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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 15/7
China’s
slowdown may widen Vietnam trade gap, official says
“It
would hurt our exports to
“A surge
in sales of Chinese products at low prices in
The
benchmark VN Index climbed 0.4%t as of 10:40 a.m. in
Certain
Vietnamese industries may benefit from cheaper Chinese raw materials, said To
Hoai Nam, vice-chairman of Vietnam Association for Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises.
“Producers
of garment, apparel and footwear will have a chance to expand production as
the slowdown will force Chinese suppliers to lower prices,”
Banks
to stop counter tax payment from December
The
Ministry of Finance has sent a document to commercial banks asking them to
work with tax agencies to implement online tax payment service by the end of
this year and put an end to counter payment.
From
December, the banks will only provide online tax payment service. Counter
payment will be applied in case of internet system errors.
The
ministry proposed banks to consider preferential mechanism on the service fee
to e-tax payers.
From now
until December, banks must cooperate with the General Department of Taxation
and local tax agencies to mobilize 100 percent of customers with bank
accounts to use the e-tax payment service.
It can
be made via the general department’s e-portal and other online banking
services such as Internet banking, ATM, HomeBanking and SMS.
Banks
should establish customer service divisions to handle any issues arising from
the e-tax payment and ensure that customers can use the service 24 per 7.
Those
banks having yet to supply the e-tax payment service should take action to
make it available as soon as possible.
Construction
of Vu Yen ecotourism complex started
The
construction of an ecotourism complex in Vu Yen Island, off the northern
Vietnamese city of
The Vu
Yen project covering on an area of 872 hectares spans the entire Vu Yen
Island at a total investment capital of US$1 billion.
The
project includes eco-villas, an international-level 36-hole golf course,
eco-park, entertainment-shopping-cuisine complex, five-star hotel, casino,
marina, cable car system connecting the ecotourism hub with the mainland of
Hai Phong.
As
planned, the golf course is expected to complete in 2016 while the entire
will be finished in 2019.
Speaking
at the groundbreaking ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai
stressed that the project will attract investment and contribute to the
city’s tourism development. He asked local authorities to create advantages
for the investor, Vingroup to complete the project soon.
Conference
discusses increasing foreign investment in agriculture
Difficulties
facing foreign businesses investing in agriculture in
Held by
the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the event was organised to
gather opinions to the drafting of a decree on encouraging foreign investment
into the country’s agricultural sector.
A
representative from Nestle
The
Decree should clarify high-tech agriculture investment and tax policies,
participants stressed.
According
to representatives from Syngenta
They
asked for appropriate measures and policies to facilitate foreign agriculture
investment in
Tran Thi
Thanh Tam from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it is
necessary to encourage businesses to invest in hi-tech sectors, post-harvest
processing and developing infrastructure facilities for agricultural
production.
At the
conference, participants from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (
JICA ) revealed
The port
is expected to be one of the leaders in the country in terms of goods
handling capacity, said General Director of the Dong Nai Port JSC Nguyen Thi
Bach Mai.
The port
system includes the Long Binh Tan terminal situated on the
The
terminals are within the vicinity of major seaports in
The port
is improving its service quality given fierce competition with domestic ports
in southern Binh Duong province and
It plans
to expand areas and increase the capacity of the Long Binh Tan and Go Dau
terminals to maximise their advantages.
Dong Nai
port invested over 200 billion VND (9.2 million USD) to build a wharf capable
of handling 30,000 tonnes of goods per year at the Go Dau terminal.
So far
80 percent of the project has been completed and it is expected to be
commissioned this September.
Minister
calls on sustainable sea food development
Localities
need to accelerate the sustainable development of key seafood products
including shrimp and tra fish, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development Cao Duc Phat at a conference to review two years of implementing
seafood sector reforms held in the Mekong Delta
The
Minister demanded the agricultural sector maintain cultivation areas and
shrimp productivity while taking full advantage of shrimp-mangrove and
shrimp-rice farming models, saying the move is designed to increase
competitive advantages and global market share.
White
leg shrimp are encouraged to grow during favourable weather conditions and
productivity must be improved at intensive farming areas and advanced
intensive farming areas by upgrading irrigation systems, applying advanced
farming techniques and providing high-quality breeding shrimp.
