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There are more than 51,000 tons of unsalable shallots in Vinh Chau Town of Soc Trang Province. (Photo: SGGP)

Many farmers in Vinh Chau Town face difficulties because of the record low price of shallots. (Photo: SGGP)

Mr. Ma Chi Tho, Head of the Economics Department of Vinh Chau Town, said that because shallots originating from China and Thailand were sold on the market at only VND3,000 per kilogram, so domestically-grown shallots also declined. Besides, due to the complicated situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, shallots could not be exported in the past months. Previously, Vinh Chau shallots were mainly exported to China.

Mr. Thach Nua, 52, a farmer in Vinh Hai Commune in Vinh Chau Town, said that his family had planted 1.5 hectares of shallots and finished harvesting nearly a month ago. However, because the price of shallots was too low, his family had to stockpile about 60 tons of shallots to wait for the price to go up. With the current average price of VND6,000-VND9,000, farmers suffer heavy losses, with an average loss of nearly VND10 million per 1,000 square meters of shallots. Currently, the prices of seeds, fertilizers, and plant protection drugs are quite high, so the prices of shallots at the fields must be from VND15,000 per kilogram upwards for farmers to earn profits.

Not only Mr. Thach Nua’s family, but many other shallot farmers in Vinh Chau also face difficulties because of the record low price of shallots. Many families cannot afford to start a new shallot crop and do not have warehouses to store shallots, or they have to sell shallots at low prices because they must pay for fertilizers and plant protection drugs.

Mr. Ngo Hung said that besides focusing on carrying out solutions to find a market for shallots, the Party Committee of Vinh Chau Town has agreed to call for support of local officials to “rescue” shallots, contributing to helping shallot farmers to overcome the current difficult situation.

By Tuan Quang – Translated by Thanh Nha

Dr Tran Nguyen Anh Tu, deputy head of the department of skin aesthetics at the Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital, where the girl was hospitalized, said at annual scientific conference on Sunday this was the first case of the condition recorded in Vietnam.

The child’s family said she was born deaf and unable to speak and with physical and mental disabilities.

She was hospitalized with brown skin spots (lentigines) on her face and body, and abnormalities in the jawbone, spine, shoulder, chest, and teeth.

A genetic analysis at the HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy’s Center for Molecular Biology found he had a mutation of the PTPN1 gene, which is believed to cause the very rare condition.

LEOPARD, which is also known as the Noonan syndrome, is an acronym for the abnormalities associated with the disorder like lentigines, ECG conduction abnormalities, ocular hypertelorism, pulmonary stenosis, abnormal genitalia, retardation of growth, and deafness.

Since it was first described in 1936, there have only been 200 confirmed cases in medical history, Tu said.

Those diagnosed with the condition need to be closely medically monitored and have their heart checked once a year for early diagnosis of abnormalities.

The masterpiece was sold at Sotheby’s Auction House in Hong Kong last Sunday, but the identity of the buyer is not known.

It had been valued at $900,000-$1.2 million. At the auction, the reserve price was $500,000, but the bids kept rising until it went past $2.5 million, and cost $3.1 million after tax and fees.

‘Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong’ by Mai Trung Thu. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s.

The previous record of $1.36 million was held by Le Pho’s ‘ Young Girl With Peonies ’ last year.

Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong is a 135.5×71 cm oil on canvas work done in 1930, which the auction house described as “…this masterpiece, beautifully rendered in the oil medium, is exceptionally rare as the artist devoted himself to painting in silk for most of his career.

“The beguiling portrait also captures Mai Thu’s deep admiration of its sitter, a noble lady rumored to be the artist’s love interest. Encapsulating his affections for Ms. Phuong, this work is special within Mai Thu’s oeuvre, as there are only two known works painted of this subject.”

The work was first exhibited at the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine in Hanoi in 1930 and then at the 1931 Exposition Coloniale Internationale de Paris.

It was previously owned by Dothi Dumonteil, a Vietnamese woman who migrated to France as a child, and her husband Pierre Dumonteil, an art collector, until recently .

It appeared in the award-winning 1993 Vietnamese film, ‘The Scent of Green Papaya,’ directed by Tran Anh Hung, which went on to become Vietnam’s first ever entry for the foreign-language Oscar Award in 1994.

Thu was a famous modern art painter in the early years of the 20th century. He lived and worked most of his life in France.

