Tet lunar new year market

The drizzle in late February could not stop farmers of Dong Cao Village in Hanoi’s outlying district of Me Linh from pushing themselves to the fields to harvest vegetables. The more packs of tomatoes and lettuces are delivered, the bigger hope they see to get a break-even point. Dozens of beds of sugar beets were left unharvested while mustard greens were severely destroyed by pests. Tomatoes, easier to be consumed, were loaded into big bags, pilling up at a front yard of Dong Cao Village Cooperative while waiting to be shipped to the city center. Fresh produce is loaded to trucks for delivery to central Hanoi. Video: Ha Quan/Tuoi Tre “Before Tet [Vietnamese Lunar New Year], I earned VND5-6 million [US$216-260] for every 24 square meters of sugar beets. Now, no one wants to buy them," said Thuan, a farmer in Dong Cao Village. “Each crop of sugar beets takes 60 days. "As it passed day 90, we can do nothing but throw them away.” A farmer gathers sugar beets to destroy as they are too old to be sold. Photo: Ha Quan / Tuoi Tre Song, another farmer, said the cooperative helped to connect them with traders. “A truck loads some six tonnes of veggies to sell in cities,” he added. A local landfill is covered up with thrown-away sugar beets. Photo: Ha Quan / Tuoi Tre Customers, however, can pay at their will, VND5,000, VND10,000 or VND20,000 ($0.22, $0.43 or $0.87), simply to help cover transportation fees. “Some of them take a couple of bags for VND50,000 [$2.17]. Tomato price now stops at VND1,500 per kilogram [0.65 cents], but there is hardly anyone bothering to trade it,” said Thuan. Dam Van Dua, director of the cooperative, said local agricultural products need help to access other markets. There are 100 tonnes of tomatoes and 200 tonnes of sugar beets waiting to be consumed. Dua said the cooperative was working to connect farmers with traders and food distributing companies. At present, some of …

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Red Spring Festival expects to collect over 4,000 blood units Young people donate their blood In his opening remarks, Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) Bach Quoc Khanh, who is head of the festival’s organizing board, said that the festival has been held annually since 2008 to address blood shortages after the lunar New Year holiday, and gradually changed public awareness of blood donation. After 13 editions, the festival has collected over 85,000 blood units and become the annual biggest blood donation event. Khanh took the occasion to express his gratitude for donators nationwide. The 14th edition is taking place from March 1-7 at the NIHBT headquarters, and three fixed places - 26 Luong Ngoc Quyen in Hoan Kiem district, 132 Quan Nhan in Thanh Xuan district, and Valley 122 of Lang Street in Dong Da district. The organizing board expects to receive over 4,000 blood units during this year’s festival, which then will be allocated to nearly 180 hospitals and medical establishments of 28 provinces and cities in the northern region. It has also made thorough preparations to welcome donors so as to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control as recommended by the World Health Organisation and the Health Ministry./. Fatal coach crash kills three, injures 4 in Dong Thap A serious traffic accident caused by a passenger coach took place on National Highway 54 in Tan Thanh Commune of Dong Thap Province’s Lai Vung District this morning, March 1, killing three and injuring four people. The passenger coach with plate number 51B-17273 driven by Tran Van Nam, aged 41, was heading from Vam Cong Bridge to Vinh Long Province when it plowed into a group of 10 bike riders and killed a rider, identified as Tran Van An, aged 59. The passenger coach continued slamming into two electric poles and a tree on the pavement, damaging the front of the coach. Local residents immediately took some injured passengers …

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Vietnam racks up $1.29 billion in trade surplus in two months The country’s trade turnover during January-February topped some 95.81 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 25.4 percent. Vietnam’s trade balance posted positive, 1.29 billion USD, in the first two months of the year, the General Department of Customs said on December 28. The country’s trade turnover during January-February topped some 95.81 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 25.4 percent. Of the total, exports amounted to 48.55 billion USD, a yearly hike of 23.2 percent, while imports were estimated at 47.26 billion USD, or 25.9 percent higher than the same time last year. Foreign-invested companies accounted for 76.4 percent, or 37.07 billion USD, of Vietnam’s total export turnover. Meanwhile, the domestic sector shipped abroad 11.48 billion USD worth of products. There were nine commodities joining the billion-USD export club, including telephones and parts (9.3 billion USD, up 22.8 percent year-on-year); electronics, computers and parts (6.9 billion USD, up 27.3 percent); equipment, machines and parts (5.5 billion USD, up 72.6 percent); footwear (3.2 billion USD, up 15.4 percent); and wood and wooden products (2.4 billion USD, up 51 percent). They made up 73 percent of the country’s export turnover. The US was Vietnam’s biggest importer as it splashed out 14.2 billion USD on Vietnamese products, or 38.2 percent higher than the amount it spent the same time last year. China came second with 8.5 billion USD, followed by the EU with 6.3 billion USD, ASEAN 4.2 billion USD, the Republic of Korea 3.4 billion USD, and Japan 3.2 billion USD. Meanwhile, the country spent big (47.26 billion USD) on imports, with foreign-invested sector purchasing 31.64 billion USD worth of products from abroad for production, up 31.4 percent, while that of the domestic sector surged 16 percent to 15.62 billion USD. In the two-month period, China was the largest exporter of Vietnam, with revenue …

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