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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 12/6
State sets
new lending rates for VND loans
The Ministry of
Finance issued a circular to set lending interest rates for State credit in
Vietnamese dong for exports at 11.4 per cent per annum.
The news was
reported by the government's e-portal Chinhphu.vn.
The ministry also
set lending rates for State credit in Vietnamese dong for investments at 9.3
per cent p.a.
The circular came
into force on Tuesday.
HIPC
borrows VND555 billion from VietinBank
Hiep Phuoc
Industrial Park Joint Stock Company (HIPC) signed a contract on Tuesday to
borrow VND555 billion (US$26.4 million) from the Viet Nam Bank for Industry
and Trade (VietinBank).
The loan will
enable the HIPC to continue with its second development stage.
In this stage, the
industrial park will be expanded by around 600ha to house enterprises using
environmentally friendly and advanced technology.
HIPC will focus on
enterprises in the fields of high-class building materials, precision
engineering, equipment manufacturing, food production, shipping and warehouse
services.
In the first stage,
the industrial park will cover around 310ha, attracting 95 enterprises with
total investment of $471 million.
MoF may
increase export tax on woodchips
The Ministry of
Finance is collecting opinions on a tentative scheme to increase the export
tariff on woodchips from 0 per cent to 5 per cent.
Limiting woodchip
exports as proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade was necessary to
avoid exploiting young timber and to reserve materials for domestic
production, the ministry said.
Although exporting
woodchips helps forest planters earn a higher price, they are still a raw
material, so exporting them is inefficient, according to the Ministry of
Industry and Trade.
Last year, the
paper industry needed around 822,000 tonnes of pulp, with around 480,000
tonnes supplied by over 50 local plants and the rest imported.
According to the
General Department of Customs, woodchip exports have increased steadily over
the years, going from 4.13 million tonnes worth US$459.5 million in 2010 to
6.1 million tonnes worth $827.6 million this year.
Investors
snap up Government bonds
The State Treasury
sold out VND2 trillion (US$95.2 million) worth of five-year term bonds on
Thursday. The bonds' yield was 7.3 per cent per year, a decline of 0.48 per
cent compared to the previous bidding.
Meanwhile, the Bank
for Social Policies sold only half of its bond value yesterday. Among VND1
trillion ($47.6 million) worth of three-year and five-year bonds, VND500
billion ($23.8 million) of three-year bonds was sold, yielding 7.5 per cent.
VN's
richest men increase asset value
The value of shares
held by the top 20 richest stock market investors hit over VND53.5 trillion
(US$2.5 billion) in May, up 8.3 per cent from the previous month.
Former Sacombank
(STB) chairman Dang Van Thanh and his son Dang Hong Anh left the top 20 after
the bank sold their shares to clear debts.
Meanwhile, Pham
Nhat Vuong – Vingroup chairman and the richest member of the list – added
VND1.7 trillion ($80.9 million) to have VND19.3 trillion ($0.9 billion) in
assets after partnering with investment fund Warburg Pincus.
In addition,
steelmaker Hoa Sen (HSG) chairman Le Phuoc Vu rose to the seventh place as a
result of inviting the limbless motivational speaker Nick Vujicic to
Fishery
firm ups profit by 31 times
Fishery Commercial
Investment Corp (ICF) hopes to increase this year's revenue and net profit to
VND424 billion ($20.1 million) and VND14.8 billion ($704,700).
The revenue figure
represents a triple increase from last year, while net profit would jump
almost 31 times.
The share closed
yesterday's session up 2.9 per cent. However, market value is low at just
VND3,600 ($0.17) yesterday.
Smarter computing
is the trend of the future as it allows enterprises to do more with less,
speakers said at a conference in
More than 1,000
attendees are taking part in the Technology Conference and expo at the city's
Intercontinental Hotel.
Innovative
computing via smartphones and tablets are allowing companies to do more than
ever before. But risks to data are higher as well.
The demand to
protect data has grown as the amount of volume and different kinds of
information have greatly increased.
By 2020, 450
billion online-business transactions are expected to occur each day, speakers
said at the conference, held by IBM Viet Nam.
However, only one
in five businesses are able to allocate more than half of their IT budgets to
innovation, the conference heard.
