Fire safety during Tet made a priority

Fire safety during Tet made a priority

Firefighters stamp out a fire in HCM City. There is a high risk of fire and explosions during the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, according to the Department of Fire Prevention and Control, Rescue and Salvage. — Photo baotainguyenmoitruong.vn

HA NOI (VNS) — There is a high risk of fire and explosions during the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, according to the Department of Fire Prevention and Control, Rescue and Salvage.

The warning comes after a series of blazes at markets and apartment buildings nationwide over the past year including serious blasts at Phu Ly Market in northern Ha Nam Province, Cau Ong Lanh Market in HCM City's District 1, Ha Noi-based Quang Minh industrial park and block CT4A of Xa La apartment buildings in Ha Noi's Ha Dong District.

According to the department, the incidents were caused by low levels of humidity which makes materials dry and makes them a fire hazard.

In addition, traders burned votive paper at markets, which is also a fire risk.

Ha Noi is home to many big markets. The municipal People's Committee has directed the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department to check fire prevention measures of all markets in the city.

The department will co-operate with local people's committees to suspend the operation of markets where fire safety is not ensured.

To Xuan Thieu, deputy director of the city's Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department, said that locals and enterprises must raise their fire safety awareness.

He said that owners of production bases and investors and management boards of apartment quarters must maintain fire prevention measures and equipment regularly.

To prepare for Tet, HCM City's Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department have launched a hotline at (08)-39200996.

The city also published personal telephone numbers of two deputy directors of the department as well as 30 heads and deputy heads of units under the department.

Statistics from the Department of Fire Prevention and Control, Rescue and Salvage showed that last year, there were nearly 2,800 blazes across the country, killing 62 people and injuring 264 people. Total damaged property was up to VND1.5billion (US$66,700).

More safety checks

Meanwhile, in HCM City, the municipal Fire Fighting and Prevention Police Department also plans to conduct more fire-safety inspections at enterprises this year.

"For the upcoming Lunar New Year, the department strongly recommends that every resident, organisation and enterprise become more vigilant about fire threats," the department's director Colonel Le Tan Buu said.

About 1,650 accidents occurred last year because of fires, explosions and rescue events in HCM City, with eight deaths and 46 injuries.

Firefighters rescued 117 people and discovered the bodies of 53 people who had died during the accidents.

Electrical faults were the main cause for 83 per cent of residential fires, which represented 50 per cent of all fires.

"The number of big fires was small. Ninety-five per cent of property losses were private residential fires," Colonel Buu said.

Last year, the department organised 2,200 firefighting and prevention training courses for nearly 65,000 people, and assisted local authorities to set up more 461 local fire fighting and prevention teams with 8,000 members.

The department also conducted fire-prevention investigations at nearly 80,000 organisations, enterprises, apartments and residential areas. They found that half of them were in danger of explosions or fires.

Inspectors found over 9,550 violations and handed out 8,345 fines totalling VND10 billion (US$460,000). Four of the inspected locations were permanently closed, seven were suspended and 33 were given warnings. — VNS

Hanoi urged to look for suitable models for traditional markets | Look At Vietnam

Hanoi urged to look for suitable models for traditional markets

July 9, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Upgrading the operational traditional markets into modern
ones is a must. However, it is necessary to find out a suitable model for the
new markets.

