BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 6/9 SSI upgrades stock board and order services for Web Trading      SSI Web Trading, an online trading service from Saigon Securities, has upgraded its online stock board and updated two more conditional orders for derivative trading. The two new orders, namely OCO and Bull & Bear, are the two most useful orders in derivative trading. With this upgrade, all market data displayed on the board and order screen will be updated consecutively and immediately, helping investors track stock prices and follow transactions quickly and accurately. In June, SSI also upgraded its Web Trading by adding four more types of conditional orders. The continuous upgrades to the platform demonstrates SSI’s efforts in providing diversified, efficient trading tools for profit maximisation and risk prevention for clients when practicing derivative trading. With two new conditional orders, OCO and Bull & Bear, SSI has six types of conditional orders, including Up, Down, Trance Up, Trailing Down, OCO and Bull & Bear. The combination of conditional orders will help investors apply flexible and diversified orders to create investment advantages and prevent risks when practicing derivative trading. SSI Web Trading is an online trading service by SSI. With Web Trading, you can place orders directly on the web interface without any installation. The Web Trading interface is designed to provide easy access anywhere with many useful functions.  BIDV issues bonds worth over $24 million      The Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) has recently issued 7-year and 12 year-bonds worth a total of VND580 billion (US$24.68 million) to increase capital. The interest rate on 7-year bonds, which totalled VND500 billion, is floating and determined by the reference interest rate (the 12-month saving deposit rate of Agribank, Vietcombank, BIDV and VietinBank) plus 0.8 per cent per year. Twelve-year bonds have a fixed interest rate of 7.7 per cent in the first seven years. After that time, the rate will rise to 8.2 per cent providing BIDV doesn’t repurchase the bonds. These are all non-convertible bonds unsecured by property. BIDV has so far this year made four bond issues totalling VND1.01 trillion ($42.97 million). The proceeds will be used to supplement BIDV’s capital and improve its financial capacity Increasing capital is one of the most urgent tasks for banks at the moment, especially State-owned banks like BIDV, because if they cannot do so before 2020, their capital adequacy ratio (CAR) will fall below the minimum level stipulated by the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) and under Basel II norms – a set of banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on banking supervision to enhance competition and transparency in the banking system and make banks more resistant to market changes. However, raising capital has not been easy as banks are struggling to find foreign investors while they are not allowed to hold on to dividends to increase capital, so some banks have decided to issue bonds.  VN’s industrial production expands 11.2% in 8 months         Nghi Son Oil Refinery and Petrochemical complex in the central province of Thanh Hoa. — Photo cafeF Viet Nam’s industrial production index (IIP) rose 11.2 per cent on-year in the first eight months of this year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has announced. The growth, higher than the 8.2 per cent in the same period last year, was mainly fuelled by crude oil production, which expanded by 510 per cent and 520 per cent in June and July respectively, compared to last year’s corresponding period. GSO statisticians attributed the oil sector’s strong IIP rise to the opening of the Nghi Son Oil Refinery and Petrochemical complex – the country’s largest of its kind – in the central province of Thanh Hoa in June and another, Binh Son, in the central Quang Ngai Province – which resumed operations in the same month after annual maintenance. Some sectors in the secondary industry (dominated by the manufacturing of finished products) also saw high growth, such as coal production, up 120 per cent; refined oil production (up 60 per cent), mineral mining support services (up 39 per cent ), electronics, computers and optical products (up 18 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (up 17.5 per cent). Many primary products rose substantially against the same period last year, including oil and gas (up 51 per cent); handsets components (up 37 per cent); liquefied petroleum gas (up 25 per cent) and televisions (up 22 per cent). Other items included synthetic fibres (up 21 per cent); refined sugar (up 18 per cent) and seafood feed (up 17.6 per cent). However, some products saw slight declines in production due to lower demand, such as mobile phones (down 2.3 per cent) and urea fertiliser (down 3 per cent). Among localities recording higher growth in industrial production against 2017’s corresponding period, the northern port city of Hai Phong led with growth of 24 per cent. It was followed by four other northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen and Hai Duong with respective rises of 20 per cent, 14 per cent, 12 per cent and 9.3 per cent. Meanwhile, Ha Noi and HCM City witnessed a modest IIP increase of 7.5 per cent. As of August 1, the number of labourers in the industrial sector increased 3 per cent from the same period last year, with a 1 per cent rise in the State-owned sector, 3.2 per cent in the non-State-owned sector and 3.5 per cent in the foreign-invested sector, the GSO said. Earlier, the GSO predicted the IIP may slow down in the rest of this year, reflecting the increasing importance of sustainable development. The office recommended strengthening connectivity among businesses and the enhancement of their capacity to join supply chains, thus making industry grow more sustainably. It is necessary to continue reducing business conditions, simplifying administrative procedures, enhancing the quality of online public services and using advanced technology to boost the growth of industry. The office also stressed the need to handle stagnant and ineffective projects by the end of 2018, thus giving more resources to the development of industry.  VN spends $5.71 billion on petro imports in first eight months         In the first seven months of 2018, Malaysia was the country’s largest source of oil and petroleum with 2.23 million tonnes worth $1.38 billion, accounting for 28.6 per cent of the country’s total imports. — Photo baophapluat.vn  Viet Nam imported more than 8.6 million tonnes of oil and petroleum products worth US$5.71 billion in the first eight months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 26.4 per cent. The information was revealed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT). Statistics show that in the first seven months of 2018, Malaysia was the country’s largest source of oil and petroleum shipping 2.23 million tonnes worth $1.38 billion to Viet Nam, accounting for 28.6 per cent of the country’s total imports. This represented increases of 49.3 per cent and 102.3 per cent in terms of quantity and value from the corresponding period last year. It was followed by the Republic of Korea with 1.97 million tonnes worth $1.42 billion, an increase of 14.5 per cent in volume and 37.5 per cent in value. Viet Nam imported 1.81 million tonnes of oil and petroleum from Singapore, equivalent to $1.15 billion, a sharp decline of 40.8 per cent in volume and 22.7 per cent in turnover. In addition, the country also imported 895,197 tonnes from China, 619,739 tonnes from Thailand and 60,361 tonnes from Russia.  Ha Tinh revokes licenses from six projects      Authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh have withdrawn the investment licences from six delayed projects in the Vung Ang Economic Zone. The projects had a combined value of US$100 million and included one foreign-invested venture. They included a a storage centre for Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group’s Drilling Mud Corporation, a kindergarten project and an apartment project for workers at the Hung Nghiep Formosa Steel Corporation. According to Dang Van Thanh, deputy chairman of the zone’s management unit, investors for three of the projects had asked for their licences to be revoked due to delays caused by capital shortages. Thanh said the other three projects had been delayed for years and the investors had ignored warnings from the economic zone. He added that local authorities had tried to stop incompetent investors from gaining access to land in order to create a healthy investment environment. Authorities have withdrawn licences from 38 projects registered in the economic zone since 2009.  Export price of Vietnamese pepper down 62 per cent      The average export price of Vietnamese pepper fell by 62 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2018 to around US$3,330 per tonne following a dip in the global market, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The ministry forecast the export price of Vietnamese pepper as well as global pepper prices were unlikely to recover this year due to low demand and upcoming harvests in major pepper producing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil. Viet Nam exported 20,000 tonnes of pepper in August, earning $58 million, bringing total pepper export volume to 173,000 tonnes and value to $576 million in the first eight months of this year, reported bnews.vn. Pepper exports in the first eight months rose 3.2 per cent in volume but dropped 36 per cent in value over the same period last year. The major export markets for Vietnamese pepper were the US, India, Pakistan, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. Export volume to most markets increased sharply while value declined. In the domestic market, pepper prices in August dropped close to production costs. The price of black pepper at the end of August ranged from VND47,000 to VND48,000 per kilo, down VND4,000 to VND5,000 per kilo from July. At this price, many farmers are operating at a loss.  