BUSINESS IN BRIEF 14/6
The programme is
part of
There would be
various activities of exchange and co-operation between Malaysian tour
operators, hotels, entertainment and commercial units, and Vietnamese travel
companies and airlines, said Mohd Akbal Setia, director of the agency.
He added that the
tourism programme in
First
realty project benefits from VND30-trillion loan scheme
Khang Gia Tan Huong
condo project in HCMC’s Tan Phu District has become the first to benefit from
the Government’s VND30-trillion home loan subsidy program.
Khang Gia
Investment and Real Estate Development Joint Stock Company, the developer of
this project, on Tuesday signed cooperation agreements with three realty
exchange centers to launch the sale of these apartments, which are measured
under 70 square meters each and priced no higher than VND15 million per
square meter.
Nguyen Ngoc Thanh
Chung, deputy general director of the company, said that around 110 out of
338 apartments of this project will be distributed by three realty firms,
namely Nam Viet, Danh Khoi and Hoang Anh Sai Gon.
Phung Van Nang,
director of Nam Viet Company, said the apartments are priced from VND14.8
million per square meter, or around VND810 million a unit, with value-added
tax included.
Saigon West branch
of Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) will provide loans
up to 80% of the apartment value to homebuyers. The interest rate will be
fixed at 6% per annum in 15 years. The condos will be handed over to clients
within this year.
To reach these
preferential loans, homebuyers must present certifications of employment,
current conditions of their homes and registered addresses of residence.
Temporary residents will have to pay social insurance for one year or more.
Besides, they have
to present condo buying contracts signed with the investor. They can use
either apartments they will buy or other assets to mortgage the loans.
According to the
HCMC Department of Construction, there have been nine commercial projects
with nearly 2,300 condos meeting requirements of the VND30-trillion loan
package.
Press to
tour South Korea
A group of 13
Vietnamese photographers and travel reporters next week will visit many of
Organised by the
Korea Tourism Organisation and the Vietnamese magazine Travellive, the
seven-day tour aims to offer fresh travel experiences to the visitors.
Well-known
photographers Thai Phien, Tran Viet Duc, Xuan Binh are among the members of
the tour.
Entitled Amazing
Photo Tour, the journey will visit
An exhibition
showcasing the photos made during the trip will open to public from July 19
at the Sheraton Ha Noi Hotel.
Community
tourism starts in mountains
The central
Bho Hoong village,
Soong Kon commune and Dhroong village in the district will turn into tourism
sites as part of a project to strengthen inland tourism in Quayng
The project,
implemented by the ILO and the province with the funds from Luxembourg
Government, aims to promote tourism in mountainous areas along the Ho Cho
Minh Trails with total funding of US$1.3 million in three years.
In March, the
community based-tourism
The HCMC Management
Authority for Urban Railways on Tuesday clinched an agreement with Japanese
company
Hoang Nhu Cuong,
deputy director of the management authority, said this is one of the three
most important bidding packages of the metro line connecting Ben Thanh Market
area in District 1 with
Under the deal,
At the same time,
the Japanese contractor will make surveys, draft designs, carry out
production and construction, and provide materials and equipment. It will
test and operate the whole scheme on a trial basis as well.
Site clearance of
the line No.1 is basically complete. The management authority now is opening
the preliminary round of the bidding package for the underground section
stretching 2.6 kilometers running from Ben Thanh Market to Ba Son Shipyard.
The second package,
which runs some 17 kilometers, is being constructed as the elevated route
along
The line No.1,which
has a total length of 19.7 kilometers, including underground and elevated
tracks, will cost an estimated VND47 trillion. It is set for completion in
2017 and operation in 2018 with 14 terminals, comprising three underground
facilities and 11 elevated ones.
Visiting
Green said his
visit aims to devise specific programmes to invest in
Quan expressed his
belief that the visit will help make it easier for potential
At present,
He said bilateral
ties are yet to meet their potential, and there remain various fields that
need stronger collaboration in the time to come.
While introducing
plans for urban railway projects and Thu Thiem new urban area, the host
expressed his wish that
He added that he
hopes the city can learn from the
TCIE Vietnam automobile factory debuts in Da Nang
TCIE Vietnam Co.
