Kinhbac English

BUSINESS IN BRIEF 7/9

Vietnam

beefs up dairy industry

Vietnam

is striving towards producing one million tonnes of fresh milk from a total milk cow herd of 500,000 between now and 2020, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Animal Husbandry Department.

So far, 200,000 dairy cows are being raised in Vietnam , up from only 41,240 in the year 2000. Although milk production has increased sevenfold at 456,000 tonnes today compared to 2001, the total production only meets 28 percent of national demand. Last year, nearly 1.1 billion USD was spent on importing milk from abroad.

Cows are now predominantly reared in Hanoi; Ho Chi Minh City; the northern provinces of Son La, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Phuc; the central province of Nghe An; and the southern provinces of Long An, Lam Dong and Tay Ninh.

Dairy producers such as TH, Moc Chau and Vinamilk are modernising and their production and distribution technology.

With a milk output of 5.1 tonnes per lactation cycle Vietnam ranks highly in Southeast Asia, compared to Thailand with 3.2 tonnes, Indonesia with 3.1 tonnes and China with 3.4 tonnes.

Hanoi aims to meet 35 percent of the local demand by 2020 through the designation of 15 key dairy production areas in the outlying districts of Ba Vi, Gia Lam, Quoc Oai, Dong Anh, Dan Phuong and Phuc Tho.

Last year, Vinamilk, the country’s largest dairy producer, generated a record 230 million USD from exports to 11 countries and territories across the globe, said deputy head of the Animal Husbandry Department Tong Xuan Chinh.

According to the Vinh Phuc provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, rearing cows has enhanced the livelihoods of thousands of farmers.

In the northern province of Tuyen Quang, the majority of cows are imported from Australia . Thanks to standardised farming techniques, farmers have doubled their milk output compared to 2009.

To secure fodder for 5,000 dairy cows by 2020, Tuyen Quang will expand the area of land used to produce fodder to 310ha in Yen Son and Yen Duong districts.

A representative from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said the ministry needs to develop a master plan for the dairy sector, including infrastructure improvements and a national programme on increasing the quality of dairy cows.

Nguyen Van Khoi, Deputy Director of the Soc Trang provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, proposed the State facilitate dairy cow rearing in rural areas and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, where land and workforce resources are abundant.-Vietnam is striving towards producing one million tonnes of fresh milk from a total milk cow herd of 500,000 between now and 2020, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Animal Husbandry Department.

Dairy producers such as TH, Moc Chau and Vinamilk are modernising and their production and distribution technology.

With a milk output of 5.1 tonnes per lactation cycle Vietnam ranks highly in Southeast Asia, compared to Thailand with 3.2 tonnes, Indonesia with 3.1 tonnes and China with 3.4 tonnes.

According to the Vinh Phuc provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, rearing cows has enhanced the livelihoods of thousands of farmers.

In the northern province of Tuyen Quang, the majority of cows are imported from Australia . Thanks to standardised farming techniques, farmers have doubled their milk output compared to 2009.

To secure fodder for 5,000 dairy cows by 2020, Tuyen Quang will expand the area of land used to produce fodder to 310ha in Yen Son and Yen Duong districts.

SCIC told to invest in Thai Nguyen steel project

The Government has asked the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) to pour capital in Thai Nguyen steel expansion project’s second phase, and urged banks to restructure debts to ease difficulties for the project owner.

According to the Prime Minister’s instructions, the project invested by Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Corporation (TISCO) and still remaining uncompleted after seven years will continue to be implemented as proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

SCIC will have to draw up a capital contribution plan to pour at least VND1 trillion on behalf of the State. Capital contributed will be sourced from the Enterprise Reform Support Fund.

Over the past few years, apart from existing State stakes at some steel enterprises that were previously State-owned enterprises, the State has no longer poured capital in the industry. Vietnam Steel Corporation, the parent company of TISCO, has lagged behind due to the harsh competition in the steel industry from private and foreign-invested enterprises.

The aforementioned project has not been put into operation seven years after its commencement. The project’s investments were initially approved at VND3.84 trillion but have been revised up to VND8.1 trillion.