PNC decides to quit CGV Vietnam         Phuong Nam Cultural Joint Stock Corporation (PNC) will sell its remaining shares in CJ CGV Vietnam Co Ltd, the country’s largest multiplex cinema operator. PNC said in a recent resolution, which was approved by its shareholders, that the firm will offload its remaining 7.5 per cent stake in CGV Vietnam to receive an estimated VND101 billion (US$4.5 million). The initial value of that 7.5 per cent stake was VND11.5 billion. On June 28, PNC shareholders approved the sale of 12.5 per cent of CGV Vietnam shares to Black Diamond Investment Joint Stock Company for VND160 billion and reduced the former’s holding to 7.5 per cent. If successful, PNC will completely withdraw from CGV Vietnam, earning VND261 billion and valuing the cinema operator at VND1.3 trillion. PNC will spend the amount of receivable paying debts to its partners and suppliers, adding to its working capital and making dividend payouts for 2018. By the end of the second quarter of this year, PNC’s liabilities amounted to VND548.7 billion, 93 per cent of its total capital, of which the short-term loans borrowed from Cross Junction Investment was VND161 billion. PNC has suffered accumulated losses of more than VND98.3 billion. PNC is listing more than 11 million shares on the HCM Stock Exchange with ticket PNC. The firm’s shares have been put on the restricted list since February 27 as it recorded losses in 2016 and 2017. If the company continues running losses, the ticker could be delisted as accumulated losses exceed equity. PNC ended Thursday at VND13,800 ($0.61) per share, unchanged from the previous session. In 2011, the South Korean conglomerate CJ Group bought 92 per cent of Envoy Media, which owned 80 per cent of Megastar (the former name of CGV Vietnam) for $73.6 million. Megastar at that time owned seven theatres with 54 screens and recorded $23 million worth of revenue in 2010. Megastar was renamed CGV in 2014. In 2017, CGV reported VND2.8 trillion in revenue and VND140 billion in net profit, accounting for 47 per cent of the market share as the leading film distributor and movie theatre operator in Viet Nam.  Discrepancies in financial reviews         A number of companies have seen their losses increase or profits decline after the review of financial statements. — Photo cafef.vn  Many listed companies have announced reviews of their financial statements for the first half of this year; as usual, the review reports reveal a discrepancy between the internal papers and reviews by auditing companies. A number of companies have seen their losses increase or profits decline after the independent reviews. The first-half losses of Truong Thanh Furniture Corporation (HOSE: TTF) rose by VND164 billion (US$7 million) to VND732 billion after the audit. After-tax losses of the parent company also added VND124 billion to reach VND685.2 billion. The strong increase in losses was attributed to a VND12 billion decline in revenue while the capital costs grew by VND180 billion. The auditor also noted that TTF incurred an accumulated loss of VND2.09 trillion ending June. Its short-term liabilities also surpassed short-term assets by VND101 billion, reflecting considerable uncertainty about the continued operation of the company. “King of tra fish” Hung Vuong Joint Stock Corporation (HOSE:HVG) also suffered an additional loss of VND115 billion, lifting semi-annual loss from October 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 to VND377 billion. Ending the third quarter of the 2018 fiscal year (April 2017-June 2018), its net profit declined to VND13.6 billion, pushing down the nine-month loss to VND366 billion. After a semi-annual review, profits of Hoang Anh Gia Lai JSC (HOSE:HAG) shrank by VND40 billion to VND100 billion. Shareholders of the parent company incurred a net loss of VND34.5 billion, VND23.5 billion higher than the previous number. Housing developer An Duong Thao Dien (HOSE:HAR) also saw its after-tax profit decline by 67 per cent after the review. Most accounting items did not change much but its management expenses increased by 44 per cent, leading to a profit drop. For the case of mineral company An Truong An JSC (HOSE:ATG), the auditor adjusted the company’s profit of over hundreds of million dong to a loss of VND5.7 billion. According to the auditor, ATG had to make an additional provision for VND4.4 billion in bad receivables for My Xuan Mineral and Trading Co Ltd. The companies suffering lower profits after the review also included Vietinbank (CTG), Licogi (LIC), Dai Chau Group (DCS), construction firms Coma 18 (CIG) and Red River Construction (ICG). On the other end of spectrum, shareholders of some companies are happy with growth in their companies’ profits, such as DAP-Vinachem (DDV), Hoang Long Corp, PetroVietnam Drilling Mud (PVC), Vietnam Airlines (HVN) and Yeah1 Group (YEG). According to a representative of Ernst & Young Viet Nam, it is difficult to conclude whether such discrepancies are intentional or unintentional. In practice, some mistakes may be made due to shallow professional knowledge of accountants or ambiguity in legal regulations on accounting standards. Nguyen Manh Hien, director of An Viet Accounting Co, said that in some cases, companies may employ popular tricks from developed markets to revamp their financial statements, depending on motivation of the company’s leaders. Errors related to financial reports may be subject to a fine of between VND40 million and VND50 million ($1,700-$2,140) according to Decree No 41/2018/ND-CP. In case of serious damage, it can be charged with criminal offence. “However, it is not easy to determine the effect of any damage arising from financial reports, so criminal sanctions are rarely applied,” Hien was quoted as saying on the tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.  