Photo: vietnamnet

Business Briefing

Gold rate

SJC gold price this morning remained around VND 69.2 million per tael, although the world gold price recovered slightly to US$1,822.8/ounce. At PNJ Company, the selling price of SJC gold was VND 69.25 million/tael, and buying price was 68.3 VND million/tael.

DOJI company listed the selling price at VND 69.1 million/ tael and buying price at VND 68.25 million/ tael.

Reference exchange rate

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate for the US dollar at VND 23,160/USD on May 17, unchanged from the previous day. With the current trading band of +/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is VND 23,854/USD, and the floor rate is VND 22,454/USD.

The opening-hour rates at some commercial banks rose. At 8:27 am, BIDV added VND 10 to both rates, listing the buying rate at VND 22,960/USD and the selling rate at VND 23,240/USD. Meanwhile, Vietcombank also adjusted both rates up by VND 10, listing at VND 22,930/USD (buying) and VND 23,240/USD (selling).

Photo: VNA

Aviation news: Vietnam Airlines joins SkyTeam's Sustainable Flight Challenge program

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has participated in "The Sustainable Flight Challenge" (TSFC) program, launched by SkyTeam Airline Alliance, with the first flight from Hanoi to the Republic of Korea’s Seoul. The program aims to encourage ideas for aviation sustainable development, further reduce aviation’s impact on the environment and spur breakthrough ideas that can be shared across the industry.

It has drawn the participation of 16 airlines from many countries including the United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, China, and the Republic of Korea. Participating carriers will be judged across 14 categories by an international panel of judges with members who are experts from related fields. The winners will be honored at an award ceremony to be held in June.

Participating airlines will organize long-haul flights of more than 5,000km, and medium-range trips of between 1,500 to 5,000km and evaluate the efficiency of environmental protection on these flights. Vietnam Airlines conducted a medium-range flight from Hanoi to Seoul on May 14. Passengers were welcomed with a cloth bag and a card conveying the message of environmental protection, all made from environmentally-friendly materials. The carrier continued to operate a long-distance flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne (Australia) on the following day. It is one of the five airlines participating in this category.

Photo: VOV

Market news: Vietnamese e-commerce likely to reach US$39 billion by 2025

A global e-commerce report unveiled by Metric.vn, a data researcher, also indicates that Vietnam has become the second largest e-commerce market in Southeast Asia, behind only Indonesia, by taking advantage of consumers’ increasing demand during the recent Covid-19 period.

The e-commerce index 2022 report released by the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) points out that as of March, 44 out of 63 provinces and localities have built and operated e-commerce floors. Most notably, up to 75% of the platforms have used the country domain name .vn, while the remaining 25% have adopted international domain names instead.

Due to the geographical preference of search engines like Google and Bing, all websites using the domain name .vn enjoy advantages of search engine optimization (SEO). The move has brought about a higher search value when users have a domestic IP address.

Last year witnessed e-commerce services expand 20% to generate over US$16 billion in revenue despite the negative impact caused by the pandemic. The growth rate is projected to be much higher this year thanks to COVID-19 pandemic containment efforts.

Since the fourth outbreak of the pandemic in the first half of last year, Vietnam has added an additional eight million new digital consumers, more than half of whom do not come from major cities. At present, 99% of Vietnamese digital consumers intend to continue making use of online services in the future which is expected to open up bright prospects for Vietnamese e-commerce growth.

Photo: Vietnamnet

Weather forecast

May 18: From tomorrow, the cold air will weaken and shift to the east, therefore the temperature in the northern provinces will increase slightly. Provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue will be cloudy, with intermittent sunshine, and rain in places.

From Da Nang to Binh Thuan, due to the influence of the southwest monsoon, there will be scattered showers and thunderstorms, with moderate to heavy rain in the afternoon and evening. During thunderstorms, there is a possibility of tornadoes, lightning, hail, and strong winds.

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