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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 23/3
Better Work
The Better Work
Vietnam programme in the apparel industry was launched in
Jointly organised
by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs,
the programme aims to enhance the operation efficiency and competitiveness of
export enterprises.
As part of the
Better Work Global programme, it plays an important role in connecting the
interests of the private sector and the observation of
After proving its
efficiency in the south, in the 2014-2019 period, the programme will expand
to
Addressing the
launching ceremony, Deputy Minister Pham Minh Huan said he expects the
programme will help improve working conditions and create better and more
stable jobs for Vietnamese labourers.
He praised the
independence, professional operation and prestige of the programme as well as
its partners.
Meanwhile, Gyorgy
Sziraczki, Director of ILO in
Since its launch in
2009, the Better Work Vietnam programme has reached nearly 300,000 workers in
more than 200 factories in the south, equivalent to one-fourth of the total apparel
manufacturers in the country.
More than 50
international firms have also registered to join the programme.
New
Japanese-funded plant built in Vinh Phuc
The construction of
a bike and automobile spare parts manufacturing plant was kick-started in the
The 5-million-USD
project, the second of its kind funded by Japanese investors, is being built
at Ba Thien 2 industrial park in Binh Xuyen district with a modern and
environmentally friendly assembly line.
It is expected to
be put into operation in August and generate jobs for hundreds of workers.
According to
Director of the Vietnam-based Suzukaku Co.,Ltd Suzuki Kakunori, his company
will be responsible for constructing new plants in
Vice Chairman of
the provincial People’s Committee Ha Hoa Binh said his locality will create
the optimal conditions for Suzukaku to promptly deal with difficulties during
the process of carrying out the project.
He expressed his
hope that the company will harness all its resources to ensure the progress
and quality of the plant.
Vietnam
focuses on saving, effective energy use
Deputy Minister of
Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung highlighted the policy at a Vietnam-Norway
workshop on hydro-power and electricity market reform in
According to Hung,
the country is also using its energy more effectively and has embraced the
application of low-carbon emission technology.
However, he
admitted that challenges exist relating to the management and operation of
hydro-power plants. Particularly, terraced plants built on rivers are
struggling to meet their targets for power generation, irrigation for
agricultural production, flood regulation while ensuring environmental
safety.
In addition, the
ministry also needs to learn from foreign experience in developing a
competitive national electricity market by 2020, he added.
Monica Maeland,
Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, said
Per Christer Lund,
an electricity industry consultant based in
He suggested
According to the
Ministry of Industry and
In its electricity
development planning for 2011-2020 with a vision to 2030,
Binh Duong
holds customs dialogue with Japanese firms
A total of 100
Japanese firms operating in the southern
At the event, Binh
Duong customs officials clarified the procedure of the Japan-funded Vietnam
Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System and the Vietnam Customs
Information System (VNACCS/VCIS).
Most of the
Japanese businesspeople raised concerns regarding the use of on-site export
invoices and the inspection of import quality.
Regarding
on-the-spot export-import inspections, Nguyen Hong Hanh, deputy head of the
Binh Duong provincial customs department, said businesses have to submit
invoice copies only to the customs office when necessary.
They are permitted
to bring special goods such as vaccines, medicines, health equipment, cattle
feed and fertilisers to their headquarters for quality checking under the
supervision of customs officials, he said.
Binh Duong has
attracted more than 17,400 projects, of which 2,250 are foreign direct
investment (FDI) ones worth a total of nearly 20 billion USD.
With 204 projects
valued at over 4.3 billion USD,
ADB warns
of risks for Asian bond markets
The Asian
Development Bank (ADB) said emerging
The Manila-based
financial institution gave out the warning in its latest Asia Bond Monitor
released on March 20.
"Good economic
data so far this year, attractive yields, and a recovery in some currencies
mean Asia is still the best place to invest, but the threat of contagion is
certainly higher than it was,” Head of ADB’s Office of Regional Economic
Integration Iwan J. Azis said in a press release.
To avoid being
caught up in a general emerging market backlash from a crisis in one or two
economies,
Contagion risk is
highest for countries with large current account deficits and low foreign
exchange reserves, while borrowers with high levels of foreign currency debt
are most vulnerable if currencies depreciate.
