Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Al-Futtaim Motors has begun two safety recall campaigns covering 6,933 Lexus LX500 and LX600 sport utility vehicles in the UAE, addressing separate engine software and transmission defects in models built in Japan between 2021 and 2024. The larger programme is being conducted in coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Tourism and requires affected owners to have their vehicles inspected or reprogrammed without […]
A new round of 50 per cent US tariffs on Canadian goods took effect early Tuesday, adding the levy to 110 tariff items while removing 10 others from the list. The changes, effective from 12.01am Eastern Time on September 15, cover products including selected cheeses, motorboats, all-terrain vehicles, furniture, mattresses, lamps, aluminium products, paper goods and iron or steel structures. They form part of a package of […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi Arabia’s Government Expenditure and Projects Efficiency Authority has activated flynas under the unified framework agreement for government ERCAB travel, widening the airline choices available to public-sector entities and eligible travellers. The activation lifts the number of airlines participating in the government travel arrangement to four, with flynas joining Saudia, flyadeal and Riyadh Air. EXPRO said the addition is intended to improve flexibility, […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai flydubai will begin dedicated freighter operations on October 1, adding three Boeing 737-800 cargo aircraft as the Dubai carrier broadens its freight business and strengthens capacity for regional trade. The aircraft will join the fleet through a wet-lease agreement with SolitAir and will be based at Al Maktoum International Airport, or Dubai World Central. Each freighter will offer payload capacity of up to […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has called for stronger private-sector cooperation with Germany after attending a major business forum in Munich where companies from the two countries signed 30 agreements and commercial partnerships worth about €9.66 billion. Sheikh Mohamed told executives and investors at the Germany-UAE Business Forum on Friday that businesses would play a vital role in advancing the […]
Iran is allowing exporters and importers greater use of cryptocurrencies, including Tether’s USDT and Bitcoin, for cross-border settlements as tighter US sanctions intensify pressure on trade and foreign-currency flows. The policy shift gives businesses more flexibility to repatriate export earnings outside the central bank’s official foreign-exchange platform and use those proceeds directly to pay for imports. Crypto transactions have become one route for moving value across borders […]
HANOI, VIETNAM – Media OutReach Newswire – 11 September 2026 – As Asia emerges as the center of global urbanization, Vinhomes is advancing a model of city-building that weaves residential, commercial, educational, healthcare, and green infrastructure into a single, integrated ecosystem. With projects and development plans now extending from Vietnam into Congo, India, Australia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, the company is moving from adopting global urban standards to elevating them on a global scale.
Vinhomes’ projects bring together ESG++ operating standards and a comprehensive All-in-One ecosystem.
Two decades after its first projects broke ground on reclaimed industrial land and riverbank outside Hanoi, Vinhomes, anchored in the wider Vingroup ecosystem and its “ESG++” environmental standards, is positioning itself to help define what a good city looks like for the decades ahead.
Building Cities as Integrated Ecosystems, Not Just Developments
The first Vinhomes projects rose on difficult ground, but their premise was unusual for its time: that a residential development had to fold an entire urban life into a single, walkable proposition. Royal City and Times City were carved from former industrial land in Hanoi, while Vinhomes Riverside took shape on the far side of a river that once marked the edge of the city’s imagination. What set these projects apart was not their scale but their structural approach, schools, clinics, parks, transit, and commerce built in as foundations, not added on later.
That premise has held up. Vietnam’s cities have since become one of the region’s most closely watched growth stories. In 2025, the country drew more than $38 billion in registered foreign direct investment, with real estate the second-largest recipient sector after manufacturing. The capital is following the population, and the population is following the belief that Asian cities will decide what urban life looks like next. Research from the McKinsey Global Institute finds that roughly half of the world’s 600 largest cities by GDP are now in Asia, and that in most Asian countries, cities already generate more than 80 percent of national output.
Vinhomes’ answer to the challenge of urban sequencing has been structural rather than cosmetic, folding its projects into the wider Vingroup ecosystem. A housing development arrives already wired into education (Vinschool, VinUni), healthcare (Vinmec), retail (Vincom Retail), hospitality (Vinpearl, VinWonders), and green mobility (VinFast, V-Green, Green SM), with renewable energy and regional infrastructure now extending that network through VinEnergo and VinSpeed. The premise is that a city assembled this way behaves less like a real-estate product and more like an economy in miniature, one that generates its own demand for jobs, services, and further investment as residents move in.
From ESG++ Leadership to Global Expansion
The newer test for urban development is what a project is willing to leave alone. Vinhomes has framed its approach as “ESG++”, not merely limiting environmental damage, but actively restoring the ecosystems a project sits within. At Can Gio, Vinhomes Green Paradise is being built alongside one of Vietnam’s most significant mangrove systems, with construction is deliberately constrained to protect it. In Ha Long, Vinhomes Global Gate sits beside a UNESCO World Heritage Bay, built with the explicit aim of complementing rather than competing with the landscape.
This approach has drawn notice beyond Vietnam. Vinhomes Green Paradise became the first official global participant in New7Wonders’ “7 Wonders of Future Cities” initiative. Jean-Paul de la Fuente, the campaign’s director, described visiting the project as an encounter with a place where nature, people, and technology converge in ways he had not anticipated from the paperwork alone, adding that few developers anywhere have the execution capacity to build at this scale and speed while still managing that complexity.
The company’s ambitions now extend well beyond its home market. Vinhomes has projects and development plans in Congo, India, Australia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, less an export of a real-estate model than an attempt to carry two decades of Vietnamese urban experience into markets asking the same questions Vietnam once asked itself. For most of the modern era, Vietnamese cities absorbed standards and formats tested elsewhere; that posture is shifting, and not only inside Vietnam.
The data points to a single conclusion: the next several decades of urban growth will be decided in Asia, whether or not Asian developers are ready to define its terms. The United Nations’ World Urbanization Prospects 2025 puts the scale of that growth beyond dispute, cities are now home to 45 percent of the planet’s 8.2 billion people, more than double the share in 1950, with two-thirds of all future population growth through mid-century expected to land in urban areas. The number of megacities has quadrupled since 1975, from eight to 33, and more than half of them sit in Asia. Capital is already voting with its feet, and McKinsey’s research suggests the economic weight has shifted, even if global recognition has not yet caught up.
What Vinhomes is proposing, in effect, is that the second half of that shift, reputation, precedent, the standing to say what a good city looks like, is still being written. Twenty years on from a stretch of marshland and disused factory yards outside Hanoi, the argument is no longer really about towers. It is about whether a place built quickly can still be built to last, for the people living in it and for the land it stands on.
Hashtag: #Vinhomes
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Vinhomes
Vinhomes is Vietnam’s largest residential real estate and integrated township developer. The company pioneers the development of synchronized, modern large-scale townships, delivering premium living standards and unlocking sustainable investment opportunities for domestic and international clients.
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Yemen’s Houthi movement has seized Perim Island and Dhubab on the Bab al-Mandab, giving the Iran-aligned group control of key positions overlooking one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints as fighting intensifies along the Red Sea coast. The advance followed the withdrawal of forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government and came a day after the Houthis captured the port city of […]
FirstRand’s full-year earnings fell as provisions tied to its UK motor finance business offset strong growth across its core operations in South Africa and the rest of Africa. The financial services group said earnings on its previously reported basis declined 5% to R39.7 billion for the year ended June 30, 2026, after it booked an additional provision linked to potential customer redress in Britain. Return on equity […]
China exported more passenger cars in the first eight months of 2026 than during all of 2025, underscoring a sharp acceleration in overseas shipments as electric and plug-in hybrid models gain ground abroad.
Passenger-car exports reached more than 6.2 million units between January and August, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, already topping the roughly 6.04 million passenger vehicles exported during 2025. August shipments alone climbed 67.1% from a year earlier to about 890,000 units.
