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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 18/1
Bao Viet Fund launches e-transaction services for open-ended
fund
The Bao Viet Fund launched an electronic transaction system
for its equity dynamic open-ended fund (BVFED) yesterday on the website
www.bvfed.com.vn.
It is the first open-ended fund in
The fund's investors can also track the net asset value (NAV)
reports on the website.
BVFED is an open-ended fund set up by the Bao Viet Fund
Management Company Ltd in 2013, with a capital of VND71.3 billion (US$3.34
million).
Sai Gon Securities Inc. to issue bonds worth VND500 billion
The Sai Gon Security Incorporation's (SSI) managerial board
has decided to issue bonds worth VND500 billion (US$23.5million).
Between January and February, SSI will issue a maximum of
1,000 two-year bonds with par value of VND500 million ($23,500) each.
The interest, to be paid once a year, will be 8.2 per cent in
the first year. In the second year, it will be the average of interests of
one-year deposits of four banks – Vietcombank, Vietinbank, BIDV and Agribank
– plus 2.2 per cent per year.
Named SSIBOND012015, the bonds will be unsecured and
inconvertible. They will be sold at face value.
SSI is willing to buy back the bonds every six months, but
will not pay the tax on such transactions. The price of the bond resold to
SSI will be its face value plus accumulated interest.
Quang Ngai to switch on $60m solar power station this year
The central
The department said the station, which got construction
approval five years ago, will be built with a US$60 million investment from a
joint-stock company.
The department said the project will commence this year so it
can connect to the national grid. It will be an example of green growth in
the province.
In 2005, a solar power project was developed in An Binh Islet
of Ly Son Island District, 30km off the coast of
Tien Giang prepares to welcome 1.5m visitors
The Mekong Delta
Authorities there are making efforts to improve tourism
services, diversify tourism products and speed up implementation of key
projects, particularly the eco-tourism areas of Dong Thap Muoi, Thoi Son
islet, and Tan Thanh-Hang Duong beach resort.
They plan to offer incentives for trade villages and
vocational training to help people in rural areas increase their income from
tourism and enable sustainable development of the industry.
The province will also strengthen ties with provinces and
cities in
It plans to co-operate with the Japan International
Cooperation Agency to organise the second ancient village festival at Dong
Hoa Diep (Cai Be District) this year.
Rice exports lag behind expectations
The rice export last year reduced 300,000 tons in volume and
US$100 million in value over 2013.
Meantime
Rice prices remain low in the Mekong Delta ranging from
VND6,700-7,000 a kilogram.
Japanese firms look to sow 1,000-ha super sorghum crop in
Two Japanese companies are seeking permission from a province
in
NTS Partners Co. Ltd. and SOL Holdings have asked to be
granted a total area of 1,000 hectares of plain land on eroded hills or in
poor forests in Dak Nong to sow super sorghum seeds in the initial phase,
they said during a recent meeting with the provincial administration.
The meeting saw the Japanese firms report results of their
trial cultivation of the grain in several Central Highlands provinces.
Sorghum is an important crop worldwide, used for food, fodder,
the production of alcoholic beverages, and biofuels.
The gramineous super sorghum is “known for a high crop yield
with cane containing a very high content of sugar,” according to SOL
Holdings.
After a year of working on test crops, it was concluded that
the weather and soil in the
The two thus want to start the first 1,000ha crop in Dak Nong,
and will expand the farm if it yields positive results, they added.
SOL Holdings decided to commence the trial cultivation in
March 2014.
The trial took place in fields covering an area of approximately
30 hectares in total, spread across numerous locations in the north, center,
Central Highlands and south of
The trial cultivation was implemented under agreements the
Japanese firm reached in late 2013 with the Vietnamese Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development, local dairy firm TH Milk, and domestic
sugar producer Lam Son Sugar.
SOL Holdings had told the Vietnamese partners that “there is
significant potential to increase [sorghum] yields” in the Southeast Asian
country.
“Vietnam currently produces an annual yield of 60 tons per
hectare of sugar cane, and 70 tons per hectare of sorghum, an indigenous crop
that is primarily made into livestock feed,” the company said.
“In contrast, the trial cultivation in
The Japanese company underlined the success of super sorghum
cultivation in
After the event, the ministry and a number of the attending
companies “agreed that super sorghum cultivation should be inaugurated in
SBV survey optimistic about outstanding loans in 2015
About 84% to 97% of credit institutions operating in
They expect that the total outstanding loans of all credit
institutions will grow 3.5% in the first quarter of 2015 and 14.57% by the
end of this year.
