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BUSINESS IN BRIEF
10/7
Southern sales ignite property market
The real estate market in the south
is showing signs of recovery as high prestige projects get off the ground,
according to independent market watchdogs.
Investors are now ready to pour money
into projects that offer reasonable prices and are located in favourable
sites in
Late last week, the Dong A Dat Xanh
Company, for example, launched sales of 41 apartments at its Gia Phu Khang
project in Thu Duc district, which sold out within one hour.
Similarly, the Nam Long Investment
Joint Stock Company last week also began selling 161 apartments at its Ehome
3 Tay Sai Gon project in Tan Binh district, with each selling for 710 million
VND (33,800 USD).
In the morning that the company
launched sales, it received deposits for 32 apartments.
The Gia Tan Huong property project in
Tan Phu district sold 80 percent of the total 100 apartments put on sale
within the first two weeks.
Sales of land plots at the Nhan Phu
project of Phong Phu Company have seen all 51 products ordered.
Projects in neighbouring provinces
have also been selling well.
In Binh Duong province, Mecamex IJC
and Tac Dat Tac Vang companies together recently launched the sale of street
houses in the Prince Town Project. All 50 houses were ordered immediately.
The Kim Oanh Real Estate Company has
also sold nearly 1,000 land plots in Binh Duong province.
Market analysts said projects that
are selling well have shown good construction progress, with many finished
products.
These projects have also attracted
investors with high prestige.
On the other hand, many other
developers of property projects have tried to sell their products by offering
attractive promotions, but most of them remained unsold.
Hoang Anh Tuan, general director of
Tac Dat Tac Vang Company, said the property market is recovering but still
has problems.
Many investors have lowered prices
and even taken losses, but customers are reluctant to buy because they lacked
confidence in them, Tuan said.
Vietnamese businesses seeks stronger
foothold in Lao market
Among the countries neighbouring
The HCM City Investment and Trade
Promotion Centre (ITPC) and the Lao Consulate in
She cited the fact that two-way trade
between
The ITPC will organise the 2013 HCM
City Investment, Trade and Tourism Exhibition from July 22-26 and a survey
trip to
The programmes prioritise businesses
operating in the garment, cosmetics, household products, food, electronics
and construction materials sectors.
Besides trade, Vietnamese businesses
also chose
Lao Government statistics show that
Ministry projects cross-sector growth
In a document containing guidelines
on setting up socio-economic development plans in cities and provinces next
year, the ministry forecast a number of economic indices in the second half
of the year.
This year, accordingly,
Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
was expected to surge from 5.5-5.7 per cent this year, driven by stable
growth of petroleum, electricity, cement, steel and iron, fertiliser,
garments and textile sectors.
The agriculture, forestry and
fisheries sector was seen to have continued facing many difficulties this
year but it would meet the set target of 2.8 per cent growth, including 2.7
per cent growth of agriculture, 5.8 per cent growth of forestry and 2.7 per
cent increase of fisheries.
Services and retail sales are
expected to increase by 6.3 per cent and 16 per cent this year respectively.
Under the ministry's calculation,
total public development investments this year would be equal to 29 per cent
of GDP.
Earlier, the World Bank forecast
The ministry said the country would
focus on restructuring the economy to increase its effectiveness, ability and
competitiveness in the months to come.
To the end, the ministry would submit
the plan to the Government this September. The Prime Minister would assign
duties for ministries and localities based on the approved plan before
November.
Kienlong Bank moves to new
headquarters
The State Bank of
Accordingly, the bank's new address
is now No
The bank is required to carry out the
procedures for changing its head office in line with the Law on Credit
Institutions.
MobiFone offers discounts for roaming
fees
MobiFone Viet
The new tariffs offer discount rates
from 5 up to 45 per cent from the current roaming charges. For example, the
roaming service in
MobiFone also offers three unlimited
data packages for mobile internet services in nine countries and regions. To
date, MobiFone is a partner with nearly 400 networks in 140 countries and
territories.
53,000-tonne cargo vessel signed over
to Thai company
The Ha Long Shipbuilding Company
handed over a 53,000-tonne cargo ship to Thai shipping services company,
Thoresen Thai on Thursday.
The cargo ship, named Thor Breeze, is
the last in a series of ten king-sized vessels that the Vietnamese shipyard
has been building for its foreign partners. It is 190m long and capable of
travelling at 14 nautical miles per hour. Designed by Danish firm Carl Bro,
the ship is equipped with modern facilities to meet regulations of the
international register of shipping and latest international maritime
conventions.
Domestically-made gantry crane gives
port a lift
A giant rubber-tyred gantry crane
domestically-produced by Doosan Heavy Vina has swung into action at
The 145-tonne crane, which is 27
metres high, 25 metres long and 11 metres wide, is capable of moving cargo
containers weighing up to 40 tonnes. The Vietnamese crane was designed and
manufactured by Doosan Vina under the Government's policy to localise
mechanical products.
This is the third crane produced by
Doosan Vina. The first two - with the same tonnage - were installed at Sai
Gon port.
Information disclosure set to go
digital
The State Securities Commission has
started training courses on the use of its Information Disclosure System
(IDS) for public companies in the north.
IDS is part of the
The IDS will receive reports from
public companies sent to the SSC in electronic form and analyse the data.The
system has three main functions of receiving, processing data and generating
statistics.
SSC vice president Nguyen Thi Lien
Hoa said, "Information disclosure to the commission used to be done on
hard copy with a huge amount of data, causing the companies a lot of
difficulties."
IDS would help businesses reduce
procedures, costs and avoid delays in disclosing information, she added.
In addition, the system will
strengthen the SSC's capability of monitoring what happens in the market and
improve its forecasting ability to save investors from losses.
"The application of information
technology in the stock market is crucial for the Vietnamese market to
practise international standards," the SSC stated.
Public firms have a week from today
to register with the IDS, and the commission will issue accounts and
information on how to use the system from July 22 to July 26.
In case an error occurs inside the
system, both the SSC and the companies will work to resolve it via conventional
methods of email, fax or post.
Currently, the Ha Noi Stock Exchange
owns an online information management system called CIMS.
The SSC explained that the IDS was
not compatible with the technology used by CIMS and they could not be
combined.
However, it pledged that companies
would only have to disclose information to one agency once the IDS was up and
running.
The price of land plots in HCM City,
especially in District 2, will likely continue to fall as more land is put up
for auction, according to a source from the city's People's Committee.
The auction will include at least
1,054 land plots, formerly reserved for residents who had to resettle because
of the new Thu Thiem Urban project in District 2.
The plots are those that were left
over after resettlement of residents was concluded, according to a report in
the Lao Dong newspaper.
The People's Committee's decision is
expected to lower prices on the entire market.
Of the total, 202 land plots that
cover 5.7ha in the 50-ha resettlement area in the Cat Lai Ward will be sold
by the Thu Thiem New Urban Area Investment and Construction Board.
The remaining 852 land plots are in
the 30-ha Nam Rach Chiec Resettlement Area in An Phu Ward. They will be
auctioned by the District 2 People's Committee.
These two resettlement areas had been
built to serve more than 12,000 families whose houses were torn down for the
development of the Thu Thiem project.
Market analysts said the sale of more
than 1,000 land plots concurrently would influence market prices for land.
In addition, analysts said that
because of the sluggish property market, prices would also have to be very
soft.
The price of land plots in District 2
has fallen sharply over the last few years.
For example, one square metre was
priced at VND90 million in 2008. The same price will now get buyers a little
under VND50 sq. metres in the An Phu-An Khanh Urban Area.
Even so, such prices have not
attracted many buyers and land sales remain stagnant in District 2.
Dong Nai targets $6.7b in exports for
H2
Southern
Exports recording high growth
included computers, electronics, footwear and garments and textiles.
However, most agricultural products
declined in revenue year-on-year, especially coffee exports which were down
52 per cent. Provincial major export markets were still the
During the first six months of the
year, Dong Nai imported products worth over $5.4 billion, mainly were tobacco
materials, plastics, machinery, iron and steel.