Smarter computing,
including leveraging cloud technology and unlocking the power of big data,
saves companies and individuals time, costs, power and space at data centres.
Provinces
hit magical export mark
Five provinces and
cities registered export revenues of over US$1 billion in the first four
months of 2013, according to the General Department of Customs.
Southern
Other localities
posting export revenues close to the $1 billion mark included Hai Duong, Hai
Phong and Long An with $965 million, $924 million and $836 million,
respectively.
In contrast, a
number of provinces in the northern mountainous region reported disappointing
export figures of less than $1 million for the January-April period.
Lai Chau,
This is the first
time the General Department of Customs has released a list of export revenues
by separate localities.
Quang
Central Quang Nam
Province has licensed four tourism projects with a total registered capital
of VND2.27 trillion (US$108 million) over the past five months, an official
from the provincial planning and investment department, Doan Ngoc Minh,
confirmed yesterday.
He said the
department had provided licences for 36 projects in the fields of garments,
forestry processing, rubber plantation and ore exploitation with a total fund
of VND3.8 trillion ($181 million).
"Tourism
investment projects have shown the most rapid progress, accounting for 60 per
cent of the province's total investment projects over the past five months
this year," Minh said.
"Phu Ninh
eco-tourism, Agribank Hoi An and Trung Phu Hai resorts have been the biggest
tourism investment this year," he said.
Minh also said the
province had attracted 93 FDI projects with a capital of $5.2 billion, of
which the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone alone licensed 20 projects with a
registered investment of $4.2 billion.
Last year, the
province hosted 2.8 million tourists, of which 1.3 million were foreigners,
drawing revenue of VND1.4 trillion (US$67 million).
The province, home
to world heritage sites Hoi An, My Son sanctuary and
Investors had built
80 international standard hotels and resorts with a total 5,000 rooms while
the provincial tourism industry had created 15,000 jobs.
Vice chairman of
the provincial people's committee Tran Minh Ca said the province was set to
be the centre of the tourism industry among the
Workshop
covers CIO's role in e-government
A workshop on the
role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in developing an electronic
government (e-government) in
At the event,
organised by
CIOs play a key
role in defining a strategic vision and improving information technology (IT)
application policies in order to develop e-governments.
They are also
responsible for developing and expanding information systems and databases in
agencies, sectors and localities, while instructing the making of policies
and regulations on information safety.
Speaking at the
workshop, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Minh Hong said
The movement would
increase the transparency of state agency activities, as well as save time
and money for agencies, organisations, enterprises and people, Hong stressed.
In
In the 2013-15
period,
Dollar sell
rate peaks in Viet Nam
The State Bank of
The new rate is the
same selling price as commercial banks.
The buying price
stayed at VND20,850 while the interbank rate is still VND20,828 against the
dollar.
On the free market,
the price also rose to VND21,280, up by VND40 compared to the previous day.
This was the second
time in a month the central bank has pushed prices higher. On May 20, the
dollar value also rose 0.26 per cent to VND21,005.
Some said that the
increase on Thursday was due to increasing demand from commercial banks as
interest rates on the domestic currency declined.
The central bank
had halted the sale of foreign currencies to commercial banks for several
days.
However,
Vietcombank General Director Nguyen Phuoc Thanh said the demand for the US
dollar to import goods had not risen significantly.
"The central
bank will surely reduce the selling price to stablise the market," he
affirmed.
Although demand
climbed, the supply of foreign currencies was plentiful, Thanh added.
In the first five
months of this year, the central bank bought around $5 billion, bringing
foreign exchange reserves to over $30 billion.
The May trade
deficit of $1.2 billion might also have an impact on the exchange rate.
The online
newspaper vnexpress.net quoted sources saying that the State Bank had spent
over a billion dollars on importing gold for its 27 auctions.
Agricultural
sector poised for major revamp
A draft plan to
restructure
Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat told a conference on the draft
plan that agricultural growth in recent years had been achieved mainly
"through an increase in area" rather than focusing on
sustainability, market forces and diversification.
Farming had reduced
biodiversity, degraded natural resources and polluted water resource, Phat
said.
Social capital in
the agricultural sector was also distributed unequally, with 84 per cent
being invested in irrigation systems to plant rice in the 2006-10 period.