The figures were announced by the State Bank of
Almost all credit institutions have assessed that the business
environment and business performance improved significantly in 2014, and they
expect more positive results in 2015.
Approximately 89% of credit institutions said that their
liquidity improved in 2014, which will be maintained in 2015.
They also expect higher deposits in the first quarter of 2015
and throughout the year with an average increase of 4.5% in the first quarter
and 14.35% by the end of the year.
Along with the optimistic business prospects, most credit
institutions forecast that the rate of non-performing loans will stabilise or
decrease in the fourth quarter of 2015. They believe that the non-performing
loan ratio in 2015 will be less than 3% of the total outstanding loans.
According to results of the survey, interest rates are
expected to remain stable or decline slightly in 2015, but deposits made to
the banking system will continue to rise as it is still considered a safe and
effective investment channel.
Long Xuyen needs real estate investors
The government of An Giang Province is looking for investors
for urban and housing development projects in
Tran Anh Thu, chairman of the city, said the city would invest
more in transport infrastructure and urban areas to accommodate more citizens
and that investors are encouraged to take part in these projects.
The city will construct more industrial parks to attract
laborers to
Potential investors are being sought for real estate projects
with investments of VND500-700 billion each, including a 56-hectare urban
area, five to seven housing projects located along the main roads leading to
HCMC and neighboring localities.
“We pledge to support investors with site clearance land,
simple administrative procedures and preferential land rents,” Thu said.
The city has allocated more than 51 hectares of cleared land
for the first urban area project called Smart City An Giang developed by the
National Housing Organization (N.H.O) and Thien But Co. Ltd.
According to Jeong Cheol, project director of the organization,
the West Hau River Urban Area - Smart City An Giang on the west bank of the
The project will be implemented from 2014 to 2017 with a total
investment of VND990 billion.
Vinafood 2 acts to secure rice for export
Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) plans to buy
paddy (unhusked rice) directly from farmers to process sufficient rice for
export, instead of purchasing rice only as before.
Huynh The Nang, general director of the corporation, told the
Daily that the move is part of a strategy to develop its large-scale paddy
field model. “This is our new strategy,” he said.
Nang said the large-scale paddy field project will not only
comply with the Government’s policy but also help the corporation’s members
to secure enough rice stocks for export.
Vinafood 2 is deploying the project in the winter-spring crop
2014-2015. The corporation targets its large-scale paddy fields would make up
20% of the total area under rice production in the Mekong Delta by 2020.
By 2020, about 30% of four million hectares under rice farming
in the Mekong Delta will be large-scale paddy fields developed by Vinafood 2
and An Giang Plant Protection Company (AGPPS).
Nang said seven banks have pledged to finance the project of
Vinafood 2, and four of them have inked lending contracts with the
corporation.
The corporation will continue exporting normal 5%, 15% and 25%
broken rice to traditional markets and will expand markets for quality rice,
including the fragrant type.
“We expect to sell quality rice at US$550-600 per ton to avoid
direct competition with Hom
Ministry sticks to ice-to-fish ratio rule
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has not
bowed to pressure from fish processors, saying the regulations on the ratios
of ice and moisture content in tra (Pangasius) fish fillets for export are
necessary to improve
The ministry insisted on keeping the rules despite objections
by enterprises and associations, including the Vietnam Association of Seafood
Exporters and Producers (VASEP), to the Government’s Decree 36/2014/ND-CP on
farming, processing and exporting tra fish.
The decree, which was originally set to take effect in June
2014 but delayed to early this year and then until the end of the year,
regulates an ice-to-fish ratio of 10% and moisture content of 83% in tra fish
fillets.
Such regulations will help sustain the development of the
domestic tra fish sector, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development Vu Van Tam said in Document 293/BNN-QLCL issued on Tuesday to
respond to the previous proposals of several Mekong Delta provinces to remove
the regulations to support tra fish exporters.
According to enterprises in the region, the ice-to-fish ratio
rule could make life tough for them because their customers do not require
such a ratio in the tra fish fillets they order.
The ministry said in defense that the ice content in tra fish
fillets is to minimize the water loss, which can reduce the quality of the
product when it is stored. The 10% ratio is necessary for firms to process
high-quality products for export and helps prevent trade fraud.
The ministry said local tra fish exporters mostly sell their
products to importers rather than retailers. Therefore, the new regulations
will affect both exporters and importers and this is the reason why they have
opposed the regulations.
