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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 4/3
Oil firm BSR sets 6.8m-tonne production goal
The Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR) is
targeting the production of 6.8 million tonnes of products this year, the
deputy general director of the company, Nguyen Van Hoi, said.
He noted that the Dung Quat oil refinery plant – one of the
company's major plants – is operating at 105 per cent of its designed
capacity (6.5 million tonnes per year).
The company will also have a test run of its sulphur
collection factory – a key factor in the oil refining process – this
September and will start the project to expand and upgrade the Dung Quat oil
refinery plant.
The company has stored 1.2 million oil barrels and plans to
build the National Crude Oil Store.
Kien Giang's two-month exports up 24 per cent
The Cuu Long (
Of the total, the export value of farm products accounted for
$28.8 million while that of aquatic items was $27.5 million.
The area has set a target of earning $526 million from exports
in 2015, up 6 per cent against 2014. The figure will include $315 million
from agro-products and $170 million from aquatic products.
To realise this target, the local authorities are focusing on
intensifying trade promotion activities in traditional markets, while seeking
to expand the reach of exports in new ones.
Hong Kong-based private-equity, real estate and financial
investment player Hamon Group and Vietnamese property company
Hamon representative Hugh Simon said the company chose to
invest in Thao Dien Gateway with
To cost US$100 million, Gateway Thao Dien will offer 546 units
in four towers. There will be three towers with upscale apartments for sale
while the fourth will have serviced apartments.
MWG announces revenue for January
The Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG) reported that
its revenue in January reached VND1.77 trillion (US$84.4 million), equal to
7.5 per cent of this year's targeted revenue, VND23.59 trillion.
After-tax profit in January was VND69 billion ($3.3 million),
equal to 7.8 per cent of this year's planned earnings, which was expected to
reach VND886 billion.
In January, MWG's Thegioididong.com chain opened 17 new shops
and Dienmay.com opened two new stores, raising MWG's number of locations to
361 Thegioididong.com shops and 22 Dienmay.com stores.
The company expected last month's revenue to reach VND2
trillion ($95 million).
In addition, CDH Electric Bee Limited, a British company, will
sell nearly 2.8 million shares in MWG to re-invest in the Vietnamese
corporation.
CDH Electric Bee now owns 12.23 per cent of MWG's chartered
capital, equal to nearly 13.7 million shares.
MWG's stock price is now VND128,000 per share, after
yesterday's trading session closed.
MWG will also organise the Annual Shareholders Meeting 2015 on
March 6 in
ACB's net profit increases in 2014
The Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) has reported that its revenue
and net profit last year were VND6 trillion ($285.7 million) and VND952
billion ($45.3 million), increases of 7.2 and 15.2 per cent over 2013's
numbers, respectively.
ACB also reported that its before-tax profit last year reached
VND1.2 trillion ($57 million), an increase of 17.4 per cent over 2013's
number and 2.1 per cent over 2014's targeted number.
However, ACB also raised its operation costs, as the bank was
working to rebuild its brand and increase employees' wages and bonuses.
The bank increased its credit growth rate by 8.5 per cent over
2014 and by 4.3 per cent over 2013. Its net income margin (NIM) also
increased from 2.9 per cent in 2013 to 3 per cent in 2014, which helped the
bank raise its net profit by 8.6 per cent over 2013.
This year, ACB expects to increase its retail by 16 per cent,
as it has a large network of branches and offices. The bank also predicts
that its before-tax profit will reach VND1.4 trillion ($66.6 million), an
increase of 18 per cent over last year.
Gold prices slump in domestic market, rise globally
Domestic consumers, who bought gold on the God of Wealth Day,
have incurred losses as local gold prices fell VND130,000 (US$6.1) per tael
yesterday.
Demand for gold increased sharply on Saturday in Ha Noi and
While global prices of the precious metal spiked in the world
market yesterday, they slid in
In Ha Noi, the value of each tael of the state-owned gold
brand SJC was reduced by VND130,000 ($6.1) to close at VND35.58 million
($1,670) at the Sai Gon Jewellery Joint Stock Company.
Transport firms to develop infrastructure in new year
The transport sector would focus on infrastructure investments
in the new year, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said on Saturday in a
meeting on key transportation projects.
During his speech over the weekend in Ha Noi, Hai said he
highly appreciated the sector's efforts to accomplish some major projects to
solve the country's key traffic bottlenecks, particularly the Noi Bai-Lao Cai
expressway, the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway and the new
Hai urged the Ministry of Transport to work closely with local
authorities and agencies to speed up land clearance and keep projects on
schedule.