"Over the past
few years, we have focused too much on quantity rather than quality."
The annual growth
rate of the sector in the past 10 years was 5.4 per cent but its share of
total GDP had decreased from 24.5 per cent in 2010 to 21.6 per cent last
year.
The time for
band-aid measures was over, Phat said. "We need a radical
solution."
Agriculture was
crucial for the nation's economic development and social and political
stability. It ensured food security, created incomes for 70 per cent of the
population and reduced poverty.
"Agriculture
will have to compete for resources with other industrial and services
sectors," Phat said, "and so will have to be more competitive on
the basis of raising quality, value and food safety through structural
adjustments and production technology improvements."
Nguyen Do Anh Tuan,
an expert from the
However, the
previous policies were no longer effective, he said. Agriculture land was
being taken over for industries and services while soil quality was being
degraded through the overuse of fertiliser and pesticide.
Nguyen Lan Huong
from the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Viet Nam, said the
restructuring scheme being prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, along with the support of international organisations, would be
the breakthrough needed for the sector's growth,
In the short run,
the sector would implement a number of urgent measures, such as restructuring
rice production towards reducing rice acreage in arid regions by
approximately 200,000ha in favour of planting corn and soybeans.
The ministry would
change farmers' perceptions of paddy land so they would consider growing
maize, potatoes, soybeans, vegetables or fruit trees, depending on the
demand.
The Livestock
Breeding Department would help households reduce costs and avoid losses while
the Directorate of Fisheries would propose priority areas, solutions and
strategies and encourage fishermen to become more effecting in off-shore
fishing.
Under the draft
scheme, the goal was to achieve average GDP growth in agriculture of 2.6 to 3
per cent per year in the 2011-15 period, and from 3.5 to 4 per cent during
the 2016-20 period. By 2020, the income of rural households was targeted to
increase by 2.5 times compared with 2008.
The investment in
agriculture would be VND239.4 trillion (US$11.4 billion) for the 2011-15
period and increase to VND478.8 trillion ($22.8 billion) in the 2016-20
period.
The funds would be
used mostly in rice planting and fisheries with the target of stabilising 3.8
million hectares of rice land, yielding a total annual output of 45 million
tonnes. Investment in irrigation would not be a priority.
In aquaculture and
seafood exports, shrimp would be a strategic product.
Phat asked that the
draft restructuring scheme be ready for approval within this month.
Quang Ninh
first to extend power grid to rural area
After two years of
construction, the northern coastal
Under the VND370
billion (US$17.64 million) project, 178 transformer stations were built in
the 2011-2012 period, bringing electricity to nearly 10,000 households in 12
districts, towns and cities in the province, local authorities announced
yesterday.
The project aimed
to create opportunities for economic development, improve the cultural and
spiritual life of residents in remote areas and contribute to the successes
of rural development programmes.
Minister of
Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang yesterday asked the Northern Power
Corporation and the Power Company of Quang Ninh province (PCQN) to continue
cooperating with the province's authorities to further improve power quality
in deprived areas.
Dong Nai
demands airport progress
Southern
The construction
planned to cover an area of over 5,000ha would affect 4,500 households in the
province's Long Thanh District, about 40km from
Speaking at a
meeting about the preparation with Airports Corporation of
Out of the 4,500
affected households, 3,000 would have to move to new areas, he said, adding
that other facilities including religious buildings, schools and about 1,000
graves would be removed.
Compensation and
resettlement would cost over VND15 trillion (US$714 million), he said.
He expected that
project investors would arrange proper capital so that land clearance and
compensation work would be started early next year and finish by 2015.
Vinh said that the
province planned to develop two resettlements; each covers an area of 280ha.
The construction would
need about 24,000 workers, he said, adding that the local authority would
work closely with investors and contractors on employment for the dislocated
residents to ensure their livelihoods.
Other facilities
include water and power supplies, transport linkages and telecommunications
were to be made ready for the construction work.
Mitsubishi Corp,
Taisei Corp, Japan Airport Consultants Inc and Narita International Airport
Corp used capital from JICA to conduct research on the project.
The airport is
planned to become operational by 2020, when its capacity could reach 25
million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo per year.
