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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 14/2
Rice
exports slump as prices rise
According
to figures released by the Viet Nam Food Association (VFA),
Major
exports were for the
The
country is expected to ship between 300,000 and 350,000 tonnes in February
2014.
VFA
has said
According
to the Department of Cultivation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, between 1 January and 8 February 2014, Mekong farmers sowed 1.58
million ha of the 1.6 million ha of rice cultivation areas under the 2013- 14
winter-spring rice crop. Of these, 200,000ha was grown by high yielding rice
varieties.
There
are three main factors that will affect the world rice markets this year. The
first being the coming election in
To
reach the target of 7 million tonnes of rice exports in 2014, VFA has boosted
rice exports to African countries.
According
to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between
Another
MoU on rice trade was signed between
The
Ministry of Industry and Trade this year will organise trade delegations to
The
farming and processing of tra fish in the Mekong Delta region will encounter
more difficulties when a new
The US
Senate on February 4 gave final congressional approval to a five-year farm
bill.
Under
the provision, the inspection of catfish, including Vietnamese tra and basa
fish (scientifically named Pangasius) , will be moved out of the remit of the
Food and Drug Administration and into the Department of Agriculture.
Accordingly,
Vietnamese catfish exported to the
While
the move poses challenges, it will also jolt the industry into restructuring
for more sustainable production, Dung said.
Pham
Anh Tuan, Deputy Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries under the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said
According
to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the
country exported 380 million USD worth of tra fish to the
Dien
Bien aims to welcome over 400,000 visitors in 2014
The
The
province is banking on festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the Dien
Bien Phu Victory over French colonialists to attract record numbers of
visitors this year.
Along
this vein, the provincial department of culture, sports and tourism has
refurbished
The
province has also recently completed the construction of a museum dedicated
to telling the incredible story of the victorious Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
“Around
2,000 documents and artifacts on the
More
than 40 guides providing destination information along with travel tips,
hotel and restaurant guides have been published to introduce visitors to the
province.
Luxury
cruise liner arrives at Chan May port
The
five-star cruise liner Celebrity Millennium of Malta on February 11 docked at
the Chan May port in the central
After
docking, the holidaymakers joined tours to discover landscapes in the
locality, enjoy special cuisines and experience shopping at the imperial
capital city
According
to the management board of the Chan May-Lang Co economic zone, it is expected
to welcome about 34 international cruise ships carrying almost 40,000
tourists by the end of the year.
The
91,000-tonne vessel Celebrity Millennium has registered eight arrivals at the
port.
In the
last ten months of 2013,
Seven
new air routes to connect to Can Tho City
A
February 11 meeting in Can Tho City has announced the Mekong Delta province’s
Can Tho International Airport will soon join three new domestic and four new
international air routes.
The
new routes will help attract investment and promote trade exchange between
the Mekong Delta and other Vietnamese and foreign localities.
The
three domestic routes connect Can Tho and Danang, Can Tho and Lam Dong, and
Can Tho and Khanh Hoa. The four international routes link Can Tho to
Another
meeting in mid-March 2014 will discuss the new routes in depth with relevant
ministries and agencies, Mekong Delta provincial leaders, and representatives
from domestic and international airlines.
Tax
policy should focus on consumers
Policy
makers should pay more attention to tax incentives that help stimulate consumption,
experts said.
Associate
professor and Dr Le Huy Duc from
However,
such incentives were not as effective as expected, Duc said, adding that
during past time, most of tax policies focused on supply-side effects through
measures stimulating investment and production.
Although
many experts recommended to support demand side through reducing value added
tax or special consumption tax, such recommendations had yet to be
implemented, he said.
In the
Whitebook 2014 of Trade, Investment Issues and Recommendations launched last
November, the European Chamber of Commerce in
According
to Eurocham, high import tax and special consumption tax [the tax imposed on
various imported products like tobacco, beer and wine, cars, private planes
and boats to limited import ] caused the surge of smuggling or making fake
products and consequently, the State failed to collect proper taxes, reported
Thoi bao Ngan hang ( Banking Times).
For
example, if
Dr
Nguyen Minh Ngoc from
"During
economic slowdown, consumers tighten their belt and enterprises must be
sensitive to offer products/services that meet consumers' changed paying
capacity," she said.
However,
Vietnamese enterprises remained passive in innovating, Ngoc said, adding that
to adapt to changed business environment, many of them preferred low-price
strategy to differentiation strategy [ which focuses on making their products
different from others].