He asked the MOT to come up with long-term land use projects
and financial mechanisms to attract investments from public and private
sectors, and foreign investors as well.
Also, the MOT needed to work with the Ministry of Planning and
Investment to come up with detailed counterpart fund plans to submit to the
Government, Hai said.
About 170 projects would be implemented in 2015, Hai said.
They would require a large amount of State funding. Thus, prioritising
projects and implementing them efficiently would be essential.
"We now need more than VND12.5 trillion (US$585 million)
in counterpart funds," Hai said. "But at present only about VND5.6
trillion ($262 million) is available."
According to Transport Minister Dinh La Thang,
Firms increase retail prices of cooking gas
The price of cooking gas in
The retail price of a 12kg cooking gas canister now ranges
between VND301,000 and VND313,000 ($14.3-14.9).
Gas firms attributed the price increase to the rising world
gas price, which is $480 per tonne now, a surge of $15 per tonne in
comparison with last month.
According to the finance ministry's department of price
management, the total gas consumption in 2014 was estimated at more than 1.3
million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 3.07 per cent.
Last year, the price of cooking gas was adjusted 12 times,
during which it was increased three times.
Manufacturing output keeps rising
The manufacturing sector maintained its recent period of
growth in February, with new orders and output both rising at faster rates
than at the start of the year, HSBC's Purchasing Managers' Index reveals.
The headline seasonally adjusted index recorded a further
steep reduction in input prices in line with lower fuel costs, and this fed
through to another marked fall in prices charged.
The PMI, a composite indicator designed to provide a
single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the manufacturing economy,
posted 51.7 in February, up marginally from the reading of 51.5 seen in
January.
Operating conditions in the sector have now strengthened on a
monthly basis throughout the past year and a half.
New orders increased at a solid pace in February, with the
rate of expansion slightly stronger than in January.
New business has now risen for six successive months, with
respondents reporting improved client demand, good quality products and
competitive pricing.
In contrast, new export orders decreased, ending a five-month
sequence of growth.
The latest rise in overall new business led to a further
expansion in output, the 17th in as many months. As was the case with new
orders, the rate of expansion in production quickened from that seen at the
start of the year.
Higher production enabled companies to work through backlogs
in February, with outstanding business falling at a solid pace for the second
month running.
Greater production requirements led to rises in employment and
purchasing activity. Staffing levels increased for the sixth successive
month, albeit at the weakest pace since last September.
Meanwhile, the latest expansion in input buying extended the
current sequence of growth to 18 months.
Reductions in fuel costs was the main factor leading to
another drop in input prices at manufacturing firms. The rate of decline was
substantial, albeit weaker than the previous month's series record. With
input prices continuing to fall, firms lowered their output prices
accordingly. Charges decreased for the fifth month running, and at a marked
pace.
Suppliers' delivery times shortened for the fifth month in a
row during February. The latest improvement in vendor performance was modest,
but the strongest since September 2012. Firms attributed the shortening of
lead times to requests for faster deliveries and sufficient inventory
holdings by suppliers.
Despite increased purchasing activity, stocks of inputs
decreased for the second month running as items were used in the production
process. Meanwhile, stocks of finished goods were broadly unchanged in
February following a marginal fall at the start of the year. Those panellists
that reported a rise in post-production inventories indicated that finished
products were awaiting delivery. On the other hand, higher sales led some
firms to record a fall in stocks of finished goods.
Commenting on the survey, Andrew Harker, senior economist at
Markit, a leading, diversified global provider of financial information
services that co-operates with HSBC to do the survey, said: "As
"Lower fuel costs are driving prices in the sector down,
in line with the weakest rate of consumer price inflation since 2001."
Agro-forestry-fishery exports valued at 1.78 bln USD in
February
Of the total figure, farm produce exports were valued at 1.87
billion USD, down 5.3 percent, seafood exports generated 907 million USD, an
annual decline of 9.4 percent, and only forestry product exports saw an
increase of 7.9 percent to 989 million USD, according to the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development.
In February, 200,000 tonnes of rice were shipped abroad,
bringing the total figure in the first two months to 526,000 tonnes valued at
243 million USD, down 33.1 percent in volume and 34 percent in value.
The country saw January-February annual decreases of 25
percent in volume and 16.4 percent in value in coffee exports, or 242,000 tonnes
and 511 million USD. In February alone, it sold 110,000 tonnes of coffee for
230 million USD.