By 2030, it is
expected to have four runways and four terminals, one of the largest in the
region with a designed capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million
tonnes of cargo every year, receiving 90 per cent of international flights
and 20 per cent of local flights to and from
Weather
reduces coffee crop
Viet Nam is
expected to produce a 25 per cent lower output of coffee this year against a
record output of 315,500 tonnes last year, according to the Viet Nam Cocoa
and Coffee Association (Vicofa).
The fall is due to
lack of rain during the time coffee trees were flowering.
The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said coffee exports would slow down
in coming months due to low stockpiles and slow sales.
The export of
Vietnamese coffee fell by 29.9 per cent in April to 110,000 tonnes and was
estimated to drop further in May.
Coffee exports in
the first five months this year fell by 23 per cent in volume to 697,000
tonnes and by 22 per cent in value to US$1.49 million.
National stocks are
low because growers sold a large volume of coffee when the price was VND43
million per tonne.
This could make
coffee prices higher in coming months, the ministry said.
On Wednesday,
coffee beans sold for VND41 million per tonne and the export price stood at
$1,934 per tonne in the Tay Nguyen (
The association
expects consumption of coffee on the world market to increase in the next 18
months from the 139 million bags (60kg/bag) last year.
Meanwhile, the
world stock fell by 17.1 per cent to 15.1 million bags compared with the same
period of last year.
In 2012,
At present, coffee
is grown on more than 500,000ha, but in an industry development plan, the
Government wants to lower this figure.
To increase the
quality of coffee plants, the association said one-third of the plants were
ageing and need to be replaced.
It is forecast that
in the next 10 years, about a half of the nation's coffee plants must be
replaced.
The association has
sent a petition to the ministry asking for the establishment of a
stabilisation fund for the development of the coffee industry.
The fund would come
from coffee export revenue, plus money mobilised from the coffee-growers.
It has also asked
the Government to lend the money to farmers at low interest rates.
Can Tho
earns $162m from seafood
The southern city
of Can Tho shipped abroad 57,000 tonnes of seafood in the first five months
of this year, earning US$164.2 million or 33 per cent of the city's total
export turnover, local authorities have said.
The encouraging
results were mainly attributed to the efforts of seafood enterprises in accelerating
technical innovation to improve competition and better meet the needs of
customers from
Capital
helps companies cut through the red tape
The municipal
People's Committee has established a steering board to help enterprises deal
with administrative procedures in the latest move to help struggling firms
recover.
The board has six
working groups formed from relevant agencies and sectors. The director of the
planning and investment department will lead a group promoting investments,
speeding up construction projects and completing policies to enhance
investment efficiency.
The finance
department director is responsible for financial support and land rent
reduction, while the director of the State Bank's local branch is in charge
of boosting lending and solving bad debts.
The taxation
department head will address tax procedures, the deputy director of the
construction department will focus on property market problems and the
industry and trade department director will deal with reducing inventory and
cutting production costs.
The People's
Committee assigned the planning and investment department to create a hotline
to answer businesses' queries, to which the steering board would have to
respond within five to seven working days.
The committee asked
the board to hold monthly meetings with enterprises and submit regular
reports about their situation.
Admin
reforms crucial to overcoming economic crisis
Furthering
administrative reforms is crucial to improving
He said
administrative procedures in
The Government
needs to put an end to the long time taken to complete administrative
procedures so that the country can attract more domestic and foreign
investment, he said.
Other participants
at the meeting said the Government needs to consider ensuring uniform
administrative procedures in all 63 provinces and cities.
In many provinces,
redundant and overlapping procedures are still common, they said.
Research done by
the Justice Ministry's Administrative Procedure Control Agency found that it
took 155-340 days for getting an investment license for projects in the
nation's industrial parks, economic zones and export processing zones.
The agency
suggested that this is shortened to between 125-180 days.
It also recommended
that the time taken to get an investment license for a project that uses land
outside industrial parks, economic zones and export processing zones is
reduced to 335-450 days instead of the current 580-865 days.
The meeting was
jointly organised by the agency and the International Finance Corporation,
the private sector funding arm of the World Bank.
The HCM City Cargo
Transport Association has asked the Ministry of Transport to draw up a
proposal on new fines related to overloaded vehicles and submit it to the
Prime Minister for approval.
