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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 3/7
Localities
step up rice hoarding
The Mekong Delta
Seven local
businesses have been directed by the Vietnam Food Association to purchase
rice following the market mechanism to ensure farmers get profit and to
stabilise the local rice market.
To complete the
task, the province has supported local businesses to erect storage systems,
which will be able to stock up to 104,000 tonnes of unprocessed rice.
Local firms have
also actively participated in a number of trade fairs abroad and won
contracts to export 20,000 tonnes of rice for 7.5 million USD.
According to the
provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the
summer-autumn crop, Kien Giang will harvest an estimated total of 1.6 million
tonnes of rice from a cultivation area of nearly 300,000 hectares.
The province is
striving to export up to 1.2 million tonnes of rice this year.
Meanwhile,
neighbouring Dong Thap
As of June 27, the
locality has fulfilled only 15 percent of its yearly target due to long heavy
rains that have affected local rice quality.
Tran Tan Duc,
Director of the Dong Thap Food Company, one of the firms assigned to stock up
on rice, proposed that the government should provide more support for
businesses in sales and preferential interest duration so that they can
complete the work.
Funds
provided for disaster risk effort
The United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Australian Agency for International
Development (AusAID) are assisting
With a budget of $5
million, mostly funded by UNDP, the
It will also
support the country's natural disaster management centre and provincial-level
committees of flood prevention in making their plans and implementing and
supervising community-based disaster risk management programmes.
According to the
agriculture ministry, the project has a target of building a strategy and
mechanism to support the implementation of multilateral agreements as well as
work out effective measures to reduce natural disaster risks and adapt to
climate change.
The project is
being implemented in Ha Noi and 20 other provinces and cities until 2016.
Shell
Leading lubricant
supplier Shell Viet Nam has appointed Le Hung Sao Mai Ltd Co as a strategic
distributor.
Shell
Tran Hong Van,
general director of Shell Viet Nam, said that with a huge population of more
than 86 million,
Firms
target dollar loans from foreign banks
With interest rates
on dong loans being higher and local banks having impossible conditions, many
local firms have turned to foreign banks for dollar loans.
The manager of
seafood processing Ut Xi JSC said that most bank loans provided to Ut Xi were
in foreign currencies and at interest rates of 4 to 5 per cent, compared with
10-12 per cent for dong loans.
Brett Krause,
managing director of Citibank in
But they affected
bank lending in foreign currencies to import-export companies, making them to
look for loans from foreign banks.
Foreign currency
loans by banks have reduced sharply since the State Bank of
In the first five
months of this year banks' outstanding dong credit rose by 5.48 per cent
while the corresponding figure for foreign currencies fell by 8.41 per cent.
Bankers have said
the central bank should consider providing foreign currencies to firms in
need, especially importers.
It is the narrowed
gap between interest rates on dong and foreign-currency loans since the dong
deposit cap was reduced to 7.5 per cent that has exerted pressure on the
exchange rate because many people have resorted to deposits in foreign
currencies.
To stabilise the
exchange rate and reduce the pressure on companies in need of foreign
exchange, the SBV should further lower deposit interest rates on the
greenback.
According to SBV
Governor Nguyen Van Binh, the foreign currency market and foreign exchange
rates remain stable. Any fluctuation would not exceed 2 per cent annually, he
said.
The interest rate
cap on foreign-currency deposits would certainly be changed, but after
careful consideration, he said.
Cacao
sector runs before it can walk
The recent
destruction of some cacao farms by farmers in some central and Central
Highland provinces due to low profits shows that in developing the cacao
sector, haste indeed makes waste.
According to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the cacao industry has been
growing at breakneck speed.
In 2003 the area
under cacao was just 3,000 ha, but by the end of 2011 it has jumped to 20,100
ha and annual production of 5,500 tonnes.
By the end of last
year the area rose further to 25,000ha. It is expected to double by 2020 when
output will be 52,000 tonnes.
Cacao trees are
mainly grown in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the south-eastern region, and
the
Nguyen Quang Binh,
director of HCM City-based Chanh Tinh Anh Co. Ltd., said cacao trees grown in
plantations along with other kinds of trees always have low yields of around
600kg per hectare per year.
The area under such
intercrop is around 18,000ha, and includes cacao plantations under coconut
trees in the Mekong
Only a few places
have the optimum yield of two tonnes per year – like the Thang Muoi Coffee –
Cocoa
In other provinces
farmers have been chopping down cacao trees because of their low
productivity, Binh said.
He explained that
in the
That is also a
reason why cacao trees are grown in infertile areas that lack water.
But because of
this, it takes the cacao trees a longer time to yield the first crop and
productivity is very low, making it less profitable compared with other
crops.
A farmer can earn
only a fifth of the income obtained from robusta coffee, which yields an
average of three tonnes of beans priced at VND38,000 per kilo.
Binh said the gap
with pepper is even wider. With a tonne of black pepper priced at VND120
million and a hectare yielding two tonnes, revenues from a hectare of cacao
are just a tenth.
Besides, the cocoa
beans must undergo a fermentation process that requires skilled workers.
"Many
international cup-tasters said the intrinsic quality of
"However, a
number of trading houses just look at the prices."
Under these
circumstances, farmers benefit little from cocoa, only foreign companies do.
According to the
industry, semi-processed cocoa fetches only a 15 per cent profit, but this
skyrockets to 400 per cent with products like cocoa powder, candy, and chocolate.
Again, the windfall
profits go mostly to FDI companies, with local companies merely playing an
intermediary role as buyers.
The market
comprises virtually only of foreign firms who compete with each other to buy
cocoa.
Binh said
international cocoa processors were hoping the Vietnamese industry would
develop quickly and become a stable supplier.
"It is the
hasty preparation and consultancy to quickly develop the sector that has led
to the current pass, leading many growers to destroy their cacao trees,"
he said.
Downturn
hits industry index growth rate
The industrial
production index (IIP) growth rate and inventory index both declined in the
first six months of 2013 compared to the same period last year, largely due
to the ongoing economic difficulties.
According to the
General Statistics Office, the IPP increased 5.2 per cent in the first half
compared to 6.1 per cent last year, while the inventory index fell 9.7 per
cent.
The GSO attributed
the lower inventory index to the new tendency of businesses to sell products
for cheaper than their production costs in an attempt to clear stock and
retrieve their investment.
However, the GSO
said the manufacturing sector's inventory percentage was still high, at 75
per cent in the first half of this year, well above the commonly regarded
"secure level" of 65 per cent.
Manufacturing and
processing, which accounted for over 70 per cent of all industrial
production, expanded 5.5 per cent in the first six months. But this was still
a slip from the 6.3 per cent growth in the first half of 2012.
Some products saw
significant growth, such as cast metals (up 14.6 per cent), leather (up 16.5
per cent), paper and paper products (up 14.7 per cent) and beverages (up 10.5
per cent).
But several major
products stayed flat and some even declined such as electricity production,
which generated 59.8 billion Kwh in the first six months, up just 8.7 per
cent compared to the 14.7 per cent growth over the same period last year.
Focus on
finance skills urged
Experts at the conference,
entitled "Interest rate management mechanisms and demand for quality
workforce", said small to medium-sized banks are already lacking high
quality management personnel in their subsidiaries and branches.
According to the
State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the number of people working in the finance and
banking sector had jumped dramatically from 67,500 in 2000 to 180,000 by the
end of 2012.
SBV forecast the
sector would need an additional 94,000 high quality workers by 2015 and
130,000 by 2020, heightening the need for a strategic education and training
plan to meet demand.
Experts at the
conference said most finance and banking staff currently did not have good
supporting skills such as IT literacy, foreign languages and communications
capabilities.
"When
international finance institutes come to
Thai said
Vietnamese finance and banking training was far behind international
standards.
Therefore, banks
have spent a lot of money hiring foreign specialists and even the State Bank
of
Southern Commercial
Joint Stock Bank Deputy General Director Ngo Minh Chau said competition in
attracting talented staff has pushed up wages, with pay for a qualified
financial director or administrator ranging from US$2,000-3,000 to
US$5,000-7,000 per month.
Chau said a bank
general director who is Vietnamese could currently be paid VND200-300 million
per month ($10,000-$15,000.), while a foreigner in the same position could be
paid around US$50,000 per month.
Most small to
medium-sized banks need qualified managers and administrators. In general,
leaders of bank branches and transaction offices need to improve their
technical and legal knowledge - as well as analysis skills - and their capability
of dealing with problems independently.
They now perform
only conventional technical jobs and do not have strategic vision in the
fields of credit assessment, customer network development, risk
administration, investment project administration, competition strategy
building and international settlements.
There are also
problems related to fresh graduates. According to the
In most recruitment
cases, it takes the banks three to four months to retrain newly-employed
staff. In general, graduates fresh from universities and colleges do not have
adequate knowledge of legal issues related to credit institutions nor
industrial processes to run chains of a financial and banking system.
They also lack
information about how information technology (IT) is applied in lending,
assessment, cash payment, customer management, as well as asset and debt
asset administration activities.
Training facilities
have mainly operated according to their existing capacity and haven't focused
on real market requirements. Many lecturers do not have time to conduct
scientific research and update themselves on new legal documents and policies
related to the finance and banking sector as they are too busy giving
lectures across the country.
