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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 6/7
Landline
subscriptions continue to slump amid mobile gains
The number of
landline subscribers continued to fall in the first half of 2014 as
The MIC said
landline subscribers were estimated at 7 million in June, down from 9.47
million in June 2013.
At the same time
last year, the number of mobile subscribers was around 136 million.
According to the
MIC, the number of mobile subscribers using data services was estimated at
121 million in June, down about 2 million from the beginning of the year.
It is predicted
that landline numbers will continue to drop in the future as users are lured
to cheaper mobile devices and more reasonably priced mobile plans.
As of June,
In the first half
of 2014, revenue from postal and telecommunications services was estimated at
VND 122 trillion (US$5.7 billion), equivalent to 44% of the sector’s target
for the whole of 2014.
Ministry
moves to tackle smuggling
Deputy Minister of
Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai on Tuesday urged the nation's market watch
forces to take more drastic measures to curb smuggling and other forms of
trade fraud in the second half of this year.
Addressing a
conference on Tuesday, Hai asked them to concentrate on six "hot"
groups of goods that were usually smuggled or faked - fertiliser, fuel,
liquefied gas, helmets, cigarettes and poultry.
He said that the
ministry would improve the legal framework and relevant documents to
facilitate the work of market watch forces.
Do Thanh Lam,
deputy head of the ministry's Market Watch Department, said that so far, the
Government has issued 45 decrees on fines for violations involving the
production, trade and transport of products including those that tend to be
smuggled or counterfeited.
However, in nearly
half of the decrees, the market watch force was not empowered to impose
fines, he said.
Hence many people
misunderstood that force could only work with products that industry and
trade ministry was assigned to manage, he added.
Lam said that
smuggling and trade of contraband products was developing in complicated
ways, particularly in border provinces of Lang Son, Quang Tri and other
southwestern localities.
The conference
heard that in the last six months, market watch forces examined over 90,800
cases, punished nearly 48,700 violations and collected fines of VND202.76
trillion (US$9.5 billion), nearly 16 per cent higher than that of the same
period of last year.
"This is
because of a big gap in prices of foreign and domestic products and high
import taxes for wine, beverage, sugar and fuel," he said.
Lam said that the
co-operation among agencies and provinces was not effective as it should be,
being limited to infrequent exchange of experiences and inter-sectoral
inspections.
He said a detailed
plan should be drawn up to strengthen co-operation between market watch
bureaus of different localities, including joint action against all kinds of
trade fraud.
The Mekong Delta
City of Can Tho has established a steering committee to oversee
Anti-smuggling, Counterfeit Goods and Trade Fraud operations to better
prevent, detect and crack down on violations.
Truong Quang Hoai
Nam, vice chairman of the municipal People's Committee, said that they would
focus efforts on hotspots including stations, markets and supermarkets,
impose stricter control over goods that threatened national security, public
health and the environment such as drugs, explosives, fuel, tobacco,
fertilisers and wildlife products.
In the first half
of this year, the city's Industry and Trade Department reported 767 violations
relating to smuggling, counterfeit goods and trade fraud, collecting VND9.1
billion ($427,000) in fines.
Hanoi Gift Show 2014 scheduled for late October
Hanoi Gift Show
2014, the only specialised handicraft and gift fair organised in Hanoi, is
scheduled to take place at Vietnam Exhibition & Fair Centre from October
27-30, featuring more than 200 exhibitors from Hanoi and other provinces
nationwide.
The four-day event
provides an ideal platform for enterprises operating in the handicraft
industry to advertise and introduce products to foreign importers with the
aim of expanding markets and seeking new co-operative partners.
The show will be
expanded to 700 booths compared with 550 last year, showcasing five main
groups of items, namely home décor and handicrafts, indoor and outdoor
furniture, home textiles and embroidery, gifts and ethnic items, and personal
accessories.