Some VND4.330 trillion has been disbursed, according to TISCO’s first-half report, but the project has ground to a halt since late last year as banks have stopped lending. This is also the second time in the past seven years the project has deadlocked due to a capital shortage.

As of June 30, 2014, TISCO owed VND7.541 trillion while its equity is only VND1.717 trillion. Due to a lack of capital, the second phase had to be suspended while pending instructions from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Government.

While deciding to inject capital so that the investor can finish its project, the Government still requires the industry ministry and the steel corporation to be responsible for the cost-effectiveness of the project and appraise the feasibility of the borrowing plan.

The Thai Nguyen steel expansion plan’s second phase was approved in 2005 to have a capacity of 500,000 tons of steel billet and 500,000 tons of rolled steel, and is one of the projects of Group A to receive preferential loans of the Government.

However, at this moment when the project has fallen far behind schedule, the production capacity of the industry has doubled the demand and many steel plants have to run at less than 50% capacity to avoid inventories.

As a result, the industry ministry has asked the investor to invest in facilities to produce iron and steel billet first. With such an adjustment, only one-fourth of the project is finished while its investments have doubled.

Engineer Tran exports three mini-subs to Malaysia

French-Vietnamese engineer Phan Boi Tran has delivered three mini-subs to a French client in Malaysia as part of a contract to build five miniature submarines that allow users to dive into the water on their own.

One submarine is priced at US$3,500. The customer is responsible for customs clearance and submarine shipments.

The composite mini-sub weighs 150 kilograms, has a displacement of 200 liters and accommodates only one diver.

The sub, powered by electric engines, can reach a maximum depth of 45 meters but the depth of its tourism diving is restricted at three meters.

The partner is reportedly in talks with Tran over a technology transfer deal for building 45 such mini-subs in Malaysia.

In France, Tran worked for a submarine building company serving civil and economic purposes. He returned to Vietnam in 2006 and at first opened a facility producing wigs for export.

He produced the first submarine in Vietnam, which is named Yet Kieu 1 and put on display at Kizciti children park in HCMC’s District 4. The sub is over three meters long, one meter wide and one meter high.

CEO Forum slated for Sept 24

As many as 1,000 chief executive officers will gather at the CEO Forum 2014 in HCMC late this month to discuss a range of issues and create an effective channel to dialogue with the Government.

Speaking to the Daily at the announcement of the third CEO Forum in HCMC last week, Pham Phu Truong, deputy head of the Saigon Entrepreneurs Club, said attendants at the annual forum would be young CEOs.

“CEOs want to have opportunities to meet and discuss to ease their daily pressure, to look further and get closer. The scale of Vietnamese enterprises is quite small, so CEOs need to plan big and far but should not delude themselves,” Truong said.

Solutions to untie the three big knots at businesses-finance, personnel and market will be discussed at the forum.

Tran Duc Huy from the HCMC Young Business Association and head of the organizing committee said CEOs will present to the Government specific proposals.

The Vietnam CEO Forum is initiated by the HCMC Young Business Association and is co-organized by the Leading Business Club, the Saigon Entrepreneurs Club, the 2030 Businessmen Club and the Business Association of Vietnam High-Quality Goods.

This year’s forum is slated for September 24 at White Palace Convention Center.

Over 100,000 workers needed in HCMC towards year-end

Many enterprises in HCMC are launching massive recruitments, with more than 100,000 workers to be employed towards the year-end to fulfill their orders.

This month alone, factories in export processing zones and industrial parks in the city need over 2,000 workers and their demand may rise to 6,000 in October, said Bui Thanh Ngoc, deputy director of the Center for Job and Enterprise Supporting Service of HCMC Export Processing and Industrial Zones.

Furukawa Automotive Parts Vietnam Inc. (FAPV) in Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in District 7 is seeking 200 female workers but will recruit nearly 1,000 workers towards the year-end, according to the company’s personnel department.

FAPV does not set high requirements for laborers as it will provide training for them. Newcomers can earn VND3.5-3.8 million a month in the initial time.

Nissey Vietnam, which is also located at Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, is recruiting 100 workers and 50 technicians with a monthly wage of VND4.8-5 million, excluding insurance.