The milestone highlights how overseas demand has become an increasingly important outlet for China’s automotive manufacturing capacity while its home market weakens. Domestic passenger-car sales fell sharply in August, even as manufacturers pushed record volumes into foreign markets.
Exports of passenger vehicles measured by the China Passenger Car Association rose 77.5% year on year in August to 894,000 units. The association’s figures, compiled on a different basis from those of the broader industry group, also showed particularly rapid growth in exports of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, which rose 154.7% from a year earlier.
China’s wider vehicle export sector has expanded at a pace well above expectations set at the start of the year. Total vehicle exports exceeded one million units in a single month for the first time in June and remained above that level in July. The first half alone produced 5.096 million vehicle exports, up 65.3% from a year earlier.
New-energy vehicles have supplied much of the increase. Exports of such vehicles reached 553,000 units in July, up about 150% year on year, after crossing 500,000 for the first time in June. During the first seven months, China exported 2.909 million new-energy vehicles, more than double the level a year earlier.
Conventional fuel vehicles also continued to contribute. July exports of petrol and diesel vehicles totalled about 490,000 units, up 40% from a year earlier, showing that the overseas expansion is not confined to electric models.
The surge has pushed full-year expectations higher. S&P Global Ratings expects China’s passenger-vehicle exports to grow by roughly 50% to 70% this year. The China Passenger Car Association has projected overall vehicle exports could reach about 12 million units in 2026 if the current pace is sustained.
That trajectory would place exports far above the industry’s own initial forecast. CAAM said in January that it expected total vehicle exports of about 7.4 million units this year, an increase of just 4.3% from 2025, when all vehicle exports exceeded seven million.
Manufacturers are increasingly relying on international markets as sales at home come under pressure from softer consumer demand and intense price competition. BYD and Geely have been among the companies reporting record overseas deliveries, while other producers are accelerating plans to sell or manufacture vehicles outside China.
Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa have become major destinations as companies diversify away from markets where tariffs are high. Chinese-built electric vehicles face additional duties in the European Union, while access to the United States remains constrained by steep tariffs and regulatory barriers.
Automakers have responded by building assembly plants and manufacturing bases abroad, a strategy that can reduce shipping costs, shorten delivery times and, depending on local rules, limit exposure to import duties. Several groups are also expanding dealer networks and adapting models to local safety, software and charging requirements.
Beijing has sought to curb practices it says could damage the industry’s overseas reputation. Authorities and industry bodies have urged manufacturers to avoid destructive price competition and disorderly exports as the scale of shipments rises, while companies have pledged to comply with guidance aimed at maintaining fair competition.
The automotive boom is also visible in China’s broader trade figures. Customs data showed the value and volume of car exports both increased by more than 50% during the first eight months, helping lift total goods exports by 14.6% in yuan terms from a year earlier.
US producer prices rose 5.4 per cent in the 12 months through August, accelerating from July and coming in slightly above market expectations, as higher energy costs pushed wholesale inflation to its strongest annual pace in months. The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.4 per cent from July on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday. The monthly rise matched […]
By R. Suryamurthy India’s trade with BRICS has expanded dramatically, but the numbers reveal an uncomfortable imbalance beneath the rhetoric about a multipolar world and alternative financial architecture. Between FY2021 and FY2026, India’s total merchandise trade with the 11-member grouping more than doubled, from $203.1 billion to $417.5 billion. Yet the expansion was overwhelmingly […]
Malone Lam, a 22-year-old Singapore citizen and former Miami resident, has pleaded guilty in Washington to leading an international cybercrime enterprise that stole and laundered cryptocurrency worth more than $245 million.
Lam admitted one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy before US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Tuesday, September 8. Prosecutors said he organised a network that targeted cryptocurrency holders through social engineering scams, online intrusions and, on some occasions, break-ins at victims’ homes.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said the criminal enterprise operated from at least October 2023 until May 2025 and included participants based in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida and overseas. Lam, who also used several online aliases, identified targets and coordinated roles among members of the group.
