French medical companies to tour Vietnam

On June 16-17, representatives of prominent French medical companies will visit Hanoi and HCM City to meet with local importers and seek business partners throughout the nation.

According to statistics from the French Trade Promotion Agency (BUSINESS FRANCE), revenues from Vietnam’s medical market reached US$800 million in 2014 and are expected to achieve US$1.2 billion in 2016.

The agency said over 90% of Vietnam’s medical equipment imported from abroad, has opened up a good opportunity for French businesses to achieve greater market penetration.

However, the health sector is facing numerous challenges- poor  health check-ups and hospital overload.

French businesses touring Vietnam include – Bertin Technologies, Vygon, Ata, Medicrea, Gelscom, Thuasne, Helioscopie and Delacroix Chevalier.

Vietnam seeking more stock ownership for foreigners

Vietnam is seeking to give bigger ownership to foreign stock investors in line with its international trade commitments, the country's finance minister said on June 9.

The Finance Ministry has submitted to the government amendments to a decree on foreign ownership in Vietnamese listed firms, with changes "in line with World Trade Organization commitment", minister Dinh Tien Dung told a business forum in Hanoi. He did not elaborate.

WTO commitments mean no limits for foreign ownership in Vietnamese firms, except for sectors under specific laws and sectors related to national security, according to the State Securities Commission, the stock market watchdog.

Foreigners are now restricted to 49% of Vietnamese equities excluding banks where they have a 30% limit.

Master plan on hi-tech industrial parks approved

The Prime Minister has recently approved a master plan on developing high-tech industrial zones through to 2020 and a direction to 2030.

The master plan aims to create high-tech zones nationwide, contributing to promoting high-tech and socio-economic development in localities and regions, improving the growth model and the economy’s competitiveness, increasing hi-tech application in products and accelerating national industrialisation and modernisation.

Under the master plan, by 2030 national hi-tech zones, namely the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park in Hanoi, Saigon Hi-tech Park in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang Hi-tech Park, will be continued to speed up and complete the construction of infrastructure.

Hi-tech zones invested by the provinces and cities will also be established, including the Biotech Park in Hanoi, Hi-BioTech Park in the southern province of Dong Nai and Ascendas-Protrade Tech Park in Binh Duong province.

Hanoi spend $952,000 a year on aquaculture

Hanoi has spent up to 20 billion VND (952,000 USD) a year on developing centralized aquaculture breeding areas in a bid to protect the environment, prevent epidemic diseases and protect food safety.

The city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has also organised periodic inspections of aquaculture businesses to ensure food safety while increasing community awareness of protecting aquatic resources.

The department has supplied medicinal, chemical and biological products for centralized breeding areas and intensified quality management.

In response to the Aquatic Resource Protection Day (June 5) this year, 356 households in the city has committed to not use electrical pulses or toxic substances or explosives to exploit aquatic resources. Hanoi also released 13,200 breeding fish on the occasion.

Vietnamese products featured in the RoK

Vietnamese products are being showcased during a week of Vietnamese goods which opened on June 8 at Emart Supermarket, one of the largest retailers in the Republic of Korea (RoK).

The event, jointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and Emart retailer, aims to introduce Vietnamese goods to customers in the host country as well as establish distribution channels between Vietnamese producers and importers from the RoK.

On the display at the bamboo-decorated booth are Vietnamese tropical fruits, coffee, frozen seafood, garments and wooden furniture which are drawing a raft of visitors and consumers.

Duong Hoang Minh, Deputy Head of the MOIT’s Department for the European Market, said the event is part of the Government’s project to popularise Vietnamese products in foreign markets.

He said that the event was organised in the RoK after it was successful implemented in supermarket chains in France and Germany, adding that the programme will be expanded to other nations in the coming time.

In a meeting with Emart officials after the inauguration ceremony, a representative from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said the event not only carried an economic message but also served as an impetus to consolidate the sound relations between the two countries.

Emart pledged to back Vietnam to successfully hold the event while indicating a number of difficulties encountered by RoK importers in setting up a channel for Vietnamese products such as labels, origins and import procedures.

The MOIT committed to take measures to support foreign importers in general and the RoK importers in particular to enable Vietnamese products to more deeply penetrate foreign markets.

Local, overseas economists join annual meeting in Thai Nguyen

The 8 th Vietnam Economists Annual Meeting (VEAM 2015) took place on June 9 in northern Thai Nguyen province, bringing together leading economists, lecturers and experts from Vietnam and all over the world, including Germany, Italy, France, Australia and the Netherlands.

The meeting was jointly organised by Thai Nguyen University, the Development and Policies Research Centre (DEPOCEN), the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Foreign Trade University (FTU).