Nguyen Van Thoai from the job division of Linh Trung Export Processing Zone said enterprises operating there are in need of some 1,000 workers for garment factories and 600 workers and technicians in other fields this month. The employment demand at the export processing zone in Thu Duc District is more than 2,000 people in the coming months.

Thoai said factories will increase employment in late August, September and October to complete orders before the Lunar New Year holiday early next year, or Tet in Vietnam.

Currently, recruitment notices can be seen in front of many manufacturing plants in exporting processing zones and industrial parks in HCMC.

The center estimated the number of workers enterprises need will rise around 10% this year.

Tran Anh Tuan, deputy director of the HCMC Center of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labor Market Information (FALMI), said employers would need around 20,000 workers next month, with manual labor accounting for some 7,000 and those with basic vocational training skills and skilled workers around 2,600.

The number of jobs offered by enterprises in the city towards the year-end could amount to more than 100,000 and the majority are manual jobs.

BIDV offers US$190 million loans for Vietnam investors in Russia

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has promised a credit line of around VND3 trillion (over US$140 million) and US$50 million for Vietnamese enterprises to export goods to Russia or make investments there.

At a conference on promotion of trading and investment in the Russian market held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in HCMC last week, BIDV chairman Tran Bac Ha said regarding Vietnam’s goods exports this year, BIDV will make some VND3 trillion in loans available at low interest rates for exporters.

Vietnam

and Russia are boosting cooperation in a Moscow-HCMC light industry park which covers nearly 130 hectares in Moscow and involves Russian enterprises and Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex).

Regarding Vietnam’s investments in the industrial park, Ha said BIDV would first set aside around US$50 million to make loans with tenors lasting up to 10 years and interest rates being 1.5-2 percentage points lower than the normal rates.

Last year’s two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia amounted to US$2.76 billion, up 12.6% against 2012. Vietnam’s exports to Russia reached some US$1.9 billion and its imports were US$853 million.

Vietnam

’s major products shipped to Russia are farm produce, seafood, fruits, apparels, footwear, processed food and electronic components. Meanwhile, Vietnam mainly imports products in the energy, industry and construction sectors from Russia.

According to Ha, Vietnam may join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and this is expected to send two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia rising to US$12 billion in the next five years.

To support Vietnamese companies to invest in Russia, Ha proposed the governments of the two countries soon establish an association of investors in Russia to assist Vietnamese firms in exploring business opportunities and expanding investment operations in Russia.

Big Sale Month to feature 4,370 points of sale in city

There will be more than 4,370 points of sale throughout HCMC offering discounts of 10-49% on a wide range of products during the 2014 Big Sale Month in September, according to the city’s Department of Industry and Trade.

During the program, customers will have the opportunity to buy goods from more than 1,200 firms and 3,000 household businesses. Discounted products include electronic devices, clothes, foods, pharmaceuticals, interior decorations, banking, telecom, hotel rooms and tourism products.

Shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores and 40 traditional wet markets in the city’s 24 districts are participating in the program. In addition, discounted products and services will also be available in export processing zones, industrial zones, dormitories of some universities and shops along some main streets in the city.

The program began with the opening last Friday of the HCMC Consumption Promotion Fair 2014 at Phu Tho Stadium in District 11, which lasts until September 3. Some 250 foreign and domestic firms are showcasing and selling foodstuffs, drinks, clothes, footwear, autos, motorbikes, electronic products, schooling items, cosmetics and healthcare products at 500 booths at the event.

Soc Trang’s export earnings increase by almost 50 percent

The Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang witnessed a significant increase of 49.2 percent in export value in the January-August period compared to the same period last year, totalling over 431.5 million USD.

The figure equates to 88 percent of the province’s yearly target.

Seafood exports contributed greatly to this, with a total value of 403 million USD, representing 93.8 percent of its export target and a 49.8 percent rise from one year ago.

Meanwhile, exports of other agricultural products enjoyed a 41.8 percent increase year-on-year, totalling 27 million USD. This sector’s key product is rice, which reached an export volume of 51,152 tonnes.