One of the organisation’s largest thefts occurred in August 2024, when Lam and associates obtained more than 4,100 bitcoin from a victim in Washington. Court records say conspirators impersonated representatives of trusted companies, including Google and cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, and persuaded the victim to provide access information and authentication codes.
Those details allowed the group to gain control of the victim’s cryptocurrency holdings and transfer the bitcoin. Prosecutors have placed the value of that theft at more than $245 million for the purposes of the case, while earlier court filings valued the same 4,100 bitcoin at about $263 million at the time of the alleged transaction.
The broader racketeering case involves 18 defendants, with Lam becoming the 11th to plead guilty. Prosecutors described him as an organiser who played several roles in the enterprise and directed associates involved in obtaining credentials, moving stolen assets and laundering cryptocurrency through exchanges and other channels.
The plea marks a step in the prosecution of a network that authorities say grew out of contacts made through online gaming communities. Investigators allege members specialised in different parts of the operation, including identifying wealthy holders, impersonating corporate security staff, gaining account access and converting stolen cryptocurrency into cash or goods.
Federal authorities have pursued the case under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a statute more commonly associated with organised criminal enterprises. The charge allows prosecutors to treat coordinated fraud, laundering and related acts as part of one conspiracy rather than as isolated offences.
Court documents also describe occasional home invasions or break-ins used to obtain information from cryptocurrency holders. The Justice Department said the group combined those physical intrusions with deceptive calls and other social engineering methods designed to gain passwords, seed phrases, security codes and related information needed to access digital wallets.
The stolen proceeds financed extensive spending by members of the group. Authorities said the conspiracy paid for private jets, rental properties in Miami, Los Angeles and the Hamptons, luxury clothing, handbags, watches, private security and a fleet of exotic cars. Some vehicles were valued at as much as $3.8 million.
Nightclub spending was another major outlet for the proceeds. Court records cited services costing as much as $500,000 per evening, while Lam was linked to a $569,000 bill during one night at a Los Angeles club. Luxury watches purchased by members of the group were valued from about $100,000 to more than $500,000.
Lam was arrested in Miami after the August 2024 bitcoin theft. The guilty plea followed months of negotiations over whether he would accept an agreement or proceed to trial. Several alleged co-conspirators had indicated they were prepared to testify if the case went before a jury.
At the plea hearing, Lam acknowledged the prosecution’s account and entered his guilty plea to the RICO conspiracy charge. The offence carries a maximum prison term of 20 years, although the sentence will be determined later under federal law and sentencing guidelines.
Judge Kollar-Kotelly scheduled a status hearing for December 8, when the court is expected to address the next steps towards sentencing. Lam and other participants have also been ordered to repay more than $245 million in stolen funds to victims.
A pilot aboard an Amazon Prime Air cargo jet repeatedly warned that the aircraft was approaching Miami International Airport too fast before it overran a runway and crashed, killing five people on the ground, US investigators have disclosed. The National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday that the warning began one minute and 42 seconds before the cockpit voice recorder stopped. After one pilot called for the […]
DP World and GulfCap Africa have formalised their joint venture to develop the 222-hectare Mombasa Industrial Park, advancing a major special economic zone project intended to expand manufacturing and logistics capacity on Kenya’s coast. The companies signed a Shareholders Agreement at State House in Nairobi in the presence of President William Ruto, building on a partnership announced in August. The agreement establishes the ownership framework behind the […]
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 8 September 2026 – Global digital business services leader TP (ex-Teleperformance) has been named Frost & Sullivan’s 2026 Asia-Pacific Company of the Year in Customer Experience Management Services, the analyst firm’s top honor recognizing the market participant that exemplifies visionary innovation, market-leading performance and customer care. TP was recognized for combining AI orchestration, operational discipline, and measurable customer impact across Asia-Pacific.
Frost & Sullivan credited TP’s ability to move AI from experimentation into live operations, which Frost identified as one of the most urgent gaps in the industry. TP applies AI across the service delivery lifecycle to help teams become productive faster and improve service quality at scale. This starts with AI-enabled recruitment and onboarding, extends into simulation-based training that helps customer experts build proficiency before handling live interactions, and continues through workforce management and AI-assisted coaching. In quality assurance, TP now reviews every transaction rather than the small sample the industry has traditionally relied on, sharpening coaching precision, compliance visibility and operational learning.