The organisers will
also prepare a special display area to exhibit sophisticated and
well-designed products manufactured by enterprises in the ‘One Village One
Product’ (OVOP) movement, both from
The OVOP area has
become a highlight within the framework of the Hanoi Gift Show, following the
success of its two previous editions, creating prestige for the export
community as well as with international buyers. This year, OVOP will
introduce several specific item groups in terms of fashion, tourism gifts,
flowers and trademark building.
Following a ‘Vietnamese
Pottery Space’ in 2013, OVOP 2014 will bring participants to a ‘Rattan and
Bamboo Space’ with a wide range of both modern and traditional rattan and
bamboo handicraft items being displayed on an area of 1,000sq.m.
According to Le Ba
Ngoc, Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Handicraft Exporters
Association (Vietcraft), corporate participation will be increased to at
least 90% at this year’s show, along with minimising the number of private
groups and households participating, aiming to enhance trade promotion
efficiency and enable businesses with huge export potential to seek
international co-operation opportunities.
The organising
board expects to welcome about 580 foreign importers to the 2014 Hanoi Gift
Show, focusing on major markets including the US, Japan, Australia, EU,
Russia, Taiwan (China) and New Zealand – an increasing number against 464 in
2012 and 532 in 2013, Ngoc said.
He added that some
preferential policies will be implemented to support the registered
international importers to the event such as the provision of free visas and
guest pick-up at airports, fact-finding tours to
Enterprises
still keep listing at arm’s length
Many enterprises
after launching their initial public offerings (IPO) have still been
reluctant to list on the local bourse although the stock market has made good
improvement this year, according to data from the market regulator.
According the State
Securities Commission (SSC), the number of newly-listed firms was modest in
the first six months of 2014 with only seven companies debuting on the two
local exchanges. Meanwhile, as many as 22 companies left both bourses.
Therefore, the
total number of listed enterprises had dropped from 700 in 2011 to 662 as of
the end of June.
The Hochiminh Stock
Exchange (HOSE) is expected to welcome two new firms – Mobile World
Corporation and Southern Hydropower Joint Stock Company. Meanwhile, Thong
Nhat Production & Investment Joint Stock Company and Van Dien Fused
Magnesium Phosphate Fertilizer Joint Stock have just applied to list on the
southern bourse.
Local banks have
also delayed their listing schemes as they are still busy tackling bad debt.
Late last year, the Government asked lenders after launching their IPOs to
float their shares on the market to secure transparent operations.
For State-owned
giants that are going to launch IPOs such as
Under prevailing
rules, enterprises are forced to realize their listing plans within one year
after IPO.
In fact, both
administering agencies and entities on the market last year expected Decree
108/ND-CP stipulating administrative fines in the securities sector would
force more companies and banks to list. Given the rules, unlisted public
enterprises will be subject to fines from VND100-150 million for failing to
float shares on the market within one year after IPO.
However, the decree
has yet to yield results so far and the market is expected to see just a few
newcomers between now and the end of this year.
An official at HOSE
told the Daily that enterprises will consider listing plans carefully in
spite of fines. They are now shy of listing due to low prices and poor
liquidity on the stock market.
In addition, listed
enterprises have to spend much time and money observing information
disclosure regulations as they have to hire accountants to check their
financial reports, he said.
Meanwhile,
investors, especially foreign players, are expecting new products as they
wish to buy into strong companies. Most leading firms on the market have seen
foreign room filled up and such investors are not interested in unattractive
firms with poor liquidity.
The director of an
investment fund said that to lure investors, the local market must grow in
terms of capitalization and the number of leading companies.
G-bond
sales hit VND20 trillion in June
The State Treasury
raised VND20 trillion worth of government bonds through 14 auctions organized
on Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) last month, the news site Vietnamplus reports.
According to a
report of HNX, G-bond volume mobilized on the primary market jumped 27.3%
from May.
Bond yields for the
two-year tenor hovered from 5.64% to 5.75% per annum, three years from 6.1%
to 6.25% per annum, five years from 7.15% to 7.23%, 10 years 8.7%, and 15
years 8.88% per annum.
