100 billion zimbabwe dollars to usd

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Surging international crude oil price on improving demand has helped many oil and gas companies record big profits in the first quarter of this year, after losing in 2020.

In the first quarter financial result, Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex, PLX) posted a slight fall of 0.6 percent in net revenue to nearly 38.2 trillion VND (1.6 million USD). However, it was still profitable thanks to a cut in expenses in financial activities and others, and gains in other incomes.

Of which, the company’s profit after tax was nearly 736.2 billion VND in the first quarter after reporting a loss of 2.3 trillion VND in the same period last year.

During the period, Petrolimex’s domestic output rose 4.7 percent year-on-year to 2.27 million m3. Retail sales accounted for 55 – 60 percent of its total sales but contributed around 80 percent of its profit.

SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) said that the company’s production growth will continue until the first half of the second quarter, boosted by the Government’s restriction on illicit petrol, especially in the south.

Similarly, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR) witnessed its revenue reach 21 trillion VND in the first quarter with a profit of over 1.8 trillion VND, while it reported a loss of 2.33 trillion VND in the same period last year.

The main driving force for the recovery in profit was higher crude prices in the international market and crack spread of gasoline products.

Crack spread is the spread created in commodity markets by purchasing oil futures and offsetting the position by selling petrol and heating oil futures.

PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PVOIL)’s profit after tax was 190.6 billion VND, after losing 537.7 billion VND in the same period last year.

Notably, Thu Duc Trading & Import Export JSC (TMC) even reported net profit of more than 4 billion VND, nine times higher than that of last year.

Another company witnessing profit rise sharply was Nam Song Hau Trading Investing Petroleum JSC (PSH). The company’s revenue was up 10 percent over last year to more than 1.7 trillion VND, resulting in a profit of 44 billion VND, 2.1 times higher than that of the same period in 2020.

Even though there were still some companies recording declines in profit or even losses during the first quarter, in general, oil and gas companies’ results were quite positive.

With positive oil demand outlook, the oil price is expected to continue to rally. Therefore, there is still more room for oil and gas firms to recover.

SSI forecasted that Brent crude price will trade at an average of 68 USD per barrel in 2021, up 62.6 percent year-on-year, and can even go up to 70 USD in 2022.

According to SSI, developed economies are gradually opening again as they have pushed the vaccination rollout. Businesses activities will also recover quickly when countries continue to ease measures to contain COVID-19.

Brent crude was traded at 74.23 USD per barrel on June 17, and on track to head toward 75 USD./.

VNA

HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is set to offer a second financial relief package for businesses and workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to its Department of Labour , Invalids and Social Affairs.

Tourism, transport and small and medium-sized businesses, teachers, laid-off workers, and informal sector workers will be beneficiaries of payments that will be made between this month and December.

Le Minh Tan, director of the department, said it was working with authorities in the city’s 21 districts and Thu Duc city to compile a list of affected businesses and laid-off and informal sector workers who are eligible to receive the payments.

The department proposes to pay workers who were laid off for at least a month due to the pandemic monthly relief payments of 1.8 million VND (78 USD), Tan said.

The department allocated 611 billion VND (26.5 million USD) and 181 billion VND (7.85 million USD) for businesses and informal sector workers in the first relief package last year.

More than 20,500 lottery ticket sellers received more than 20 billion VND (869,400 USD).

Free food, essential goods

More than 600 workers placed under quarantine at the VINA Kitchen Ware JSC at the Tan Binh Industrial Park in HCM City on June 1 received essential goods and food for free from the Trade Union of the industrial parks and export processing zones.

They are quarantined after coming into close contact with COVID-19 patients.

Huynh Van Tuan, Chairman of the Trade Union, said the workers got minimum wages and other support in quarantine.

Infected workers would get financial assistance of up to 3 million VND (130 USD) and others would get 1.5 million VND (65 USD), he said.

A free rice dispensing machine for poor people and those out of work has been installed at a kindergarten in district 12’s Thanh Loc ward, which is under lockdown.