Notably, rubber exports recorded an increase of 30.5 percent
in volume during the period, reaching 137,000 tonnes, but experienced a 6.3
percent decline in value, or 202 million USD.
Tea and pepper both saw decreases in export volume but
increases in value. During the two months,
The cashew sector was the only to record growth in both volume
and value. During January-February, 36,000 tonnes of cashew nuts were sold
for 261 million USD, up 14.2 percent in volume and 36.8 percent in annual
value.
Lenders post record asset values
The total assets of the domestic credit institution system
were worth nearly 6,520 trillion VND (310.48 billion USD) at the end of last
year, a 12.2 percent increase over 2013.
The value of the assets was a record high, news website
ttvn.vn reported, citing the latest data from the State Bank of Vietnam
(SBV).
In 2014, State-run banks' assets grew 14.82 percent
year-on-year to touch nearly 2,880 trillion VND (137.14 billion USD), while
the value of the assets of joint-stock banks rose by 13.1 percent year-on-year
to reach roughly 2.78 quadrillion VND (132.38 billion USD). Joint-venture and
foreign banks saw no changes in their asset values.
The combined ownership capital of credit institutions hit
about 496.57 trillion VND (23.65 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of
4.36 percent. Their charter capital totalled 435.65 trillion VND (20.74
billion USD), up 3.29 percent year-on-year.
These capital growth rates were significantly lower than those
recorded in previous years. The growth of ownership capital and charter
capital of credit institutions was nearly nine percent and 11.2 percent
respectively in 2012, and 9.6 percent and 8.1 percent respectively in 2013.
Market observers said that while a bank's capital is very
important in assuring depositors' interests in case of risks, the slowing
down of capital expansion last year showed that lenders were facing
difficulties in luring investment capital.
Many banks reportedly failed to implement plans to increase
capital during 2014. At the beginning of this month, the SBV announced that
it will take over the Vietnam Construction Bank, which is being restructured,
to restore its payment capacity.
The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the credit institution
system reached 12.75 percent at the end of last year, significantly higher
than the expected level of nine percent, according to the report.
The CAR was 9.4 percent for State-run banks, and 12.07 percent
for joint-stock banks.
Farmer increases profits despite climate change impacts
Dang Van Hai, a farmer in the Mekong Delta
According to Hai, who resides in Phu Huu village in the
coastal Phu Tan commune, locals in the area could previously only cultivate
one rice crop each year with unstable production due to salinity in the dry
season.
Since 2004, with the support of local agricultural engineers,
Hai applied the alternating model across 6 hectares, enabling him to harvest
one rice crop and one shrimp crop every year.
At the same time, he prioritised saline-resilient and
high-quality rice varieties to cultivate in his farm with appropriate
cultivation techniques.
Hai revealed that each year, his family earns up to 350
million VND (16,450 USD) from the model, ultimately yielding a profit of
about 200 million VND (9,400 USD).
Nguyen Van Hai, Head of the Office of Agriculture and Rural
Development of Tan Phu Dong district, said the new model is suitable and
effective in coastal communes like Phu Tan and Phu Dong district.
It is also a prominent and relevant method for adapting to
climate change and rising sea level situations facing the province and Tan
Phu Dong district in particular, he added.
The official continued, saying that almost all farmers
applying the model have been successful, proving the efficiency, stability
and profitability of the model.
A co-operative for the alternated shrimp-rice farming model
has also been set up in Phu Tan commune, linking together 16 members who own
a collective 64 hectares of farming land.
Pioneer farmers like Hai, who have been creative in overcoming
disadvantages and promoting the strengths of their hometown, have led the way
for poverty alleviation and prosperity in the community.
Can Tho expands collaboration with India
India and the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho look to expand
their collaboration in garment and textiles, tourism, pharmaceuticals and
high-tech agriculture.
The four focus sectors were determined during a working
session between Chairman of the city’s People’s Committee Le Hung Dung and
Indian Ambassador in Vietnam Shrimati Preeti Saran on March 2.
The Ambassador said India has praised the high potential for
the development of the region’s tourism and high-tech agriculture, especially
the Meeting, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition (MICE) model.
She pledged to act as a bridge, introducing India’s scientific
achievements in agriculture and businesses to the delta.
In return, the chairman said the city considers India a
strategic partner and potential market.
Besides the four key collaborative areas, Can Tho intends to
learn from India’s experience in maintaining its traditional culture and its
proposal to build 100 smart-cities.
The chairman expressed his hope that India will attach special
importance to developing a scholarship fund and helping train Can Tho and the
Mekong Delta’s human resources, as well as to introducing Indian investors to
the city.