A HNX
representative said that bond yields for tenors from two to three years
inched up by 0.05 percentage point against the previous month. Meanwhile, the
yield of the five-year tenor fell 0.3 percentage point and that of 10 years
remained unchanged.
On the secondary
market, there were over 516 million G-bonds worth VND54.8 trillion traded
under the normal trading mode. Transactions focused on tenors of one, two and
three years.
For repo trading,
there were 213 million bonds worth nearly VND22 trillion changing hands.
During the month,
foreign buying under the normal trading mode reached over VND9.5 trillion
while foreign sales hit VND5.6 trillion.
For the repo
method, foreign buying was around VND2 trillion.
For the secondary
Treasury bill market, there were 10.9 million bills worth over VND1 trillion
traded under the repo method last month.
HSBC Bank and
Markit Economics Company have announced that
This was the 10th
consecutive month the PMI had been above 50. An index reading above 50
indicates an overall increase while below 50 is an overall decrease.
In its report
released on July 1, HSBC said the Vietnamese manufacturing sector continued
improvements in business conditions in June although the rates of growth in
output and new orders eased during the month.
New manufacturing
orders had risen for the seventh consecutive month in June. The rate of
expansion was solid, but slowed for the second month running, it said.
Where new business
rose, panelists also reported improved customer demand. The rate of growth in
new export orders also eased during the month.
HSBC said growth of
new orders led to another increase in production although the impacts of the
worker protests on factories in May put the brakes on the pace of expansion.
However, manufacturing output has now risen in each of the past nine months.
As covered by the
Daily, many workers at industrial zones in Binh Duong, Dong Nai, HCMC and Ha
Tinh walked off the job in mid-May in protest against China’s illegal
placement of its giant oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 deep inside Vietnam’s
exclusive economic zone and continental shelf and ill-intentioned elements
took advantage of this to incite looting and storming at enterprises in the
localities. But, central and local agencies stepped in immediately to put the
situation under control.
According to the
HSBC report, a weaker rise in new orders led companies to work through their
backlogs of work last month. Outstanding business fell for the second month
in a row and at a slightly faster pace than in May.
Moreover, the
enforcement of weight restrictions on trucks added to cost burdens last
month. As a consequence, input prices rose sharply again, albeit at a
slightly weaker pace than in May. The tonnage limits also impacted delivery
times.
Meanwhile,
purchasing activity continued to increase, extending the current sequence of
expansion to 10 months. However, the rate of growth eased to the weakest
since September 2013.
Increased input
buying helped companies build reserves of inventories, with stocks of
purchases rising at the sharpest pace since July 2011. Pre-production
inventories have increased in two of the past three months.
Panelists responded
to sharp rises in input costs by raising their output prices in June. The
increase was modest, but the first since January and the strongest in 15
months.
The rate of job
creations in the Vietnamese manufacturing sector remained marginal. While
higher new orders encouraged some firms to raise their staffing levels, other
companies reported that employee resignations had led to a drop in staff
numbers.
Commenting on the
Vietnam Manufacturing PMI survey, Trinh Nguyen, Asia Economist at HSBC, said
the manufacturing sector continued expansion at a solid pace, albeit with a
slight slowdown. Stronger demand is the main reason.
“External demand
decelerated but we expect this to be temporary. Given low inventories and
robust new orders, we expect the sector to continue to perform well,
especially as the impact from recent tensions fades,” she said.
Enterprises
discuss diversification of material supplies
Most businesspeople
attending a seminar in HCMC on Monday stressed the urgent need to diversify
sources of material supplies, focusing on solutions to boost local purchases
to reduce reliance on imports, especially from
Speaking at the
seminar held by the 2030 Businessmen Club under the Saigon Times Club,
speakers said that bolstering cooperation for sustainable development is not
a new story. However, avoiding depending too much on imports from nearby
countries is becoming more urgent as many domestic producers have now been
able to supply materials.