For three consecutive months since
January, Dong Nai ran a trade surplus; and in the past three month, it saw a
trade deficit.
According to the provincial Industry
and Trade Department, Dong Nai had more than 1,000 operating foreign-invested
enterprises which contributed more than 70 per cent of the total provincial
industrial production value.
To achieve the target of total export
turnover for the year, which was an increase of 12-15 per cent compared with
2012, the province would have to earn more than $6.7 billion in the second
half of the year, the department said.
Dong Nai will continue to boost trade
and investment promotion as planned, speed up exports of key agricultural and
processing products, and focus on emergent markets like
The provincial Industry and Trade
Department helps local businesses to participate in international fairs and
trade workshop in
Steel production lacks mettle
The sluggish real estate market
continues to seriously affect domestic steel production, according to the
Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The steel market in the first half of
this year remained stagnant, with only 1.4 million tonnes produced, a decline
of more than 11 per cent year-on-year, the ministry has reported.
Of the total, nearly 745,000 tonnes
were produced by the Viet Nam Steel Corporation.
In addition to the weak property
market, the ministry attributed the decline in production to cheap imported
steel.
Locally produced steel faces stiff
competition from steel imports, which are low quality and inexpensive,
according to the ministry.
The ministry said the shortage of
high-quality iron ore had also caused a slowdown in production.
Prices have fallen by 2-5 per cent
compared to one month ago, the ministry said.
Steel bars are priced at about VND13
million (US$620) per tonne, while prices for rolling steel are now VND12.7
million ($604) to VND13.6 million ($647) per tonne.
The ministry predicted that steel
production would continue to remain sluggish in the third quarter because of
rainy weather in the southern region, which has delayed construction
projects.
To help spur domestic steel
production, the ministry has urged authorities to strengthen their
investigations into illegal steel imports and iron ore exports.
The ministry also plans to work more
closely with associations to develop more suitable production and sales plans
for local companies.
In addition, the ministry advices
companies to find ways to lower prices and improve competitiveness with
imported steel.
EU awareness key to export success
Vietnamese exporters should learn
well the new European Union rules relating to the bloc's Generalised System
of Preferences (GSP) in order to extract maximum advantage, experts said at a
seminar held in
The seminar, titled "EU's new
regulations on GSP – opportunities for Vietnamese businesses," informed
participants of the new rules and their potential impacts on
In his opening remarks, Dr. Franz
Jessen, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to
He said that around 49 per cent of
From 2014 onwards, more Vietnamese
products, including footwear, can gain further benefits from the new GSP
regulations, he said.
The EU officially published its
amended GSP regulations last October, saying they aimed to facilitate market
access for goods originating from developing countries, including
The new regulations will take effect
early next year.
Nevertheless, the new
"graduation" rules may expose a number of
The GSP is the result of
inter-governmental negotiations held under the auspices of the Conference of
Trade and Development of the United Nations.
The scheme offers import tax
preferences for goods from least and developing countries exported to GSP
host countries on a unilateral basis (not reciprocal).
GSP tariffs are lower than those
levied under the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, and can be reduced to
zero per cent, depending on the regulations of the host country.
"Thanks to GSP provided by the
EU, many Vietnamese products have been able to compete in these markets,
especially textiles and garment, footwear, seafood and handicrafts, thus
rapidly increasing Viet Nam's exports to this market," former Trade
Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen said at the seminar.
In order to take advantage of the new
GSP rules, Tuyen advised businesses to understand well the GSP regulations of
each host country (rule of origin, competition, transportation etc) so as to
avoid obstacles and potential losses.
They should further improve product
quality, diversify product portfolios, and reduce production costs and prices
in order to enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese products, he said.
Vietnamese firms should also expand
and further diversify their export markets, avoiding dependence on just one
market, he added.
Industry associations, especially
those who have a large proportion of their products exported to the EU,
should disseminate timely information to their members on emerging
difficulties, and work closely with their members in adopting measures
necessary to maximise the performance of each business and the industry,
Tuyen said.
