Record breaking economy and more vnexpress

Phu My Biosphere Reserve in Kien Giang Province on Saturday confirmed the 30 cranes had been here for half a month. This year, however, they have not gathered among the grey sedge but instead found a quiet corner within the reserve. In the afternoon, the cranes typically flock to Anlung Pring, Cambodia to rest.

About 150 kilometers away, a family of three cranes was spotted in Tram Chim National Park of Dong Thap Province on Friday afternoon.

“This crane family has been returning here over three consecutive years, from 2017 to 2019, but in 2020 they didn’t come back,” said Le Thanh Cu, vice director of Tram Chim National Park.

The three red-crowned cranes in Tram Chim National Park. Photo by VnExpress/Do Minh Chanh.

As a crane conservation volunteer at the International Crane Association, Nguyen Hoai Bao, vice director of Wetland Research Center at Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City – University of Science, immediately visited Tram Chim National Park after learning about the return of the red-crowned cranes.

Bao said since the cranes came back very late, they could only stay in the national park for a few days before departing. “Their normal cycle is to stay in the park until the end of April then fly to Cambodia to rest prior to the breeding season.”

Tram Chim National Park was recognized as the world’s 2,000th Ramsar site (a wetland designated to be of international importance under Ramsar Convention) and the first of the Mekong Delta, with an area of more than 7,300 hectares. It is one of the world’s most famous stops for red-headed cranes, a factor that helped Tram Chim become a Ramsar site.

However, the number of rare cranes here has decreased rapidly over the years. Statistics showed that in 1998, the number of red-headed cranes in Tram Chim was 1,052 but by 2017 there were only nine. In 2018 and 2019, the number was 11.

Phu My Biosphere Reserve recorded the biggest number of red-crowned cranes in 2003, at more than 500. In 2016, the reserve was officially established, covering an area of nearly 2,900 hectares. The core area of 1,200 hectares is for grey sedge. By 2019, there were only 54 cranes returning here.

Bao said the decline in cranes has many reasons, mainly habitat loss. Natural wetland habitats across the Mekong Delta have been converted into agricultural and aquaculture land, disrupting the balance of ecosystems, resulting in little to no chance for cranes to thrive here.

Over past years, national reserves have focused on developing habitats to attract more cranes. However, Bao said changing the ecosystem to restore crane habitats would take many years.

Lam’s introduction happened during the halftime break of a J1 League match between Osaka and Urawa Reds. He had earlier spent 14 days in quarantine.

Wearing the number 1 jersey, Lam was introduced alongside Australian forward Adam Taggart.

“Hello everyone, I’m Dang Van Lam, a goalkeeper from Vietnam. I’m really happy and excited to be here for the first time. I will train really hard to play well and contribute to the club,” Lam said.

Osaka is currently fourth on the table after 12 J1 League rounds. The club is slated to play in the AFC Champions League tournament. To get a regular spot in the team, the 28-year-old keeper will have to prove his worth and compete against other keepers in the team like South Korean Kim Jin-hyeon and Japanese Kenya Matsui.

Lam, who grew up in Russia and spent his youth at Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Moscow clubs, moved to Vietnam in 2011 to play for the Hoang Anh Gia Lai club. After unsuccessful spells in Laos and Russia, his career finally took off in 2015 after he joined Hai Phong FC.

He retained his excellent form for the next four years, got called up to the national team and has become its number one choice.

In 2019, he transferred to Muangthong United for $500,000 and put in 42 appearances for the Thai club.

He will be the fourth Vietnamese to play for a Japanese club, after Le Cong Vinh (Consadole Sapporo), Nguyen Tuan Anh (Yokohama FC) and Nguyen Cong Phuong (Mito Hollyhock). All three predecessors played for the J2 League, making Lam the first Vietnamese to play for a J1 League team.

Lam was in the news earlier this year when he decided to end his contract with Muangthong United and move to Osaka. Muangthong has reported him to FIFA for contract violation, but Lam’s agent said the player has every right to terminate the contract since the Thai club had cut his pay without telling him.

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

Camellia Flosculora,  a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae is found at Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park in the central highlands Lâm Đồng Province by a group of Vietnamese and international scientists and researchers. — Photo courtesy of Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park

LÂM ĐỒNG — Four new species of camellia (a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae) and Begonia (a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family of Begoniaceae) – have been found in Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park in Lâm Đồng Province by a group of Vietnamese and international scientists and researchers.

Dr Lê Văn Hương, director of the park, told Việt Nam News that reports of the new four plants – including two camellia species ( Camellia Flosculora and Camellia bidoupensis ) and two begonia species ( begonia hongiaoensis and begonia lamdongiana ) – have been recently published by Phytotaxa (a botany journal); Brittonia (a peer-reviewed botanical journal) and International Camellia Society .

Camellia bidoupensis, a camellia species, is reported as a new species found at Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park. — Photo courtesy of Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park

Hương said the discoveries were thanks to the great efforts made by researchers and scientists during field surveys at the park.

He said the results once again prove the rich biodiversity of the park and the importance of international co-operation in research on finding new species.

The four new species were found at the park during field surveys by scientists from the Southern Institute of Ecology, the Đà Lạt University, the VNU University of Science, Dr Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Centre (KBCC), a non-governmental organisation for tropical plant conservation in Taiwan, and the park in the 2018-20 period.

Several new or newly recorded species were found in recent investigations in the park under the ‘Botanical survey in Lang Biang Plateau’, that helped increase the inventory of botanical diversity of Việt Nam.

At least 90 begonia species were reported in Việt Nam, and only three Begonia species had been found in Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park .

Begonia hongiaoensis (a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family of Begoniaceae) was recently reported as a new species found in Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park. Photo courtesy of Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park

It is clear that this is an underestimation because over three begonias have been recorded based on field surveys. Due to the vast land area of the forest, more new begonias could be expected once more areas within the National Park are explored botanically, reports said.

Begonia lamdongiana is a new species that was found by group of Vietnamese and international scientists and researchers in Lâm Đồng Province. — Photo courtesy of Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park

The Bidoup-Núi Bà National Park, which covers roughly 70,000 hectares, 91 per cent of which is primary forest, is rich in flora and fauna.

About 2,075 species of flora – one-sixth of Việt Nam’s total – have been found here, while 301 bird species (30 per cent of all birds in the country) have also been spotted.

Hương said the newest camellia (Polyspora huongiana), discovered in 2012 by biologists from both Việt Nam and the Royal Botanic Garden Australia, was named after him for his scientific contributions to conservation.

The park has been co-operating with the World Bank (WB), the Asia Development Bank (ADB), JICA, USAID, and the German International Co-operation Agency (GIZ) in different programmes focusing on the research and protection of flora and fauna and has supported sustainable livelihoods for ethnic groups. —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

At the event, more than 3,000 delegates are to exchange views and share information and IT solutions, as well as bolster supply-demand in fields applying digital technology, in a bid to promote digital transformation in agencies, organisations, firms and the national economy.

Themed “National Digital Transformation: Sharing and Connecting”, there will be an online conference on new digital platforms and solutions in Vietnam.

The 13th National Party Congress defined that science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation serve as a cornerstone for rapid and sustainable development in the socio-economic development strategy for 2021-2030.

The Vietnam DX Day was first held last year with the same theme and attracted 2,000 delegates.

VNA