Vietnam's wood industry is expected to gain a total export value of wood and wooden products of US$7.7 billion for this year, higher than US$7.1 billion in 2015.

A female Vietnamese photojournalist is showcasing her 45 photos featuring the beauty of Vietnamese women to raise funds for disadvantaged women in Cam Binh Commune in central Binh Thuan province’s La Gi Town, where the photos are on display.

The Ministry of Defence will hand over 20 hectares of land near Tan Son Nhat International Airport to the Ministry of Transport for an airport expansion, said Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh. 

Promoting the application of science and technology is the decisive factor to agriculture restructuring, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told the agriculture sector at a conference in Hanoi on January 5.

Trade via border gates is expected to reach US$30 billion in 2016, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said at a Hanoi conference on January 5. 

Strong recovery was seen in the Ho Chi Minh City housing market in 2015, particularly in the mid- and hi-end segments, according to an expert from CBRE Vietnam.

The People’s Committee of the central province of Thua Thien-Hue has issued a decision stipulating several preferential policies to support the opening of new air routes to Phu Bai international airport in Hue city.

The Saigon Asset Management Corporation (SAM), a Cayman Islands exempted company, signed a deal on January 5 that will enable it to become a strategic partner of My Chau Investment Corporation, owner of the My Chau drug store chain.

(VOV) - On January 5, a spokesperson for the A&P Group headquartered out of Dubai announced the opening of the company’s first MovaMart building materials and supplies outlet in HCM City and its fifth in Vietnam.

(VOV) - The Philippines' National Food Authority (NFA) has announced plans to purchase up to 50,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam and Thailand, according to NFA Director Renan B Dalisay.

(VOV) -Overall fish and seafood exports by Vietnamese producers fell a walloping 14.5% for 2015 compared to 2014 to US$6.7 billion, with shrimp sales plummeting 30% to US$3 billion, roughly the same global sales figure as Ecuador.

(VOV) - A spokesperson for the Carlsberg Group based out of Denmark has announced that its Halida brand brewed in northern Vietnam has won a silver medal at the World Beer Championships held in Chicago last December.

The northern coastal province of Quang Ninh has been promoting the public-private partnership (PPP) investment and management model aiming to mobilise all resources and initiatives for its target of becoming a service-industry oriented locality by 2020.

The influence of China’s stock market plunge on Vietnam is insignificant, illustrated by the rising liquidity on the first trading session on January 4.

Vietnam has set goals for GDP to grow by 6.5-7% and inflation to be kept at around 5-7% in the next five years, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said. 

The monetary market on the last days of the year was hot, with the interbank interest rate reaching the year’s peak and the dollar price hitting the ceiling. The watchdog agency had to pump a large amount of money into circulation.

Thailand is ready to carry out 24 projects worth 3.75 billion THB (about US$103.8 million) in 2016 to promote a digital economy, according to the country’s Ministry of Information and Communications. 

Vietnam suffered a massive US$32.3 billion trade deficit with China, where it imported from a needle to an elephant, in 2015.

The deficit Vietnam runs with its Southeast Asian neighbors is going up as what the country has earned from exports are eclipsed by what it has paid for imports, according to newly released statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

2015 marked the successful sixth year of Taiwan Excellence, the annual series of events by the Taiwanese Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT), Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan (MOEA) and implemented by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), in Vietnam. 

While foreign investment flows fell 12% to 20% in stock markets in the region last year, the Vietnamese market reached a capitalisation ratio of 57% of GDP and remained an attraction to foreign investors, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said.

The Government of the Philippines has set a 7% target in economic growth for the first half of 2016. 

A large off-shore natural gas reserve was discovered by MPRL E&P Pte Ltd., Myanmar’s Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Company.

Profitable shrimp farming produced a rapid transformation in the quality of life for people in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region, but the unplanned expansion in production has also had negative effects on the environment and domestic shrimp trade.

The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu strives to rake in US$785 million from exports in 2016, up US$400 million against the previous year.

The diplomatic sector will continue fostering political relations to provide optimal conditions for the development of economic-trade ties, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has said. 

The margin limit for exchange rates remains at +/-3, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong told a press conference in Hanoi on January 4.

(VOV) - Drivers will start paying less at the pump for petrol effective as of 3 pm on January 4, according to a price adjustment just announced by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The retail sales of goods and services saw a surge in supermarkets and trade centres across the country during the New Year holiday from December 31 to January 3.

Officials expect Vietnam’s tra fish (pangasius) export value to continue falling this year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).