The province’s rice varieties, particularly branded fragrant rice, have gained global popularity, with export values for branded fragrant rice varieties at least 1.5 times higher than for normal varieties.

The province imported goods worth approximately 29.4 million USD in the period, accounting for 133.5 percent of the import target due to an increase in raw shrimp imports.

Also in the eight-month period, the province posted an industrial production value of nearly 11.7 trillion VND (around 552 million USD), up by 23.4 percent compared to the same period last year.

Production of frozen shrimp went up by 33.4 percent and frozen octopus, by 42.4 percent; an increase in production volume was also recorded for rice and other agricultural products, contributing to the rise in exports.

Vietnam

boosts card-based payments

Non-cash payments are becoming more widespread in Vietnam, the Vietnam Economic News reported, adding that the trend can be seen through the growing number of card users, automated teller machines (ATMs) and points of sale (POS).

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said that along with promoting payments through POS, many commercial banks had asked for permission to provide payment services through mobile points of sale (mPOS).

The most recent data announced by the SBV showed that by the end of June 2014, 37 commercial banks throughout the country had installed 149,000 POS, a rise of 15 percent compared with late 2013, fulfilling 75 percent of the annual plan for 2014.

The top four banks with their POS accounting for nearly 80 percent of all POS in Vietnam include the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) with more than 49,600 POS, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) with more than 49,400 POS, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) with more than 10,600 POS, and the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) with over 9,100 POS.

According to the SBV, 19,200 POS in Hanoi and more than 28,000 POS in Ho Chi Minh City account for over 30 percent of the total number of POS nationwide. By the end of June 2014, over 14.6 million transactions with total value of 75.7 trillion VND had been carried out through POS, equal to 18 percent of the annual plan for 2014, of which cash withdrawals accounting for about 3.8 percent of the total number of transactions and 50 percent of total transaction value.

Following the government’s guidelines to boost non-cash payments in Vietnam in the 2011-2015 period, the SBV has worked out a master plan to promote card-based payments in 2014-2015 aiming to increase the number and value of transactions through POS, gradually building the habit of paying through POS for card users.

To achieve this goal, the SBV has required commercial banks to take many solutions such as further expanding the POS network and encouraging card-based payments through POS, tightening the links and coordination between service and solution providers, commercial banks, international card organisations and some other partners to boost card-based payments through POS.

Notably, the SBV also required service providers to improve the POS switching infrastructure and increase connectivity to meet the demand for a higher number of POS and improved quality of POS services. Reality shows that card-based payments are booming in big Vietnamese cities and provinces as well as major tourist and entertainment sites, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Can Tho, Khanh Hoa, Quang Ninh and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Under its plan for development of card-based payments through POS in 2014-2015, the banking sector is striving to have about 200,000 POS installed nationwide by the end of 2014 to serve around 80,000 million transactions annually, and about 250,000 POS by the end of 2015 to serve 200 million transactions annually.

An official from the SBV’s Payment Department affirmed that card-based payments through POS had increased. Organisations which accept payments through POS have actively coordinated with commercial banks in promoting card-based payments through POS.

Card users have gradually got used to using cards to pay when buying goods and services in places where POS have been installed, instead of just relying on them for cash withdrawals at ATMs. Notably, some banks have coordinated with solution providers to promote card-based payments through mPOS. Compared with payments through POS, payments through mPOS have more advantages and require lower investments.

In the first six months of 2014, some banks such as Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB), VietinBank and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) asked the SBV for permission to provide payment services through mPOS. Sacombank has received SBV permission and is preparing to provide payment services through mPOS.

Report predicts decline in finance, banking and insurance employment

The Third Vietnam Labour Market Update, a quarterly bulletin released on September 3, forecasted a rise in the demand for skilled workers in the fields of mechanical production, food processing, electricity generation and distribution, communications, health services and social work in the last quarter of 2014.

The bulletin also foresaw fewer jobs being available in the finance, banking and insurance sectors in the months to come. It noted that the labour quality standards dictated by Vietnam ’s process of economic restructuring were still posing a challenge for the country’s workforce. However, the structure of the labour force had been transformed in a positive way, with the number of jobs in the aquaculture and agriculture sector decreasing, whilst Vietnam ’s employment rate in general was on the rise.

According to the bulletin, in the second quarter of 2014, 5.8 million people were newly employed - 321,000 people or 0.59 percent more than in the first quarter.

Vietnam

’s low unemployment rate was the labour market’s key feature, the bulletin said. It reached its lowest point in the last twelve months at 1.84 percent. Employment shortages had been reduced, and supply and demand were better connected, the bulletin said.

The bulletin also pointed out that there was currently a high demand for skilled trades- and craftsmen, with 22 million people currently working in this sector without proper qualifications. In stark contrast, approximately 75,000 university graduates were taking jobs requiring qualifications lower than their degrees.

The bulletin reported that the female employment rate was on the rise, with more women finding jobs during this period.

Published by MoLISA and the GSO (General Statistics Office), with support from the International Labour Organisation, the bulletin analyses trends in the labour market in order to improve labour policy-making.

Tay Ninh achieves remarkable export growth

The northwestern province of Tay Ninh generated almost 1.3 billion USD in export revenues during the first eight months of 2014, representing a year-on-year increase of 18.8 percent.

According to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, the province’s low imports, totalling 867.6 million USD, resulted in a trade surplus of almost 450 million USD for 2014 so far.

The province’s major income-generating export goods all noted an increase in sales, including garments and textiles (8.6 percent), footwear (48.7 percent), cashew nuts (38.2 percent), handicrafts (5.6 percent) and rubber (2.4 percent).

Foreign businesses contributed approximately 1 billion USD to the locality’s total export revenue, an increase of 27.5 percent, while local enterprises generated 259 million USD, a decrease of 4.8 percent, and State-owned businesses generated 18 million USD, a decrease of 11.5 percent year-on-year, the department said.

The department reported that the main goods imported in the last eight months were materials for garment production and processing.

In an effort to reduce the province’s dependence on imported materials, mostly from China, textile and garment enterprises have been allocated 278ha in the Thanh Cong industrial park in An Hoa commune, Trang Bang district, to boost production and support industries.

Additionally, support industries for the textile sector will be developed on 100ha in the Moc Bai border gate economic zone, aiming to supply on-the-spot materials to industrial parks and economic zones throughout the province.

Australian beef dominates in Ho Chi Minh City - and Vietnam

Australian beef is gaining more market share in both Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s biggest metropolis, with around 10-12 million people, and the 90-million-strong Vietnamese national market.

Currently, Australian beef enjoys a 70 percent market share in Ho Chi Minh City, and this number continues to rise.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam consumes around 4,000 cows daily, mainly from imported sources. Beef sourced from Australia is on the rise.

The reason for the surging imports is strong demand. Vietnam can produce about 370,000 metric tons of beef annually, just enough to serve the areas where the beef is sourced from.

In June, the ministry forecast that Vietnam would import around 150,000 heads of cattle from Australia, more than doubling the approximate number of 67,000 imported last year.

But imports reached 120,000 cattle in just the first seven months of this year, or over 17,142 per month. If this pace continues, Vietnam will have imported 205,000 heads of cattle by the end of 2014.

The January-July statistics have helped Vietnam surpass China to become the 2nd biggest market for Australian beef worldwide, after Indonesia.

Currently, taxes levied on cattle imports from Australia, New Zealand, and the ASEAN countries are at five percent, and cattle byproducts are taxed at eight percent.

This is one of the reasons why local businesses and foreign-owned firms based in Vietnam prefer importing live cattle to frozen byproducts, the trade ministry said.

In July this year, the Vietnam National Animal Husbandry Association revised its plan to import some 150,000 cows from Australia in 2014, up 30,000 from the previous plan, due to strong demand in the first half.

Australia

had exported 527,000 cows by the end of May, of which 72,000 were shipped to Vietnam, according to Australian statistics.

Increasing cow imports from Australia are making up for plunging supply from Laos and Cambodia, the association said.

As many as 96,000 cows were imported from the two neighboring countries to Vietnam in 2013, down about 47 percent year-on-year.

