Hybrid rice strain fetches 500,000 USD

A 66-year-old retired Vietnamese scientist has sold the rights to a high yielding hybrid-rice variety she developed in the late 1990s to a private company for 10 billion VND (500,000 USD).

Associate professor Nguyen Thi Tram, Ph.D. a former lecturer at the Hanoi-based Agricultural University No. 1, transferred the rights to rice strain TH3-3 to Doan Van Sau, director of Cuong Tan Company Ltd, in Nam Dinh province.

In 2005, the long-grained, fragrant variety was recognised as a national rice variety and given a licence two years later.

The rice has a growth period of only 105-125 days, is able to survive harsh weather, resists common pests and diseases, and yields 6-8 tonnes per hectare, one to two tonnes more than other local rice strains.

Since 2003, farmers in the northern provinces of Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tay, Ha Nam and Hung Yen have used Tram’s new strain on a trial basis.

”For several years, the TH3-3 strain has proved its stable quality and productivity,” said Dr Tram, who was also former deputy director of the Agricultural Biotechnology Institute.

The new hybrid rice variety is now grown on 30,000 ha in 26 provinces in the north, Tram said.

According to an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, TH3-3’s productivity is higher than other strains, which yielded 6.5 tonnes per ha for the recent winter-spring crop in northern Vietnam.

“The development of the hybrid rice strain was an encouraging move in Vietnam ’s agricultural science,” said Nguyen Tri Ngoc, head of the Agricultural Ministry’s cultivation department.

He said the ministry would expand cultivation area for it in coming years.

Doan Van Sau from Cuong Tan Co said the 10 billion VND deal would bring great success to his business given that buyers of the new rice strains were increasing rapidly.

Dr Tram said she allowed the buyers to produce that it would sell seed at a reasonable price.

Tram began her career in 1968 at the Institute for Cash Crops and Foodstuff where she worked under the guidance of world-known agronomist Professor Luong Dinh Cua. During this period she developed new hybrid rice strains such as NN-9, NN-10, NN-23, NN75-6

From 1985, she worked as a lecturer at Agriculture University No.1 after returning from the former Soviet Union where she studied at the Rice Research Institute.

From 1994, Tram produced new hybrid rice strains including TH3-4, TH3-5, TH3-11, TH5-1, TH6-3 and TH2-3.

In 2005, she was given the Kovalevskaya Award and, in 2005, a State award for science and technology for significant contributions to agricultural development.

A retiree, Tram keeps travels to many localities to study and find new rice strains for local farmers.

“I have made several field trips to Son La and will establish a specific area for rice research and production there to help local farmers,” the 66-year-old scientist said.

Increase in sales slows VN-Index’s upward trend

An increase in sales on June 26 slowed down the VN-Index’s upward trend.
Large numbers of shares sold at the beginning of the day pushed the index down but buying increased late in the day lifting the index which rose by 2.7 points or 0.7 percent to close at 386.48.

Trading volume, double Wednesday’s figure, reached 13.49 million shares, worth 420.25 billion VND (25.47 million USD).

Phu My Fertiliser (DPM) led the market in terms of trading volume with orders for more than 2.3 million shares matched, followed by Sacombank (STB) with 2.1 million shares.

Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) shares continued to be much in demand after Japan’s Daiwa Securities Group Inc committed to buy 11 million SSI shares on Monday. Shares ordered to buy exceeded shares ordered to sell by 2.5 million.

ANZ Bank on Wednesday bought more than 6.8 million SSI shares to raise its stake in the firm to 18.89 percent.

The price of STB, however, slid 1.87 percent on the day. FPT dropped 1.98 percent while Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp (REE) lost 1.52 percent, after recovering on Wednesday.

On the northern market, the HASTC-Index slipped slightly 0.24 points or 0.21 percent to close at 111.82. Liquidity improved considerably, with trading volume nearly double to more than nine million shares worth total revenue of 213.7 billion VND (12.95 million USD).

Quang Ninh-based Coc Sau Coal Joint Stock Company (TC6) on June 26 listed 10 million shares, worth 100 billion VND (6 million USD), on the Hanoi Securities Trading Centre. It has 100 billion VND in equity.

As many as 28,000 TC6 shares changed hands on June 26 at an average of 29,600 VND (1.79 USD) per share.

