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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 13/6
Vietnam-China
forum focuses on cross-border trade
A Vietnam-China
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum took place in
Speaking at the
forum, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa affirmed that
Vietnam-China comprehensive cooperation in recent years have seen strong
development, contributing to socio-economic development of the two countries,
and their border provinces in particular.
She noted the high
growth rate of cross-border trade between
Agro-forest-aquatic
products and processed industrial goods are major Vietnamese export items to
At the forum, Wang
Nai Xue, Director of the Department of Commerce of Guangxi (
Trade turnover
between Guangxi and
Shoe
designer tops int’l footwear design contest
A Vietnamese shoe
designer has won top prize in an international footwear design contest recently
held in
The shoes designed
by Duong Ngoc Lan Chi from Anlac Footwear Joint Stock Co (Alsimex) beat 180
others to win first prize in the 5th International Footwear Design
Competition, HCM City-base newspaper Tuoi Tre reported.
They were among 14
pairs of shoes from 9 local designers picked by the Vietnam Leather and
Footwear Association (Lefaso) for the contest early this year.
Chi’s work won both
first prize in the overall contest and the women’s shoe category, according
to Lefaso. There were five categories including men’s shoes, children’s shoes
and sport shoes.
Four others, all
from Alsimex, were also announced as prize winners in the contest, said
Lefaso.
Chi’s colleague,
designer Tran Phuong Tam, won first prize in children’s shoe category with a
design imitating a sport car.
The contest,
organised by 12-member Asian International Footwear Association from May 30
to June 1, attracted 181 shoe artworks from nine regional countries and
territories.
It aims to find
talented shoe designers regionally and build up qualified shoe designing team
meeting international standard for each member country.
Alsimex was
established in 1987 as a division of the
Firms voice
support for raising woodchip export tax
Local wood
processing and paper production firms have voiced their support for the
Ministry of Finance’s tentative scheme to increase the export tax on woodchip
from 0% to 5%.
Nguyen Ton Quyen,
vice chairman cum general secretary of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products
Association (Vifores), said the association has many times asked relevant
agencies to restrict the cutting of young timber to produce woodchip for
export.
The timber supply
is now not enough for the demand of artificial board and paper production,
not to mention wood processing, Quyen said.
According to the
Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association (VPPA), paper plants in the northern
region is facing many difficulties in securing wood material and woodchip to
produce pulp due to the increasingly high woodchip export.
The plant of An Hoa
Paper Joint Stock Company has a designed capacity of 130,000 tons of pulp per
year, equivalent to a demand of 53,900 tons of wood materials a month.
However, the plant has bought only 48% of the material volume needed as a
large volume of woodchip has found its way to other markets.
According to VPPA,
the paper industry needs around 822,000 tons of pulp, with around 480,000
tons supplied by over 50 local plants and the rest imported.
Although woodchip
export helps forest planters earn a higher price, it is still raw material,
and thus exporting this material does not bring about high efficiency.
Based on the
current regulation and the actual situation, the Ministry of Finance said
that limiting the woodchip export as proposed by the Ministry of Industry and
Trade was necessary to avoid exploiting young timber and to reserve materials
for domestic production. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance proposed to
increase the export tariff imposed on woodchip from 0% to 5%.
According to
statistics of the General Department of Customs, woodchip export has
increased steadily over the years with 4.13 million tons worth US$459.5
million in 2010 and 5.4 million tons worth US$703.3 million in 2011.
The woodchip export
amounted to 6.1 million tons with a value of US$827.6 million last year. The
respective figures recorded in this year’s first quarter are 1.6 million tons
and US$220.1 million.
Exported
apparel unit prices down
Data released by
the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA)
showed that China took the lead for apparel exports to the U.S. in the first
quarter with revenue of US$8.7 billion, followed by Vietnam US$2 billion,
India US$1.6 billion, Indonesia US$1.4 billion and Bangladesh US$1.3 billion.
According to the
Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT),
A report of the
Ministry of Industry and Trade released last month estimated that
However, the
industry is facing danger of shrinking profits compared to previous years due
to small orders and tough competition, leading to low export prices.
Urban
railway projects move slowly
Urban railway
projects in HCMC are moving slowly due to financial distress, troublesome
site clearance and complicated administrative procedures, said Hoang Nhu
Cuong, deputy director of the HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways.
