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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 17/4
The World Bank (WB)
has announced
WB reported that
overseas remittances hit US$542 billion globally last year and are expected
to rise to US$581 billion in 2014 and US$681 billion in 2016.
Top nine countries
remained the same compared to the previous year. In 2012,
In terms of
remittances as a share of GDP, the top recipients were
Remittances in
Eastern Asian and Asia-Pacific regions were estimated to grow by 4.8% in 2013
to US$112 billion.
By 2015, workers
can travel freely among ASEAN countries, driving regional remittances to a
projected US$148 billion in 2016.
The WB forecast
that global remittances will surge strongly in the short-term.
Vietnam
wins rice export contract to Philippines
Under the contract,
rice will be delivered to the
The signing of the
contract is expected to fuel rice prices in the Mekong Delta,
The association
reported as of April 13 Vietnamese businesses had exported 1.4 million tonnes
out of a total of 2.7 million tonnes signed with partners.
High
Quality Products Expo opens in HCM City
As many as 230
enterprises are showcasing their products on 700 stands at the 2014 High
Quality Products Expo which opened in
On display are
consumer goods, food and foodstuffs, cookies, household utensils, cosmetics,
clothing and fashions.
The 6-day event,
the 18th of its kind, is expected to attract crowds of visitors and consumers
as businesses offer discounts of up to 50% and other preferences.
The organisation
board, the High Quality Vietnamese Product Business Association (HQVPBA),
will honour 30 businesses that have won consumer trust for 18 consecutive
years.
Consumers have the
chance to receive 18 gifts each day or enjoy a 18% discount on all items. 18
consumers will also have the chance to win valuable gifts through lucky draws
on the closing ceremony on April 20.
Exchanges will be
held between businesses, consultants and consumers, giving advice on food
hygiene and safety, and how to use household utensils effectively.
The City of
London offers support to Vietnam
With a wealth of
experience in trade and services, the City of
Receiving
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh in
She said she is
following
Deputy PM Ninh said
He proposed the
City of
Ninh is in
On April 15 he
visited and worked with managers of Standard Chartered (SCB) bank who thanked
the Vietnamese government for facilitating the bank’s operations and proposed
additional support for its expansion in the country.
SCB managers
expressed hope that Ninh will help the British business community get a
better understanding of
They hailed
They were
optimistic about
The British
executives held that an early conclusion and signing of free trade agreement
(FTA) negotiations between
Ninh is scheduled
to hold talks with Foreign Secretary William Hague, and meet with major
British investors on April 16.
The four-year
(2014-18) project for "Expansion of National Business Registration
System (NBRS)" between the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the
United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO to new commercial
entities is expected to cost US$5.45 million.
In 2008-13 the
project was funded by the MPI,
NBRS is being used
for single-point, fully-computerised services for business, tax, customs,
statistics, and public-security registration of firms in 63 provinces.
As a result, online
enterprise registration and enterprise information services, covering the
records of over 864,596 enterprises and subordinate units registered under
the Enterprise Law and 164,000 annual financial statements of shareholding
companies, are available through the National Business Registration Portal at
www.businessregistration.gov.vn.
The average
registration time has decreased from 15 days in 2008 to only 3.5 days as of
last year.
Deputy Minister of
Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong said business registration reform to
date has not only reduced the cost and time for registration nation-wide, but
also demonstrated that client-friendly and efficient public sector services
benefit the development of the private sector.
Miroslav Delaporte,
country representative of Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic
Affairs (SECO), said improvements in the business environment, including
business registration reforms have helped mobilise capital and unleashed the
entrepreneurial spirit of the Vietnamese people."
Nilgun Tas, chief
of the Competitiveness, Business Environment and Upgrading Unit and deputy to
the director of the Business, Investment and Technology Services Branch at
UNIDO, said the private sector will not only gain access to efficient
services of NBRS, but also benefit from more appropriate enterprise
supporting policies, designed and implemented based on the full picture of
all commercial entities operating in Vietnam.
"There is also
great potential to link the NBRS with additional public services, for
example, with social insurance, secured transactions, trademark, and
patenting services, among many others and as such to expand this e-Government
initiative wider."
PM vows
best support for fisheries sector
The Government will
issue a decree offering more support to the country’s fisheries sector,
putting it on a fast and sustainable road to growth, Prime Minister Nguyen
Tan Dung has promised.
At a conference on
the development of the seafood industry in the central city of Danang on
April 15, Dung called for closer State management and better policies,
particularly in credit, insurance, export and infrastructure, for fishermen.
He said new
partnerships should come up, such as cooperatives and trade unions, in order
to create a value chain.
The Government will
do its best to facilitate trade and expand the seafood market, he confirmed.
Dung asked
ministries, agencies and localities to pay attention to key maritime forces,
including the navy, the coastguards and fishery surveillance officials who
will assist fishermen in catching and coping with natural disasters, thus
helping safeguard the national independence and sovereignty.
Some delegates
suggested catching more fish offshore and building about 3,000 steel vessels.
In aquaculture, more focus should be given on highly-competitive products
like prawns, tra fish and molluscs, making it easier to export a wide array
of products.
They added that it
is advisable to rearrange the value chain covering fishing farms, grounds and
markets in which processing firms play a core role.
The industry, with
over 4.5 million workers, yielded an output of nearly 6 million tonnes.
However, its infrastructure remains poor with 99% of fishing vessels being
made of wood. Some 1 million workers have yet to undergo training.
Asian
Productivity Organisation meets in Hanoi
The executive
committee of the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) convened its 56th
meeting in
The event drew the
participation of about 70 high-ranking representatives from member economies
and observers from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the UN
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
During three days
of sitting, participants will elect a president and vice president for the
2014-15 term, unveil the 2013 financial report, appoint auditors for 2014,
and approve a budget and strategy for 2015 and 2016.
Deputy Minister of
Science and Technology Tran Viet Thanh said that
Vietnam wishes to
receive assistance from the APO and its member agencies in training experts
and sharing experience in applying solutions to raise output and quality, he
emphasised.
Since joining the
As part of the
meeting, delegates will undertake a fact-finding tour of the Traphaco pharmaceutical
joint stock company, where solutions have been applied successfully to raise
output and quality. The company won the Asia-Pacific quality award for 2013.
Effectively
implementing FTAs
A Vietnam-US
seminar in
In his speech, Tran
Van Hang, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for External Affairs
(CEA) noted
Most FTAs that
In addition, the
country has constantly revised its legal systems and institutions on
intellectual property rights, labour, and the environment, making it easier
for negotiating, signing and implementing FTAs.
At the seminar,
Vietnamese lawmakers and experts from the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) agreed that the NA and its agencies play a crucial role
in the process of negotiating, signing and implementing international trade
pacts to ensure their legality.
The NA has ratified
international treaties and agreements and issued legal documents to fulfil
international commitments.
Participants
emphasised that the NA must promote its representative role and timely
reflect the opinions and desires of relevant agencies throughout the FTA
process.
They also discussed
FTA signing trends around the world, the impact of the agreements on
Vietnam-Russia
trade ties spotlighted
Two-way trade
turnover between
The Russian news
agency Itar-Tass quoted Likhachev as saying on April 14 that bilateral trade
was valued at US$4 billion last year, and is expected to hit US$5 in the near
future.
He greatly valued
effective cooperation between
So far, the two
sides have carried out 12 projects, and are working on adjustments of six
others. As much as US$20 billion has been disbursed, four or five times
higher than the set target, said Likhachev.
The Russian DM
emphasized that these projects have helped remarkably increase Russian
investment in
Last year,
Vietnamese investment in
He predicted that
Japanese
businesses eye the
The Steering
Committee for South-western region chaired a meeting with local leaders of
the Mekong River Delta region in Can Tho city on April 15, discussing the
agenda for a meeting with Japanese businessmen early next week.
Addressing the
event, standing Steering Committee Deputy Head Nguyen Phong Quang said that
from April 21-23, representatives from 40 leading Japanese businesses will
tour the Mekong River Delta region, seeking investment opportunities in the
field of agro-forestry and fisheries.
Quang suggested
each locality in the region should select one or two typical projects to
introduce to Japanese businesses.
According to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Steering Committee, Vietnam-Japan
relations have been elevated to a strategic partnership which offered more
good conditions for Japanese businesses to seek more investment opportunities
in
As scheduled,
Japanese businesses will participate in a seminar in Can Tho city which will
introduce the potential for agricultural investment between
Dung Quat
Oil Refinery sets new safety record
The Dung Quat Oil
Refinery and affiliates on April 15 welcomed an important milestone, working
for 600 consecutive days and nights in a safe, stable and effective manner.
Since it began
operations, the Dung Quat Oil Refinery Plant has produced and sold 26.7
million tonnes of products, earning VND543,000 billion and contributing over
VND86,000 billion to the State budget.
In the first
quarter alone, the plant produced and sold 1.7 million tonnes of products,
fetching over VND37,000 billion and contributing over VND7,000 billion to the
State budget.
Especially, the
factory has launched over 11 million tonnes of products in various types to
the market during 600 consecutive days and nights.
To mark the event,
the international insurance market and technological copywriters have granted
a certificate to Dung Quat Oil Refinery for effective, stable and safe
operations.
At the same time,
four copywriters namely UOP from the
In May and June,
theBinh Son Oil Refinery and Chemistry Company will provide a periodical
maintenance for Dung Quat Oil Refinery for 45 days.
This year, the
Company is striving to produce 5.18 million tonnes in various types and gross
VND113,600 billion in revenue and contribute over VND13,700 billion to State
budget.
Banks and
corporate clients ink 28 price stabilization deals
Eight banks and 28
corporate customers have signed 28 deals to carry out the city’s program aimed
at stabilizing prices of dairy products, food and school stationery.
Leaders of the HCMC
government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the central bank, southern
provinces and cities witnessed the signing of the contracts during a review
meeting last Friday between HCMC and other provinces.
There are eight
banks involved in this year’s price stabilization program – Sacombank,
VietinBank’s branch No. 7, Eximbank, BIDV’s Ben Thanh branch, Agribank’s Ly
Thuong Kiet branch, Military Bank, DongA Bank and HDBank. Last year’s program
had only five banks taking part.
Meanwhile, the 28
corporate borrowers are producers of essential products, milk and school
stationery, such as Saigon Co.op, Saigon Trading Group (Satra), Pham Ton Co.,
Ltd, Ba Huan Co., Ltd, Dong Tam Nutrition Food Joint Stock Company
(Nutifood), Dong Hung Co., Ltd (Citimart) and Saigon Food Joint Stock
Company.
The participating
banks and enterprises will be hammering out specific loans. However, the
total amount the banks have pledged for the program is VND8.3 trillion, four
times higher than last year.
HCMC Department of
Industry and Trade deputy director Le Ngoc Dao said VND2.8 trillion of the
VND8.3 trillion would come in short-term loans with interest rates ranging
from 5.5% to 6% per year, up nearly VND1.94 trillion versus last year.
VND2.15 trillion
medium- and long-term loans will be lent to farm development and material
cultivation projects, VND1.05 trillion higher than last year. They will carry
an interest rate of 7% to 10% per year.
The remaining
VND3.35 trillion will be provided for manufacturing enterprises, cooperatives
and distributors joining the price stabilization chain at interest rates of
7-8%.
Nguyen Phuoc Thanh,
deputy governor of the central bank, said the loans pledged for the program
this year were higher but the interest rates lower than last year.
At the meeting,
Sacombank struck deals with Can Tho, An Giang, Dong Nai, Ben Tre, Long An,
Dong Thap and Tien Giang to sponsor training courses for authorities and
traders at traditional wet markets.
According to Dao,
the price stabilization program for this year and the Lunar New Year holiday
early next year involves 76 enterprises, including goods producers, suppliers
and banks, up by nine firms.
In addition to
HCMC, An Giang, Dong Thap, Dong Nai, Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa and Lam Dong
provinces also have enterprises participating in the program.
Prices of products
chosen for the program are 5-10% lower than normal market prices.
Starting from this
year’s program, the chosen products will be labeled with the program’s logo,
which depicts a conical hat, lotus and Ben Thanh market.
Coffee
projected at over US$2,000 per ton
The Vietnam Coffee
and Cocoa Association (Vicofa) has forecast export prices of Robusta coffee
will increase to more than US$2,000 per ton in the next few months.
At a recent meeting
of the organization in HCMC, Vicofa ascribed its projection to a variety of
factors including stronger demand, bad climate conditions and lower supplies
by major coffee growers such as
According to
Vicofa’s vice chairman Do Ha
In the 2013-2014
crop, according to Vicofa statistics, local farmers have harvested nothing
from 5,000 hectares under coffee cultivation while another 40,000 hectares
has been badly affected by diseases.
Meanwhile, the
current dry season has also hit the
“If global coffee
demand edges up while coffee growing nations face lower yields due to little
rain, coffee prices will inevitably nudge up,”
Vicofa has also
attributed the possible Robusta price spike to the current considerable gap
between the price of Robusta beans (over US$2,000 a ton) and that of Arabica
beans (US$4,300 a ton), which has led coffee processors to switch to using
Robusta beans in droves.
Last Friday, coffee
sold for VND41,000-41,800 per kilo in the Central Highlands, up VND300-400
per kilo against the previous day.
Leading
European retailer likely to open store at I-Home building
C.T Group has said
it has worked with a major European retail firm over a plan to open a
commercial center on the ground floor of I-Home apartment project under
construction in HCMC’s Go Vap District.
The foreign retailer
has come to the site of the apartment project for inspection and the
forthcoming opening of the store would add value to the apartments, according
to C.T Group.
I-Home is located
on Pham Van Chieu Street and consists of three blocks with around 500 units
of 47-76 square meters whose prices range from VND630 million to VND1.1
billion.
The first block has
the first 11 floors complete at the moment while the third floors of the
other two blocks have just been finished. Apartment buyers can take delivery
by the end of this year.
Most LEDs
on local market have substandard quality
Around 90% of the
LEDs available on
Director of ECC
Huynh Kim Tuoc said at a meeting on energy efficiency last week that HCMC
currently had around 100
LED producers and
suppliers. However, around 60 of them buy components to assemble LEDs at home
and their quality is poor, he noted.
Tuoc said
high-quality LEDs can consume 50% less electricity than normal lights like
incandescent bulbs. Buyers of LEDs should query about the origins of LED
chips, reflector and other parts. If the origins are unclear, their quality
cannot be ensured.
Saving energy by
using LEDs has become popular at some public works in HCMC such as the
lighting systems along
According to ECC,
high-quality LEDs has high luminescence efficiency and their life can reach
100,000 hours, 8-10 times higher than good fluorescent lights. Besides, LEDs
are friendly to the environment.
Tran Van Mung at
HCMC Power Corporation said the firm would stop financial support for
households to install solar water heaters to channel funding to those using
LEDs.
VAMA
proposes using int’l fuel consumption results
The Vietnam Auto
Manufacturers Association (VAMA) has proposed Vietnamese authorities accept
the fuel consumption test results that are internationally recognized when
vehicles are required to display a fuel consumption label next year.
Metelo Jesus Arias,
general director of Ford
He, however, said
there should be a workable road map and guidelines from authorities on how to
implement the new requirement, test standards, label templates and a label
display location. Besides, procedures for certifying a car’s fuel consumption
should be kept simple.
According to VAMA,
the authorities should recognize internationally approved test results of
fuel consumption conducted by automakers and importers.
Some countries have
fuel consumption labeling rules in place, which are designed to classify
vehicles and display information about fuel consumption, emissions, or
amounts of money saved in five years.
Under the Ministry
of Transport’s new circular, with effect from next year, passenger vehicles
of less than seven seats, which are domestically manufactured/assembled and
imported, will have to display fuel consumption labels.
As planned by
Vietnam Register, the fuel consumption label would be put on the front
windscreen, containing information about automaker, assembler, importer, and
fuel consumption.
Domestically
manufactured/assembled cars certified to meet technical safety and
environment requirements by next year will have to display the label as from
2016.
Real estate
brokerages rushing to recruit new staff
A slew of real
estate brokerages in HCMC have since early this year been racing to recruit
more staff as business in the sector has grown more active than in previous
years.
The realty trading
centers that are getting directly or indirectly involved in property
development projects have reported stronger demand for sales employees.
Kim Oanh Real
Estate Joint Stock Company is recruiting 200 staff, Phuc Khang 200 and Tac
Dat Tac Vang 50. These firms specialize in investing and distributing
low-cost land lots in Long An, Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, which
border HCMC.
Dang Thi Kim Oanh,
general director of Kim Oanh Real Estate Joint Stock Company, said her firm
was looking to distribute around 3,000 land lots this year. Therefore, it is
employing more people in charge of sales.
“Customer demand
for land has been growing since early this year. Therefore, we need to
develop a professional team to meet customer needs,” Oanh said. The firm now
has five branches in HCMC, Binh Duong and Dong Nai.
Phuc Khang Real
Estate Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company has launched EcoSun project
covering 150 hectares in
Meanwhile, real
estate distributors like Danh Khoi A Chau, Thien Tin and Hoa Binh House are
also displaying their recruitment notices with each needing no less than 50
people.
According to realty
trading centers, the market has shown clearer signs of recovery this year
with the number of successful monthly transactions surging three to four
times versus last year.
Nguyen Van Tu,
general director of Minh Khang Gia Real Estate Company, said the number of
successful transactions conducted through the firm in the first quarter was
equivalent to that in the final half of last year.
In recent times,
investors have launched new projects onto the market with higher commissions
for brokerages. This is why many brokering centers are taking on more staff
to take advantage of emerging business opportunities, he said.
Another
Vinalines unit goes bust
After Vinashinlines
filed for bankruptcy last month, Vietnam Oil and Gas Transportation Joint
Stock Company (Falcon), another loss-making unit of State-run Vietnam
National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), is preparing to go out of business.
Vinalines has asked
the holder of State capital at Falcon, in which Vinalines holds a 51% stake,
to coordinate with the board of directors to organize an annual general
meeting and urgently start bankruptcy procedures.
Falcon earlier
failed to hold an extraordinary general meeting on March 18 to discuss a
bankruptcy plan as less than 65% of shareholders showed up. It organized
another meeting on April 8 as requested by the Government and the Ministry of
Transport.
Falcon is a
middle-scale enterprise but it has a fleet with the second highest load
capacity among Vinalines' subsidiaries, with 390,000 DWT.
In its latest
financial report, Falcon incurred total losses of over VND2.8 trillion as of
the end of 2011, higher than its equity by VND385 billion and its chartered
capital by four times. Given Vinalines' restructuring project in May 2013,
Falcon would still owe VND65 billion to banks after selling out all its assets.
The biggest concern
in Falcon's bankruptcy scheme is that most of its properties have been
mortgaged at banks for loans.
Many creditors have
liquidated Falcon's vessels at prices much lower than investment value and
levels determined by banks.
M&A
deals seen more active in banking sector
The banking sector
looks set to have more mergers & acquisitions (M&A) deals struck this
year as numerous banks are putting forth their merger schemes in the ongoing
annual general meeting (AGM) season.
Vietcombank will seek
approval to carry out an M&A agreement with other banks at its AGM slated
for April 23. However, the bank has not disclosed the names of any
candidates, Viet Capital Securities Company (VCSC) said in a report released
last Friday.
PGBank has also
released documents for its AGM scheduled for April 18, which include a
proposal to merge into VietinBank. This M&A will take place through a
share swap at the ratio of at least one PGBank share for 0.82 VietinBank
share, which translates to a maximum price for PGBank at VND13,612 per share.
PGBank is an
unlisted private bank with assets totaling VND19.2 trillion while VietinBank
is the second largest State-owned commercial bank with total assets amounting
to VND576 trillion.
Last year PGBank
reported net profit of VND38 billion, a net interest margin (NIM) of 2.6%, a
non-performing loan ratio of 2.9%, a return on equity of 1.2% and a return on
asset of 0.2%.
With PGbank’s lower
profitability and smaller market share than VietinBank’s, VietinBank will
certainly act as a guardian of PGBank in this M&A deal rather than an
investor merely seeking profit and market share. As planned for the merger,
PGBank will keep its existing structure and brand name, VCSC said.
Sacombank has plans
to acquire Southern Bank and Vietnam Maritime Bank is working on a merger
with Mekong Development Bank. A source told the Daily that the central bank
has given approval in principle to these merger schemes.
The central bank
encourages larger banks to take part in the restructuring of smaller
institutions; otherwise, it will have to acquire shares of those ailing banks
to revive them.
The former solution
helps save cost and time and it has won the nod from major banks. The central
bank is assisting lenders to complete procedures after the merger schemes
have been approved by shareholders, the source said.
The central bank’s
governor, Nguyen Van Binh, at a regular Government meeting in March said the
bank restructuring project is moving ahead after nine banks were earlier
restructured.
Capital raised
on HOSE surges
Corporations on the
Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) reported a double year-on-year increase in
capital raised through this bourse in the first quarter of the year.
HOSE data showed
that listed firms raised over VND4.3 trillion, up from the VND2.3 trillion in
the first quarter last year. This indicated an improvement in investor
sentiment, allaying last year’s fears that the stock market was not serving
as a channel for companies to raise money.
In the first
quarter, over 2.8 trillion shares were transacted on the market, a staggering
rise from the 35 million shares traded in the same period last year. Notably,
the volume of newly issued stocks surged 86.8% year-on-year.
There was no
delisting case reported in the first quarter this year while six firms left
the stock market in the same period last year.
In the coming time,
HOSE will deploy first exchange traded funds (ETFs) and field suggestions
from market members to draft listing, information disclosure and transaction regulations
for ETFs, said HOSE chairman Tran Dac Sinh.
HOSE will continue
supporting banks and public companies to list on the market, and launch a
single index for both HCMC and
HOSE and State
Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) have signed a memorandum of
understanding on cooperation in share auctions. Both sides will join hands to
help public firms where SCIC owns shares list on the stock market.
Last year over 300
enterprises on HOSE saw revenue improving 10.7% and after-tax profit growing
19.2% against 2012.
Teka
triumphs in customs duty case
Teka
The Ho Chi Minh
City Department of Customs has just released a decision to cancel its
original decision on the taxable price of eleven Teka
Teka is a
multinational firm of German origin, engaged in manufacturing and marketing
kitchen and bathroom appliances, porcelain products and industrial
containers.
Following the case,
the customs authority will keep the price declared by Teka
These products
include sinks, induction cookers, electric roasters, dishwashers and fridges.
The taxable price determined by the Vietnamese custom authority for them was
from 30 to 100 per cent higher than Teka’s declared valuations.
In late December
2013, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Customs decided to apply a taxable
price for a cargo of kitchen and bathroom appliances imported from
However, Teka
In a dialogue with
Teka in early February, the customs authority agreed to cancel its
determination of the taxable price for the eleven items.
In Decision
39/QD-GQKN dated March 7, 2014 sent to Teka Vietnam, Le Dinh Loi, deputy head
of Ho Chi Minh Department of Customs said that Teka Vietnam was the
distributor of Teka Group and was not allowed to directly sell products to
consumers; therefore, wholesale prices were 30-35 per cent of the retail
price published on its website or retailer listed prices.
Due to the specific
quality of these products, the company had to bear many other costs such as
warehousing, display, maintenance, engineering and after-sales service, said
Loi.
Meanwhile, under
Decision 39, many other products in its cargo imported in November 2013 would
still receive a higher taxable price but information has yet to be released.
VIR’s attempts to
contact Teka
Other foreign
invested companies like Electrolux,
However, while Teka
Sing Viet
in bribery case
The Ho Chi Minh
City Police Department last week started investigating an alleged graft case
in which the Sing-Viet township investor claimed it had given state officials
in
The foreign
investor had alleged the bribes had been used to facilitate procedures for
the long-delayed project, which aims to build the township on more than 330
hectares in Le Minh Xuan commune of Binh Chanh district.
The Ho Chi Minh
City People’s Committee spokesman Vo Van Luan told the press late this March
that the bribery claims required thorough investigations to show that the
city’s investment certificate issuing process was above-board, thus
protecting its investment environment against corruption allegations.
The project
received the city’s approval in 1997, with the investor being a joint venture
between Singaporean companies
However, the
project had still failed to break ground 10 years later because the joint
venture could not afford all the money for site clearance. Then the local
company withdrew from the project.
The Ho Chi Minh
City People’s Committee adjusted the investment certificate for the project
following the involvement of the wholly foreign-invested firm Sing-Viet City
Limited Company as a new investor.
In November 2011,
the administration issued another investment certificate for the project as
In early December
that year, the administration announced the second adjustment as the
investor’s legal representative was changed from
At a trial in July
2013, the city court rejected the request. In an appeal court in October
2013, the plaintiff provided the court with new documents, including papers
that alleged the project developer paid $2.8 million in bribes to state
officials in
Now, the project
site remains a forlorn location, located some distance from the National
Highway 1 and the Road 10 in Le Minh Xuan commune. The only evidence of the
project are some
Nguyen Duy Hanh, a
vendor at the corner of Tran Dai Nghia and Mai Ba Huong roads, told VIR if
the site had not been reserved for the project, it would have long-ago been
used for housing and businesses. She added a majority of affected people
there had received compensation for site clearance, but they had no idea when
work would recommence. According to the local authorities, the construction
of resettlement homes for the affected residents has been delayed for many
years.
Processing
and manufacturing industry sees positive signs
By the end of the
first quarter of 2014, the processing and manufacturing industry obtained
relatively high growth, the Vietnam Economic News reported, adding that while
the sector’s inventories decreased gradually the market for industrial
products remained difficult.
The General
Statistics Office (GSO)’s data showed that
Sales saw positive
signs. The sales index of processed and manufactured goods on March 1, 2014
was 4.3 percent higher than the same time last year. Some segments of the
processing and manufacturing industry reached a sales index higher than the
same time in 2013.
They included
electrical equipment production that grew 29.8 percent, leather and related
products (up 19.5 percent), motorized vehicles (up 16.6 percent); garments (up
13.5 percent), metal products (up 10.5 percent), chemicals and chemical
products (up nine percent), paper and paper products (up 8.5 percent), and
food processing (up eight percent).
Meanwhile, the
sales index of beverage production rose only 5.9 percent, that of textile
increased 4.8 percent, that of metal products fell nine percent, and that of
electronic products, computers and optical products decreased 14.7 percent.
The inventory index
of the whole processing and manufacturing industry on March 1, 2014 was 13.4
percent more than the same time in 2013. This growth was lower than that in
previous years. Segment with a decreased inventory index growth included
garment manufacturing (up 9.6 percent), electrical equipment production (up
5.1 percent); production of products from non-metallic minerals (up 3.3
percent), beverage production (up three percent), textiles (up 2.9 percent),
and motorized vehicle production (down 28.7 percent).
Segments with an
increased inventory index included metal production (up 126.8 percent),
production of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical materials (up 61.4 percent),
metal production, except machinery and equipment (up 59.4 percent),
manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (up 54.2 percent) and
production of leather and related products (up 53.6 percent).
On March 1, 2014,
the processing and manufacturing industry’s inventory rate was 84.4 percent,
while the rate of the medicine, pharmaceutical chemical and pharmaceutical
material production industry was 181.5 percent, that of chemical production
was 152.9 percent, that of furniture (bed, wardrobe, table and chair)
production was 122.6 percent, and that of metal production was 122.4 percent.
The above-mentioned
inventory rates showed that the market demand for the processing and
manufacturing industry had not improved considerably. The price index of the
industry’s products in the first quarter of 2014 rose only 0.89 percent,
while the price of raw materials and inputs for production increased about
2.84 percent, and transport and warehousing charges increased about 2.56
percent compared to the same time last year. This has been causing a high
pressure on the development of processing and manufacturing enterprises in
2014.
According to the
newspaper, to improve the situation, apart from the macro solutions for sale
promotion and demand stimulation, businesses need to take the initiative in
development, be creative, improve product and service quality and
competitiveness to increase sales, prepare all the necessary conditions to
take advantage of opportunities to expand the market, especially when a
series of trade agreements between Vietnam and international partners are
signed in the near future.-
Businesses
oppose ministry’s proposal to stop licensing new projects
The Ministry of
Construction has proposed the Government to stop licensing new commercial
housing and urban areas projects by 2014 with aiming to prevent further
waste.
Besides, this is to
force real estate businesses to concentrate in completion of incomplete projects
to better urban landscape and create vitality for new projects, according to
proposal.
Vietnam’s real
estate market has climbed on the bandwagon causing supply far exceed demand.
Businesses have much invested in the high-class segment and paid less attention
in the common segment, said Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung.
More than 4,000 new
urban area projects worth VND4,500 trillion (US$ 213.28 billion) were
approved over 102,000 hectares nationwide last year, according to the
ministry. Inventory value totaled VND94.5 trillion (US$ 4.48 billion).
The ministry
proposal is irrational and goes back up market economy rules, said Le Chi
Hieu, chairman and director general of Thuduc House Company.
Licensing is almost
the final phase in a process which investors have to do lots of procedures to
implement a project, he said.
If the new projects
meet with buyers’ demand, businesses should be permitted because they will
take responsibilities for their investment capital, Hieu added.
There is no
regulation which bans commercial housing licensing, according to deputy
director of a real estate company. In case that such regulation exists, it
should be implemented after a route to ensure the market rules.
The proposal is
also contradictory with the ministry’s report that the housing inventory
reduced early months of 2013 and the real estate market is showing signs of
recovery, he added.
Besides, the
Government’s VND30 trillion (US$1.42 billion) credit package has been
disbursed too slowly to assist the real estate market, which the ministry
blamed for shortage of housing products for buyers to purchase. Why the
ministry doest not license more new projects to create more products.
He wondered if the
licensing halt is to protect businesses with high stocks.
Other businesses
said that the ministry should not equal the licensing halt with inventory
reduction. If the ministry wants to ‘clean’ the real estate market, they
should issue stricter requirements before licensing and take more actions
against behind-schedule projects.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Tư, 16 tháng 4, 2014
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