The volume of Australian cows shipped to Vietnam, on the other hand, increased over 22 times from 2012, to nearly 67,000 heads last year.

Vietnam

imported 112,982 heads of cattle from June 2013 to April 2014, according to BeefCentral.com.

In addition, Research Assistant Tess Marslen revealed on futuredirections.org.au that, “demand for imported beef has increased exponentially in Vietnam due to the expansion of the Vietnamese middle class.”

The growing number of supermarkets and the development of meat-oriented chain restaurants have created a huge opportunity for Australia in the live-beef export market, he said, adding that live buffalo exports to Vietnam are also flourishing.

Vietnamese importers are currently investing millions in infrastructure to support the influx of Australian cattle, which are considered to be superior in quality, the research assistant said.

Last year’s imports of Australian live cattle increased more than 1,500 percent over 2012, with trade in the final few weeks of 2013 exceeding the full-year totals from 2012, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Coastal shipping routes considered to ease overland transport

The Vietnam Maritime Administration (Vinamarine) is considering opening two more coastal shipping routes with the first linking the south-central province of Binh Thuan and Kien Giang in the Mekong Delta, and the other from Quang Binh to Danang City on the central coast.

The new routes will meet the rising demand for cargo transport between these places as overland transport has become overloaded.

According to Vinamarine, the need for goods transport to and from the Mekong Delta is increasing rapidly and is estimated at around 51.5 million tons a year. In the immediate future, 2.1 million tons of construction materials will be transported from Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province to the Mekong Delta for a project to dredge a navigational channel leading to the Hau River and other supporting works.

Vinh Tan Power Center and its supporting works in Binh Thuan Province also require large quantities of construction materials and equipment that should be transported by water.

Therefore, the shipping route is essential to ease pressure on roads.

Meanwhile, the new sea route linking ports between Quang Binh and Danang is also being considered by Vinamarine. Enterprises based in Danang City need to ship over 400,000 tons of cargo such as fertilizer, clinker, timber, oil and steel a year, according to a recent survey conducted by the administration.

These cargo loads are currently taken overland from Quang Ninh, Haiphong, and Thanh Hoa to Quang Tri, Hue and Danang and vice versa.

Therefore, once completed, the new waterways would help transfer cargo between these localities.

On July 6, the Ministry of Transport opened a new sea route linking provinces from Quang Ninh to Quang Binh with around 50,000 tons of goods transported during its first month of operation.

Compared to the costs of transport by road, the coastal shipping route is much more competitive, prompting enterprises to choose the latter.

For instance, the freight for a 20-feet container transported overland is VND10-12 million from Haiphong to Thanh Hoa and is VND18-20 million from Nghe An to Ha Tinh while the figures shrunk to VND2.4 million and VND3-3.2 million respectively if goods is transported by sea.

However, road transport is faster, taking six hours to send goods from Haiphong to Thanh Hoa while it takes ten hours to transport goods over the same distance by sea.

Property owners in race to sell houses

The property market in HCMC is showing signs of recovery as many property enterprises have resumed their stalled projects and investors of both low-end and high-end housing projects are offering their products for sale.

In the low-cost segment, after the 8X apartment projects, Hung Thinh Land late last month introduced the 12 View project currently under construction in District 12.

General director Nguyen Nam Hien of Hung Thinh Land said the project consists of two blocks with over 400 apartments priced at over VND11 million per square meter. Buyers only need to make a down payment of 20% and the remainder will be paid in line with the project’s progress.

Tanimex Company has recently unveiled its Tanibuilding Son Ky 1 project in Tan Phu District. Apartments of this project are 52-180 square meters and the selling prices start from VND11.9 million per square meter. The investor will offer such apartments for sale this Sunday.

In addition to apartment projects, many low-cost land lot projects in HCMC’s outlying areas have also been launched.

Kim Oanh Real Estate Company on September 13 will offer for sale 400 townhouse land lots of The Mall City in Binh Duong Province’s Di An Town. The prices start from VND710 million a lot.

Meanwhile, in Dong Nai Province, Nhon Trach Investment Company has launched land lots in Phu Thinh 1 section of East Saigon urban area at VND3.9 million per square meter.