Exporters proposed the ministry allow them provide clear
information about their product quality instead of applying the regulations
on moisture content and ice-to-fish ratio. But the ministry turned down the
proposal, saying the loose management of tra fish quality in the past had
marred the sector’s reputation.
VASEP warned that the regulations could push up tra fish
prices and cause many exporters to stop their operations due to the loss of
customers.
Large-scale paddy fields reap high yields
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a
recent report that the output of paddy grown under the large-scale field
model is 15-20% or 8.6-11 quintals (800-1,100 kilos) per hectare higher than
normal fields.
Le Thanh Tung, deputy head of southern office of the
Cultivation Department under the ministry, said the country’s paddy output
averaged 57.7 quintals per hectare last year while the volume of paddy
(unhusked rice) of the large-scale fields was 66.3-68.7 quintals per hectare.
In addition to higher productivity, the ministry wants to use
the new model to produce high quality varieties to cash in on rising demand
for premium rice products on global markets and to develop special farming
regions for quality rice production.
According to the cultivation department, the Mekong Delta
region is expected to have five regions for rice production under the
large-scale field model for domestic consumption and export.
The Mekong Delta had had the largest rice production area,
200,000 hectares, under the large-scale field model in the country as of last
year, with 69,000 hectares in
Last year, the northern region had around 27,500 hectares of
paddy under the model while there was nearly 16,820 hectares in the
southeastern and
However, enterprises have pledged to buy paddy volume
equivalent to only one-third of the total produced under the farming model.
“Contracts between enterprises and farmers always have terms
regarding the quality of paddy, moisture content and contract duration. But
in reality such contracts are often breached by one party, forcing farmers to
sell their paddy to merchants,” Tung said.
Tung said the large-scale rice field model has brought
positive results though it still needs to be improved.
Husbandry households face tougher future
Husbandry households now contribute 40-50% of
Husbandry households are among the most vulnerable when the
ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is established this year, said Tong Xuan
Chinh, deputy head of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development.
Chinh told the Daily that as households run small-scale
breeding farms, their production cost is high. They have limited access to
capital sources.
Among total costs, households have to spend more on animal
feed whose prices are high as local producers have to import material.
Statistics of the General Department of Customs indicated that
the country spent nearly US$3 billion importing animal feed and material in
the January-November period last year, up over 5.8% year-on-year.
To minimize adverse impact of the country’s deeper
integration, farmers should manage to raise product quality and join forces
to reduce prices and enhance competitiveness, said Chinh.
The Government needs to give incentives to family-run
husbandry businesses, including loan interest subsidy and training on
breeding, Chinh told the Daily on the sidelines of a function held in HCMC on
Tuesday to introduce the international trade fair on husbandry and seafood
VIV ASIA 2015.
VIV ASIA will take place in
At a meeting of the industry and trade sector of Hanoi on
January 13, Tran Phuong Lan, Deputy Director of the department, said most
enterprises in the capital city have actively planned to increase their goods
inventory by 10 to 15 percent or 16 trillion VND (774.2 million USD) for the
Tet holiday, the Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam (Vietnam Economic Times) newspaper
revealed.
The supply will meet up to 70 percent of the city's demand,
and will include 4,000 tonnes of rice, 900 tonnes of pork, 450 tonnes of
poultry, along with 200 tonnes of seafood, 1.5 million litres of cooking oil
and 1,500 tonnes of vegetables.
Supermarkets, such as Big C, Metro, Citimart, Le's market,
Coop mart and Fivimart, have also raised their inventory by 10 to 15 percent
against other months for the Tet holiday in February.
Around 70 percent of the goods for Tet will be sourced from
local producers, Lan stated.
The department has asked business enterprises to sell their
goods at around 600 shops specialising in selling price-stabilised goods. It
has also directed 1,600 agencies and shops in the industrial and export
processing zones, schools and companies in the city to refrain from raising
prices.
Lan said the department has been actively consulted by the
city authorities for stabilising the market and has also issued a general
directive to serve the people in the city during the upcoming Tet holiday.
The department has formulated specific plans for the
production of essential goods, such as confectionery, alcohol, beer and
beverages for enterprises in the city, she noted.
Authorities crackdown on tobacco smuggling
Controlling the trading and transportation of smuggled tobacco
products in the local tobacco market has to be given top priority, according
to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT).
Nguyen Trong Tin, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Market
Management Department, said at an online meeting on market management this
week that the trading and transportation of smuggled tobacco products in the
country is a complicated process.
