BUSINESS IN BRIEF 9/4 Technology exhibition of Vietnam shrimp sector to run in Bac Lieu   An exhibition on technologies of the shrimp sector in Vietnam is scheduled for the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu with a view of turning the locality into a national shrimp industry centre. About 150 firms will operate stalls at the event to introduce their products like fry, animal feed, bio-products, medicines, and machines serving aquatic farming production, and logistics, from April 27 – 29. The event also features a series of workshops hosted by experts in the industry. At a meeting with Bac Lieu authorities on April 4, Head of the Vietnam Fisheries Society Nguyen Viet Thang stated the importance of close coordination among relevant agencies and the organising board to ensure the success of the exhibition. Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Duong Thanh Trung said the event will contribute to stimulating the development of the local shrimp sector. He requested contents of workshops to be practical to the current conditions of Vietnam and Bac Lieu in particular. Bac Lieu has an aquaculture area of 1,290 square kilometers. With a coastline of 56 km, three seaports and an economic exclusive zone of 20,742 square kilometers, the province has favourable conditions to develop agriculture, fishing and fishery logistics. Each year, the locality harvests about 210,000 tonnes of aquatic products, of which 115,000 tonnes are shrimp, with shrimp export turnover exceeding 527 million USD. The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said shrimp exports contributed the most to the total national seafood export value, posting a growth rate of 21 percent to 3.8 billion USD in export value for 2017. Long An increases supply of farm produce to Ho Chi Minh City The southern province of Long An has increased supply of farm produce to Ho Chi Minh City under the 2016-2020 socio-economic cooperation agreement with the city, said Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Tran Van Can. As home to 32 cooperatives and VietGAP firms with a capacity of nearly 21,000 tonnes, Long An will provide nearly 500,000 tonnes of vegetables for Ho Chi Minh City each day, nearly 225,000 pigs and 133,000 cows and a variety of specialty rice each year. The province also supplies roughly 11,000 tonnes of fresh shrimps in brackish water and other farm produce such as dragon fruits, lemons and pineapples to Binh Dien wholesale market and local restaurants. Long An asked for the city’s support for its agricultural products to enter its stable distribution channel, especially fruits and vegetables, hold training courses for managerial staff, cooperatives and working groups on high-tech agricultural production, and access the city’s scientific studies on high-quality varieties and animal breeds, farm produce processing and preservation technology. After one year, Long An has formed and marketed nine consumption chains of vegetables, rice, chicken meat and pork in Ho Chi Minh City, helped seven firms and cooperatives majoring in vegetables, rice and bananas join safe farm markets in the city. Ho Chi Minh City has also helped the locality with fowl and cattle epidemics prevention and food hygiene, slaughter control, animal and plant quarantine in areas near the city, and technological transfer as well as shared experience in the implementation of the national target programme on new-style rural development. Ben Tre diversifies tourism products The Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre has served over 472,000 tourist arrivals, including nearly 200,000 foreigners, since the beginning of this year, a year-on-year rise of 12 percent. The tourism sector earned approximately 342 billion VND (15 million USD), up 25 percent against the same period last year. According to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the increases were attributed to efforts to build and upgrade business establishments and create new tourism products and services. Tran Duy Phuong, the department’s deputy director, said to make tourism one of the spearhead sectors of the province by 2020, Ben Tre will continue investing in infrastructure serving tourism, especially in rural areas, together with diversifying tourism products and improving service quality at tourist sites. In 2018, the locality will work to improve the quality of existing products and exploiting new ones such as orchard, trade village, spiritual and cuisine tourism. It will also step up dissemination to improve public awareness of the role of tourism as well as the province’s tourism development orientations. In the time ahead, the province continues calling on competent investors to participate in tourism projects, particularly in the coastal districts of Ba Tri, Binh Dai and Thanh Phu. Ben Tre can be found in the lowest part of the Mekong River basin, about 85 kilometres south of Ho Chi Minh City. It is also known as the paradise of coconut since there is a lot of coconut planted there. An Giang earns over 41 million USD from rice exports The Mekong Delta province of An Giang shipped abroad 83,920 tonnes of rice in the first three months of 2018 for 41.1 million USD, up 18,3 percent in volume and 28.8 percent in value over the same period last year. According to Vo Nguyen