Seven metro lines
and three tramways will be built in the city under the master plan launched
in February 2001.
So far, site
clearance for Metro Line No. 1 connecting Ben Thanh Market with
As for the
construction package consisting of the elevated section from Ba Son to Suoi
Tien with 11 stations and a maintenance station, the contractor’s work
progress is confined to merely geological and topographical surveys, and
designs for the pedestrian bridge and the maintenance station.
This construction
package will be executed on a large scale this month, said the urban railways
authority.
Work started on
Metro Line No. 2 from Ben Thanh to Tham Luong in August 2010. Currently,
contractors are being selected for the construction packages of this project,
so it won’t be until early 2014 that it will officially get off the ground,
said Cuong.
The other metro
projects, except for Metro Line No. 5 which will receive 200 million euros
from
“If everything goes
smoothly, metro lines 1 and 2 will be completed in 2017 and be ready for
service in 2018,” said Cuong.
The development of
the urban railway network in HCMC has been slower than expected due to
financial restraints and cumbersome procedures, he noted.
Because regulations
of international donors and
Another cause of
the slow development is an incorrect calculation of total investment cost,
requiring adjustments. “Capital increase for metro projects takes much time,
perhaps a couple of years, since opinions of many ministries and the National
Assembly must be sought,” he said.
He suggested
separating site clearance and compensation from urban railway projects.
Compensation is always fluctuating in line with land prices, making the costs
of urban railway projects volatile, he explained.
“Site clearance and
compensation should be separated from the urban railway projects and done in
advance. Then, implementation of urban railway projects will go smoothly,” he
said.
GreenBiz seeks green business solutions for Vietnam
The seminar and
exhibition GreenBiz 2013 under the theme “European Green Business Solutions
for
This is the third
GreenBiz event after the first one that took place in 2009 and it is expected
to help connect local and foreign enterprises, said the European Chamber of
Commerce in
Besides providing
assessments on overall matters relating to green consumption and production,
GreenBiz 2013 will also discuss healthcare, foodstuffs and nutrition issues,
Preben Hjortlund, EuroCham president in
Moreover, other
prevailing problems in
Specially, this
year’s GreenBiz will feature core capability of many EU nations. Plenty of EU
companies from
EuroCham expects to
push for the model of cooperation between an EU expert and a business
executive of an Asian enterprise. The organization with this third edition
wants to prove that green business and good governance solutions could be
achieved at the same time as these solutions are reciprocal.
Green activities
have become necessary and are considered as the development model for all
enterprises and the society, Hjortlund said, adding benefits of involved
entities and society will be sustained thanks to economic prosperity. The
green business solutions will help
Work starts on rare
earth plant in BR-VT
Japan-invested
Vietnam Rare Chemical Company (VRec) on Wednesday began construction of the
zirconium compound production plant in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province’s
The firm will set
aside VND1.03 trillion to turn a four-hectare land site into a plant
producing and processing zircon ore to produce metasilicate and zirconium
compounds.
Zirconium is a
material needed for the production of refractory products and materials for
the nuclear power industry. Besides, it is used to produce components for
devices like cellphones, TV sets, aircraft shells and brakes for racing cars.
According to VRec,
in the first phase the plant will produce zirconium oxychloride and sodium
metasilicate with respective capacities of 13,300 tons and 8,500 tons per
year.
The plant is
scheduled for operation after 12 months of construction.
VRec is one of the
first foreign investors that invest in
Several
property projects seek to become budget ones
Faced with the
dampened sentiment on the property market, investors of many high-end
apartment projects are applying to convert their projects into low-cost ones
and expecting to benefit from the VND30-billion home loan package.
Notable projects
among those applied to be changed into budget ones are the Hung Dien
residential-commercial project invested by Tan Hung Investment Joint Stock
Company in an area of nearly 20 hectares in Binh Chanh District.
The project was
launched noisily in 2008 with total investment capital proclaimed to amount
to billions of U.S. dollars to develop high-end office building, commercial
center, entertainment facilities and apartments.
According to the
HCMC Department of Construction, the investor wants to convert a 34-floor
building into a budget housing project with 2,716 apartments.
Meanwhile,
Transport Engineering Construction and Business Investment Company 584 wants
to convert its three projects in Go Vap and Tan Phu districts. If the
applications are approved, around 2,250 low-cost apartments will join the
market.