He said local businesses should also
be aware that in many host countries, the list of products and tariffs under
the GSP are not fixed but adjusted periodically, thus affecting the firms'
ability to penetrate the market as well as production in exporting countries.
Last year, Vietnamese exports to the
EU amounted to $20.3 billion, a 22.7 per cent increase over 2011, accounting
for 17.7 per cent of the country's total export value. The EU is
Industrial parks to get public
amenities
The Ministry of Construction has
proposed a pilot project to construct cultural, educational and public
amenities for employees in industrial parks (IPs).
The project is expected to benefit
about 20 percent of workers in IPs by 2015 and 50 percent by 2020.
The ministry has selected 14
provinces and cities nationwide to pilot the scheme including Ha Noi and
The facilities will include schools,
sports grounds, medical stations and hospitals, libraries, museums and
theatres and markets and shopping centres.
According to the ministry, at the end
of 2012, there were 298 IPs in 58 provinces and cities nationwide, with about
1.6 million workers and 600,000 others providing indirect services.
A survey conducted in 98 IPs with
837,200 workers showed only six percent of IPs have cultural and sports
facilities. The rate of medical facilities is even lower at three percent.
US makes top tra
fish buyer
The Viet Nam Association of Seafood
Exporters and Producers said the export turnover rose 16 per cent over the
same period last year, more than the EU which used to be number one.
In May alone, the
The rise in tra fish exports to the
The EU now ranks second, accounting
for 22.4 per cent of the total as its export to the
Meanwhile, there were increase in
both volume and value of tra exports to
Statistics from the General
Department of Customs showed export earnings from tra fish in May reached
$174.09 million, up 15.7 per cent over the same month last year. However,
exports in the five-month period fetched $708.89 million, down 1.5 per cent
year-on-year.
Earlier, the association forecast tra
fish exports would bring in $1.9 billion by year-end, surging 5.5 per cent
year-on-year.
Meanwhile, experts say tra fish
business should meet stricter hygiene and registration conditions to
guarantee quality and improve management.
There should also be more co-ordination
among tra fish farmers, processors and exporters, they said.
Banks gloomy as annual profits
dwindle amid negative indicators
Banks are pessimistic about their
profitability this year, with several indicators in steady decline, according
to the central bank.
The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)
recently reported that in the first quarter the banking sector's return on
assets, which measures the profitability of assets, was down by half
year-on-year to just 0.23 per cent.
State-owned banks saw the steepest decline
in ROA – from 0.76 per cent to 0.29 per cent.
Joint-stock banks' ROA decreased by
0.04 per cent to 0.18 per cent.
Return on equity, which measures the
efficiency of capital in generating returns, also went down significantly to
2.52 per cent from last year's 3.97 per cent.
Again, the State sector was the worst
performer, with the ratio plummeting from 11.37 per cent to 4.23 per cent.
Joint-stock banks saw ROE increase from 1.36 per cent to 1.95 per cent.
SBV officials blamed the decrease in
the rations on difficulties that banks faced like weak credit growth and
steady cut in loan interest rates.
The central bank's data also shows
that the spread between average lending and deposit interest rates was only 1.93
per cent after deducting bad debt provisions, much lower than the 2.33 per
cent achieved late last year.
As a consequence, banks saw their
performance decline relentlessly, with 24 of them reporting losses and 57
others seeing profits fall from the same period last year.
There are over 60 banks in
Petroleum, metals key exports to Laos
Petroleum, steel and iron account for
the biggest portions of Vietnamese exports to
The two-way trade between
In the Jan-May period, bilateral
trade reached $434 million, up 5.6 per cent year-on-year.
Of this, exports from
A total of $56.3 million was spent on
steel and iron, $43.6 million on petroleum, $14.9 million on vehicles and
spare-parts and $13 million on electrical wires and cables.
Exports from
According to Tran Bao Giam, Trade
Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in
He pledged that the two countries
would do their best in the second half of the year to support enterprises and
speed up trade promotion to reach the ambitious target.
A Viet Nam-Laos trade fair will be
held from July 18-22 in Vientiane, with more than 300 Vietnamese booths
displaying household electronic products; industrial machinery; agriculture,
forestry and fisheries products; garments and clothes; processed food; wooden
products; handicrafts; pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.
