#Cambodia - Deal for yuan trade with China in works

China’s currency, the renminbi, or yuan, being counted in stacks next to US dollars. 

Officials in Cambodia and China’s Guangdong province are cooperating to establish trade using yuan instead of US dollars, part of the two countries’ increasingly close economic relationship. 

The suggestion to use yuan directly, instead of using US dollars as an intermediary currency, was made by deputy-director of Guangdong province Ouyang Weimin during a visit to the province by Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak on Friday.

Seang Thay, a spokesman at the Ministry of Commerce, said yesterday that as trade between the two countries continued to grow, Chinese currency should also increasinglly be used in bilateral trade.

“The fluctuation of exchange rate is risky for businesses, because sometimes the US dollar could be appreciate or depreciate compare with the Chinese yuan,” he said.

“We are trading with China more and more, so accepting Chinese yuan for trade deals is also good for businesses.” 

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While the two countries appear in-sync on promoting trade in yuan, there is not yet an official agreement to establish such a system in Guangdong, according to Thay.

Last September, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and the People’s Bank of China in the autonomous Guangxi region in southern China launched an official yuan-riel exchange rate, which allowed banks in Guangxi to exchange the two currencies directly. That marked the first time riel could be exchanged in China and eliminated the need to use US dollars as an intermediary currency.

According to NBC data, there were 17 banks in Cambodia that could handle yuan transactions last year, up from 11 in 2014. Only four – ICBC, the Bank of China, Canadia Bank and First Commercial Bank – allow deposits to be made in yuan.

 In 2016, cross-border trade in yuan amounted to about $377 million, accounting for about seven percent of the two countries’ total trade and investment, according to the NBC. The remaining 93 percent was done using US dollars.

Source - PhnomPenhPost

#Vietnam - 2018 rice export to hit 6m tonnes

HÀNỘI — Việtnam’s rice export volume in 2018 is expected to increase by 400,000 tonnes from 2017 to reach 6 million tonnes, due to increased demand from Southeast Asia, especially from the Philippines, with China expected to be the country’s largest rice market.

The Vietnam Food Association (VFA), in a report earlier in January, said countries in Southeast Asia will import a large amount of rice from Việt Nam, helping boost the country’s turnover this year.

The VFA said Indonesia will import rice from Việt Nam and Thailand again in 2018 to increase reserves, as Indonesia’s rice price has been rising, almost double the floor price.

Similarly, the National Food Board of the Philippines approved of up to 250,000 tonnes of imported rice to offset declining inventories, due to unfavourable weather in 2017.

These developments are encouraging for Việt Nam’s rice export market, said the VFA’s report, with export price of 5 per cent broken rice rising to US$400 per tonne from $390.

Domestic rice price also increased, with the average price between to $267 to $293 per tonne as of January’s end, having increased by $13 to $15 per tonne from December 2017’s price.

According to the VFA’s data, throughout 2017, the country exported 5.7 million tonnes of rice worth $2.54 billion.

As mentioned by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s 2018 world rice production forecast, issued late 2017, the main factor behind this year’s rice trade expansion is increased output from Việt Nam, Pakistan and Myanmar, three of the world’s top six rice exporting countries.

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The USDA’s report stated that though 2017 global rice output fell by 20 per cent from 2016’s number, as a result of weak outlook for grain products, long, heavy rainfall and spring floods and other unfavourable weather, meaning there should be positive signals from traditional rice importing markets in Southeast Asia in early 2018.

In Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, whose rice crops were heavily influenced by harsh weather, demand for rice imports will also increase in 2018. Rising import demand is supported by increased purchasing power in Africa and the Middle East, while China continues to be a leading importer of rice from neighbouring regions.

As such, Việt Nam will witness an increase in revenue from rice exports to several large consumer markets.

According to the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in early January 2018, the Mekong Delta’s rice producers harvested 860,000 hectares of rice, with an average yield of 5.3 tonnes per hectare.

Nonetheless, problems remain for national rice production, the majority of which stem from farmers’ ignorance.

Talking to Vietnam News Agency during a late 2017 agricultural conference in the Mekong Delta, Võ Tòng Xuân, former vice rector of Cần Thơ University and rice expert, emphasised growing competition in global rice markets.

Xuân warned that Việt Nam needs to find ways to make its rice exports stand out if it wants to achieve export targets.

Regarding export rice quality, he was convinced that since rice merchants often mix different batches from different farmers into one large batch, there is virtually no way to completely track the origin of any batch.

Without clear origin, there are no certain product quality controls, and no major national rice brand for Việt Nam, Xuân added.

He suggested issuing contracts between rice farmers and processing plants for sustainable production, via agricultural co-operatives instead of relying on middlemen.

Xuân also said that there remain regulations acting as barriers to small and medium enterprises from entering the rice market. Exporting low quality rice and fragrant rice without a brand name is becoming increasingly difficult for Việt Nam, especially in finding niche markets to sell several thousand tonnes. 

 

Source - Vietnam News

VietJet red-faced after lingerie model stunt with U-23 football team

HANOI - Vietnam's budget airline has apologised for sending scantily clad models to join the country's under-23 men's football squad on a flight home, after social media cried foul over the "cheap" public relations (PR) stunt.

VietJet - best known for its bikini-clad air hostesses - came under fire for sending models in barely there costumes to join the footballers heading home from China, where the team suffered a 2-1 defeat after extra time by Uzbekistan in the Under-23 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Championship on Saturday (Jan 27).

Social media in the communist nation erupted over the photos, including one of an awkward-looking young man being embraced by a model in a low-cut silver belly top and red underpants.

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Others showed the sequin- and feather-adorned pin-ups posing on the private flight that VietJet chartered for the team after the tournament.

But netizens in Vietnam were not impressed with the airline models.

"VietJet's move was so rude, cheap, and offensive to the team, the fans and even its passengers," Facebook user Nguyen My Linh wrote in a post that received 1,700 likes and more than 100 shares by midday on Monday.

Source - TheNation

China opens first overseas military base in Africa

China has officially opened its first overseas naval base in Djibouti, state media said Tuesday, a major step for the country's expansion of its military presence abroad.

Chinese military personnel, officials and guests attended a flag-raising ceremony and military parade to mark the occasion, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The event was timed to coincide with the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the establishment of China's military, the People's Liberation Army, on August 1.

Officers and troops paraded for an audience that included Djibouti's defence minister, Xinhua said. 

The logistics base is the first of its kind for Beijing, which will use it to support "naval escorts in Africa and southwest Asia, (UN) peacekeeping and for humanitarian support," according to a previous China defence ministry statement.

China sent its first deployment of troops to the facility on July 11, marking the occasion with a ceremony in the southern province of Guangdong.

China has described the base as "defensive in nature", saying it will provide support for naval escorts, UN peacekeeping, anti-piracy and evacuating Chinese nationals from the region in case of emergency.

The Chinese navy has long assisted anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden, as well as UN peacekeeping efforts throughout Africa.

China started building the base in February 2016 in the entrepot on the Horn of Africa, where it will be stationed just a few miles from Camp Lemonnier, the United States' only permanent base in Africa.

Beijing has made extensive infrastructure investments throughout the African continent as it seeks to gain access to natural resources and new markets.

Chinese banks have been major funders of at least 14 such projects in Djibouti, valued at 14.4 billion dollars in total, including a railway line that will halve transit times from Djibouti to Ethiopia's Addis Ababa.

Home to only around 800,000 people, Djibouti also hosts troops from France and Japan.

Source - TheJakartaPost

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