Similarly, Thu
Thiem Investment Company also applies to convert the Thao Dien resettlement
project with around 300 apartments, while Tan Binh Construction Investment
Company wants to change its 480 apartments of the Tan Mai project in Binh Tan
District into low-cost ones.
In addition to
shifting projects to the low-cost segment, some investors also seek approval
to divide apartments into smaller ones to meet the demand. For instance, Bao
Gia Company has applied to change penthouses of The Flemington Tower in
District 11 into apartments having an area of 86-116 square meters each.
According to
observers, changing projects into low-cost ones may help remove difficulties
for investors. However, it is too soon to say whether this move will work as
investors need to see how homebuyers react to such housing model.
The HCMC Department
of Construction said that it would submit to the municipal government
registered projects and continue to receive new applications.
More
villas, houses on offer in Nha Trang
As many as 1,780
villas and adjoining houses were on offer in Nha Trang in the first quarter,
up 1% from the previous quarter, according to Savills
The property market
researcher said of the total number, the primary and secondary markets
accounted for 460 villas and 1,320 adjoining units respectively.
The common price of
villas in
The report also
indicated that the average household size in Nha Trang fell from five people
to 4.2 people last year. According to Savills, with improved income and
better life quality, the trend of small household size may boost the housing
demand in Nha Trang.
Nha Trang has three
primary projects which are developed under the second-home model and target
customers in
Besides, over 70%
of the total number of future property projects in Nha Trang is located in
the western and northern areas of the city.
The supply of hotel
rooms meeting three- to five-star standards in Nha Trang exceeded 4,800 rooms
in the first quarter, rising by 3% from the previous quarter, according to
the report.
The property market
still operates well despite the presence of new projects. The occupancy rate
inched up by three percentage points and reached 73% while the average room
rate was VND1.82 million per night, up 7%.
Nha Trang currently
has 25 projects under progress which will supply over 4,100 three- to
five-star rooms. Among these new projects, there are six hotels with over 900
rooms which will join the market this year, making the competition in the
hotel market in the city stronger.
Credit fund
converted into bank
The license of the
Vietnam Co-operative Bank took effect immediately after the central bank
governor signed it on Tuesday.
The bank, which is
financed by the State, member people’s credit funds and others, has 27
branches nationwide, which were formerly the credit fund’s members.
The new institution
can operate as a commercial bank. In addition to normal commercial banking
services, it can issue
certificates of
deposit, promissory notes, bonds and other valuable papers to raise capital
from local and international sources, and borrow from local capital markets
and domestic and foreign organizations.
On the same day,
the central bank issued a decision withdrawing the license of the central
people’s credit fund within 15 days.
HIPC
borrows VND555 billion from VietinBank
Hiep Phuoc
Industrial Park Joint Stock Company (HIPC) on Tuesday signed a contract to
borrow VND555 billion from Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank)
to develop the second stage of the industrial park.
In this stage, the
industrial park will be expanded by around 600 hectares to house enterprises
using high and environmentally friendly technologies.
HIPC general
director Doan Hoang Tam said that site clearance is expected to be complete
by the end of 2014. 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 covers around 310 hectares, attracting 98 enterprises
with nearly 9,000 staff.
HCMC has 14
industrial parks and export processing zones, accommodating over 1,200 active
projects with nearly 260,000 employees. In the next 10 years, the city is
expected to have one high-tech park, and 20 concentrated industrial parks,
export processing zones and local industrial clusters on the total area of
8,800 hectares.
Manulife
Vietnam sees 16% premium increase in Q1
Life insurer
Manulife
Total assets under
the company’s management were nearly VND7.2 trillion, an increase of 29%.
Insurance sales through bancassurance also experienced growth compared to the
same quarter of 2012.
Chung Ba Phuong,
CEO of Manulife Vietnam, said in a statement recently released that the
enterprise has seen a lot of opportunities to expand further into
bancassurance to reach more potential customers besides the established
agency channel.
In the first
quarter, Manulife
Viettel
moves 3,400 staff to communes
Viettel Group has
sent 3,400 employees to communes since the year’s beginning to provide
customer care services and prepare itself for tapping the rural market now
that the military-run giant is to launch its cable TV services soon alongside
its telecom services.
According to
Viettel, after five months of executing the strategy of ‘grabbing the
market,’ the group has so far moved 30% of its sales team with 3,400 people
to communes to better meet the demand of customers.