Co-operation
between training facilities, the Ministry of Education and Training and
credit institutions and the State Bank of
Master Hoang Van
Chon, from Can Tho University, said it was important to make training
facilities work closely with financial and credit institutions as this
co-operation will help banks develop the workforce they need.
Incentives
buoy southern firms
Traditional markets
managed by private enterprises and co-operatives in the Cuu Long (Mekong)
Delta and south-eastern
Under Prime
Ministerial Decree No. 114/2009/ND-CP, since February 2010, investment
projects in traditional markets in different economic sectors have been given
red-carpet status, including low interest rates for credit.
Ho Tan Bi, director
of Xuan Vinh enterprise in
"In the first
year, our enterprise earned VND93 million ($4,400) in revenue from management
of the market," Bi said.
"Such a sum
was a big surprise to many people. In the previous year, when the business
was run by the State, the revenue was only VND 12.8 million ($600)" he
added.
He recalled that in
the first year overtaking the market, his company invested VND1.2 billion
($56,400) to construct all the roads and the sewage system inside the market,
plus three new rows of shops.
According to the
director, his enterprise is expected to recover the VND1.2 billion in
investment.
Nguyen Viet Cuong,
director general of the Viet Mai company in Can Tho Province said his company
at present ran and managed more than 30 markets in the Cuu Long (
"Though the
market has been in operation for only more than a year, I'm very happy with
the high return - many, many times more than the past," he said.
"My company
also plans to expand our operation in all communes and district centres in
the Cuu Long (
Meanwhile in
He said close co-operation
with the City's Youth Union had enabled his co-operative to conduct a study
on ways to improve the old market's operation through better management and
service.
"By now, I can
say, annual revenue from the market stands at about VND1.1 billion ($ 51,000)
- five times higher than in 2000," said Hanh.
Asked what had made
his co-operate so successful he said "Thanks to the
decentralisation-in-business operation, I have all the power to do what I
think is good for the co-operation. So far everything has gone
smoothly."
Nguyen Van Thang,
vice chairman of the Dong Nai Co-operative Alliance, which has 25 members
throughout the province said he had done all he could to help co-operative
members improve their service.
"My alliance
has offered a very good interest rate - 1.07 per cent per annum to its
members," said Thang.
Despite the
successes, enterprises and co-operative leaders have expressed concern about
the short land lease (25 years) as regulated in the existing Land Law. In
addition, they also complained about slow land clearance in areas allocated
to them to build or expand the old markets.
"This has cost
us quite a lot of money!" said Nguyen Van Be, director of the Nguyen
Vang company in
Cuong said
authorities in many localities did not want to give up their control of these
traditional market - a big source of revenue to their budgets.
However, Vo Van
Quyen, director general of the Market Department under the Ministry of
Industry and Trade said it was the Government's policy to hand over the
management of traditional markets to co-operatives and private enterprises.
"The decision
is to make the operation of the market more efficient and ensure food safety
for consumers, as well as helping traders increase business revenues,"
Cuong said.
Indonesian
cement firm expands Vietnamese operations
Indonesian cement
company PT Semen Tbk’s (SMGR) has announced a plan to expand its operations
in
General Director
DwiSutjipto revealed the expansion has been submitted to the Indonesian
Ministry of State Owned Enterprises for approval and will be formalised at a
SMGR wants to step
up its operations in
He noted
Since establishing
its presence in
Housing
support rules oulined
Buyers of
low-income houses will soon be able to raise mortgages on their new
properties, even when they are not built, according to the Ministry of
Construction.
The ministry gave
the details on Tuesday of the VND30 trillion (US$1.42 billion) support
package set up for the purpose.
In Circular 11/2013
of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV), issued in May, people who wished to
borrow money from the support package for low-income home purchases must meet
minimum capital requirements to be eligible for the loans.
This meant home
buyers must borrow money, but current regulations did not allow the use of
properties yet to be built as mortgage collateral, the ministry said.
So, allowing
buildings still in the planning stages to be used as mortgages would make it
easier for low-income earners to access bank loans.
Households or
individuals having sale and purchase agreements with developers of social
housing after January 7 would be eligible for the support package.
Those who sought
loans to buy houses of less than 70sq.m at below VND15 million ($715) per
square metre must not own a house or must be living in accommodation at with
less than 8sq.m per person.
Beneficiaries of
the support package must be residing permanently in the province or city in
which they wanted to buy. Those with temporary residence status must
participate in social insurance for more than one year.
The support package
would be available to investors in social housing projects or projects
converted from commercial purposes regulated in Government Decree
71/2010/ND-CP and the Construction Ministry's Circular 02/2013/TT-BXD
respectively.
The support package
also covered investors of housing projects for students and workers in
industrial zones.
The distribution of
the support package must be completed within 36 months from June 1.
However, a lack of
detailed instructions about the level of low income has caused confusion
among banks and borrowers.
Only a few people
have received money from the package to date. Vn.express on-line newspaper
reported that after nearly one month when the package was officially launched,
only one or two low-income earners got support package money from the Bank
for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) and none from the Bank for
Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank).
The ministry
recently proposed to apply the same preferential loan to commercial
apartments of below 90sq.m instead of only 70sq.m as currently regulated.
Meanwhile, many
people still found it difficult to choose low-priced apartment in a
development project because they were concerned over its progress and quality.
Nguyen Van Linh
from northern
His hesitation
stemmed from the poor quality of low-income apartments that some of his
friends and relatives had bought and he was also doubtful about the progress
of many other projects which remained unfinished.
According to
statistics from the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department, as
at the end of May there were 48 commercial housing projects registering to be
converted to social housing. In Ha Noi alone, there were 21.
However, many of
them were just in their very early stages of procedures and progress was
uncertain.
A project at
A project on 30
Pham Van Dong, in Cau Giay District, was also just empty land.
A representative
from Vinaconex 2 told real investment newspaper Dau Tu Bat Dong San that
progress of its Golden Silk project conversion remained unclear because
investors were waiting for procedures and paperwork to be concluded and
approved.
A representative
from one of five banks appointed to implement the loan package was quoted by
Dat Viet newspaper as saying that in the first two years, the package should
prioritise lending enterprises to complete projects.
He said the current
social housing projects were not enough to meet demand.
Paper firms
asked to step up investment
Domestic paper
companies have been asked to invest in new production lines to save long term
costs and improve quality as a number of larger foreign firms have recently
entered the industry.
The sector faces
many common difficulties due to the struggling economy, which has resulted in
several enterprises going bankrupt or ceasing operations.
However, the
Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) says that the sector still has
potential for development, despite the ongoing difficulties.
The ministry said
in the first five months of this year, the industry produced 860,000 tonnes
of paper, an increase of 5 per cent year-on-year.
Its exports have
also risen by 15 per cent to reach nearly 70,000 tonnes.
MoIT has forecast
that paper consumption this year will be around 3 million tonnes, while
currently domestic capacity is just 2.18 million tonnes.
Imports of paper
have been on an upward trend over the past few months.
The ministry's
figures revealed that paper imports this month are estimated at 130,000
tonnes, costing $114 million.
Paper imports in
the first half of this year are 691,000 tonnes with a total value of $640
million, representing a 114 per cent year-on-year rise over the same period
last year.
However, Vu Ngoc
Bao, General Secretary of the Viet Nam Paper Association said that production
levels of pulp by domestic enterprises has seen a relatively high growth.
Bao said that
several companies have invested in modern production lines, and pulp
production last year reached 484,300 tonnes, an increase of 30 per cent over
2011. However, this only met half of the demand.
The sector lacks
pulp and has to import it for $900-1,000 a tonne, while Viet Nam has ranked
first in the world for exporting woodchips (used in pulp production) over the
last two years.
Last year, the
country exported 6 million tonnes of woodchips which could produce 2.7
million tonnes of pulp for the lower price of $110-120 per tonne.
The association
said that in the first six months of the year, several foreign investors had
launched projects to produce pulp in
The world largest
packaging producer, Nine Dragons Paper, announced it will build a new
production line for the Chanh Duong Paper Company, with the capacity to
produce 350,000 tonnes annually.
Lee&Man Paper
Manufacturing Ltd has also built a paper production plant in southern
Cushman&Wakefield
acquires PSG
Cushman&Wakefield,
the world's largest privately owned commercial real estate services firm,
announced yesterday that it would acquire the specialist Singapore-based
project management company, Project Solutions Group (PSG).
Chris Brown, who is
the country manager for
It will position
Cushman&Wakefield as a market leader in project management services, with
one of the largest platforms in the Asia Pacific region and the ability to
provide a more in-depth experience, a broader reach and a wider range of
integrated solutions to its global clients.
The acquisition
follows Cushman&Wake-field's announcement earlier this year that it had
expanded its operations into
Founded in
MoC lays
out parking requirements
Investors in
commercial high-rise buildings must ensure that they have at least 20sq.m of
parking for each 100 sq.metre living space, according to the Ministry of
Construction.
In addition, social
housing projects must have at least 12 sq.m of parking per 100 sq.m living
space.
The ministry also
said that investors will be allowed to decide on their own adjustments to
their apartments' design to meet the market demand.