Nam, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, An Giang’s rice has been exported to 21 countries, mostly Asian ones with 83.7 percent. A rise of 30.4 percent was seen in the African market. In the first three months of this year, rice price was 487 USD per tonne averagely, a rise of about 43 USD per tonne over the same time last year. Nam said that global demand of rice is forecast to continue rising. The good results in the locality’s rice exports in the first quarter of 2018 was due to high demand from traditional markets of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and a number of new markets like Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Tran Anh Thu, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that farmers in An Giang have used high-quality rice varieties in 72 percent of total rice farming area in this Winter-Spring crop, thus enhancing the quality of the province’s rice and contributing to facilitate exports. Thu revealed that An Giang is developing the An Giang rice trade mark to 2020 with a vision to 2030, while preparing to issue a rice export market development strategy in the 2017-2020 period, aiming to improve the competitiveness of the grain. Central Highlands provinces asked to not expand macadamia area The Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum have stopped expanding the area grown with macadamia trees, said the Tay Nguyen Agro-Forestry Science Technology Institute. Meanwhile, local farm households and businesses are advised to focus on the cultivation of planted trees. Macadamia trees have recently been grown in the Central Highlands on a pilot project and given yields after 5-7 years. Experts say further studies on land, climate, seedlings and cultivation techniques should be carried out before the tree is put into large-scale cultivation in the region. Dak Lak province, which boasts the third largest macadamia area after Lam Dong and Dak Nong, has stopped the cultivation of new macadamia trees until 2020, with orientations to 2030. Director of the Dak Lak Department of Planning and Investment Dinh Xuan Ha said local farmers should grow macadamia trees along with industrial and perennial fruit trees such as coffee, avocado and durian to maintain their income and avoid risks. Macadamia trees made first appearance in Vietnam in the 1990s, but farmers in the Central Highlands only started cultivating them in 2000. The region is currently home to more than 2,266ha of macadamia trees, or 64.01 percent of the country’s total crop area, mainly in Lam Dong (44.04 percent) and Dak Nong (35.3 percent). The region produces 246 tonnes of nuts per year, accounting for 91.45 percent of the country’s output. Experts say since it is a relatively new species, further studies should be conducted to ensure its efficiency and reduce risks for growers. FTAs help garment-textile firms diversify export markets Free trade agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam has signed and is going to sign have helped local firms diversity their export markets, according to Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association Vu Duc Giang. He said Vietnam is exporting garment-textiles to the US, the European Union (EU), Japan and the Republic of Korea. Apart from those traditional markets, Vietnamese firms are pushing exports to new markets such as China and Russia, with export turnover projected to exceed 2 billion USD and about 500 million USD in 2018 in each of the countries respectively. Most domestic garment-textile businesses have received orders for the second and third quarters of 2018, he added. The garment-textile sector has exported more than 3 billion USD worth of yarn, nearly one billion USD worth of fabric and 400 million USD worth of garment accessories. Particularly, the fourth industrial revolution has changed the mindset of businesses in regards to technology investment, Giang said. Garment-textile companies have paid more attention to developing human resources and using technology to create quality products. The selection of high value production segments helps such as Original Design Manufacturing and Own Brand Manufacturing has helped Vietnam continue making differences in the global market, he said. In addition to investment in new technology, some big enterprises such as Phong Phu Joint Stock Company and Garment-10 Joint Stock Company are seeking to export through online sales. This is considered a cheap and quick way to send products to customers in foreign countries, according to Doan Anh Dao, a marketing and sales representative from Phong Phu Joint Stock Company. In 2017, the garment-textile sector raked in 31.2 billion USD from exports, a year-on-year rise of 10.23 percent. In the year, Vietnam’s garment-textile exports to major markets like the US, the EU, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Russia increased by 7.2 percent, 9.23 percent, 6.1 percent, 11.8 percent and 56 percent, respectively. In the first quarter of 2018, the sector is expected to see export growth of nearly 7 percent. It targets 35 billion USD in export turnover by the end of this year. Vinacomin posts high coal output, consumption      The Viet Nam National Coal and Mineral Group (Vinacomin) reported that its coal production and consumption had surpassed the set targets for the first quarter of the year.  