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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 3/6
Many
property projects seek new investors
Transferring realty
projects has been much more transparent than before as several project owners
have asked brokerage firms to introduce financially-capable investors for
cooperation or transfer.
At least three
projects have been announced as products awaiting new investors in recent
days. Among these is the Saigon Link project covering more than 2,500 square
meters in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District.
Adam Bury, deputy
director of CB Richard Ellis Vietnam (CBRE Vietnam) as the consulting company
for the project, said the cleared land lot bordered by Nguyen Van Troi and
Hoang Van Thu streets may be developed into a commercial and apartment
complex.
As a populous area,
Phu Nhuan District has great potential for housing and office demand, which
is also one of the factors that investors would consider when making
investments into the project, Bury remarked.
Similarly, Pacific
Property and Infrastructure Development Joint Stock Company (PPI) earlier
announced to look for partners to jointly develop two realty projects in Thu
Duc District.
PPI once planned to
deploy the
Those projects with
cleared land may be attractive to foreign and local investors in the near
future, according to Marc Townsend, managing director of CBRE Vietnam.
Wastewater
treatment systems are found at only 60% of the industrial wastewater sources
in HCMC, while wastewater at the remaining sources is neither properly
handled nor thoroughly treated before being discharged into the environment.
Water pollution
caused by wastewater from industrial parks has become a very serious problem.
The volume of industrial wastewater is much higher than wastewater from other
areas, said Nguyen Van Phuoc, director of the Institute for Environment and
Resources under the
He was speaking at
a press conference on the Green Consumption Month held by the Saigon Union of
Trading Co-operatives (Saigon Co.op) last week.
In the southern key
economic zone including HCMC, Dong Nai and Binh Duong, central wastewater
treatment facilities are quite common, yet violations against the
environmental regulations are widespread.
A survey of 826
industrial wastewater sources in 24 districts in HCMC from 2010 to 2012
reveals that only 60% of these sources have wastewater treatment systems. The
remaining sources treat wastewater with septic tanks before dumping it into
the environment.
Notably, 44% of the
wastewater sources surveyed discharge an amount of 50 cubic meters per day,
accounting for 90% of the total wastewater volume.
Tan Binh District
is responsible for the largest portion (25%) of the pollution load of
chemical oxygen demand (COD), followed by District 12 (15%) and Thu Duc
District (11%).
As a result of
water pollution, the number of conjunctivitis, diarrhea and cancer patients
is rising. Up to 80% of dysentery and diarrhea cases in
The Green
Consumption Month has been organized annually since 2010 to encourage
citizens to buy products from environmentally friendly producers. In
addition, it calls on enterprises to fully comply with the environmental
protection law to improve the environment and guarantee sustainable
development.
The launching
ceremony for the 2013 Green Consumption Month will be held at the Youth
Cultural House in HCMC’s District 1 at 5:30 p.m. this Sunday.
Firms
remain hesitant about energy labeling
Most appliances and
industrial equipment of big enterprises have been attached with energy labels
as energy labeling will be enforced from July but many small enterprises have
not registered to fulfill this requirement.
In January, the
Prime Minister agreed to extend the obligatory energy labeling to the end of
next month for appliances and industrial equipment.
Products required
to be labeled are tubular fluorescent lamp, compact fluorescent lamp,
electromagnetic and electronic ballasts for fluorescent lamp, air
conditioner, washing machine, refrigerator, electric cooker, electric fan,
industrial equipment such as distribution transformer and electric motor.
According to the
National Energy Efficiency Program, 100% of air conditioners, 90% of lighting
devices, 1,500 types of air conditioners and electric fans have completed the
energy labeling registration.
Meanwhile, firms of
small scale and those importing small shipments have not registered. Those
who do not stick energy labels on their products from July will get warnings
before they are fined. No more extension of the rule is expected.
On September 12,
2012, the Prime Minister issued Decision 51/2011/QD-TTg cataloguing devices
and equipment that must be labeled.