According to ADB,
local currency bonds in emerging East Asia largely held steady in the fourth
quarter of 2013 as turmoil dogged other emerging markets, although yields on
most government bonds rose in January, most notably in
That said, foreign
bond holdings of the region’s local currency government bonds held steady in
the final three months of 2013 given the region’s solid economic outlook and
the attractive yield pickup versus other markets.
ADB defines emerging
East Asia as
The region’s bond
markets continued to expand in size. By the end of the year, the region had
7.4 trillion USD in outstanding bonds, 2.4% more than at the end of September
2013 and 11.7% more than at the end of 2012.
ADB said
While governments have
tended to issue local rather than foreign-currency bonds in recent years,
many companies, such as real estate firms in
In 2013, the region
sold a record 141.5 billion USD of bonds denominated in US dollars, yen, and
euros, of which 128.4 billion USD were issued by the region’s companies.
Depreciation in home currencies would mean higher debt servicing costs at a
time when the domestic economy is also likely to be weaker. Gross local
currency bond issuance by corporates last year was 765.6 billion USD.
Emerging East
Asia’s sales of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, remained strong at 91.7 billion USD
last year, led by
Forum
offers information security update
Chief security
officers, chief information officers, and information technology
professionals are attending the Security World 2014 Conference &
Exhibition in Ha Noi to discuss and share information security initiatives.
Speaking at the
opening ceremony on Tuesday, Nguyen Tat Loi, the director of IT Department
from the General Department of Technology & Logistics under the Ministry
of Public Security, stated that the annual event will offer updates to
governmental agencies, businesses, and organisations on the latest technology
trends and practical solutions.
According to the
Trend Micro report, during the second and third quarter of last year,
A recent report by
IDC in January 2014 forecast that information technology spending in the
Vietnamese market will see a growth rate of 15.5 per cent, and the total
market revenue is expected to reach US$13.05 billion in 2014.
Anthony Lim, a
member of the Application Security Advisory Board for ISC, the largest
non-profit membership body of certified information and software security
professionals worldwide, remarked that the internet is useful and
entertaining, but it was also a dangerous place with no laws.
He emphasised that free
public Wifi could pose a danger to the users and suggested employees not to
casually click on links and stay abreast with the latest changes in the
social media.
"Please make
sure that no one uses 1234 or abcd as passwords. When you log onto any site,
please check if it is a valid one," Lim pointed out.
Currently, people
access data from different devices, such as computers and smartphones. Lim
added that enterprises should build a security culture by ensuring that the
staff members do not create multiple copies of confidential documents.
He stressed that
computer security was not only about technology, but also encompassed human
and policy components.
Concurring with
Lim's idea, Ngo Viet Khoi, the country manager of Trend Micro
"When the
users click on share, they will download malware. It is about social
engineering, like Lim referred before," Khoi stated.
According to Khoi,
hackers now focus on carrying out advanced persistent attacks that intend to
penetrate targeted firms and organisations using several methods, such as
emails with malicious programme attachments or exploiting vulnerable users in
order to steal information or hijack computers communicating with external
parties.
"Many firms
feel safe with anti-virus software installed on their devices, but they are
wrong. In the past, everyone used Windows Explorer to surf websites and
compose documents on Microsoft Office. However, currently, there are several
choices and risk management cannot be fully achieved," he asserted.
Security World has
been held in
More than 100
Vietnamese and German scientists gathered at a conference in
Participants
discussed water and environment issues, and their international cooperation
programme to protect climate and environment by sustainable technology and
services.
Key projects such
as textile dyeing wastewater treatment, online urban traffic monitoring
systems, and strategies for industrial sewage management were also put on the
table.
The conference
heard that the sewage discharged from the textile industry amounts to 25-30
million cubic meters annually, yet only 20 percent of which is treated.
Experts from the
project had met with over 70 Vietnamese companies operating in the fields of
dyeing, food, medicine, hospital, and hotel to introduce the latest
technologies in treating industrial waste.
Andreas Suthof from
the Department of International Relations and European Studies under the
Asian Management Institute called for creative solutions and close
collaboration between governmental offices and organisations to effectively
carry out the joint projects between
Bong Mieu
Gold plant likely to reopen next month
After typhoons and
flooding caused major landslides and destroyed roads to the site of Bong Mieu
Gold Mining Company (BMGMC), one of two joint ventures of Besra
The company
partnered with the 6666 Industrial Minerals Group Joint Stock Company to fix
the roads from from the plant to the Nui Kem mine. The repairs have since
been completed and are in use.
However, the mine
remains flooded and work is underway to reopen it.
“Dewatering is now
being implemented and is expected to be completed within 4-6 weeks.
Immediately after dewatering is completed, Bong Mieu gold plant will resume
operations,” said the company’s statement.
To ensure safety
during the temporary closure, the company has cooperated with local
authorities and partners to prevent illegal gold mining in the area.
Specifically, regulations to ensure safety in Tam Lanh commune were signed
between parties including the Phu Ninh Police Department, the Tam Lanh
People’s Committee, BMGMC and the 6666 company.
JICA funds
four key infrastructure projects
The Japanese
Government has agreed to provide JPY86.4 billion (US$851.5 million) in
official development assistance to help
A contract to this
effect was signed in
The four projects
are the Da Nang–Quang Ngai Highway project, to which JPY30 billion has been
allocated, the Ho Chi Minh City–Dau Giay Highway project (JPY18.4 billion),
the Lach Huyen Port construction project (JPY21 billion) and the Tan Vu–Lach
Huyen Road project (JPY16.9 billion).
The
The expansion of
the
The
Fish
processors anxious about tariff review stateside
Tra fish export
processors are looking at the ninth Period of Administrative Review (POR9) of
anti-dumping tariffs stateside because these will have a profound impact on
their revenues.
The U.S. Department
of Commerce (DOC) will announce POR9 within the last five days this March,
said lawyers working on the pangasius anti-dumping case.
Nguyen Van Ky, CEO
of An Giang Fisheries Import Export Joint Stock Company (Agifish), said many
exporters of tra fish are more concerned about POR9 than the U.S. Department
of Agriculture’s Farm Bill passed this year because the bill will not
officially take effect until next year.
In the preliminary POR9
issued last September, the anti-dumping tariffs imposed on frozen tra fillets
exported to the
In their 2013
reports released this March, many listed firms exporting tra fish to the
VHC, one of the
A number of
exporters have spent much money hiring attorneys to protect them against the
troublesome tariffs. It took HVC nearly VND43 million on a lawsuit in 2013
while the company did not spend any in the previous year. Also, VHC in 2012
had spent VND5.1 billion on legal services.
Statistics of the
Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) show that
Power
demand surges in south
While Vietnam
Electricity Group (EVN) has been running most power plants at full capacity,
power demand in the southern region keeps soaring given hot weather with
consumption on Monday hitting the highest level since early this year.
Pham Minh Luong,
managing director of the Southern Load Dispatch Center, told the Daily on
March 18 that total power consumption in the south reached 210 million kWh on
Monday, or one million kWh higher than early last week.
Power demand is
expected to rise further in the coming days. Currently, EVN has to run O Mon
and Ca Mau diesel-fueled power plants due to a gas supply shortfall prompted
by a leakage of the gas pipeline PM3 last Saturday, he said.
Backup power supply
in the region remains low at the moment. Therefore, demand-supply imbalance
may occur in some occasions this year, according to EVN Southern Power
Corporation.
In a statement
released on Monday, EVN said it is spending an extra sum of around VND70
billion each day running diesel-fired power plants as the leakage has
disrupted gas supply for Ca Mau power plants since late last week.
Pham Quoc Bao,
deputy general director of HCMC Power Corporation, told the Daily that power
consumption in the city alone hit 57.8 million kWh on Monday, the highest
since early this year, with maximum generation output of nearly 3,000 MW.