With the new
strategy, every two to three communes will have at least one Viettel staff
directly in charge of delivering goods and services as well as addressing
problems. These staff will also work with nearly 14,000 local employees of
Viettel nationwide on carrying out sales activities.
Together with
expanding the service network to every commune, sending staff to communes is
a way Viettel applies to ensure good and prompt customer care services.
According to an
expert, this move of Viettel aims to pave the way for its cable television
service recently licensed and expected to be launched late this year. Cable
television service has now been saturated in cities and towns but has yet to
be popular in rural areas.
Firms
switch to rail freight transport
Many transport
companies have registered for container transport by train from
Currently,
Vinalines Logistics Joint Stock Company and Bach Dang Loading and Unloading
Enterprise are transporting containers on the Haiphong-Lao Cai line, with a
volume of 26 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEU) per train.
In the next few
months, the number of freight trains running on the Haiphong-Lao Cai route
will be increased to meet the rising cargo volume.
A lot of
enterprises choose to transport goods on the rail line from
The line from Yen
Vien,
Nguyen Huu Tuyen,
head of the transport business department under Vietnam Railways, said that
if 10% of goods destined for
Rail freight
transport significantly reduces the loads on National Highway 5 and National
Highway 70, he said.
Rail transport
allows a larger cargo volume and costs less than road transport. Therefore,
it is a better choice for transport firms in the context that road vehicles
are subject to many fees.
On approving the
scheme for rail freight transport, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang
requested all 40-feet containers to be transported by train by 2014.
Meanwhile, to
prevent overload on the road system, weigh stations are set up to detect
overloaded vehicles.
Husbandry
farmers find it hard to access loans
It is difficult for
local livestock farmers to gain access to the preferential loan program
though banks have been asked to lower the annual lending rate for husbandry
and fishery industries to 10% by the central bank.
Speaking with the
Daily on Tuesday, Pham Duc Binh, vice chairman of the poultry and livestock
association of
In the livestock
industry, most households buy animal feed based on deferred payment method
and they can only make payments after selling the animals, Binh explained.
Due to having suffered losses for a long time, local households are unable to
pay debts and resume farming.
Given the absence
of sound business plans plus mounting old debts, many of them cannot take out
bank loans from the interest rate subsidy program designed with annual rate
of less than 10% as expected by the central bank.
This is similar to what
that has happened to husbandry companies having suffered losses over the
years, Binh said. The fact that the central bank requests banks to slash
lending rates to the husbandry and fishery industries for loans that had been
disbursed before May 13 to a maximum 10% annually only creates conditions for
companies to rotate old loans, he remarked.
The central bank
has earlier released Document 3783/NHNN-TD asking five commercial banks
comprising Agribank, BIDV, Vietinbank, Vietcombank and MHB to cut lending
rates for the target industries to a maximum level of 10%.
The central bank in
the document clarifies that the five banks need to continue to deploy the
program strictly and effectively to ensure the effective credit support for
the target industries in line with the instructions of the Prime Minister and
the monetary authority.
EU funds
early implementation of PCA
The Delegation of
the European Union (EU) in
At the launch of
the EU-Vietnam Strategic Dialogue Facility held on Tuesday in
The program aims to
boost strategic dialogue between the EU and
Speaking at the
ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said that PCA was officially
signed last June, and while waiting for ratification, the two sides have
agreed on implementing PCA in some prioritized sectors.
The implementation
of PCA in the 2011-2012 period has progressed well, and the two sides are
discussing how to conduct PCA in the 2013-2014 period, he added.
Jessen said that
the EU would step up the ratification process, implement the agreement and
make full use of all cooperation opportunities brought by the agreement.
Two-way trade
between the EU and
Five-month
footwear export earnings up 11.4 percent
Last month alone,
export turnover reached 750 million USD due to the stability of traditional
export markets and increasing orders from new importers.
In the first four
months of the year, the industry enjoyed high export turnover from its
traditional markets. The
Shoe producers had
stable orders, with many big enterprises receiving orders for up to the third
quarter.
According to the
Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (LEFASO), the Trans-Pacific
Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations would bring about opportunities for
the Vietnamese leather and footwear industry to penetrate the large market.
The association
added that
In addition, the
products would be subject to Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) taxes in
the EU market from the beginning of next year.