Vinacomin said its coal output in the three-month period reached 9.4 million tonnes, while the consumption was 9.8 million, meeting 27 per cent and 27.3 per cent of the whole year’s production and consumption targets. The coal consumption in March was the highest so far reaching 4.1 million tonnes owing to favourable weather conditions and the high demand for coal in electricity production. Vinacomin has targeted a coal output of 3.5 million tonnes and consumption of 3.7 million tonnes this month. The group has plans to meet 52 per cent of the whole year’s target in the first half of the year. It has asked member units to enhance production and actively produce coal with high demand in the market. Vinacomin’s total revenue in 2017 reached VND109.2 trillion (US$4.8 billion), posting a 7.3 per cent year-on-year increase. Its profit was estimated at VND2.5 trillion, up VND1.5 trillion from 2016. It contributed VND13.4 trillion to the State budget. In 2017, Vinacomin’s coal consumption was estimated at 35.5 million tonnes. Of this, the local coal consumption was 34 million tonnes and the remaining was exported.  Government agrees to set up credit guarantee funds      The Government has approved the establishment of credit guarantee funds for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to facilitate higher chances for them to get credit for production and business. Under Decree 34/2018/ND-CP issued recently, the funds are set up by the people’s committees of provinces and cities. It will operate for non-profit purposes and under the model of one-member limited company with 100 per cent charter capital from the State. The fund must have a minimum charter capital at VND100 billion. The funds will provide credit guarantee for SMEs to get loans from lenders according to the provisions of the decree and relevant laws. According to the decree, the eligible firms are SMEs with the potential for development but are not eligible for loans in credit priority areas as stipulated in the decree. The funds will grant credit guarantees to SMEs at a maximum of 100 per cent of the loan value (including working capital and medium- and long-term capital). The level of guarantee for an enterprise will be based on the feasibility and risk level of the enterprise, investment project, production and business plan as well as financial capability of the funds.  Binh Duong records trade surplus of over $1.5b      The southern province of Binh Duong recorded a trade surplus of more than US$1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2018, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade. In the reviewed period, the export turnover of the province reached more than $5.57 billion, an increase of 15.3 percent year-on-year, while imports were valued at over $4 billion, up 16.8 per cent. The high export turnover was attributable to the 10-15 per cent growth of key items, including wooden products, which were valued at $644 million, up 13.5 per cent; garment-textiles products at $627 million, up 18 per cent; and footwear at $630 million, up 15.1 per cent. Meanwhile, the province imported chemicals worth $202 million, timber and wooden products ($261 million), fabrics ($231 million) and garment-textile materials ($345 million). The freshly signed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership is expected to foster exports from Binh Duong Province in the coming period. Local businesses are advised to fulfil the requirements on product origin and devise appropriate business plans to enjoy the preferential tariffs.  Geographic indication protects unique products      Geographic indication (GI) is considered an effective way of protecting and adding value to unique products, and should be used more in Viet Nam, experts have said. GI designations show that products have specific geographical origin and qualities or a reputation due to that origin. GI is used to protect traditional products whose uniqueness and reputation are closely linked with the geographical location where they originated. Speaking at a seminar in HCM City on Wednesday, Pham Xuan Da of the Ministry of Science and Technology said that GI could add value, increase access to new or existing markets, gain a competitive advantage, and reap more profits. It also helps fight against misuse or unhealthy competitive acts. GI protection preserves biodiversity and develops traditional industries and tourism sector and help consumers understand the value of the products. As of last month, Viet Nam has granted protection certificates to 66 GIs, of which six are from other countries, he said. Delphine Marie-Vivien, researcher in intellectual property and food law at CIRAD, a French research centre specialising in international agricultural and development issues, said: “The origin of food is important for consumers who value tradition and cultural identity and who are sensitive to specific sensorial and organoleptic characteristics of these products. Some consumers are willing to pay more to find such characteristics in the product.” Viet Nam drew up a legal framework for GI protection in 1995 under which the State is the owner of the GI, and has the right to register the GI. It can delegate the right to producers (both organisations and individuals) and administrative