Nguyen Bat Han,
deputy chief inspector of the city's Department of Transport, said that
current regulations include fines of VND3-5 million on drivers of overloaded
trucks and withdrawal of licenses for one to two months.
Under those
regulations, only drivers are held responsible for violations related to
overloading trucks.
The association
said that the leaders of ports, freight yards, industrial parks, export
processing zones, and factories should be held responsible for overloaded
trucks, as well as the owners of the transported goods and vehicles.
Han said that under
current regulations it was impossible to resolve the problem of overloaded
trucks, which damage roads and bridges and contribute to traffic accidents.
The association has
recommended that overloaded trucks be checked at their departure points
instead of on roads.
Ho Kim Lan, general
secretary of the Viet Nam Seaports Association, said that seaport leaders
were not involved in business deals regarding goods transport and should not
be responsible for overloaded trucks.
It is the owners of
the goods who should be blamed for overloading violations, he said.
Nguyen Minh Tam,
general director of Tan Binh Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (Tanimex),
said that enterprises in industrial parks, which work directly with transport
enterprises, should assume responsibility for the overloaded trucks.
"It is
unreasonable to blame the problem of overloaded trucks on leaders of
industrial parks, who only rent land and infrastructure to enterprises,"
Tam said.
Inspectors at the
city's Department of Transport have imposed total fines of VND20.5 billion
(US$985,000) on nearly 6,600 overloaded vehicles this year.
Southern
farmers celebrate solid winter-spring crop
The southern region
has completed its harvesting of the winter-spring rice crop, with an average
yield equal to last year's crop, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development.
The southern
region, which planted more than 1.9 million hectares of rice in the
winter-spring crop, has had an average yield of 6.67 tonnes per hectare.
The northern region
has harvested 200,000ha of the winter-spring crop. It has planted more than
1.15 million hectares of rice in the winter-spring crop. Rice plants are
developing well and promise to have a high yield.
The northern region
is expected to harvest about 7.2 million tonnes of paddy in the winter-crop,
down from about 52,000 tonnes because of a decline in cultivation area.
The rice
cultivation area under large-scale rice fields in the north has also
continued to increase.
Eighteen of 31
provinces and cities in the north have set up 495 large-scale rice fields
with a total area of 32,000 ha in the winter-spring crop.
As of the middle of
May, the southern region has sowed more than 1.38 million hectares of the
summer-autumn rice crop.
Of the figure, the
Cuu Long (
Besides rice, the
country has planted 1.1 million hectares of cash crops and short-term
industrial plants in May, up 10.5 per cent against the same period last year.
Aussie firm
plans record seaport in Ca Mau
An Australian firm
has unveiled a plan to build a US$3.5 billion deep-water seaport on Hon Khoai
Island, roughly 15km off the southwest coast of Nam Can District in the
southernmost province of Ca Mau.
The Ca Mau People's
Committee has submitted a proposal to build the port to the government, and
is awaiting official approval pending the project's inclusion into the
national zoning plan for ports.
Meanwhile,
Australia-based N&M Commodities Pty Ltd is completing necessary
administrative procedures for going ahead with the project.
According to Ca Mau
Province's Department of Planning and Investment, the 320ha deep-water port
will have 12 transshipment berths. Six of these will be used for loading
coal, two for transporting containers, two for transporting oil, and the rest
for other commodities.
The transshipment
berths will be deep enough to receive vessels of 250,000 DWT.
The total
investment for the project is estimated at $2.9 billion, of which $1.1
billion will be used for building facilities and the rest for developing
infrastructure. The port's construction is expected to begin at the end of
2016.
However, on its
website, the Australian company says the project will cost $3.5 billion.
"It will cater
for coal, bulk goods, container and RORO (roll-on/roll-off) berth plus two
petroleum and LNG berths all capable of taking the largest vessels afloat.
"The Mega Port
project, the biggest ever infrastructure project between Australia and Viet
Nam, is set to break many records in logistical efficiency, capacity,
security and most of all sustainability," the company says.
Once completed, the
Hon Khoai Seaport is expected to become the gateway to Mekong (Cuu Long)
Delta and
With piers to
bridge the port with the mainland in Ca Mau's Nam Can District, a link will
be established with the transnational R10 route that runs through
The pier linking
the port with the mainland will have two lanes and a railroad that will be
used for transporting containers.