Overseas
Vietnamese talk business
Overseas Vietnamese
and local entrepreneurs will gather at a meeting in the Tay Nguyen (Central
Highlands)
The meeting was
described as a good chance for entrepreneurs to exchange business
experiences, foster technology transfers and seek new co-operation
opportunities.
A conference on
business opportunities, matching events and exhibitions would be held along
the event sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs's State Committee for
Overseas Vietnamese, the Overseas Vietnamese Association and the Lam Dong
People's Committee
Dak Nong to
host technology expo
An exhibition of
new technology and equipment for production will be held in the Tay Nguyen
(Central Highlands)
The technology on
display covered a wide range of agro-forestry, fishery, processing, mineral
exploitation, renewable energy, engineering, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and
environment treatment, the organisers of Techmart 2913 said.
Economic
difficulties impact State budget
Despite signs of
recovery in the economy during the first half of the year, many difficulties
and challenges remain, impacting State budget revenues and spending.
According to the
Ministry of Finance (MoF), State budget revenues during the first six months
reached over 356 trillion VND (some 16 billion USD), only 43.7 percent of
forecast. Domestic revenues achieved only 43.3 percent of estimates, the
lowest level for the past several years.
Major contributors
to the State budget such as Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh City , Hai Phong and Da Nang
also reported domestic revenues at under 50 percent of the yearly budget
collection estimates.
During the same
period, state budget spending totalled 448.9 trillion VND (21 billion USD),
equivalent to 45.9 percent of estimates, up 7.5 percent over last year’s
first half.
At this pace of
collection and with some upcoming tax preferential policies, the MoF
forecasts that there is a big possibility that the state budget revenue will
decrease, while new demands are arising in budget spending.
For the remaining
half of the year, ministries and related agencies are urged to boost
production and business development, timely remove difficulties for
enterprises, strictly control the budget collecting and spending, settle
debts and practise thrift.
In order to remove
difficulties and foster production and business, the ministry has, together
with the State Bank of Vietnam , evaluated the situation and drafted a
proposal on measures to settle bad debts in the credit institution system.
The ministry is
also working on a decree on debt management and settlement of bad debts in
State-owned enterprises (SOEs).
In addition, the
ministry has submitted to the government proposals on stepping up SOEs’
withdrawal of capital from non-core business areas.
PT Semen
Indonesia to increase production in Vietnam
PT Semen Indonesia
Tbk. (SMGR) plans to increase its cement production capacity in Vietnam by
expanding and increasing the number of its plants in that country, its
president director Dwi Sutjipto has said.
The expansion plan
will be announced during a discussion between Indonesia’s 10 leading
businesses and Vietnam’s 20 big enterprises in Jakarta during President
Truong Tan Sang’s State visit to Indonesia.
SMGR’s plan looks
to make Vietnam as the hub of cement marketing for the ASEAN region, Dwi
Sutjipto said on the sidelines of "BUMN Innovation Expor & Award
2013" on June 27.
PT Semen Indonesia
early in 2013 entered Vietnam by acquiring around 70 percent of shares of
Thang Long Cement Vietnam to which PT Semen Indonesia invested around 1.5 trillion
Rp.
The production
capacity of Thang Long cement factories, one in North and another in South
Vietnam, currently reach 2.3 million tonnes a year and they are mainly for
meeting domestic needs in Vietnam.
In 2013, PT Semen
Indonesia’s production is set at more than 15 million tonnes coming from
Semen Padang 6.5 million tonnes, Semen Tonasa 7 million tonnes, Semen Thang
Long 2.3 million tonnes and from Rembang whose development is expected to be
completed this year with a capacity of around 3 million tonnes.
Dragon
fruit targets US$1 billion in exports for 2013
Vietnam expects to
earn US$1 billion from exporting dragon fruit to the US market by the end of
this year.
According to the
Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI), there is an increasing demand for
imported fruit in foreign markets, including the US, Japan, the Republic of
Korea, and Taiwan.
Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat
from the Department for Plant Protection said Vietnamese dragon fruit has
great opportunities to enter the US market. Since Vietnam was allowed to
market this fruit in the US, the export volume has increased sharply from 100
tonnes in 2008 to 1,200 tonnes last year.
This year, dragon
fruit exports to the US are likely to reach 2,000 tonnes as the export volume
has doubled in the first half of this year. Other markets like Japan and the
Republic of Korea also saw a 25% increase over the previous year, Dat said.
Vietnamese
rambutans are also favoured in the US, although the price of the Vietnamese
fruit is triple that of Mexico (about US$15/kg). In 2012, about 350 tonnes of
Vietnamese rambutans were shipped from Vietnam to the US, earning US$3
million.
Over the past few
years, Vietnam’s fruit export turnover has increased considerably from US$185
million in 2010 to US$360 million in 2012.
Vietnam plans to
boost exports of mangos to Japan, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and New
Zealand. It is also completing procedures to ship other types of fruit, such
as litchis and longans, to these promising markets.
Nghe An
eyes Malaysia, Japan for labour export
Many guest workers
in the central province of NgheAn are seeking opportunities to work in
Malaysia and Japan because of the security and stable incomes in these two
markets.
Nguyen Thi Quy,
Director of the Viet Ha Company, a local labour exporter, said her company
has sent 305 workers to work mostly in the electronics, garments, and
mechanical industries in Malaysia since the beginning of this year.
Many local
labourers preferred Malaysian market thanks to the country’s high economic
growth, political stability and incentive policies on payment for workers,
Quy said.
Malaysia is also
home to many large foreign investors such as Canon, Sony and Renesas from
Japan and the US-based Enron and Meritex, which offer great employment
opportunities for workers.
In addition, local
guest workers pay lower fees to work in Malaysia than in other foreign
markets (around VND6-15 million per labour contract) and they often earn a
monthly income of VND7-20 million for a two or three-year contract.
The Japanese market
is also favoured by Vietnamese guest workers, including university graduates.
The main reasons for this are the country’s simple immigration procedures,
high incomes and safe working environment.
About 70 percent of
the labourers in Nghe An have registered to work in Malaysia and Japan.
In the first half
of 2013, more than 15,950 workers have been employed, including 5,600 sent
overseas, mostly to Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and
Middle Eastern countries.
Tens of millions of
US dollars are channeled through banks to the homeland each month, not
including other forms of remitting money, said the Nghe An provincial
Statistics Department.
Nghe An considers
labour export a key solution to sustainable poverty reduction. Therefore,
local workers often receive vocational training and incentive bank loans so
they can seek employment opportunities abroad.
Vietnam
exports three million tons of rice in six months
Businesses have
exported more than three million tons of rice and yielded about US$1.32
billion since the beginning of the year.
In June alone, they
exported 266,000 tons worth $111 million.
The Mekong Delta is
in peak time to harvest summer autumn rice. Currently, the weather has become
sunny again and traders are rushing to purchase.
A kilogram of fresh
normal rice is priced VND3,700-3,800 while it is VND4,200-4,300 for long
grain variety. These rates are a little higher than that in early June.
According to the
Department of Cultivation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, the Mekong Delta has harvested 500,000 hectares of summer autumn
rice crop with average productivity of 5.4-5.5 tons a hectare.
Dong Thap, Hau
Giang, Kien Giang Province and Can Tho City have seeded about 200,000
hectares of autumn winter rice crop.
Electricity
price hike predicted
If the inflation
rate is kept stable electricity prices may increase by 15% this year, said
the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC).
In their report, the
NFSC said that, though the CPI in June has risen by 0.05% so far, it is
relatively stable. The prices of home appliances and construction materials
are on the decline while the cost for medicine and medical services and
education continue to be high.
"If the cost
of medicine, medical supplies and treatment as well as educational services
did not show an increase. Also, the inflation rate may reduce,"
according to the report.
In the last six
months of the year, the global prices for commodities is forecast remain
stable and consumption will gradually increase. If nothing major is changed,
the NFSC remarked, inflation in Vietnam could be expected to be only 5%;
lower than government's goal of 6-6.5%.
The report said
that if the electricity price were to be raised by 1%, the CPI would increase
by 0.07%. Based on these calculations, electricity prices could reasonably be
raised by 10-15%.
DEMO ASEAN
set to reveal latest industry trends in Ho Chi Minh City
Produced by IDG,
DEMO - the launch pad for emerging technology and trends - will be held in
Vietnam that has the honour of being the first ASEAN region host during
August 30 - September 1.
DEMO ASEAN 2013
will include a three-day showcase and conference at the Riverside Palace
Convention Centre, 360D Ben Van Don street, District 4, Ho Chi Minh City.
It will highlight
brand positioning, opportunities and growth, insights and trends, as well as
network and cooperation.
The event is set to
blend demonstrations of new IT products and networking with other innovative
peers, decision-makers, and especially sought-after venture capitalists. They
will together be able to get a close-up look at the latest trend-setting
technologies.
DEMO 2013 will
serve as a conference gathering new IT entrepreneurs who want to call for investment
from big companies and capitalists in Ho Chi Minh City, nationwide and the
region. Its goal is to connect venture capitalists and angel investors with
more financially rewarding opportunities. The participants will have a chance
to spot more global trends, approaches to disruptive technology and join deal
flows. Investors will together discuss investment insights into future
beneficial products.