Interest
rate cap for seafood, livestock, chicken breeders
The maximum bank
interest rate for seafood, livestock and chicken breeders has been reduced
and capped at 10 percent per annum, according to the State Bank of
A dairy farm in Duc
Trong District in the Central Highland
That is part of a
Government policy to provide preferential interest loans to five priority
sectors including agriculture and rural development.
On May 29, the
State Bank sent a document to five banks, namely, Agribank, BIDV, VietinBank,
Vietcombank and MHB, instructing them to continue to implement the Government
policy to apply 10 percent interest rate for livestock, chicken and seafood
breeders and processors.
Improving
public investment efficiency
Reducing public and
foreign debts to a level below the manageable threshold and ensuring national
financial security demands enhancing the efficiency of public investment.
In regards to
borrowing capital, increasing the rate of domestic debts will help gradually
reduce the country’s dependence on foreign debts, keeping expenses and debts
at a reasonable level, he says.
Foreign debts
should be below 50 percent of the total debts by 2020. Debts from official
development assistance (ODA) should be kept at 60 percent of foreign debts.
Prof. Hung argues
that without enhancing the efficiency of public investment, the government
will face the risk of a public debt crisis like the one hitting other
economies.
First, public
investment activities should be strictly controlled. Laxity regarding the
government’s debts and expenses could lead to economic losses and political
and social instability across the region.
The restructuring
of public debts should eliminate unnecessary and wasteful projects.
Transparency is
crucial to optimising the control of public investment activities.
Depending on the
scale of public investment projects and the capacity of their main
contractors, options include self-management, consultancies, or delegating to
another investor.
Public investment
planning needs should fit in with the annual and five-year plans for
socio-economic development.
The government’s
annual public investment planning budget should cover key national projects
using local investment resources and capable of sticking to schedule.
NEU Prof., Dr. Do
Duc Binh says it is crucial to get a good rerun on borrowed investment
capital.
The government
needs to clearly define development targets and implementation plans so as to
avoid unnecessary investment in underresourced sectors.
Financial sources
and public debt management culpability regulations should be made public
along with the regular evaluation of investment project efficiency.
Borrowing money for
development is unavoidable. But how much can
Prof. Binh says one
must learn from the European Union’s practical views on the importance of
safe public debt limit in association with GDP, state budget planning, and
trade balance.
The National
Assembly needs to consider and fix a reasonable level of public debt and
budget deficit for
Increase in
import of cattle, chicken feed
According to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, import turnover of livestock
and chicken feed reached US$1.15 billion in the first five months of the
year, an increase of 40.6 percent over the same period last year.
In May alone,
Despite high import
turnover, the retail price escalated by VND1,500 a kilogram while the price
of pork and chicken fell by 40-50 percent over the last one year.
The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance said that they
would launch an inspection over cattle feed prices as soon as possible.
The Livestock
Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is
proposing to the Government to remove the five percent Value Added Tax
imposed on cattle and chicken feed, which has indirectly affected farmers.
Warburg
Pincus to invest in Vincom Retail
An affiliate
company of Warburg Pincus has committed to invest US$200 million to acquire
20 percent equity interest in the Hanoi-based Vincom Retail--a member company
of Vingroup Corporation.
The New York-based
firm may invest an additional US$100 million in Vincom Retail, if it sees
further growth and opportunities in
When Warburg Pincus
provides the additional US$100 million, Vingroup Corporation will also
balance the amount as investment in Vincom Retail.
In addition,
Warburg Pincus has pledged to invest upto US$25 million in Vingroup’s first
initial public offering (IPO) in international securities exchange for the
first time.
Vincom Retail is a
subsidiary of Vingroup with assets valued at approximately US$1.1
billion. Its existing assets include Vincom Center B in
Vincom Retail is
putting into operation two leading shopping malls in Asia, and recreational
and dining facilities in Vincom Mega Mall Royal City and Vincom Mega Mall
Times City, both due to launch in July and December this year in Hanoi.