Though the city has
yet to see a power shortage, demand is expected to increase in the future as
residents are increasingly using air-cons and other cooling devices due to
hot weather. Output is expected to reach the maximum level of 3,400 MW a day,
higher than in the dry season last year, at 3,050 MW, Bao said.
EVN Southern Power
Corporation said only two generators of Vinh Tan 2 coal-run thermal plant
will be put into operation this year with a capacity of 1,200 MW, so there
will be tension in power supply in the region. Demand is estimated to reach
its peak between March and June with consumption rising by around 15%.
Meanwhile,
electricity grids in neighboring provinces such as Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung
Tau, Dong Nai and Long An provinces are running at full capacity.
Construction of some 220 kV stations such as Nhon Trach, Phu My 2, Vung Tau,
My Xuan, Tay Ninh, Ham Tan and Duc Hoa have also fallen behind schedule.
However, unlike the
dry season in 2013, some cement and steel enterprises have yet to report
power shortages for production so far.
SOE leaders
forced to speed up equitization
Chairmen and CEOs
of 29 State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in HCMC will be disciplined or even
dismissed if they fail to let their entities go public by end-2015.
Leaders of these 29
SOEs on March 13 signed pledges to get their equitization plans moving on
schedule; otherwise, they will face disciplinary measures. Leaders of HCMC’s
government and departments witnessed the signing.
Doan Tuong Thuy,
chairman of Specialist & Labor Export Service Co. Ltd. (Suleco), said he
would accept any disciplinary measures if he failed to have Suleco equitized
before December this year.
Tran Thi Thanh
Nhan, chairwoman of Cho Lon Investment and Import-Export Co. Ltd., or
Cholimex, said Cholimex leaders would be certainly held responsible if the
enterprise did not go public before December next year.
Cholimex pledged to
launch an initial public offering in September 2015 and finish equitization
at the end of next year.
However, Cholimex
general director Dao Xuan Duc told the Daily that a huge volume of shares
would be launched onto the market as 432 enterprises would go public in the
2014-2015 period.
Meanwhile, buying
power on the stock market is limited. Many large enterprises will go public
during the period, fueling competition among issuing businesses to attract
investors, Duc said.
HCMC vice chairman
Le Manh Ha said the city did not attain the equitization target for nine SOEs
last year due to delays in property handover or signing of contracts with
consultants. Some enterprises were found to infringe regulations on labor,
wage and leadership reshuffle.
The city has set a
target of equitizing 31 SOEs in 2014-2015. However, two enterprises are
seeking approval to implement their equitization plans later than 2015 while
the remaining 29 will have to get equitization done prior to December 2015.
The entities to go
public include popular brands such as Saigon Jewelry Holding Company (SJC),
Saigon Cultural Products Co., Saigon 5 Garment Co., HCMC Housing Development
and Trading Co., Benthanh Tourist Co., Gia Dinh Garment & Textile
Company, and Saigon Hi-Tech Park Development Company.
Fruit exports
off to good start
Nguyen Van Ky, general
secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association (Vinafruit), said
that main export items are fresh fruits such as dragon fruit, grapefruit, and
mango as well as some canned and frozen fruits.
Local fruits have
found wide path to some choosy markets including the
Home-grown fruits
have been mostly shipped to Asian markets. In the year to date,
In late 2013,
The
Vinafruit predicts
that vegetable and fruit exports can reach U.S$1.2 billion this year owing to
the reopening of the EU market.
In 2013,
Sugar firms
boost exports to avoid local market glut
Local sugar
producers are boosting exports to
The Vietnam Sugar
and Sugar Cane Association (VSSA) said that sugar prices of local companies
are now around VND12,500 per kilo while early this month sugar smuggled from
The price of sugar
shipped to
Last year, around
400,000 tons of Thai sugar was brought illegally into Vietnam and VSSA
predicted that this year, the figure is likely to be higher as Thailand is
expected to reach a record sugar output with 11.3 million tons this year
while its sugar prices are now on a downtrend.
According to VSSA,
the amount of sugar smuggled from
This year,
Another reason for
the local sugar firms to boost exports to
By end-February,
the sugar inventory in
Recently, VSSA has
asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to allow domestic firms to export
around 300,000-400,000 tons of sugar to China this year after the Ministry
had earlier set an export quota of 200,000 tons while pending data from the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on sugar supply and demand at
home.
