|
BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 11/10
Vietnam,
Japan boost trade, investment ties
An investment-trade
promotion forum between
The event attracted
more than 200 Vietnamese and Japanese businesses specialising in mechanical
engineering, precise mechanics, support industries, processed food, farm
produce processing, aquaculture, and technical consultancy.
Participating
businesses shared information and discussed ways to ease difficulties and
penetrate each other’s markets.
The forum created a
good chance for businesses of
Japan is topping
the list of foreign investors in Vietnam, with a combined registered and
added capitalisation of more than US$4.7 billion since the beginning of 2013,
accounting for nearly 32% of the country’s total.
As of August 2013
The forum was
jointly hosted by the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC)
and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO).
Steel
sector struggles to escape rut
The domestic steel
industry is continuing to experience difficult times while the real estate
market remains frozen, according to the Market Watch Team.
September’s steel
consumption was low due to prolonged storms and the rainy season, reported
the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Industry and Trade Information Centre
(VITIC).
Steel consumption
decreased 5% against August and 6% compared to the same period last year.
September's
construction steel output reached 355,000 tonnes, down 3% against August and
4% year-on-year.
Nguyen Tien Nghi,
vice chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), blamed the situation on
the frozen real estate market and stagnated construction projects.
In previous years,
he said, steel typically fetched VND20 million (US$952) per tonne; it now
sells for VND14-14.5 million (US$666-667) per tonne.
The purchasing
power is low, about 300,000 tonnes per month as compared to the previous rate
of 400,000 tonnes, he added.
Industry insiders
also attributed the high inventory to low consumption of steel and the fact
that domestic steel producers are facing difficulties as cheap Chinese steel
floods the local market.
Many steel
manufacturers have had to lower their production capacity by more than 50%,
with several seeing losses.
Increases in the
electricity price also affected local production costs and the competitiveness
of domestic products.
However, VSA still
predicted that consumption of domestic construction steel would increase by
about 3-5% compared to 2012, with a volume of five million tonnes.
They believed that
the domestic property market could bounce back late this year and demand for
building material may also increase.
They also predicted
that retail prices of construction steel would stabilise this month after the
price hike in mid-September.
Steel for factories
now fetches between VND13.5 to VND14.1 million per tonne, excluding the value
added tax.
Cement production
and consumption surged slightly during the past nine months of this year.
According to VITIC,
despite increases in coal, electricity, fuel prices and financing cost that
lead to higher production costs, cement prices at factories remained stable.
Cement prices
ranged between VND1.3 million to VND1.5 million per tonne in the north, and
between VND1.6 million to VND1.8 million per tonne in the south.
The retail price of
cement went up by VND2,000 per package.
To make the
domestic construction materials market more stable, the Vietnam Construction
Material Association recently asked the Government to build more national
highways so as to stimulate cement sales and enhance road quality.
The association
also proposed the Government remove difficulties for building materials
producers relating to tax incentives, debt and preferential loans.
Nguyen Huy Thang,
deputy secretary general of the Vietnam Glass Association, suggested that the
Government offer incentives to businesses to use industrial and agricultural
waste to manufacture building materials.
Besides, Thang
said, banks also need to make it easier for businesses to get loans to
improve their products.
PVN on
course to hit annual targets
PetroVietnam on
October 8 reported after-tax profits of VND38.2 trillion (US$1.819 billion)
in the first nine months of the year, accounting for 87% of the group's
annual target.
It held a press
conference to report its business results so far this year and its plan for
the last quarter.
According to
PetroVietnam's deputy director Le Minh Hong, the group has basically
fulfilled its goals for the nine-month period and is looking to extend its
success to the end of the year.
In the reviewed
period, it increased oil and gas reserves to 21.81 million tonnes while oil
output reached 19.8 million tonnes, up 2.4% over the same period last year.
Petrol production
hit 4.93 million tonnes, equivalent to 91.4% of the annual target and up
27.7% year-on-year.
PetroVietnam
contributed VND128 trillion (US$6.095 billion) to the State budget in the
period, Hong said.
In the last quarter
of this year, it plans to put three mines into operation, start construction
on the Nghi Son Oil Refinery in October and connect the Vung Ang 1
Thermoelectric Plant to the power grid in December.
