Industries
Vietnam rakes in over $30 billion with phone exports
Vietnam’s exports of mobile phones and parts exceeded US$30 billion last year, surpassing all other products, customs data showed. That was a 27.9 percent increase compared to 2014, and accounted for 18.7 percent of the country’s total export revenue, it said. The EU was the biggest buyer of ...
Mrauk-U conservation seen as reconstructing not preserving
Heritage zones in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U, Rakhine State, are under threat due to renovations that have altered the designs of ancient pagodas, the Mrauk-U Heritage Trust claims. The Department of Archaeology and the National Museum in Sittwe are both operating construction sites. Keep reading ...
Craft industry struggles to find export markets
Vietnam’s handicrafts face many challenges in producing and finding export markets, while integrating into the world economy although it has the potential for economic development. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agricultural Trade Promotion Centre, there are nearly 1,750 traditional craft ...
Taiwan raises travel notices after Thai case of Zika virus
Taiwan has raised travel notices for five ASEAN nations, including Thailand and the Maldives, after a northern Thai man was hospitalised in Taiwan with a confirmed case of Zika, a mosquito-borne virus. Keep reading ...
Vietnam seeks new investors for empty industrial park
The Vietnam government has decided to transfer a major industrial park in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang to the local authority after its manager, PetroVietnam’s construction subsidiary PVC, failed to attract investors. After acquiring Soai Rap Industrial Park, Tien Giang will find investors to fill ...
Royal Group’s Sihanoukville port to be razed
A Cambodian government committee has ordered tycoon Kith Meng’s Royal Group to stop construction of a passenger port it was building on Sihanoukville’s Otres Beach, which it said was in clear violation of coastal development guidelines and had progressed without a permit. The National Committee for ...
Laos' sleepy capital awakens to a construction boom
The capital of Laos is a low-rise, low-key city, especially when compared with the hulking high-rises and bustling streets of better-known Southeast Asian cities such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. But this once-sleepy city is fast shedding its sedate reputation due to a building boom ...
Illegal Sihanoukville construction on radar
Tourism and other line ministries will raise the issue of unlawful construction along Sihanoukville’s coastline at a meeting scheduled for 18 January, given the presence of illegal buildings along the coastal city’s beaches. The meeting, which will be held at the Tourism Ministry, will have participants ...
2016 set to be another strong year for Vietnam housing market
Vietnam’s housing market is expected to enjoy another good year after record sales in 2015 aided by improved economic conditions and infrastructure and lower interest rates. According to the industry’s estimates, apartment sales in Hanoi hit around 28,300 units in 2015, a 70 percent rise from ...
Furniture fair raises profile of Lao wood products
The Lao Furniture Association hopes that the furniture fair, which opened in Vientiane on 14 January, will attract more domestic and foreign investors in the sector and promote Lao wood products on regional and international markets. The Lao Furniture Association on 14 January officially opened its ...