Farmers
sell fruit directly to supermarkets
Many supermarkets,
wholesale markets and fruit exporting companies in HCMC will directly sign
purchasing agreements with farmers at the Southern Fruit Festival to be
organized at
Around 100 farmers
who won fruit contests from 2009 to 2012 will directly meet corporate
purchasers like Tam Binh and Hoc Mon wholesale markets, supermarkets and
exporters at Suoi Tien, Huynh Huu Hanh, deputy director of the HCMC Center
for Agricultural Consulting and Supporting, said.
Farmers with good
products and high capacity are selected to join the event where ten
agreements may be clinched, Hanh told a program introducing the festival in
HCMC on Tuesday.
About 550 farmers
from 21 provinces and cities have registered to showcase 700 fruit samples at
the festival.
Opening on
Saturday, the event will last three months under the arrangement of the municipal
Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the theme park. There will be
several attractive activities at the event like a floating fruit market and
artistic shows by
Up to about 1,000
tons of fruit were sold out at the event last year, the organizers report.
Coffee,
forestry items stand out in export picture
Higher export
prices of coffee, wood and wooden products have stolen the limelight in the
picture of the nation’s agro-forestry-fisheries export this year.
Coffee exports have
reached almost 700,000 tons worth nearly US$1.5 billion in the year to date,
down 23% in volume and 22% in value year-on-year. However, the average coffee
export price is estimated at US$2,172 per ton, a rise of 4.3% over the same
period last year.
Exports of wood and
wooden products have totaled US$2 billion, up 10.4% year-on-year. Exports to
the
The performance of
coffee and woodwork exporters has been good but exporters of the three major
items of rice, rubber and seafood have suffered a decline of 6-13%, which has
in turn resulted in a drop of 4.6% in the total agro-forestry-fisheries
export value, which is US$10.7 billion in January-May.
Seafood exports in
the first five months are estimated at US$2.2 million, down 5.6%
year-on-year. Exports to the
Exports of the
major agro-products have also slid considerably.
The average rubber
export price in the first four months was US$2,651 a ton, down 13%
year-on-year, which is ascribed to the weakened demand of
Over 47% of
Meanwhile, cashew
has been struck by a sharp fall in export prices. Cashew export prices in the
first four months averaged out at US$6,130 per ton, down 12% year-on-year.
Five-month cashew
exports have amounted to 85,000 tons, fetching US$535 million, up nearly 10%
in volume and a modest 0.8% in value over the same period last year.
As for pepper, the
Vietnam Pepper Association has forecast local pepper output would dwindle 20%
and has called for a halt to new pepper shipments. Still, around 68,000 tons
of pepper worth US$446 million has been exported in the first five months, an
increase of 14% in volume and 9.6% in value compared to the same period in
2012.
In the first four
months, pepper got an average export price of US$6,591 a ton, down 3.4%
year-on-year. Meanwhile, rice averaged out at US$445 a ton, losing 10% from
the same period last year.
Some 2.86 million
tons of rice has been shipped in the year to date, generating over US$1.26
billion in revenue, down 8% against the year-ago period.
Tea exports in January-May
are put at 48,000 tons worth US$73 million, a drop of 5.6% in volume and a
1.3% rise in value. The average tea export price in January-April was
US$1,501 a ton, up 6.2% against the same period in 2012.
Local firms
open factory compound in Cambodia
Kamadhenu Ventures
Cambodia Limited, 51% owned by
The sugar refinery
with a designed daily sugarcane processing capacity of 3,500 tons while the
capacity of the ethanol plant is 30,000 liters a day and that of the thermal
power station 20 MW.
The sugar mill will
provide products for the Cambodian market and
The EBA mechanism
also allows LDCs to export products to the EU at a minimum price which is not
lower than 90% of the reference price of the EU, and this is a great
advantage of sugar plant projects in
With a designed
capacity of 30,000 liters a day, the ethanol plant is expected to serve the
industries of foodstuff, beverage, healthcare and chemical substances in
In the meantime,
bagasse of the sugar factory will be used for power generation for the
complex’s operation and power sales to the Cambodian Government.