Do Long, chairman
and general director of Binh Tan Consumer Goods Manufacturing Company
(Bita’s), said the company needs up to 360 types of material to produce a
pair of shoes and thus it keeps finding domestic suppliers.
Long said his
company has found around 80 material suppliers.
Le Quoc An, former
chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said that Southeast
Asian countries have set up the ASEAN Federation of Textile Industries
(AFTEX), whose goal is to make use of strengths of each country and assisting
each other.
The operating model
of AFTEX is quite effective. Therefore, local enterprises need to be aware of
their strengths in forging links with each other, according to An.
Meanwhile,
according to Nguyen Thanh Nhan, deputy director of Saigon Co.op, small and
medium producers fail to instill confidence in consumers as their product
quality is sometimes not as high as claimed. Besides, they are reluctant in
cooperating with one another, he said.
“Many producers
have refused to join us in making products bearing the brand of Saigon Co.op
as they want to open their own distribution channels and build their own
brands, which is a great challenge due to their limited capacities,” Nhan
said at the seminar.
Enterprises that
are members of the 2030 Businessmen Club and speakers agreed on developing
their own material sources, but this needs careful and strategic
considerations.
“I expect that
cooperation opportunities will open up after this seminar, with cooperation
deals to be inked in the coming time, to prove that this is not a talk shop,”
said Do Long of Bita’s.
Mizuho Bank
helps BR-VT attract Japanese investors
Ho Van Nien, vice
chairman of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, said the deal with one of the major and
prestigious banks of
Nien expected
Mizuho will help bring more Japanese investors to the province to sound out
the prospects of trading, tourism and other sectors.
Japanese consul
general in HCMC Nakajima Satoshi said that Mizuho has formed a strong
supporting network for Japanese companies through its facilities in
Mizuho Bank’s
managing executive officer Katsuyuki Mizuma said Ba Ria-Vung Tau has been
known as a major seaport hub in
Mizuma said Mizuho
has transactions with 74% of the listed companies in
Mizuho also lends
to companies from
The Japanese consul
general said ill-intentioned elements took advantage of worker protests
against
“
Also on July 1, Ba
Ria-Vung Tau Province announced establishment of a working group called Japan
Desk to exclusively help Japanese firms active in the province. With
participation of Japanese experts, the group will also help companies from
that country gauge the business environment in the locality.
The group will work
with Japan Desk HCMC and Japanese partners to introduce Ba Ria-Vung Tau
Province to Japanese investors.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau
Province has attracted 290 foreign direct investment projects with combined
registered capital of US$26.6 billion. Of the total, Japanese firms are
involved in 19 projects with more than US$1.9 billion in steel production,
oil and gas pipe outsourcing, engineering, seaport, apparel and seafood
sectors.
The Government has
picked the province as one of the two localities in
Jetstar
Pacific receives
Low-cost carrier
Jetstar Pacific on Monday received an Airbus A321 from national carrier
Vietnam Airlines to serve the rising summer travel demand from now to
September 15.
The deal is part of
the plan to combine the low-cost service of Jetstar Pacific with traditional
service of Vietnam Airlines in the domestic market. Previously, Vietnam
Airlines, which holds a dominant stake in Jetstar Pacific, has cooperated
with the latter in transporting passengers in case the flight schedule of one
of them is changed.
According to
Jetstar Pacific, the aircraft is configured with 184 seats, including 16
business-class seats available for all passengers at the economy fare on the
first-come-first-served basis.
Le
Passengers can
choose their seat when booking tickets or when finishing procedures at the
airport and will only need to pay a service fee of VND60,000.
With one more
Airbus A321, Jetstar Pacific can carry an additional 32,000 passengers each
month.
The airline now has
flights to HCMC,
Its two major
shareholders are Vietnam Airlines with a stake of 68.43%, and
Ministry
proposes no fines for overloaded trucks, for now
More time will
likely be given for transporters to deal with problems related to overloaded
trucks following a proposal on Monday by the Transport Ministry in a bid to
unravel the ongoing transport chaos, meaning certain violations may not be
subject to fines.