More than 40
capitalists and investors from the US, Germany, Switzerland, Korea, Japan,
Singapore and elsewhere will join this DEMO ASEAN, together with IDG founder
and president Patrick McGovern. Each IT firm will have six minutes to
persuade partners and investors to pour capital into its project.
DEMO ASEAN expects
to draw 12,000 visitors and each conference day to see 300 participants.
As part of the
programme, contest Student Alpha Pitch will be for IT innovations still in
alpha stage and being looking for development funds. The student contestants
will reach an audience of investors and potential customers who can catapult
them to the next development stage and beyond. The programme’s executive team
will evaluate each applicant in order to find the most compelling new ideas
to be unveiled at DEMO ASEAN.
Vietnam
attends int’l trade fair in South Africa
Vietnam has
attended the 20th international trade fair SAITEX 2013 in Johannesburg, South
Africa from June 30-July 2.
SAITEX is the
biggest multi-sector fair taking place annually with the participation of
more than 1,000 businesses from 45 countries and territories in the world.
The event provides
a good chance for domestic and foreign import-export enterprises and
distributors to boost trade promotions, introduce products and expand their
markets.
This year, Vietnam
is focused on introducing international friends, particularly African
partners to Hanoi’s key export items including handicrafts, textiles, and
food products.
Its pavilion has
attracted a lot of visitors and customers.
Japan,
Vietnam boost economic cooperation
The 3-day visit by
Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Toshimitsu Motegi is the
highlight of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Year to give a boost to the
comprehensive relationship between the two countries in the near future.
Minister of
Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang made the statement during talks with the
visiting Japanese delegation in Hanoi on July 1.
Minister Hoang
spoke highly of the Japanese Government’s constant support for Vietnam’s
socio-economic development, especially its cooperation in the fields of
trade.
Minister Motegi and
representatives of some Japanese businesses compared notes on issues related
to Vietnam’s industrialization strategy within the framework of cooperation
between Vietnam and Japan towards 2020 with a vision to 2030, as well as
bilateral cooperation in developing support industry, and applying an
intelligent community model and nuclear power technologies for peaceful
purposes.
Both ministers
pledged all-out efforts to bring cooperative relations between Vietnam and
Japan to a new height.
They later
witnessed the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on
Hanoi Software Technology Park and Urban Area project between Japanese and
Vietnamese businesses.
HCM City
hosts Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar
More than 200
delegates attended the 2013 Malaysia-Vietnam Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar
(POTS) dubbed ‘Sharing Solutions, Shaping the Visions’ in Ho Chi Minh City on
July 1.
Leading experts and
officials from Malaysia, the UK and Germany introduced different kinds of oil
and fat products, market trends and prices.
Malaysian Minister
of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Dato' Sri Douglas Uggah Embas,
stressed that the investment and trade ties between Vietnam and Malaysia have
been strengthened since Vietnam became a member of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) in January, 2007.
In recent years,
Malaysia has been one of Vietnam’s ten biggest trade partners with two-way
turnover jumping from US$4.7 billion in 2007 to over US$7.5 billion in the
first ten months of last year.
In 2012, Vietnam
imported 469,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia, up 11.7 percent compared
to the previous year.
In the first four
months of this year it bought nearly 147,000 tonnes of palm oil from
Malaysia, up 64 percent from a year earlier to meet 54 percent of its
domestic demand for oil and fat products.
Manufacturing
index falls sharply in June
Many companies in
the manufacturing sector have to cut back their production due to a sharp
decline in export orders.
Since the survey
began in April 2011, the seasonally adjusted HSBC Vietnam Manufacturing PMI
has slumped to its third-lowest reading at 46.4, down from 48.8 in May.
Manufacturing
production in the domestic market was substantially reduced since inventories
kept rising at a record-setting pace.
The weak purchasing
power led to a reduction in employment. Part of the latest cut in headcounts
reflected the build-up of spare capacity in the sector, as highlighted by a
substantial drop in the level of work-in-hand (but not yet completed) at many
factories.
Purchase orders
dropped sharply in June, contributing to a slight decline in stocks of raw
materials and semi-manufactured goods.
Manufacturers
argued that successful negotiations with vendors for faster payment would
make delivery times shorter up to a point.
Price pressures,
they said, continued to ease during the latest survey month. Although average
input costs have risen throughout the year-to-date, the latest rate of
inflation was only marginal and the least marked during the current sequence
of increase. Meanwhile, manufacturers cut their average selling prices in an
effort to stimulate sales.
Trinh Nguyen, Asia
Economist at HSBC, says “The sharp decline in manufacturing output suggests
that domestic weakness will further weigh on overall business activity. “
“Sales are sluggish
despite discounting measures due to a low appetite for consumption. Coupled
with this, external conditions have weakened, with falling demands from China
and the Republic of Korea. With June headline inflation accelerated, the
central bank will adopt a wait-and-see mode for now,” she says.
Shrimp
exports surge
By the end of May,
shrimp exports hit US$863.5 million, up 6.2% from a year earlier.
According to the
Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), shrimp
exports have bounced back thanks to increasing demands from some major
markets.
Shrimp export
earnings from Japan increased by 6.2% to US$216.4 million. This has been a
positive signal since Japan decided to check the residue of Ethoxyquin used
in shrimp food more than one year.
Recently, Japan
raised its Trifluralin residual level in shrimp products imported from
Vietnam from 0.001ppm to 0.5ppm, easing the pressure on Vietnamese shrimp
exporters.
China has surpassed
the EU to become the world’s third largest shrimp consumer. Exports to the
market in the first five months of this year grew by 17.9% to US$108.5
million. In 2013 China is considered an important market for Vietnamese
shrimp as exports to the big markets like the US, Japan and the EU are
seemingly in a fix.
The US is one of
most important markets for Vietnamese shrimp exporters although they are
facing anti-subsidy tariffs. This year, shrimp exports to the US increased by
18.2% to US$194.6 million over the past five months.
Tourism
industry moves to draw more RoK visitors
The Vietnam
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is hosting a culture festival
together with tourism seminars in the Republic of Korea (RoK) in effort to
lure more visitors from the country.
Opened on July 1,
the festival introduces Vietnam’s traditional and temporary arts and music,
costumes, cuisine and handicraft products to Korean visitors.
Meanwhile, seminars
seek to promote the country’s tourism potential and explore opportunities for
linkages in the field.
These events are
scheduled to close on July 6.
The RoK General
Department of Tourism has rated Vietnam as a potential tourism market to its
country.
In the meantime,
there are 10 direct flights between Vietnam to the RoK a week, paving the
wider way for win-win cooperation between the two countries’ tourism sectors.
At a conference in
May in Hanoi for tourism industry executives and experts, Vietnam National
Tourism Administration Chairman Nguyen Van Tuan called for the establishment
of Vietnamese tourism representative offices in the RoK, as well as Japan and
Russia, which are among Vietnam's key partner markets, in a bid to spur the
local tourism industry.
In the first
quarter, Vietnam earned VND53.5 trillion from tourism, about one third of the
sector’s total revenue in 2012, statistics from the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism show.
In the period, the
sector welcomed 1.8 million foreign visitors, mostly from China, the Republic
of Korea and Japan.
Source:
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 3/7
Localities
step up rice hoarding
The Mekong Delta
province of Kien Giang is stepping up the hoarding of rice to fulfil its
target of creating a stockpile of 85,000 tonnes this year.
Seven local
businesses have been directed by the Vietnam Food Association to purchase
rice following the market mechanism to ensure farmers get profit and to
stabilise the local rice market.
To complete the
task, the province has supported local businesses to erect storage systems,
which will be able to stock up to 104,000 tonnes of unprocessed rice.
Local firms have
also actively participated in a number of trade fairs abroad and won
contracts to export 20,000 tonnes of rice for 7.5 million USD.
According to the
provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the summer-autumn
crop, Kien Giang will harvest an estimated total of 1.6 million tonnes of
rice from a cultivation area of nearly 300,000 hectares.
The province is
striving to export up to 1.2 million tonnes of rice this year.
Meanwhile,
neighbouring Dong Thap province of Kien Giang is struggling to reach its goal
of stockpiling 165,500 tonnes of rice in 2013.
As of June 27, the
locality has fulfilled only 15 percent of its yearly target due to long heavy
rains that have affected local rice quality.
Tran Tan Duc, Director
of the Dong Thap Food Company, one of the firms assigned to stock up on rice,
proposed that the government should provide more support for businesses in
sales and preferential interest duration so that they can complete the work.
Funds
provided for disaster risk effort
The United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Australian Agency for International
Development (AusAID) are assisting Viet Nam in disaster risk management,
particularly in risks related to climate change.
With a budget of $5
million, mostly funded by UNDP, the Institutional Capacity Building for
Disaster Risk Management project aims to help the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development (MARD), the Viet Nam Red Cross and the Viet Nam Women's
Union enhance their disaster risk management capacity.
It will also
support the country's natural disaster management centre and provincial-level
committees of flood prevention in making their plans and implementing and
supervising community-based disaster risk management programmes.
According to the
agriculture ministry, the project has a target of building a strategy and
mechanism to support the implementation of multilateral agreements as well as
work out effective measures to reduce natural disaster risks and adapt to
climate change.
The project is
being implemented in Ha Noi and 20 other provinces and cities until 2016.