To
achieve sustainable growth, enterprises had to improve quality of their
products and services as well as create their differences, Ngoc said.
"Government
needs to have policies that directly reduce tax imposed on products such as
value added tax," she said, noting that the move would help enterprises
escape from the circle of low-price competitive strategy.
Customs
inspections net higher returns
Post-customs
clearance inspections helped add over VND1.6 trillion (US$75.87 million) to
the State budget last year, 20 per cent higher than in 2012, according to the
General Department of Customs.
Duong
Phu Dong, head of the Post-Customs Clearance Inspection Department, said that
last year, about 2,430 post-customs clearance inspections were conducted,
concentrating on enterprises that imported or exported petrol, minerals,
electronic equipment, medicines and garment products.
The
inspections helped improve enterprises' law compliance, prevent violations
and collect more tax arrears and fines for the State's budget, he said.
According
to Dong, this year also saw improvements in the legal framework for such
inspections, including the introduction of a plan to improve the capacity of
clearance forces as well as a new inspection scheme that would align better
with the Government's policies and enterprises' activities.
This
year, he added, authorities would develop a set of criteria to classify risks
when implementing e-customs, particularly focused on enterprises in
"sensitive" industries like oil and petrol and mining.
Head
of the General Department of Customs Nguyen Ngoc Tuc emphasised that
post-customs clearance inspection was the "backbone" of modern
customs management and urged further inspections in key fields like goods
valuing identification and goods' codes.
According
to the general department, last year
The
country aims to have all customs offices and 60 per cent of enterprises use
e-customs procedures under its Customs Development Strategy toward 2020 and
Customs Reform and Modernisation during 2011-15.
By the
end of last year, over 49,000 enterprises – or nearly 96 per cent of the
country's customs applicants –used e-customs procedures to trade $239.13
billion worth of goods, over 95 per cent of the national import and export
value.
Local
dairy firms hike prices in foreign brands’ footsteps
Following
the footsteps of Abbott and Mead Johnson, Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock
Company, or Vinamilk, has announced to hike prices of its products, leading
other firms in the industry to hint at a similar action.
According
to a statement of Vinamilk, the price spike, at around 6%, took effect on
Monday.
The
price rise is described by Vinamilk as inevitable as the firm kept its prices
unchanged throughout 2013. Higher product prices can help Vinamilk offset a
fraction of an increase in production cost this year sparked by a pickup in
input material prices, it said.
Nguyen
Muoi, the owner of a retail shop on
However,
a source from FrieslandCampina
Vu
Quoc Tuan, head of public relations at Nestlé
Duong
Thi Quynh Trang, head of public relations at Big C, said some suppliers of
dairy products had proposed raising prices of some items by around 2-8%.
“Big C
is considering their proposals,” Trang said.
Cat
Bi airport told to handle more passenger aircraft
Deputy
Minister of Transport Pham Quy Tieu has told relevant agencies to work
towards allowing Cat Bi International Airport to serve at least four million
passengers to meet increasing demand for air travel to and from
Tieu
mentioned the plan during his visit last week to the airport project in the
northern port city of
Less
than one year ago, Airports Corporation of Vietnam and Haiphong City kicked
off work on an expansion project at the airport at a cost of at least VND3.66
trillion (around US$174 million) planned for the first phase of upgrade that
is expected for completion next year.
The
expansion project includes a new 3,050-meter-long, 45-meter-wide runway for
modern aircraft such as Boeing B777s, B747s, B767s and Airbus A321s and a
parking area for eight Airbus A321s.
The
airport will be able to handle two million passengers and 20,000 tons of cargo
a year when expansion is complete in 2015.
Contractors
said the airport expansion project was progressing as scheduled, with the
construction focused on the parking area for aircraft. At least two parking
lots are expected to be up and running in the next two months and other parts
will be available for use next year.
Currently,
CAAV
said Cat Bi was identified as an important international airport to provide a
catalyst for socio-economic development in the city and surrounding areas and
to serve as a back-up airport for
According
to a master zoning plan released in 2012 for Cat Bi International Airport
until 2015 with a vision for 2025, the airport would be able to handle 8-10
million passengers and up to one million tons of cargo. The capacity for the
first phase of upgrade by 2015 will be two million passengers and more than
20,000 tons of cargo a year, and eight million passengers and up to 250,000
tons of cargo by 2025.
The
parking area of Cat Bi will be widened to accommodate 16 planes by 2025. The
zoning plan also outlines the current terminal at Cat Bi will be home to
budget carriers when the new one is put into operation by 2015.