Power prices
average out at 16 U.S. cents a kWh in
National
Assembly deputies propose early corporate income tax cut
National Assembly
deputies have recommended slashing the corporate income tax to 20% for all
enterprises from the current level of 25% as a way to support enterprises.
They made the
proposal at a discussion on revising the Law on Corporate Income Tax on May
29.
The government has
proposed reducing the tax to 22% from early 2014 and 20% from 2016, however, many
National Assembly deputies said that the cut to 20% should be carried out as
soon as possible.
Deputy Nguyen Thi
Nguyet Huong from
Chairman of the
Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc said the level of 20%
should be applied for all types of firms, including small and medium-size
enterprises.
“Statistics from
the tax agencies show that around 30% of companies are able to pay tax,
meanwhile, the rest are making losses. However, the rate of 30% serves as a
momentum to the national economy’s development,” Mr. Loc noted.
According to Deputy
Do Van Ve from Thai Binh Province, enterprises have been facing difficulties and
corporate income tax should be brought down to 20% or even 18% in the years
to come and all types of businesses should benefit from the reduced tax rate
to ensure equal competition.
The VCCI chairman
also advocated the removal the cap on corporate advertising funding, adding
that this should need a roadmap.
New
protections for online shoppers
A newly-issued
decree on e-commerce which will take effect July 1 is expected to provide
better protection for online shoppers and boost internet trading.
Over the past five
years, the domestic e-commerce market has been rapidly growing, but so have a
variety of internet scams. The
In particular,
group coupon sites have raised concerns recently, with rampant online
shopping fraud, including the sale of substandard products such as vouchers
for food, trips and falsely discounts. Decree 57, which currently deals with
online transactions and would be replaced by the new law, does not address
this type of business and has left a large amount of unsolvable disputes,
usually leaving the consumer at a disadvantage.
Le Thanh Phuong, a
resident of HCM City, said after detecting a fake shop address, substandard
goods and vague advertising, she decided to steer clear of coupon websites.
Last year, the
leaders of muaban24.vn were arrested for tricking hundreds of people into a
multi-level marketing scam which earned more than VND600 billion (USD28.7
million).
Managing director
of the website Fresh Flower World, Nguyen Thi Thuy Vu, said, "The
e-commerce business has become increasingly tough and risky because of
incomplete legal framework, making for customers' reluctance."
The new decree bans
online trade for businesses that make certain violations, including those
that require payment to join or force members to recruit others to join and
websites selling fake products or violate copyright law. Also, coupon
websites must compensate customers if their products do not match what is advertised.
The Ministry of
Industry and Trade will also set up a portal for consumers to identify sites
that have been red-flagged.
Ha Ngoc Son, an
official from HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, said customers are
currently hesitant to make online transactions, and that the new law would
hopefully go some way to boost consumer confidence.
Truong To Linh,
co-founder of memua.vn said, "We need policies to protect and encourage
trustworthy companies. Furthermore, managing agencies specialised in e-commerce
is also necessary to raise customer awareness."
Vietnamese people
spend around USD3 billion on beer annually, topping Southeast Asia and
standing third in Asia just behind
According to a
Eurowatch market survey agency, Vietnamese people drink around nearly three
billion litres of beer in 2012. A Vietnamese person drinks 32 litres of beer
on average per year.
Vietnamese people’s
increasing beer demand has led to the higher import of beer from European and
American countries. Foreign beer brands have become more familiar with
Vietnamese consumers although their prices are from two to three times higher
than domestically-produced varieties.
Do Manh Cuong from
Eresson Beer Restaurant said, “Customer numbers to the restaurant have been
on a sharp rise on these summer days with more than 1,000 litres of beer sold
weekly on average.”
The beer business
industry has offered jobs for the national economy and also helps to boost
the development of other related areas such as food business, however,
Vietnamese habits spending drinking beer, particularly at noon during the
working week, has raised concerns about the possibility affecting their
working efficiency.
