Apec thailand

A man receives the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at Samut Sakhon hospital in Samut Sakhon province (Photo: Reuters)

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand reported 70 new COVID-9 cases, including 62 domestic infections on February 28, according to the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Of the domestic cases, 49 were recorded in the outbreak in Samut Sakhon. No new infections were confirmed in Bangkok.

The same day, Thailand started its COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, with the first shot, using China’s Sinovac vaccine, going to Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

Thailand has so far recorded 25,951 COVID-19 cases, including 23,181 domestic infections and 2,770 imported cases. A total of 25,128 patients have recovered, while 740 others are still being treated at hospitals. The death toll stands at 83.

Meanwhile, the Philippines found 2,113 more COVID infections on the same day, lifting its national count to 576,352.

The number of deaths related to COVID-19 in the country has increased to 12,318, after an additional 29 patients died in the past 24 hours.

The Southeast Asian country has tested more than 8 million out of about 110 million people since the COVD-19 outbreak in January last year.

The country’s COVID-19 vaccination programme is expected to start on March 1, using Sinovac vaccine produced by China./.

CoronaVac is developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand kicked off its COVID-19 inoculation campaign on February 28, with cabinet ministers, health officials and medical professionals among the first in the queue to receive vaccinations.

The first doses of vaccine, developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech, were given to Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is also the health minister, among others at an infectious diseases institute on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Anutin Charnvirakuk hoped that the vaccination will result in people being safe from the spread of COVID-19 and it allows Thailand to return to normal as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, 66, attended the event, although his age falls outside the range of 18 to 59 suitable to receive Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine, so he did not get it.

Thailand received its first 200,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine from China, which have been distributed to 13 high-risk provinces. Thailand will receive additional 1.8 million CoronaVac in March and April.

Thailand is expected to take delivery of 17,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in the second week of March.

To date, Thailand has not recorded any new outbreak. Total infections in the nation remain at more than 25,000.

The Thai government said it had a plan to vaccinate half of the nation’s population this year./.

The Hanoitimes – Vietnam’s rise of three ranking positions to 8th overall is the fastest rise in the top half of the Index and displaces regional partner Thailand in the top 10.

Vietnam moved up three places to 8th in the top 10 countries of the Emerging Markets Logistics Index 2021 by Agility, one of the world’s top freight forwarding and contract logistics providers.

Cargos handling at Dinh Vu port, Hai Phong. Photo: Pham Hung

Among countries in ASEAN, Vietnam stood at third behind Indonesia (3rd overall) and Malaysia (5th), and was above the likes of Thailand (11th), the Philippines (21st) and Cambodia (41st).

According to Agility, Vietnam’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the most successful globally, with data from Johns Hopkins University showing less than 1,500 reports of Covid-19 cases in the country in 2020.

The combination of social and economic restrictions with a strict and comprehensive testing and tracing system, saw lockdowns last less than three months, and by June many factories were reopened and domestic operations were recovering quickly, it said.

“The steps taken by Vietnam in 2020 propel it into the top 10 ranking in 2021 – its rise of three ranking positions to 8th overall is the fastest rise in the top half of the Index and displaces regional partner Thailand in the top 10,” stated the logistics firm.

“The country’s economy has performed well as a result of the minimal domestic disruptions and is set to be one of the best performing globally in 2020,” noted the report.

The foundation provided by the strong performance in 2020 is expected to underpin a 2021 expansion of 6.5% as domestic and international conditions normalize and the Covid-19 pandemic recedes.

In recent years, Vietnam has added significant hightech manufacturing capacity, helping attract investment from producers higher up the value chain as costs in China increased.

The option to avoid additional costs associated with the US-China trade war has added further motivation for manufacturers to choose Vietnam, noted Agility.

Samsung, which alone contributes a quarter of Vietnam’s exports through smartphone manufacturing activity in the country, will shift PC manufacturing to Vietnam after it shut down a Chinese factory in 2020. Apple is also reported to have requested that Foxconn open a Vietnam production location to add production capacity for iPads and MacBooks.