New
bypass puts end to Tac Cau ferry service
The
Ministry of Transport has opened a bypass in the Mekong Delta
With
the opening of Tac Cau bypass, local people do not have to travel via Tac Cau
ferry terminal along a 2km route.
The
bypass, finished on January 20, 2014 as part of the southern coastal
corridor, cost over VND1 trillion, including the outlays for the construction
of Cai Be and Cai Lon bridges.
The
first phase of the southern coastal corridor project is 108.8 kilometers of
road, with 81.6 kilometers of new road and 18.2 kilometers of upgraded road.
Together
with HCMC-Trung Luong Expressway and Can Tho and Rach Mieu bridges,
The
project’s total investment is US$398 million, funded by concessional loans of
the South Korean government and the Asia Development Bank (ADB), a grant of
the Australian government and
Thaco
clients get special offers
Thaco
Kia has started the new year by launching special offers for buyers of Kia
cars this month, including a special price for Morning LX compact car.
This
month Thaco Kia offers a preferential price of VND372 million for Morning LX,
VND5 million lower than the current price.
Meanwhile,
for Picanto cars, customers can get many accessories. Buying Kia Sorento and
Kia Carens cars, customers will be given cards worth VND10 million and VND8
million respectively to have their cars serviced.
Masan
Consumer gets new CEO
Masan
Group, one of the nation’s largest private sector companies with a focus on
the consumption and resources sectors, has announced the appointment of
Seokhee Won as chief executive officer of its subsidiary Masan Consumer
Corporation.
Masan
Consumer, one of the leading food and beverage companies, has some of
Seokhee
Won will also serve as deputy CEO of Masan Group.
Won
has had 22 years’ experience at global consumer goods firm Unilever. In his
most recent role, he was senior vice president, responsible for Unilever’s
skincare business in
He
spent eight years with Unilever
Ho
Tram golf course set to open in March
Ho
Tram golf course in the southern
This
inauguration schedule was confirmed by Colin Pine, general director of Ho
Tram Project Company Limited, during the Investment Day event organized by
the government of the province last Saturday to hand investment certificates
to investors.
Pine
said the total cost of the 18-hole golf course was around US$22 million.
Greg
Norman, a leading golf course designer in the world, has designed 76 golf
courses and is working on 36 others in the world, according to VietnamGolf
magazine.
Thanks
to the steep shoreline, beach sand dunes on the hilly terrain, and sea
breeze, the Ho Tram golf course is described by
The
Grand – Ho Tram Strip, the first resort in the Ho Tram Strip project worth a
combined US$4.2 billion, started service in July last year with 541 guest
rooms, a casino for foreign passport holders, a conference center, a spa
facility, a playground for children, a shopping center and a swimming pool,
among others.
Ho
Tram Project Company Limited, Pine said, is promoting its casino abroad to
attract foreigners to come for gaming.
Ho
Tram Strip covers more than 164 hectares along a 2km shoreline in Ba Ria-Vung
Tau.
Viettel
expands in developing countries
Le
Dang Dung, deputy general director of Viettel, told the Daily that
The
group is preparing to set up Viettel Burundi Company and expand its business
network in the country.
Viettel
has seen many investment opportunities in
Before
entering
A
source told the Daily that Viettel is seeking business opportunities in
Viettel
failed in the bidding for mobile business licenses in
However,
the enterprise failed to earn a majority stake of 51% as expected during
discussion with partners. Viettel considered
The
telecom group is still seeking opportunities in
Explaining
why Viettel is eyeing developing countries, Dung said that the enterprise has
the best chance in these markets. In the global market, Viettel has to compete
against large telecom groups such as
In
addition, Viettel is not afraid of a challenge in the poor nations in
contrast to large telecom groups who are hesitant at doing business and have
little experience in operating in poor nations.
Last
year, Viettel obtained profits of VND35 trillion on revenue of VND163
trillion.
Fuel
trader Petrolimex to venture into retail business
Vietnam
National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), the nation’s leading fuel trading
firm, is considering opening convenience stores at its gas stations
nationwide to generate a fresh revenue stream.
Petrolimex
deputy general director Tran Ngoc
Convenience
store business is not a non-core investment as Petrolimex wants to make
better use of land at its filling stations to create a value-added service.
The firm still focuses on oil and gas trading operations,
Petrolimex
is still considering the project. Each step must be studied thoroughly,
piloted and reviewed. The company will fully implement the scheme when market
conditions are mature, he said.