Many bars in
Mr. Ha, a staff
member who keeps cars and motorbikes at a beer hall on To
Two restaurants on
Japan
investors from Thailand want to enter Vietnam
Not only Japanese
firms operating in
Japanese investors
in
He was speaking at
a press briefing on Wednesday on an upcoming exhibition in HCMC aimed at
promoting supporting industries in
The trend of
Japanese enterprises in
Meanwhile, the
trend of Japanese companies in
Japanese
enterprises invest more in
The biggest
obstacle to Japanese businesses wishing to invest in
The percentage of
local supplies for Japanese companies is only 28% in
Over the past ten
years, JETRO has conducted trades and organized exhibitions on supporting
industries in a bid to foster the development of supporting industries in
Yasuzumi ascribed
this situation to the fact that local workers have limited skills, the
domestic market is not big enough, and most enterprises active in supporting
industries are small and medium.
In 2012,
Last year the
average for workers was US$6,734 per capita per year in
As for managerial
staff, the respective wages were US$19,761, US$27,204 and US$12,245 in
Three exhibitions
will take place at the same venue in HCMC this October.
Reed Tradex of
Thailand along with JETRO and the HCMC Investment and Trade Promotion Center
(ITPC) will organize three exhibitions at Saigon Exhibition & Convention
Center (SECC) in HCMC’s District 7 from October 10 to 12.
Two of these
exhibitions are METALEX Vietnam, an international exhibition on machine tools
and metalworking solutions for production upgrade, and NEPCON Vietnam, an
exhibition on surface-mount and testing technologies and supporting
industries for electronics manufacturing.
The third
exhibition is an exhibition of the coalition of enterprises active in
supporting industries in HCMC. The event offers Japanese and Vietnamese
entrepreneurs a chance to carry out trade of molds, electronic components and
machines.
Tra fish
farming faces fresh difficulties
The nation’s tra
fish production is still facing difficulties this month, seeing many farmers
halting production due to low selling prices and high production costs but
shrimp farming is coming along nicely, according to the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development.
The price of
unprocessed tra fish currently ranges between VND21,500 and VND22,000 per
kilogram while production cost of a kilogram of tra fish is VND23,000-24,000.
In addition,
farmers are unable to continue due to prolonged losses over the past few
years and difficult access to bank loans, even though interest rates have
been lowered. If the current situation continues, the tra fish farming area
may continue to be scaled down.
The tra fish volume
in the first five months is estimated at 390,000 tons with a farming area of
5,700 hectares. Among these, An Giang Province accounts for 119,000 tons and
779 hectares and
Meanwhile, shrimp
farming in brackish water is pretty good this month. One of the provinces
having a large shrimp volume is Ca Mau with 40,700 tons of tiger shrimp and
3,300 tons of white-legged shrimp. Besides, Bac Lieu harvests 21,082 tons of
tiger shrimp and 955 tons of white-legged shrimp.
The prices of small
and large white-legged shrimp are VND80,000-85,000 and VND110,000-115,000 per
kilogram respectively while small and large tiger shrimp are sold at
VND145,000-150,000 and VND200,000-210,000. With such prices, farmers can earn
an average profit of VND45-70 million per hectare.
According to the
agriculture ministry, this month’s estimated fishery volume is unchanged
year-on-year with 309,000 tons, raising the total fishery volume in the
January-May period to over one million tons.
In related news,
the price of red tilapia fish has bounced back after a long decline due to
rumors that it was contaminated with the banned chemical Trifluralin.
Nguyen Van Hiep, a
fish farmer in
The price in
According to fish
farming households in
“Information on
diseases in cattle and poultry in recent times has made consumers shift to
seafood products, which is one of the reasons for the high red tilapia
price,” Hiep said.
With the current
price, after subtracting production costs, farmers will have a profit of over
VND10,000 per kilogram.
Rice prices
in free fall despite stockpiling plan
Rice prices in the
Mekong Delta are falling drastically while enterprises and experts are
casting doubt on the effectiveness of the summer-autumn rice stockpiling
program.