Regarding the
restructuring of the corporation, Chairman Phung Dinh Thuc said that the work
is progressing following a project approved by the Prime Minister.
However, the
withdrawal of capital from non-core businesses is slow due to difficult
economic conditions.
Statistics showed
that the group poured VND5.8 trillion (US$276.19 million) into non-core
businesses, making up a small part of the group's equity at VND300 trillion
(US$14.29 billion).
Its overseas
investments were estimated at US$6.5 billion, US$1.8 billion of which has
been disbursed. Thuc said that PetroVietnam and Electricity of Vietnam (EVN)
have also agreed on EVN's debt repayment plan, which would be submitted to
the Government for approval.
Under the plan, EVN
must first make an immediate payment of VND2.650 trillion (US$126.19 million)
to PetroVietnam out of its VND9.650 trillion (US$459.53 million) debt.
The remaining VND7
trillion would be paid in installments over the next seven years subject to
interest rates regulated by the Government.
Bridge to
Vietnam-Belgium business cooperation
Since its
establishment in 1995, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Belgium and
Vietnam (CCIBV) has played a leading role in boosting business cooperation
between the two countries.
In 2012, CCIBV
proposed establishing ties of tertiary education cooperation between
During the
The CCIBV is keen
to help improve the capacity for officials who are involved in legislation
management and trade dispute resettlement.
Its President Trang
Huynh Long said as a bridge between Vietnamese and
Most recently, in
early June, it coordinated with Saigon Times to organise a Meeting Vietnamese
Businesses program in
The CCIBV is also
focused on culture. It has financed the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of
Vietnam Cultural
Space will be open as of October 11 to mark the 40th anniversary of
diplomatic ties between the two countries.
In the near future,
the CCIBV will finance a number of projects in the fields of technology,
waste water treatment, environment, education and training.
Thanh Hoa
promotes investment
As many as 800
local and international delegates are expected to gather at a forum on
"Investment Promotion in Nghi Son Economic Zone and Neighbouring
Areas" set to kick off in central
"The two-day
event aimed to introduce the province's socio-economic development plan by
2020 with a vision to 2030 and plan for subsequent financing of construction,
land buying and human resources," said an official from the province.
Speaking at a press
conference held in Ha Noi yesterday, Nguyen Dinh Xung, the provincial People
Committee's vice chairman, said:
"We will
organise a signing ceremony for several investment co-operation agreements
and grant business licences to investors at the forum. It is expected that
the total registered capital to be won at the event will be around US$4
billion," Xung said.
He claimed that the
province has offered investors with the best access, best incentives, best
start-up services, best development potential, best harmonious living
environment and best social security of anywhere in the country.
Tran Hoa, head of
the Nghi Son Economic Zone, said that the industrial region covers an area of
more than 18,600ha, with most factories and plants within focusing on heavy
industry, basic industry and exploiting Nghi Son seaport.
Investors in the
zone have enjoyed special incentives such as land and water use tax exemption
for 11 - 15 years after starting their operation, corporate tax exemption for
four years and a reducing of half the tax in the next nine years.
"We provide
all necessary administrative procedures at the zone to help investors succeed,"
Hoa said.
The province has
the advantage of linking regions, with particular access to the North Central
region.
Together with Nghi
Son deep-water seaport and Tho Xuan airport acting as international gateways,
the systems of arterial highways and trans-Asian roads have created a traffic
and distribution network covering all regions and connecting with the markets
of
The province last
year posted GDP growth rate of more than 10 per cent.
It ranked the sixth
place in terms of FDI attraction with a total of $15 billion. It is the home
of key national projects including Nghi Son Thermal Power Plant and the Nghi
Son Refinery and Petrochemical Complex.
The latter is
country's largest ever project of its kind with total investment of $9
billion.
The project's
general director said the project would promote FDI attraction in
It is expected to
supply 200,000 barrels a day, equivalent to 10 million a year. Its ground
breaking ceremony will be organized on the same day as the forum. It is
expected to become operational in mid 2017.
Efficient
supply chain mechanism key to boosting competitiveness
The capability to
switch raw material sources and having a robust supply chain could help
companies cut costs and improve competitiveness, experts said.
Speaking at the
2013 Viet Nam Supply Chain Congress, Mark Millar of M Power Associates,
The spotlight is
increasingly focused on
Besides outsourcing
and off-shoring procurement and production to lower costs, companies are
seeking to tap into the rising consumerism in
But in
He cited the
country's textile and apparel industry as an example.
It is unable to
source inputs as a result of which it cannot execute customers' orders in
time and loses out on exports, he said.
Businesses that
manage to source the inputs pay 10-15 per cent more, he added.
Tran Tien Phat,
general manager of Datalogic Scanning Viet Nam, said there are obvious
differences between Vietnamese firms and those from
The latter take the
initiative in finding feedstock and intermediate goods, connecting with
distributors and retailers, finding foreign partners, and others.
But Vietnamese
firms find it difficult to do any of them, he said.
He listed two
reasons for that: The close links in the supply chains of foreign companies
make it hard for the Vietnamese to squeeze into, and Vietnamese firms are
incapable of meeting foreign partners' requirements.
In the
manufacturing sector, foreign-invested companies find only a few dozen firms
in
Phat also pointed
out other supply-chain problems in
Dr Charles Guowen
Wang, director of the Center for Logistics and Supply Chain Management at the
China Development Institute, said poor supply chains hit a company's
productivity, competitiveness, and profits.
He tabled a report
based on a survey of 821 senior managers in a range of industries in
The unavailability
of necessary raw materials, or supply risk, was rated as the top risk (81 per
cent).
An enterprise
seeking to survive and develop needs first to establish and improve a
supply-chain setup and cultivate supply-chain talents and professionals,
Wuang said.
VN pledges
to adopt global mining standard
The information was
released yesterday in a conference on extractive industry governance jointly
held by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Viet Nam
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the National Assembly's Committee for
Science, Technology and Environment.
Chairman of the
chamber Vu Tien Loc said EITI has become a trend that many countries in the
world were promoting and implementing.
The initiative was
considered a useful tool for the nation to better manage natural resources
and ensure the extractive industries' active and effective contributions to
the national development.
In
However, the lack
of transparency and accountability in industry governance has resulted in the
low economic efficiency of the sector, serious social and environmental
impacts, and unequal benefit sharing, Loc said.
Mai Xuan Hung,
deputy chairman of the NA Economics Committee, agreed, saying that currently,
wherever mineral resources were exploited, the poverty rate was high, the
environment was polluted and the infrastructure was destroyed.
Andy Baker, chief
representative of Oxfam in
A study of the
organisation also shows that the more a country depends on mineral
exploitation, the higher the poverty rate.
Besides, without
proper management, the extractive industries would cause deforestation,
destroy the biodiversity and pollute the soil and water environment.
Pham Quang Tu,
deputy director of the Consultancy on Development Institute, said that
admission to the EITI could help
However, experts
urged many things needed to be done before
Hung from the
Economics Committee stressed that the exploration activities must be boosted
to define potential reserves of minerals so that the Government could have
proper planning for each type of mineral.
So far, there is no
official figures of potential reserves as well as the exploited volume of
minerals.
Le Dang Doanh,
former Director of Viet Nam's Central Institute for Economic Management, said
"If we do not know exactly how much we have, we cannot manage it."
In fact, there were
situations where enterprises could declare the scale of a mine smaller than
its actual reserves to avoid petitioning the environment ministry and easily
ask permission from localities.
He said licensing
too many small projects had caused difficulties for State agencies to control
and supervise, while they often ignored requirements of sustainable
development such as environment protection and social responsibility.
Lai Hong Thanh,
director of the ministry's mineral activities controlling division, said as
of May this year, central authorities have granted more than 500 licences for
mineral exploitation while provinces and cities issued 4,200 such licences.
Sharing experiences
of Timor Leste in implementing the EITI, Alfredo Pires, Minister of Petroleum
and Natural Resources, said the Eastern Asian country had implemented the
EITI since 1993.
He said that when a
country planned to join the initiative, it should have a strong commitment
and spend at least 18 months to prepare a detailed working plan, funds and
human resources for the establishment of an EITI board.
Local people should
also be well aware of the significance of EITI implementation, he added.
Pires also stressed
that the EITI participation did not only contribute to the enhancement of
socio-economic and environmental management, but also helped consolidate
people's trust in the Government.
Baker from Oxfam
suggested that
The initiative,
launched by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002, is based on a
mechanism that mining companies must make comprehensive reports on
expenditure for governments, while governments must publicise the revenue it
receives from the companies, said an independent agency then compares the
data.
As of this May,
there are 39 countries taking part in the initiative.
Experts
promote sustainable aquaculture practices
Application of good
agricultural practices, or GAP, to improve quality and safety will enable
sustainable development of aquaculture, a conference heard in
The conference
sought to create a platform for stakeholders in aquaculture to share
information and seek co-operation in strengthening application of VietGap,
the Vietnamese version of GAP, and boosting sales of VietGap-certified
products.
Pham Anh Tuan, the
Fisheries General Department's deputy general director, said rapid
development of the aquaculture industry in the last few years has led to
environmental pollution and disease outbreaks, threatening the industry's
development.
Consumers nowadays
not only demand quality products but are also concerned about how they are
produced, he told the conference, organised by the General Department of
Fisheries and Metro Cash&Carry Viet Nam.
"Like other
aquaculture certificates such as GlobalGap and ASC, VietGap certification
also covers environmental protection, food hygiene and safety, social
responsibility, and product origin to ensure our aquaculture industry can
produce a lot of fish and shrimp, but do not have an adverse impact on the
environment and can easily trace product origins."
It would help
Vietnamese aquaculture products gain wider acceptance in both domestic and
international markets, he said.
Nhu Van Can, deputy
director of the Department of Aquaculture, said the country's good
agricultural practices focus on inspection of on-farm production and inputs
to raise awareness of standards among producers and develop brands for
Vietnamese aquaculture products.
When farmers adopt
VietGap they can easily upgrade to other certificates required by import
countries, he pointed out.
Under the
Government's policy on VietGap development in aquaculture, the country would
foster its application in breeding of key export items like tra fish, tiger
prawn, and white-leg shrimp, he said.
Government agencies
are also working to find more markets that accept VietGap-certified products,
he stated.
But he admitted
that it is not easy to popularise VietGap among aquaculturists.
Many participants
said farmers are reluctant to adopt the safe production method because they
think it is expensive and makes them uncompetitive.
Tuan said adoption
of VietGap standards may cause high production costs in the initial stage,
but in the long run it helps reduce costs and improve the quality and
competitiveness of Vietnamese goods.
Adopting the
standards helps farmers sell their produce more easily and significantly cut
costs since fish contract fewer diseases, he explained.
Philippe Bacac,
chairman and managing director of Metro in
The programme aims
to raise productivity and incomes for farmers while securing the
sustainability of both the fisheries industry and the environment, he said.
Under the
programme, since 2011 Metro has worked with farmers in the Cuu Long (
Truong Dinh Hoe,
general secretary of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and
Processors, said: "Most seafood processing firms have good food safety
control systems. We need to focus more on checking the pre-processing stage
to ensure sustainable development."
Tea
industry needs to plan for the future
The tea industry
must become more sustainable through building concentrated tea areas and
improving productivity, quality and safety, experts said at the fifth Viet
Nam Tea Outlook 2013 held yesterday in Ha Noi.
Nguyen Thi Anh
Hong, general secretary of the Viet Nam Tea Association, noted that the
country had exported 86,000 tonnes of tea this year, representing a 15 per
cent decrease compared with the same period last year.
The supply of raw
materials decreased about 20 per cent in 2013 due to unfavorable weather
conditions, she said.
Additionally, fewer
farmers were investing their profits back into growing tea and some grew
small-scale plantations without proper planning.
"The overuse
of plant protection chemicals, lack of attention to ensuring quality and
safety and weak linkage with farmers are also affecting the industry,"
Hong said.
Nguyen Xuan Hong,
head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)'s Plant
Protection Department, agreed that tea farmers were overusing plant
protection chemicals but hoped that the Law on Plant Protection and
Quarantine expected to be approved later this year would boost inspections of
the pesticide supply and usage system.
According to the
association,
According to
experts, Vietnamese tea exporters found the EU countries harder to penetrate
due to risks of pesticide residue and consequently focused on easier markets
such as
The association
called for a central government agency to coordinate government policies for
the industry and develop concentrated tea areas to improve the safety and
quality of tea leaves.
Hong also stressed
the need to reduce low-scale processing factories and link the processing
factories with raw material areas.
The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) plans for the country's tea growing
area to reach 150,000 hectares in 2020, from about 124,000 hectares in 2012.
Nguyen Quoc Vong,
an expert on quality and safety enhancement of agricultural products from
MARD, said that even though
The average export
value per hectare for Vietnamese tea is about $1,200, in comparison with
$5,700 for
Doan Xuan Hoa,
deputy head of MARD's Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Processing Department, said
long-term planning must tackle the challenge of supplying land for
large-scale plantations, monitoring quality throughout the supply chain and
restructuring the production of tea products according to changing market
demand.
Latest
high-profile
The US$9 million
plant of the Belmont Manufacturing Ltd Co, a subsidiary of
Located in Long Duc
Industrial Zone (IZ), the plant is expected to produce 15,000 products,
including equipment and chairs used in dentistry.
The Long Duc IZ has
thus far attracted 16 projects, of which 15 belong to Japanese investors with
a total capital of $617 million.
Local authorities
pledged to create favourable conditions for businesses to operate effectively
in the province.
During the period,
Wood and timber
products, and metals and minerals were the two key groups of import items,
valued at $246.7 million and $18.5 million, respectively.
Despite the
encouraging export growth, the market share of the Vietnamese products in
Experts
distrust new circular on price stabilisation
The new circular to
deal with stabilising the price of children's formula products is not gaining
much support from local traders and economists who doubt its effectiveness.
The newly-issued
circular by the Ministry of Health will take effect from November 20.
Previously, firms
have taken advantage of legal loopholes and classified formula products,
intended for children under 36 months old, as food supplements to avoid price
stabilisation policies. All these products will again be classified as milk
according to the proposals of the new circular. Liquid milk will also be put
under the same controls.
Tran Quang Trung,
head of Vietnam Food Administration under the Ministry of Health, said they
are only responsible for issuing the list of products. The prices will be
under the management of the Ministry of Finance.
Since 2007, prices
of dairy products have increased 30 times. While customers made
complaints about unreasonable price hikes, the Ministry of Health and the
Ministry of Finance blamed each other.
Previously, the
Ministry of Health said expensive dairy products are not a new issue and the
public cannot blame the classification process for this. On the other hand,
the Ministry of Finance affirmed that it's a huge loophole for firms to take
advantage of.
Many customers
place hope on the new circular, however, experts have raised doubts over its
effectiveness.
"In 2008, the
Ministry of Finance issued a circular in order to control milk prices.
It stated that for 15 days, firms were not permitted to raise prices more
than 20% of the current price. The maximum percentage was too high and the
adjustment time was short so the circular made no impact at all. Clearly, the
problem is with our regulations, not the names of the products." an
expert said.
Vu Vinh Phu,
president of Hanoi's Supermarket Association, also said direct duties and
responsibilities are not specified in the current regulations. "Why can't
we investigate the operations of foreign as well as domestic firms to
find the key products and their prices?" Phu said. According to Phu, the
new circular is good but not strong enough to deal with milk price problems.
"It's the fault of the management agencies."
Economist Nguyen
Minh Phong said the Ministry of Industry and Trade should also take some
blame because it's the market manager. The problem is not milk quality but
monopoly and competitiveness in the market. He went on to say that people
should not place too much hope on the new circular because even prices of
milk products that are on the price-stabilisation list still increase over
time.
EVN’s
losses attributed to its ineffective non-core business
The Government
Inspectorate has said that ineffective and massive non-core business
activities are to blame for Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN)’s great losses.
EVN’s non-core
investment reached VND121 trillion (USD5.76 billion) by the end of 2011
Construction
problems on many power projects have also caused extra costs and these are
among the reasons for the group’s power-price hikes.
Many thermal power
projects have also incurred extra costs for construction of “Operation and
repair building” like O Mon 1, Phu My 1 and 4, Nghi Son 1, Haiphong 1
and Quang Ninh 1.
However, in
reality, the buildings provide living space for the companies’ officials such
as, detached houses, luxury houses with swimming pools, tennis courts and
pre-schools. The buildings cover a total area of 355,000 square meters and
cost more than VND595 billion (USD28.3 million), which is considered part of
the investment in the power projects, therefore, they are also added into the
selling price of electricity.
The Government
Inspectorate concluded that by the end of 2011, EVN’s non-core investment
reached VND121 trillion (USD5.76 billion), surpassing its charter capital of
almost VND77 trillion (USD3.7 billion). This is a violation of Ministry
of Finance regulations, plus, despite the big non-core business investment,
EVN made a loss of VND2.2 trillion.
Earlier on July 31,
in a surprise move, EVN decided to raise power prices by 5%, starting from
August 1. Dang Huy Cuong, Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's
Electricity Regulatory Authority of Viet Nam (ERAV), said the price rise was
due to the higher costs of coal and gas earlier this year. That was
especially true for the price hike of 37-41% which began on April 20.
Cuong noted that
EVN is facing great pressure for power price increases because of
higher input costs from now until the year's end and the following years as
well. It is estimated that EVN will have to pay extra coal costs of VND4
trillion for power generation by the end of 2013.
Vietnam
attracts German companies: Chamber
Marko Walde, Chief
Representative of the German Chamber of Industry and Trade (AHK) in Vietnam,
spoke with Vietnam Economic News on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of
diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In his opinion, the
Vietnamese market is very attractive and has a lot of potential for German
companies. With an average annual growth rate of 6 percent, Vietnam is still
one of the most potential markets in the whole Southeast Asian region.
It has an
increasing demand for high quality products and its young and growing
population has a backlog consumer demand. Compared to its neighbour countries
like Thailand, the Vietnamese market offers better business possibilities but
its market entry structures for foreign companies are still weak.
Nevertheless, legal
and administrative processes, for example applying for a work permit for
foreigners, as well as high market regulations are still time consuming and
complex. A liberalisation of the market would be desirable. For foreign
companies with production facilities in Vietnam, the distribution of their
products could be facilitated. Also, the support industries could be
strengthened and power supply should be assured.
In the opposite
side, Walde said that the demand for Vietnamese goods in Germany is also
increasing significantly. However, before entering foreign markets,
Vietnamese companies need to improve their international competitiveness. For
that purpose, they need to be aware of the differences between the ASEAN
economies and the German market.
The truth is that a
good analysis of the foreign market like the analysis of the differences and
similarities between the two markets is a basic requirement to be successful.
Visiting German trade fairs or contacting trade fair representatives (like
Messe Dusseldorf, Messe Berlin, Nurnberg Messe and Spielwarenmesse) could be
first steps to get to know the German market and realise plans of expansion.
“With our role in
Vietnam, our main tasks are to promote the economic relations between Germany
and Vietnam. We have two service teams with one team being responsible for
serving delegations and projects and the second teamp roviding consultancy
and support for German and Vietnamese companies to successfully enter foreign
markets. We are the official representative of Messe Duesseldorf, Messe
Berlin and Spielwarenmesse,” he shared.
Every year, the AHK
brings several hundred exhibitors and visitors to Germany and support
export-oriented enterprises in Vietnam in developing their markets in Germany
and Europe. Besides, the AHK is also the official partner for the federal
states Freistaat Bayern and Sachsen-Anhalt. The AHK’s main interest is to
strengthen the economic relations between Germany and Vietnam and supports
both sides by their business expansion.
“It is clear that
we will have more possibilities when the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between
Vietnam and the EU comes into effect. The imports will raise and many of the
constraints will be omitted. Going along with these reasons we will recognise
an increase of trade on both sides,” he added.
Noticeably, the
Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK) will be held from November
21-22 in 2014 in Vietnam. It is a platform for the exchange of ideas among
companies and decision makers in Asia. This event has been organised
biannually in Asia since 1986 and has evolved into one of the largest
networking events in the region attracting both political and business
leaders.
Nearly 800 CEOs of
leading German companies and top politicians will take part next year to
discuss the actual situation of the Asian economy. This is also a great
chance for German and Asian companies to get to know each other and exchange
their business interests.
“I believe that
throughout this event German leading managers will discover Vietnam as a
country for their next investment,” Walde stressed.
Car sales
on rise in Vietnam
Despite economic
uncertainties, purchasing power of cars has increased and the market is once
again seeing new car showrooms opening with offers of numerous promotions and
better after-sale services, all of which will hopefully revive the market
once again.
Ngo Thanh Tri,
Marketing Director of Western Ford Company in Ho Chi Minh City, said in
general auto sales are better than in previous years, especially sales in
9-16 seater vehicles.
Many stores are
displaying numerous new car models in many segments including luxury brands.
Along Cong Hoa
Street in Tan Binh District, in just a short time, tens of automobile shops
have opened and most of them are selling imported cars.
Elsewhere on Tran
Hung Dao Street in District 1, An Duong Vuong Street in District 5, Phan Van
Tri and Nguyen Oanh Streets in Go Vap District many car showrooms have
opened.
Likewise, in
outlying districts of Thu Duc, Binh Tan, or along Highway 1A, 22 new shops
have opened, but these sell second-hand cars.
Nguyen Dinh Nhu,
Director of Kim Thanh Automobile Company, an official Honda distributor, said
auto sales this year are looking brighter. He pointed out the improvement in
auto sales is thanks to the launch of a series of cars in segments
appropriate to customer demand and supported by easy and low interest loans.
According to the
General Statistics Office, a total of 3,000 imported cars sold in September,
1,000 more than last month.
Among the imported
cars, most are from South Korea; followed by Thailand, China and Japan. These
brands are big names like Audi, BMW, Land Rover, Renault, Lexus and Infiniti.
Businesses believe
that car sales can lift after registration tax reduction and lowering of
import tax. Under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, import tax will decrease
steadily from 50 percent in 2014 to zero percent by 2018.
Ministry
plans change to foreign investment procedures
Investment
authorities are mulling changing registration procedures to help streamline
the process of and make the country more attractive to incoming foreign
investors.
“Business and
investment registration procedures of foreign invested enterprises (FIE) are
currently viewed as overly complicated and difficult and are likely to be a major
area of change when the Enterprise Law amendments are submitted to the
National Assembly’s upcoming session in late October,” said deputy head of
the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s (MPI) Business Registration
Management Department Bui Anh Tuan.
Deputy head of the
MPI’s Legal Department Quach Ngoc Tuan said the current law requires incoming
projects to get both business registration and investment certificates. This
slows their entry into the market.
“One of the key
amendments in the draft is allowing foreign investors to apply for and
receive business registration certificates first, the foreign investors then
execute other procedures to invest in Vietnam and be given investment
certificates,” explained Tuan from the legal department.
“New businesses
must pay due heed to market entry conditions while those already doing
business and looking to change or expand must critically analyze the
conditions required,” he added.
The proposed change
was welcomed by participants of a recent Ho Chi Minh City workshop which
sourced opinions on potential amendments to the Enterprise Law. It was
notably lauded for recognising recent market developments such as foreign
investors pooling resources and buying stakes in Vietnamese firms.
The law will allow
investors to buy stakes in or accept capital transfers from Vietnamese firms
before going through the investment registration process.
“The amended law
will create a legal framework that welcomes foreign investors and efficiently
facilitates investment management authorities, while also supporting
enterprises in dealing with their problems quickly and effectively,” said
registration department Tuan.
There will also be
another five proposed amendments regarding the registration of new
businesses, information transparency and publication, governance of
dissolutions and operation termination, acquisition of and restructuring of
businesses, and corporate governance.
An Giang
facilitates renewable energy investments
The southern
province of An Giang has pledged to make it easier for Swedish investors in
the production of renewable energy as it wants to increase the investors’
presence in the field.
An Giang, the
International Development Agency of Sweden and the Swedish Energy Centre
co-hosted a workshop themed “Energy and Sustainable Growth in An Giang –
Potential Investment Projects and International Cooperation” in Ho Chi Minh
City on October 3.
Vuong Binh Thanh,
Chairman of the An Giang People’s Committee, committed to providing support
to investors along with drastically reforming administrative formalities for
them.
In 2009, Sweden and
Vietnam inked a 70 million USD development cooperation agreement for the
2009-2011 period, which also covered environment, renewable energy and
climate change issues.
Over the recent
past, Sweden has worked with An Giang in three projects on sustainable
community development, improving the capacity of biomass power generation and
establishing a centre of excellence in renewable energy and power efficiency.