EU taxes would be
zero percent when the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between
Several British and
German shoe importers, therefore, have been searching for business
opportunities in
However, the
association said the TPP would also bring about challenges for
Domestic businesses
have a low localisation rate of 40 percent, as the industry depends highly on
imported materials.
The Ministry of
Industry and Trade encouraged footwear businesses to increase their
investment in material production, modern and environmentally friendly
technologies.
The country aimed
to reach an export turnover of 9.7 billion USD this year, up 10 percent over
last year. Shoe export alone is expected to gain 8 billion USD.
It also aims by
2020 to be one of the world's top-five producers and exporters of footwear.
Farmers in central region plagued by dead fish, shrimp crops
Fish and shrimp
breeders in the central region are in deep despair after diseases have hit
their fish and shrimp crops, with many of them now on the verge of
bankruptcy.
About 500,000
rabbitfish (Siganus) have died in Tam Giang Lagoon causing losses upto VND2.5
billion (US$119,000) for local households in
One household will
suffer an average loss of VND40-50 million ($1,904-2,380).
Tens of thousands
of Kinh fish, a small fish species living in brackish water, also faces
extinction in Quang Dien District.
According to the
district Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the long-lasting
hot weather together with rainstorms has suddenly changed the salinity in
breeding ponds.
Besides, the spread
of blue green algae has reduced oxygen in the water. Another reason is that
farmers have bred too much fish in a single pond and hence the quality of
bred fish has gone down.
Farmers in the
central region are also stricken by shrimp diseases, which have spread and
killed numerous tiger prawns and white-leg shrimps in many provinces.
Several breeders
are on the verge of bankruptcy after mortgaging their properties to banks so
as to breed shrimp.
They now are in
need of assistance from authorized organs to fully determine the cause of the
dead fish and shrimp, to prevent further spread of diseases. Farmers too need
assistance in sterilizing breeding ponds.
Farmers
increase dragon fruit cultivation despite uncertainty
Farmers in Chau
Thanh District of Long An Province and Cho Gao District of Tien Giang
Province have already spent VND810 billion to cultivate more than 2,700
additional hectares of dragon fruit, even though they are not sure of return
in profits.
Local farmers in
the above districts still consider dragon fruit as the most lucrative crop as
in recent years it has earned them millions or even billions of dong.
Continued to be lured to hopes of high profits, most farmers have switched to
growing dragon fruit though rice or vegetables still provide a fairly stable
income. From 2011 to now, farmers in the two above districts have expanded
dragon fruit area by more than 2,700 hectares, far beyond the target area of
the two districts.
Truong Van Biet, chairman
of the People’s Committee of Chau Thanh District, said that the area of
dragon fruit in the district was about 1,000 hectares in 2010 and was planned
to increase to 1,500 hectares by 2015. However, dragon fruit area now exceeds
2,200 hectares.
Meanwhile, in 2010
in Cho Gao District, dragon fruit area was nearly 2,000 hectares but is now
more than 3,500 hectares while the maximum area for expansion was targeted at
4,500-5,000 hectares by 2015.
Taking only the new
cultivation area into account, from 2011 to now, farmers in the two districts
have spent more than VND810 billion in investments; but adding this area to
existing cultivated area--then investments rise to VND1.6 trillion. This is
too huge an investment for local farmers to bet on if they remain unsure of
return profits.
This also raises
concerns as to why so many farmers switched to growing dragon fruit, when
they barely know about cultivation techniques. However, they thought
recklessly, believing that if other farmers can grow dragon fruit and reap
profits, they could too.
Mr. D.V.N, an
official in Long An Province, also decided to convert more than one hectare
of rice growing area to dragon fruit cultivation although he knows nothing
about dragon fruit cultivation techniques nor is he sure of reaping more
profits.
According to Mr.
Truong Van Biet, farmers abandoned rice and vegetable cultivation to grow
dragon fruits because traders have in the past two years been offering good
prices for dragon fruits, tempting farmers to switch crops. Moreover, power
supply for dragon fruit cultivation has been guaranteed of late, creating
favorable conditions for dragon fruit growers.
In the past two
years, the price of dragon fruits went up pretty high, bringing higher
profits for growers. As for white-flesh dragon fruit, average price was from
VND15,000 to VND20,000 per kilogram, or even VND30,000 per kilo sometimes.
The price of red-flesh dragon fruit was VND30,000-40,000 per kilo, or even
upto VND60,000 per kilo. As a result, a hectare of white-flesh dragon fruit
yields about VND300-400 million, while that of red-flesh one gives about
VND700-800 million, or sometimes VND1 billion.
According to
farmers’ calculations, if the price maintains at that level, they can reclaim
their initial investments and reap profits after two years. Because the plant
bears fruits after 15-17 months and in its third year, a hectare produces an
average of 10-20 tons of dragon fruit.
However,
consumption and keeping prices stable remains uncertain. Le Minh Duc,
director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Long An
Province, said that due to high profits, farmers have taken to growing dragon
fruits even in places that are not part of planned area and facing
difficulties in power and water supply. However, the hardest part is ensuring
consumption and stable prices for farmers to reap profits.
Currently, dragon
fruits are mainly exported to
In addition, the
Government has also helped farmers with better cultivation techniques so they
can produce safe fruits, reduce cost price, increase productivity, and
improve quality to enter new markets, such as
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.
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.
State Bank
urged to increase credit to farmers
Deputy Prime
Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked the State Bank to consider increasing
credit quota to farming households, and work with the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development to improve farmers’ access to capital.
The Government
official made the request at a June 8 conference in
He said financial
assistance is necessary to help farmers, including those involved in animal
husbandry, to maintain production.
Deputy PM Hai also
told relevant ministries and sectors to seriously implement the Prime
Minister’s decision on purchasing 1 million tonnes of rice for stockpiling,
which aims at stimulating demands on the market and ensuring profits for rice
farmers.
Representatives
from trade organisations urged the Government to soon take measures to remove
obstacles to investment, production and consumption, particularly financial
measures to help farmers and businesses maintain production. They proposed
higher credit quota for farmers in the Mekong Delta, and freezing or scheduling
debts to allow farmers and businesses to re-invest. They also expressed hope
that relevant organisations accelerate trade promotion activities to help
boost sales.
According to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, weakening demands and the
downward trend in price are affecting rice exports of all major rice export
countries. In the January-May period,
The ministry also
reported that animal husbandry has scaled down due to concerns of both
breeders and consumers about diseases. At the same time, lower purchasing
power as a result of the economic crisis and rising input costs have eaten
into farmers’ profits. Difficult access to capital plus high interest rate is
posing more problems to this sector.
The situation is
the same in the fishery sector. The export of aquatic products also met with
difficulties such as technical barriers in developed markets.
HDBank
agrees to sell Manulife's life insurance products
The HCM City
Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank) has signed an agreement with
Manulife to distribute the life insurer's products through its branches.
The deal turns
HDBank into a one-stop shop for customers' financial planning and needs.
Initially, only the
bank's
Over 104
trillion VND of government bonds mobilised
The State Treasury
has announced that over 104 trillion VND of Government bonds have been
mobilised since the beginning of the year, equivalent to 61.3 percent of the
planned amount for 2013.
The Treasury has
also reviewed planned spending worth more than 259 trillion VND from the
State budget’s frequent expenditure. During this process, they discovered
over 23,000 incorrect details in 11,200 transactions, suspending the payments
worth 318 billion VND.
The treasury has
also sped up payments to fundamental construction projects taking place
across the country.
Accumulated capital
disbursement through the State Treasury this year has reached over 76
trillion VND, accounting for 34 percent of the allocated plan, including
advances.
Of this amount, the
expenditure for the construction capital reached more than 54 trillion VND,
with 22 trillion VND coming from government bonds.
The State Treasury
has declined 14.5 billion VND payments due to discrepancies between the bid
price and the amount requested and because of missing payment forecasts.
No
subsidized home loans made in first week
In the first week
of the Government’s VND30-trillion home loan program being implemented, no
loans have been disbursed as individual customers have begun learning about
how to apply for such low-interest credit, according to the central bank.
The lender banks
designated for the program are expected to disburse their first loans this
week after the applications that meet the requirements provided in the
Ministry of Construction’s Circular 07/2013 are accepted.
The banks have
contacted the developers of budget apartment projects, especially in
The central bank
said only the projects in which home sale contracts have been signed since
January 7 this year are subject to the program. However, to reduce the volume
of unsold apartments, some projects with apartment sale contracts signed before
that date can still be considered but this rule does not apply retroactively.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Tư, 12 tháng 6, 2013
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