VAFI calls for tax on trading of gold bars
The Viet Nam
Association of Financial Investors has called for a 10 per cent value
added tax on gold bullion trading to prevent the ‘goldisation’ of the
economy, which refers to people’s propensity to use gold instead of
money.
In a report in the Viet Nam Financial Times on Monday the
VAFI said the recent gold bullion auctions by the central bank were only
a temporary solution to ensure supply for credit institutions and
reduce the gap between global and domestic gold prices, and did not help
fight “goldisation.”
Most of the measures used by the State Bank
of Viet Nam to manage the gold market were not used anywhere else in the
world, it claimed.
They did not help check the “goldisation” but
instead caused gold worth $22 billion to be kept idly by individuals and
affected policies related to interest rates and foreign exchange, it
charged.
No country in the world waived tax on gold trading, it pointed out.
The
association also suggested that the central bank should gradually lower
interest rates on foreign currency deposits to zero per cent and on
foreign currency loans to 3 per cent.
This would enable the dong to appreciate, causing interest rates on both loans and deposits in dong to further drop.
The
plunging interest rates would help the securities and property markets
recover and enable businesses to get access to cheap funds and expand,
it said.
Excess cement prompts production check
The
Ministry of Construction has recommended the Government cancel many
pending cement production projects and delay a number of others in order
to align more closely with market demand.
In a report on the
cement industry sent to Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai this week,
the ministry suggested the removal of nine planned cement plants, with
an expected total output capacity of 4.15 million tones, from the
nation’s Cement Industry Development Plan during 2011-20, which was
approved by the Prime Minister a few years ago.
They also
suggested that the construction of another seven cement production
projects, which would produce a total of 9.73 million tones annually, be
delayed until 2016.
The nation’s development plan for the
industry was designed to accommodate yearly growth of 10-15 per cent,
matching the rising rate of the industry in the period 2006-10.
However,
according to the ministry, the output suggested in the long-term plan
will far exceed domestic demand in the next two years, which has fallen
due to the country’s economic difficulties.
Demand fell by 15
million tonnes in the last two years from the output stated in the plan,
but despite this new cement production plants have continued to be
developed, causing an excess which will reach 25 million tonnes by 2015.
The redundant figure would rise to 40 million tonnes by 2020 when the
sector is producing 129.5 million tonnes.
Chairman of the Viet Nam
Construction Materials Association Tran Van Huynh said last year was
stormy for cement businesses and the situation does not look to improve.
He warned that if no drastic changes are made, more Vietnamese cement
companies will face the prospect of bankruptcy.
The association’s
statistics showed that last year alone, coal and power prices surged 10
and 20 per cent respectively and prices of some other input materials
also increased by more than 7 per cent. Compounding things further is
the falling demand for cement, causing many plants to post losses and
consider closing their doors, he said.
Survey condemns quality of companies’ financial reports
The
evaluation of the quality of the financial statements of companies
depends heavily on auditing firms but auditors are not responsible for
fraud of companies and they have little ability to prevent swindling.
According
to Bui Van Mai, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Certified
Public Accountants (VACPA), auditors can help companies find out data
errors and shortcomings during the process of making reports, as well as
consult and help companies improve their management systems.
“However
if they wish to swindle, auditors are not responsible for detecting and
making conclusions on such fraud,” Mai was quoted as saying on the Thoi
bao Ngan hang (Banking Times) newspaper.
According to market
insiders, the responsibility is in the hands of the company’s board of
directors and its internal control department.
However, the role
of board members in Vietnamese companies is more for execution rather
than strategic management and supervision. Meanwhile, the roles of
internal control departments are weak.
The Corporate Governance
Scorecard 2012 of the State Securities Commission showed a disappointing
result in which overall points of all surveyed businesses were below 60
per cent while the average score was 42.5 per cent, lower than the two
previous surveys which scored 43.9 per cent and 44.7 per cent,
respectively.
The annual survey rated quality of corporate
governance of 100 listed companies on both HCM City and Ha Noi stock
exchanges which represent 80 per cent of total market capitalization.
Following
the 2012 survey, economic woes pushed many domestic companies into
financial difficulty and many attempted to conceal their weak business
results.
The report concluded that the information in the reports was incomplete and much more formal.
Experts
say the most important thing is that shareholders should be aware of
and utilise their authority in supervising operation of their
businesses.
They should be strict in the matters of appointment of
independent auditors, ask for information from board members as well as
information in the financial statements. They are also encouraged to
participate in shareholder meetings.
In addition, Le Thi Thao,
from the Law Faculty of University of Hue, suggested to empower
independent directors to increase their control over the performance of
boards of directors as well as increasing the responsibility and power
of the internal control department to support their supervisory role.
In
an attempt to help listed companies improve their corporate governance,
the Ha Noi Stock Exchange recently announced a plan to organise
fact-finding tours for its listed companies to the Thai Stock Exchange
to learn about the Thai system of managing information of listed
companies as well as how the system can help strengthen the company
corporate governance.
Earlier this year, a similar tour was
organised by the HCM City Stock Exchange to Bursa Malaysia with the
support of Maybank Kim Eng Securities Co.
VN Airlines announces new S Korea route
Vietnam
Airlines will launch a direct air route between central Da Nang City
and the South Korean (Republic of Korea) city of Incheon on July 1.
Chief
Representative of the carrier’s South Korean branch Cao Anh Son
announced the plan in Seoul on Thursday on the sidelines of the 26th
Korean World Tourism Forum.
Using Airbus A321, the carrier will provide two-way direct flights on the route on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Last
year, Vietnam Airlines’ South Korean branch catered for 640,000
passengers travelling between the two countries, accounting for 20 per
cent of the carrier’s international passengers and up 6 per cent from
2011.-
Firms need to prove themselves
Enterprises who
wanted to access bank loans needed to actively demonstrate their
operating capacity, efficiency of their business plans and their ability
to pay loans.
The advice came from the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry general secretary Pham Thi Thu Hang.
The
lending interest rates were recently slashed to between 8-12 per cent –
the level of the 2005-06 period. That meant interest rates were no
longer hindering firm’s access to bank loans, head of the State Bank of
Viet Nam’s Monetary Policy Department Nguyen Thi Hong said.
Each
enterprise should restructure its business in an attempt to better
convince banks about the feasibility of its projects as well as to prove
its cash flows, she said.
Both enterprises and banks had encountered business difficulties, said VPBank general director Nguyen Duc Vinh.
“We are willing to lend to the firms but with certain conditions,” he said.
Banks would take into account the firm’s operating capacity, mortgage assets and specific plans for loan disbursement.
He
emphasised the importance of more effective assistance from the State
and sectors in order to bring banks and enterprises closer.
SME development fund
A
fund for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development will be
set up with a total charter capital of VND2 trillion (US$95 million).
The move aims to enhance the competitiveness of these enterprises and to create more jobs.
Functioning
as a State financial organisation under the management of the Ministry
of Planning and Investment, the non-profit fund is responsible for
managing and using financial resources to support SME development.
To
get the financial assistance, SMEs must meet a number of conditions,
including having feasible production or business plans in line with the
fund’s list of priority areas.
The maximum loan for each project
will not exceed VND30 billion ($1.4 million) and must be repaid within
seven years. The establishment of the fund is part of a bigger programme
on SME development in the 2011-15 period.
Bank gets go-ahead to raise charter
The
Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam
(BIDV) has got approval to raise its charter capital in the first phase
of 2013 from VND23.012 trillion (US$1.1 billion) to VND28.112 trillion
($1.34 billion).
The Ha Noi-based bank shall increase its charter
capital through paying share dividends and issuing new shares to
existing shareholders.
The charter capital increase will be
implemented in accordance with a plan approved by its annual general
meeting on April 26, 2013, and with a resolution of the board of
directors dated May 27 this year.
The approval will be valid
within 12 months. In case BIDV does not raise its charter capital within
the terms of the decision, and its shareholders approve a change in the
plan to hike charter capital, the approval will expire.-
IFC supports efforts to make construction more energy-efficient
International
Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of World Bank Group, will provide
support to the Ministry of Construction to enhance energy efficiency in
construction.
IFC will help the ministry create instructions and
training courses for energy efficiency in construction and set up a
strategy for the development of green construction in Viet Nam.
The
programme, to be implemented over five years, aims to reduce energy
consumption by 15 per cent for newly constructed buildings, helping Viet
Nam cut greenhouse gas emissions by 8-10 per cent in the 2011-20
period.
Tech firm opens two offices in VN
Agilent
Technologies yesterday announced the opening of two new offices in Ha
Noi and HCM City in a move to expand its business in Viet Nam.
“As
one of the fastest developing infrastructure and business regions in
the world, Viet Nam is a critical component in Agilent’s key emerging
markets strategy,” said president of Agilent’s Life Sciences Group Nick
Roelofs.
In Ha Noi, Agilent’s Advantage Services facility, a
repair and calibration centre for electronic testing instruments, will
serve customers spanning industries such as government, defence,
education and manufacturing.
In HCM City, Agilent’s Technology
Demo Centre is equipped with cutting-edge bio-analytical instruments
used by scientists and researchers.-
Ben Tre Province stops idle projects
Southern
Ben Tre Province’s investment promotion centre said it had revoked the
investment certificates of four enterprises as they didn’t implement
projects within a year after receiving licences.
Companies which
were to stop projects are fruit juice producer Gia Nguyen, mechanics
manufacturer Vastalux-Alpha, fruit processor Van Dat, and trade and
tourism service dealer Hoang Ngoc.
Their projects had a total registered capital of US$26.6 million and were expected to cover a total area of over 74,000sq.m.
Celadon City project receives Singapore quality certificate
The
Celadon City project in Son Ky Ward of HCM City’s Tan Phu District
received a certificate of Construction Quality Assessment System
(Conquas).
Conquas is a standardised system developed by the
Singapore Building and Construction Authority to control project quality
from groundbreaking until completion. The standard is frequently
applied in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
According to Hoa
Binh Corporation – the first contractor to be granted a Conquas
Certificate in Viet Nam- Celadon City covers 80ha and is invested by
Malaysian Gamuda Land Group and Sacomreal.
Hoa Binh is the main contractor of the Ruby Building, which has 1,448 apartments and shops.
Five FDI projects under construction in southern province
Among
11 registered property projects licensed for foreign direct investment
in the southern province of Dong Nai, only five are being carried out.
The five projects are worth US$828 million, said the province’s Department of Planning and Investment.
Investors
in another four projects with a total investment capital of $1.56
billion have cleared construction sites. The two projects not yet begun
are the workers’ living area of Formosa Company and dormitory of Hyosung
Vina.
The department said the two investors and owners of the
would-be construction sites have not compromised on compensation
payments.
The province’s statistics show office vacancies stand at 14,000sq m while there are 1,100 flats remaining for sale.
Work starts on first five-star hotel in northern tourist town Sa Pa
Viet
Nam Investment Construction and Trading Joint Stock Corporation
(Constrexim) on Thursday began construction of its five-star Indochina
International Hotel in the tourism town of Sa Pa, northern Lao Cai
province.
This is the first five-star hotel in Sa Pa, with investment capital of over VND287 billion (US$13 million).
Once
completed, the hotel will cater for both domestic and foreign visitors
with 156 rooms, plus meeting facilities and swimming pools.
Industrial harmony promoted
The
Government needed to be more actively involved in both policy making
and law enforcement to help promote harmonious industrial relations,
labour experts have pointed out.
While acknowledging that a number
of new provisions specified by the new Labour Code and Trade Union Law
indicated the increased roles of upper-level trade unions and local
labour organisations in promoting better industrial relations, experts
complained that the provisions were lacking in specification,
orientation and practicality.
“When we look at the Labour Code, it
is difficult to find specifications on the Government’s role in solving
industrial disputes,” said Yoon Youngmo, chief technical advisor on
industrial relations for the International Labour Organisation in Viet
Nam.
Vi Thi Hong Minh, head of the Employers’ Society’s Office
under the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry pointed out that the
Labour Code had provisions about harmonious industrial relations but
offered no specific definition as to what a harmonious industrial
relation should be.
There is also a provision about the roles of
trade unions, employers’ associations and Government labour agencies
regarding inspecting the implementation of the labour laws, but there
are no specifications as to how it should be done.
Minh added that
the new Trade Union Law came into effect over five months ago but
specific guidance on violations of the law had not been issued.
Youngmo pointed out that the real role of the Government in promoting industrial relations was also absent.
“The Government only acts when strikes have already occurred, they don’t keep track of the real problem.”
They should have been proactive rather than reactive, Youngmo said.
He
added that Government mediators had not been fulfilling their roles
because trade unions and employers could not access support from them.
Mai
Duc Chinh, vice chairman of the Viet Nam General Confederation of
Labour, said it would take time to promote the role of Government labour
agencies in handling disputes involving industrial relations.
He said there were only over 400 labour inspectors throughout the whole country and more than 400,000 enterprises.
Nguyen
Thi Dan, head of the Wage and Salary Division under HCM City’s
Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said it was a great
challenge for labour management agencies to play a role in providing
instruction for employers and employees regarding constructive dialogue,
collective bargaining and harmonious industrial relations as specified
in Article 4 of the Labour Code.
“Given that the Labour Code is
not specific, labour management agencies must have highly experienced
staff with a good knowledge of enterprises’ circumstances and practical
experience of promoting industrial relations.”
Dan pointed out that these limitations would inhibit the implementation of the Labour Code.
She added that frequent rotation of staff was also a challenge.
Despite
the difficulties, Youngmo said that it was possible for the Government
to get more actively involved in reducing disputes and preventing
strikes.
He said most strikes occurred in a select number of companies, sometimes even repeatedly, so they were predictable.
Government
mediators could make plans to deal with disputes in strike hot spots,
and try to discover the root of the problem, he added.
According
to the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour, from 2008-11, Viet Nam
witnessed nearly 2500 cases of wildcat strikes and 70 per cent of those
occurred in FDI enterprises.
In 2010, there were over 400 cases,
and in 2011 it peaked at nearly 1,000. Last year saw 550 strikes and
during the first quarter of this year, 140 cases have been reported.
$4m project to develop industrial relations
A
US$4 million project to develop industrial relations in Viet Nam was
launched last Friday in Ha Noi, aiming to help employers and workers
benefit from the new Labour Code and Trade Union Law.
The
four-year project is titled “Support to development in industrial
relations, wage fixing, and labour law implementation institutions and
capacity in Viet Nam”, and will receive financial support from the US
Government.
It will be implemented by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social
Affairs (MoLISA), among other relevant agencies.
The
non-refundable official development assistance aims to promote effective
enforcement of the new labour code, raise the influence of employers’
and workers’ organisations, promote collective bargaining and social
dialogue, and develop the minimum wage law and a good wage fixing
mechanism.
The new code is also expected to improve the mediation
role of the Government to effectively deal with labour disputes and
prevent wild-cat strikes.
VMS, IBM ink pact on cloud computing for mobile services
The
Viet Nam Mobile Telecom Service Company (VMS) – owner of MobiFone – has
become the first telecom service provider in the country to offer
mobile solutions based on IBM’s cloud computing capabilities.
The
solutions will be offered under a strategic co-operation pact they have
signed, the two companies said in HCM City last Thursday.
Lack of protection over dodgy dealings raises red flag
The
recent dispute between investors and a securities firm relating to
abuses with investors’ money is again raising concerns about the lack of
protection.
Two investors who deposited about VND900 billion
(US$43 million) at Dai Viet Securities Co’s Ha Noi branch recently
accused the company of using the money without their consent. They claim
the money was secretly transferred to the account of the branch’s
director, Dang Kim Thoa, without their request.
Lawyer for Dai Viet Securities Nguyen Thanh Cong told ttvn.vn that Thoa and his colleagues seriously violated company rules.
“(However) the company did not illegally appropriate customers’ money and we will pay the money back,” Cong said.
The State Securities Commission will send an inspection team to check trading at the company’s Ha Noi branch.
After
the incident, many investors expressed concern about the possibility of
their money being used by securities companies without their knowledge.
According to lawyer Le Duc Thang, head of Le Dong law office,
transferring investors’ money without their request violates Ministry of
Finance regulations.
Phung Thi Thanh Ha, head of MB Securities
Co’s risk-management department, said in many cases, leaders of
securities companies did not know about the violations until clients
complained.
According to market insiders, the misuse of investor
funds can be avoided if every money transfer is controlled and compared
with the clients’ request, data and signature.
They said that this
should be done daily or at least monthly, but for many reasons, the
regulation seems to be ignored at many securities firms.
VN firm launches community development investment
Hoang
Anh Gia Lai Group last Friday kicked off its US$10 million investment
programme of community development in a bid to improve life for people
in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province, where it is investing in agricultural
projects.
In the first stages of the programme, the group
provided free healthcare services to roughly 1,500 local people in the
province’s Sre Aung Chhrong Commune; also offering gifts of rice, salt
and sugar to 400 poor local households.
Under the programme, which
will last until 2016, the group will also build up community cultural
houses, schools, medical stations and roads in the province, besides
giving sponsorship to local students to study teaching and healthcare in
Viet Nam’s Gia Lai and Kontum provinces.
Tiger Air unveils promotion to mark anniversary
Singapore-based
Tiger Airways and the Singapore Tourism Board are offering huge
discounts on Viet Nam-Singapore tickets to mark the eighth anniversary
of the low cost carrier’s operation on the route.
A one-way ticket
to Singapore from HCM City and Ha Noi will be sold at VND88,000 and
VND688,000 respectively from June 3 through June 9 for travel between
October 9 and November 30.
Organic rice farmers go against the grain
Yesterday’s
nice weather proved ideal for rice farmers in Chuong My District’s Dong
Phu Commune as they set to work harvesting their crops, and it wasn’t
just the sunshine that had them smiling.
Last year, these farmers
made a commitment to completely avoiding the use of pesticides,
herbicides and chemical fertiliser on their crops, and they are finally
reaping the rewards.
This is the second season that they have
foregone the use of chemicals after receiving the training of experts
from the University of Tokyo and Ha Noi University of Agriculture.
“My
rice is growing well,” said Bui Thi Khuynh, 53. “We only used organic
fertiliser for the crop and it is making a big difference.”
Last
year, the commune’s chemical-free crop was about 140 kilo for every 360
sq.m area. This year it looks as if that amount will rise to 170 kilos.
In
fact, the productivity is mostly the same as in fields that are using
pesticides and herbicides, and in some cases it is even higher.
However,
this chemical-free method of farming is more labour intensive, as
farmers need to weed at least three times during a crop season, whereas
farmers who choose to apply herbicide only need to do this once. During
harvest, Khuynh has to hire two or three other farmers to help, to whom
she pays about VND200,000 (US$9 ) each per day.
“The most
important thing is that our product is safe,” she said. “I do the
farming for my family’s consumption first and then I sell the rest. It
is quite popular because it is better for your health and tastier than
rice that has been sprayed with pesticides.”
It is also
potentially more lucrative. Last year, Khuynh’s rice was sold at
VND25,000 per kilo, nearly double the price of normal rice.
Another
local farmer, 67-year-old Nguyen Thi Ton, said that for the last few
years local farmers have minimised the use of agro-chemicals as they had
become more aware of the harm that they can cause to human health.
“If
we overuse chemicals for crops, it will have a damaging long-term
effect. We and our children eat the rice, but the problems might not
become obvious for another 20 or 30 years. By then, the damage is done.
We are willing to grow safer rice for ourselves, the next generation and
consumers,” she said.
Khuynh and Ton are from two of the 15
households in the commune that joined a project called ‘Improving
Production and Marketing Capacity Improvement for Sustainable
Agriculture, Farmers Empowerment, Rice Improvement and a Cleaner
Environment’ (PAMCI-SAFE RICE).
Vice chairman of Dong Phu Commune
People’s Committee Nguyen Van Bai said that farmers who had participated
were happy to provide safe products for themselves and their consumers,
who welcomed having more choice.
If they could find a stable market, they could expand the model and develop an agricultural brand for local safe rice, Bai said.
Dr.
Kako Inoue from the Agro-Environmental Laboratory at the University of
Tokyo said that when conducting research on the behaviour of farmers
towards sustainable rural development in the Red River Delta, she found
that many were overusing agro-chemicals in the belief it would lead to
higher yields and reduced labour cost. Instead, it resulted in
environmental and ecological degradation.
The subsequent
PAMCI-SAFE RICE project encouraged farmers to produce rice without any
agro-chemicals and to adopt the SRI (System of Rice Intensification)
method to prevent pest damage and to achieve higher yields.
“Importantly,
the project encourages farmers to eat their products themselves. We are
not emphasising the economic value of safe crops. This is because we
want farmers to continue their sustainable agricultural production for
their own health. After that is established, they can share the
remaining rice with society and make money for their efforts,” Inoue
said.
The project, funded by Japanese International Co-operation
Agency, kicked off last May in the communes of Dong Phu, Dai Nghia and
Dai Hung in the district, and will end in 2015.
The SRI is a
technique to produce rice with less input (in the form of seeds, water
and agro-chemicals). Seedlings are planted one by one, leaving more
space than usual and intermittent irrigation is applied with less
fertiliser and agro-chemicals. This technology sustainably provides a
stable yield in harvest and a healthy paddy, resulting in less pest
damage and heightened resilience against storms. The SRI method is also
expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Farmers’ profits jump after switching to corn
Switching
from low-yield rice to corn has brought higher incomes for farmers in
the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, according to officials.
Over
the past two years, many farmers in An Giang Province have been
planting one corn crop and two rice crops on the same field each year.
Previously, they rotated three rice crops on the same field every year.
Farmers
who participate in the rotating corn-rice crop model have harvested an
average of 10.8-12.3 tonnes of corn per hectare, the highest yield in
the country.
An Giang is the leader in the Mekong Delta province in switching from planting low-yield rice to corn.
Nguyen
Ngoc Khai, head of the An Phu District Agriculture Extension Centre in
An Giang, said farmers could earn an average profit of VND24 million
(US$1,100) per hectare for a corn crop, three times higher than the
profit of a rice crop.
Khai made his remarks at a seminar held on Wednesday in An Giang.
Mai
Thanh Phung, deputy director of the National Agriculture Extension
Centre, said the model should be developed in other provinces.
The
deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s
Plant Cultivation Department, Pham Dong Quang, said the country had to
import about 1.5-2 million tonnes of corn a year.
The country has a large demand for corn, he said.
“However,
the Delta should produce corn at a selling price that is equal to the
price of imported corn,” he said, adding that the country’s corn was
mostly purchased by animal feed producers.
The ministry has
assigned the Plant Cultivation Department to rotate crop cultivation on
paddy fields to increase farmers’ incomes.
Farmers have been encouraged to grow either two rice crops and another cash crop each year, or one rice crop and two cash crops.
If
most farmers continue to plant three rice crops each year, rice
diseases and poor soil conditions will persist, according to scientists.
Economy expected to grow 6% next year
The
Ministry of Planning and Investment is drafting the PM’s Directive for
designing the socio-economic development plan for 2014.
Under the
draft document, the Government should focus on accelerating economic
growth, restructuring, and growth model transformation among others.
The
Government also needs to zero in on effectively addressing pressing
issues, especially pro-longed complaints and denunciations, corruption,
crimes, social evils, traffic accidents.
Enhancing the network of preventive medicine and strictly controlling medicine prices would continue to be high priorities.
Specific targets include the economy expanding at around 6% and inflation under 7%./.
VN, South Africa to sign aviation cooperation deal
Viet
Nam and South Africa will sign an agreement on civil aviation
cooperation after transport officials from the two sides met in Pretoria
on May 30.
The draft agreement includes 22 articles which cover
transport rights, aviation security, flight frequency, taxes and fees
and payments.
This is the first direct round of talks on aviation
ties between the two countries, according to Vo Huy Cuong, Deputy Head
of the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam.
The agreement is expected to facilitate tourism, trade and investment linkages between the two countries.
Aquatic exports to Africa continue to rise
Vietnam
’s aquatic export turnover to Africa reached 30.3 million USD in the
first quarter of this year, up 15 percent against the same period last
year.
Last year, the turnover to 25 African countries hit 150
million USD, a 38 percent surge from 2011, with key exports including
Tra and Ba Sa fish, shrimp and tuna.
According to the African,
West and South Asian Markets Department under the Ministry of Industry
and Trade, Vietnamese exporters have a good opportunity to promote
aquatic exports to African countries as the nations have to import
numerous aquatic products to meet their domestic demand and their
aquaculture industry is underdeveloped.
Vietnamese exporters are
even able to study the possibility of implementing aquaculture projects
in the continent and exporting aquatic products to surrounding
countries.
Moreover, the profuse domestic supply of Tra fish at stable prices facilitates Vietnamese exporters’ trade with the continent.