Mai Huu Chinh,
director of Ca Mau Province's Department of Planning and Investment, said the
project has not been approved officially, and is waiting to be included in
the national plan for developing
"However, it's
likely that the project breaks ground early next year," Chinh said.
In response to Ca
Mau's proposal, the Prime Minister has directed the ministries of Transport
and Industry and Trade to consider including
The Mega Port Multi
Cargo Facility is expected to become a commodity transport hub that supports
logistics development in the Mekong Delta and helps reduce traffic burden in
It is also designed
to become a wholesale market for coal by importing the commodity via a
designated port and wharves to serve thermal power plants in the Mekong
Delta.
The potato-shaped
island has an area of 561ha and off-shore water depth of between five to 27
metres, which is considered suitable for building deep-water seaports.
The island belongs
to Ngoc Hien District's Dat Mui Commune. It has so far remained free of
exploitation.
It has been
described as a "pearl of the cape" and an ideal site for developing
eco-tourism. It is not clear how the new project will impact such plans.
Local officials say
that upon formation of the ASEAN Economic Community, which is targeted to
happen at the end of 2015, the port will play a strategic role in enhancing
sea links with ports in Cambodia, Thailand and other countries in the region,
boosting commodity transportation and tourism development.
More importantly,
it will supplement the first stage of the Southern Coastal Corridor that
links
The project will
also match with the 11,000ha Nam Can Economic Zone that has been approved by
the government, creating a huge impetus for socio-economic development in the
province and the delta.
They also say that
when completed, the new port and the corridor will create new competitive
advantages for Ca Mau, which will not only become an important economic area
in the Mekong Delta, but also as a business gateway for ASEAN countries.
The southernmost
The nation's
biggest shrimp exporter is 350km from
In recent years, Ca
Mau's economy has expanded by over 12 per cent annually.
Last year, the
province's GDP was VND3.13 trillion, a 10 per cent increase year-on-year. Its
export turnover was $910 million.
Ca Mau, which used
to be considered among the remotest and poorest provinces in the country, is
calling for investment into 38 major projects in several fields including
industrial zones, commercial centres, urban areas, transport, food processing
and tourism development.
VN should
stay with ITA despite tax losses - experts
Experts agreed that
while
"The ITA will
also help local customers access the world's newest IT products for more
reasonable prices, while the quality of life for local labourers will be
improved," said Bui Manh Hai, chairman of the Viet Nam Association for
Information Processing (VAIP).
ITA, effective
since 1997, is a trade liberalisation agreement that was concluded in the
framework of the WTO.
In accordance with
the ITA, the contracting parties will eliminate customs duties as well as
similar duties and charges on information and communications technology products.
However, as the
agreement eliminated import taxes for IT products, domestic firms could not
compete with imports of world leading IT products from US, Japan and South
Korea. Many of them collapsed or shifted from production to services.
In addition, as a
member of the ITA, the country lost some $3 billion in 2007 and $200 billion
in 2012 from the lack of tax revenue.
"
Automobile
sector faces uphill road
Production dropped
by 40 per cent for the automobile industry, showing that the sector had not
yet recovered from the 2012 economic crisis, said participants in an
automobile workgroup at the Viet Nam Business Forum held recently.
The industry sold
30,414 cars in the first four months of this year, a moderate increase
compared with last year's sales of 29,503 cars.
There is one car
for five hundred people, so the industry has significant potential to
develop. However, manufacturers are in a difficult position as supply
currently exceeds demand.
Similarly, Ford
These costs
affected the price of devices and products, said workgroup members, which
also affected
To solve the
problem, the workgroup proposed the Government cut the special consumption
tax to 50 per cent for now and eventually eliminate it entirely. They also
asked the Government to lift the consumption tax for motorbikes 170cc and
over.
Apparel
industry needs redesign
The
First, the sector
needed to develop a support industry that would produce raw materials
domestically, reducing reliance on imported materials.
Additionally, it
should develop the design industry, reduce processing, increase the
localisation rate and reduce imports, which would in turn decrease
manufacturing costs and dependence on foreign partners.