In the high-end segment, investors have also launched new projects or new sale phases of their projects.

On August 29, the first sale phase of Phu Long Real Estate Company’s Dragon Parc villa project in HCMC’s Nha Be District was launched with prices starting from VND5.5 billion per unit. Phung Chu Cuong, general director of Phu Long, said ten customers registered to buy villas before the company officially put the project on offer.

Recently, CapitaLand and its partner Thien Duc Company have announced the Vista Verde project in District 2. The project supplies 1,152 apartments priced at VND1.5 billion per unit, with over 100 apartments sold so far.

Besides the old projects still being offered for sale like Sunrise City in District 7, Tropic Garden and Lexington in District 2, Novaland is receiving customers’ registrations for apartments at the Lucky Palace in District 6.

Buyers of Lucky Palace apartments just need to make a down payment of 10% and then make installments of between 2% and 9% a month. The price of a two-bedroom apartment at Lucky Palace ranges from VND2.1 billion to VND2.3 billion and apartments will be handed over to buyers in August 2017.

This month over 150 apartments of the Saigon Land project in Binh Thanh District will be offered at VND24-26 million per square meter.

Him Lam Company will also launch the Him Lam Cho Lon project in District 6 this month. The project consists of over 1,400 apartments and the prices start from VND18 million per square meter. In addition to Him Lam Cho Lon, the second sale phase of the Him Lam Riverside project in District 7 will also begin in the month.

Meanwhile, Phu My Hung Development Corporation is about to launch the Scenic Valley project in District 7, supplying small apartments of 70-100 square meters targeting young customers with stable incomes and newlyweds.

According to a report of the Vietnam Real Estate Association (VNREA), there were 11 projects in HCMC offered for sale in quarter two. The total number of apartments supplied for the market in the quarter was 3,210, up over 70% against quarter one and around 140% from the same period a year earlier.

FDI disbursements projected to reach US$12.5 billion this year

Despite a strong fall in fresh foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) is pinning high hopes that FDI disbursements nationwide will rise by 8.7% to US$12.5 billion this year over last year.

FIA projected the increase based on FDI disbursements in the first eight months of this year. The agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment said although new FDI approvals tumbled 19% in the January-August period, disbursements grew 4.5% year-on-year to US$7.9 billion in the period.

The growth indicated foreign investors are still confident in the country’s investment environment despite the negative impacts of the world’s economic slowdown and the worker protests in mid-May at certain industrial zones after China illegally placed Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the East Sea.

Investors of big projects have been speeding up implementation and this has buoyed FDI disbursements in the year to date, according to FIA.

The projects include the LG Electronics complex of South Korean electronics giant LG which manufactures electronics products for export. Covering more than 10 hectares at Trang Due Industrial Park in the northern city of Hai Phong, the US$1.5-billion project is expected to come online next month and offer jobs for 20,000 local laborers.

Another South Korean electronics group, Samsung, has put its cellphone complexes into operation in the northern provinces of Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh. Around US$1.4 billion has been disbursed into the project in Thai Nguyen and more than US$1.73 billion has gone to Samsung Bac Ninh.

Samsung mulls expansion at the two complexes and will increase its investments in the future.

Taiwan

’s Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co. in the central province of Ha Tinh is also speeding up its investment, contributing to the FDI disbursement increase in the coming time.

Reports from localities showed many foreign-invested firms of small and medium scales are disbursing more investments to complete and put into operation their projects as scheduled by the year-end.

Earlier this year, the ministry announced this year’s targets for US$10.55 billion in FDI disbursements and US$22.35 billion in approvals. The aim for realized investments is almost the same to the level of last year.

Industry insiders said capital disbursements prove how much foreign enterprises want to invest in this country rather than their registered capital. Reality showed a number of companies have pledged billions of U.S. dollars for their projects but realized modest disbursements. Some investors have pulled out of the country after failing to mobilize sufficient capital for their multi-billion-dollar projects.

Five more cement projects removed from master plan

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed on eliminating five more cement projects from the zoning plan for the 2011-2020 due to lower local consumption.