As of May 16,
around two million tons of rice had remained unsold, including 200,000 tons
at Vietnam Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood 1) and nearly 876,000 tons at
Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2), says the latest report of the
Vietnam Food Association (VFA).
The rice export
price is now very low, while production cost is high, thus challenging the
rice storage program, said Lam Anh Tuan, director of Thinh Phat Co. Ltd. in
Ben Tre, a member company of VFA.
In the
winter-spring rice crop, the average production cost was just VND3,600 per
kilo, but in this summer-autumn crop, it is more than VND4,100 a kilo,
according to the Ministry of Finance.
Therefore, “to
ensure profit for farmers, rice should be bought at over VND5,000 per kilo,
but then exporters may have difficulty finding importers,” said Tuan.
“If rice was bought
at high prices, who would offset the losses incurred by traders? Conversely, if
it was bought at low prices, farmers would suffer losses. This is a dilemma.”
He said his company
would be willing to buy a small volume to show a sense of sharing with
farmers. If the chance of heavy loss was high, he would give it a second
thought.
To export rice,
enterprises must offer low prices. Besides, foreign buyers when learning of
the high inventories at local companies will seek ways to push down prices.
Therefore, Vo Hung
Dung, director of the Can Tho City branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, said the rice stockpiling scheme is unviable.
To improve rice
consumption, the Mekong Delta localities should reduce the rice farming area,
VFA Chairman Truong Thanh Phong suggested.
“Since 2012, the
global rice inventories have been rising very quickly, so if
The summer-autumn
rice prices in the Mekong Delta have declined by VND400-500 per kilo.
Duong Van Men, a
rice trader in Dong Thap’s Lap Vo District, said the fresh paddy IR 50404 now
sold for only VND3,700-3,800 per kilo, down VND400-500 over the middle of
last week.
In the communes
Thanh Loc, Phu Cuong and My Thanh Nam of Cai Lay District, Tien Giang, the
fresh IR 50404 is quoted at VND3,800 a kilo.
Although rice
prices have fallen sharply, traders do not dare to buy for fear that prices
could drop further, said Men.
Enterprises in Dong
Thap and Can Tho are buying the paddy for the low-grade IR 50404 rice at
VND5,950-6,000 per kilo, down VND400-450 against the middle of last week, and
the long-grain types at VND6,300-6,400 a kilo, down VND300.
Tuan of Thinh Phat
ascribed the strong price decline to the poor quality of the summer-autumn
rice as well as the problems with export.
French
business interested in urban and railway transportation
Eleven French
companies specializing in urban and railway transportation have introduced
their technologies and know-how to Vietnamese decision makers and urban
transport sector professionals.
As part of the
France-Vietnam Year, a seminar was organized by UBIFRANCE Vietnam in HCMC on
Tuesday for the visiting companies to offer solutions for developing urban
and railway transportation.
Representatives
from ACS-Xerox, Alstom, APSYS-EADS, AREP, Colas Rail, ETF, SCE, Systra,
Tangram, Vossloh Cogifer and Yellow Window also shared their experiences in
building metro lines with the urban railway authorities of
Speaking at the seminar,
local transport sector professionals asked whether the French companies were
willing to transfer their technologies to Vietnamese partners if they were
awarded contracts to build metro lines.
The French firms
said they would be ready to transfer metro line maintenance technology and
know-how to
In
Big C opens
store in Phu Tho
Big C opened a
supermarket and a commercial center in
This is the 24th
facility in
Bic C Viet Tri is
constructed on nearly 30,000 square meters on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in Thanh
Mieu District at a cost of VND340 billion. The facility consists of a
4,250-square-meter shopping area stocking nearly 40,000 products and retail
space set aside for dining services and others.
One more
Satra outlet to go up in city
Saigon Trading Group
(Satra) will construct a commercial center at a cost of around VND400 billion
in HCMC, according to Tran Van Bac, deputy general director of the
State-owned company.