Measures
to prevent shrimp diseases in must be popularised among famers while hi-tech
cultivating models are highly recommended, such as shrimp farming in
greenhouses and multi-stage shrimp grow-out systems.
Meanwhile,
farmers must follow regulations on breeding commercial tra fish and build
value chains in their businesses and production.
The
agricultural sector will cooperate with localities to build fishery centres,
creating an impetus to form and recover fishery equipment production as well
as provide logistics services.
In 2014,
aquatic productivity reached 3.6 million tonnes, rising 5.9 percent from the
previous year and valued at 188.6 trillion VND (8.8 billion USD). In the
first two quarters of this year, 1.8 million tonnes of aquatics animals were
cultivated across nearly 1.3 million hectares.
The
southern coastal swathe is home to 540,000 hectares of intensive farming and
advanced intensive farming, accounting for 88 percent of the total
cultivation areas.
Last
year, the agricultural sector raked in 1.7 billion USD from exporting 750,000
tonnes of tra fish from 1.1 million tonnes of productivity.
The
country has 100 breeding tra fish farms, mostly in Dong Thap, An Giang, Can
Tho and Tien Giang. Shrimp has 1,200 breeding stations in the Mekong Delta
region, producing 45-50 billion juvenile shrimps every year and making up of
40 percent of the total breeding animals nationwide.
Just
about all of the Vietnam Trade Office programs are directly related to the
goal of helping Vietnamese farmers become competitive in foreign agricultural
markets – it’s one of the office’s core missions, says Nguyen Trung Dung.
Today,
Dung, a trade counsellor to
The
Trade Office organizes promotional activities for the supermarket, hotel and
restaurant industries, conducts market research, holds seminars and offers
trade servicing and market reporting on commodities and high value
foodstuffs.
It also
provides technical information on such things as the Japanese and United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) import standards, development of new
food products, and introduction of new food technologies.
Dung
says it’s important for domestic businesses to stay in contact with and use
the services of the trade offices to successfully gain and maintain entry
into foreign markets.
In
particular the office helps domestic producers to become more proficient
marketers themselves – through providing a constant supply of information,
technical assistance, trade negotiation and other support.
Recently,
the Trade Office has achieved great success for domestic producers by helping
negotiate import licensing agreements for getting fresh lychees access to
both the US and Australia markets.
Now it
looks like there are openings in the Japanese and
However,
‘the devil is in the details’, says Dung and numerous specific details
remain to be hammered out including checking technical parameters in terms of
origin, the quality of product and chemical residues.
In
addition, a contingent of Japanese regulators will travel in the near future
to
With the
rapid expansion of markets brought about by integration it is an interesting
new world not easily understood by many Vietnamese – but through the work of
its visionary marketing and trade professionals, the Vietnam Trade Office is
ready to lead agriculture to prosperity.
Exporters
lack tariff knowhow
Vietnamese
exporters are not making use of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) opportunities as
many of them do not know how to claim priority tariffs from FTAs.
Bui Kim
Thuy, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Foreign Trade
Agency, said that Trade in Goods Agreements, which reduce or eliminate
tariffs to zero per cent on schedule, was the most important component of an
FTA. Thuy spoke last week at a forum held by Vietnam Plastics Association in
collaboration with Enterprising Fairs India Pvt Ltd.
The
importance of the rule of origin (ROO) is to identify whether import goods
can be eligible for tariff concessions, to keep a rational balance between
"trade facilitation" and "fraudulence prevention", and to
rate the use of FTA benefits from each of the FTA parties, she said.
"To
get the ideal tariff rate from FTA, export products have to satisfy ROO
prescribed in a specific FTA," Thuy said.
To meet
the preferential ROO, exporters will be issued a preferential C/O and then
will enjoy preferential tariff treatment. This would help stimulate
production and exports-imports from FTA countries.
Thuy
said that for non-WTO members, the tariff rates on plastics was 150 per cent,
compared to WTO members' tariff of an average of 13.5 per cent.
However,
for FTA members, the tariff rate on plastics was an average of 0-5 per cent.