The Dong Xuan Market in Hanoi

Hanoians refuse to go shopping at modern markets
Despite the failures, Hanoi authorities still insist on renovating the
traditional market network, trying to turn them into modern markets, suitable to
a modern capital city.
Hanoi’s initiative of setting up building blocks for all traditional markets,
shopping malls and working offices in one has tasted the failure. The modern Cua
Nam market in Hoan Kiem district is a typical example. It cannot attract
housewives since the day it began operation.
Hanoi has also failed with the project on building Hang Da market, because it
“tried to build a new market with old way of thinking.” Meanwhile, the Mo market
is still being built the same way.
“New markets have been built under the mode of modern building blocks with thick
wall, glass doors which are “as secret as a grave.” However, the markets have
been left deserted and cold,” Nguyen Van Dung, an architect, commented.
While the heavily invested modern markets remain quiet with few visitors, the
nearby sales points have always been crowded and bustling, from early in the
morning to late in the evening.
“It’s a pity that to date, the unreasonable thoughts about the modern markets
still exist,” Dung added.
Hanoi’s authorities vow to renovate the existing traditional markets, but they
have not listened to the voice of the public. Meanwhile, in principle, the
opinions of salesmen and customers need to be respected when the city’s
localities consider the plans to upgrade the markets.
Which models for Hanoi’s traditional markets?
While the city’s leaders still discuss to find out suitable models for Hanoi’s
markets, experts point out that the Dong Xuan Market in Hanoi, or Ben Thanh and
An Dong Markets in HCM City are the success stories of renovating markets.
According to the management board of the Dong Xuan Market, while other modern
markets like Hang Da and Cua Nam have been keeping consumers away, Dong Xuan has
been developing in a sustainable way.
It is because, unlike the shopping malls and supermarkets, clean and shiny, with
a lot goods, mostly high grade and expensive products, Dong Xuan is the market,
where people can find everything they need, from low cost to high quality
products.
“The key is that the goods prices here fit the pockets of the majority of
people. Everyone can go to Dong Xuan market, from low income to high income
earners. As such, Dong Xuan target a wider range of customers than modern
markets,” a representative of Dong Xuan Market’s board of management said.
He went on to say that the investors should not only try to earn money, but also
need to pay attention to the influences of the markets to the socio-economic
life.
Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade also said that
though the city has modern shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, it
also has 243 traditional markets which have been playing a very important role
in the life of the city’s residents.
The merchants at An Dong Market, one of the biggest traditional markets in HCM
City, pays 60 billion dong to the city’s budget every year, a very satisfactory
result in the context of economic recession.
As such, Hanoi absolutely can have modern markets while no need to eliminate
traditional markets. However, in order to do that, it’s necessary to find out
suitable models for the markets.
Source: VnMedia

Vietnamese brands unknown

Vietnamese goods flooding world markets, but Vietnamese brands unknown

August 29, 2011  about Uncategorized

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has been well-known as a
big exporter and Vietnamese goods have been consumed all over the world.
However, very few consumers can cite specific trademarks of Vietnam.

Dr Nguyen Quoc Thinh from
the Brand Center
of the University of Trade, said that when he attended an exhibition
organized recently in the US,
he and the colleagues asked 127 US consumers about the perception of the
Vietnamese brands.

Only 12 of the polled people
said they know Vietnamese goods in the US, and only three could name three
Vietnamese brands: Pho 24 (noodle soup), Vinacafe (coffee) and Tosy (toy).

The above mentioned example
shows that though Vietnam
keeps exporting goods to the world and plays a certain role in the world
market, Vietnamese enterprises still do not succeed in building up strong
brands to make Vietnamese products better known to the world’s consumers.

Thinh has also talked about
Vietnamese tra and basa fish, which have become more famous after the lawsuit
raised by the US catfish farmers’ association against Vietnamese seafood
processing companies.

Though Vietnam is leading the world in terms of the
output and export turnover of catfish, Vietnamese tra and basa fish products,
which have been present in 125 markets, still bear the brands of importers when
they enter the US
market. This explains why few US
consumers know that these are the products of Vietnam.

Of course, the fact that
Vietnamese products cannot bear Vietnamese brands has led to the loss of
multi-billion dollars to Vietnamese enterprises. Though Vietnam has been well aware of the
importance of the branding strategy, it still does not succeed in building up
strong brands.

Vietnam, like Columbia, is a
big coffee exporter, but Columbia’s
coffee has been well known in the world. Dr Tran Le Hong from the National
Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP), said that a federation of Columbian
coffee growers was established in 1927, which then rapidly opened marketing
offices in New York and London. In 1960, the organization hired a New
York-based company to build a strategy on doing the marketing in the US
market, and then organized marketing activities continuously from 1960s to
1980s in the market.

As a result, Columbian
coffee has been well known among US consumers and become one of the five
leading brands recognized by consumers.

The good branding strategy
has helped Columbia export 10-12 million bags of coffee a year, though Columbia
only has 527,000 growers, while Uganda, which has 1.25 million growers, can
only export three million bags a year. Especially, Columbian coffee is even
more expensive than Brazilian products.