“As AI becomes embedded into customer operations, enterprises need outcome-based models that orchestrate AI and human agents to improve productivity and deliver measurable business value,” said Dave Rizzo, President and CEO, APAC, TP. “TP designs workflows that use AI to elevate human work, while linking productivity gains to the business outcomes clients want to achieve. Being named Frost & Sullivan’s Asia-Pacific Company of the Year recognizes the progress we are making in delivering that transformation for clients across the region.”
Frost & Sullivan highlighted TP’s work with a major hospitality brand in Singapore as an example of this approach in practice. The engagement went beyond operational delivery to integrate technology across legacy and modern systems, while also implementing an AI-enabled knowledge platform that delivers trusted, context-aware answers to customer inquiries across multiple operational teams and lines of business. Together, these capabilities supported a broader redesign of the service infrastructure behind a high-touch, premium customer experience. Beyond individual client engagements, TP’s operations across Asia-Pacific play a dual role in TP’s strategy as both a delivery engine and a business development engine in a high-growth demand market. Frost & Sullivan noted that TP’s regional footprint enables it to respond to different language, regulatory, cultural, and operational requirements.
“The company’s centers of excellence in Asia-Pacific contribute to the development of solutions across AI, machine learning, natural language processing, analytics, and automation. This gives the region a role beyond labor delivery. It becomes a capability engine for global transformation,” said Krishna Baidya, Vice President, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan.
Frost & Sullivan also highlighted TP’s approach to reframing the traditional onshore-versus-offshore debate. Across Asia-Pacific, TP supports offshore, nearshore, onshore and hybrid delivery models, using technology and local market capabilities to balance cost efficiency, service quality, language requirements and regulatory needs. This flexibility allows TP to tailor delivery models to the realities of individual markets rather than relying on a single approach.
With operations in close to 100 countries and services spanning more than 170 markets, TP combines global scale with regional delivery depth, technology and human expertise. Across Asia-Pacific, this is translating into measurable outcomes, including an agentic triage use case that reduced referral-to-booking turnaround from approximately 24 hours to minutes while improving booking conversion. The recognition reflects how TP is evolving its digital business services for the next phase of AI-enabled transformation while keeping human oversight, empathy, judgment and relationships central to the service model.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
AboutTP in SINGAPORE
TP in Singapore is part of the TP Group, a global leader in digital business services which consistently seeks to blend the best of advanced technology with human empathy to deliver enhanced customer care that is simpler, faster, and safer for the world’s biggest brands and their customers. The Group’s comprehensive, AI-powered service portfolio ranges from front office customer care to back-office functions, including high-value digital transformation services, collections and operations consulting. It also offers a range of specialized services such as interpreting and localization, visa and consular services, and recruitment process outsourcing services. The teams of multilingual, inspired, and passionate experts and advisors, spread in close to 100 countries, as well as the Group’s local presence allows it to be a force of good in supporting communities, clients, and the environment.
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The United Arab Emirates is accelerating alternative routes for energy exports and trade to reduce its exposure to disruption from the war with Iran, presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said on Monday. “Our energy exports will not be held hostage, nor will our trade and economic activity,” Gargash told the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, saying the government was expanding port capacity on the […]
Student Flag-guard Team debuts new signature uniforms, embodying vigour and a sense of mission
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 7 September 2026 – The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) today (7 September) commenced the 2026/27 academic year with a solemn Flag-raising Ceremony this morning, with the CUHK Flag-guard Team, clad in student-designed new uniforms, conducting the ceremony – demonstrating vigour and a sense of mission. The national flag, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region flag and the CUHK flag were solemnly raised to the national anthem, marking the start of the new academic year.
It was followed by the Inauguration Ceremony for Undergraduates 2026. The events come at a landmark moment for the University, following its recent rise to 18th place in the QS World University Rankings and the official launch of its new strategic plan, CUHK 2026–2030: Leaping to Greatness.
The Flag-raising and Flag-guard Team Recognition Ceremonies
The Flag-raising Ceremony was attended by more than 130 guests, including the Hon Alice Mak Mei-kuen, Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs of the HKSAR Government, Ms Wan Ning, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Education and Youth Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, Professor Hon Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, Honorary Professor in CUHK’s Faculty of Social Science, Dr Norman Chan Tak-lam, Vice-Chairman of the CUHK Council, Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-ming, CUHK Vice-Chancellor and President, alongside Legislative Council members, members of the University Council, senior management, representatives of Colleges and Faculties, staff, students and alumni.
CUHK Flag-guard Team with guests
Following the Flag-raising Ceremony, the University held the Recognition Ceremony for the CUHK Flag-guard Team. Miss Mak, Dr Chan and Professor Lo presented 18 Appointment Certificates and 5 Certificates of Appreciation respectively. In addition, a student received the “Best CUHK Flag-guard Team Member Award 2025-2026” in recognition of her outstanding performance and dedication to the team.
Three awards for the Flag-guard Team Uniform Design Competition were also presented. The final design of the new uniforms was developed from the winning concepts of the champion students and further refined with valuable input from Professor Lo. Featuring CUHK’s signature purple and gold – representing devotion and loyalty, and perseverance and resolution, respectively. The new uniforms reflect the team’s professionalism and vibrant spirit, while embodying the youth’s loyalty and commitment to the nation, Hong Kong and the University, as well as their steadfast dedication to promoting patriotic values.
Navigating the AI era through virtue and ethics
CUHK holds the Inauguration Ceremony for Undergraduates 2026
At the Inauguration Ceremony for Undergraduates 2026 held at Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, Professor Lo welcomed the incoming cohort, encouraging them to regard CUHK as their second home for intellectual and personal growth.
Addressing how students could navigate the artificial intelligence (AI) era, Professor Lo emphasised the importance of developing both technical capabilities and sound moral judgement. He encouraged students to use AI responsibly, with honesty, independent judgement and respect for others. He noted that, as routine tasks became increasingly automated, human strengths such as empathy, critical reasoning and moral judgement would become even more important, highlighting why the University motto, “Through Learning and Temperance to Virtue”, was more relevant today than ever.
Professor Lo added that a journey at CUHK would open up opportunities for students to become responsible global citizens, “Social responsibility begins with an awareness that our actions and attitudes can make a difference. As an ancient Chinese saying goes, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’ (「千里之行,始於足下」). The idea of changing the world may seem daunting. Yet social responsibility often starts with small, everyday actions on campus and in the local community: volunteering, supporting community initiatives, embracing sustainability or extending kindness to those around us. Meaningful change is built one step at a time: start locally while thinking globally, using knowledge and talent to contribute to the common good.”
Professor Lo invited students to actively participate in the journey of shaping CUHK’s future trajectory, adding that their curiosity, integrity, fresh ideas and willingness to contribute would play a vital role in the University’s development.
By Prosenjit Biswas, Head of Marketing at Masdar EOR How can a foreign company hire employees in the UAE without setting up its own local entity? This is a common situation for international companies entering the UAE. You may want to hire one employee, build a small team, mobilise people for a project, or simply test the UAE market before committing to establishing your own company. The […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Al Mazunah Free Zone has lifted cumulative investment above OMR141 million after localising four new projects in the first half of 2026, according to figures released by its operator, the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates, or Madayn. The four projects carry investment of more than OMR620,000 and cover industrial and logistics activities as well as export offices. Together they will occupy more than […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Vice President JD Vance has rejected describing the United States’ confrontation with Iran as a war, arguing that major combat operations ended weeks ago despite a sharp renewal of strikes across the Gulf. “I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vance told reporters at a White House briefing on Thursday. “Right now, there is no active shooting.” He acknowledged that fighting had flared in […]
YUNNAN, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 3 September 2026 – The Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, is strengthening its position as a leading flower trading hub in Asia, with record annual trading volumes, high-speed auction operations and increasingly efficient international logistics.
The Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center, a key trading platform within Dounan, begins daily trading at 1:00 p.m. Buyers can complete bids within as little as 0.6 seconds as prices decrease on electronic auction screens, enabling large volumes of fresh-cut flowers to be traded rapidly.
The market experienced a significant increase in trading activity ahead of the Qixi Festival, widely regarded as China’s Valentine’s Day. Tens of millions of flower stems were sold to domestic and international markets during the peak trading period.
According to the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center, the average price of major fresh-cut flower categories reached 1.1 to 1.3 yuan per stem during the pre-festival period, approximately 15 percent higher than pre-festival levels. Premium flowers recorded substantially higher prices, with high-quality roses reaching nearly 15 yuan ($2.23) per stem.
In 2025, Dounan recorded a trading volume of 15.476 billion fresh-cut flowers, with total transaction value reaching 13.484 billion yuan (approximately $2 billion).
The market currently hosts 3,300 enterprises and more than 15,000 business entities and individual proprietors. Of Dounan’s approximately 70,000 permanent residents, 46,500 are employed in the flower industry.
Approximately seven out of every 10 fresh-cut flowers sold in China originate from Dounan. Its distribution network now reaches markets across China as well as more than 50 countries and regions worldwide.
High-Speed Auction System
Dounan’s auction system is designed to accommodate the highly time-sensitive nature of fresh-cut flowers.
“Field-grown ‘Purple Glow’ (75 percent maturity), 140 stems; field-grown ‘Beloved’ (80 percent maturity), 120 stems; ‘Beloved’ (75 percent maturity), 120 stems…” said Li Qian, a flower auctioneer at the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center.
The trading center uses a descending-price auction model, with prices continuously decreasing on electronic screens. Buyers must respond within approximately 0.6 seconds, allowing transactions to be completed rapidly and supporting the high turnover required by the fresh-cut flower industry.
“Since fresh flowers are perishable goods, we use a descending-price auction format. This helps facilitate rapid circulation,” Li said.
The auction process is integrated with sorting, packaging and transportation operations, reducing the time between trading and shipment.
Logistics Network Expands International Reach
Fresh-cut flowers require particularly efficient logistics because their quality is highly sensitive to transportation and storage time.
Tang Minghong, a client manager with the flower logistics division of SF Express Yunnan, said fresh flowers have among the most demanding logistics requirements in the fresh produce sector.
Trading begins in the afternoon, while pickup, packaging and dispatch can be completed as early as 3:00 a.m., allowing flowers to move quickly from auction facilities into domestic distribution networks.
For international shipments, Dounan has established logistics routes to destinations including Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia. Customers in these markets can receive shipments within two days, according to logistics operators.
Strengthening Yunnan’s Global Flower Trade
The combination of large-scale flower production, centralized trading, high-speed auctions and integrated logistics has enabled Dounan to develop a comprehensive supply and distribution network.
The market connects flower growers in Yunnan with buyers and consumers throughout China and overseas, while supporting the expansion of the province’s fresh-cut flower industry into international markets.
With billions of stems traded annually and distribution covering more than 50 countries and regions, Dounan is emerging as an important regional hub for fresh-cut flower trading and distribution, contributing to the international growth of China’s flower industry.
A dispute over the term “non-market” lay at the centre of the breakdown between China and the United States at this week’s Group of 20 finance meeting, where Beijing withheld support for a consensus statement backed by the other members. The disagreement emerged during negotiations in Asheville, North Carolina, over language addressing global economic imbalances. People familiar with the talks said the sharpest argument focused on whether […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil will hold dedicated procurement workshops in Luanda on September 8, giving Angolan suppliers direct access to information on contracting requirements and opportunities linked to the companies’ upstream operations. The sessions form part of the pre-conference programme for Angola Oil & Gas 2026, whose main conference and exhibition will run on September 9 and 10 at the Centro de Convenções de […]