Ltd—a member company of
TCIE Vietnam
Factory is a 129,500 square metre manufacturing and assembly facility in
TCIE Vietnam is Tan
Chong Group’s first international factory, joining its two Malaysia-based
assembly lines. Tan Chong Group has operated in the automobile manufacturing
and assembling industry for more than 50 years and is the main Malaysian
distributor of Nissan and Renault vehicle lines.
The group wants to
capitalise on this experience to make its first venture abroad a success. The
Nissan Sunny 1.5L model is currently its most popular sedan with more than
800,000 units sold globally. The Nissan Sunny’s official Vietnamese price
will be unveiled on June 17.
As part of marking
its factory’s opening, TCIE donated VND100 million to
The second
The two-day event
is organized by the Indonesian Embassy in
On the theme, “
This year’s forum
will include a panel discussion, a break-out session about trade, investment
and tourism, one-on-one business meetings, and an Indonesian product
exhibition.
Among the topics
will be the implementation of a Plan of Action, particularly the targeted
bilateral trade volume of US$5 billion by 2015.
An evening Gala
Dinner and a charity dinner will be held with the participation of Indonesian
artists. There will be a heritage batik fashion show, a contemporary band and
an Angklung orchestra during the event.
The first event was
held in
Housing market may revive
The Government's
new VND30 trillion bank loan package is providing positive signals to
Speaking at an
online meeting on June 11, Manh said the package is a drastic measure to help
prop up the low-cost housing segment.
He said there is
high demand for housing among low-income earners, especially those in urban
areas, but low supplies.
Manh said the
revived low-cost housing segment is expected to lead a spillover to other
property segments.
Under the
programme, the State Bank of
The fund will be
disbursed over three years. From this month, eligible borrowers can access
preferential home loans of 6 percent.
On May 28, the
Housing and Urban Development Corporation and Vietnam BIC started a social
housing project in
Director General of
the corporation Nguyen Duc Hung said that the project will provide more than
1,000 low-cost apartments by early next year.
"Thanks to the
preferential loans, we can offer home buyers a price of about VND12 million
per square metre," he said, adding that another of its housing projects
in suburban Me Linh District can offer prices of less than VND9 million per
square metre.
The corporation
plans to develop about 5,000 low-cost apartments by 2015, and 20,000
apartments by 2020.
Hung said that the
social housing segment will be a priority in its business strategy following
Government incentives for housing, including preferential loans and tax
policies.
Deputy Minister of
Construction Nguyen Tran
In other provinces
including Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Phu Tho, Bac Ninh, the price will be less than
VND7 million per sq.m, he said.
"The prices
offered express great efforts made by Government and developers, despite
costs for building materials and land," he added.
In late 2009, the
first social housing project was developed in major cities. So far, nearly
10,000 households have moved to their new homes.
In
"We don't
expect the package can meet demand, but it will help warm up real estate and
prop other segments," he said, adding that at present, 70-80 percent of
housing for students and workers at industrial zones had been built by
individuals, not by Government or housing corporations.
Tran Xuan Hoang,
Deputy General Director of the Bank for Investment and Development of
Vietnam, said in the next few days, the bank will also implement projects
with investors in southern
Deputy Minister Nam
added that early this week, Agribank signed lending contracts with 10
investors in 13 housing projects eligible for preferential loans under the
stimulation package.
Haiti-Vietnam’s
potential market
Vietnamese enterprises
should take advantage of penetrating the
According to Do
Viet Phuong, Trade Counsellor of
The country
consumes around 400,000 tonnes of rice, but its domestic rice production is
just 100,000 tonnes.
It imported 400
tonnes of rice from
Vietnamese
businesses are also keen to export textile and garment products to
Standard
Chartered has new office in HCM City
Standard Chartered
Bank
The well-equipped
facility simulates the global Standard Chartered model to provide premium
quality services to its clients.
“The new premises
in
“This represents a
significant improvement in the standard of working space for banks in the
South, where we are investing more resources to capture the business
opportunities available here,” he said.