He added that such practices are common mainly in the border
provinces located in southern and central Vietnam, including Quang Tri, Long
An, An Giang, as well as Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Tay Ninh.
It is from these provinces that smuggled tobacco products are
transported to markets in
The hotbed for tobacco product smuggling is in the border
areas of the Long An Province, while
The smuggling of tobacco has grown due to the availability of
cheaper tobacco at 3,500 VND to 12,000 VND per pack, compared with the more
expensive local tobacco products.
This is because the smuggled tobacco products' cost does not
take into account the special consumption tax of 65 percent and a value-added
tax of 10 percent borne by local tobacco products.
Therefore, the Government had issued a directive in September
2014 to fight the growing incidence of such smuggling.
Since the directive was issued, the department has seized
873,399 packs of tobacco; accounting for 43.67 percent of the total packs
seized in all of 2014 and collected 10.2 billion VND (481,100 USD) from fines
imposed in smuggling cases.
Minister Vu Huy Hoang said the fight against the illegal
trading and transportation of smuggled tobacco this year is expected to
encounter further challenges, due to which the department is promoting
certain activities to fight against the smuggling of tobacco products.
The department also needs to forge closer ties with relevant
offices, such as border military, taxation, sea police and customs at the
central to provincial/city level to fight tobacco smuggling activities this
year, Hoang said.
The smuggling of tobacco will increase further and has to be
jointly dealt by the market and society, he suggested.
Tin said market forces in cities and provinces that trade in
large volumes of smuggled tobacco products, including
Vu Van Cuong, Chairman of the Vietnam Tobacco Association,
said the smuggling of tobacco is highly profitable as
The smuggled tobacco volume accounts for 30 percent of the
local tobacco market and resulted in a 20 percent reduction in the
consumption of domestic tobacco products, Cuong pointed out.
According to a government circular dated December 7, 2012,
persons found transporting 1,500 packs of smuggled tobacco are liable for
criminal prosecution, he said. Therefore, smugglers only transport fewer than
1,500 packs to avoid criminal prosecution.
As a result, the association has proposed that the State
should decrease the number of packs of illegally imported tobacco as the
basis for criminal prosecution from 1,500 to 500, he said.
Meanwhile, Peter Henriques, Director of British American
Tobacco, appreciated the directive issued by the government to discourage
tobacco smuggling.
He expects State offices to actively fight against tobacco
smuggling in order to curb smuggling and help control tax evasion and budget
losses.
Local company invests over 17.5 trillion VND in mineral
processing
Nui Phao Mining and Mineral Processing Co., Ltd (Nui Phao
Mining) has poured over 17.5 trillion VND (833 million USD) into a mining and
mineral processing project which has been implemented in Dai Tu district, the
Of the amount, 15 trillion VND (714 million USD) was spent on
mining infrastructure and the remaining was used for site clearance and
resettlement support.
After two years of official operation, Nui Phao Mining has
become one of the leading miners in the country which generates trillions of
VND in revenue and provides jobs for more than 1,000 workers, said the
company’s Deputy General Director Vu Hong.
It was one of the 40 companies in
In addition to production activities, Nui Phao Mining has also
paid attention to supporting residents affected by its projects with a total
assistance of 2.5 billion VND (119,000 USD) in 2014.
According to Hong, this year, the company will focus on
producing and exporting its four main products of tungsten, bronze, bismuth
and fluorite while bettering resettlement and job creation for relocated
people, and developing a high-quality workforce.
Credit organisations upbeat about business performance
Most credit organisations and branches of foreign banks in
The survey indicated that the liquidity of the banking system
is improved, bad debts are controlled as well as mobilising and lending
activities are on the rise.
Credit organisations expect capital sources mobilised from the
economy to continue increasing in the first quarter and the whole year as
well.
They said customers’ demands for using banking products and
services will experience a remarkable recovery as a result of a sharp rise in
2014.
About 84-97 percent of surveyed institutions forecast a 3.5
percent growth in credit balance in the first quarter of 2015 and the figure
is expected to reach 14.57 percent for the whole year.
In addition, the organisations are looking to the bright
future of their bad debt rate, which is thought to be stable at 3 percent of
total credit balance.
Cocoa growth fails expectations
Agricultural officials, farmers and business executives
discussed the state of the cocoa industry and measures needed to further
expansion at a seminar held in
Dinh Hai Lam, cocoa development manager at Mars Incorporated,
said the development of the cocoa industry had not reached expectations, and
that its expansion had occurred mostly due to the support of non-government
organisations (NGOs) and projects involved in eliminating hunger and reducing
poverty.