The facility will
be located at the premises of Satra’s former central warehouse,
Satra is having a
design for the facility prepared and calculating the investment cost so that
work can start on the scheme within this year. It is also considering
building another shopping center on
Satra has an
integrated commercial center on
Satra is attaching
importance to the retail segment in its development strategy.
The newly opened
Satrafoods store at 492 Le Van Tho Street in Go Vap District has taken the
total of Satra’s outlets to 21.
Agilent
opens two
Measurement
equipment and technology multinational Agilent Technologies said it had set
up two new offices in Vietnam, with one in Hanoi and the other in HCMC, after
a decade of operation in the country.
The offices are
equipped with modern technology and a highly skilled workforce to supply
sales services, applications and supporting services to local customers. Each
office has a specialized center in charge of providing technical and
professional support for customers and partners.
Nick Roelofs,
president of Agilent’s Life Sciences Group, said
In
Agilent
Technologies Inc is one of the world’s leading companies specializing in
making measurement equipment and technology in the areas of chemical
analysis, life sciences, diagnosis, electronics and communication.
OCB, Mobivi
launch domestic credit card
Orient Commercial
Bank (OCB) and Viet Phu Payment Services Support Corporation (Mobivi) have
cut a deal to introduce OCB-Mobivi domestic credit card, or Employee Credit
Card (ECC).
The product designed
for staff of State-owned and private companies does not require minimum
incomes. Cardholders will benefit from preferential programs and services
such as installment payments for shopping, interest-free cash advance and
cash withdrawals at OCB’s ATM booths.
The minimum credit
limits for ECC holders are 30% of net salary for government employees, 50%
for mid-level government administrators and 100% for leaders of state
agencies.
ECC users can use
the card to pay for goods at partner stores of Mobivi from the third quarter
of this year.
Dung Tan Trung,
managing director of Mobivi, said enterprises and State agencies eligible for
this product are those having 300 to 400 employees and stable financial
status. Around 20 enterprises have been using this product since its trial
launch six months ago and the enterprise looks to have 100,000 cardholders by
the end of this year.
Vinatex
undecided on strategic foreign partner ahead of IPO
The first initial
public offering (IPO) of Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex)
will be launched this July but Vinatex has yet to decide on the selection of
a strategic foreign partner.
According to
Vinatex chairman Vu Duc Giang, the date of the IPO has been rescheduled from
early July to the end of that month or the third quarter. However, Vinatex is
still in talks with a couple of investors, so no strategic foreign investor
has been named.
Giang said that
with the group’s strong capability, quite a few investors had shown interest
but selecting an investor that the group could work with had proved to be a
tough job.
Vinatex has set
three criteria; first, investors must be active in the same sector as Vinatex
and have good governance; second, investors must have flexible financial
management suitable to the group; and third, investors must be keen on the
sector.
According to Giang,
in case Vinatex is not able to pick a strategic foreign investor, it will
seek the Government’s approval to sell 20-30% of IPO shares to local
shareholders, and the State will hold the rest. However, this is the final
option but not a preferable one.
Besides, Vinatex
has worked with the Ministry of Finance, the State Audit of Vietnam and other
agencies to evaluate its real and surplus value to set a starting price for
the coming IPO.
Regarding
divestment from non-core businesses, there are still three companies which
Vinatex has yet to divest from, but the number of shares the group holds at
these entities is not considerable with less than 2%. The group is seeking to
sell such shares and the process is expected to finish late this year.
SBV likely
to establish two gold bar trading centers
The State Bank of
Vietnam (SBV) may set up two gold bar transaction centers in Hanoi and HCMC
in the long term to facilitate public auctions of the precious metal,
according to the latest report of Standard Chartered Bank.
Having worked with
SBV’s foreign exchange department, the department told the bank that the two
centers may be delayed by two years if the gold market is stabilized.
The bank, in the
report, also highly appraised the central bank’s efforts in managing the gold
market, saying that domestic prices have been stabilized in recent times.