Shell Viet
Nam to expand market share
Leading lubricant
supplier Shell Viet Nam has appointed Le Hung Sao Mai Ltd Co as a strategic
distributor.
Shell Viet Nam said
it would seek to expand its market share of lubricant products for the
industrial sector in big eastern and southern provinces such as Binh Duong,
Dong Nai and Long An.
Tran Hong Van,
general director of Shell Viet Nam, said that with a huge population of more
than 86 million, Viet Nam was a promising market where transportation demand
was increasing everyday.
Firms
target dollar loans from foreign banks
With interest rates
on dong loans being higher and local banks having impossible conditions, many
local firms have turned to foreign banks for dollar loans.
The manager of
seafood processing Ut Xi JSC said that most bank loans provided to Ut Xi were
in foreign currencies and at interest rates of 4 to 5 per cent, compared with
10-12 per cent for dong loans.
Brett Krause,
managing director of Citibank in Viet Nam, had been quoted by VIR newspaper
as saying that policies to de-dollarise the economy and restrict gold
purchase had been very successful.
But they affected
bank lending in foreign currencies to import-export companies, making them to
look for loans from foreign banks.
Foreign currency
loans by banks have reduced sharply since the State Bank of Viet Nam issued a
circular stipulating that a firm can only get a foreign currency loan if it
can repay using revenues from business activities.
In the first five
months of this year banks' outstanding dong credit rose by 5.48 per cent
while the corresponding figure for foreign currencies fell by 8.41 per cent.
Bankers have said
the central bank should consider providing foreign currencies to firms in
need, especially importers.
It is the narrowed
gap between interest rates on dong and foreign-currency loans since the dong
deposit cap was reduced to 7.5 per cent that has exerted pressure on the exchange
rate because many people have resorted to deposits in foreign currencies.
To stabilise the
exchange rate and reduce the pressure on companies in need of foreign
exchange, the SBV should further lower deposit interest rates on the
greenback.
According to SBV
Governor Nguyen Van Binh, the foreign currency market and foreign exchange
rates remain stable. Any fluctuation would not exceed 2 per cent annually, he
said.
The interest rate
cap on foreign-currency deposits would certainly be changed, but after
careful consideration, he said.
Cacao
sector runs before it can walk
The recent
destruction of some cacao farms by farmers in some central and Central
Highland provinces due to low profits shows that in developing the cacao
sector, haste indeed makes waste.
According to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the cacao industry has been
growing at breakneck speed.
In 2003 the area
under cacao was just 3,000 ha, but by the end of 2011 it has jumped to 20,100
ha and annual production of 5,500 tonnes.
By the end of last
year the area rose further to 25,000ha. It is expected to double by 2020 when
output will be 52,000 tonnes.
Cacao trees are
mainly grown in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the south-eastern region, and
the Central Highlands.
Nguyen Quang Binh,
director of HCM City-based Chanh Tinh Anh Co. Ltd., said cacao trees grown in
plantations along with other kinds of trees always have low yields of around
600kg per hectare per year.
The area under such
intercrop is around 18,000ha, and includes cacao plantations under coconut
trees in the Mekong province of Ben Tre and under cashew trees in the
southern province of Binh Phuoc.
Only a few places
have the optimum yield of two tonnes per year – like the Thang Muoi Coffee –
Cocoa Co. in the Central Highlands Province of Dak Lak.
In other provinces
farmers have been chopping down cacao trees because of their low
productivity, Binh said.
He explained that
in the Central Highlands and south-eastern provinces, cacao is a
"newcomer" compared to crops like coffee, pepper, and cashew, which
have dominated the export markets in recent years.
That is also a
reason why cacao trees are grown in infertile areas that lack water.
But because of
this, it takes the cacao trees a longer time to yield the first crop and
productivity is very low, making it less profitable compared with other
crops.
A farmer can earn
only a fifth of the income obtained from robusta coffee, which yields an
average of three tonnes of beans priced at VND38,000 per kilo.
Binh said the gap
with pepper is even wider. With a tonne of black pepper priced at VND120
million and a hectare yielding two tonnes, revenues from a hectare of cacao
are just a tenth.
Besides, the cocoa
beans must undergo a fermentation process that requires skilled workers.
"Many
international cup-tasters said the intrinsic quality of Viet Nam cocoa beans
is very good," Binh told Viet Nam News.
"However, a
number of trading houses just look at the prices."
Under these
circumstances, farmers benefit little from cocoa, only foreign companies do.
According to the
industry, semi-processed cocoa fetches only a 15 per cent profit, but this
skyrockets to 400 per cent with products like cocoa powder, candy, and
chocolate.
Again, the windfall
profits go mostly to FDI companies, with local companies merely playing an
intermediary role as buyers.
The market
comprises virtually only of foreign firms who compete with each other to buy
cocoa.
Binh said
international cocoa processors were hoping the Vietnamese industry would
develop quickly and become a stable supplier.
"It is the
hasty preparation and consultancy to quickly develop the sector that has led
to the current pass, leading many growers to destroy their cacao trees,"
he said.
Downturn
hits industry index growth rate
The industrial
production index (IIP) growth rate and inventory index both declined in the
first six months of 2013 compared to the same period last year, largely due
to the ongoing economic difficulties.
According to the
General Statistics Office, the IPP increased 5.2 per cent in the first half
compared to 6.1 per cent last year, while the inventory index fell 9.7 per
cent.
The GSO attributed
the lower inventory index to the new tendency of businesses to sell products
for cheaper than their production costs in an attempt to clear stock and
retrieve their investment.
However, the GSO
said the manufacturing sector's inventory percentage was still high, at 75
per cent in the first half of this year, well above the commonly regarded
"secure level" of 65 per cent.
Manufacturing and
processing, which accounted for over 70 per cent of all industrial
production, expanded 5.5 per cent in the first six months. But this was still
a slip from the 6.3 per cent growth in the first half of 2012.
Some products saw
significant growth, such as cast metals (up 14.6 per cent), leather (up 16.5
per cent), paper and paper products (up 14.7 per cent) and beverages (up 10.5
per cent).
But several major
products stayed flat and some even declined such as electricity production,
which generated 59.8 billion Kwh in the first six months, up just 8.7 per
cent compared to the 14.7 per cent growth over the same period last year.
Focus on
finance skills urged
Viet Nam must
change its existing training strategy in the finance and banking sector to
solve the looming lack of quality in the workforce for the 2015-2020 period,
industry insiders said at a recent conference in HCM City.
Experts at the
conference, entitled "Interest rate management mechanisms and demand for
quality workforce", said small to medium-sized banks are already lacking
high quality management personnel in their subsidiaries and branches.
According to the
State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the number of people working in the finance and
banking sector had jumped dramatically from 67,500 in 2000 to 180,000 by the
end of 2012.
SBV forecast the
sector would need an additional 94,000 high quality workers by 2015 and
130,000 by 2020, heightening the need for a strategic education and training
plan to meet demand.
Experts at the
conference said most finance and banking staff currently did not have good
supporting skills such as IT literacy, foreign languages and communications
capabilities.
"When
international finance institutes come to Viet Nam, they will bring advanced
thinking, technologies and products, but the local workers cannot follow
these techniques," said Doctor Pham Huu Hong Thai, deputy head of the
Finance and Marketing University.
Thai said
Vietnamese finance and banking training was far behind international
standards.
Therefore, banks
have spent a lot of money hiring foreign specialists and even the State Bank
of Viet Nam still needs macro managers capable of conducting research and
forecasts, as well as constructing system development strategies.
Southern Commercial
Joint Stock Bank Deputy General Director Ngo Minh Chau said competition in
attracting talented staff has pushed up wages, with pay for a qualified
financial director or administrator ranging from US$2,000-3,000 to
US$5,000-7,000 per month.
Chau said a bank
general director who is Vietnamese could currently be paid VND200-300 million
per month ($10,000-$15,000.), while a foreigner in the same position could be
paid around US$50,000 per month.
Most small to
medium-sized banks need qualified managers and administrators. In general,
leaders of bank branches and transaction offices need to improve their
technical and legal knowledge - as well as analysis skills - and their
capability of dealing with problems independently.
They now perform
only conventional technical jobs and do not have strategic vision in the
fields of credit assessment, customer network development, risk
administration, investment project administration, competition strategy
building and international settlements.
There are also
problems related to fresh graduates. According to the Institute of Manpower,
Banking and Finance (BTCI), only 50 per cent of the 29,000 students that
qualified in 2012 felt satisfied with bank training standards.
In most recruitment
cases, it takes the banks three to four months to retrain newly-employed
staff. In general, graduates fresh from universities and colleges do not have
adequate knowledge of legal issues related to credit institutions nor
industrial processes to run chains of a financial and banking system.
They also lack
information about how information technology (IT) is applied in lending,
assessment, cash payment, customer management, as well as asset and debt
asset administration activities.
Training facilities
have mainly operated according to their existing capacity and haven't focused
on real market requirements. Many lecturers do not have time to conduct
scientific research and update themselves on new legal documents and policies
related to the finance and banking sector as they are too busy giving
lectures across the country.
Co-operation
between training facilities, the Ministry of Education and Training and
credit institutions and the State Bank of Viet Nam is vital in making
training more practical. This would help to satisfy bank demands for a high
quality workforce in the context of international integration and competition
with foreign finance and banking institutions.