Speaking
at a recent review meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai told
Petrolimex to build convenience stores at filling stations. The group has
launched a pilot store at a gas station in
With a
network of 2,200 filling stations, Petrolimex is in a good position to open
such stores to serve its fuel buyers,
However,
a majority of filling stations have little or no room for development of
other services.
Oil
giant to import coal for power plants earlier than expected
In
preparation for the takeover of Vung Ang 1 power station and the construction
of Thai Binh 2 thermopower plant, an affiliate of the state-owned Vietnam Oil
and Gas Group (PVN) has clinched a deal to import 10 million tons of coal
this year.
Following
the signing last year of a number of coal offtake framework agreements and
memorandums of undertaking to buy coal from Indonesian and Australian
suppliers, PV Power Coal will launch official talks over coal imports late
this year. Annual import could amount to 10 million tons plus.
This
import volume is around one-tenth of what Vietnam National Coal and Mineral
Industries Group (Vinacomin) has forecast for coal import from next year
onwards.
Vung
Ang 1 was connected to the nation’s power grid in late December 2013 and will
begin commercial generation in April this year. It has two 600MW generators
to be fired by coal from Cam Pha, Hon Gai, Vang Danh and Uong Bi mines.
However,
local coal mines are projected to turn out less coal in the next four years
than currently and moreover, the quality of domestic coal cannot meet
requirements for power generation. This explains why PV Power Coal is in a
rush to prepare coal supply sources for its thermopower plants.
Thai
Binh 2 will be commissioning its first generator in the second quarter of
next year with a total capacity of 1,200 MW. It will need about three million
tons of coal a year, thus piling pressure on domestic coal supply that has
been in steady decline.
PV
Power Coal said that to secure quality coal and competitive coal prices, it
would hire a consultant to look into prospective coal mines and suppliers
before it officially entered into negotiations. Coal prices would be decided
through tenders and spot deals would be preferred based on the international
coal quality index.
Moreover,
logistics facilities for receipt and transport of coal for power plants would
be taken into account as well. Priority would be given to Vung Ang 1 and Thai
Binh 2, and later to Phu Long 1 and Song Hau.
The
company is mulling securing more coal offtake agreements with other mines in
the form of investment such as share acquisitions to ensure its future power
plants would not face a shortfall of this fossil fuel.
A coal
import plan made headlines in 2011 when the country exported an average of 21
million tons a year. The plan, initiated by Vinacomin, came out well before
the power industry had no projects for building major coal-fired power
stations.
Nguyen
Van Bien, deputy general director of Vinacomin, said that to increase coal
supply for local corporate consumers, the industry this year would ship
abroad eight to 10 million tons a year, two-thirds lower than the 2006-2011
peak.
There
are different types of coal but not all of them are suitable for firing power
stations, Bien said, adding
Coal
should be imported earlier than next year. Take PV Power Coal for example. It
will officially buy coal from foreign suppliers from late this year as work
is being sped up on a couple of coal-fired power plants in the southern part
of the country.
In certain
cases, imported coal is more cost-effective than that transported from the
north to the south.
By
2020 the country’s coal demand is forecast to be 2.5 times above local
output, so corporate coal consumers cannot avoid importing coal from abroad.
This is a paradox for a country like
SCG
buoyant in Vietnam
According
to SCG’s report, the group obtained nearly VND3.4 trillion in revenue in the
fourth quarter of last year, soaring 98% year-on-year. Prime Group Joint
Stock Company, in which SCG had spent nearly US$240 million acquiring an 85%
stake, has made SCG one of the world’s leading ceramic tile producers.
During
the fiscal year, SCG attained over VND11.2 trillion in revenue in the local
market, a 66% year-on-year increase, backed by Prime Group and affiliates in
the chemical and packaging sectors. SCG Vietnam accounted for 46% of last
year’s total revenue of the group in all Southeast Asian markets but
Its
total assets in
According
to SCG, the Vietnamese firms it has bought into have fetched high revenues or
have performed well in recent times. It has plans to expand investment in the
country through future M&A deals.
Last
year, SCG’s revenue in Southeast Asia marked a record growth rate of 25%
against 2012, reaching around VND26 trillion as a result of its M&A deals
in
SCG
will continue deepening investment to maintain sustainable growth in the
region. In
After
selecting its main financial consultant, SCG will finish its financial report
at the end of this year. It is also involved in some other projects.
This
year, SCG will build its first cement plants in
Source:
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Năm, 13 tháng 2, 2014
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