After two months of
examining the situation, the ministry at a regular Government meeting in HCMC
on Monday proposed that certain violations specified in Government Decree
171/2013/ND-CP be spared from punitive sanctions until December 31.
The proposal cites
opinions of provincial authorities, industry associations, cooperatives and
police, aiming to remove difficulties for transport firms and goods owners,
and give them time to use other vehicles meeting requirements on load
control.
Therefore,
according to the ministry, in the rest of this year, fines should not be
imposed on vehicles violating the axle load but not violating the total load
allowed. Drivers of vehicles whose total loads exceed the designed loads by
no more than 10% would also be exempted during the period of grace.
Except for Tay Ninh
and Lang Son provinces, 61 other provinces and cities are checking the
vehicle load around the clock.
Between December
16, 2013 and May 31, 2014, weigh stations nationwide inspected over 103,500
vehicles, and detected nearly 25,000 violations. Authorities imposed fines of
VND77 billion, temporarily detained 536 trucks, revoked the driving licenses
of 14,011 drivers, and forced violators to unload 32,000 tons of excessive
goods.
However, some
problems have arisen when checking and fining overloaded vehicles. For
instance, goods shippers signed contracts with foreign customers to use
40-foot containers with each fully-loaded one weighing 28 tons under
international standards, but such a load is two tons higher than the highest
permissible load in
According to the
ministry, previously there was no detailed regulation on designs and weights
of semi-trailers. If the new rules contained in Decree 171 are applied, there
will be around 28,000 semi-trailers failing to meet the design requirements.
Businesses turn into low cost houses
Several companies
have dividing their apartments into smaller ones or changing commercial
housing projects into social projects to serve low income group of customers,
according to HCMC Department of Construction.
An Suong
residential area for low income people and resettlement in District 12
(Photo: SGGP)
Fifty percent of
2,000 inventory apartments sold in the first half this year were earlier
divided into smaller ones. Investors have asked for permission to divide
another 5,000 apartments into 9,100.
Projects with
apartments priced less than VND1 billion each have seen good trade.
Hoang Anh Saigon
Company was successful in selling 53-65 square meter apartments with two bed
rooms costing only VND699 million.
The company’s
director general Hoang Chi Thanh said that the project has attracted a lot of
customers because it meets demand and suits financial ability of wage
earners.
Hung Thinh Land
Company has sold out 187 apartments at price averages VND725-1,000 million
per 54-60 square meter one within two weeks.
The company earlier
launched two low cost apartment projects including 8X Dam Sen in Tan Phu and
8X Thai An in Go Vap. Prices swing from 600-725 million. A total of 520
apartments have been purchased so far.
Projects in the low
cost segment will continue to lead the market, said Nguyen Duy Minh, the
company’s director general.
Hy Dia Company has
just introduced Lotus Apartment in eastern HCMC with prices at VND368 million
not including value added tax. Thu Duc Housing Development Company is going
to launch a series of low cost apartment blocks named 3S.
The interest rate
of the VND30 trillion credit package for social housing has reduced to 5
percent per year, which is expected to make the low cost segment more
eventful and contribute to warm up the real estate market.
According to report
from the State Bank of
VND80–100
trillion to develop
Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung on June 24 issued Decision No.1037/QĐ-TTg ratifying
adjustments to a master plan on the development of
The decision takes
effect on the date of its signing, replacing the older No. 2190/QĐ-TTg dated
December 24, 2009, which approved the plan.
The new scheme aims
to maximise the advantages of geographical positioning and natural conditions
for the development of a comprehensive and synchronous port system on a
national scale to meet the requirements of the processes of industrialisation
and modernisation.
It targets to reach
the cargo throughput of imports and exports carried by sea at approximately
400–410 million tonnes per year by 2015. The figure is expected to rise to
640–680 million tonnes per year by 2020, and 1.04–1.16 billion tonnes
annually by 2030.
Total funding set
for the plan was estimated at VND80–100 trillion (US$3.76–4.7 billion), including
VND40–50 trillion for public seaport infrastructure development.
Under the new
master plan, Vietnam’s seaport system will be divided into six groups of
ports, including Group 1: northern seaports from Quang Ninh to Ninh Binh,
Group 2: north-central ports from Thanh Hoa to Ha Tinh, Group 3: mid-central
ports from Quang Binh to Quang Ngai, Group 4: south central port group from
Binh Dinh to Binh Thuan, Group 5: southeastern port group (including Con Dao
Island), and Group 6: group of ports in the Mekong River Delta (including Phu
Quoc Island and other southwestern islands).
The scheme focuses
on building international gateway ports in Hai Phong, Ba Ria–Vung Tau and key
economic areas in the central region (when possible), aiming to receive
vessels of up to 100,000 tonnes (8,000 TEU containers) or larger. It also
makes provisions to develop specialised ports for large-scale metallurgical
complexes, petrochemical plants, and thermal electric centres using coal.
AFD
continues financing
Many Vietnamese
state-owned major enterprises in energy, climate change mitigation and urban
development will receive financial support from the French Development
Agency.
French Development
Agency Director Rémi Genevey told VIR that the agency would provide financial
support worth 100 million euros ($130 million) a year to
The preferential
loans would be given directly to SOEs without financial guarantees from the
Vietnamese government.
“All the projects
that would benefit from these loans would need to meet our standards and have
good track records when it comes to their operation,” he said.
“We’ve selected
infrastructure, energy, climate change mitigation and sustainable development
as areas to receive our support because they meet our objectives and chime
with the country’s critical needs,” Genevey said.
For example in the
energy sector, the French agency has made a concessional loan of 75 million
euros ($97.5 million) to the National Power Transmission Corporation, a 100
per cent subsidiary of EVN, for the partial funding of equipment for a
$428.57 million 437 kilometre high voltage line that runs through Gia Lai,
Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong provinces and Ho Chi Minh City.
The line was
connected to the national power grid in mid-May. However, civil engineering
work remains underway and the line’s first circuit is expected to be
commissioned in 2015. The second circuit will enable electricity to be
imported from
The agency is also
contributing 110.5 million euros ($143.65 million) funding to the Nhon-Hanoi
metro line project expected to be commissioned by 2016. This 12.5km project
will be extended to 21km by 2020 and 48km by 2020.
The metro will
transport 157,000 passengers a day after commissioning, 428,000 by 2020 and
750,000 by 2030 following expansion.
Operating in
The agency
committed $189.8 million in
Genevey said agency
had constantly endeavoured to tailor its strategy and tools to the new
economic, social and environmental realities facing
Emirates
appoints new country manager for Vietnam
Fast growing
Dubai-based carrier Emirates just appointed Mohammad Sarhan as its new
country manager for
In the role,
Mohammad takes the mission of growing Emirates business and brand, and making
Emirates the ideal airline choice for both locals and foreigners in
"Emirates'
daily flight from Ho Chi Minh City to our Dubai hub not only offers
Vietnamese consumers convenient connections to more than 140 destinations
across 80 countries and territories, but also the award-winning cuisine and
entertainment services that Emirates prides itself in gratifying any gourmet
passengers,” said Mohammad.
In respect to
Emirates’ growth around the world, Mohammad shared: “Every country has its
particular culture and practice, yet our Emirates team has great experience
in meeting the needs of people around the globe.”
Graduated as a
mechanical engineer, Mohammad started his career as a project engineer in
Then he joined
Emirates and has been working in the aviation industry for eight years.
Mohammad's capacity
in aviation, combined with his passion and commitment promises to bring about
an innovative element to the Emirates team in
Korean
investment grows in textile and garment sector
Korean investors
are showing greater interest in
In early June, a
big fibre manufacturing plant was launched in the southern
The $52 million
project, belonging to Dong-IL Vietnam Limited under the Dong-IL group, is
located in Dong Nai’s
The plant has an
estimated capacity of 9,000 tonnes per year and will come on-line mid next
year to supply the domestic market, as well as other Asian markets.
Unlike Dong-IL,
Sea-A group has been operating in
The $12 million
facility turns out seven million products a year and has a workforce of
3,000.
Winners Vina is
already envisaging a second garment plant in
“The move is to
satisfy growing orders from US importers, mostly leading retailers such as
Target, Walmart, Kohls, Kmart, Sears and Tesco,” said a company source.
With more than 500
businesses based in Vietnam and nearly $2 billion in total committed capital,
Korean investment has helped bolster Vietnam’s textile and garment industry,
and in particular helped increase export value to Korea, which is now
Vietnam’s fourth largest export partner in terms of value, after the US, the
EU and Japan.
This has given
The Korean firms
who led exports to their home country in April-May 2014, based on
The fifth
negotiation round for the Vietnam-Korea free trade agreement (FTA) was
wrapped up in late May and both sides have reportedly ramped up efforts to
conclude the talks by October this year.
The Vietnam Textile
and Apparel Association forecasted Korean investment in
Market glut
hits fertiliser industry
Domestic
nitrogenous fertiliser manufacturers are worried about selling fertiliser due
to an oversupply by local manufacturers, along with high imports.
According to the
Ministry of Industry, four existing nitrogenous fertiliser plants have a
total capacity of 2.2 million tonnes of fertiliser per year, while domestic
demand has reached 2 million tonnes per year, as reported by the Dau tu
(Investment) newspaper.
Further, total
capacity is expected to increase by 500,000 tonnes of fertiliser, based upon
a plan on expanding the Ha Bac Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plant, to be completed
at the end of this year.
By the end of
April, the Viet Nam Chemical Group, including Ha Bac Nitrogenous Fertiliser
Plant and Ninh Binh Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plant, had an inventory of 130,000
tonnes of fertiliser.
Additionally, the
ministry said 800,000 tonnes of nitrogenous fertiliser were imported to
A representative of
the Chemical Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade said the price
of nitrogenous fertiliser on the Chinese market was lower than the price of
the product in other countries, due to high supply and high inventory.
Further, the oversupply of nitrogenous fertiliser in
Therefore, local
nitrogenous fertiliser producers are worried that
The ministry has studied
setting limits on imports of the types of fertiliser that local manufacturers
could meet, including nitrogenous fertiliser.
Limits on
fertiliser imports would be applied to the market, depending on the local
supply and demand on fertiliser for different periods.
Cao Hoai Duong,
general director of PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemical Corporation (PVFCCo)
managing Phu My Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plant, said if the state increases
import taxes on fertiliser to limit imports, the taxes would not be effective
because most fertiliser imports from China to Viet Nam arrive through
auxiliary border gates and border crossings outside border-gates, but not via
main or international border gates.
According to the
ministry, in the first five months of this year, output of nitrogenous
fertiliser had a year-on-year increase of 10.3 per cent to 938,900 tonnes.
Meanwhile, since early this year, the local fertiliser market has not
fluctuated much due to the high supply of the product.
New rural
areas in focus at Delta forum
The Mekong Delta
Economic Cooperation Forum (MDEC) 2014, themed "Structuring Agriculture
– Building New Rural Areas in the Mekong Delta" will be held in Soc
Trang province from November 5 to 7.
This annual event
aims to enhance cooperation between
MDEC – Soc Trang
2014 will include such major events as Mekong Delta tourism, trade and
investment promotion conference, Mekong Delta business forum, community
awareness and responsibility improvement conference in adaptation to climate
change and rising sea levels in the Mekong Delta.
The main activities
of the forum will coincide with the renowned Ok Om Bok Festival of the Khmer
ethnic people, aiming to promote tourism, investment and trade, organise
sporting and artistic activities, and introduce local traditional cultural
values to domestic and international friends.