Master Hoang Van
Chon, from Can Tho University, said it was important to make training
facilities work closely with financial and credit institutions as this
co-operation will help banks develop the workforce they need.
Incentives
buoy southern firms
Traditional markets
managed by private enterprises and co-operatives in the Cuu Long (Mekong)
Delta and south-eastern Viet Nam are thriving after receiving special
treatment from the Government.
Under Prime
Ministerial Decree No. 114/2009/ND-CP, since February 2010, investment
projects in traditional markets in different economic sectors have been given
red-carpet status, including low interest rates for credit.
Ho Tan Bi, director
of Xuan Vinh enterprise in Vinh Long Province said he won in a bid to manage
the Vinh Xuan Market which is located in Tran On District in early 2008.
"In the first
year, our enterprise earned VND93 million ($4,400) in revenue from management
of the market," Bi said.
"Such a sum
was a big surprise to many people. In the previous year, when the business
was run by the State, the revenue was only VND 12.8 million ($600)" he
added.
He recalled that in
the first year overtaking the market, his company invested VND1.2 billion
($56,400) to construct all the roads and the sewage system inside the market,
plus three new rows of shops.
According to the
director, his enterprise is expected to recover the VND1.2 billion in
investment.
Nguyen Viet Cuong,
director general of the Viet Mai company in Can Tho Province said his company
at present ran and managed more than 30 markets in the Cuu Long (Mekong)
Delta. One of them is the Tieu Can market in, Tieu Can District, Tra Vinh
Province. Cuong said he had invested more than VND15 billion ($705,000) in
rehabilitating the old market.
"Though the
market has been in operation for only more than a year, I'm very happy with the
high return - many, many times more than the past," he said.
"My company
also plans to expand our operation in all communes and district centres in
the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta. I'm now waiting for approval from the
authority," said Cuong.
Meanwhile in Dong
Nai Province, Trinh Quang Hanh, vice chairman of the Thanh Nien Co-operative
recalled his co-operation took over the management of Tam Hoa market, in Bien
Hoa City in March 2006.
He said close
co-operation with the City's Youth Union had enabled his co-operative to
conduct a study on ways to improve the old market's operation through better
management and service.
"By now, I can
say, annual revenue from the market stands at about VND1.1 billion ($ 51,000)
- five times higher than in 2000," said Hanh.
Asked what had made
his co-operate so successful he said "Thanks to the
decentralisation-in-business operation, I have all the power to do what I
think is good for the co-operation. So far everything has gone
smoothly."
Nguyen Van Thang,
vice chairman of the Dong Nai Co-operative Alliance, which has 25 members
throughout the province said he had done all he could to help co-operative
members improve their service.
"My alliance
has offered a very good interest rate - 1.07 per cent per annum to its
members," said Thang.
Despite the
successes, enterprises and co-operative leaders have expressed concern about
the short land lease (25 years) as regulated in the existing Land Law. In
addition, they also complained about slow land clearance in areas allocated
to them to build or expand the old markets.
"This has cost
us quite a lot of money!" said Nguyen Van Be, director of the Nguyen
Vang company in Vinh Long Province.
Cuong said
authorities in many localities did not want to give up their control of these
traditional market - a big source of revenue to their budgets.
However, Vo Van
Quyen, director general of the Market Department under the Ministry of
Industry and Trade said it was the Government's policy to hand over the
management of traditional markets to co-operatives and private enterprises.
"The decision
is to make the operation of the market more efficient and ensure food safety
for consumers, as well as helping traders increase business revenues,"
Cuong said.
Indonesian
cement firm expands Vietnamese operations
Indonesian cement
company PT Semen Tbk’s (SMGR) has announced a plan to expand its operations
in Vietnam.
General Director
DwiSutjipto revealed the expansion has been submitted to the Indonesian
Ministry of State Owned Enterprises for approval and will be formalised at a
Jakarta dialogue between ten leading Indonesian businesses and 20 major
Vietnamese enterprises during State President Truong Tan Sang’s current visit
to Indonesia.
SMGR wants to step
up its operations in Vietnam and transform the country into a key Southeast
Asian cement market, said Sutjipto.
He noted Vietnam’s
encouraging business climate and security and pinned high hopes on President
Sang’s ongoing Indonesian visit delivering with its expected boost to
bilateral economic ties.
Since establishing
its presence in Vietnam earlier this year, SMGR has invested 1,500 billion
rupiah in a 70 percent stake in Thang Long Cement Company. The firm now has
one plant in northern Vietnam and one in the south, which are capable of
producing a total of 2.3 million tonnes of cement per annum.
Housing
support rules oulined
Buyers of
low-income houses will soon be able to raise mortgages on their new
properties, even when they are not built, according to the Ministry of
Construction.
The ministry gave
the details on Tuesday of the VND30 trillion (US$1.42 billion) support
package set up for the purpose.
In Circular 11/2013
of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV), issued in May, people who wished to
borrow money from the support package for low-income home purchases must meet
minimum capital requirements to be eligible for the loans.
This meant home
buyers must borrow money, but current regulations did not allow the use of
properties yet to be built as mortgage collateral, the ministry said.
So, allowing
buildings still in the planning stages to be used as mortgages would make it
easier for low-income earners to access bank loans.
Households or
individuals having sale and purchase agreements with developers of social
housing after January 7 would be eligible for the support package.
Those who sought
loans to buy houses of less than 70sq.m at below VND15 million ($715) per
square metre must not own a house or must be living in accommodation at with
less than 8sq.m per person.
Beneficiaries of
the support package must be residing permanently in the province or city in
which they wanted to buy. Those with temporary residence status must
participate in social insurance for more than one year.
The support package
would be available to investors in social housing projects or projects
converted from commercial purposes regulated in Government Decree
71/2010/ND-CP and the Construction Ministry's Circular 02/2013/TT-BXD
respectively.
The support package
also covered investors of housing projects for students and workers in
industrial zones.
The distribution of
the support package must be completed within 36 months from June 1.
However, a lack of
detailed instructions about the level of low income has caused confusion
among banks and borrowers.
Only a few people
have received money from the package to date. Vn.express on-line newspaper
reported that after nearly one month when the package was officially
launched, only one or two low-income earners got support package money from
the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) and none from the
Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank).
The ministry
recently proposed to apply the same preferential loan to commercial apartments
of below 90sq.m instead of only 70sq.m as currently regulated.
Meanwhile, many
people still found it difficult to choose low-priced apartment in a
development project because they were concerned over its progress and
quality.
Nguyen Van Linh
from northern Nam Dinh Province, who worked in Ha Noi for three years, was
seeking a low-priced apartment in Ha Noi for nearly a month but he had not
made up his mind up on which one.
His hesitation
stemmed from the poor quality of low-income apartments that some of his
friends and relatives had bought and he was also doubtful about the progress
of many other projects which remained unfinished.
According to
statistics from the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department, as
at the end of May there were 48 commercial housing projects registering to be
converted to social housing. In Ha Noi alone, there were 21.
However, many of
them were just in their very early stages of procedures and progress was
uncertain.
A project at 143
Tran Phu St in Ha Dong District, the first project in Ha Noi to be approved
for conversion from commercial to low-income housing in May, had not begun
construction although its permit was granted five years ago.
A project on 30
Pham Van Dong, in Cau Giay District, was also just empty land.
A representative
from Vinaconex 2 told real investment newspaper Dau Tu Bat Dong San that
progress of its Golden Silk project conversion remained unclear because
investors were waiting for procedures and paperwork to be concluded and
approved.
A representative
from one of five banks appointed to implement the loan package was quoted by
Dat Viet newspaper as saying that in the first two years, the package should
prioritise lending enterprises to complete projects.
He said the current
social housing projects were not enough to meet demand.
Paper firms
asked to step up investment
Domestic paper
companies have been asked to invest in new production lines to save long term
costs and improve quality as a number of larger foreign firms have recently
entered the industry.
The sector faces
many common difficulties due to the struggling economy, which has resulted in
several enterprises going bankrupt or ceasing operations.
However, the
Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) says that the sector still has potential
for development, despite the ongoing difficulties.
The ministry said
in the first five months of this year, the industry produced 860,000 tonnes
of paper, an increase of 5 per cent year-on-year.
Its exports have
also risen by 15 per cent to reach nearly 70,000 tonnes.
MoIT has forecast
that paper consumption this year will be around 3 million tonnes, while
currently domestic capacity is just 2.18 million tonnes.
Imports of paper
have been on an upward trend over the past few months.
The ministry's figures
revealed that paper imports this month are estimated at 130,000 tonnes,
costing $114 million.
Paper imports in
the first half of this year are 691,000 tonnes with a total value of $640
million, representing a 114 per cent year-on-year rise over the same period
last year.
Indonesia, Taiwan
and Singapore have been the main suppliers to Viet Nam's paper market.
However, Vu Ngoc
Bao, General Secretary of the Viet Nam Paper Association said that production
levels of pulp by domestic enterprises has seen a relatively high growth.
Bao said that
several companies have invested in modern production lines, and pulp
production last year reached 484,300 tonnes, an increase of 30 per cent over
2011. However, this only met half of the demand.
The sector lacks
pulp and has to import it for $900-1,000 a tonne, while Viet Nam has ranked
first in the world for exporting woodchips (used in pulp production) over the
last two years.
