Trade

With figures topping US$5 billion, a widening trade deficit is likely to greet Myanmar’s new government on April 1, says the Ministry of Commerce. According to the ministry, the total trade volume reached $25.7 billion between April 2015 and March of this year. Import volume hovered ...

Rubber producers said on 6 March the Cambodian government’s decision to amend the export tax scheme on natural rubber fell short of expectations and would do little to stem the losses of farmers as rubber prices hover near a six-year low. Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a ...

Vietnam has challenges to tackle if it wants to achieve economic targets and deeply integrate into the world’s economy in the context of new trade agreements. Speaking at a seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City on 3 March, Tran Dinh Thien, director of the Vietnam ...

Brazil will challenge Thailand at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over “subsidies” for sugar producers that it says have dragged down global prices, the Trade Ministry said.  Brazil said the Thai government had given support to cane growers and sugar mills that was inconsistent with international trade ...

A newly formed coalition of rice millers and exporters has raised alarm bells, forecasting the imminent “collapse” of Cambodia’s rice sector within two years and blaming in part “governance failure” by the industry’s apex body. The 18-member group, whose initiative is called the Rice Industry Strategic ...

Vietnam’s rice exports hit US$445 million in the first two months, twice the number of the same period last year, the agriculture ministry reported on 26 February. Keep reading ...

Despite a contraction of 1.9% last year, Thailand’s National Food Institute (NFI) expects food exports this year will grow by 5.8%. The optimism is based largely on rising demand for some food segments in neighbouring emerging markets and government efforts to boost exports. NFI president Yongvut Saovapruk attributed ...

Vietnam’s biggest dairy company Vinamilk has closed a US$12.5 million deal to export baby formula to Middle Eastern countries, with shipments expected to increase by around 10 percent a year.    The deal, signed at the week-long international food fair Gulfood wrapped up in Dubai on 25 ...

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Vietnam grew by 9.7 percent last year to US$5.2 billion, mostly with small and medium-sized enterprises involved, according to a new market report.   The number of deals was up 23.1 percent to 341, local market research company StoxPlus said in the ...

Vietnam needs to create policies to promote investment in agriculture to build a farming sector to compete internationally, as the country integrates into the global economy. Investments in agriculture remain modest, although the sector involved nearly 70 per cent of the country’s population, while contributing some ...