Disadvantaged people could get free rice and essential goods from a store set up next to the machine, Nguyen Duc Vinh, Secretary of the Thanh Loc Ward Youth Union, said.

Some three to four tonnes of vegetables transported from Lam Dong province are delivered to people quarantined in the Thanh Loc ward every three or four days./.

VNA

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has recorded continual growth in squid and octopus exports to China over the last three years, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Shipments of these commodities to China last year rose by nearly 61 percent from 2019 and by 21 percent year on year in the first four months of 2021 to more than 9.7 million USD.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic partly contained in China, this country has gradually eased restrictions, helping to recover demand for mollusc imports, VASEP said, noting that squid and octopus products remain one of Vietnam’s key aquatic exports to the neighbouring market.

Vietnam shipped almost 3.3 billion USD worth of aquatic products abroad in the first five months of 2021, up 14 percent year on year.

Up to 60 percent, or nearly 2 billion USD, of the revenue was contributed by the 13 Mekong Delta localities while six others in the southeastern region made up 18 percent, 602 million USD, VASEP reported.

Between January and May, overall agricultural exports to China posted impressive growth with shipments of some produce even matching or surpassing the corresponding figures for the entire 2020, according to the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In particular, Vietnam shipped over 468,000 tonnes of mango to this market, equivalent to 112 percent of last year’s figure; 348,000 tonnes of banana, 87 percent; 301,000 tonnes of jackfruit, 92 percent; and 1.1 million tonnes of dragon fruit, 63 percent.

Hoang Trung, Director of the Plant Protection Department, said China has long been the main importer of farm produce from Vietnam, and it will remain the largest buyer of Vietnamese agro-forestry-fishery products in the time to come./.

VNA

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Several construction firms have reported a drop in profits in the first quarter of this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising material prices .

Since the beginning of this year, the prices of construction materials on the market have increased sharply amid worries over shortages of materials and rising demand for economic recovery after COVID-19 .

Local brands have increased steel prices by 30-40 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, putting great pressure on the construction industry, as steel currently accounts for 20 percent of inputs for construction work .

Not only steel, the price of cement has also skyrocketed. Since mid-April, many cement manufacturers have adjusted the price of products sold with an increase of 40,000 VND per tonne.

The prices of some other key materials such as sand and gravel are also increasing dramatically.

Facing the double pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic and rises in material prices, a series of contractors have decided to suspend construction progress to wait for market stabilisation.

Coteccons Construction Corporation (CTD)’s revenue fell from 3.5 trillion VND (151.5 million USD) in Q1 last year to 2.56 trillion VND in Q1 this year, down by nearly 28 percent.

Gross profit was 120 billion VND, down by more than 38 percent compared to 2020. The gross profit margin was 4.67 percent, significantly lower than 5.46 percent of the same period last year.

Its pre-tax profit dropped 55 percent to touch 69 billion VND. On the stock market, CTD prices have dropped and are currently being traded at 58,600 VND per share, down more than 27 percent since the beginning of the year.

The pre-tax profit of Hoa Binh Construction and Real Estate Corporation (HBC) in Q1 decreased by 12 billion VND, down 37 percent. In contrast, the gross profit margin improved from 7.7 percent in Q1, 2020 to 8.7 percent in Q1 this year.

This year, in addition to civil real estate construction, HBC has stepped up contracting for energy, industrial and infrastructure projects to increase market share.

Ricons Construction Investment JSC reported its Q1 profit decreased 28 percent to VNĐ31 billion.

Hung Thinh Incons Joint Stock Company (HTN) saw revenue in Q1 increased to 1.16 trillion VND but gross profit fell sharply to 103 billion VND.

In a new report, the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) indicated that steel prices may continue to rise until the end of the third quarter.

On its side, the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors (VACC) has issued a petition to the Government to soon direct ministries and branches to examine the cause of the sudden increase in steel prices./.

VNA

Jakarta (VNA) – Part of ministries, institutions, and central agencies of Indonesia is set to move to the country’s new capital in East Kalimantan province starting in 2023, an official has said.