Entering
The bank’s
headquarters is currently located at
Samsung
Electronics expands investment in Bac Ninh
Samsung Electronics
Vietnam, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics of the
According to the
Bac Ninh provincial Department of Planning and Investment, the added capital
will be invested in another plant with special incentives.
Samsung will
continue to pay a preferential tax of 10 percent for 30 years, with corporate
income tax exemptions for the first four years and tax reductions for the
next five years. The normal corporate income tax in
Head of the
provincial Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Quoc Chung said the
preferential tax was approved by the Government and related ministries and
agencies.
The province has
not offered additional incentives to the investors, he added.
Last year, Samsung
was approved to increase investment to develop its complex in the province
from US$670 million to US$1.5 billion.
The complex has
produced mobile phones, laptops and other electronic products.
Malaysian
group inaugurates car plant in Vietnam
TCIE Vietnam Co.
Ltd., a member company of
The US$40 million
plant, with an annual capacity of 6,500 vehicles, is the first production
facility of TCIE Vietnam.
The plant will
assembly Nissan’s popular Sunny model, with 2,000 units rolling out in the
first year.
On this occasion,
TCIE donated US$48,000 to the
Japanese
investors eye southern province
Leader of the
southern
The Chairman of the
Dong Nai provincial People’s Committee, Dinh Quoc Thai, spoke highly of
Japanese investors’ operations in the province during his reception for a
delegation from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on June 12.
Thai said that
through JICA support, a US$35 million project to build an 18-ha workshop area
for Japanese businesses in the Nhon Trach 3 industrial park will be
implemented soon.
At the working
session, the Dong Nai leader signed an agreement on conducting field work for
the project.
Currently, the
numbers of Japanese businesses showing interest and operating in Dong Nai
have been increasing. In the first five months of this year, the province
licensed 15 Japan-funded projects with a total registered capital of US$162
million, accounting for over 60 percent of the total investment in the
locality in the period.
Among famous
Japanese names operating in the province are Fujitsu, Olympus, Toshiba,
Sanyo, Ajinomoto, Mabuchi, Sojitz, Kao, Shiseido, Ojitex, Muto, Hisamitsu,
Belmond Manufacturing and Maspro
The capital city
plans to promote trade activities to boost exports this year and beyond, said
an official from the Hanoi Industry and Trade Department.
Phan Tien Binh,
deputy director of the Hanoi Industry and Trade Department, said trade
promotion programmes for new export markets will be bigger and better in
coming years.
Trade promotion
programmes are scheduled to focus on markets in South America, Central
America, Europe and
The greatest focus
will be on
Additionally,
The city will also
better ensure the quality of enterprises that join trade fairs abroad and
promote advertising of products at the fairs to improve quality of the trade
promotion programmes, he said.
The department will
enhance co-ordination between local enterprises and foreign partners in
It also planned to
increase investment capital in trade promotion programmes for export
products.
The city expects to
increase the export of processed farming products, interior decoration
products, packaging, software and logistics products.
Binh said the plans
will help
The department
reported
Key staples
included textiles, garments, handcraft articles, coal and farming products.
The major export markets were ASEAN,
Improving
business environment: from commitment to action
The sputtering flow
of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) capital into
Since hitting a
record high of US$71.72 billion in 2008, FDI inflows fell to US$32.1 billion
in 2009, US$19.88 billion in 2010, US$15.35 billion in 2011 and US$16.3
billion in 2012.
The decline is
attributable to the impact of the global economic downturn and
According to United
Nations statistics, the global level of FDI dropped by 18 percent in 2012
with Asian countries seeing a light decline of 9.5 percent.
Against all odds,
Brian O’Reilly,
Vice President of the Australian Chamber of Commerce (AuCham) in
A representative of
the
He cites the slow
approval for important projects and incomplete infrastructure as reasons for
significant losses suffered by KorCham investors.
For instance, a
Korean business was granted a licence to build a major industrial zone in
2007, but its project has not yet got off the ground.
KorCham hopes the
Government will build up the trust of foreign investors by eliminating
unreasonable delays like local failure to assess the feasibility of the
project.
Accelerating the
assessment process will be a boon for domestic investors, too, KorCham says.