Associated with silk paintings of women, children and everyday life in Vietnam, he was named along with Vu Cao Dam, Le Thi Luu and Le Pho as the four most prominent artists of the golden age of Vietnamese modern art.

Novaland Investment Group’s head office in Nguyen Du Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. — Photo vinhomecitys.com

Some analysts from securities firms expected that the market’s bullish trend will continue this week, while others were more cautious and see a downward trend dominating the market.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell 8.54 points, or 0.68 per cent, in Friday’s trade to 1,238.71 points. The index hit a record high of 1,255.87 points on Wednesday.

For the week, the index still rose slightly by 0.57 per cent, while foreign investors net sold a value of over VND2.4 trillion.

Analyst from Saigon – Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) said that the third straight weekly gain of the market and a new record in liquidity showed investors’ big interest during this period. However, based on Elliott Wave Theory, the index was likely at the end of wave 5 last week and is about to turn to corrective waves with a closest target being around 1,135 points.

Therefore, a downward trend might influence the market this week, SHS added.

The index struggled and strongly fluctuated around 1,250 points, but failed to break through the level in the last session. The market breadth, besides some blue-chip stocks in real estate sectors and steel stocks, was negative last week.

Tran Xuan Bach, a senior stock analyst from Bao Viet Securities Company, also expected that the market might continue to be weighed by selling pressure this week.

“The VN-Index still receives support from the zone of 1,225 – 1,232 points in some early sessions this week,” Bach wrote in a daily report to customers.

“The market is likely to be influenced by some large-cap stocks, as well as a strong division of stock groups during this period.”

Meanwhile, analysts from Viet Dragon Securities Corporation (VDSC) were more optimistic about the market as large cash inflows into the market in the last session limited the losses.

Sharing the positive view, MB Securities JSC (MBS) said that the last session’s steep fall has boosted cash flows into the market for bottom fishing, creating a notable recovery.

On the technical front, the upward trend, which has extended over the last two months, will continue with the support territory in the short-term being 1,220 points, MBS added.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) also declined 1.02 per cent on Friday to 293.11 points. For the week, the index fell 0.23 per cent.

Real estate stocks posted outstanding performance last week as it went against the market’s trend in most sessions. Followed by material stocks.

Of which, Vingroup JSC (VIC), Novaland Investment Group Corporation (NVL) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG) contributed the most to help the market cap losses. These stocks climbed 16.29 per cent, 4.73 per cent and 4.46 per cent, respectively.

On the contrary, top three stocks influencing the market’s trend were Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR), JSC Bank For Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (VNM).

In general, Viet Nam’s stock market was not so positive last week despite the benchmark increasing slightly as selling pressure spread to all sectors and foreign investors net sold a value in the trillions of dong. — VNS

Leading reporters to his closed snail farming area in Cua Tung Town in Quang Tri recently, Phan Van Dung pointed to the pond divided into cells amid a sand field. He said this was just one of his five sweet snail (Babylonia areolata) farms.

He pointed out a cell lined with black canvas, where snails were about to be harvested in several days.

“The price has reached a record high of VND360,000 per kilogram, twice as high as last year. I believe I can earn big money this year,” he said.

In 2005, he built a small hotel with 20 rooms which became the major source of income of his family. Now he earns money from both the hotel and snail farming, but the farming brings much higher revenue.

At first, he hatched shrimp, but he failed many times over five years. In 2016, he decided to breed snails, which he believed would bring high profit and low risks, after half a year of learning farming techniques in the south.

The main feed for snail is fresh shrimp and fish. As his farm is next to the sea, he also buys pompano to feed snails because it is cheap.

He harvested the first crop after 7-8 months and earned a lot from it. The snail price fluctuates between VND170,000 and 400,000 per kilogram.

Dung now runs five snail farms with total surface area of 18 hectares with output of 200 tons per annum. He never takes a loss with snail farming.

The snails sales to Chinese merchants and domestic sales bring total turnover of VND34 billion and profit of VND17 billion.

After showing reporters the ponds containing hundreds of tons of snails, Dung walked to an area with square water tanks and an oxygen conductor system.

The entire area, about one hectare, is used to produce snail breeders, and is divided into different compartments for parent snails to lay spawn and for a spawn hatchery. There is also a compartment to raise snails until they are standard size (40,000-50,000 snails per kilogram) and brought to ponds.

When he began farming snails, he had to buy breeders from other localities at high prices, so the profit was not high. In 2019, he decided to set up a breeder production area to establish a closed snail production line.

Tam Anh – Anh Duc