The Indonesia n Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PAN-RB) targets that the state civil apparatus in ministries, institutions, and central agencies will have gradually been moved to the new capital by the end of 2023 so that the government machinery will begin operating there in 2024, Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said on the PAN-RB’s official Youtube channel on June 17.

The PAN-RB has prepared a roadmap for the operation, and it is only waiting for the official capital relocation decision, he noted.

In 2019, Indonesian President Joko Widodo selected North Penajam Paser district in East Kalimantan as the location for the new capital. However, construction projects for the new capital have been delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Development Planning Agency of Indonesia estimated that the capital relocation will cost about 486 trillion Rp (33.7 billion USD), including 265.2 trillion Rp to be mobilised via public – private partnership, 127.3 trillion Rp from the private sector’s special funds, and 93.5 trillion Rp from the state budget./.

VNA

The CFM RISE programme by GE Aviation and Safran aims to drive revolutionary innovation for sustainable engines

The CFM RISE (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines) programme will demonstrate and mature a range of new, disruptive technologies for future engines that could enter service by the mid-2030s.

The companies today also signed an agreement extending the CFM International 50/50 partnership to the year 2050, declaring their intent to lead the way for more sustainable aviation in line with the industry’s commitment to halve CO2 emissions by 2050.

“The relationship between GE and Safran today is the strongest it has ever been,” said John Slattery, president and CEO of GE Aviation. “Together, through the RISE technology demonstration programme, we are reinventing the future of flight, bringing an advanced suite of revolutionary technologies to market that will take the next generation of single-aisle aircraft to a new level of fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. We fully embrace the sustainability imperative. As we have always done in the past, we will deliver for the future.”

“Our industry is in the midst of the most challenging times we have ever faced,” said Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran. “We have to act now to accelerate our efforts to reduce our impact on the environment. Through the extension of our CFM partnership to 2050, we are today reaffirming our commitment to work together as technology leaders to help our industry meet the urgent climate challenges.”

Olivier Andries and John Slattery together

Technologies matured as part of the RISE Programme will serve as the foundation for the next generation CFM engine that could be available by the mid-2030s. The programme goals include reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by more than 20 per cent compared to today’s most efficient engines, as well as ensuring 100 per cent compatibility with alternative energy sources such as sustainable aviation fuels and hydrogen.

Central to the programme is state-of-the-art propulsive efficiency for the engine, including developing an open fan architecture. This is a key enabler to achieving significantly improved fuel efficiency while delivering the same speed and cabin experience as current single-aisle aircraft.

The programme will also use hybrid electric capability to optimise engine efficiency while enabling electrification of many aircraft systems.

The programme will also use hybrid electric capability to optimise engine efficiency while enabling electrification of many aircraft systems.

The programme is being led by a joint GE/Safran engineering team that has laid out a comprehensive technology roadmap including composite fan blades, heat resistant metal alloys, ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), hybrid electric capability, and additive manufacturing.

The RISE programme includes more than 300 separate component, module, and full engine builds. A demonstrator engine is scheduled to begin testing at GE and Safran facilities around the middle of this decade and flight test soon thereafter.

The original 1974 framework agreement creating CFM International as a 50/50 joint venture between the two aircraft engine manufacturers redefined international co-operation and helped change the course of commercial aviation.

The partnership was renewed in 2008 for the launch of the LEAP engine programme. Today, CFM is the world’s leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines with a product line that serves as the industry benchmark for efficiency, reliability, and low overall cost of ownership. More than 35,000 CFM engines have been delivered to more than 600 operators around the globe, accumulating more than one billion flight hours.

Safran is an international high-tech group, operating in the aviation, defense, and space markets. It has a global presence, with 79,000 employees and sales of €16.5 billion ($19.7 billion) in 2020. Safran undertakes research and development programmes to maintain the environmental priorities of its R&T and Innovation roadmap.

GE Aviation, an operating unit of American tech giant GE, is a world-leading provider of jet engines, components, and systems for commercial and military aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings.