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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 29/6
Vietnam-Japan dialogue on agricultural cooperation
The event aims to
reach a consensus on the Vietnam-Japan cooperative programme on developing
Addressing the
conference, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Cao Duc Phat
extended thanks for the Japanese Government’s active support in developing
Minister Phat
emphasized that agricultural cooperation with
Dong Thap
partners with
The Mekong Delta
A delegation from
the province recently made a fact-finding tour to the
During the trip,
Dong Thap officials signed an agreement with the Demokwekerji Westland
company and the Vietnam Business Centre in the Netherland, under which the
two Dutch partners will conduct a feasibility study for the establishment of
a hi-tech agriculture centre in the province. This project has already been
approved by the Dutch Ministry of Economy.
The visit was also
a good chance for Dong Thap experts to seek partners and concrete ways to
apply the latest farming techniques suitable with the local climate and soil.
Notably, during the
recent
Also on the
occasion, the Dong Thap People’s Committee and business players from the
The
Lieut. Gen. Vo
Trong Viet, Commander of the Vietnamese Border Guards and Major General
Bounthieng Chanthamounkhoun from the Lao Ministry of Public Security signed a
Memorandum of Understanding in
Accordingly,
agencies of the two sides will be enabled to supervise import-export and
entry-exit activities to help realise the cross-border transport facilitation
agreement between Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries.
Both Vietnamese and
Lao officials have closely worked together over the past time in border gate
management, which contributes to the strengthening of the special friendship
between the two countries.
The “one-stop-shop”
customs mechanism aims to simplify administrative procedures and facilitate
the flow of vehicles and goods.
Businesses
hope to greatly benefit from incentives
Domestic and
foreign businesses have all wished for incentives from the Vietnamese
Government and local authorities for better operations, according to a recent
survey released at a seminar in
Nearly 1,500
responded firms have expressed hopes to receive tax incentive, financial
support, and opportunities to access loans, according to Patrick Gilabert, a
representative from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
(UNIDO).
The findings
revealed that with incentives foreign businesses have operated more
productively, tended to use a large number of workers, achieved higher
productivity and had greater investment than local peers.
In the survey, foreign
businesses gave high estimations to
Deputy head of the
Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Dang
Xuan Quang, called for relevant agencies to work together to introduce
incentives suitable for international practices as well as reality in Vietnam
to attract more foreign investors.
Wood
exports forecast to reach a record US$6.2 bil
Wood processing
exports are likely to reach from US$6-6.2 billion this year, according to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
MARD reports that
wood exports reached US$2.87 billion in the first half of the year, up 15.3% over
the same period last year. While some key commodities such as rice, rubber
and cassava encountered difficulties, most wood processing products continued
to realize double-digit increases.
The US,
Nguyen Quoc Khanh,
President of the Handicraft & Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh
City (HAWA), said that in recent times, many international wood importers
have placed orders in
MARD also reported
that,
Vietnam
seeks stronger food processing partnership with RoK
As many as 100
Korean businesses operating in the food processing came to an investment
seminar held in
Vietnamese ministry
experts provided participants with detailed contents of the country’s
preferential policies on investment and potential projects in the field.
Meanwhile, Deputy
Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai reiterated the Vietnamese
Government’s commitments of creating all possible conditions for foreign
investors, including those from the
The seminar is part
of the activities of a Vietnamese delegation’s trade promotion tour to the
RoK from June 25-28.
After the event,
the Vietnamese guests will continue promotion activities in other localities
across the RoK.
Bilateral trade
between
Last year, the RoK
was the third largest trade partner of
The RoK now is the
second largest foreign investor in
Seafood
exports reach US$3.45 billion in first half
Seafood exports hit
US$536 million in June, bringing the total export value to US$3.45 billion
for the first half of the year, up 24.2% over the same period last year,
according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The
Most notably,
Vietnamese seafood
exports to
According to the
Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the EU is one
of the largest consumption markets for Vietnamese seafood, accounting for
nearly 18% of the nations total export value. Shrimp products have posted the
highest export value.
Last year,
GDP per
capita to reach 5,500 USD in northern key economic area
The Ministry of
Planning and Investment on June 25 announced an overall socio-economic
development plan by 2020 of the northern key economic region, in which GDP
per capital is targeted at 5,500, the Saigon Giai phong daily reported.
The plan was
approved by the Prime Minister in January this year with visions until 2030.
The area consists
of two sub-regions, namely an urban zone including
Under the plan, by
2020, agro-aqua-forestry sector will account for 5.5 percent of GDP while
industry and construction will occupy 49 percent. It is determined to hit
45.4 percent for services.
The area’s export
value will account for 32 percent of the country’s total.
With regard to
culture and social affairs, it is expected to have 80-85 percent of workers
trained, annually cut down the rate of poor households by 2 percent and reach
80 percent of communes meeting national standards regarding health services.
In terms of
services and tourism development, the economic area prioritises spiritual
cultural tourism and will accelerate services exports, upgrade infrastructure
and create a healthy business environment along with strengthening
finance-banking services with the focus on turning
The region pays
heed to developing industries of strength and capable of integrating into the
global value supply such as information technology, telecommunications,
machine manufacturing, shipbuilding, garment and textiles, among others.
Industries with
high technology and low emissions, and the industrialisation of agriculture
are also now a top priority.-
CMC
Corporation forms wholly owned subsidiary CIRD
CMC Corporation has
announced that it has formed a wholly owned subsidiary called CMC Institute
of Research and Development (CIRD) infused with an initial charter capital of
VND5 billion.
The new company was
formed as a research and development arm of the company specializing in
developing high technology products and services with high commercial value.
CMC Corp CEO Nguyen
Trung Chinh said the establishment of CIRD will allow the company to
consolidate its present research and development units into a more efficient
model that will benefit the overall operations.
"We have
established CIRD to orient technological research, implement testing research
and apply the latest technologies in the production of the corporation,"
he noted.
In the near future,
CIRD will organize research and development on matters pertaining to SMAC
(Social,
On June 26, CIRD
signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the
FDI
disbursement in first half slightly increases
The country's
foreign direct investment (FDI) disbursement saw a modest increase of 0.9
percent in the first half of 2014 and was estimated to touch 5.75 billion
USD.
However, registered
capital in the period declined 35 percent to 6.85 billion USD in the reviewed
period.
According to the
latest report of the Foreign Investment Agency, of the total investments,
4.85 billion USD came from 656 newly-licenced projects while the remainder
was from 219 existing projects, which raised their levels of capital.
The manufacturing
and processing sector absorbed the largest share of FDI, touching 4.8 billion
USD or 70.2 percent of the nation's total registered capital. Construction
and real estate trading industries ranked second and third, respectively.
Among the 41
countries and territories investing in
According to the
report,
Other ideal
localities preferred by foreign investors included the
During the January
to June period, the foreign-investment sector generated 47.82 billion USD
from exports, a yearly rise of 17 percent or equivalent to 67.5 percent of
the country's total export turnover, while its imports reached 39.29 billion
USD, up 11.4 percent.
Japanese food producers eye Vietnamese market
Many Japanese
businesses keep a close eye on Vietnamese food industry, but hesitate to
invest in the market due to weaknesses of the country’s transport
infrastructure and logistics system, a Japanese representative has said.
Hirotaka Yasuzumi,
Managing Director of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Office in
He urged
This will also help
increase the attractiveness of
Doan Xuan Hoa,
Deputy Director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry’s
Department of Agro-Forestry Products Processing and Salt Industry, said
FDI
businesses want to enjoy incentives in Vietnam
The impact of tax
incentive and other preferential policies on attracting foreign-invested
enterprises (FDI) and their advanced technologies was the topic under
discussion at a seminar held in
Patrick Gilabert,
UNIDO Chief Representative said that the results of a survey conducted of
industry in Vietnam, reflect that 1,500 local and FDI businesses reported
preferential incentives were a key factor in their decision to invest.
FDI busineses
listed preferential tax and other incentives, political stability and favourable
business climate as the four primary factors affecting their decision to
invest in the country.
Deputy Director of
the Foreign Investment Agency, Dang Xuan Quang, said that to lure more
foreign investment capital, relevant governmental agencies need to strengthen
communication with the business community to insure that proper incentives in
accordance with the international norms and the real situation in
In addition, it is
necessary to insure that high importance is attached to negotiating
incentives in a timely manner to attract state-of-the-art large-scale
foreign-invested projects, Quang said, adding that time is money and FDI
businesses are dissuaded from investing when the time delay in negotiating
offsets the benefits.
The event was
co-organised by from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
(UNIDO) and the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of
Planning and Investment.
Argo-forestry-fisheries
exports earn 14.6 billion USD in six months
Strongest growth
was seen in pepper export, with 111,000 tonnes shipped abroad for 790 million
VND, up 36.2 percent in volume and 47.8 percent in value.
Vietnamese pepper
was mainly exported to the
The wood processing
sector also enjoyed a 17.5 percent rise with 130,000 tonnes, earning 829
million USD, up 19.5 percent.
Meanwhile, aquatic exports
brought home 3.45 billion USD, up 24 percent year on year. While the
A total of 130,000
tonnes of cashew nuts were exported in the reviewed period for 829 million
USD, representing increases of 17.5 percent and 19.5 percent in volume and
value, respectively.
With a 32 percent
increase in volume to 1.04 million tonnes, coffee export earned 2.12 billion
USD compared to 1.71 billion USD of the same period last year, despite a 6
percent drop in price.
However, falls in
both volume and value were seen in the export of rice, rubber, tea and
cassava products.
Rice export
experienced decreases of 9.9 percent in volume and 8 percent in value with
3.2 million tonnes and 1.44 billion USD. It is notable that the
At the same time,
the rubber sector also suffered from a 29 percent fall in volume and a 33
percent decrease in value with only 337,000 tonnes shipped for 644 million
USD.
In the first half
of this year, Vietnam exported 57,000 tonnes of tea for only 92 million USD,
down 6.6 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively, while the figures for cassava
export were 1.8 million tonnes and 569 million USD, dropping 13 percent in
both volume and value.
Microchip
Technology to build
The U.S-based
Microchip Technology Inc. is looking for a land lot to build a chip
manufacturing plant in
A Microchip
representative revealed the plan at a working session with leaders of the
municipal People’s Committee in
The firm is seeking
a location in the city that has complete infrastructure and trained workers
for the project, said Ganesh Moorthy, Chief Operating Officer at Microchip
Technology.
He also proposed
that
Moorthy said the
plant is part of an investment strategy the firm committed to
Microchip
Technology Inc. is a leading provider of microcontroller and analog
semiconductors, providing low-risk product development, lower total system
cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications
worldwide.
Japans call on
Representatives of
Japanese enterprises have suggested that
Hirotaka Yasuzumi,
Director of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in
Hirotaka said that
to ensure the freshness and quality of agricultural produce,
This also
contributes significantly to reducing post-harvest food losses in farm
products such as fruits and vegetables he, said.
Ironing out these
types of issues will also result in increased Japanese foreign investment in
the country.
Members of the
Japanese business community, especially small-and medium-sized enterprises,
who are seeking cooperative projects with Vietnamese partners in the food
industry look favorably on the ability to quickly transport products as a
means of minimising costs, Hirotaka said.
Vietnamese
officials attending the forum said that an action plan to fast-track
development of the transport infrastructure is in the pipeline for the
agro-forestry and seafood processing industry within the framework of
Vietnam-Japan cooperation towards 2020 and with a vision to 2030.
Deputy Head of the
Agro-forestry Processing and Salt Industry Department Doan Xuan Hoa said the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is also spearheading
restructuring transport restructure as part of efforts to raise the added
value and promote sustainable development in agriculture.
Rubber,
rice exports drop in six months
In contrast to the
majority of key agro-forestry and seafood products, which experienced
significant export growth in the first half of the year, rubber and rice
exports fell sharply.
The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reported that exports of
agro-forestry and seafood products were US$2.227 billion in June, bringing
the six month total to US$14.67 billion, an increase of 11.2% over last year.
Of which, export
earnings from agricultural products jumped by 6.6% to US$7.15 billion,
forestry products by 14.9% to US$3.01 billion and seafood by 24.4% to US$3.45
billion.
Products with high
growth in both volume and value included coffee, pepper, cashew nuts,
seafood, wood and timber products, while other key products like rice,
rubber, tea, cassava and cassava products witnessed significant decline.
As one striking
example, pepper exports spiked up 36.2% in volume and 47.8% in value during
the first six months of the year.
In June, 16,000
tonnes of pepper were shipped abroad, earning US$127 million, bringing the
total exports for the six months to 110,000 tonnes worth US$790 million.
Meanwhile, the
country exported 109,000 tonnes of coffee in June, fetching US$229 million,
raising sixtotal -month exports to 1.04 million tonnes worth US$2.12 billion
(up 31.7% in volume and 24.7% in value).
Seafood brightened
up exports with a value of US$3.45 billion in six months, including US$536
million in June (up 24.2%).
Products witnessing
a sharp decline were rubber (down 33% in value and 11.7% in volume), cassava
(down 12.8% in value and 13% in volume) and rice (8% in value and 9.9% in
volume).
Only 3.2 million
tonnes of rice were sent abroad in the first half of this year, yielding
approximately US$1.44 billion.
Brighter
pathway for Vietnam-Germany cooperation
Vietnam-Germany
friendship and economic ties have been flourishing over recent years, since
the two countries agreed to elevate their relationship to that of an equal
strategic partnership.
Minister of
Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang made the comment on June 25 in a keynote
address delivered at the opening of a Vietnam-Germany Business Forum in
Two-way trade
turnover has risen astonishingly over 7.5 fold from 2000 to set an all time
record high of nearly US$8 billion in 2013, Hoang said, adding that in just
the first four months of this year, it surpassed US$2 billion.
The minister
stressed that
As of May 2014,
German companies had nearly 230 foreign-invested projects in
Hoang emphasised
the two countries are well on the pathway to comprehensive, well coordinated
and sustainable cooperative relations, and when the EU-Vietnam free trade
agreement (EVFTA) comes to fruition later this year, the opportunities for
trade and economic cooperation will rise exponentially.
The minister
singled out cooperation in education and training as well as science and
technology as prime areas that
Speakers and
businesses at the forum dilated at length on the opportunities for investment
in
They were in general
agreement that the EVFTA trade pact will have a dramatically beneficial
impact on trade relations,
Although the
overall impact of the trade pact is positive, it will also raise the bar for
Vietnamese products exported to European countries as new strict and
demanding regulations will also come into play, they agreed.
At the forum, the
MoIT and the Vietnamese business community expressed their keen interest in
forming cooperative ventures aimed at diversifying the country’s industrial
base in the support industry, which is another area of German strength.
Earlier, Minister
Hoang held a working session with Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economics
and Energy Sigmar Gabriel to discuss measures needed to bolster cooperation
in economics, trade and investment.
They also talked
about measures to accelerate negotiations on the EVFTA and to prepare for the
upcoming Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK) to be held in
Treasury
bills, bonds sell more
Transactions of Treasury
bills and Government bonds have risen because of the good liquidity of banks
for the second consecutive week. Despite this, positive credit growth in the
banking system is out of sight.
As treasury bills
are organised as short-term instruments of less than a year, they are
different from long-term Government instruments in the market, including
Government bonds, Government-guaranteed bonds and municipal bonds.
Treasury bills are
open-market instruments issued as book entries and are only available to
commercial banks. They are kept in State Bank custodial accounts and help the
central bank control liquidity.
Latest statistics
quoted by Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper show that about VND30.13 trillion
(US$1.4 billion) worth of treasury bills for tenures of 28, 56 and 91 days
were issued last week.
Yields were raised
from 2.6 to 3 per cent for a 28-day term; from 3.2 to 3.3 per cent for a
56-day term; and from 4 to 4.2 per cent for 91 days.
The pumping and
withdrawal of money in the last two weeks indicate that the central bank has
taken active control over liquidity, and that commercial banks have abundant
sources of capital.
In another
development in long-term instruments, about VND4.9 trillion ($223 million)
worth of Government bonds was sold last week on the primary market - 98 per
cent of the total on offer. Bond yields fell 10-15 percentage points lower to
reach 5.65-7.15 per cent a year.
The market moves
show that idle money from people and banks is flowing into state coffers
instead of being pumped into the economy to serve production and business. An
executive officer of Vietcombank said commercial banks had already poured a
large sum of money into bills and bonds. He added that credit growth was a
key factor in making the decision.
In fact, banks are
struggling to increase lending.This is indicated through credit growth of
only 1.31 per cent from January to May 23 compared to the target of 12-14 per
cent growth by year-end.
Generally, banks
seem likely to continue injecting money into bonds if they cannot find
borrowers.
In the secondary
market, transaction volume last week increased by 42 per cent against the
previous week. Yields range from 4.3 to 6.1 per cent annually.
According to a
State Treasury report, about VND96.704 trillion ($44.4 billion) headed for
state coffers by the end of May, equal to the total bond value mobilised for
all of 2013.
The Asian
Development Bank's (ADB) Asian bond report released on June 4 showed that
The issuance of
Government bonds in large quantities has put
It now has a growth
rate of 23 per cent compared to the previous quarter and 17.8 per cent
compared to last year.
This has produced a
record-high of $35 billion, according to the report.
Business optimism on the rise this year
Businesses are more
optimistic about the growth prospects now than two years ago.
This was revealed
by a survey on business trends in 2014, conducted by the General Statistics
Office of 8,100 firms from January 1, 2014 to April 30, 2014.
According to the
survey, though many difficulties remain, most of the surveyed firms are more
optimistic about the recovery and development prospects this year.
As many as 71.6 per
cent of the firms, including State-owned firms, private firms and foreign
direct investment (FDI) firms, expected their turnover to increase by roughly
70 per cent this year as compared to last year.
Another 14.7 per
cent forecast that their turnover would remain unchanged this year, while
13.7 per cent were concerned about declining turnover.
Also, 75.1 per cent
believed their pre-tax profits this year will be higher than last year, 5.8
per cent expected it to remain unchanged and 19.1 per cent forecast a
decrease of profits this year.
As for exports,
34.1 per cent expected their export value to rise this year. The number of
firms which believed that their export turnover this year would remain
unchanged from last year was 60.6 per cent. Only 5.3 per cent anticipated
their export turnover to be less this year over last year.
However, only 34.8
per cent were optimistic about the domestic market this year, while 16.2 per
cent were concerned that the local market would be worse than last year.
According to the
survey, 49.5 per cent of the firms were borrowing loans for production and
business activities as of March 2014, and 63.3 per cent of them got the loans
from State-owned commercial banks.
Firms in the
industrial and construction sectors topped the list of the borrowers with a
rate of 60 per cent, followed by firms in the service sector with 43 per
cent. The agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors accounted for only 33.7
per cent.
Most firms that did
not receive bank loans noted that they did not need to take loans frequently.
Complicated lending procedures, high interest rates, the ability to borrow
from other sources, and being able to meet lenders' requirements were all obstacles
preventing firms from gaining access to bank loans.
Quang Ngai
to sell E5 RON92 biofuel
The Vietnam
National Petroleum Group on Wednesday announced that it will begin selling
biofuel E5 RON 92 in the central
E5 RON 92, which
has unleaded gasoline and 4 per cent to 5 per cent ethanol, will replace the
traditional Mogas 92. Therefore, all petrol stations in Quang Ngai will sell
gasoline E5 RON 92 and Mogas RON 95.
Petrolimex Quang
Ngai will receive the two kinds of gasoline from the Dung Quat Oil Refinery
and then send them to its agents throughout the province.
E5 RON 92 is
expected to be more widely available nationwide from December 1, 2015.
Quang
The central
The provincial
investment promotion centre said the programme will introduce Japanese
investors to the potential and investment environment in the province at
various business forums.
The two sides also
discussed the possibility of cooperation in the fields of culture, human
resource education, investment and heritage preservation.
The central
province has attracted six investment projects from
Legislators
want public debt at safe level
The National
Assembly (NA) in a resolution issued at its closing session on June 24
requested the Government and the Finance Ministry to attend more to financial
security by keeping public debt at a safe level and restricting rollover
loans.
In the resolution
on question-and-answer (Q&A) results at this session, legislators
demanded the Government take measures to restructure public debt by turning
short-term loans into long-term ones, issue Government bonds with longer
tenors, reduce budget overspending and review public debt and government debt
to balance between borrowing and payment.
The solutions to
deal with public debt should be presented at the next session of the NA by
the end of this year.
Before the
resolution was passed, many deputies suggested removing the phrase about
restrictions on rollover loans as this content is already included in the
provision on “turning short-term loans into ones with longer tenors.”
However, the NA
Standing Committee threw support behind the Government’s plan for converting
short-term loans into long-term ones as this measure could ensure enough time
and flexibility for debt repayment. Meanwhile, making rollover loans is a
temporary solution to ease pressure on overdue loans, so it will not be
encouraged in the long term.
Earlier, Minister
of Finance Dinh Tien Dung at a Q&A session said that public debt was
still within safety territory. Each year, the Government’s debt payments
account for 25% of total budget collections, in which the Government takes
out 10% new loans to reschedule old loans.
This suggests that
there are problems with due debt while the loans guaranteed by the Government
have surged 50% annually over the past four years.
For the Ministry of
Justice, the NA urged agencies to review the legal system to detect
regulations going against the Constitution.
The NA also told
the Ministry of Education and Training to take measures for deploying the
Government’s action plan on comprehensive education reform. The ministry will
present the measures at the eighth NA session.
The education
ministry and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs will work
together to forecast labor demand to balance supply and demand. The ministry
was also told to improve training quality at universities.
Leather-shoe
sector needs restructuring
The leather-shoe
industry posted high growth last year but experts at a seminar in HCMC on
Monday urged a restructuring of the sector to help address its shortcomings
and improve its export performance in the longer term.
Diep Thanh Kiet,
vice chairman of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso), told
a seminar on prospects for leather-shoe-bag and apparel sectors that now was
the right time to restructure these sectors to enable them to achieve
sustainable development.
Kiet suggested the
Ministry of Trade and Industry map out master plans for these industries to
improve productivity in the sectors and enhance product quality alongside
lessening reliance on material imports.
Last year
leather-shoe-bag exports brought in US$10.4 billion, accounting for 10% of
the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and surpassing the target of
US$9.11 billion set for 2015 in the master development plan until 2020.
The leather-shoe
sector is estimated to grow 14% in the first six months while bag
manufacturing also has grown around 18% during the period, higher than the
target of 13-14% set by the association.
However, the
leather-shoe-bags and apparel industries still have many difficulties that
need to be resolved, if such industries are to maintain stable growth.
Kiet said small and
medium enterprises in the leather sector now depend on materials imported
from China, with 60% of materials for synthetic leather production imported.
Apart from leather,
the country has to import some US$2.5 billion worth of other materials for
making leather-footwear products, 60% of which are from China, a worryingly
high figure, Kiet said.
Phan Chi Dung, head
of the Light Industry Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade,
noted that despite high growth, local manufacturers in these sectors have not
been able to join the global supply chain.
Although Vietnam
offers low-cost labor, productivity remains low. Research by Vietnam Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) general secretary Pham Thi Thu Hang indicates
that the average productivity of a Chinese worker is double that of a
Vietnamese laborer.
On the other hand,
enterprises in Vietnam consume power and water three times higher than those
in China, according to the study.
Kiet said in the
coming time, the industry should be restructured to create its own materials,
targeting to reach a local content ratio of 60-65% by 2015 and 80% by 2020.
To do so,
enterprises must change themselves first and authorities should have
preferential treatments to support them.
To increase local
productivity, the association will open its own training centers for workers,
managers and company leaders as well, Kiet said, explaining that colleges and
training schools now focus too much on theory and therefore students after
graduation still fail to meet the actual needs of enterprises.
According to
Lefaso, around 500 firms are operating in the leather-shoes-bags industry and
their exports rank behind only apparel products and cellphones.
Draft
strategy targets three million new condos in 2015-20
Vietnam will need
to build around three million housing units with a total floor space of 425
million square meters in 2015-2020, according to a draft strategy for
national housing development by the Ministry of Construction.
The ministry
targets an average housing area in Vietnam of 25 square meters per capita by
2020, with 29 square meters for an urban dweller and 22 square meters in the
countryside, according to the draft just submitted to the Government for
consideration.
It also aims to
develop 12.5 million square meters of budget housing in urban areas in the
period of 2015-2020.
At a recent
conference on the real estate market, Nguyen Tran Nam, Deputy Minister of
Construction, said the housing area per capita in Vietnam is the lowest in
the world.
The country now has
an average housing area of 20 square meters per capita compared to 30 square
meters in China, Nam said.
The draft strategy
for national housing development was finished after the Government Office
released a document on February 6 requesting the ministry to cooperate with
other related ministries and departments to work on a strategy to develop the
country’s real estate market.
According to the
ministry, it is necessary to build the strategy for real estate market
development as this market has revealed its weaknesses and haphazard
development.
Prices of real
estate and housing projects are still high, especially in major cities, while
small- and medium-scale projects with soft prices for sale and rent are
insufficient.
Financing for
social housing projects is limited, causing the lack of such products in
cities, while investments are poured into real estate without specific
orientations, creating products which do not meet actual demand, leading to
high inventories and a waste of land and social investment capital.
Sales of
cement, steel bounce back in H1
Sales of cement and
steel have rebounded in the first half of 2014 after years of decreases and
industry insiders view this as a positive sign of recovery in the local
building material market.
Nguyen Quang Cung,
chairman of the Vietnam Cement Association, told the Daily that nearly 33
million tons of cement has been consumed domestically and exported from
January to June, up nearly 10% against the year-ago period. Sales and prices
of this building material are forecast to be stable in the second half of
this year.
“The cement
industry has performed better in the year to date than last year with a
year-on-year rise of nearly10% or equivalent to the growth rate of 2010 after
declines from 2011 to 2013,” Cung said.
Cung said the
association forecast domestic cement sales for 2014 will rise by nearly 9%
year-on-year to 49-50 million tons and exports will reach 16-20 million tons
compared to some 15 million tons last year.
Currently,
operational cement plants in the country can turn out more than 70 million
tons a year and this volume meets local demand for cement and clinker as well
as orders from foreign markets.
Steel consumption
has been on track to recovery this year. Nguyen Van Sua, vice chairman of the
Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), said nearly 2.5 million tons of construction
steel has been sold in the first half, a year-on-year rise of 8%.
The steel sales
volume in the period has increased by up to 12% to more than five million
tons if steel and iron-coated sheets and pipes are taken into account.
“Steel prices have
been pretty stable this year,” Sua said and added that a number of producers
have sold a ton of steel at VND100,000-150,000 higher this year but other
companies have revised down their prices by at least VND100,000 per ton.
Sua said despite
higher transport cost, the majority of steel makers have refrained from
hiking prices as the rise of local demand looks unsustainable.
Another problem is
that supply still surpasses demand for construction steel and this is one of
the reasons steel mills are running at 40-60% capacity.
VSA projected local
steel producers will be able to sell approximately 12 million tons on
domestic and overseas markets this year, up 5-7% over the year before.
Design
competition launched for young entrepreneurs
National
Instruments (NI) on June 24 inaugurated a design competition for young
entrepreneurs in Vietnam with an aim to help advance innovation and
entrepreneurship among young engineers in the country.
Developed in
collaboration with the Higher Engineering Education Alliance (HEEAP) in
Vietnam, the first competition is open to all engineering students and
graduates from academic partners of this alliance in this country and will
award the market-ready projects that support sustainable development in local
communities.
Chandran Nair,
managing director of NI for Southeast Asia, said NI is looking for “the most
innovative, most relevant projects that solve real-world problems and benefit
communities.”
Through its Planet
NI program, the company will provide access to development platforms for
participants to design prototypes of their projects and further on-going
testing of their research work. Besides tools, NI will also offer training
and consultation so that good ideas are turned into functional prototypes.
NI said developers
of the most innovative project prototypes that address challenges in the
local communities of Vietnam will be awarded, including an opportunity to
present their research at the global NIWeek Conference in Austin, Texas, the
United States.
Planet NI
representatives will select the top two projects and pick one winner from the
finalists from Can Tho University, Cao Thang Technical College, Industrial
University of HCMC, Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi University of
Science and Technology and HCMC University of Technology.
“In Vietnam and the
rest of Southeast Asia, there are a host of community-based challenges that
our young engineers can help solve. The ingenuity and feasibility of the
ideas of this year’s finalists, from simple and affordable medical devices to
the use of sensors to prevent road accidents, are immensely encouraging,”
Nair said.
NI opened its
office in HCMC in 2011 and has since grown its presence in Vietnam with
customers in industries such as automotive, infrastructure, oil & gas,
and electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. As a strategic partner of
HEEAP, the company works closely with tertiary institutions and research
agencies and assists them with better access to software, hardware and
training.
In March this year,
NI announced its partnership with HCMC Vocational College to open a first
LabVIEW academy in Vietnam to help raise the standards of engineering
education in Vietnam.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Bảy, 28 tháng 6, 2014
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