They also planned
to focus on developing a domestic textile and dyeing industry and joining the
supply chain to export markets - especially the US market – as well as
increasing the added value of garment products and developing further in the
domestic market.
As for the
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), a free trade agreement that aims
to integrate the economies of the Asia-Pacific region, the Viet Nam National
Apparel Association expected the agreement to benefit
However, this
agreement would also bring challenges to the sector. Domestic enterprises
would be required to import raw materials from TPP members, a major
adjustment given that the domestic textile and garment industry currently
imports 90 per cent of materials from non-TPP countries.
In 2012,
The industry needed
415,000 tonnes of cotton for production, while domestic producers could only
supply 5,000 tonnes. Similarly, out of 6.8 billion needed metres of cloth, 6
billion were imported.
More than 40
textile enterprises from the provinces of Tien Giang, Long An, Vinh Long, Ben
Tre, An Giang and Dong Thap attended the conference, which was organised by
the Viet Nam National Apparel Association and the Tien Giang People's
Committee.
Summer-autumn
rice shows slight hike in
Two days after
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung signed a Decision to purchase one million tons
of summer-autumn rice for stockpiling in the Mekong Delta, rice prices
increased by VND100-200 a kilogram compared to that at the end of May.
On June 6, local
traders have begun to purchase fresh normal rice at VND3,700 a kilogram and
fresh long grain rice at VND4,100 a kilogram.
The Department of
Cultivation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that
the Mekong Delta has harvested more than 220,000 hectares of summer-autumn
rice as of June 6.
Farmers will
continue to harvest another 850,000 hectares from now until the end of July.
The Government rice
stockpiling program will begin from June 15 until July 31. Banks will assist
businesses with 100 percent interest rate to purchase rice within three
months, beginning June 15.
The Prime Minister
has instructed the Vietnam Food Association to work with provincial people’s
committees to stockpile rice.
Unsold
apartment volume falls
The volume of
unsold apartments in HCMC fell about 13% in the first five months of the
year, signaling that the frozen market might be thawing, according to the
HCMC Department of Construction.
Some 1,880
apartments were sold in the first five months. Thus, the unsold apartment
volume dropped from 14,490 to 12,610 units, worth nearly VND22.5 trillion.
There are 736
housing projects under construction in HCMC, while 308 projects have ground
to a halt, said the construction department at a meeting with the HCMC
government on Tuesday.
The department has
received applications for conversion from 35 commercial projects, eight of
which seek permission for transformation into low-cost housing projects.
In addition to
low-cost projects, nine commercial housing projects have products covering
less than 70 square meters each and priced below VND15 million per square,
supplying around 2,260 apartments to homebuyers. These include Le Thanh
Company with its An Lac residential zone project in Binh Tan District
provides over 1,200 apartments, while Saigon-Gia Dinh Real Estate Joint Stock
Company supplies 256 units with the Thoi An residential zone project in
District 12.
Among the investors
asking for project conversion, Binh Duong Construction Co. Ltd. wants to turn
its 360-flat project in Thanh My Loi Ward, District 2 into a hospital with 500
beds.
The construction
department said it would soon publish the list of commercial housing projects
eligible for the VND30-trillion preferential credit program.
* The HCMC
authorities from now until the end of 2013 will buy 3,000 low-cost apartments
from enterprises to sell to eligible homebuyers, said Tran Trong Tuan,
director of the HCMC Department of Construction.
An official from
the construction department said many project owners had sold their products
for only VND12 million, or even VND8 million per square meter, the same as
their cost. “Therefore, they want to transform their projects into low-cost
ones, hoping to sell their products to the city through the Government’s
VND30-trillion credit program,” he said.
However, as there
are many low-cost housing projects, commercial projects can hardly have any
part in the city’s plan for buying 3,000 budget homes, said a source from
Saigon Construction Corporation.
Saigon Construction
Corporation has a low-cost housing project with 62 apartments near completion
and will sell its products to the municipal authorities.
The production cost
of this project is some VND12 million per square meter, or VND13 million with
interest factored in. “But we don’t know which price the city will charge
homebuyers,” said the source.
The list of 3,000
low-cost homes to be bought by the city will be announced this month, with
their specific locations and prices.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Ba, 11 tháng 6, 2013
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