The fair will be held to promote
Among the countries that neighbour
The HCM City Investment and Trade
Promotion Centre (ITPC) and the Lao Consulate in
She said that despite Vietnamese
exports to
The ITPC will organise the 2013 HCM
City Investment, Trade and Tourism Exhibition later this month to further
explore opportunities for investment in
The programmes will prioritise
businesses operating in the garment, cosmetics, household products, food,
electronics and construction materials sectors.
Lao Government statistics show that
Animal feed price hike hits
production
The price of animal fodder rose by 40
per cent in the first six months of this year and is the main reason why
farmers are facing serious losses or stopping production altogether.
Nguyen Xuan Duong, head of the
agriculture ministry's Livestock Production Department, said that the costs
of animal feed in the country is 15-20 per cent higher than in other
countries across the region.
Le Ba Lich, chairman of
Meanwhile, the rest are about 10-15
per cent higher, he said.
Le Quang Thanh, director of the Thai
Duong Breeding Company, said that animal feeds have to be transferred through
two or three intermediaries who can set any price they want before they
reache the farmers.
However, the farmers cannot adjust
the prices for poultry or cattle according to the rising input costs due to
competing with imported products and the demand from domestic customers.
They are suffering an average loss of
VND15,000 (US$0.7) on a three-kilo chicken and VND100,000 ($4.76) on a
twenty-kilo pig, he said.
Duong said it is the dramatic
increase in the prices of animal feeds in the first six months that is giving
breeders problems.
Many of them stopped breeding
altogether or have cut back their scale of production, he said.
There are a total of 304 million
birds and 26.5 million pigs nationwide, more than 2 and 0.52 per cent less
than the same period last year respectively, he said.
According to experts and farmers,
animal feed companies and their agents are making huge profits due to the
soaring prices.
Nevertheless, Lich, does not blame
them, but blames the ministry for being irresponsible.
He said the ministry need to publish
specific criteria on every kind of animal feed, which would remove the need
for inspections by the authorities, as they contribute to the rising cost of
animal foodstuffs.
Duong said the department is working
with the Department of Price Control at the Ministry of Finance, to put
together measures that will reveal the unreasonable prices charged for animal
feeds and the mismatch of input and output costs levied by feed companies.
Deputy minister Vu Van Tam said that
the ministry, in co-operation with the provinces, would restructure the
country's breeding industry so that farmers are protected from unexpected
changes in the prices of input materials.
It quoted Le Hoang Quan, chairman of
the city People's Committee, as saying that the inventory has declined by 14
per cent since late last year, falling from 14,490 apartments to 12,445 and a
value of nearly VND22.5 trillion (US$1.06 billion).
Of the apartments remaining unsold,
3,625 are fully finished, including 1,000 that measure under 70 square metres
and cost less than VND15 million ($700) per square metre.
The city has set a target of selling
another 3,000 apartments in the second half of the year and liquidating the
inventory in the next three years, Quan said, promising several measures to
achieve the objectives.
Tran Trong Tuan, director of the city
Department of Construction, agreed with Quan and said the target of selling
30-40 per cent of the remaining apartments by year-end is feasible.
This is because, according to a
recent department survey, there are 308 projects that have been temporarily
shelved due the lack of funds and authorities would work with developers to
raise the required funds, he said.
Significantly, at the under
construction projects bookings are very high — at 40 to 90 per cent — he
said.
To ensure the plan's success, the
department is working with developers of unsold apartments to adopt effective
and appropriate solutions, he said.
One of them is a proposal for the
city government to permit developers of 90 commercial housing projects with
5,882 units to convert them into low-cost housing.
The conversion process would be
closely watched by the department and relevant agencies, he said.
The most important measure, however,
would be to help people with low incomes get access to the Government's VND3
trillion ($143 million) preferential credit package to buy housing, he said.
Quan said relevant city departments
have been ordered to study the demand for housing among government workers in
the health care and education sectors and military personnel.