Last year, the
country exported 6 million tonnes of woodchips which could produce 2.7
million tonnes of pulp for the lower price of $110-120 per tonne.
The association
said that in the first six months of the year, several foreign investors had
launched projects to produce pulp in Viet Nam.
The world largest
packaging producer, Nine Dragons Paper, announced it will build a new
production line for the Chanh Duong Paper Company, with the capacity to
produce 350,000 tonnes annually.
Lee&Man Paper
Manufacturing Ltd has also built a paper production plant in southern Hau
Giang Province.
Cushman&Wakefield
acquires PSG
Cushman&Wakefield,
the world's largest privately owned commercial real estate services firm,
announced yesterday that it would acquire the specialist Singapore-based
project management company, Project Solutions Group (PSG).
Chris Brown, who is
the country manager for Viet Nam, said that with the addition of the PSG team
in Viet Nam and the additional skill sets and services they bring, the
company now offers even better services for their clients.
It will position
Cushman&Wakefield as a market leader in project management services, with
one of the largest platforms in the Asia Pacific region and the ability to
provide a more in-depth experience, a broader reach and a wider range of
integrated solutions to its global clients.
The acquisition
follows Cushman&Wake-field's announcement earlier this year that it had
expanded its operations into Taiwan and the Philippines with office's opening
in Taipei and Manila.
Founded in
Singapore in 2004, PSG Asia offers professional interior design, project
management and construction services to over 40 multi-national corporations
across the Asia Pacific region.
MoC lays
out parking requirements
Investors in
commercial high-rise buildings must ensure that they have at least 20sq.m of
parking for each 100 sq.metre living space, according to the Ministry of
Construction.
In addition, social
housing projects must have at least 12 sq.m of parking per 100 sq.m living
space.
The ministry also
said that investors will be allowed to decide on their own adjustments to
their apartments' design to meet the market demand.
Overseas
Vietnamese talk business
Overseas Vietnamese
and local entrepreneurs will gather at a meeting in the Tay Nguyen (Central
Highlands) province of Lam Dong's Da Lat City from August 6-9.
The meeting was
described as a good chance for entrepreneurs to exchange business
experiences, foster technology transfers and seek new co-operation
opportunities.
A conference on
business opportunities, matching events and exhibitions would be held along the
event sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs's State Committee for
Overseas Vietnamese, the Overseas Vietnamese Association and the Lam Dong
People's Committee
Dak Nong to
host technology expo
An exhibition of
new technology and equipment for production will be held in the Tay Nguyen
(Central Highlands) province of Dak Nong from November 12-15.
The technology on
display covered a wide range of agro-forestry, fishery, processing, mineral
exploitation, renewable energy, engineering, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and
environment treatment, the organisers of Techmart 2913 said.
Economic
difficulties impact State budget
Despite signs of
recovery in the economy during the first half of the year, many difficulties
and challenges remain, impacting State budget revenues and spending.
According to the
Ministry of Finance (MoF), State budget revenues during the first six months
reached over 356 trillion VND (some 16 billion USD), only 43.7 percent of
forecast. Domestic revenues achieved only 43.3 percent of estimates, the
lowest level for the past several years.
Major contributors
to the State budget such as Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh City , Hai Phong and Da Nang
also reported domestic revenues at under 50 percent of the yearly budget
collection estimates.
During the same
period, state budget spending totalled 448.9 trillion VND (21 billion USD),
equivalent to 45.9 percent of estimates, up 7.5 percent over last year’s
first half.
At this pace of
collection and with some upcoming tax preferential policies, the MoF
forecasts that there is a big possibility that the state budget revenue will
decrease, while new demands are arising in budget spending.
For the remaining
half of the year, ministries and related agencies are urged to boost
production and business development, timely remove difficulties for
enterprises, strictly control the budget collecting and spending, settle
debts and practise thrift.
In order to remove
difficulties and foster production and business, the ministry has, together
with the State Bank of Vietnam , evaluated the situation and drafted a
proposal on measures to settle bad debts in the credit institution system.
The ministry is
also working on a decree on debt management and settlement of bad debts in
State-owned enterprises (SOEs).
In addition, the
ministry has submitted to the government proposals on stepping up SOEs’
withdrawal of capital from non-core business areas.
PT Semen
Indonesia to increase production in Vietnam
PT Semen Indonesia
Tbk. (SMGR) plans to increase its cement production capacity in Vietnam by
expanding and increasing the number of its plants in that country, its
president director Dwi Sutjipto has said.
The expansion plan
will be announced during a discussion between Indonesia’s 10 leading
businesses and Vietnam’s 20 big enterprises in Jakarta during President
Truong Tan Sang’s State visit to Indonesia.
SMGR’s plan looks
to make Vietnam as the hub of cement marketing for the ASEAN region, Dwi
Sutjipto said on the sidelines of "BUMN Innovation Expor & Award
2013" on June 27.
PT Semen Indonesia
early in 2013 entered Vietnam by acquiring around 70 percent of shares of
Thang Long Cement Vietnam to which PT Semen Indonesia invested around 1.5
trillion Rp.
The production
capacity of Thang Long cement factories, one in North and another in South
Vietnam, currently reach 2.3 million tonnes a year and they are mainly for
meeting domestic needs in Vietnam.
In 2013, PT Semen
Indonesia’s production is set at more than 15 million tonnes coming from
Semen Padang 6.5 million tonnes, Semen Tonasa 7 million tonnes, Semen Thang
Long 2.3 million tonnes and from Rembang whose development is expected to be
completed this year with a capacity of around 3 million tonnes.
Dragon
fruit targets US$1 billion in exports for 2013
Vietnam expects to
earn US$1 billion from exporting dragon fruit to the US market by the end of
this year.
According to the
Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI), there is an increasing demand for
imported fruit in foreign markets, including the US, Japan, the Republic of
Korea, and Taiwan.
Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat
from the Department for Plant Protection said Vietnamese dragon fruit has
great opportunities to enter the US market. Since Vietnam was allowed to
market this fruit in the US, the export volume has increased sharply from 100
tonnes in 2008 to 1,200 tonnes last year.
This year, dragon
fruit exports to the US are likely to reach 2,000 tonnes as the export volume
has doubled in the first half of this year. Other markets like Japan and the
Republic of Korea also saw a 25% increase over the previous year, Dat said.
Vietnamese
rambutans are also favoured in the US, although the price of the Vietnamese
fruit is triple that of Mexico (about US$15/kg). In 2012, about 350 tonnes of
Vietnamese rambutans were shipped from Vietnam to the US, earning US$3
million.
Over the past few
years, Vietnam’s fruit export turnover has increased considerably from US$185
million in 2010 to US$360 million in 2012.
Vietnam plans to
boost exports of mangos to Japan, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and New
Zealand. It is also completing procedures to ship other types of fruit, such
as litchis and longans, to these promising markets.
Nghe An
eyes Malaysia, Japan for labour export
Many guest workers
in the central province of NgheAn are seeking opportunities to work in
Malaysia and Japan because of the security and stable incomes in these two
markets.
Nguyen Thi Quy,
Director of the Viet Ha Company, a local labour exporter, said her company
has sent 305 workers to work mostly in the electronics, garments, and
mechanical industries in Malaysia since the beginning of this year.
Many local
labourers preferred Malaysian market thanks to the country’s high economic
growth, political stability and incentive policies on payment for workers,
Quy said.
Malaysia is also
home to many large foreign investors such as Canon, Sony and Renesas from
Japan and the US-based Enron and Meritex, which offer great employment
opportunities for workers.
In addition, local
guest workers pay lower fees to work in Malaysia than in other foreign
markets (around VND6-15 million per labour contract) and they often earn a
monthly income of VND7-20 million for a two or three-year contract.
The Japanese market
is also favoured by Vietnamese guest workers, including university graduates.
The main reasons for this are the country’s simple immigration procedures,
high incomes and safe working environment.
About 70 percent of
the labourers in Nghe An have registered to work in Malaysia and Japan.
In the first half
of 2013, more than 15,950 workers have been employed, including 5,600 sent
overseas, mostly to Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and
Middle Eastern countries.
Tens of millions of
US dollars are channeled through banks to the homeland each month, not
including other forms of remitting money, said the Nghe An provincial
Statistics Department.
Nghe An considers
labour export a key solution to sustainable poverty reduction. Therefore,
local workers often receive vocational training and incentive bank loans so
they can seek employment opportunities abroad.
Vietnam
exports three million tons of rice in six months
Businesses have
exported more than three million tons of rice and yielded about US$1.32
billion since the beginning of the year.
In June alone, they
exported 266,000 tons worth $111 million.
The Mekong Delta is
in peak time to harvest summer autumn rice. Currently, the weather has become
sunny again and traders are rushing to purchase.
A kilogram of fresh
normal rice is priced VND3,700-3,800 while it is VND4,200-4,300 for long
grain variety. These rates are a little higher than that in early June.
According to the
Department of Cultivation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, the Mekong Delta has harvested 500,000 hectares of summer autumn
rice crop with average productivity of 5.4-5.5 tons a hectare.