Ho Duc
Lam, chairman of the Vietnam Plastics Association, said that since the 1970s
the Vietnamese plastics industry had grown steadily at two digits, with an
average annual growth rate of over 12 per cent.
The
plastic sector's revenue reached US$9.053 billion, an increase of 8.3 per
cent over 2013 and 7.6 per cent in 2012.
For the
first six months, the sector had revenue of US$4.2 billion, an increase of
10.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Raw
material imports last year were 3.45 million tonnes worth a total of US$6.32
billion, an increase of 9.4 per cent in volume and 10.6 per year in value
against 2013.
Polyethylene
and polypropylene were imported mostly from
In the
last 10 years, plastic packaging has been one of the key export items of the
plastics sector, with an annual growth rate of 7.8 per cent per year. B.
Swami-nathan, managing director of Enterprising Fairs India Pvt. Ltd, said
At 4.2
million tonnes per annum, it is the second largest market after
At the
forum, Vietnam Plastics Association called on domestic enterprises to
participate in the first edition of three-in-one exhibition: Plastics Viet
Nam, RUBEXPO Viet Nam and COMPACK Viet Nam, which will be held on July 23-25
at Sai Gon Exhibition Centre.
The
exhibition, co-organised by VPA and Vietnam Rubber Association, will include
more than 100 booths from
Minister
calls on sustainable sea food development
Localities
need to accelerate the sustainable development of key seafood products
including shrimp and tra fish, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development Cao Duc Phat at a conference to review two years of implementing
seafood sector reforms held in the Mekong Delta
The
Minister demanded the agricultural sector maintain cultivation areas and
shrimp productivity while taking full advantage of shrimp-mangrove and
shrimp-rice farming models, saying the move is designed to increase
competitive advantages and global market share.
White
leg shrimp are encouraged to grow during favourable weather conditions and
productivity must be improved at intensive farming areas and advanced
intensive farming areas by upgrading irrigation systems, applying advanced
farming techniques and providing high-quality breeding shrimp.
Measures
to prevent shrimp diseases in must be popularised among famers while hi-tech cultivating
models are highly recommended, such as shrimp farming in greenhouses and
multi-stage shrimp grow-out systems.
Meanwhile,
farmers must follow regulations on breeding commercial tra fish and build
value chains in their businesses and production.
The
agricultural sector will cooperate with localities to build fishery centres,
creating an impetus to form and recover fishery equipment production as well
as provide logistics services.
In 2014,
aquatic productivity reached 3.6 million tonnes, rising 5.9% from the
previous year and valued at VND188.6 trillion (US$8.8 billion). In the first
two quarters of this year, 1.8 million tonnes of aquatics animals were
cultivated across nearly 1.3 million hectares.
The
southern coastal swathe is home to 540,000 hectares of intensive farming and
advanced intensive farming, accounting for 88% of the total cultivation
areas.
Last
year, the agricultural sector raked in US$1.7 billion from exporting 750,000
tonnes of tra fish from 1.1 million tonnes of productivity.
The
country has 100 breeding tra fish farms, mostly in Dong Thap, An Giang, Can
Tho and Tien Giang. Shrimp has 1,200 breeding stations in the Mekong Delta
region, producing 45-50 billion juvenile shrimps every year and making up of
40% of the total breeding animals nationwide.
Chairman
of the Australian Livestock Export Corporation Ltd David Galvin will meet
with representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
(MARD) this July 24-25 in regards to increasing live cattle exports for
slaughter.
According
to
According
to official Australian statistics, live cattle exports to
Last
year,
Food
makers go increasingly hi-tech
Foreign
governments and modern-day food manufacturers are increasingly imposing
requirements that take a lot of investment in high-tech agriculture said
attendees to a July 13 conference in
Obscure
land lease laws, income tax regulations, inadequate infrastructure, and
overly burdensome administrative procedures are just a few of the obstacles
to attracting higher levels of foreign investment.
The
adoption of new technology is going to be critical for
The representative
added that if Vietnamese agriculture doesn’t find the funds to invest in
modern technology then the nation may as well forget the ambitions on
becoming a food bowl in
The
unclear land lease laws are causing much trepidation by investors, a
representative from Nestle Company said, indicating that there are just too
many unanswered questions.
The
representative also raised a number of queries regarding the future of
high-tech agriculture in relation to governmental and administrative policies
adding that the lack of clarity makes it difficult, if not impossible, to
attract funds.
Meanwhile,
a representative from Syngenta Vietnam Co, Ltd also emphasised the need to
devise a policy for foreign companies to establish research and development subsidiaries
and improve intellectual property laws.
A
Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) representativeTran Thi Thanh
Tam in turn said
However,
many of these nations have set up strict requirements and technical barriers
in terms of product quality and significantly higher levels of investment are
needed to purchase the technology and equipment needed to comply.
She
underscored the importance of especially encouraging more investment in
post-harvest processing as well as hi-tech agriculture.
A
representative from the Japan International Cooperation Agency said Vietnam’s
farm produce have not entered the Japanese market yet as they have not met
requirements of food safety and hygiene, which again is directly related to
lack of investment.
Minister
urges move toward sustainable seafood sector
Agriculture
Minister Cao Duc Phat said yesterday that localities nationwide need to step
up efforts to ensure sustainable aquaculture, especially of key products like
shrimp and tra fish.
Addressing
a conference held in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Bac Lieu to
review two years of implementing seafood industry reforms, he called for
existing shrimp ponds and productivity to be maintained while taking full
advantage of shrimp-mangroves and shrimp-rice farming models.
Doing
this will increase the industry's competitiveness and help expand its global
market share, he said.
He said
the breeding of white-legged shrimp should be done during favourable weather
conditions and productivity improved in intensive farming and advanced
intensive farming models by upgrading irrigation systems, applying advanced
farming techniques and using high-quality shrimp breeds.
Measures
to prevent diseases must be popularised among shrimp farmers and the
application of hi-tech breeding models like shrimp-farming in greenhouses and
multi-stage shrimp grow-out systems strongly encouraged.
Meanwhile,
farmers must follow regulations on breeding commercial tra fish and build
production and distribution value chains, the minister said.
He said
the agricultural sector will co-operate with localities in building fisheries
centres, creating an impetus for production of fisheries equipment and
provision of logistics services.
The
conference heard that in 2014, aquatic productivity reached 3.6 million
tonnes, 5.9 percent more than the previous year, for a value of VND188.6
trillion (US$8.8 billion). In the first two quarters of this year, 1.8
million tonnes of seafood was produced from nearly 1.3 million hectares.
The
southern coastal swathe is home to 540,000 hectares of intensive farming and
advanced intensive farming, accounting for 88 per cent of seafood cultivation
areas.
Last
year, the seafood industry earned $1.7 billion from exporting 750,000 tonnes
of tra fish, out of a total production of 1.1 million tonnes.
The
country has 100 tra fish breeding farms, mostly in Dong Thap, An Giang, Can
Tho and Tien Giang provinces.
There
are 1,200 shrimp farms in the Mekong Delta region producing 45-50 billion
juvenile shrimps every year.
The
restructuring of agriculture in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta over the past two
years has helped farmers increase their incomes though there are hurdles to
carrying out the restructuring, experts have said.
Speaking
at a seminar held in Dong Thap Province on Saturday to review implementation
of the restructure, Minister Phat said the delta's production models have undergone
significant renovation.
The
mechanisation rate has increased significantly, helping increase yields and
quality and reduce post-harvest losses, he said.
Around
96 per cent of rice fields are ploughed by machines and 76 per cent are
harvested by machines.
Also
under the restructuring, more than 78,000ha of poor rice fields in the delta
have been converted into cash crops like vegetables, corn, sesame, and soy
bean.
These
crops have fetched 20-30 per cent higher profits than rice, according to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The
delta has also earmarked large areas for rice, fruit and fish farming based
on Vietnamese and Global Good Agriculture Practices (Vietnamese and Global
GAP).
Truong
Canh Tuyen, deputy chairman of the Hau Giang Province People's Committee,
said, "After restructuring agriculture, the province has chosen to
develop 10 key products."
Hau
Giang farmers have been growing other high-value crops for the past two years
on 3,000ha of sugarcane farms and low-yield orchards and rice farms, he said.
The
province has also strengthened support for farmers seeking to improve
production methods and use advanced farming techniques, he said.
But
participants also spoke about the difficulties faced in restructuring,
including small and scattered production.
The
regulations that limit land ownership and the delta's poor agriculture
infrastructure are other obstacles.
For
instance, irrigation for shrimp breeding cannot meet demand, causing water
pollution and leading to shrimp diseases.
Though
the large-scale rice field model is encouraged, it has developed very slowly
and accounts for a mere 3.3 per cent of the delta's total rice cultivation
area.
The
development of cultivation models complying with Vietnamese and Global GAP
has faced difficulties because of high costs.
Price
volatility has been a constant factor for years.
Deputy
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said, "Many
provinces in the delta have made plans to restructure agriculture but lack
market information and have weak intra-regional links."
To
restructure agriculture is efficient, the delta should speed up the switch to
large-scale production, employ advanced technologies, and secure outlets for
produce, he said.
Forum
tackles foreign investment struggles
Measures
to deal with problems related to land, infrastructure, taxation and
administrative procedures were among the key issues discussed during a
conference in Ha Noi yesterday.
The
consultative meeting was held to elicit experts' opinions on formulating a
draft decree on policies to encourage foreign investment in agriculture.
A
representative from Nestle Viet Nam said foreign investors face the first
obstacle while investing in agriculture when it comes to issues related to
land. Land clearance and compensation procedures, regulated by Land Law, pose
difficulties, he said.
Besides,
some businesses sign contracts with farmers to take their land on lease, but
many farmers breach the contracts, thus discouraging investors, he said.
He
proposed that the draft decree clarify the concept of investment in hi-tech
agriculture and grant of tax exemptions to such investors.
A
representative from Syngenta Viet Nam, a wholly foreign-owned company, said
the firm had invested in a rice breeding research centre in the northern
province of Nam Dinh and in a plant protection chemical research centre in
the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.
However,
the company could not lease land from farmers to test these centres' products
because it did not fulfil current regulations, he said.
He
suggested that the draft decree include measures to help foreign companies
get better access to land so that the company could acquire land to produce
different varieties of rice in Viet Nam.
Tran Thi
Thanh Tam from the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Viet Nam
had signed many free trade agreements and would sign more to increase
opportunities for exporting Vietnamese farm produce. However, local
businesses should prepare to meet product quality standards, which were
technical barriers put up by other countries, she said.
The
decree should contain policies to encourage businesses to invest in hi-tech
agriculture and in technology to process harvested produce, she said.
Preferential
policies are also needed to encourage businesses to invest in agricultural
infrastructure, she added.
A
representative from the Japan International Cooperation Agency said Japanese
investors paid great attention to food hygiene and safety, so it was
essential to have mechanisms to accord priority to these issues.
Many of
the participants pointed to the need for measures to strictly implement
contracts between businesses and farmers, and the need to have a system to
collect and process feedback from businesses.
According
to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development figures, foreign direct
investment (FDI) in agro-forestry and fisheries accounts for just 0.6 to one
per cent of the investment in the country.
By
October last year, there were 516 FDI projects in agriculture, with a total
registered investment capital of US$3.6 billion — equivalent to three per
cent of all the FDI projects and 1.5 per cent of the registered FDI capital
in the country, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment's
Foreign Investment Agency.
The
scale of FDI projects in agriculture is small – an average of $6.6 million
per project. The figure in case of other industries stands at around $15
million on an average.
Domestic
steel consumption up
The
domestic steel industry saw strong growth in consumption in the home market
in the first half of this year, according to the Viet Nam Steel Association
(VSA).
The
association reported the purchase of building steel products gained a
year-on-year surge of 24.4 per cent to reach three million tones in the first
half of this year.
Viet Nam
Steel Corporation (VNSteel) had the largest consumption volume at 696,059
tonnes, accounting for 22.78 per cent of the total domestic consumption in
the first six months.
The
second largest producer was Hoa Phat Steel Company with a volume of 675,710
tonnes, Pomina with 407,426 tonnes and Vinakyoei with 246,262 tonnes.
Meanwhile,
the consumption of steel pipes also saw a growth of 34.7 per cent in the
first six months to 664,583 tonnes against the same period last year, the
association said.
The Hoa
Phat Steel Company had the largest consumption of steel pipes at 145,300
tonnes, holding 21.85 per cent of the total steel tube consumption, followed
by Hoa Sen (130,528 tonnes).
Nguyen
Van Sua, VSA vice chairman, said the growth in the local steel industry
supported domestic steel producers in reducing inventories and increasing
their production, according to the Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade)
newspaper.
To
increase consumption, in recent years, companies have promoted exports, but
these countries have launched various safeguards, including anti-dumping
measures.
Of note,
in the first six months the VSA's member companies exported 175,543 tonnes of
steel, 5 per cent lower than in the same period last year.
Experts
said free trade agreements (FTAs) would bring more opportunities and also
challenges to local steel producers because the FTAs open more export
markets, but cause challenges to local consumption.
Nguyen
Van Phong, deputy general director of the NS BlueScope Steel Viet Nam, said
the local galvanised steel industry would have more chances to export
galvanised steel products due to advantages from the FTAs, though local steel
exporters should be ready to face safeguards in countries participating in
the FTAs.
Tran
Tuan Duong, general director of Hoa Phat Group, said the FTAs offer
opportunities and challenges, so local steel producers should reduce
production costs and selling prices, and improve production management during
the integration process into the world economy.
Sua said
to gain efficiencies in exports, the producers should study regulations on
taxes and schedules of cutting taxes under the FTAs at export markets to
avoid lawsuits for dumping Vietnamese steel products in export markets, the
Hai Quan (Customs) newspaper reported.
Meanwhile,
the producers should improve their competitive abilities, including quality,
price and services, to maintain their growth production and business after
the FTAs come into effect, Sua said.
To
assure continued sustainable development, local steel producers should update
technology and equipment, improve corporate management and reduce production
costs to reduce selling prices of products, he added. They should also
increase knowledge about safeguard measures to avoid commercial lawsuits.
Further,
domestic steel industry should develop large steel producers that have
financial and technological abilities and an annual capacity at 2-3 million
tonnes to compete with import products in the future, he noted.
Dong
Nai Port plans big growth
Dong Nai
Port in the southern province of Dong Nai hopes to be able to handle 20
million tonnes of goods a year by 2020, four times the current capacity.
The port
is expected to be one of the leaders in the country in terms of goods
handling capacity, said the director of Dong Nai Port JSC, Nguyen Thi Bach
Mai.
The port
system includes Long Binh Tan terminal on the Dong Nai River and Go Dau ‘A'
and Go Dau ‘B' terminals on the Thi Vai River, which are earmarked for
expansion.
The
terminals are close to major seaports in HCM City and southern Ba Ria-Vung
Tau Province as well as central industrial parks. The port is improving its
service because of fierce competition from other ports in southern Binh Duong
Province and HCM City.
Dong Nai
port has invested more than VND200 billion (US$9.2 million) to build a wharf
capable of handling 30,000 tonnes of goods per year at Go Dau terminal.
JAKS
finds partner for Hai Duong power plant
A deal
over investing in a coal-fired power plant in Hai Duong province has been
struck by JAKS Resources Bhd from Malaysia and China’s Power Engineering
Consulting Group.
The
investment capital for the power plant is $1.87 billion, with each side to
contribute half. JAKS Resources is to be responsible for integrated water
supply and other water related issues while the Chinese partner will provide
technical consulting and financial support.
Located
in Kinh Mon district in northern Hai Duong province and with a capacity of
1,200 MW, the power plant will be constructed under the
build-operate-transfer (BOT) mode and was approved by the government in
August 2011. The pace of the project is well behind schedule, however, having
been originally planned to commence in 2014.
After
finding a new partner JAKS Resources is now expected to the speed up the
project, though it must still wait for approval from the Vietnamese and
Chinese governments.
The
group hopes to get construction underway in the first half of next year and
complete it by 2020.
After
operating it for 25 years JAKS will transfer the power plant to Vietnam. The
group has already signed a deal to sell its electricity to Electricity of
Vietnam (EVN) and the Vietnam National Coal - Mineral Industries Holding
Corporation Limited (Vinacomin).
Automation
conference slated for November
Northern
Thai Nguyen city to host "Vietnam Conference on Control and
Automation" in late November.
The
third national conference on automation, entitled the “Vietnam Conference on
Control and Automation”, will be held on November 27 and 28 at Thai Nguyen
University in northern Thai Nguyen city.
Minister
of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan, who is also Chairman of the Vietnam
Automation Association, said that the conference will allow Vietnamese
scientists to introduce their research and exchange their experiences with
the automation community.
He
emphasized that “here is an opportunity for researchers, policy makers and
enterprises to discuss the development of technology in control and
automation to serve the country’s development.”
The main
topics at the conference will be control and automation and their
application.
Explaining
why Thai Nguyen city was chosen to host the conference, Minister Quan said
that Vietnam’s north has the potential to develop steel manufacturing, mining,
hydroelectricity and other industries, so the demand for applying the latest
in science and technology is increasing in the region.
Firms
advised to make use of rule of origin
Vietnam
has signed and will sign 15 free trade agreements (FTA) in which enterprises
should pay attention to the rule of origin to enjoy incentive tariffs, heard
a seminar of plastics CEOs last Friday.
Bui Kim
Thuy, deputy head of goods origin at the Export and Import Department at the
Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the signatory countries of FTA would
gradually lower import tariffs to 0%.
Factors
like low-cost and young labor are now no longer a competitive advantage of
Vietnam. Therefore, tariff incentives are one of the favorable conditions for
export-import enterprises, according to Thuy.
Media
reports have said FTAs will send tariffs down to 0% and they have not pointed
out how to benefit from such tariffs, she added.
The most
important condition to enjoy low tariffs is that goods have to meet the rule
of origin set out in each TFA. Importing countries will make the origin of
goods and determine whether they are eligible for preferential tariffs.
According
to Thuy, the rule of origin is one of the most important issues in FTAs as it
decides if goods can enjoy incentive tariffs or not. It also helps prevent
trade fraud and measure the level of utilizing incentives in FTA member
economies.
Of the
15 FTAs, ten have been signed and five are currently under negotiation.
After the
12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), Vietnam is negotiating
another important trade agreement, which is the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership (RCEP) comprising 16 countries, Thuy said.
Haiphong
Port seeks to list on UPCoM
Haiphong
Port Joint Stock Company has written to the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX)
seeking approval for trading its shares on the market for unlisted public
firms, or UPCoM, more than one year after its initial public offering (IPO).
With
chartered capital of over VND3.26 trillion (US$149.8 million) equivalent to
over 326 million shares, Haiphong Port’s chartered capital is higher than
other port operators already listed on HNX and the HCMC Stock Exchange
(HOSE).
However,
the State still holds a 95% stake in the company as its IPO attracted few
buyers. After the IPO, the Ministry of Transport and Saigon Port’s parent
firm Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) planned to convert
Vinalines’ debts owed to banks into stakes at Haiphong Port.
The plan
has not been realized as Haiphong Port is not the debtor and there are no
detailed guidelines for converting debts into shares.
However,
Haiphong Port has turned attractive to investors since the end of last year
when Vietnam-Oman Investment Joint Stock Company (VOI) expressed its interest
in buying the highest stake permissible at the port.
The
Government gave the nod to VOI to acquire19.68-29.68% of shares at the port
before Vingroup Joint Stock Company (Vingroup) jumped in with a bid for an
80% stake at the port.
The
ministry has forwarded Vingroup’s proposal to the Government and is waiting
for a final decision.
When
Haiphong Port lists on UPCoM, foreign investors can negotiate pricing to
acquire stakes at the port in line with the current regulations.
Over
100,000 autos sold in H1
Auto
sales continued rising last month, bringing the total volume in the first
half to more than 100,000 units, up 58% against the same period last year.
A recent
report of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) showed 18,686
autos found buyers last month, increasing by only 4% against May but 57%
year-on-year.
The
sales volume of passenger cars was the highest last month with 9,769 units, a
9.2% rise against the previous month. Meanwhile, 7,834 commercial and 1,083
special-purpose vehicles were sold, up 0.5% and down 8.1% respectively.
Consumption
of domestically assembled autos in June grew 3% to 14,448 units over the
previous month while sales of imported vehicles rose 9% to 4,238 units over
May.
In all,
the country consumed nearly 103,500 autos in the first six months, jumping a
staggering 58% year-on-year. Passenger cars made up the largest proportion,
60,132 units, followed by commercial autos with 37,320 units and
special-purpose vehicles with 6,040 units.
The
automakers that reported high sales growth in January-June include Ford
Vietnam with more than 8,959 units, up 70%, Mercedes-Benz Vietnam with 1,764
units, up 59%, GM Vietnam with nearly 3,200 units, up 29%, and Toyota Vietnam
with over 23,000 units, up 38%. Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco) sold
nearly 34,600 units, up 93%, maintaining the lead in auto sales.
Sales of
domestically assembled autos in the period picked up 56% to 76,738 units
while sales of imported autos surged 64% to 26,754 units.
According
to analysts, the auto market can hit 200,000 units in sales this year as
demand tends to edge up towards year-end.
Vietnam’s
auto sales leapt to a record high of around 180,000 units in 2009. However,
auto consumption had since dipped steadily before bouncing back last year
with 157,810 units sold.
HCM
City seeks to improve business environment
The HCMC
government will focus on improving the business environment and streamline
administrative procedures this year and next to make life easier for
investors.
In a
plan issued last week, the city will reduce the time for tax payment to no
more than 121.5 hours per year, goods export to 13 days and goods import to
14 days, business registration to three days, and business closure from 60
months to 30 months. These reforms will be carried from now to the year-end.
Next
year the time needed for registering for rights to ownership and use of
assets will be brought down from 57 days to 14 days, settling trade disputes
from 400 days to 200 days, and processing a bankruptcy request from 60 months
to 24 months.
According
to the city government, the competitiveness of the city is still lower than a
lot of other provinces in the country.
Of the
10 sub-indexes in the Provincial Competitive Index (PCI), namely entry costs,
land access and security of tenure, transparency, time costs, informal
charges, proactivity of the provincial leadership, policy bias, business
support services, labor training policy and legal institutions, HCMC has
seven below average.
After 10
years in the PCI Survey, HCMC got into the top five of the best-governed
provinces and cities in Vietnam. But its ranking was still below Danang, Dong
Thap and Lao Cai though it is an attractive destination for many domestic and
foreign investors.
State-funded
projects plagued with cost overruns
Cost
overruns have become the norm in State-financed projects, according to State
Audit of Vietnam.
Many
projects reported far higher actual costs than originally estimated last
year. For instance, the cost of Hanoi-Haiphong expressway shot up to VND20.92
trillion, Nghi Son 1 thermal power plant to VND10.515 trillion, Noi Bai-Lao
Cai Expressway to VND10.15 trillion, Nhat Tan Bridge and approach roads to
VND6.1 trillion, Phu Ly-My Loc road to VND1.18 trillion, and the expansion of
National Highway 1 section from My Thuan to Can Tho to VND775 billion.
In
addition, the sizes of a lot of projects were adjusted up but still won
approval from authorities. For example, a road linking the two tourist areas
of Huong Son in Hanoi and Tam Chuc-Kha Phong in Ha Nam Province saw its cost
leaping to VND122.2 billion.
Under
Directive 1792, work cannot start on projects that have yet to secure
funding. But many localities still broke ground for such projects such as
HCMC with 1,097 projects, Quang Ninh 262 projects, Cao Bang 302 projects, Bac
Kan 240 projects, Lang Son 229 projects, Lai Chau 278 projects, Phu Tho 289
projects, Vinh Phuc 293 projects, Ha Nam 220 projects, Ninh Thuan 208 projects,
Dak Lak 206 projects and Dong Nai 403 projects.
Local
governments approved a slew of projects even though financing sources were
not decided. Such projects are National Highway 1’s expanded Ben Thuy-Ha Tinh
bypass in Ha Tinh Province, Quang Tri irrigation and hydropower project and
expansion of the Authority of Radio Frequency Management’s headquarters in
Hanoi, according to State Audit of Vietnam.
Source : VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VET/VIR
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Thứ Ba, 14 tháng 7, 2015
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