Revenue of retail sales and services up 11.2 per cent in eight months       Viet Nam’s total revenue from retail sales and services had strong growth in the first eight months of this year due to the strong increase in purchasing power of the domestic market, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). The total revenue from retail sales and services reached VND2.86 quadrillion (US$124.3 billion) in the first eight months, a year-on-year increase of 11.2 per cent. If inflation was excluded, the increase would be 8.53 per cent, a record rate over the past five months. The growth rate was 8.5 per cent in the first four months, 8.3 per cent in both of the first five months and the first six months, and 8.4 per cent in the first seven months, the GSO said. GSO expert Vu Manh Ha said the high consumption in the first eight months of this year was due to the start of consumption season and continued hot weather pushing up demand for cooling solutions and vacations. In addition, the market saw higher demand for books, notebooks and other items for the new school year in September and demand for essential goods after rain and storms. Revenue from cultural and education services gained a year-on-year growth of 10.8 per cent. The office said revenue from retail goods accounted for three fourths of total revenue from retail sales and services to reach VND2.15 quadrillion in the first eight months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 11.7 per cent. Of which, several products recorded strong increases, including food and foodstuffs (12.8 per cent), garments (12.3 per cent) and home appliances (11.6 per cent). Revenue from tourism in the first eight months marked high growth of 17.6 per cent against the same period last year though it made up a small part of total revenue from retail sales and services. This was followed by accommodation, restaurant and catering services with a growth rate of about 9 per cent in the first eight months. Some provinces and cities with high revenue from retail sales and services at between 12-13 per cent in the first eight months included Thai Nguyen, HCM City, Thanh Hoa, Bac Giang and Binh Dinh. Cement industry records impressive export growth       The domestic cement industry achieved impressive results in exports over the first eight months of this year to reach the target for the whole year. In August, Viet Nam gained a year-on-year increase of 44 per cent in cement export volume to 2.01 million tones, though the volume dropped slightly by 90,000 tonnes against the volume in July. During the first eight months of this year, cement exports reached 20.09 million tonnes, exceeding the target of this whole year’s cement exports which was about 18-19 million tonnes, according to the Ministry of Construction’s Building Material Department. The industry’s total cement consumption in both domestic and export markets stood at 63.85 million tonnes in the first eight months, a year-on-year increase of 30 per cent. Of which, domestic consumption reached 43.76 million tonnes, a year on year surge of 3 per cent, reported chinhphu.vn. According to the department, the industry is likely to reach its target consumption of 65-66 million tonnes in the domestic market for the whole year. Nguyen Quang Cung, chairman of the Viet Nam Cement Association, said that growth of cement consumption in the local market reduced from 2015. However, the cement industry expected a slight increase of 3 per cent for the year while the exports of cement would have better business results due to higher demand of importing cement from Viet Nam to some markets like China and the Philippines. In addition, over supply of cement in the future due to more projects and production lines coming into operation would force cement enterprises to promote cement exports, according to the association. The Dau tu newspaper quoted Cung as saying that to deal with the situation of over supply in cement, the association has proposed the Prime Minister direct slackening investment into cement projects from now to 2025, while promoting investment in renovation and increasing productivity and quality. In 2017, the industry put into operation three big production projects, including Long Son 2 Cement in Thanh Hoa Province with a capacity of 2.3 million tonnes per year; Thanh Thang Cement 2 in Ha Nam Province with a capacity of 2.3 million tonnes per year; and Cement of Xuan Thanh 2 also in Ha Nam with an annual capacity of 4.5 million tonnes. Those projects raised the total designed capacity of the industry to 99 million tonnes. This year, cement production capacity could reach 113 million tonnes. Just three projects put into operation in 2017 have increased production by 9 million tonnes in total designed capacity, thus increasing competitive pressure on the local market. Meanwhile, the list of cement projects that are expected to come into operation after 2018 are very large capacity projects, thus increasing the cement consumption pressure. They include the Song Lam Cement’s production lines 3, 4 in the second phase of the Vissai Group with total capacity of 3.8 million tonnes per year; Thai Nguyen Group’s Ha Tien Cement Project in Binh Phuoc with annual capacity of 4.5 million tonnes; and Tan Thang Cement Project in Nghe An Province with annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes.  HCM City supermarkets see sales surge during holidays Supermarkets and shopping malls in Ho Chi Minh City have seen a surge in sales during the three-day National Day holidays this year. Doan Diep Binh, head of branding and communications at Lotte Mart, told Vietnam News: “Sales increased by 25 percent from last year, with processed products, seafood, beer, and soft drinks being the biggest sellers.” Its food court and recreation areas were crowded through the three days from September 1 to 3, he said, adding that promotion programmes greatly contributed to the higher sales. Lotte is offering many promotions until September 4 at its 13 stores nation-wide, including discounts of up to 49 percent on thousands of products and a shock prices programme for its loyal customers, he said. Customers buying Trung Nguyen coffee products worth 90,000 VND at the supermarket will get a ticket for a lucky draw with total prizes worth 779 million VND (33,482 USD), he said. Saigon Co.op, the owner of Co.opmart supermarket chain, launched the “Tu hao hang Viet” (Proud of Vietnamese Goods) programme, its largest promotion of the year, with discounts of up to 50 percent on thousands of products, gifts of over 200,000 vouchers and many times higher points than normal between August 16 and September 5. According to a Saigon Co.op spokesperson, sales were up 20 - 40 percent from normal. Fresh and processed foodstuffs and beverages were the top sellers, while sales of kitchen utensils and clothes increased slightly. At Big C supermarkets, the number of shoppers went up sharply during the holidays, said Vu Thanh Tan, media content manager of Central Group Vietnam. Supply had increased by 50 percent, especially of ready-to-eat foods, bread and fruits and vegetables, he said. The supermarket also offered discounts of up to 49 percent on more than 1,000 products under its “Celebrate great holiday” programme and on hundreds of Vietnamese products together with gifts under its “Give Vietnamese brands wings” programme until September 5. Vissan stores, which are offering discounts of up to 10 percent on many processed foods, also attracted a lot of shoppers during the holidays. Unlike supermarkets, traders at traditional markets like Ba Chieu in Binh Thanh district, Hoang Hoa Tham in Tan Binh district, Go Vap in Go Vap district, and Hoa Binh in district 5 said sales had dipped slightly compared to normal days. With supply being abundant, prices were steady. A representative of the Hoc Mon wholesale market for farm produce and fresh foods, said usually around 2,800 tonnes of products were received every day, but on September 2 traders reduced their purchase by 20 percent since kitchens at companies and schools and other large customers did not buy. According to the Binh Dien, Thu Duc and Hoc Mon wholesale markets, the volume of goods would return to normal from September 3. Mekong Delta region makes up 18 percent of GDP Mekong Delta localities collected more than 243.2 trillion VND (10.46 billion USD) for the budget in 2016-2018, and made up 18 percent of the country’s GDP, according to an official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). In the period, the region’s average gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth reached 7.5 percent, while per capita income in 2018 is estimated at 2,217 USD, said Nguyen Tuan of the MPI’s Local and Territorial Economy Department at a recent conference in Can Tho city. Tuan said that in 2016-2018, the region earned 45.8 billion USD from exports, achieving 47.6 percent of its target for 2016-2020 at 96.3 billion USD. He said the Mekong Delta has experienced good economic growth and positively transformed its economic structure. The region is the country’s top group in terms of the provincial competitiveness index (PCI), thanks to its improved investment environment and reformed administrative procedures, he said. The Mekong Delta comprises Can Tho city and 12 provinces – Long An, Dong Thap, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, An Giang, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang. Known as the country’s rice bowl, the region has seen low foreign investment, ranking only fourth out of six major economic regions in foreign direct investment attraction, reflecting inefficientsupport policies for enterprises, noted Tuan. He added that only 58 percent of labourersin the region are trained, lower than other regions. Under the public investment plan for 2016-2020, the Mekong Delta was allocated 184 trillion VND (7.91 billion USD). So far, the region has received 57 percent of the funds, or 105 trillion VND (4.51 billion USD). In 2019, total capital demand of 19 localities in the Mekong Delta and Southeast Region is estimated at more than 136.5 trillion VND (5.86 billion USD), up 11.4 percent compared to 2018 and equivalent to 69 percent of the capital planned for 2019-2020. A report by the MPI showed that demand accounts for nearly 32 percent of the total planned investment of the country in 2019. Forum calls on VN supporting industries to get a move on      Businesses in supporting industries need to further improve their functioning and establish close ties with each other and official agencies to enter multinational supply chains, delegates told a forum held in HCM City recently. Dinh Thi Bao Linh, deputy director of the Viet Nam Industry and Trade Information Centre, said supporting industry, which refers to making accessories, components and others used in manufacturing, has received special attention from the Government since it is the foundation for development of many other industries. Yet the rate of locally sourced parts remains modest, she said. Do Thi Thuy Huong, a member of the executive board of the Viet Nam Electronic Industries Association (VEIA), said the electronics industry has developed strongly in recent years with exports rising every year. The development of the sector is mainly thanks to the large investments made by multinational companies, especially from Korea and Japan, in the production of both final products and components, she said. Local firms have a small market share, she said. Le Nguyen Duy Oanh, deputy director of the HCM City Centre for Supporting Industries Development, spoke about the city’s efforts to back supporting industries, including programmes to connect local suppliers with foreign-owned and local manufacturers and foreign partners. “Samsung hopes to have 50 Vietnamese suppliers by 2020, so local firms should link up and standardise their production process to participate as the Korean company’s vendors,” she said. Nguyen Duc Minh, director of Viettronics Phu Tho Hoa, spoke about his company’s experience in seeking businesses partners as well as its process of becoming a Samsung supplier. Suttisak Wilanan of Thailand-based Reed Tradex Company, one of the forum’s organisers, said: “The global industry is changing to a new era of manufacturing capabilities, the direction of markets will not be the same since the digital technologies are taking over the way we produce and consume a variety of goods.” The rising demand for integrated and advanced technologies is driving supporting industries to overhaul their manufacturing processes to catch up with the global supply chain, he said. “We see huge potential in Viet Nam, where a number of major manufacturing bases are located and where skilled engineers, technicians and workers have gathered. “What’s more, Vietnamese are precise and highly skilled, and, most importantly, perseverance is deep-rooted in their work philosophy. That is the reason I believe Viet Nam will become one of Asian’s manufacturing hubs in years to come.” The forum was held as part of pre-activities for NEPCON Vietnam, an exhibition on SMT, testing technologies, equipment, and supporting industries for electronics manufacturing to be organised next October. Held by Reed Tradex and VEIA, the forum was titled “Development of supporting industries – the foundation for the sustainable growth of Viet Nam’s electricity and electronics industry.”  Vietcombank introduces new AI service      Vietcombank launched VCBPAY this week, a new service from the company’s Mobile Banking ecosystem. The service has a ‘chatbot’ assistant equipped with artificial intelligence to assist transaction requests. VCBPAY also helps customers pay with QR Codes at stores and websites, and for airplane tickets and hotel bookings. Customers just have to pay service fees for VCBPAY, VCB-Mobile B@nking and VCB-iB@nking.  Euro Auto faces trade fraud fines      The Ministry of Finance plans to fine Euro Auto JSC, the former official BMW importer in Viet Nam, for trade fraud and issuing false invoices to the customs department. The ministry has asked Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to fine the firm from VND40 million to VND80 million (US$1,760-3,500) and allow it to confiscate all fake documents and invoices used for customs clearance for the vehicles. According to regulations, the 133 cars were ineligible for import into Viet Nam. The company could re-export the vehicles out of Vietnamese territory and receive all the tax paid on the shipment. The ministry said neither it nor the General Department of Customs could reauthorise the firm to start importing BMWs again, and such a move would need the PM’s approval. Last year, Euro Auto JSC was found to have sold cars without customs clearance and failed to provide certificates of origin (C/O) and import documents. After that all 571 cars were re-exported from the country. Relevant to this case, the Ministry of Public Security prosecuted three defendants for smuggling, namely CEO Nguyen Dang Thao, Euro Auto official Nguyen Thi Minh Yen, and Tran Hai Dang, deputy director of Viet A Company, which performed customs procedures for Euro Auto. On June 4, the Supreme People’s Procuracy decided to bring the three defendants to trial. Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO) is the new official importer of BMW and MINI vehicles in Viet Nam.  Conference discusses global shrimp demand, Vietnam’s supply capacity There is room for the development of Vietnam’s shrimp sector thanks to favourable farming conditions and increasing global demand, heard a conference held in Ho Chi Minh City recently. At the event entitled “Global shrimp demand and Vietnam’s supply capacity to 2025”, experts stressed the industry still faces challenges.  Ho Quang Luc, former Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), noted that Vietnam has a large area of 700,000 hectares for shrimp farming. “Due to favourable weather, Vietnamese farmers can raise shrimp all year round,” he said, adding that local farmers’ skills exceed the global average. The country also has great processing potential, with nearly 100 shrimp processing factories, generating about 500,000 tonnes of products every year, he added. Despite its potential and support from the Government and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), shrimp farmers still face poor infrastructure, low-quality shrimp breeders and high farming costs, among others. “It is necessary to have a detailed farming plan, adequate investment in infrastructure, a national parent-shrimp production programme, and strict control of the shrimp supply system,” he recommended. Hoang Tung, an expert at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, addressed issues surrounding the Government plan that targets all steps of the value chain and an export turnover target of 10 billion USD in 2025. He said the government should place emphasis on higher-quality inputs, improvement of farming and harvesting, and innovative business models. This would ensure higher productivity, lower production costs and increased domestic consumption, he said. Tung hoped that the Lower Mekong Initiative, which aims to transform the livelihoods of 10,000 households via more sustainable shrimp farming between 2019 and 2029, will be carried out efficiently. The initiative is a collaborative project between CSIRO, MARD and the Ministry of Science and Technology. Experts at the conference also spoke about the world shrimp market and the gap in supply and demand, consumption trends, competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp in the EU market, and analysis of export competitors. Can Tho boosts agricultural shake-up towards sustainable development The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho plans to restructure its agricultural sector towards increasing added value and sustainable development during 2018-2022 under a project launched in the locality recently. According to Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Ngoc He, the project looks to improve quality and competitiveness of the local farm produce, build key goods groups and concentrated production zones applying advanced technologies, and promote value chain development. During 2018-2020, the city’s agricultural production value is expected to grow an average of 3.5 percent per year while capital injected into the sector is planned to increase 17 percent per year.  The city targets more than 2.5 percent in the growth of agro-forestry-fishery production for 2018-2020 period. High-tech agriculture will be strongly developed this time. Building high-quality rice fields and safe vegetable zones meeting market demands as well as branching out urban agricultural models and orchard gardens in combination with eco-tourism are in the first line of the measures to realise the set goals. The sector will focus on improving productivity and quality of plants and domestic animals as well as raising competitiveness of local farm produce. By 2020, nearly 100,000 hectares of farming land will be cultivated, with one fifth of which to be applied with high technologies. 25,000 hectares inefficient rice farming land will be shifted to aquaculture and cultivation of other crops. Besides ensuring appropriate irrigational system, the province will help local farmers improve production capacity and build advanced production models. Three high-tech agricultural zones will be built at the Agricultural Seed Centre, Hau River Farm, and Co Do Farm. Upon completion, the facilities will be responsible for coordinating high-tech agriculture network, and working with institutes, universities and enterprises to study and apply new technologies. Also, Can Tho will pilot bio-tech application models and transfer technologies to local farmers.  Due attention has been paid to investment attraction, connection between businesses and local cooperatives and households in producing and selling products, disease prevention for crops and animals, and building and promotion of local agricultural brands.  The agricultural restructuring project was first launched in the city in 2013. After five years of implementation , value of agricultural production increased 3.2 percent per year, and earning from one hectare of crops surges 7 percent to 32.5 million VND (1,440 USD), while that from one hectare of aquaculture picked up 9.2 percent to 99.7 million VND (4,287 USD). Currently, the city has nine agricultural products granted geographical indication and collective brands. It has established 238 new agricultural cooperatives, as well as lured many investors in production, processing and selling of local farm produce. Ninh Thuận shrimp products awarded trademark Shrimp products from the south central province of Ninh Thuận Province on Wednesday received a Certificate of Trademark from the Intellectual Property Department. The certificate covers tiger prawns species PL 15 and white-legged shrimp species PL 12, both of which are produced in the province. The certified trademark includes an image of a blue shrimp inside a white circle with the words “Ninh Thuận’s Shrimp”. The certificate will be valid for 10 years, while the holder will be Ninh Thuận’s Department of Fisheries. The trademark is expected to enhance the reputation of Ninh Thuận Province’s shrimp in the market and help fight against the production of poor quality shrimp. Businesses that use the trademark must ensure that their shrimp has clear origin, good quality, is protected by disease, is biologically safe and has had no antibiotics and banned substances used in the production process. The province has 1.200 shrimp farms with productivity of more than 30 billion shrimp per year (most of which are tiger prawn and white-legged shrimp), meeting 30 per cent of the country’s demand.   The province expects to provide 36 billion shrimp per year by 2020 and to be a centre of high-quality shrimp production area in the country.  Hai Phong’s eight-month FDI surges nearly 100 per cent      More than $1.41 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) was poured into the northern port city of Hai Phong over the past eight months of this year - a year-on-year increase of nearly 100 per cent, the city’s official portal reported. Of that amount, $1.39 billion was injected into 94 projects, including 64 newly-invested projects and 33 capital adjustment ones, while the remainder of $23 million was spent by overseas players on acquiring shares in Vietnamese companies, it noted. Since the beginning of the year, Japan and South of Korea continued to be the largest investors in the city. In the future, the city will continue to speed up administrative reforms, improve its investment and business climates and perfect infrastructure facilities at major industrial economic and industrial zones in order to better attract foreign investment. Holding frequent talks between the city’s leaders and investors to remove their difficulties and revoking licences of slow-moving projects will be also included. The city aims to lure $2 billion in FDI by the year-end.  Auto tyre importers required to show conformity certificate      Businesses will have to show certificates of conformity when they conduct customs procedures to import auto tyres into Viet Nam. The measure was proposed by the Viet Nam National Chemical Group (Vinachem) and sent to the ministries of transport and industry and trade, Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality, and General Department of Vietnam Customs. Vinachem asks the relevant units to check the quality of imported tyres because conformity certificates were a compulsory requirement for quality control of automobile tyres before entering the Vietnamese market. According to Vinachem, there are four circulars from the ministries of transport and science and technology stipulating the compulsory announcement of conformity certificates for automobile tire products including imports and domestic production. However, Vinachem affirmed that the automobile importers had not implemented the compulsory regulations. The authorities had not yet checked the certificates when they conducted customs clearance procedures. "This leads to many unsafe automobile tyres imported into Viet Nam, affecting consumers’ interests and right, creating unequal competition for domestic enterprises," said Vinachem in the document. The Vietnamese automobile and tyre market includes imported tyres and locally-produced ones. The domestically-produced tires mainly come from Caosumina, SRC and DRC, as well as foreign direct investment businesses such as Bridgestone (Japan) and Kumho Tire (South Korea). However, there are also automobile tyres imported from China at about 20 per cent cheaper than other manufacturers. Automobile tyres imported into Viet Nam serve domestically-assembled automobile factories and centres for warranty, maintenance or repair of cars across the country.  VNN