Falling FDI
forecasts serve as a warning of lower FDI disbursement in the future.
Compared to the high levels of FDI registered in the previous years, only
US$10–11.5 billion is annually disbursed. Investment incentives should be
implemented as soon as possible in order to meet foreign investors’
expectations. Commitment at multilateral forums is not enough.
Metro holds
fresh food event
Metro Cash &
Carry Vietnam is organizing an event to introduce and promote Vietnamese
fresh food products and a closed food safety and hygiene management process
from farms to dining tables which the wholesaler is proud of.
The promotional
event lasting until June 19 is taking place at 19 Metro stores nationwide to
attract customers like food shops, restaurants, hotels, factories and
offices.
Customers can enjoy
fruits which are specialties of the Mekong Delta,
For local fresh
food products, Metro has been carrying out programs for assisting farmers in
farming fruits, vegetables and fish using good agricultural practices in
Dalat,
According to Metro
Vietnam, it currently has over 3,000 local suppliers who provide around 95%
of products for Metro’s store system.
Metro has over 100
fruit and vegetable suppliers from Dalat with 30-35 tons per day. However,
suppliers of fresh food in Dalat partially meet Metro’s needs.
TPP to
expose nation to new challenges
The Trans-Pacific
Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) will bring about opportunities
for
Speaking at the TPP
seminar organized by the Can Tho branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (VCCI) last Friday, Thoi Ngoc Doan Thuy from Ba Ria-Vung Tau
Province’s Department of Industry and Trade said TPP rules prohibit export
subsidy and re-subsidy under any form.
Therefore, compared
to regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), TPP rules will put
trade ties between
Secondly,
Concerning ISDS,
Pham Duy Nghia, head of the faculty of law of the HCMC University of
Economics, took an example of an enterprise from a TPP member country in the
Mekong Delta city of
Nghia told the
Daily on the sidelines of the seminar that TPP would bring about lower
tariffs and more goods export opportunities, create jobs and raise employees’
incomes. However, export markets will also set up strict requirements while
To help local firms
cope with TPP challenges, Nghia said enterprises should monitor TPP
negotiations and be aware of their future impacts on the local market.
Enterprises must
identify export markets, standards they have to meet and consider using
product components imported from TPP countries to enjoy the 0% tax rate,
Nghia said.
Other experts at
the seminar also said that local enterprises may find it hard to benefit from
this 0% tariff as they have to meet high requirements for origins of goods,
meaning materials must be imported from TPP member countries only.
However, the nation
now relies heavily on materials imported from non-TPP countries. For example,
garment and textile firms primarily import materials from
There have been 17
rounds of TPP negotiations with the participation of 11 nations:
VFA accepts
price cuts to boost rice export
The Vietnam Food
Association (VFA) has expressed its willingness to lower rice prices to
support exports.
However, a lot of
Chinese traders have pushed down prices and canceled orders, spelling much
trouble for rice export.
As of end-May, some
64% of the contracts for rice export to
In the first four
months, 280,000 tons of rice contracted for export was cancelled. Most of
this volume involved Chinese traders.
Explaining this
situation, Le Minh Truong, director of Song Hau Food Company in Can Tho, said
domestic prices stayed high when contracts were signed but went down by the
time of delivery. “
Lam Anh Tuan,
director of Thinh Phat Co. Ltd. in Ben Tre., said, “When learning of poor
rice sales and high inventories, they would immediately seek ways to push
down prices.” Not only
“The overall export
picture is dismal, so we accept to sell (rice) at reduced prices. If the
unsold volume of winter-spring rice was not timely settled, it would be
difficult to sell rice in the summer-autumn crop,” said VFA Chairman Truong
Thanh Phong.
VFA has since early
May constantly lowered rice export prices in a bid to secure more contracts.
The offered export price of 5% broken rice is currently US$370-380 per ton,
while 25% broken rice is quoted at US$350-360 a ton.
The United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) say rice price cuts in
In the first four
months of 2014, the global food price index grew 2.9% year-on-year. Indian
rice export prices also picked up against the same period last year, with the
low-grade type up 0.3% and the high-grade one up 2.4%.