authorities of the locality. The State has the right to manage the use of GI, control and promotion, but it also can delegate the responsibility to people’s committees in provinces, districts or cities. Producers have the right to use the GI, including organisations and individuals authorized by the managing authority. Yet despite the political will to promote GIs, the use of registered GIs on products for sale in Viet Nam is still limited due to a lack of awareness among producers and consumers and a lack of interest from local stakeholders about GI value, as well as the absence of involvement by local authorities in the promotion of GI and GI products. Other issues include lax implementation of quality control and lack of efficient collective action to manage the GI. As a result, it is necessary to overcome the lack of awareness, strengthen organisation of producers and processors after initial GI registration, and build up efficient control systems before commercialisation that can help prevent fraud. Ben Tre Province recently obtained GI certifications for its grapefruit and Xiem coconuts, which would help businesses and farmers develop markets for these GI products. After successfully obtaining GI certificate, much more efforts are needed to promote the use of the GI, Da said. GI protection had a beneficial impact on economic development in many areas of the province’s economy, and thus producers should learn about the GI system, he said. Tran Anh Tuan, an expert on market research, said demand for coconut water, coconut oil, coconut milk and coconut ice cream has increased significantly in the global market, offering more opportunities for the province to develop such products. To exploit GIs in the most effective way, producers need to “enhance innovation to come up with better and higher added value products.” At the seminar, Tuan showed samples from countries in the region that have successfully commercialised GI products. Representing the province, Le Van Tan, director of the provincial Department of Science and Technology, said the province would establish regulations on GI management and using and grant GIs and revoke the right to use GIs. It will also oversee the farming process of GI products and promote GI products both in domestic and international markets. Since its GI coconut products are mainly for export, participants at the seminar said the province should register to protect its GI products in other countries to create a solid legal foundation for exports. The seminar on the role and impact of GIs in local economic development was organised by the Vietnamese High Quality Goods Association and Ben Tre Province People’s Committee on the sidelines of the Vietnamese High Quality Products Fair in District 11. Binh Son refinery’s profit up by 46%      Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR) reported pre-tax profits of VND1.3 trillion (US$57.1 million) in the first quarter of 2018, up 46 per cent compared to the quarterly target. BSR is a subsidiary of Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam, PVN) and operator of the $3 billion Dung Quat Oil Refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai, the first oil refinery in the country. The company earned VND24.1 trillion in the first quarter of this year, up 25 per cent year-on-year. Indicators such as manufacturing output and consumption increased by 11 per cent compared to the quarterly plan. At a seminar held on March 30 in the central city of Da Nang, Deputy General Director of PVN Le Manh Hung said any of PVN’s subsidiary while converting to a joint stock company should be aware that equitisation was an inevitable target. According to Hung, to well manage BSR and PVN’s units, company leaders should, first of all, have a firm grasp of management knowledge. “Corporate governance means human governance in the process of production and business as well as common target governance,” Hung said, asking BSR to invest heavily in systems and management tools while converting into a joint stock company. BSR earned VND5.5 trillion ($244.5 million) through the sale of nearly 242 million shares during its initial public offering (IPO) held on January 17. The sale, organised on HCM Stock Exchange, is Viet Nam’s largest IPO this year and is part of the government’s drive to privatise State-owned enterprises to improve their performances. The quantity of shares was equivalent to 7.79 per cent of BSR’s charter capital, offered at a starting price of VND14,600 per share. At this price, BSR is valued at $2 billion, making it the largest firm ever to hold an IPO. The auction attracted 4,079 domestic and foreign investors, including 3,964 individuals and 115 organisations, registering to purchase 652 million shares. Sixty-two organisations and 561 individuals won the bids.  STK plans to issue 10.8m shares      Soi The Ky Joint Stock Company (STK) targets a revenue of over VND2.3 trillion (US$101 million), pre-tax profit of VND131 billion and after-tax profit of nearly VND126 billion in 2018. This marks a year-on-year increase of 18 per cent, 25 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively. The company will submit these targets in the business plan for 2018 at the annual shareholders’ meeting, expected to take place on April 17. In addition to this, STK will ask for shareholders’ comments on the issuance of nearly 10.8 million shares. Of this, STK plans to issue nearly 4.2 million shares to pay dividends for fiscal year 2017 at a rate of seven per cent and another 600,000 shares under the employee stock ownership plan at VND10,000 (44 US cents) per share. The company also plans to issue nearly six million shares to existing shareholders at the rate of 10 per cent, with the selling price not lower than the par value and not higher than the price at the end of the previous session a day before the notice of closing rights on HCM Stock Exchange. A total of nearly VND60 billion is expected after the issuance is used to invest in the Trang Bang 5 project. If the issuances of shares succeed, the charter capital of the company will increase to more than VND707 billion. In 2017, STK achieved a revenue of nearly VND2 trillion and an after-tax profit of more than VND99.6 billion. The company expects to pay 15 per cent dividend for 2017, with a total of more than VND89.9 billion. Of this, eight per cent will be in cash, equivalent to over 47.95 billion, and seven per cent will be in shares, equivalent to more than 41.9 billion. Seafood firm Hung Vuong to sell assets to offset losses      Hung Vuong Corporation (HVG), one of the biggest seafood processors in Viet Nam, has reported losses for the last two financial years. The company incurred losses of VND49 billion (US$2.2 million) and VND713 billion in the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 fiscal years. A fiscal year begins in October and ends in September of the following year. Shares of HVG, which is listed on the HCM Stock Exchange under code HVG, are down 36 per cent compared to the beginning of this year and down 45.4 per cent compared from their peak for 2018 so far on January 10, due to the company’s weak business performance. According to an official letter sent by HVG to the State Securities Commission in late March, HVG plans to divest capital from some of its subsidiaries and sell real estate to offset losses. The company will divest 100 per cent of its capital from Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company and 50 per cent of its capital from Viet Thang Feed Joint Stock Company. The divestment plans have been completed. HVG also plans to sell some of its real estate assets, including the two land lots at 765 Hong Bang Street and 94 Pham Dinh Ho Street in HCM City. The company will also close some ineffective seafood processing factories due to the lack of raw materials. It also plans to negotiate with banks for financial support, persuading them to keep funding medium-long term capital to help complete HVG’s uncompleted projects. At the same time, HVG also recommend banks provide interest rate incentives for its current debts. The main causes for the increased losses include a material shortage. In 2017, export prices of pangasius fillets soared to the highest level in the past 10 years. However, as the market demand increases, the supply of raw fish is decreasing every day, the company said in its official letter. HVG has been facing raw material shortages since the second half of 2016. The company’s 11 factories with 15,000 employees are operating at a very modest level, down 50 per cent from full capacity, mainly recycling goods in the warehouse to maintain export. Insufficient materials, large fixed costs and the need to pay labourers during a shutdown in the production period, increased HVG’s production costs by 30 per cent. Rising export prices cannot offset the cost of production, which was the main reason for the loss, HVG said in the letter. The company also blamed interest expenses and financial-related pressure from unfinished investment projects for recent losses. With the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the support of the authorities of the southern provinces of An Giang, Long An and Binh Dinh, as well as commitments from banks, from 2015 to the end of 2017, HVG has implemented development projects on hi-tech pig breeding and constructed cold storage with 60,000 pallets, fully operated by robots. Up to now, some projects have been completed up to 80 per cent, but disbursement from banks has been postponed. Some projects required the short-term capital of the company without any support from the banks. Total capital committed by the bank for the above projects is VND1.5 trillion, equivalent to 70 per cent of the total investment of the projects. But until now, only VND484 billion has been disbursed, below one third of the commitment value. Total capital spent on the projects of the company was up to VND640 billion, extracted from its short-term capital, with an average interest rate of 9 per cent per year. This caused a serious capital imbalance for the HVG, the company said. While unfinished projects have yet to become profitable, the company still has to bear the cost of rising interest every day. Although the total short-term and long-term outstanding loans as of September 30, 2017 decreased by VND969 billion, or 11 per cent, compared to the beginning of the period, the interest expense of the whole fiscal year 2016-2017 increased by 8 per cent.  CRN names Panduit in Data Centre 100 List      CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named US-based Panduit, a global provider of network infrastructure solutions, in its 2018 Data Centre 100 List. The annual list recognises technology suppliers that excel at powering, supporting and protecting the complex and demanding data centres on which businesses rely. “Panduit is proud to be recognised in CRN’s Data Centre 100 List,” said Tom Walsh, vice president, Data Centre, Panduit. “Through our broad portfolio, we can help data centre architects and managers unlock significant value by simplifying their planning, design, fulfilment and procurement processes to focus on achieving performance and other business requirements.” Panduit helps drive performance, efficiency and agility by optimising power, cooling, space and connectivity requirements through its comprehensive data centre solutions, including converged infrastructure, connectivity solutions, cooling optimisation and thermal solutions and data centre infrastructure management. Panduit participated at the Cisco Connect 2018 event in Ha Noi on April 3 and is participating at the event in HCM City today. Vietnamese start-up Cricket One Inc to represent Viet Nam at Future Food Asia event      Start-up company Cricket One Inc will represent Viet Nam at the Future Food Asia Award event on May 23 in Singapore with an initiative to farm crickets as a high-protein food source. Cricket One Inc won top prize at the Mekong Agritech Accelerator (MATCh) programme. A total of 13 start-ups from the region, as well as international firms proposed agritech solutions at the Greater Mekong Subregion Leaders Summit in Ha Noi last month. The insect farming industry is a promising form of sustainable food production. It not only requires a low water usage, but also low land use, feed use, and GHG emissions, according to Nam Dang, co-founder of Cricket One. “We understand the struggle endured by poor farmers and we have committed to work together with them to improve their livelihood. We lease out the integrated container units so that farmers can utilise their agricultural by-products to grow crickets productively, and we can also teach them the best practices in farming crickets, using the most relevant technology.” “We feed the crickets mainly on agricultural by-products in combination with other plants. By doing this we manage to achieve high quality, protein-rich finished products that meet the standard requirements of organic certification,” he said. MATCh’s competitive application process sought to identify agricultural technologies and new business models with the potential to reshape agriculture towards sustainable and inclusive growth in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS). A total of 127 start-ups applied. The finalists were selected by a panel of agriculture and food industry experts as well as potential investors. The finalists shared ideas relating to business development and technology with mentors, industry experts, and investors. They also attended a boot camp to improve and refine their business models, and to build their professional networks. In the start-up division prizes were awarded to Cricket One from Viet Nam, and Kiu Myanmar and Tun Yat from Myanmar. Meanwhile in the Market Access division, the prizes went to AgUnity Pty Ltd from Australia, Verifik8/FairAgora Asia from Thailand and Enzootic Ltd from Israel – Hong Kong. MATCh is the first accelerator for agritech startups in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Viet Nam. It is funded by the Australian Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and is co-organised by the Mekong Business Initiative (MBI), Future Food Asia, and the GMS Core Agriculture Support Program (CASP). When asked about the MATCh participants, Dominic Mellor, of the ADB who heads up the MBI, said "We are extremely impressed with the innovations from the MATCh participants. MBI and our partners will work with the selected innovators and entrepreneurs on transforming the agricultural industry in the Mekong Region into a leading supplier of safe and nutritious food for all.” Talentnet - Mercer Total Remuneration Survey back with new features      Talentnet and its associate Mercer, a global HR consulting firm, have begun its comprehensive annual salary survey, which will include some new updates based on global trends and market needs. The Talentnet - Mercer Total Remuneration Survey 2018 will apply global methodologies in the survey process and job matching, providing data on the top three salary payers across industries in the country and global benchmarking salary data. The 2017 survey covered 592 companies, both local and foreign, and remuneration data for 289,236 employees. In the last 10 years the Talentnet-Mercer Total Remuneration Survey has come to be known as the most comprehensive and largest salary survey in Viet Nam, providing data for organisations for their rewards strategy including on salary range, common allowances and bonuses by industry and level, the compensation mix for each level of staff, employee turnover rates, the most difficult jobs to attract and retain.  Apartment sales forecasted to drop after fatal HCM City fire Apartment sales in Vietnam may fall after a recent fatal apartment block fire in HCM City which left 13 dead and dozens injured, according to Commercial Real Estate Services (CBRE). There is more concern over the safety of apartment projects, including fire prevention features after the fire at Carina Plaza in HCM City’s District 8. This may lead to the drop in apartment sales. Investors in apartment projects need to ensure fire safety to attract customers. Pham Duc Toan, general director of EZ Vietnam Real Estate Development Company, said his company has seen the fall of apartment sales following the Carina Plaza fire. Many customers have chosen apartment projects more carefully, considering the prestige of investors. At the government meeting on April 2, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung also forecasted lower apartment prices. Dung added that in the first three months of 2018, more than 1,000 fires were reported nationwide, killing 33, injuring 66 and causing heavy losses of property. This is an issue of public concern, he said, adding that the rate of apartment buildings meeting fire safety standards was very low, so it is a must to address this issue. The remit for this fell between investors, ministries, sectors and localities granting investment licences to investors. EC ends anti-dumping investigation of Vietnamese pallet trucks The European Commission (EC) has decided to terminate an anti-dumping investigation into pallet trucks after coming to a conclusion that there was no tax invasion of these products imported from Vietnam. The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said it received a report from the Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium on April 3 saying that the EC had issued its conclusion on the investigation concerning the evasion of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese pallet trucks. Earlier, on July 17, 2017, the EU initiated the investigation following a request filed by PR Industrial SRL and Toyota Material Handling Europe. Hand operated pallet trucks and their essential parts were placed under investigation from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2017. The plaintiffs alleged that products originating in China were shipped to Vietnam for assembly before the finished products were exported to the EU in order to avoid the anti-dumping duty.  They also gave preliminary evidence in their efforts to prove that the assembly process amounted to tax evasion as Chinese parts accounted for more than 60% of the total value of the finished products, and the value added during the assembly process was less than 25% of the manufacturing cost. FPT Vietnam recognised as first premier partner of AWS in ASEAN The 2018 Summit of Amazon Website Services (AWS), the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, opened in Singapore yesterday, attracting hundreds of customers and partners, including interested Vietnamese businesses. On the occasion, FPT Vietnam was recognised as the first ASEAN-based premier partner for its key role in helping customers drive innovation and build solutions on the AWS Cloud. “With the award, FPT Software and AWS will enter deeper relations, enabling us to approach more influential groups as well as important projects globally, thus contributing to reaching our $1-billion revenue target by 2020,” Nguyen Thi Dan Phuong, chief marketing officer of FPT Software, told VIR. FPT’s major markets are Vietnam, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Also, during the annual AWS Partner Summit and on the eve of the AWS ASEAN Summit, the AWS Partner Awards was announced to recognise a wide range of born-in-the cloud, and traditional AWS Consulting and Technology Partners whose business models have embraced specialisation and collaboration over the past year. The awards also recognise partners whose business models continue to evolve and thrive on the AWS Cloud as they work with customers, enabling them to build on Big Data analytics and take advantage of the benefits of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. AWS now has a wide range of ASEAN customers, with many big brands having strong operations in Vietnam, including Central Group and Masan Group. “The diverse nature of the winners of AWS Partner Awards reflects the opportunities provided for partners who focus on helping customers remove the friction of managing IT infrastructure and set the platform for innovation,” said Nick Walton, managing director of AWS ASEAN. “AWS partners are adding value to customers across a wide range of industries, from banking and finance to the public sector, and increasingly, the Southeast Asian startup sector. The winners of the 2018 AWS ASEAN Partner Awards understand that customers can access more than 100 services to innovate in a myriad of ways—including some who are bringing entirely new solutions to market, and others who have been working with AWS since the launch of the AWS Asia-Pacific (Singapore) Region more than seven years ago,” he added. AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce empire. However, AWS has a distinct leadership and operating structure from Amazon’s parent company. AWS has been officially present in Vietnam since early 2017 to support its customers using the company’s products. Facebook and Google dodging Vietnamese taxmen since 2016 Leaning on the excuse of “having no official representative office” in Vietnam, billion-dollar Facebook and Google have been avoiding their tax