The Mekong Delta
province is seeking for Sweden’s continued assistance to develop projects
that use renewable resources, like rice husks, which are available in large
quantity in the post-harvest time, to generate power and biogas based on
clean development mechanism (CDM).
Nguyen Duc Cuong,
an official from the Vietnam Institute of Energy, noted that a plenty of
sugarcane bagasse, rice husks and wood waste can produce about 118 million
tonnes of biomass and 4.8 billion cubic metres of biogas annually for the
country.
Vietnam now ranks
second in the world in export of rice husks with 8 million tonnes a year.
Rice husks-generated energy contributes significantly to the power sector’s
sustainable development.
Hai Phong
attracts new five FDI projects in Q3
The northern port
city of Hai Phong licensed five foreign direct investment (FDI) projects
worth nearly 1.59 billion USD in the third quarter of this year.
According to the
latest report of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board, of the new FDI
projects, the most significant was the 1.5 billion USD one invested by LG
Electronics from the Republic of Korea .
The four other FDI
projects included King Plastic Pte Ltd ( Singapore ), Dongbu Singapore Pte
Ltd, IML Technology ( Indonesia ) and Knauf International ( Germany ).
The management
board also granted investment certificates to three domestic projects with a
total registered capital of over 290 billion VND (13.8 million USD).
Besides, the city
authority agreed to add 25.1 million USD to investment capital of seven
on-going FDI projects.
In the first nine
months of this year, the Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Economic Zone in the city attracted
13 FDI projects valued at 1.776 billion USD and 11 local-invested ones, worth
1.765 trillion VND (84 million USD).
Additionally, 12
FDI projects increased their investment capital by 47.28 million USD and
598.123 billion VND (28 million USD) came from four local invested ones
during the period.
By the end of
September this year, the city’s economic and industrial parks had 138 valid
FDI projects with a total registered capital of 5.368 billion USD and 70
domestic invested ones worth more than 36 trillion VND (1.7 billion USD).
Japanese
businesses heavily invest in Da Nang
Named as one of the
top five foreign investors in the central city of Da Nang, Japan now has more
than 90 businesses and representative offices operating in the city with
investment exceeding 370 million USD, equivalent to 30 percent of the
locality’s total inflow of foreign investment.
In the first nine
months of this year, the city gave permission for five Japanese investment
projects worth a total of 31.4 million USD.
Generating jobs for
around 30,000 labourers, Japanese firms in the city are on the whole
operating effectively and contribute greatly to the local budget and the
city’s annual average growth rate of 11 percent.
Now, the Japanese
enterprises, specialising in the fields of paper, seafood and agricultural
product processing, the restaurant business, electronic components and
software outsourcing, are moving their investments towards high technology
and quality services.
Besides investing
on their own, the foreign firms have encouraged others to enter the city.
Specifically, in
addition to its 40 million USD investment in the Da Nang High-Tech Park, the
Tokyo Keiki Incorporation urged Niwachuzo Company to pour 22 million USD into
the park.
The aforesaid
ventures signal the beginning of a strong wave of investment from Japanese
firms in the city, which also helps the locality attract investment from
other foreign enterprises.
To accelerate
foreign investment, the city now has four Japanese training centres and
hundreds of university undergraduates studying the Japanese language, along
with nine restaurants serving Japanese dishes.
In fact, Japanese
investment is concretised by the efforts and commitments of Japanese
representative agencies and firms in Vietnam.
Japanese
corporations and businesses always choose Da Nang as a crucial investment
partner as it meets the firms’ requirements for a favourable investment
climate, socio-economic conditions and facilities, said former Japanese
Ambassador to Vietnam Yasuaki Tanizaki during his Da Nang visit in August.
In further
improving its investment environment, the city has held several conferences
in the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka, aiming to attract more investment
from the country’s companies in its high-tech zone in the time to come.
Japanese firms
seeking investment opportunities in Da Nang are able to invest in the
electricity industry, electronics, optical and communication technologies,
manufacturing machinery, nanotechnology and medical equipment.-
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
|
Thứ Năm, 10 tháng 10, 2013
Đăng ký:
Đăng Nhận xét (Atom)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét