Total book sales by title

children explore the digital library at the Book Festival.2021. Photo dangcongsan.vn

HÀ NỘI  Many activities and programmes to promote reading culture have been organised nationwide for the framework of Book Festival 2021.

The highlight of the event is an exhibition with the theme “Books — Mission to develop reading culture” at the National Library of on Tràng Thi Street, Hà Nội.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Kiều Thúy Nga, director of the National Library of Việt Nam, said that the National Book Festival, which has been held annually at the library since 2006, has helped to arouse passion, excitement in reading, cultivate knowledge and contribute to the development of  the country.

“Via the activities of National Book Festival 2021, we want to convey the message that each book is a wonderful picture of life,” Nga said .

“Books are not just pages but also contain the world that people always crave to explore. Picking up a book and reading, you will see a whole new world open up.”

The exhibition displays 800 books divided into four categories: Books — Path to knowledge; Books — Gifts nourishing the soul; Reading skills and methods; and Enjoying reading passion. It will last until Wednesday.

In addition, a seminar titled Youth with Reading Culture was organised within the exhibition with the participation of many experts and representatives of publishing units on April 16.

Like previous book festivals, a number of activities for children are being held along, such as drawing illustrations for books, parents’ reading books for children and exploring digital library of over 2,000 books in more than 20 different languages.

Meanwhile, Việt Nam Book Day 2021 kicked off in HCM City yesterday on the city’s book street in District 1.

A symposium on the development of a reading culture amid digital transformation was held on yesterday while the launch of book collections on the implementation of the resolution from the 13th National Party Congress, HCM City and digital transformation will take place on the street today at 3pm

Book lovers can also join a fan meeting with prolific and children’s favourite authors like writer Nguyễn Nhật Ánh or poet Thụy Anh, which will be held tomorrow.

To book lovers who cannot attend the festival in person could check in a national online book festival that will run until May 15 at book365.vn . The theme of this year’s festival, which is the second of its kind, is “Books for All Families”.

The national online book festival take place on the website book365.vn. Photo courtesy of the organisers.

Following the success of the first festival in 2020, the national online book festival 2021 will offer tens of thousands of books with 50-70 per cent discount and free shipping with the support of Vietnam Post.

The online book festival allows participants to discuss the development of a reading culture and gain an insight into digital transformation in the publishing industry, as well as how to access books in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Its organisers revealed that they will sponsor readers in remote and disadvantaged areas with a discount of up to 80 per cent to many good books.

Last year, the online book festival gathered 49 publishers and introduced about 10,000 print books and up to 10,000 e-books.

April 21 was designated as Việt Nam Book Day by the then Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on February 24, 2014 with the aim to encourage a reading culture among the public. 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

Top exports

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the first two months of 2021, the export value of nine groups of products exceeded US$1 billion each, accounting for 73.8 percent of Vietnam’s total export value. Of these, the export value of phones and components reached US$9.3 billion, accounting for 19.2 percent of the total, a year-on-year increase of 22.8 percent.

Computers, electronic and optical products also significantly contributed to export growth. In the first two months of 2021, the production index of these products grew 21.2 percent compared with the same period last year. The manufacturing of communication devices, mostly phones and components, grew 22.9 percent. Specifically, 35 million mobile phones were manufactured, up 1.2 percent; phone component production reached VND95.4 trillion, up 55.7 percent. Major export markets of these products include the EU, the US, and China. Exports to China in the first two months of this year reached nearly US$2.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 103.9 percent.

In 2010, phones and components accounted for 3.2 percent of Vietnam’s total export value. This increased six-fold to 19.5 percent in 2016 and has been maintained around 20 percent since then. In the first two months of 2021, these products topped the list of Vietnam’s exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with value reaching US$551 million, a year-on-year increase of nearly 108 percent, accounting for two thirds of total export value.

Mobile phone manufacturing at VinSmart

Opening way for domestic firms?

Foreign investment in Vietnam in manufacturing phones and components has been increasing. While Apple’s major suppliers such as Foxcon, Luxshare, GoerTek, and Compal already have factories in Vietnam, the mobile giant keeps encouraging its suppliers to shift manufacturing from China.

The export value of Samsung’s phones and components grew sharply in the first two months of 2021. By the end of 2020, about 50 Vietnamese companies had become Samsung’s tier-1 suppliers. However, foreign firms keep importing input components for phone manufacturing in Vietnam.

In the first two months of this year, Vietnam imported US$3.64 billion worth of phones and components, a year-on-year increase of 74.6 percent. Domestic companies are expected to contribute to a resurgence in phone and component exports.

Do Thi Thuy Huong, member of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Electronic Industries Association, said that in the post-Covid-19 period, additional electronics companies with foreign direct investment (FDI) will move their manufacturing facilities to Vietnam, creating opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to supply them with components and accessories. “We want FDI projects in the electronics sector to create breakthroughs for Vietnamese companies to create domestic value added in exports to benefit Vietnamese consumers,” she said.

In February 2021, VinSmart, a member of Vingroup, launched three made-in-Vietnam smart phone models on the website of the leading US conglomerate AT&T. This development has encouraged Vietnamese companies to invest in manufacturing phones and components for export and boosted their confidence in their global competitiveness. Nguyen Thi Hong, General Director of the Mobile Division of the VinSmart Research and Manufacture Joint Stock Company, said that in 2021, VinSmart will concentrate on creating high-quality products for sale to the US market.

Lan Anh