The construction department and
district people's committees have been ordered to help people get bank loans
at 6 per cent interest rate from the Government credit package to buy
housing, he said.
Tuan said the department would meet
with developers and banks once a month to speedily resolve difficulties faced
by home buyers.
The agency would also announce the
list of low-cost housing projects with their locations, prices, and names of
lending to facilitate purchase, he added.
Long-term vision essential for
overhaul of agriculture
Long-term planning is needed to
improve production and export of farm produce and seafood in the Cuu Long
(Mekong) Delta region,
Ninh said the agricultural sector
faced many obstacles because it lacked long-term planning and had failed to
tap its potential.
He urged the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to propose
specific measures, both short- and long-term, to help improve and restructure
the sector.
The conference was held to discuss
ways to improve farm and seafood exports from the Delta region.
"Agriculture plays an essential
part in our country's socio-economic development. It is necessary to
re-organise the agricultural production on a demand-supply basis,
restructuring crop and breeding to increase effectiveness, thus ensuring
national food security," he said.
Detailed planning for each particular
agricultural area is needed to improve crops, and more linkages between
farmers and businesses are also needed.
Ninh said that government ministries
should conduct research to set up a fund to offer financial support for
agricultural production.
He also urged that hi-tech be applied
to the agricultural sector to increase the incomes of farmers and businesses.
Taking the floor, Vu Van Tam, deputy
agriculture minister, said that the sector had been facing many challenges
since the beginning of this year, including breakout of diseases after the
Lunar New Year, severe drought in the central and Central Highlands regions,
and salination in the Mekong Delta.
Low demand as well as falling prices
of farm produce and seafood products had affected farmers' incomes, he said.
In addition, weak purchasing power in
the domestic market had caused large inventories, leading to lower prices,
especially for rice and seafood products.
Export of farm produce and seafood
fell by 5.4 per cent and 5.9 per cent, respectively, in the first quarter of
this year compared to the same period last year, according to the ministry.
At the conference, Cao Duc Phat,
agriculture minister, said: "We have both short- and long-term issues.
For example, the low rice price is a short-term issue. But high rice prices
and low quality and ineffective production in general are long-term
problems."
Rice exports reached 3.485 million
tonnes worth $1.504 billion in the first half of this year, an increase of
2.55 per cent in volume but a decrease of 2.04 per cent in value.
The export price on average fell by
$20.23 a tonne, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
As of the end of last month, the
inventory of rice exports had reached $1.658 million tonnes.
Ho Thi Kim Thoa, deputy minister of
Industry and Trade, said the world rice market would experience a further
drop in price due to global oversupply of rice.
She reported that
The demand for rice is uncertain
because importing countries' plans have not been announced.
Importing countries are still waiting
for prices to fall further due to oversupply of rice on the world market,
according to Thoa.
Meanwhile, exports of seafood reached
$560 million last month, a rise of 8.3 per cent over the same period last
year.
Total seafood exports reached $2.861
billion in the first half of the year, an increase of 0.3 per cent
year-on-year.
According to the Ministry of Industry
and Trade, seafood exports will continue to face many difficulties due to low
global demand.
The challenges are also attributed to
the
Thoa has asked commercial banks to
continue to cut lending interest rates, increase loan amounts, and extend
loan terms for farmers and businesses.
She has asked the Viet Nam Food
Association to help businesses so they do not have to sell rice at low
prices. This would ensure continuation of export activities.
She also asked exporters to improve
production and competitiveness in international trade, and try to expand
markets and build brands for products.
Deputy agriculture minister Vu Van
Tam asked the Government to instruct relevant ministries and agencies to help
with trade remedies and improve promotions.
Tam has asked the Government to draw
up more policies to help farmers shift from rice to vegetable cultivation.
He also asked that the Government to
advance capital to develop irrigation projects and other agricultural projects.
Also speaking at the conference,
Nguyen Van Binh, governor of the State Bank of
Binh said the banking sector would
continue to provide credit to support the production and export of rice and
seafood in the Mekong Delta, including the programme to buy one million
tonnes of rice for the national reserve
Source:
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Ba, 9 tháng 7, 2013
Business
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