The projects removed from the master plan have a total annual capacity of 910,000 tons. Earlier, the Prime Minister also approved the Ministry of Construction’s proposal for removing nine clinker projects with a daily capacity of less than 2,500 tons.

The Government last year decided to postpone the implementation schedule of nine other cement projects, comprising Thanh Son, Tan Phu Xuan, Tan Tao, Yen Mao, Sai Gon Tan Ky, Phu Son, My Duc, Nam Dong and Minh Tam.

While these cement projects face the axe, the Government approved a project to develop Long Son Cement Plant with an annual capacity of 2.3 million tons in the northern province of Thanh Hoa. The project got off the ground early this year and will be put into operation in 2018.

Le Van Toi, head of the Building Material Department under the construction ministry, said the local cement industry currently turns out a combined 66 million tons annually.

Despite admitting the current cement glut on the local market, a number of projects are still underway as such schemes are enlisted in the nation’s zoning plan and project owners have invested huge sums in such plants, said Nguyen Van Thien, chairman of the Vietnam Cement Association.

Project owners have no other choice but to continue the projects after injecting big funds, otherwise they cannot recover capital to service bank loans, Thien noted.

According to the Vietnam Cement Association, the total capacity of all cement factories nationwide is expected to reach more than 90 million tons by 2015 in line with the zoning plan. Meanwhile, cement demand is forecast at only between 75 million tons and 76 million tons by 2015.

The cement consumption was only 48 million tons in 2012. Should demand rise 5-10% annually this year and next, sale volume would just stay at about 60 million tons by then, much lower than the expected figure.

Can Tho speeds up gas pipeline construction

Authorities in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho are calling for faster site clearance of an area covering nearly 91 hectares to facilitate construction of a pipeline that carries gas from the southwest coast to the city as soon as possible.

Authorities in collaboration with Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) have also announced a zoning plan to 894 affected households and informed them of detailed information regarding land recovery, site clearance and compensation.

The 398-kilometer gas pipeline running from the southwest coast via the provinces of Ca Mau, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang to Can Tho City got off the ground five years ago with the investment of nearly US$1 billion, according to the Southwest Gas Project Management Board under PetroVietnam.

A consortium comprising Vietsovpetro and PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation has worked with the aforesaid provinces’ officials in clearing a strip of land measuring 120 kilometers in length and 55 meters in width, or 660 hectares in total, to facilitate transport of equipment and materials for the construction of the gas pipeline.

In the future, this gas pipeline will connect to two other gas pipeline systems of Vietnam’s southeast region and Southeast Asia to meet demand for energy in Vietnam.

When the gas pipeline is put into service, it will underpin the national energy security and reduce fuel imports significantly. As a result, the Mekong Delta’s socio-economic development will get a strong boost.

Seafood imports soar in Jan-Aug

Local enterprises imported US$720 million worth of seafood, mostly raw materials for processing, in the first eight months of this year, up a staggering 73% compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The ministry said India was Vietnam’s biggest exporter of unprocessed seafood in the period, making up 33.5% of the total, followed by Taiwan with 7%, while China ranked 8th with 3.1%.

Statistics from the General Department of Customs indicated that Vietnam spent over US$203 million on imports of seafood, including unprocessed shrimp from India in the first seven months of this year but was able to earn only US$8.5 million from seafood exports to that country in the same period.

Local enterprises bought shrimp from India for processing products for export. Traders said the outbreaks of diseases on shrimp in the past time have forced local exporters to increase imports to fulfill their orders and India is the most favorite market.

Le Van Quang, chairman of Minh Phu Seafood Corp., said prices of imported shrimp are lower than those of local products and this is one of the reasons why companies have increased their imports of unprocessed shrimp.

According to the agriculture ministry, the area under shrimp farming and output of this crustacean in many localities in the Mekong Delta shrank in January-August.

For instance, Bac Lieu Province yielded less than 34,620 tons of shrimp in the period, down 7.3% year-on-year, while Ben Tre Province harvested 6,244 tons, a drop of 27.4% over the same period last year.

Shrimp output in each of HCMC and its neighboring Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province declined nearly 7% in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year.