However, the gap
between local and international gold prices has widened since the launch of
gold bar auctions. The difference has jumped to around 30% compared to before
March 28 when the first gold bar bidding took place.
Standard Chartered
was concerned about Vietnam dong devaluation because banks have spent too
much dong on buying gold. Current solutions of the central bank just fetch
short-term effects.
In the longer term,
SBV must secure dong appreciation and reduce gold demand to stabilize the
gold market, it said.
Vietnam ranks
fourth in the biggest gold consumers in Asia after China, India and Thailand.
High inflation, dong depreciation and cultural factors are the cause of the
strong demand for gold in Vietnam.
VNPT told
to equitize MobiFone
Although Vietnam
Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) wants to merge the nation’s major
mobile phone networks MobiFone and VinaPhone, the Government has ordered the
State company to equitize MobiFone in the coming time instead.
Speaking at a
conference in Hanoi on Tuesday, Le Nam Thang, Deputy Minister of Information
and Communications, said that the Government has given guidelines to
restructuring process of VNPT, ordering that VNPT maintain the two carriers
but MobiFone will have to go public.
To realize these
instructions, the ministry has told VNPT to finish its restructuring plan and
submit it before June 30. The ministry will field suggestions from relevant
agencies before presenting the plan to the Government in September.
In this project,
VNPT has to draw up a MobiFone equitization plan and another plan to divest
capital from this network given a suitable roadmap.
According to the
Law on Telecommunications and Government Decree 25/2011/ND-CP, VNPT’s cross
ownership in MobiFone is limited at 20% to avoid unhealthy competition among
businesses. However, affiliates of VNPT which are financially independent
will be allowed to buy shares of MobiFone.
The ministry has
also told VNPT to focus on core operations like telecom, information
technology and IP services (radio and TV broadcasting, digital content and multimedia).
VNPT will also gradually withdraw from non-core and inefficient sectors
before 2015.
Trade fair
lures 250 firms
Tinh Bien-An Giang
International Trade Fair 2013 is taking place in Xuan To Industrial Park in
the Mekong Delta province of An Giang with more than 250 businesses
displaying their wares at over 500 booths.
In addition to the
participating enterprises from Vietnam, the fair is being attended by
businesses from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, South Korea and Germany.
The event features
a wide variety of products such as farm produce, aquatic products, machinery,
foodstuffs, building materials, apparel and footwear.
Speaking at the
fair’s opening ceremony held on Tuesday, provincial vice chairman Huynh The
Nang said the fair was a good chance to boost business cooperation among
local and foreign enterprises as well as promote the Mekong Delta’s
socioeconomic development.
Besides, the fair
is where goods of the Mekong Delta provinces and HCMC can find Cambodian
buyers, enhancing trade and investment ties between Vietnam and Cambodia.
The fair lasts
until this Sunday.
Fuel
traders complain about losses again
Although the fuel
import tariff has declined, trading firms say they are suffering a loss of
nearly VND300 for every liter of petrol and oil sold.
Speaking to the
Daily, the sales manager of a fuel trading firm in the southern region said
that from April 26 to May 26, the average price of RON92 petrol was US$110.6
per barrel and that of DO 0.05S was US$116.5 per barrel.
With such prices,
his firm is losing VND247 per liter of petrol and VND297 per liter of diesel
oil.
On May 23 when the
Ministry of Finance reduced the fuel import tax by one percentage point to
18%, Singapore prices were US$111.47 per barrel of RON92 and US$115.47 per
barrel of DO 0.05S. The market was closed on May 24-26 for Buddha’s Birthday
celebration and the weekend.
However, the prices
are still higher than those recorded early this month.
The sales manager
said that the firm could bear such a loss thanks to the profit margin of
VND300. However, if the loss was higher, the firm would send a proposal to
authorities seeking a price hike.
Fuel trading firms
currently offer commissions of VND600-650 per liter to their sales agents.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Chủ Nhật, 2 tháng 6, 2013
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