Experts and government
agencies have urged enterprises to draw up detailed strategies to develop their
brands in long term. Nguyen Thanh Bien, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade,
said that as Vietnam
has become the biggest or the second biggest exporter of many kinds of
products, especially pepper, rice, coffee and cashew nuts, and it needs to pay
more attention to build up brands which allow obtaining high added values and
sustainable export growth.

Thinh has urged government
agencies and enterprises to take full advantage of the lawsuit raised by the US
against Vietnamese tra fish, which has made Vietnamese tra fish more famous, to
build a tra fish collective brand.

However, the experts and
government agencies have admitted that this would be really a difficult task;
therefore, Vietnamese enterprises need the support from the State. The Vietnam
Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade has revealed
that the national branding development program is cooperating with business
associations, to consider applying the model on collective brand development.
Besides, the agency will also help enterprises in protecting the intellectual
property of Vietnamese products in order to increase the recognition of foreign
consumers about Vietnamese products.

C. V

Bangkok Attractions, Vacation Rentals, Vacation Homes, Holiday Rentals

BBangkok has many fabulous attractions which make excellent day-trips. One of the most popular day-trips from Bangkok is the 110 km trip to the picturesque Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, which is in Ratchaburi province.

Bangkok is famous for its floating markets. You will find them at Ton Khem, and there are others at Hia Kui and Khun Phitak.

Organised tours to Damnoen Saduak will probably also include a visit the Rose Garden and the chedi at Nakhon Pathom.

The Rose garden is set in large landscaped tropical gardens but is mostly visited for the 'cultural show' that's put on there - Thai traditional dance, Buddhist ordination ceremony, muay thai (Thai boxing), elephants at work, and takraw (a common sport in Thailand).

Also in the grounds is a luxury riverside resort, thousands of rose bushes and hundreds of exotic birds. Close to Rose Garden are the Thai Human Imagery Museum and the Samphran Elephant Park.

The human imagery museum is a Thai Madame Tussauds with images of famous monks and all the Chakri dynasty kings.

The Elephant park has a variety of elephant and crocodile shows ( featuring these animals wrestling, performing in various ways, including tug-of-war).

Nakhon Pathom, around 60 km west of Bangkok, is a town famous as the reputedly the oldest in Thailand and the place where Buddhist missionaries first entered Thailand from India. It is a typical provincial Thai town with only the gold encrusted Phra Pathom Chedi giving a clue as to its celebrated past.

This is a massive 127m high, making it the word's largest Buddhist

monument, and the most important in all of Thailand. As well as the main chedi, there are numerous bots, Buddha images and other structures nearby. This area is mostly visited either on a day tour from Bangkok, or sometimes on route to Kanchanaburi.

Kanchanaburi is home to the River Kwai and its infamous bridge. The building of the bridge in 1943 was part of a wartime project to link existing Thai and Burmese railway lines to create a direct route from Bangkok, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) in an effort to support the Japanese occupation of Burma.

Over 100,000 conscripted laborers and 12,000 prisoners of war died during the whole project.

To the northeast of Bangkok in Minburi are both the Suwan Siam Water Park and the Safari World Park. Easy to combine in one day trip, the water park is set in large landscaped gardens and has surf, whirlpools, fountains, waterfalls, large water slides and flumes.

Other family attractions here are children's playgrounds, colorful aviaries, an open zoo and botanical gardens.

With more than 150 acres, Safari World is the largest wildlife park in Southeast Asia. There are almost a hundred different animal species, including giraffes, zebras, elephants, lions and tigers.

The marine section has trained dolphin shows and an aviary section with eagles, macaws and parrots. There are various shows available (including dolphins, birds, seals and monkeys).

This is best visited on a tour, as the wildlife section is for vehicles only. Though the park also has coaches you can go through on, most taxi drivers can be persuaded to take you through it if pay them a little more for it. The other sections can be visited on foot.

Exporting products to depressed markets

Major Vietnamese export markets like the US, Japan and the EU are falling into depression.
One of the areas in which the Government will stimulate investment this year is products of high export value. However, the World Bank has forecast that the volume of goods transacted in the market this year will decrease by 2.1 percent. In developing countries, export growth will shrink to 3 percent, a sharp contrast to the average growth rate of 15 percent over the past five years.
At present, cassava starch exported to China is sitting idle at northern border gates. Some Vietnamese products such as watermelon, fresh areca nuts, litchi and rubber have faced the same problem over the past years as Vietnamese businesses continue operating inefficiently due to lack of transparency in terms of market.
Businesses need to master information sharing on their capacity for production and supply as well as their ability to deliver products in each period. Unfortunately, such information is too sketchy for businesses to make sound decision regarding a number of agricultural products in stock.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung related at a recent agriculture and rural development conference that when he asked about the shrimp and rice cultivation in one province, for instance, local party and administration leaders gave different answers. They seemed unclear as to when and how much products would be sold to earn record profits.
This typical example of poor information forecasting is a common occurrence in Vietnam. When a plan to develop tra and basa catfish in the Mekong delta region was launched in October, 2008 the fisheries association in An Giang province – the nation’s leading catfish producers they found that much important data for 2009 and 2010 was either outdated or contradicted.
This year the National Assembly set an export growth target of 13 percent, instead of 19 percent. However, market experts said that the target is still too demanding for Vietnam to achieve as the World Bank forecast the export growth rate in developing countries at 3 percent.
National export activities are being seriously affected by the world economic slowdown. A private business in northern Hai Duong province, which exported thousands of tonnes of roast suckling pigs to Hong Kong, Taiwan and some other markets reported that its export volume has fallen steeply in recent months because these markets simultaneously stopped importing such meat. Consequently, a number of farmers who supply suckling pigs to the business also fared no better.
Some seafood export businesses said that many importers cancelled their orders this year due to a declining demand. Therefore, many processing factories in the south have to narrow their production and many workers have lost jobs. This is a manifestation of the impact of the global financial meltdown on the domestic market.
In the international integration process, tariff barriers are to be removed across the board while non-tariff barriers will become more complicated. It means that the world market is more open for Vietnamese products but much more demanding in terms of meeting requirements concerning quality and branding. For example in the European markets, fruit, which meets certain specification for both size and colour can be sold in the supermarket.
Nguyen Ngoc Son, Vietnamese ambassador to Switzerland, said that although mangoes imported from Thailand and Pakistan are not as delicious as the Vietnamese mango, they are available in the market.
According to Swiss importers, Vietnamese mango tastes better but the quality is too variable so it does not meet the requirement for bulk orders. The first batch of fruit is good but the following batches come up short because some Vietnamese businesses do not deal in good faith and break contracts with clients, badly affecting the whole Vietnamese business community.
For example, last year, Vietnamese cashew nut businesses refused to deliver goods to clients under signed contracts in order to avoid initial losses and consequently they had to pay a high price for this by selling them dirt cheap when importers refused to import anymore.
Major Vietnamese export markets such as the US, Japan and the EU are falling into depression. Meanwhile Vietnamese footwear imported to the EU won’t enjoy the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) tax any longer while Chinese garment products imported to the US have had their tariffs removed. However, these demanding requirements provide an opportunity for businesses and entrepreneurs to show the world what they can do.
Despite the decline in the export market due to the impact of the global economic downturn and the strict requirements of traditional markets, many enterprises are still actively finding markets and accelerating exports. For example, Vietnamese businesses are focusing on low-income customers in the US who are looking for cheap products. Businesses share their experience that demand for goods in the African market is high.
In addition it is an easy market to enter and imposes few technical barriers and tariffs. However, businesses are hard-pressed to find suitable payment methods. Many small products have high export value and potential products include suitcases, bags, umbrellas, rubber products, iron, and electric wires and cables.
A number of support policies have been devised for export businesses, including helping them access preferential loans from banks, cutting loan rates, giving credit guarantees for some agricultural products and creating favourable conditions for them to reduce prices and improve their competitive edge.
The more difficult the world market is the more risks businesses will face. Therefore, businesses should be very careful in their operations. In addition to Government support, associations should play key role in providing information for businesses.
Another important information channel that businesses ignore is the Vietnamese trade office overseas, which can provide accurate information about foreign partners, helping domestic ones minimize risk when signing contracts. Further, businesses should know how to find new markets for old products.
(Source: VOV)

Retailers bring ‘mini’ marts to residential quarters

Modern retailers are trying to compete with traditional markets with mini-marts, where they offer safe food at reasonable prices.