To prepare for the
MDEC – Soc Trang 2014, the Steering Committee for the South-West Region has
organised fact-finding tours in the Mekong Delta for repesentatives from 26
Japanese companies.
H1 trade
surplus reaches $1.3 billion
The country's trade
deficit was estimated at US$200 million in June, with the total export
turnover being $12.1 billion and that of imports being $12.3 billion.
Statistics from the
General Statistics Office showed that the total export turnover in the first
half of the year would reach $70.9 billion, posting a 15 per cent
year-on-year increase, while the total import turnover would be $69.6
billion, an increase of 11 per cent year over year.
The country saw a
trade surplus of $1.3 billion in the six-month period.
Foreign direct
investment (FDI) businesses (including crude oil) dominated the trade
activities compared with domestic firms, according to the office.
The sector saw a
high trade surplus of $8.5 billion, while the domestic companies reported a
trade deficit of $7.2 billion in the first half of the year.
In June, the total
export turnover was reduced by 2.5 per cent over the previous month, staying
at $12.1 billion.
Some products saw
an increase in export turnover in June. The rubber exports turnover increased
by 38 per cent to touch $44 million; garments and textile rose by 13 per cent
to reach $206 million; and that of wood and wood products posted a 14 per
cent increase to reach $63 million.
The FDI sector also
took the lead in terms of import turnover during the period, with an increase
of 12 per cent, while that of domestic firms was 10 per cent.
The import of items
used for assembly was still high year over year. The import turnover of
machines and equipment and spare parts rose by 22 per cent to reach $1.9
billion; that of phones and spare parts rose by 6 per cent to touch $237
million; metals' import turnover rose by 17 per cent to amount to $244
million; garment material increased by 28 per cent to touch $515 million and
that of cloth rose by 18 per cent to a total of $72 million.
The office said
that this was a positive sign which reflected the recovery of domestic
production activities. However, Vietnamese enterprises have not been active
in production as the imports mainly served the assembly activities of the FDI
sector.
Francophone-based
banks to boost trade
Banks in
Francophone countries in Africa and
Trade between
Vu Tien Loc,
chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said payment
issues create the biggest hurdle to trade since there is no banking
co-operation between
As a result,
payment is usually through D/P (documents against payment) or T/T
(telegraphic transfer) or by leaving a deposit, all of which are risky, he
said. Trade between the two sides is therefore carried out through third
parties, pushing up costs, he said.
Also preventing
their trade from fulfilling potential are the lack of information about each
other's markets and high transport costs, Loc added.
Anissa Barrak,
director of the International Francophone Organisation's Asia-Pacific office,
said the two-day forum, which concludes today, is expected to spell out the
difficulties faced by enterprises and draft measures to boost co-operation
between ASEAN and African banks.
Sylvere Bankimbaga,
deputy chairman of the Club of Africa Banks and Financial Institutions, said
closer ties between
Thai Kieu Huong,
deputy chairwoman of the Viet Nam-Africa-Middle East Business Forum, called
on the Government to set up foreign affairs agencies and sign free trade
agreements with
Activities to
provide information about each other's markets should also be enhanced, she
said.
Ninh said
With the prospect
of wrapping up 14 important free trade agreements in 2015-20,
Loc said that with
their complementary economic structures,
Torek Farhadi,
senior adviser at the International Trade Centre, said, "African
countries look to exchange of information and technology with Viet Nam to
benefit from the lessons learnt from its rapid development over the last 30
years."
Hai Phong
records highest GDP in three years
The Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) growth rate of
According to the
Municipal Statistics Office, the city’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) in
June increased 8.33% compared to the previous month and a year-on-year
increase of 12.34%.
The IPI witnessed
an increase of 11.81% in the first half of this year.
Total cargo volume
passed through the
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Thứ Bảy, 5 tháng 7, 2014
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