Stock market seen as good source of capital

Vietnam’s stock market is an effective channel of capital for the country’s economy, with its capitalised value accounting for 40 percent of GDP, a State Securities Commission (SSC) official has reported.

At a meeting between the SCC, the Hanoi Securities Trading Centre (HaSTC)’s and NA officials on June 26, SSC Chairman Vu Bang said last year saw the stock market boom with its scale expanding many times compared with six years ago.

Some 127 trillion VND (7.9 billion USD) was pumped into the stock market in 2007 and combined with OTC the figure was estimated at nearly 200 trillion VND (12.5 billion USD).

Up to now, the stock market has more than 430,000 accounts, including 2,000 organisation accounts.

According to Bang, shares have plummeted to bottom-level prices but for long-term development the shares on Vietnamese bourses have become attractive compared with those listed on regional stock markets.

Also on the meeting’s agenda was the stock market’s impacts on macro economy, equitisation process and economic structure.

National Assembly Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Kien urged the securities managers to propose useful solutions to ensure the market’s smooth operation.

Cai Lan port gets 120 million USD for wharves

The Cai Lan International Container Port Company plans to invest 120 million USD to build three wharfs in Cai Lan port in north-east Quang Ninh province.

The three-phase project is expected to be put into operation in 2014.

In the first phase to run until 2011, the project will build 303m of the three wharves and services facilities. The following three-year phase will see construction of an additional 261m of the wharves.

The final phase is expected to the see the wharves become operational by 2014.

The Cai Lan International Container Port Company was set up by two investors, the Cai Lan Port Joint Stock Company and SSA Holdings International – Vietnam, Inc from the US.

World Bank approves 320 million USD credits to Vietnam

The World Bank has approved plans to grant Vietnam two International Development Association (IDA) loans worth 320 million USD.

The first 150-million-USD credit will go toward supporting the government’s implementation of its 2006-2010 Social Economic Development Plan (SEDP).

It will fund the country’s work in business and financial sector reform, addressing education and health insurance cost issues, as well as pension plans. Forest development and land-use planning and governance in public investment projects and state auditing are also on the SEDP’s reform agenda.

A project to upgrade transport infrastructure and services through two major waterway corridors in the country’s northern delta region will absorb the remaining 170 million USD loan.

It will involve investment in multimodal transport corridors and ferry boat stages as well as management support to the transport ministry and associated provincial agencies.

The World Bank also says it plans to commit 5 billion USD to Vietnam over the next three years.

Vietnam’s economy maintains growth despite inflation

Vietnam’s economy maintained its growth in June and the first half of 2008 as a whole despite impacts from inflation, price fluctuation, bad weather, and diseases.

At a conference on June production held in Hanoi on June 26, representatives from ministries, agencies, localities and corporations agreed that the GDP growth rate of 6.5 percent recorded in the past six months was a success, creating an impulse to obtain the growth of 7 percent in the remaining months of this year.

According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh, the results signaled the initial effects of the Government’s measures to curb inflation.

In the reviewed period, Vietnam got a bumper winter-spring rice crop with an output of 18 million tonnes, up 1 million tonnes over the same period last year.

The agro-forestry-fisheries production value recorded a 4.5 percent year-on year increase.

The industry production obtained a 16.3 percent increase, a considerable high rate in the context of inflation. Almost localities reported higher growth as compared to the same period last year.

The export turnover surged by 30 percent year-on-year to reach 29.7 billion USD.

The trade deficit saw a slowdown in June but the total of the past six months still counted at 14.7 billion USD, or nearly half of the export turnover and higher than the figure of 2007.

Deputy Minister Sinh said the trade deficit must be limited under 1 billion USD per month in the remaining six months to keep the total under the benchmark of 19-20 billion USD. “However, the slowdown in trade deficit in June proved that control measures starts its action,” he added.

Other positive signals from the economy included the slowdown increase of the consumer price index (CPI) in June, which was estimated at 2.14 percent, much lower than the May record of 3.91 percent.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction in the past six months also set a record of 31.6 billion USD, outdistancing the 2007 figure of 21.3 billion USD.
The conference also agreed on some existing problems, including the high prices of some key materials and consumer goods, natural disasters and diseases, slow capital disbursement, and sluggish construction process of major projects.

Deputy Minister Sinh stressed that the situation required more efforts from the Government, ministries, agencies and the whole community for higher growth rates in the rest of the year.