Retail market: foreign investors may dodge laws
Foreign retailers striding, domestic ones ambling

Co.op mart comes to residential quarters


Mini marts are now avaialble at residential quartersSaigon Co-op, on December 20, declared their plan to develop a retail mini-mart chain, specializing in selling foods with the new brand-name, Co.op Food. Prior to that, the market already witnessed the appearance of Vissan’s, Fresh CP Mart’s and Sagrifood’s food mart chains.

According to Nguyen Thanh Nhan, Deputy General Director of Saigon Co-op, in charge of Co.op Food chain, the mini-marts of the chain will be open from 6 am to 9 pm, and will sell fresh food, preliminarily-treated, treated and frozen food. Each of the shops will provide food in accordance with the taste of consumers. Co.op Food aims to provide safe food at reasonable prices.

The opening of Co.op Food in the Phan Van Tri residential quarter, in district 5, HCM City, on December 27 will kick start the opening of the chain of 20 mini-marts in 2009. Covering an area of 220 sq m, the mart aims to serve 8,000 households in the locality, within the diameter of 500 m.

Nguyen Thi Hanh, General Director of Saigon Co-op, said that this model of food supermarket will be the ‘arm’ of the existing supermart chain, which has been overloaded in selling food.

Hanh said that the model of food mini-marts proves to be a good choice as it helps to bring products directly to consumers, while retailers do not have difficulties in workshop premises while opening small-scale marts. The standard area for a supermart is 500 sq m, while the area for a mini-mart is just 30-100 sq m. The investment in mini marts is also not high, just VND 500 million to VND 2 billion.

Safe, clean food will be the choice of consumers

Domestic retailers believe that foreign retailers have advantages in capital and technology, but they will not be competitive in selling fresh food. Therefore, they will focus on this segment of the market. In the long-term, domestic retailers plan to co-operate with producers and research centers to develop a new model of production-distribution, which allows them to put out and sell high quality products at reasonable prices.
Currently, the volume of pork provided by well-known brand-name suppliers through the mart and showroom systems just meets 20% of the demand of local residents in HCM City. Consumers have gotten used to purchasing food from the marts and showrooms.

The showroom of Vissan Company, on Le Van Sy street in district 3, HCM City, is always crowded with consumers, though it is located next to a traditional market that is considered to have many advantages thanks to their low prices. The food sold at the mart proves to be a little more expensive than at traditional markets, but they are believed to have better quality, thanks to preservation equipments.

While Vissan and Sagrifood have advantages in pork, Fresh CP Mart’s advantage is in poultry eggs and meat. The shops of Fresh CP Mart are 30 sq. m. each, but they are clean and equipped with preservation cold storage systems.

The big challenge for small shopkeepers

The organizers of the food chains are still thinking of developing their networks further. CP plans to conquer residential quarters and high-rise apartment buildings with the high-grade chain. By that time, the company will also sell fresh fish, in addition to chicken and pork. The 20 marts it currently has will be developed into 30 before the end of 2008.

Van Duc Muoi, Deputy Director of Vissan, said that in addition to the plan to develop a distribution network of 50 food marts, Vissan will also pay attention to diversifying the varieties of food.

It is believed that the development of the mini-mart model will not affect the existing traditional markets. However, it is clear that the sale of food at traditional markets has been decreasing. If the traditional markets do not change their ways of selling and preserving food, they will lose consumers to mini-marts, which are arising everywhere.

(Source: Tuoi tre)

Hanoi bans hawkers on many streets, tourist spots

Hanoi will deploy 2,000 officials to monitor enforcement of a partial ban on street vendors that takes effect today.
The officials, drawn from the police, inspection agency and market watchdog, will patrol 62 selected streets and 48 public places, including historical monuments and tourist destinations that are off-limits to vendors.
City authorities spoke with residents since January 1 about the ban to improve the city’s image.
“It’s like a campaign to change a bad habit,” Nguyen Thinh Thanh, Chief of Hanoi People’s Committee Office, said.
“We will try our best to achieve it.”
Nguyen Hoang Linh, deputy director of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, said the city organized 40 training sessions on awareness of public order and installed 332 sign boards on streets about the ban.
Nguyen Thi Nhu Mai, deputy director of the city Department of Industry and Trade, said: “We will build markets for street vendors in the future. I am sure city authorities will completely ban street vending in future.”
Hawkers violating the ban will be fined VND40,000 – 100,000 (US$2.4-$60).
Hanoi has over 670 streets."