Notably, although
VFA said rice export faced many challenges in the first five months, the
volume of rice export contracts grew 13% year-on-year.
Rice prices in the
Mekong Delta on Thursday inched up VND50-100 per kilo after a long falling
streak. This is attributed to the fact that the Government has given the nod
to the program for stockpiling one million tons of summer-autumn rice.
Intermediary
traders in Dong Thap bought the low-grade paddy IR 50404 at VND3,950-4,050
per kilo, while those from other localities bought at a lower price,
VND3,800-3,900 a kilo.
Enterprises in Dong
Thap and Can Tho purchased the paddy for the low-grade IR 50404 rice at
VND6,000-6,050 per kilo, up VND50 over the preceding day, and the long-grain
types at VND6,200-6,400 a kilo.
Higher
import growth predicted
The
The nation’s import
has continued growing since last month after declines from January to April,
which resulted in a trade deficit of up to US$1.2 billion last month, much
higher than the US$723 million in the previous four months.
The five-month
trade deficit amounted to US$1.9 billion. In theory, the ballooning trade
deficit will exert pressure on the balance of payments and exchange rate but
in the current backdrop of economic woes, this is considered a good sign,
partly indicating a recovery in production activity in line with positive
export prospects seen for the months to come.
Lending has also
bounced back again, rising 2.29% as of May 22, after four months of decline,
said the trade center.
On the other hand,
the production index of the whole industrial sector posted a surge of 6.7% in
May over the same period in 2012, which is much higher than in many months
earlier. Meanwhile, the inventory index of the processing and manufacturing
industries only soared 12.3% as of May 1, but this is a considerable
improvement against previous months.
Notably, the
foreign direct investment (FDI) sector enjoyed a trade surplus of roughly
US$4.1 billion, including crude oil exports, in the first five months of the
year, while local firms caused a trade deficit of up to US$6 billion in the
period. The remarkable trade surplus of FDI companies was thanks largely to
Samsung’s export of mobile phones and related components totaling US$4.6
billion.
In the meantime,
local enterprises brought about a big trade deficit as they mainly exported
processed and assembled products whose production heavily depends on input
material imports.
The Department of
Overseas Labour Management (DoLAB) under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and
Social Affairs (MoLISA) has released statistics that indicate a total of
32,226
According to
figures, in May alone, the total number of
As predicted by
MoLISA at the beginning of 2013,
To achieve this
goal, MoLISA is closely monitoring the development of the global labour
market to search for labour contracts, especially from high-income markets that
are suitable with
The Ministry is
also going to complete regulations on granting and altering licences for
business organisations operating in the field of labour export to ensure
transparency and enhance efficiency in their operations.
In particular,
MoLISA set the top priority in improving professional skills and workmanship
for Vietnamese labourers. The Ministry has set targets to ensure that 100% of
employees will be provided with training in professional skills, languages
and other necessary knowledge about customs, traditions and related laws in
the host countries before sending them abroad to work.
Finnish fund pours
40 mln EUR into VN’s stock market
PYN Elite,
According to
Bloomberg News, the fund has sold about 100 million EUR worth of Thai stocks
during the past five months.
Petri Deryung, PYN
Elite’s manager, said his fund’s investment in
The Mekong Delta
provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Hau Giang and Can Tho
have 20,000 hectares more of speciality fruit trees than they did three years
ago, according to the Southern Horticultural Research Institute.
Speciality fruit
trees in the Mekong Delta have increased to 83,000 hectares, accounting for
29 percent of its fruit tree area.
The increase of
speciality fruit trees aims to produce safe and high quality fruit on a large
scale to meet market demand and improve export competitiveness.
Local farmers have
been provided with handbooks and training courses on growing fruit trees in
line with Viet GAP and Global GAP standards in order to ensure productivity,
reduce costs and protect the environment.
This year, the
Mekong Delta region has exported over 160,000 tonnes of speciality fruit to
the
Property
market set to turn corner
Positive signs are
appearing after the implementation of a $1.4 billion government programmes to
support the troubled real estate market.
According to a
report recently released by the Ministry of Construction, the impact of new
policies has encouraged buyers into believing in a recovery of the market.
“Real estate market
in major cities has shown some positive signs when commercial banks are
offering lower interest rates and easier access for housing loans,” the
ministry stated in the report sent to the Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung
Hai last week.
Deputy Minister
Nguyen Tran
For example, the
investor of Dang Xa new urban area in Gia Lam district on the outskirts of
According to Luong
Tri Thin, chairman of Dat Xanh Group, the mid-end apartment segment would
surely help warm the real estate market.
“Demand still
exists. The problem is how to bridge demand and supply,” Thin said.
He said that the
recent policies from the government, especially the credit package of VND30
trillion ($1.44 billion) would create hope for developers and buyers.
The ministerial
report also stated that one of the positive reflections from the Resolution
02 issued by the government in January 2013 to support the real estate
market, was more and more housing development projects tend to be
restructuring into smaller apartment or social housing projects.
Due to the price
reduction, more and more projects were able to meet the demand of customers,
according to the ministry.
The prices of land
in the new urban area projects and housing in Hanoi in the first five months
were not much lower than those in the fourth quarter of 2012, having fallen
far previously. Some developers have reduced prices to attract customers.
The apartment
trading in
In
Many projects are
offering low prices such as E-home 3 ($620 to $666), Khang Gia ($475 to
$520), or Nhat Lan ($570).
The report further
stated that the liquidation in
According to
reports from 130 real estate exchange centres, only 261 transactions were
reported in the first quarter of 2013. This figure, meanwhile, was at average
of more than 1,000 in every quarter of 2012.
Regarding the real
estate stockpile, the ministry said that total value of inventory in housing
development projects as of May 2013 was at more than VND125 trillion ($6
billion) in 55 cities and provinces.
However, the
ministry said the inventory data in the report did not fully reflect the
situation, because there was a large volume of under-construction apartments
having been not taken into account. Therefore, the inventory data was
actually estimated much larger than the data reflected in the report.
Reform
targets contractor troubles
The draft amendment
of the Law on Public Procurement is being encouraged to narrow projects
subject to contractor appointments.
Minister of Planning
and Investment Bui Quang Vinh told the National Assembly last week that under
the draft amendment, ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies and
governmental agencies and chairmen of provincial people’s committees were
tasked to conduct contractor appointments, without referring to the prime
minister about projects’ contractor appointments.
“Many contractors
are concerned about
Vinh said under the
existing Law on Public Procurement, many projects’ contractor appointments
must be conducted by authorised people and the prime minister must conduct
contractor appointment in some special cases. However, authorised people
still dodged their responsibility by submitting the packages to the prime
minister asking for consideration and approval of contractor appointment.
In another case,
Vinh said, though many packages were not subject to contractor appointments,
they were still submitted to the prime minister for contractor appointment
approval.
Unlike the existing
law, the draft amendment has Article 84 to clarify all responsibilities of
authorised people in implementing all the stages of bidding packages, from
selecting investors and contractors, punishing violators, supervising bidding
activities, and adjusting investors’ tasks if projects’ requirements fail to
be met.
“We highly welcome
the detailed stipulation of authorised people’s responsibilities in
contractor appointment. It will prevent them from shunning responsibilities
and taking advantage of their power to conduct rampant contractor
appointments,” said Nguyen Van Giau, chairman of the National Assembly
Economic Committee.
Also under the
draft amendment, contractor appointments are applied to many cases for
contractors and investors. For example, for contractors, contractor
appointments are applied to incidents force majeure caused by natural
calamities and enemy-inflicted destruction, and incidents needing immediate
repair, bidding packages of national interest and secret, packages that can
be implemented by one contractor, and packages used for research and pilot
purposes.
Meanwhile, for
investors, appointment is applied in a case that the project has only one
investor registering to implement. In a case that after an investor’s project
proposal is approved, this investor can be appointed to implement the project
if no other investor registers to do so.
At present,
contractor appointments are not encouraged by international organisations and
donors.
“All projects must
be put out to tender openly,” said Vietnam Construction Consultants
Association vice chairman Nguyen Van Chau.
Contractor
appointments are currently applied to 75 per cent of
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Năm, 13 tháng 6, 2013
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