Vietnam news in brief - February 5

Tan Son Nhat airport overloaded as travel demand peaks before Tet

Rendering of the T3 Terminal at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: ACV

Passenger traffic at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat International Airport rose by nearly one-fifth to 130,000 people on February 4. The airport is expected to receive a maximum of 150,000 passengers per day during the Tet (Lunar New Year) period. However, dense fog and bad weather over the weekend caused flight delays and cancellations at the airport.

A good time to invest in Vietnam: German news site

Now is a good time to invest in Vietnam, German online news site asiafundmanagers.com reported, citing an interview with Shasha Li Mafli, fund manager of the Strategic Vietnam Prosperity Fund at Eric Sturdza Investments. The business executive credits Vietnam with rapid industrialization and urbanization, and sees the country as a "direct beneficiary of the global corporate trend to diversify supply chains and outsource production.

Other advantages of Vietnam include high government investment in infrastructure, a unique demographic profile, and an attractive environment for foreign investors.

Vietnam remains South Korea's third largest trading partner

The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) announced on February 5 that Vietnam remained South Korea's third largest trading partner for the second consecutive year, despite a decline in both exports to and imports from Vietnam. The trade volume between South Korea and Vietnam reached US$79.4 billion in 2023. KITA highlighted that Vietnam surpassed Japan for the second consecutive year to maintain its position as South Korea's third largest trading partner. Bilateral trade between South Korea and Japan amounted to US$76.68 billion in 2023.

Vietcombank tops billion-dollar profit banks

Vietcombank ranks first among state-owned banks with profits of US$1 billion or more, with a pre-tax profit of more than US$1.7 billion in 2023, thanks to halving the cost of risk provisioning. It was followed by BIDV with a profit of more than US$1.13 billion, an increase of more than 20% over the previous year. Meanwhile, MB led the private banking group with a pre-tax profit of $1.07 billion, an increase of nearly 16%. In 2023, this bank achieved a loan growth rate of 28%, much higher than the general average.

Van Gogh multi-sensory interactive art exhibition during Lunar New Year

The multi-sensory interactive art exhibition Van Gogh Art Lighting Experience is open during the Tet holiday. Photo: Gigamall

The multi-sensory interactive art exhibition Van Gogh Art Lighting Experience will open throughout Tet (Lunar New Year) with a new version called Van Gogh Immersive 720. This is a 720-degree experience space that awakens all the viewers' senses, the largest in Vietnam. Viewers will be immersed in an extremely vivid and sharp 720-degree visual performance effect created by the ingenious combination of 3D mapping, Cylinder LED 360o, Lazer mapping and Art Lighting programming.

Vietnam Becomes 2nd largest whitefish supplier to the US

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam became the second largest supplier of whitefish to the US in 2023. However, catfish exports to the US fell by 50% to $271 million. Despite the decline, the US remains the second largest market for Vietnamese catfish consumption after China (including Hong Kong). There was some optimism in December as the US saw positive growth in imports of Vietnamese catfish with a trade volume of nearly $20 million, a 20% increase that partially offset the earlier decline.

Vietnam imports more than 40,00 vehicles assembled in Indonesia 

Vietnam ranked third among the countries and regions that imported the most vehicles assembled in Indonesia in 2023, with 40,241 units. The country exported 505,134 cars in 2023, up 6.7% from the same period in 2022, according to Indonesia's automotive industry association Gaikindo. The Philippines is the biggest buyer, importing 159,121 cars from Indonesia, accounting for 31.5%. It is followed by the Mexican market with 56,483 cars - accounting for 11.1%.