 40,800 girls are not born every year in Vietnam because they were found to be a girl.

Meanwhile, nearly 2 in 3 women (62.9%) experienced one or more forms of physical, sexual, emotional, and economic violence and controlling behaviors by their husbands in their lifetime as indicated in the 2019 National Study on Violence against Women, which was conducted by the government of Vietnam with financial and technical support from UNFPA and the government of Australia.

But seriously, domestic violence is largely hidden in Vietnam. Almost half of women did not tell anyone their status, and all women who experienced physical and/or sexual violence from husbands did not seek any help from formal service providers, largely because of fear of stigma, discrimination and further harassment.

Ms. Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative in Vietnam at the concert. Photo: UNFPA Vietnam

“The underlying cause of all these is gender-inequality and under-valuing of girls and women,” Ms. Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative in Vietnam, said at the first-ever symphony concert “Girls Deserve to Shine” on November 27, which featured promising and outstanding Vietnamese young female soloists.

Organized at the Hanoi Opera House by UNFPA in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MOCST) and the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, the concert is aimed to appreciate the value of gild child, as equal as to boys.

The concert is the initiative between the government of Vietnam and UNFPA in joining hands to raise public awareness and increase the value of the girl child within the context of addressing domestic violence and gender-biased sex selection in the nation.

The concert was part of the National Action Month on Gender Equality and Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls and 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.

“Each one of us has a unique role and a shared responsibility to address issues that affect us all towards inclusive, equitable and sustainable development in Vietnam,” Ms. Naomi Kitahara said at the opening of the concert.