Egypt
has become Vietnam ’s most promising aquatic export market with
turnover of 79.6 million USD in 2012, up 33 percent over the previous
year.
However, Vietnamese exporters have encountered several difficulties in exporting their aquatic products to the African market.
It takes around 40 days to transport goods from Vietnam to Africa by sea, and there is no direct air route between them.
In
easing the difficulties and stepping up aquatic exports to Africa ,
domestic enterprises need to ensure the quality of their products and
meet the local countries’ food hygiene and safety standards.
They
have also been asked to set up a distribution network with a common
price in the continent’s key markets in order to avoid dumping.
According
to ministry, Egypt tops the list of Vietnam ’s aquatic export markets
in Africa . It is followed by Tunisia with export turnover of 11.16
million USD, Algeria with 9.5 million USD, Cameroon with 7.1 million
USD, and Libya with 6.5 million USD.-
Phu Quoc pepper looks toward Global GAP
Phu
Quoc island district in the southern province of Kien Giang is making
all-out efforts to improve the quality and value of pepper, its
traditional product, aiming to obtain the Global Good Agricultural
Practice certificate.
With 385 hectares of pepper trees, mostly in
Cua Duong and Cua Can communes, Phu Quoc reaps nearly 1,000 tonnes of
pepper a year.
The locality plans to expand its area of pepper
trees to 500 hectares by 2015 and 1,000 hectares by 2020 with expected
yield of 3 tonnes per hectare.
In 2011, the National Office of
Intellectual Property of Vietnam granted a licence to Phu Quoc pepper,
helping the district to affirm its product’s traditional value and
quality while creating conditions for it to introduce its product to the
world market.
Phu Quoc district is working on a pepper growing
process in an efficient and eco-friendly manner and will transfer it to
farmers.
Local officials have said they target clean and safe products to serve both domestic consumption and export.
According
to Nguyen Minh Truc, Head of Phu Quoc’s Economic Office, the locality
targets organic and sustainable cultivation of pepper trees while paying
attention to promoting its brand name in the domestic and foreign
market.
Apart from specialties such as pearl, seafood, fish sauce
and wine, pepper cultivation in Phu Quoc is developing in a sustainable
manner in combination with service and tourism, contributing to the
locality’s socio-economic growth.-
Vietnam’s long-term business potential noted
Vietnam
’s long-term potential for business is promising, Teo Eng Cheong, Chief
Executive Officer of International Enterprise Singapore , a government
agency driving Singapore ’s external economy, has said.
In a press
release issued on June 2 on IE Singapore Global Conversations session
with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on June 1, CEO Teo mentioned
fundamentals, like rapid urbanisation, a large domestic economy and
abundant natural resources as opportunities to invite businesses.
He
highlighted the consumer sector as a growing area, fuelled by an
expanding urban population, better educational qualifications and rising
disposable incomes.
This month, NTUC opened its first hypermarket
in Ho Chi Minh City , the first in a series of hypermarkets planned for
the Vietnam market.
With urban populations in Vietnam ’s three
largest cities of Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong expected to
triple by 2020, demand for urban solutions and infrastructure
development is set to rise.
Sembcorp Development is currently
operating four Vietnam – Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs), with
progress underway for a fifth VSIP in central Quang Ngai province.
In
the tourism and hospitality sector, Vietnam received 6.8 million
international tourists and 32.5 million domestic tourists in 2012. This
generated revenues of nearly 7.7 billion USD. In November 2012, Banyan
Tree opened Vietnam ’s first large-scale luxury integrated resort in
Central Vietnam .
Singapore is the third largest foreign investor
in Vietnam , with cumulative registered capital of 27.2 billion USD
across more than 1,000 projects to date.
In the first three months
of 2013, Singapore overtook Thailand and Japan as the top foreign
investor. Singapore is Vietnam ’s sixth largest trading partner, with
total trade reaching 15.8 billion SGD in 2012, about 12.6 billion USD./
HCM City-Brescia cargo air route to be launched
A cargo air route between the Italian northern city of Brescia and Vietnam ’s Ho Chi Minh City will be launched.
The
air route is implemented under an agreement reached by Vietnam ’s
carrier Vector Aviation and Italian counterpart Catullo Spa, announced
by the Vietnamese Embassy in Italy at a press briefing on May 31 at
Garda Aeroporti in Brescia .
At the event, representatives from
the Vector Aviation and its Italian counterpart unveiled their
agreement’s first phase worth 15 million USD.
Under the agreement,
the two sides will operate one flight per week with 65-70 tonne Airbus
330s-freighter between the two cities from this October.
In the second phase from next April, they plan to use Boeing 747s-400F.
Addressing
the event, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Hoang Long stressed the project
will help promote cooperation programmes in trade, export and import
between the two sides and connect Southwestern European countries and
the Southeast Asian region.
Opening the direct route shows the
increasing demand on cooperation in trade, investment, production
between the two countries’ businesses as well as the two regions, the
diplomat added.-
SBV delays classification of debt to aid companies
The
State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) announced on Monday that it would delay
the application of a circular classifying and making provisions for bad
debts by one year, until June 2014.
The delay is intended to help
enterprises access credit, boost lending and reduce lending interest
rates in the current context of economic hardship.
Additionally,
it gives banks more time to prepare for the application of the
regulation. The circular covers asset classification, risk provisioning
and unitisation of provisioning by credit institutions and foreign bank
branches. It aims to make the banking system safer and gradually comply
with international rules.
However, many experts and business
community recommended that the regulation be delayed, as it would turn
many existing extended loans into non-performing loans (NPLs), meaning
businesses would have trouble accessing loans.
If the circular took effect, roughly VND272 trillion (US$12.9 billion) worth of loans at credit institutions would become NPLs.
Currently,
NPLs account for 5 to 6 per cent of outstanding loans. With the
circular in effect, they would account for 15-16 per cent of outstanding
loans – causing difficulties for both enterprises and credit
institutions.
The new regulation also asks banks to make more risk
provisions for credit grants, so banks fear their profits would be
eaten up as they were forced to raise their lending interest rates to
offset the losses.
Businesses claimed that if the central bank
insisted in applying the regulation, it would cause their production to
stagnate, bad debts to rise and credit to be even slower.
Price stabilisation programme needs to improve co-ordination
The
price-stabilised-product system should be developed nation-wide and
co-ordination among enterprises in creating a “goods reserve” should be
improved, a conference was told yesterday.
The Ministry of
Industry and Trade held the conference to evaluate the price
stabilisation programme and to discuss whether and how to expand it.
Deputy
Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa said the programme
together with policies to help enterprises were among tools to control
the consumer price index and prevent speculation.
Under the
programme, she said, essential commodities such as rice, sugar, oil,
meat, eggs, vegetables and seafood products were sold at 5-10 per cent
lower than market prices.
However, price-stabilised products had
not reached residents in remote rural areas, said Ha Noi Department of
Industry and Trade deputy director Nguyen Van Dong.
Dong said the
distribution network should be enhanced in traditional markets, rural
areas and industrial zones to better serve low-income earners and ensure
they enjoy the benefits of the programme.
Van Duc Muoi, director
of Vissan, said enterprises needed to be provided with preferential
loans to manufacture and store goods for the price stabilisation
programme.
“It is also important that enterprises co-ordinate with
each other to ensure stable raw material sources for production and a
smooth transition between production and distribution,” Muoi said.
Director
of the Domestic Market Department Vo Van Quyen said many localities now
provided support to manufacturing enterprises, instead of mainly retail
enterprises as in previous years.
“The price stabilisation
programme was not non-market,” Quyen said. He pointed out that
enterprises got Government loans to reserve necessary goods during
economic difficulties.
HCM City Department of Industry and Trade
deputy director Le Ngoc Dao said the price stabilisation programme
should encourage the participation of other economic sectors besides the
Government.
She said that this year the city called for credit
institutions and commercial banks to join the programme to help
enterprises get access to loans at reasonable interest rates (about 6
per cent for short term and 10 per cent for long term).
Thoa told
the conference that the ministry would have policies to encourage
enterprises to join the programme by themselves without receiving loan
support from the Government.
During 2012 and Tet holiday, a total
of VND1.803 trillion (US$85.86 million) was provided to 45 out of 63
provinces and cities to participate in the price stabilisation
programme. About 300 enterprises got involved in the programme, 20 per
cent of which did not get loan support from the Government, the
ministry’s report showed.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 5/6
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