obligations since early 2016. Over the past two years, the Vietnam-based partners of the two social media giants have been paying VND120 billion ($5.25 million) in total corporate income tax (CIT) on their behalf. Specifically, as shown in a recent report provided by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Vietnamese tax authorities could only administer tax regulations on the income generated by their partners, advertising agencies, as well as businesses who directly purchased Facebook and Google’s services in Vietnam. Previously in 2017, the domestic partners of Facebook and Google were reported to pay a total VND73.2 billion ($3.2 million) of tax, VND39.1 billion ($1.71 million) of which was value added tax (VAT) and VND34.1 billion ($1.49 million) CIT. In 2016, according to statistics provided by MoF, the partners of the two social media giants paid a total of VND46.9 billion ($2.05 million) worth of tax, of which VND25.3 billion ($1.1 million) VAT and VND21.6 billion ($946,080) CIT. Apart from the tax collection mishap, the matter of national security in the digital age was also brought up in Vietnam’s cybersecurity bills as well as a recent bill drafted in June 2017. In particular, this bill proposed a practice called 'data localisation' which entailed all foreign online service providers (including Facebook, Google, and Twitter) to store the data of Vietnamese users’ exclusively in Vietnamese data centres. However, despite raising concerns among Vietnam-based businesses who directly engaged in the digital industry, this proposal failed to make the final cut in the revised cybersecurity bill. Nonetheless, the cybersecurity bill reaffirmed the initial request by MoPS, stating all foreign online service providers must set up representative offices in Vietnam in order to comply with their tax obligations in the country. According to statistics provided by MoPS, up until January 2018, Google rented roughly 1,800 server along with Facebook’s 441, which were previously acquired from companies engaged in data storage in Vietnam. Vietnam’s three most newsworthy divorce settlements Divorce disputes of public figures have always received ample publicity, especially where assets worth millions of dollars or thousands of jobs hang in the balance. VIR listed the three most noteworthy cases of divorce property settlement in Vietnam. In April 2015, Dang Le Nguyen Vu, founder, president, and general director of $65-million coffee giant Trung Nguyen Group, abruptly dismissed Le Hoang Diep Thao, permanent deputy general director of Trung Nguyen and also Vu’s life partner who was the co-founder of the coffee empire. In October 2015, general director Vu hosted a last minute board of directors (BOD) meeting with the main purpose to eject Thao from her position at the company. The extraordinary meeting took place without the presence of Thao as the main target of the meeting, aiming to replace her as the legal representative of the company. Parallel to this, Thao filed for divorce for the first time. In addition, she also petitioned the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court for immediate measures in order to secure her joint ownership rights with her spouse in the company during the divorce proceedings. Trung Nguyen, Vietnam’s largest coffee brand, specialises in the production, processing, and distribution of coffee in the domestic and foreign markets. Currently, the coffee giant has a total charter capital of VND1.5 trillion ($65.85 million), 93 per cent of which belong to the group’s two co-founders, Dang Le Nguyen Vu and Le Hoang Diep Thao. In 2011, the property settlement between Bui Duc Minh and Nguyen Thanh Thuy, vice president of Bao Son Group, drew the public’s attention as the total assets involved in the dispute rounded up to $500 million. In late 2010, Minh filed an appeal against the final judgment of the Hanoi People’s Court on their divorce because the judge's settlement of mutually-owned assets, residential land, and shared debt obligations of both partners did not meet his expectations. In early 2012, given the unresolved property settlement, Minh was arrested by the Hanoi police to be investigated for slander. Le An, who was born in 1938 and became one of the wealthiest Vietnamese entrepreneurs by net worth, was involved in a 30-year divorce settlement with his first ex-wife, Le Ngoc Lan. In 1965, An and Lan purchased a house in Ho Chi Minh City briefly after they got married. In 1980, the fat-cat businessman was captured for illegal border crossing and was later sentenced to four years in prison. When An was released, his spouse filed for a divorce and obtained an approval from the People’s Court, which he spent the next 30 years appealing against. In 2013, the business tycoon gained the final judgment from the city court, stating that the house in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City would belong to Le An. The 30-year divorce settlement with his first wife was not the only legal dispute the business tycoon had to cope with. To date, after five failed marriages, Le An was reported to be involved in back-to-back settlements over allegations of lying, cheating, and manipulating his ex-wives. Currently, the 78-year-old business tycoon is “happy with his sixth wife who is 55 years younger.” VNN