When the production lines become active in the first half of 2021, it will be the first time iPad manufacture to take place outside China. Meanwhile, chip manufacturer Intel will operate its largest assembly plant in the country and South Korea’s LG electronics announced investment plans during 2020.

With Covid-19 further exposing the risks of over-reliance on China, Vietnam will be an attractive option for relocation – indeed, when asked, 19.2% of survey respondents cited Vietnam as the number one location for those seeking to diversify production locations outside of China.

However, so rapid has the investment and arrival of new businesses been that it is creating challenges of its own, including a shortage of skills and knowledge to produce the highest value goods.

Navigos Group, which owns the country’s largest jobs site, reports that 71% of employers cite a lack of IT skills as their most significant challenge.

SCG headquarters in Bang Sue District, Bangkok, Thailand. — Photo courtesy of SCG

After buying Duy Tan Plastic Corporation, Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) is cementing its domination of Viet Nam’s plastic production industry.

Under the contract signed on February 9 via a virtual conference, Duy Tan will sell 70 per cent of its shares in five of total twenty-two subsidiary companies, including Duy Tan Plastic Manufacturing Corporation and Duy Tan Long An Corporation, to SCG’s SCG Packaging, Duy Tan said.

Duy Tan Plastic is a leading company in the plastic goods market in Viet Nam with revenue of VND4.7 trillion in 2020. It has nearly 1,000 commodities units and 16,000 distribution agents across the country. The company’s annual capacity reaches 116,000 tonnes of hard plastic packaging and plastic goods.

SCG, Thailand’s largest cement producer, will buy the stakes over three years, starting from 2021. The deal takes a long time as it is based on business results, Duy Tan Plastic said.

Through the deal, SCG and Duy Tan Plastic want to create a solid foundation for a completed supply chain.

Duy Tan Plastic aims at developing hard plastic packaging products, plastic goods and expanding export markets, while the investments help SCG Packaging broaden its hard plastic packaging businesses in ASEAN, especially strengthen capacity to serve FMCG producers and consumers in Viet Nam.

The deal is a part of SCG’s investment plan worth 10 billion baht (US$334 million) to extend its businesses in Viet Nam that has big and growing demands in plastic packaging products.

Wichan Jitpukdee, CEO of SCG Packaging, said that the company will keep investing in Viet Nam, resulting in revenue growth of over 10 per cent each year.

Dominating Viet Nam’s plastic production industry

The plastic production industry in Viet Nam has around 3,300 enterprises with total value of approximately US$18 billion.

The upstream sector of this industry includes petrochemical refineries and chemical enterprises whose main activities are to convert fossil materials into raw plastic beads.

Meanwhile the downstream sector is turning raw plastic beads into plastic products. The downstream can be divided into four main segments, including plastic packaging products, plastic building materials, plastic goods and engineering plastics.

With the deal for Duy Tan Plastic’s shares, SCG is dominating Viet Nam’s plastic industry, especially in plastic packaging products and plastic building materials. These two segments account around 61 per cent of the total market value.

In 2019, SCG Packaging founded Vina Kraft Paper in Binh Duong Province to produce paper packaging products with total capacity of 500,000 tonnes/year.

The company continued to invest in Tin Thanh Packing JSC (BATICO) in 2015. And recently SGC bought 94 per cent of Bien Hoa Packaging JSC’s stakes, with the deal worth of VND2.07 billion (US$89 million).

SCG also owns stakes in many plastic companies including Binh Minh Plastics JSC, Vietnam Construction Materials JSC, Prime Group, Viet Thai Plastchem Joint Venture Company Ltd, TPC Vina Plastic and Chemical Corporation Ltd, Viet Nam Chemtech Company Ltd and Minh Thai Plastic Material Company Ltd.

In 2018 June, SCG signed a contract to buy 29 per cent of Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam)’s shares in Long Son Petrochemical Complex Project, raising its equity from 71 per cent to 100 per cent with total investment value of 8.5 billion baht per year. — VNS

If the long jumper can add a small distance to his personal best, he will become the first Vietnamese athlete to jump 8m and prove he belongs on the world stage.