Last month, the
Ministry of Industry and Trade also officially set the quotas for imported
sugar for this year at 77,200 tons compared to 73,500 tons of last year. The
import is made under
The 77,200 tons of
sugar, including both refined sugar and crude sugar, will be processed into
refined sugar before being sold in the domestic market.
Fertiliser
market to face stiff competition
The local
fertiliser market will face intense competition this year due to oversupply
and cheap fertilisers being imported from
The nation needs 11
million tonnes of fertiliser this year, 700,000 tonnes higher than last year,
stated the ministry as reported by the VnEconomy newspaper.
Meanwhile, the
local fertiliser demand is expected to reach 2.2 million tonnes of urea
fertiliser, 900,000 tonnes of SA fertiliser, 960,000 tonnes of kali
fertiliser, 900,000 tonnes of DAP fertiliser, and 4 million tonnes of NPK fertiliser.
The domestic market's demand for phosphate fertiliser is expected to reach1.8
million tonnes.
The nation has 500
enterprises producing a total output of 8 million tonnes of fertiliser,
thereby meeting 80 per cent of the domestic demand.
Supply of some
major fertiliser products, such as urea, NPK, and phosphate, has met the
domestic demand. Meanwhile, the urea fertiliser output has often increased
against the local demand.
The national urea
output is expected to exceed the local demand by 400,000 tonnes.
Oversupply of
fertilisers has led to an average reduction of 17-20 per cent in the local
selling price since the end of 2013 and even 30 per cent for some kinds of
fertiliser, claimed the ministry.
Additionally, the
domestic fertiliser market is also facing stiff competition due to cheap
Chinese fertiliser imports, it noted. In February,
Chinese fertiliser
volume accounted for 31 per cent of the total fertiliser import value in
February, the ministry added.
At the end of 2013,
According to the
Viet Nam Fertiliser Association, the domestic fertiliser industry has
experienced a growth in output, but lacks competitive ability. The industry
still continues to use old production technology, while the world fertiliser
industry uses many new technologies to reduce its production costs. For the
long term, the local fertiliser factories will lose their market shares or even
have to close if they do not adopt new production technologies.
The association
asserted that the industry should restructure the local fertiliser market,
and the traders should seek export markets. Meanwhile, the ministries and
sectors should control the import of Chinese fertilisers at the border gates
in order to stop trade fraud and the import of low-quality fertilisers. —
Local
car-makers bemoan special consumption tax
The difference
between the application of a special consumption tax on locally-assembled
cars and imported cars is raising a debate between car-makers in
While local
car-makers are up in arms over the proposed special consumption tax, car
importers aren’t so concerned
Ho Manh Tuan, deputy
general director of Honda Vietnam, said car-makers had just petitioned the
Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association, the Ministry of Finance and the
Ministry of Industry and Trade to change the application of a special
consumer tax (SCT) on locally-assembled cars and imported cars.
Last month, car
manufacturers in
The concern was
raised in a context where the Vietnamese government is revising its Special
Consumer Tax Law for National Assembly approval within this year.
Currently, both
locally-assembled cars and imported cars face an SCT rate ranging from 45 per
to 60 per cent. But Tuan said the application of an identical SCT on
locally-assembled and imported cars made local products less competitive.
According to local
car-makers, the SCT on local cars integrates all the cost of production,
insurance, freight, distribution investment, after-sales services and the
car-maker’s profit margin. But the SCT on an imported car applies only to the
imported price, excluding the distributor’s profit margin.
Gaurav Gupta,
general director of GM Vietnam, who is also head of the Automotive Working
Group of the Vietnam Business Forum – which is a biannual forum to bring
together the business community to discuss matters of interest with the
Vietnamese government - said the current application of the SCT was unfair to
local car-makers as it widened the cost gap between local and imported cars.
Nguyen Anh Tuan,
head of the Strategy Planning Division of Toyota
Although local
car-makers have raised this concern for a long time, it seems likely their
pleas remain ignored. In the latest draft of the revised Special Consumer Tax
Law, the Ministry of Finance made no amendments to the issue. Local car
producers are likely to continue to press their concerns in the run-up to the
revised law being debated at the National Assembly.
If local car-makers
are successful, the change could hurt car importers.
“The proposal [from
local car-makers] is unexpected and would introduce an unfair advantage,”
said Laurent Genet, general director of Automotive Asia Limited – the sole
distributor of the Audi brand in
“Car importers
support initiatives to make cars more affordable for Vietnamese customers. If
this proposal was adopted we believe this would indicate that things are
going in the opposite direction. We trust the Vietnamese authorities will
continue with the fair application of the SCT,” said Genet.
He noted that
“That value
includes all costs and profit margins – whether abroad or in Vietnam –
required to deliver a finished car to the distributor for retail,” he said.
Gov't,
trade unions to secure workers' rights
A new co-operation
agenda agreed upon the Government and the Viet Nam General Confederation of
Labour (VGCL) sets the protection of workers' rights and interests and
improvment of their living conditions as key priorities for 2014, Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said yesterday.
Speaking at a
working session with confederation officials, Dung said the agreement should
galvanise Party and State policies on improving the lives of workers through
practical measures like providing housing and kindergarten facilities in
industrial zones with large numbers of workers.
The Prime Minister
praised the VGCL's close coordination with the Government on workers' rights,
suggesting both sides could create secure and comfortable conditions for
workers.
Dung also urged the
two sides to work together to examine the implementation of recently-issued
policies concerning workers. The PM also suggested that cooperation efforts
could focus on publicising the State's laws and delivering campaigns to
foster improved working conditions across the country.
During the session,
Dung and ministry and sector representatives also acknowledged the VGCL's
proposals on law enforcement.
The latest
cooperation agenda follows successful joint efforts between the Government
and the VGCL last year, which saw both sides collaborate on legal documents
regarding workers' rights and benefits.
Numerous activities
supporting poor workers and privileged policy beneficiaries were also
launched by the confederation.
Foreign
firms await ‘it’ factor
Clear incentives
and better legal regulations would help Vietnam attract more foreign
information technology firms.
While some major US IT
firms such as IBM have embraced Vietnam, others remain sceptical that the
market is sufficiently mature for their entry
Joseph Rhoden,
director of US-based Redhat’s Global OEM Alliances, said his firm, one the
leading providers of high-performance cloud software, virtualisation, storage
and middleware technologies, had no business plans in Vietnam and instead
Redhat was selling its products via IBM Vietnam.
“We need clear
legal regulations on information technology (IT) development in markets like
Vietnam before we can directly sell and produce our products there. We don’t
want to take risks. Currently, we have offices in Singapore, India, China,
Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand,” Rhoden told VIR at Pulse 2014
– one of the world’s biggest premier cloud computing events hosted by IBM in
late February in Las Vegas.
The event featured
the participation of hundreds of leading IT companies, including IBM,
Envision Enterprise Solutions, GenesisSolutions and Cohesive Information
Solutions. Company reps told VIR that Vietnam could attract more foreign IT
developers if it offered clear investment incentives and transparent legal
regulations on IT development.
The Vietnamese
government last November enacted Decree 154/2013/ND-CP on incentives for
enterprises operating in concentrated IT parks. However, no guidance on how
to implement the decree has yet been issued, making it difficult for local
authorities to provide tax breaks.
Rajiv Daljeet,
senior account executive of US’ GenesisSolutions, which offers enterprise
asset management assessment solutions, said his company might ‘work in
Vietnam’ depending on how the country’s legal framework developed.
“We need to
understand what Vietnam needs to develop a sturdy IT industry. But what we
need the most from a market like Vietnam is a free market without any subsidy
from the state. A free market will enable equal competition,” he said.
Echoing this view,
Matt Logsdon, executive vice president - sales and marketing of software
producer US’ Cohesive Information Solutions, said the company had an office
in Singapore which collected market information in other Southeast Asian
markets.
“We’re exploring
opportunities to invest in Vietnam as our products are yet to be sold there.
However, we’d want the same preferences we enjoy in Singapore,” Logsdon said.
Ramana R, general
manager sales of India’s Envision Enterprise Solutions Pvt Ltd offering asset
accounting solutions, also said although Vietnam had great potential, “First
and foremost we must conduct market surveys. There are big differences in
culture, consumption and legal regulations on IT development between our
country and Vietnam. Foreign investors would most importantly need
transparency and good intellectual property right protection when they do
business in any market.”
It seemed that IBM
remained the most committed to investing in Vietnam.
“For 2014 and
beyond, we have set a target of introducing additional new technologies to
help local clients. Vietnam is one of the first countries that IBM has chosen
for government, telco and banking solutions. We’re helping increase
competitiveness and compliance with international industry standards,” said
IBM Vietnam’s general director Tan Jee Toon.
IBM Vietnam has
been working with Vietnam’s government and partners to support organisations,
and banking, transportation and food industries as part of the IT giant’s
‘smarter planet’ projects to help businesses reduce investment and
operational costs while protecting the environment.
Economic
recovery remains fragile, experts say
Vietnam’s economy
has seen signs of slight recovery but if structural weaknesses were not fixed
in a timely manner, the path to full economic recovery would be blocked.
Speaking at a
seminar on economic prospects and policy visions in 2014 in Hanoi on
Thursday, Nguyen Duc Thanh, director of the Vietnam Center for Economic and
Policy Research (VEPR), said the economy had recovered slightly since the
fourth quarter of 2013.
Data showed
industrial production bounced back in the first two months of this year while
retail sales and services revenues have edged up. Consumer confidence has
been strengthened and the stock market has advanced strongly with high liquidity.
If stimulus
policies such as the VND30-trillion home loan program are maintained, capital
will keep flowing into the stock market, he said.
However, Thanh said
unemployment figures are not reliable though they increased steadily
throughout 2013 and that the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth
figures are suspected of being exaggerated.
Le Quoc Phuong,
deputy director of the Center for Industrial and Trade Information under the
Ministry of Industry and Trade, said a trade surplus had mainly been
contributed by the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector. Foreign reserves
have inched up thanks to strong incoming remittances and interest rates have
slid thanks to administrative decisions rather than market forces.
The real estate
market is still sluggish despite the State’s intervention and bad debt
remains a headache, Phuong commented.
Phuong predicted
the economy would improve this year but only in short term.
Expert Luu Bich Ho
said the economic restructuring process has lost steam. “Two years ago, we
tried to gain big achievements for the 11th National Congress. Now, we are
trying again for the next congress. But we have not solved internal problems
to make changes for the long term,” he said.
The nation is still
maintaining an old development model which relies heavily on state
investments, so macroeconomic uncertainties may come back. Drastic measures
should be taken to spur economic restructuring, Ho added.
Economic expert
Pham Chi Lan said FDI capital is the only factor that can help boost economic
growth. In addition, many domestic industrial sectors have been falling into
the hands of foreign firms.
The number of
enterprises going bust is rising. In February, over 4,800 firms stopped
operations, raising the total to 13,800 in the first two months of this year,
60% higher than in 2013.
Confidence of
active businesses is on the wane. This is really a worrying sign, Lan said.
Vietnam
unlikely to stockpile rice this year: VFA
The Vietnam Food
Association (VFA) will ask the Government not to stock rice this year as this
practice will not work in buoying rice prices like in previous years due to
Thailand unleashing its huge inventories, said the association chairman.
Truong Thanh Phong,
who is attending a biotechnology conference organized by Singapore-based
Croplife Asia, told the Daily on the event’s sidelines that Thailand’s rice
stock is estimated at 15 million tons now and will increase to some 20
million tons this year.
Most rice importers
in the world are now keeping an eye on Thailand’s move, and Vietnam’s rice
stockpiling will not work, Phong said. That is to say local farmers cannot
rely on the Government’s rice stockpiling scheme like in previous years, and
prices will be driven by the market, he said.
Phong said that the
rice stockpiling scheme had paid off in previous years, ensuring a profit
margin for farmers. However, since 2012, this program has not proven
effective.
Phong remarked that
the global rice market will see a glut this year due to Thailand’s
overwhelming supply.
“The Thai
government ended its rice subsidy policy on February 28, and in order to have
capital to pay farmers, Thailand will sell one million tons of rice from the
government stock a month and about five million tons of rice from Thai
farmers. This oversupply will pull the rice price down considerably,” he
added.
Phong suggested
that to help local rice farmers from losses, the Government should encourage
rice traders to stock rice on their own and sell it upon good prices. In case
of losses, the Government should compensate rice traders.
According to Phong,
VFA has suggested that the Government approve the establishment of a
supporting fund for rice traders and farmers. However, such a fund could only
start operation next year at the earliest.
In a related
development, the local rice trade has been stagnant lately, and rice prices
have tumbled in recent days due to high productivity of the winter-spring
rice crop being harvested.
In the Daily’s
observations, most farmers in some provinces in the Mekong Delta region like
Tien Giang, Long An and Dong Thap had enjoyed high profits thanks to the high
price before March. However, the current situation is on the contrary, with
the rice price dropping sharply.
Nguyen Van Tho, a
rice trader at Ba Dac wholesale market in Tien Giang Province’s Cai Be
District, said the domestic rice price has dropped almost on a daily basis.
“As far as I know,
the average price of each 20-kilo bushel of unhusked rice has seen a drop of
VND10,000 and the husked rice price has dropped by VND500-600 per kilo since
early this month,” Tho said.
The price of fresh
IR 50404 paddy in some areas in the Mekong Delta region fell to
VND4,200-4,400 per kilogram on Thursday morning while a kilogram of fragrant
rice OM 4900 was priced at VND4,500-4,600.
Animal feed
production stands still
Animal feed
production is expected to grind to a standstill this year as diseases have
broken out while domestic meat consumption remains low.
Speaking at a
conference of the rice industry in Hanoi City on Friday, Tran Ngoc Yen,
director of Vietnam Market Analysis & Forecast Joint Stock Company, or
AgroMonitor, said that industrial feed output increased only 1.2% to nearly
13.4 million tons in 2013. This was the lowest growth rate since 2011.
Of which, feed
output for the fishery sector jumped nearly 20%, the strongest rise since
2008, while cattle and poultry feed output dropped 3%.
Explaining the
figures, Yen said the seafood sector flourished in 2013 with export revenue
hitting around US$6.7 billion, up 10% against 2012. In contrast, the local
husbandry sector saw a decline with slumping pork prices, dragging down
animal feed demand.
In 2014, the
husbandry sector has yet to see signs of sustainable recovery as domestic
consumption remains low. The strong rise in live cow imports has also
threatened the industry.
Imports of
Australian live cows sharply increased last year with import value surging by
four times against 2012. Since June, 2013, the nation has imported around
3,000 to 4,000 live cows via Tan Cang-Cai Mep Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau
Province and 2,000 to 3,000 cows via Haiphong Port every month, Yen said.
Notably, the ratio
of farming households using home-made feed has jumped strongly, especially in
the South, due to falling material prices while feed prices have stayed
unchanged. This has hurt market shares of animal feed producers.
According experts
at the seminar, the husbandry and seafood sectors will face tough competition
as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is expected to be signed within this
year. Therefore, feed production growth rate may grind to a standstill.
In fact, Vietnam
has spent billions of U.S. dollars importing feed and raw materials for feed
production in recent years. According to reports announced at the event, feed
and material imports reached US$3 billion in 2013.
The Ministry of
Industry and Trade estimates feed and material imports to rise by around 20%
annually within the next two years.
Lee Swee Heng,
general director of Wilmar Agro Vietnam Co. Ltd., told the Daily that the
enterprise is using 100% domestic bran but has to import other materials such
as corn, soybean and fish powder.
The nation consumes
12.5 million tons of feed each year but local material supply is modest.
Therefore, related agencies should issue policies encouraging investment in
feed production, reducing dependence on material imports, Lee said.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Bảy, 22 tháng 3, 2014
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