Dong Thap, Hau
Giang, Kien Giang Province and Can Tho City have seeded about 200,000
hectares of autumn winter rice crop.
Electricity
price hike predicted
If the inflation
rate is kept stable electricity prices may increase by 15% this year, said
the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC).
In their report,
the NFSC said that, though the CPI in June has risen by 0.05% so far, it is
relatively stable. The prices of home appliances and construction materials
are on the decline while the cost for medicine and medical services and
education continue to be high.
"If the cost
of medicine, medical supplies and treatment as well as educational services
did not show an increase. Also, the inflation rate may reduce,"
according to the report.
In the last six
months of the year, the global prices for commodities is forecast remain
stable and consumption will gradually increase. If nothing major is changed,
the NFSC remarked, inflation in Vietnam could be expected to be only 5%;
lower than government's goal of 6-6.5%.
The report said
that if the electricity price were to be raised by 1%, the CPI would increase
by 0.07%. Based on these calculations, electricity prices could reasonably be
raised by 10-15%.
DEMO ASEAN
set to reveal latest industry trends in Ho Chi Minh City
Produced by IDG,
DEMO - the launch pad for emerging technology and trends - will be held in
Vietnam that has the honour of being the first ASEAN region host during
August 30 - September 1.
DEMO ASEAN 2013
will include a three-day showcase and conference at the Riverside Palace
Convention Centre, 360D Ben Van Don street, District 4, Ho Chi Minh City.
It will highlight
brand positioning, opportunities and growth, insights and trends, as well as
network and cooperation.
The event is set to
blend demonstrations of new IT products and networking with other innovative
peers, decision-makers, and especially sought-after venture capitalists. They
will together be able to get a close-up look at the latest trend-setting
technologies.
DEMO 2013 will
serve as a conference gathering new IT entrepreneurs who want to call for
investment from big companies and capitalists in Ho Chi Minh City, nationwide
and the region. Its goal is to connect venture capitalists and angel
investors with more financially rewarding opportunities. The participants
will have a chance to spot more global trends, approaches to disruptive
technology and join deal flows. Investors will together discuss investment
insights into future beneficial products.
More than 40
capitalists and investors from the US, Germany, Switzerland, Korea, Japan,
Singapore and elsewhere will join this DEMO ASEAN, together with IDG founder
and president Patrick McGovern. Each IT firm will have six minutes to
persuade partners and investors to pour capital into its project.
DEMO ASEAN expects
to draw 12,000 visitors and each conference day to see 300 participants.
As part of the
programme, contest Student Alpha Pitch will be for IT innovations still in
alpha stage and being looking for development funds. The student contestants
will reach an audience of investors and potential customers who can catapult
them to the next development stage and beyond. The programme’s executive team
will evaluate each applicant in order to find the most compelling new ideas
to be unveiled at DEMO ASEAN.
Vietnam
attends int’l trade fair in South Africa
Vietnam has
attended the 20th international trade fair SAITEX 2013 in Johannesburg, South
Africa from June 30-July 2.
SAITEX is the
biggest multi-sector fair taking place annually with the participation of
more than 1,000 businesses from 45 countries and territories in the world.
The event provides
a good chance for domestic and foreign import-export enterprises and
distributors to boost trade promotions, introduce products and expand their
markets.
This year, Vietnam
is focused on introducing international friends, particularly African
partners to Hanoi’s key export items including handicrafts, textiles, and
food products.
Its pavilion has
attracted a lot of visitors and customers.
Japan,
Vietnam boost economic cooperation
The 3-day visit by
Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Toshimitsu Motegi is the
highlight of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Year to give a boost to the
comprehensive relationship between the two countries in the near future.
Minister of
Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang made the statement during talks with the
visiting Japanese delegation in Hanoi on July 1.
Minister Hoang
spoke highly of the Japanese Government’s constant support for Vietnam’s
socio-economic development, especially its cooperation in the fields of
trade.
Minister Motegi and
representatives of some Japanese businesses compared notes on issues related
to Vietnam’s industrialization strategy within the framework of cooperation
between Vietnam and Japan towards 2020 with a vision to 2030, as well as
bilateral cooperation in developing support industry, and applying an
intelligent community model and nuclear power technologies for peaceful
purposes.
Both ministers
pledged all-out efforts to bring cooperative relations between Vietnam and
Japan to a new height.
They later
witnessed the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on
Hanoi Software Technology Park and Urban Area project between Japanese and
Vietnamese businesses.
HCM City
hosts Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar
More than 200
delegates attended the 2013 Malaysia-Vietnam Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar
(POTS) dubbed ‘Sharing Solutions, Shaping the Visions’ in Ho Chi Minh City on
July 1.
Leading experts and
officials from Malaysia, the UK and Germany introduced different kinds of oil
and fat products, market trends and prices.
Malaysian Minister
of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Dato' Sri Douglas Uggah Embas,
stressed that the investment and trade ties between Vietnam and Malaysia have
been strengthened since Vietnam became a member of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) in January, 2007.
In recent years,
Malaysia has been one of Vietnam’s ten biggest trade partners with two-way
turnover jumping from US$4.7 billion in 2007 to over US$7.5 billion in the
first ten months of last year.
In 2012, Vietnam
imported 469,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia, up 11.7 percent compared
to the previous year.
In the first four
months of this year it bought nearly 147,000 tonnes of palm oil from
Malaysia, up 64 percent from a year earlier to meet 54 percent of its
domestic demand for oil and fat products.
Manufacturing
index falls sharply in June
Many companies in
the manufacturing sector have to cut back their production due to a sharp
decline in export orders.
Since the survey
began in April 2011, the seasonally adjusted HSBC Vietnam Manufacturing PMI
has slumped to its third-lowest reading at 46.4, down from 48.8 in May.
Manufacturing
production in the domestic market was substantially reduced since inventories
kept rising at a record-setting pace.
The weak purchasing
power led to a reduction in employment. Part of the latest cut in headcounts
reflected the build-up of spare capacity in the sector, as highlighted by a
substantial drop in the level of work-in-hand (but not yet completed) at many
factories.
Purchase orders
dropped sharply in June, contributing to a slight decline in stocks of raw
materials and semi-manufactured goods.
Manufacturers
argued that successful negotiations with vendors for faster payment would
make delivery times shorter up to a point.
Price pressures,
they said, continued to ease during the latest survey month. Although average
input costs have risen throughout the year-to-date, the latest rate of
inflation was only marginal and the least marked during the current sequence
of increase. Meanwhile, manufacturers cut their average selling prices in an
effort to stimulate sales.
Trinh Nguyen, Asia
Economist at HSBC, says “The sharp decline in manufacturing output suggests
that domestic weakness will further weigh on overall business activity. “
“Sales are sluggish
despite discounting measures due to a low appetite for consumption. Coupled
with this, external conditions have weakened, with falling demands from China
and the Republic of Korea. With June headline inflation accelerated, the
central bank will adopt a wait-and-see mode for now,” she says.
Shrimp
exports surge
By the end of May,
shrimp exports hit US$863.5 million, up 6.2% from a year earlier.
According to the
Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), shrimp
exports have bounced back thanks to increasing demands from some major
markets.
Shrimp export
earnings from Japan increased by 6.2% to US$216.4 million. This has been a
positive signal since Japan decided to check the residue of Ethoxyquin used
in shrimp food more than one year.
Recently, Japan
raised its Trifluralin residual level in shrimp products imported from
Vietnam from 0.001ppm to 0.5ppm, easing the pressure on Vietnamese shrimp
exporters.
China has surpassed
the EU to become the world’s third largest shrimp consumer. Exports to the
market in the first five months of this year grew by 17.9% to US$108.5
million. In 2013 China is considered an important market for Vietnamese
shrimp as exports to the big markets like the US, Japan and the EU are
seemingly in a fix.
The US is one of
most important markets for Vietnamese shrimp exporters although they are
facing anti-subsidy tariffs. This year, shrimp exports to the US increased by
18.2% to US$194.6 million over the past five months.
Tourism
industry moves to draw more RoK visitors
The Vietnam
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is hosting a culture festival
together with tourism seminars in the Republic of Korea (RoK) in effort to
lure more visitors from the country.
Opened on July 1,
the festival introduces Vietnam’s traditional and temporary arts and music,
costumes, cuisine and handicraft products to Korean visitors.
Meanwhile, seminars
seek to promote the country’s tourism potential and explore opportunities for
linkages in the field.
These events are
scheduled to close on July 6.
The RoK General Department
of Tourism has rated Vietnam as a potential tourism market to its country.
In the meantime,
there are 10 direct flights between Vietnam to the RoK a week, paving the
wider way for win-win cooperation between the two countries’ tourism sectors.
At a conference in
May in Hanoi for tourism industry executives and experts, Vietnam National
Tourism Administration Chairman Nguyen Van Tuan called for the establishment
of Vietnamese tourism representative offices in the RoK, as well as Japan and
Russia, which are among Vietnam's key partner markets, in a bid to spur the
local tourism industry.
In the first
quarter, Vietnam earned VND53.5 trillion from tourism, about one third of the
sector’s total revenue in 2012, statistics from the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism show.
In the period, the
sector welcomed 1.8 million foreign visitors, mostly from China, the Republic
of Korea and Japan.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Ba, 2 tháng 7, 2013
Business
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