According to Can Tho’s Investment-Trade-Tourism Promoting
Centre, export revenue to India reached nearly 370,000 USD in 2014. The city
imported over 11.5 million USD worth of material products such as
pharmaceuticals, fabrics, and chemicals.
Can Tho industrial production hits 855 mln USD in two months
The industrial production value of the Mekong Delta city of
Can Tho hit 18.2 trillion VND (855.4 million USD) in the first two months of
this year, an 11.7 percent increase from the same period last year, according
to the municipal Department of Planning and Investment.
The locality is currently restructuring its industry sector in
an effort to raise the industrial production value between 12-14 percent each
year through 2020. The city ultimately hopes to become an industrial centre
of the region in accordance with approved Government plans.
To reach this goal, Can Tho will mobilise capital from various
sources to support its enterprises in upgrading equipment and technologies to
manufacture good quality, highly-competitive products to meet domestic and
export demand.
The locality will focus on quality management in line with
international standards and expanding the distribution network of local
commodities both within and outside the Mekong Delta region.
Additionally, local authorities will focus on developing and
promoting trademarks while intensifying the connections between sectors in
order to fully maximise its potential.
New industrial parks and infrastructure systems serving
industry development will be constructed and upgraded to attract additional
internal and external investment inflows in the sector.
The locality will also concentrate on providing preferential
investment policies while accelerating administrative reform to facilitate
local enterprises’ production and business.
The city’s industrial production value reached 97.6 trillion
VND (4.6 billion USD) in 2014, up 12 percent from 2013 and ranking among the
top regional earners in the sector.
Expert urges new economic restructuring approach
Dr. Luu Bich Ho, former head of the Development Strategy
Institute under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, has called on
Government agencies to adopt a new approach towards and thinking of
development in order to restructure the economy.
Problems have arisen in relation to economic restructuring
over the years, and a new way of thinking is now needed to fix them, spur
economic growth and implement a new growth model, Ho told a recent seminar
held by the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission.
Ho said Vietnam needs to develop a modern market economy. A
market economy has different models and common rules, and it is important for
a nation to find an appropriate growth model.
“One common matter of a modern market economy is the ownership
mode in the economy, with private ownership identified as the major driver
for economic development,” Ho said.
The State economy should only exist in certain fields, mainly
public services that other economic sectors do not provide. Besides, the
State should reduce its involvement in doing business and focus on developing
public services and goods, ensuring social justice, regulating and
stabilizing marco-economic issues, and addressing shortcomings of the market.
Ho stressed institutional reform as key to create a
breakthrough for the country’s development.
Petrolimex’s 2014 profit plunges on Q4
losses
Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) reported profit
of a mere VND4.8 billion last year, a small fraction of the VND1.6 trillion
recorded in the previous year.
Its holding firm saw its profit tumbling to VND67 billion last
year, or nearly one-tenth of the VND710 billion achieved in the year earlier.
The group attributed the profit drop to losses of over VND1.14
trillion in the fourth quarter of last year compared to profit of nearly
VND360 billion in the same period of 2013 due to continuous fuel price
reductions.
Petrolimex’s general director Tran Van Thinh explained why
Petrolimex incurred losses in the period in a recent financial report sent to
the State Commission Securities (SSC).
As the group’s core businesses include fuel trading, plunging
fuel prices in the fourth quarter of last year hit the group’s earnings in
the same year. In addition, it must stock up on fuels for 30 days while the
base price is calculated on an average of 15 days as required by the
Government’s Decree 83/2014/ND-CP.
The lower-than-expected earnings of Petrolimex in the fourth
quarter and all of 2014 were announced by its leaders at earlier meetings,
including a review meeting of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
To prop up its earnings this year, Petrolimex will diversify
sales channels, especially for fuel retail as this is one of the 10 most
important business orientations this year.
Thinh said on the enterprise’s website that increasing sales
was among the tasks to realize its targets this year in the face of tough
competition on the local market.
Thinh said the firm would expand its distribution system.
According to Petrolimex, there are 19 fuel wholesalers on the
domestic market and competition among them is getting fiercer.
Speaking to the Daily a year ago, Petrolimex’s deputy general
director Tran Ngoc Nam said the group had around 2,200 filling stations and
this number excluded thousands of retail points run by its agents.
Petrolimex now holds a lion’s share of 47.8% on the local fuel
market, according to economic expert Ngo Tri Long.
Transport ministry to manage only 16 SOEs
The Ministry of Transport will retain only 16 wholly State-owned
enterprises (SOEs) in special fields like maritime safety, air traffic safety
and railway infrastructure by the end of this year, according to the
ministry’s updated report on key tasks in 2015.
The ministry will equitize 14 SOEs and 29 public service units
under its umbrella this year. The enterprises to go public include Vietnam
National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV),
Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), Cuu Long Corporation for Investment
Development and Project Management of Infrastructure (Cuu Long CIPM),
Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC) and Transport Hospital.
Apart from equitization, the ministry will restructure a
number of enterprises with a focus on financial issues at SBIC and its 170
subsidiaries, and Vinalines.
As of the end of last year, 10 holding companies and
corporations under the management of the ministry had been equitized.
Statistics of the corporate management department under the
ministry showed that after going public, enterprises have had their equity up
around 17.2%, revenues 10.27%, pre-tax profit 43.29% and employees’ average
income 13.2%. The ratio of debt to equity has been down 18.3%.
MasterCard: Vietnam online shopping growth second highest in
AP
Online shopping in Vietnam has grown fast in the past months
with growth in the number of Vietnamese shopping online at the second highest
rate in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the MasterCard Survey on Online
Shopping 2014.
The survey showed that the number of Vietnamese who shopped
online from October to December last year expanded from 68.4% to 80.2%. With
an increase of 11.8 percentage points, Vietnam recorded the second highest
growth rate in the region after Malaysia with 14.4 percentage points (from
70% to 84.4%).
MasterCard conducted the survey in 14 Asia-Pacific and 11
Middle East and Africa markets, with a minimum of 500 respondents per market.
They include Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, India,
Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, New Zealand, Taiwan, the Philippines
and Indonesia.
Arn Vogels, country manager and chief representative of
MasterCard in Indochina, said in a review report of the survey that online
shopping in Vietnam continues to experience significant growth and is
expected to dethrone in-store shopping in a very near future.
“The efforts to make online shopping become easier and solve
customers’ concerns over the past time such as improving transaction
security, exchange/return policy, offering free or minimal delivery charges
are cited as reasons for the continued explosion in online shopping in
Vietnam,” Vogels said.
More than two-thirds of respondents (67.6%) chose online
shopping as one of the reasons to access the Internet, up by 13.8% from last
year. Female respondents and people aged 35-44 remain the most likely to make
purchases online, and tend to purchase more items and shop more frequently
than the other segments.
The top three sectors for online shoppers were airlines, home
appliances and electronic products, and travel. Airlines remained the group
with the biggest median online spending at US$95 on average although it
declined from US$143 last year, followed by home appliances and electronics
with US$82 and travel with US$71.
The most visited websites for online shoppers in Vietnam were
Lazada (24.4%), Hotdeal (21.9%), Mua Chung (16.2%) and Chotot (14.7%).
The Vietnam online shopping 2014 survey made by the Vietnam
E-commerce and Information Technology Agency under the Ministry of Industry
and Trade showed that there were nearly 220 websites for shopping online with
combined revenues of over VND1.66 trillion.
Among them, lazada.vn ranked first in terms of revenue,
accounting for around 36% of the total revenue, followed by sendo.vn,
zalora.vn, tiki.vn and ebay.vn.
Compared to the previous years, more respondents made
purchases through their mobile phones, rising from 34.9% in 2013 to 45.2% in
2014, according to MasterCard. The proportion of respondents saying that they
did not make purchases and do not intend to make purchases via their mobile
phones declined from 42.6% to 33% in 2014.
Convenience and comfort were the major reasons for people to
do the shopping through mobile phones. Phone apps, clothing/accessories and
music downloads were the key categories bought through mobile phones.
According to the survey of the Vietnam E-commerce and
Information Technology Agency, 71% of respondents said they purchased goods
via websites selling products/services last year, up 10 percentage points
against 2013. The number of shoppers buying goods via social forums rose from
45% in 2013 to 53% in 2014.
However, the number of people making purchases in groups
declined significantly, from 51% in 2013 to 35% in 2014. Some 25% of
respondents said they shopped on websites and 13% preferred using mobile apps
to shop last year.
Cash remains the most common method of payments for online
shopping, making up 64%, down 10 percentage points against 2013. Money
transfer dropped from 41% in 2103 to 14% in 2014, but the number of shoppers
using e-pockets jumped from 8% in 2013 to 37% in 2014.
Finance Ministry puts 2015 budget deficit at VND226 trillion
The Ministry of Finance has estimated budget overspending this
year at VND226 trillion, equivalent to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) and
down 0.3 of a percentage point against last year.
The ministry expected State budget revenue would be VND911.1
trillion this year, including VND638.6 trillion from domestic collections,
VND93 trillion from crude oil, VND175 trillion from exports and imports,
VND4.5 trillion from aid.
The State budget revenue this year will be VND921.1 trillion
if VND10 trillion of tax and fee collections last year is included.
As calculated by the ministry, budget spending may amount to
over VND1,147 trillion, with development investments making up VND195
trillion and routine expenditures VND777 trillion.
To increase budget revenue, the ministry pledges to continue
removing difficulties for enterprises, enhancing management, simplifying
administrative procedures, boosting electronic tax payments and reducing the
time of goods clearance.
Public debt stood at over VND2,395 trillion, or 60.3% of GDP,
as of December 31 last year and is put at VND2,869 trillion, or 64% of GDP,
this year. This is still below the 65% limit approved by the National
Assembly.
As of November 30 last year, combined debts owed by local
governments exceeded VND13.6 trillion, including VND3 trillion for each of
Hanoi and HCMC, VND1.1 trillion for Danang, and VND300 billion for Bac Ninh.
PM replies to query about World Shine project
The Prime Minister has answered National Assembly (NA) deputy
Tran Thi Quoc Khanh’s question about the licensing of the World Shine resort
project in a sensitive area in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.
Khanh said at the 13th NA’s eighth session last year that as
some localities wanted to boost socio-economic development, they had
permitted foreign enterprises to develop projects at strategic sites for
national defense and security.
Khanh gave an example that local media reported that the
government of Thua Thien-Hue had licensed a Hong Kong investor to implement a
five-star World Shine project covering over 200 hectares on Hai Van Mountain
between Thua Thien-Hue and Danang City.
Khanh said many voters were concerned about the presence of a
foreign enterprise at such an important location and asked if the licensing
of Thua Thien-Hue Province had got the PM’s nod.
The PM’s answer was cited by the Government portal as saying
that the World Shine-Hue project was located in Chan May-Lang Co Economic
Zone. As per the existing regulations, the project could be licensed by the
economic zone’s authority without having to ask the PM for approval.
Before granting an investment license to the project, the
authority of Chan May-Lang Co sought comments of relevant agencies on
security and defense issues but did not ask the command of Military Zone 4
and the Ministry of National Defense to comment as required.
Meanwhile, the site where the World Shine project was licensed
belongs to the region prioritized for national defense in line with the PM’s
decision approving the master zoning plan for national defense and
socio-economic development in the 2011-2020 period.
The PM told Thua Thien-Hue to coordinate with relevant
ministries and agencies to handle issues concerning the project.
Earlier, chairman of Thua Thien-Hue Nguyen Van Cao said the
province decided to cancel this US$250-million project.
The license cancelation came after many objections, especially
from the leaders of Danang City and the military, to the project at Khem Cape
of Hai Van Pass.
The PM requested localities to strictly observe regulations on
coordinating with local and central military forces in the process of
developing projects. However, some localities did not comply with such
regulations.
HCM City travel firms report good Tet performance
Leading travel companies in HCMC organized domestic and
outbound tours for more than 58,000 guests during Tet, or the Lunar New Year
holiday, a sharp increase of 39% against last Tet.
Most of the tourists booked trips with departures on the first
and second days of the Lunar New Year. Saigontourist Travel Service Company
and Vietravel served 5,000 and 7,100 participants respectively with tour
departures falling on these days.
Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing and communications head at
Saigontourist, said the company attracted 23,000 foreign and Vietnamese
tourists during this Tet, a year-on-year rise of 12%. The foreigners included
2,500 passengers and crew members of cruise ship Costa Victoria and Chinese
travelers flying in on chartered flights.
Vietravel served 18,000 customers during Tet, a rise of 10%
against last Tet. Other major tourism firms in the city such as Fiditour, Ben
Thanh Tourist, and Lua Viet also reported good results.
Phan Xuan Anh, chairman of Viet Excursions, said the company’s
employees were so busy during the Tet holiday that they had only one day off
on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
“Cruise ships bring in guests every day during the holiday,”
Anh said. He added the company welcome around 30,000 visitors this month.
* More than one million visitors toured the 2015 Flower Street
Festival on Ham Nghi Boulevard in HCMC’s District 1 when it was opened to the
public from February 16 (the 28th of the twelfth lunar month) to February 22
(the 4th of the first lunar month), according to the organizers.
The number of visitors was the same as that of Tet last year,
said Tran Hung Viet, head of the event’s organizing committee. He added that
the flower street attracted both foreign and Vietnamese visitors from early
morning till late night every day.
Viet told the Daily that one of the highlights of this year’s
event was the visits by more foreigners as many local travel firms added the
flower festival to their tours.
The annual flower festival was organized on the 500-meter Ham
Nghi Boulevard this Tet instead of Nguyen Hue Boulevard as the city is
upgrading the latter into a pedestrian-only street.
Phones overtake apparel as biggest export earner in Jan
Apparel, the country’s biggest export earner last year, was
replaced by phones and phone components last month as the biggest export
earner.
According to the latest figures of the General Department of
Customs, Vietnam’s total export-import turnover in January exceeded US$27.17
billion, up 1% against the previous month but up 25.5% over a year earlier.
With export revenue of over US$2.4 billion, phones and phone components
topped the list of products with the highest outbound sales, followed by
garments and textiles with more than US$1.9 billion.
Computers, electronic items and components came third with
exports surging 72.1% year-on-year to more than US$1.2 billion. Shipments of
footwear and machines grew 26.3% and 32.5% to more than US$1 billion and
US$664 million respectively.
The United States continued to be the biggest market for
Vietnam’s apparel when its imports from Vietnam amounted to over US$926.6
million in January, down nearly 3%. Textile and garment exports to the
European Union declined but increased slightly in the Japanese market.
At a meeting with local reporters in mid-January, Le Tien
Truong, general director of Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group
(Vinatex), said appareal enterprises could encounter a number of challenges
this year.
Truong said as Vietnam’s apparel took more market share in
major markets like the U.S., the EU and Japan, exporting countries would take
measures to regain their market share.
According to Vinatex, in the U.S. market, Vietnam posted the
strongest growth rate of 12.6% last year while other countries recorded
slight growth and even negative growth. For instance, China’s textile and
garment exports to the U.S. grew by less than 1% and India around 6% while
exports of Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Cambodia to America shrank.
The market share of Vietnam’s apparel products in the U.S
picked up 0.6 percentage point last year to 8.4%.
According to Truong, domestic enterprises are expanding their
production lines to cash in on new opportunities. It will take 12-18 months
for the new trade agreements which Vietnam is expected to sign this year to
take effect.
Those agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP), helped Vietnam attract more foreign investors to the local textile and
garment sector, thus making Vietnam’s apparel exports inch up 15-16% last
year.
Truong said to achieve this year’s target of US$28.3 billion,
apparel exports should rise by over 20% in the context of falling prices of
input materials as a result of fuel price plunges.
The cotton price is forecast to drop to US$1.5 per kilogram
this year, pushing the yarn export price down to some US$3 per kilogram
compared to US$3.5 per kilogram last year.
Vietnam’s apparel exports to the U.S. are projected to jump
13% this year to over US$11 billion, which is higher than US$9.7 billion last
year. Exports of this product could rise by 17.6% year-on-year to over US$4
billion in the EU, and by 9% to US$2.9 billion in the Japanese market.
HCM City targets 4.7 million int’l visitors this year
The HCMC Department of Tourism will carry out multiple
promotion programs to attract some 4.7 million international visitors this
year.
In recent months, the department has joined forces with the
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) to promote Vietnam tourism
at an ASEAN tourism forum in Myanmar and with Vietnam Airlines at the
Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME) in Australia.
The city tourism sector will promote services and products at
major tourism events in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and India. In
addition, the agency will organize tours for representatives of media and
travel organizations to explore new attractions in the city.
HCMC welcomed more than 421,000 international visitors in the
first month of this year, increasing by 8% compared to the same period last
year, according to updated statistics of the city government.
The growth in international arrivals was significant compared
to the number of foreign visitors to the country in January.
The tourism sector of HCMC posted revenue of more than VND7.79
trillion last month, a year-on-year rise of 7%.
Last year, the city attracted around 4.4 million international
tourists, up 7% over 2013, and posted tourism revenue of around VND89
trillion, rising by 7% year-on-year.
The local tourism sector aims for 10-15% year-on-year
increases in domestic guests. It looks to 19 million domestic travelers this
year.
Russia’s Pegas Touristik to set up hotel management firm
Russian firm Pegas Touristik has got approval to set up a
hotel management firm in Vietnam, said a source from the company.
The investment certificate has been issued for the Egypt-based
Pegas Touristik to form a business responsible for managing hotels run by
Pegas Touristik in Vietnam in the initial period, according to the source.
The Russian firm has long-term contracts to lease resorts
including Dessole Sea Lion Beach Resort Mui Ne, Dessole Sailing Bay Beach
Resort, and Dessole Sea Lion Nha Trang Resort in Binh to serve travelers from
Russia.
After being hired by Pegas Touristik, these resorts have been
upgraded to meet the needs of Russian tourists, and their names have been
prefixed with “Dessole”, a hotel brand name launched in 2010 by the Russian
company.
Pegas Touristik takes the largest number of Russian visitors
to Vietnam through its cooperation with local firm Anh Duong. Last year, the
two firms brought 200,000 Russians to Vietnam on chartered flights.
According to a source from Pegas Touristik, despite
difficulties in the Russian market and a sharp decrease in the number of
Russian visitor arrivals in Vietnam, the company still considers Vietnam its
major market.
London’s barbershop brand comes to Vietnam
Truefitt & Hill, the world’s oldest barbershop brand
recognized by the Guinness Records Book and based in London, will soon start
operation in Vietnam.
The 200-year-old shop with Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Lord
Byron and Frank Sinatra among its customers wants to tap into the local
high-end market and to have a nationwide presence.
As Vietnam has an increasing number of well-to-do customers,
Truefitt & Hill is optimistic about the prospect of the local market.
Truefitt & Hill is already present in many Asian cities,
including Beijing, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Mumbai.
Established in 1805, Truefitt & Hill has been a favorite
salon of members of the male line of the Royal Family. Customers to their
barbershops enjoy the finest shaving, fragrance, hair and bath products and
hot lather shave, haircut, and shoe shine services.
For further information, visit www.truefittandhill.in.
New free trade deal to heighten economic ties with RoK
The Vietnam- the Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
will serve as a milestone to strengthen the two countries' economic
relations, expected to reach US$70 billion in trade by 2020.
This was revealed at a seminar on March 2 on economic
co-operation between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) in the Post-FTA
era.
Under the FTA, signed in December, the two countries will
remove import tariffs on more than 90% of all products once the FTA is
implemented, probably in June.
"This will not only expand trade and investment
opportunities between the two countries, but help reinforce co-operation in
various sectors, including industry, energy, agriculture and
infrastructure," said Hae Moon Chung, Secretary General of ASEAN-Korea
Centre.
According to the latest data from the RoK, the country rose to
become Vietnam's largest foreign investor last year in terms of both value
and number of projects. This put it ahead of Japan, Taiwan and Singapore.
Vietnam has risen as a manufacturing hub for Korean companies.
More than 4,000 Korean firms having been set up here, including big
corporations such as Samsung Electronics, POSCO Steel, LG electronics,
Hyundai Heavy Industries and SK Energy.
Bilateral trade reached US$30.3 billion in 2014, making the
RoK Vietnam's third-largest trading partner, after China and the United
States.
Vietnam is the RoK's eighth largest trading partner and the
second largest among ASEAN member countries, next to Singapore, Chung said.
However, Vietnam has a high trade deficit with the RoK. The
country's exports reached just nearly US$8 billion in 2014 while it imported
up to US$22.3 billion worth of goods from the north Asian nation.
Experts agreed that the bilateral FTA would help create
additional economic gains for the two countries through accelerating export
and investment co-operation that can benefit even small and medium
enterprises.
Hoang Van Thang, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, said the export structures of the two countries are
complementary and have little direct competition.
Thang suggested the the RoK government remove unnecessary
non-tariff barriers for Vietnamese products to help increase the presence of
Vietnamese goods in Korea, especially agricultural commodities.
Apart from the bilateral FTA, economic relations between Vietnam
and the Republic of Korea will further be intensified due to co-operation in
Korea-ASEAN and Korea-Mekong relations, said Chung.
The ASEAN-RoK FTA and Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEPT) with 16 member countries are in-progress and scheduled to
be concluded before the end of this year.
"The FTAs engaging Vietnam and the RoK will help realise
the commitment made by leaders of the two countries to lift the bilateral
trade volume to $70 billion by 2020," said Daejoo Jun, Korean ambassador
to Vietnam.
Experts from the two countries yesterday also discussed the
status and prospects of bilateral economic co-operation focusing on the
industry, agriculture and infrastructure sectors, the three areas that
receive high attention from both governments and businesses.
The seminar was organised by the National Research Council for
Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences of Korea (NRCS) in collaboration
with Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration.
Source :
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Tư, 4 tháng 3, 2015
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