In these projects, disadvantaged households are provided cocoa
seedlings as well as technical assistance to plant trees. However, the
households are often vulnerable to price fluctuations.
The country's cocoa cultivation area increased from 500ha in
2003 to 25,700ha in 2012. But in 2013, when the price for cocoa beans
dropped, farmers chopped down trees, sharply reducing the cultivation area,
he said.
Low productivity due to the planting of trees on less fertile
soil and applying improper farming techniques had contributed to the slow
progress of the industry.
A lack of linkages between businesses and farmers in cocoa
production was also to blame, according to delegates attending the meeting.
In addition, the Government has not devised a specific policy
for cocoa industry development, they said.
As an export commodity with high economic value, cocoa needs
the participation of businesses and investors in production via the
establishment of large-scale farming and closer linkages with farmers in the
production chain.
In which, businesses will play a leading role in technology
transfer, and provide input and ensure outlets for small households in the
production chain.
Nguyen Vinh Thanh, Director of the cocoa sector at Cargill
Phan Huy Thong, head of the Vietnamese Cocoa Committee, said
demand for cocoa had been increasing in the world market, while supply from
main cocoa-growing countries in western Africa and
Cocoa cultivation, however, faces competition in the country
with other high-intensive agricultural trees like coffee, pepper and fruit
trees, he said.
Pham Hong Duc Phuoc of
Technology transfer to local farmers is crucial in helping
them understand and follow cultivation steps. Many cocoa gardens enjoy very
high productivity thanks to proper techniques, he said.
As cocoa requires different farming techniques from other
trees, farmers need to fully understand these cultivation measures, said
Nguyen Duc Tin, a farmer in Ben Tre province. Phan Van Khong, Director of Ben
Tre Province's Agricultural Extension Centre, said when planting cocoa trees
on one hectare of coconut, farmers can double their income to around 100
million VND (4,690 USD) per hectare, at current prices.
With 70,000ha under coconut, the province wants to intercrop
cocoa in coconut gardens to raise the value of each unit of land, he said.
With a bright future for the industry, farmers must make
long-term investments to avoid the repeated growing and then chopping down of
trees, delegates said.
Many farmers at the event suggested that the Government
develop a policy to support famers with capital so they can invest in farms.
Cocoa bean prices have been stable at 65,000-70,000 VND per
kilogramme in the domestic market, encouraging farmers to invest in intensive
farming to raise productivity.
The country has about 17,000 ha under cocoa cultivation,
mostly in the Mekong Delta, the
Can Tho City and Hau Giang and Kien Giang provinces will
invest VND990 billion (US$47 million) to start the second phase of the O
Mon-Xa No irrigation project this year and complete it by the end of 2017,
Dao Anh Dung, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee, said on
Wednesday.
The project aims to improve irrigation, prevent floods for a
45,430ha area, improve the quality of 38,800ha of agricultural land and
increase rice production from two to three crops each year. However, lack of
investment has stalled the project since 2013.
The project involves building new drains and dredging three
first-degree canals and 92 second-degree canals with a total length of 83km
and 288km, according to project designer Hydraulic Engineering Consultants
Corporation Number II.
However, construction has not started because local residents
and infrastructure for telecommunications and electricity have not been
removed from the area, according to district officials.
Chairman of Can Tho's O Mon District People's Committee Nguyen
Vu Phuong said that 97 per cent of households in the district had handed over
their land for the construction of the irrigation system. The district
authority was working to encourage the remaining households to hand over their
land within the next 15 days.
Chairman of Phong Dien District People's Committee Nguyen
Hoang Ba said that all households in the district had handed over their land.
However, telecommunications and electricity infrastructure had not been
removed. He insisted that responsible organisations remove that
infrastructure so that construction could start.
The VND536 billion ($25.5 million) first phase of the
irrigation project was carried out from 2005 to 2012. It involved building
115km of dyke roads, 121km of 15 second-degree canals and 72 first- and
second-degree drains.
The first phase also helped Hau Giang province supply cleaner
water for local residents. By the end of 2012, seven local communes and
towns, including Tra Long town, Phuong Binh and Vi Thanh commune, built six
water plants with an investment of VND21 billion ($1 million) to provide
8,200 cubic metres of clean water each night, an increase of 26 per cent
compared to the time before 2012.
Experts forecast garment, textile export target accessible
this year
Negotiations of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other free
trade agreements (FTA) have been done and they are going to be signed this
year, which experts say are an opportunity for the garment and textile
industry to maintain its export growth momentum last year and obtain a
turnover target of US$28-28.5 billion this year.
Last year the garment and textile export turnover reached
nearly US$24.5 billion, an increase of 16 percent over 2013. Garment items
brought US$21 billion up 17 percent while fibre products yielded US$3 billion.
The export turnover grew 12.5 percent to
These achievements were partly due to influences from free
trade agreements.
Experts believed that these agreements will make the garment
and textile industry’s export target accessible this year because they are
directly related to the main export markets of
When the Vietnam-EU FTA is signed, the tariff rate will fall
from 12 percent to 0 percent. Similarly, the TPP agreement will abolish
Despite of the above advantages, experts have said that
Ms. Raffaella Carabelli, chairwoman of the Association of
Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, said that besides diversifying the
export markets businesses should reduce the reliance on import material
sources for successful integration.
Sharing the same view deputy chairman of the Vietnam
Association of Garment and Textile Le Tien Truong said that localization rate
increase is one of factors helping businesses improve their competitiveness
and products’ added value.
From now until the agreements are signed and take effect,
businesses should invest in material production, link fibre production with
cloth production and garment making to improve the supply chain, he added.
They should quickly change from processing with high material
import ratio into all-in production to meet customers’ demand and increase
the added value of their products, he said.
HCM City enterprises expand business market in Mekong Delta
The investment not only helped city’s enterprises to develop
their good distribution systems but also sell their products in Mekong
Delta’s provinces.
Moreover, the projects were expected to contribute to job
creation in the delta and became a link between the region with
In addition to expand trade market, Mekong Delta’s
provinces also created best favorable conditions to support enterprises
in good source investment, exploitation and development.
Long An border gate zone approved as
The Prime Minister has approved a broad plan for developing
the Long An border gate economic zone to 2030, with the hopes of making it
one of the Mekong Delta region’s industrial, commercial and service hubs.
The zone, located in the Mekong Delta province of Long
An and bordering the Cambodian province of Svay Rieng, will extend across
13,080 hectares of land and include an international border gate, Binh Hiep,
and a secondary border gate, Long Khot.
According to Decision No 07/2010/QD-TTg, established on
January 25, 2010, the zone will cover seven communes and one town.
By 2020, the zone is intended to have a population of 58,000
people, with 30,200 living in urban areas (52%). This is expected to increase
to 105,000 in total and 70,000 living in urban areas by 2030.
The zone will have 425 hectares set aside for industrial
parks, 146 hectares for small-scale industrial parks, and another 54 hectares
for mini industrial areas.
Telecom, television get more complaints
The Vietnam Competition Authority said that there were more
complaints about telecommunications and television services than other fields
complained about by consumers last year.
Last year, the authority under the Ministry of Industry and
Trade handled more than 1,000 complaints, 4.6 times higher than the number of
the previous year.
Of the total, services under the management of the Ministry of
Information and Communications accounted for 57.5% and complaints about telecom-television
services took 50% of this proportion and Internet 7.42%.
The authority explained there were more complaints about
telecom-television services than other fields because the sector had grown
fast and many complicated cases had emerged. There existed disputes worth
tens of billions of dong in this sector last year.
Following telecom-television were the property sector,
accounting for 8.13% of the total complaints, consumer goods with 7.36%,
electronics with 6.17%, transportation with 6.12%, beauty and healthcare
services with 4.54%, and finance-banking-insurance sector with 3.6%.
The authority has recently launched a free call service at
1800 6838 to receive complaints from consumers with an aim to better protect
consumers’ legitimate interests. Consumers can also lodge complaints to the
authority via www.bvntd.vca.gov.vn or by mail.
Ministry told to adjust tariffs on E5 bio-fuel imports
The Government has told the Ministry of Finance to review and
adjust tariffs on E5 bio-fuel imports to support domestic production of this
product as its import duty now stands at as low as 5% compared to 35% on
RON92 gasoline imports.
The finance ministry has been assigned to recalculate fuel
import tariffs in a view that the retail price of E5 petrol should be lower
than that of RON92 gasoline to encourage consumption of the bio-fuel, a
mixture of 95% RON92 petrol and 5% ethanol, in the country.
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has urged the ministries
of industry-trade and finance to work out plans to adjust import tariffs and
appropriate measures to create the price difference between E5 and RON92
gasoline products.
As the duty on E5 petrol imports is too low at the present,
locally-produced E5 petrol cannot compete with imports. Therefore, the
finance ministry should monitor E5 petrol imports, increase tariffs and
collect an environmental protection fee to narrow the difference between the
prices of E5 petrol and RON92 gasoline.
The ministries should report specific solutions to the
Government before January 15.
Earlier, a number of local fuel enterprises proposed revising
up import tariffs on E5 petrol imports, and Binh Son Refining and
Petrochemical Company (BRS) is one of them.
The company calculated with the import duties of 5% on E5 and
35% on A92 gasoline, the price of the bio-fuel produced in
Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) is another big
producer and supplier of E5 bio-fuel in the country.
Private firms contribute more to HCMC's economy
The contribution of local State-owned enterprises (SOEs) to
HCMC’s gross domestic product (GDP) has shrunk while the share of private
firms, especially foreign-invested enterprises, has edged higher over the
years, according to the city’s Department of Planning and Investment.
The department reported at a meeting with the leaders of HCMC
on Wednesday that the State economic sector accounted for 17% of the city’s GDP
last year and the proportion is forecast to fall to 16.8% of GDP this year,
well below the 26.6% recorded in the 2006-2010 period.
Meanwhile, the private economic sector has contributed more
the city’s GDP, from 50.6% in the 2006-2010 period to 58% last year and
possibly 58.2% this year. Last year, foreign-invested firms’ contribution was
25%, according to the report on economic restructuring in 2011-2015.
The city government has restructured 15 State-owned
corporations and holding companies by dissolving and selling loss-making
enterprises and letting those unable to resume operations go bust. In
addition, the city will pull State capital out of joint stock companies and
urge local State-owned enterprises to boost divestments from non-core
operations.
In the 2014-2015 period, 14 SOEs plan to divest a total of
more than VND4.73 trillion (US$220.8 million) from non-core business
operations, according to a recent report of the city government on the
restructuring of public investment, state-owned enterprises and the banking
system in the city.
The city will speed up State capital divestments from non-core
businesses this year and next, particularly in the banking, securities,
insurance and real estate sectors and investment funds.
The HCMC Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority
(Hepza) said foreign-invested firms have continued increasing investments and
faring well in 2011-2015. The sector is responsible for US$2.7 billion out of
US$4 billion investment pledges for projects in industrial parks and export
processing zones in the city.
Services have taken a bigger percentage of the city’s GDP in
the 2011-2015 period and the share of manufacturing and construction sectors
has been in decline. The service sector accounted for 53.6% of the city GDP
in 2010 and is expected to make up 59.9% this year.
Contributions of the manufacturing and construction sectors
are projected to drop to around 39% in 2015 from 45.4% in 2010, while the
proportion of the agriculture sector has been only 1% in the past years.
Experts warn of frangible state of economy
Economic and financial experts have pointed out a score of
macro-economic challenges and warned that the local economy is now in a
frangible state though it has shown signs of recovery.
Tran Dinh Thien, head of the Vietnam Institute of Economics,
said economic restructuring since 2011 has brought about limited results and
the economy is now in the most vulnerable state in 30 years.
Speaking at a seminar in HCMC on January 8 on economic development
risks, Thien said higher gross domestic product (GDP) growth does not reflect
the actual nature of Vietnam’s economy as recovery means the economy’s health
is just a bit better but all woes have not been resolved.
Optimistic statements may create illusions about the actual
state of the economy, Thien warned.
Thien described the transition of
“In the current situation, new policies should be issued with
great caution and it is important to forecast and identify risks rather than
make rosy statements about the economy.”
Thien stressed that having experienced a host of troubles in
the past seven years
According to Thien, exports hit a record high of US$150
billion last year with a trade surplus of nearly US$2 billion but trade
deficit with
Vo Dai Luoc from the
The private economic sector always serves as the backbone and
main growth driver of modern market economies. Therefore, according to Luoc,
to strengthen the driving force for Vietnam’s economy, it is necessary to
foster development of private enterprises.
Regarding Vietnam’s growth model and economic structure,
banking-financial expert Nguyen Dai Lai questioned whether outsourcing, use
of cheap labor to attract foreign manufacturers of export goods, slow
transfer of modern technologies and insufficient investment in domestic market
development are the problems of Vietnam’s economy. He noted outsourcing would
make Vietnam dependent more on the global economy.
Lai said Vietnam needs to make full use of its comparative
advantages as well as avoid becoming a supplier of low-cost natural resources
and cheap labor for the world.
MoIT rolls out plans to boost rice exports
Amid fierce competition, low demand and overproduction, the
Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) recently announced that it will
intensify measures in 2015 to expand the nation’s rice exports.
Specifically the MoIT has set its sights on the African, West
Asian and South Asian markets citing them as high demand markets where it can
be price competitive with the other major players in the industry.
Currently the primary suppliers of rice to Africa are
Thailand, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and the US. Thailand tops the list,
accounting for 50% of market share, and the MoIT believes there arehighly
favourable prospects to make substantive headway into the market in 2015.
For West Asia, Iran and Iraq are two largest rice importers
that collectively purchase in excess of 1.2 million tonnes of rice annually,
making it a highly lucrative target market for Vietnam with ample opportunity
to pick up market share in the coming year.
In South Asia, Bangladesh is the dominant rice importer and
the MoIT believes it can capitalise in the market on the back of a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) between the two governments that went into effect in
early 2014.
The US Department of Agriculture has also forecast that rice
exports will surge in South Asia for 2015 so the MoIT is confident this
market is a solid target for exports. Other markets the MoIT have under its
microscope with plans to negotiate deals are the Ivory Coast, Congo, Kenya, Angola,
Mozambique and Madagascar.
In order to augment rice exports to these markets, the MoIT
aims to strengthen marketing and promotion efforts and improve coordination
with other governmental agencies involved in agro-forestry-fisheries exports.
The MoIT will also establish bonded warehouses in key markets
such as Cameroon, Angola, and Mozambique to facilitate Vietnamese exporters
and improve market accessibility the MoIT concluded.
Handicraft export orders rise
In 2014, the export value of Vietnamese handicrafts jumped 8%
on-year to US$1.6 billion, accounting for one-fifth of world market share.
However, Vietnam’s handicraft exports have just targeted the low-end markets
and have not matched their full potential.
This was recently announced by the Department of Processing
and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products under the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The MARD had approved a plan to export handicraft products for
the period 2010-2015, which set an export target of US$1.6 billion however,
the sector fulfilled the target a year ahead of schedule, the Ministry
reported.
Last year, Vietnam’s bamboo and rattan exports grossed US$530
million while the turnover for ceramic, weaving, wood sculpture and household
products was US$480 million, US$270 million, and US$130 million,
respectively.
Other ancillary products in the handicraft industry fetched an
export turnover of some US$190 million.
The US, Europe and Japan have historically been the
traditional markets for Vietnam’s handicrafts, making up a huge proportion of
the sector’s total exports. However, handicraft exporters have shifted their
focus to new markets within BRICS including Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa.
Vietnam Handicraft Exporters Association (Vietcraft) General
Secretary Le Ba Ngoc said last year, an inflow of handicraft orders from
Japan and China dramatically improved the market in Vietnam. The move was
primarily attributable to policy changes in China that increased minimum wage
for workers and in turn led to higher production costs.
Moreover, Chinese manufacturers started setting minimum order
requirements making it more costly for consumers to purchase Chinese
products. In addition to Vietnam’s price competitiveness the huge number of
orders has also been attributed to increased trust consumers place in the
quality of Vietnam’s handicrafts.
However, Vietnam’s handicraft exports are still far from
matching potential, according to Vietcraft. At present, the world market
consumes handicraft products estimated at US$100 billion each year while
Vietnam has just 1.5% of market share.
Vietnam’s export volume of just US$1.6 billion has been much
too low compared against the increasing number of craft villages of 2,790 and
hundreds of labourers.
Vietcraft Vice President Do Van Khoi said due to lack of
investment in production technologies and product design, several craft
villages and businesses have opted to make low-cost products instead of
higher added value items.
At present, some 90% of
Ba Ngoc warned that to promote advantages and increase
export turnover, Vietnamese enterprises should focus on mid-end markets in
line with their production capacity, material source and working skills and
put off targeting higher end markets until later years. Especially, they
should also apply for trademark protection.
The MARD has also devised concrete solutions to accelerate the
development of craft villages and boost exports. At the same time, the
ministry should take measures to build sustainable material zones with a
priority given to specialised cultivation areas.
In addition, the Ministry urged enterprises to develop
traditional handicrafts with lower investment capital , high job creation and
focus on training human resources to speed up the export of highly added
value and creative handicrafts and seek highly lucrative markets.
Source :
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Bảy, 17 tháng 1, 2015
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