Addressing the workshop, Deputy Director of Thai Nguyen University Dang Van Minh believed the event would serve as a bridge between Vietnamese and foreign economists as well as Thai Nguyen University and other local and overseas universities and research institutes.

It is also a good opportunity for Thai Nguyen University to join international research networks and ramp up its research activities.

During the two-day meeting, participants attend four plenary sessions and 28 parallel sessions discussing papers on the economy, finance, banking and economic management-related issues.

The VEAM is an annual meeting to expand the network for economic research cooperation between experts worldwide and provide a platform for Vietnamese researchers to present their studies and solicit feedback from their peers.

The event runs through June 10.

Vietnam, RoK seek cooperation in construction, transport

Cooperation in research and technology transfer on construction, infrastructure and transport between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) was discussed at a conference held on June 9 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung highlighted infrastructure and transport development as one of three key areas in the national strategy for socio-economic development by 2020.

He said the conference was held for scientists and businesses from Vietnam and the RoK to exchange best practices and share the latest technologies for infrastructure and transport development relevant to Vietnam.

The official also noted that the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has worked on several programmes to facilitate the transfer of new advanced technologies from overseas to Vietnam and suggested enterprises seek support from these programmes.

The conference focused its discussion on the demand for technology from Vietnamese businesses alongside Vietnam’s strengths and its orientations for construction, infrastructure and transport development. Korean firms took the occasion to introduce their latest technologies in the field.

The same day, the Construction Science and Technique Association of Ho Chi Minh City and a RoK association on new technology in construction and transport inked an agreement on a joint initiative to apply advanced technology in civil and industrial construction.

Vietnam promotes entrepreneurship growth

Society values successful businessmen more than ever, leading almost 70 percent of Vietnamese adults to desire to run a business, Dr Luong Minh Huan from the Institute for Business Development said during a start-up forum held on June 9.

Huan’s statement was drawn from a study report of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) which polled 2,000 adults and 36 experts in Vietnam last year. Accordingly, only 39.4 percent of surveyed people spotted start-up opportunities around them and 58.2 percent realised their entrepreneurial potentials. Those figures were slightly higher than in 2013 but are still relatively low. The research findings also unveiled that 89 percent of domestic business activities were to cater for consumers.

Based on the overall results, the GEM recommended Vietnam stabilise its macroeconomics, enhance trust of local business community, innovate training courses and increase the application of science and technology in commercial activities.

At the forum, participants stressed the importance of launching research and development processes to boost overall quality and effectiveness.

They also put forth a number of entrepreneurial capacity-building measures for local firms to access capital sources, manage finances and train staff.

They proposed promoting a start-up environment in Vietnam with a priority on diverse start-up programmes designed for youth from rural and mountainous areas.

According to Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs, programmes to develop local entrepreneurship need to include households and students.

The forum was co-organised by the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

Twelve prawn exporters get four-star aquaculture certification

Vietnam is leading prawn providers worldwide in the number of prawn businesses granted four-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certifications, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Four-star is the highest level of the BAP standards presented by the Global Aquaculture Alliance that ensure healthy seafood produced through environmentally and socially responsible means.

Vietnam has had twelve businesses receive four-star BAP certifications out of 67 general BAP recipients, while India has two of 73, Thailand has seven of 68 and China has two out of 26.

The country is the biggest prawn exporter to Japan, third largest to the United States and fourth to the European Union. Additionally, the Republic of Korea and the ASEAN are also promising markets thanks to impending free trade agreements and the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community by the end of this year.

Vietnam should take full advantage of its role as the world’s leading tiger prawn provider by providing stable supply and excellent processing capabilities to expand its markets, the VASEP noted.-

Can Tho: 44.1 mln USD spent on three hi-tech agricultural zones

The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho will spend 44.1 million USD to build three hi-tech agricultural zones, said Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Van Tam at a meeting held in the city on June 9.

Tam underscored that it is vital to apply advanced technology to improve the quality of cultivated crops and cattle, saying agriculture is a key economy in the city. He highlighted that the zones will become operational by 2020, ensuring the supply of farm breeding.

The 20-hectare agricultural zone set up in Thoi Thanh commune, Thoi Lai district will provide high-quality varieties of plant, flower and aquatic animal. The zone will include laboratory bio-technology using electrolytic dissociation methods and seed cleaning machines.

Meanwhile, 244 hectares have been zoned off in Thoi Hung commune, Co Do district to focus on building breeding systems and processing farm produce using advanced technologies. The 26-million USD zone will be built with greenhouses and facilities equipped with spectrum filter layers to protect against the heat.

The third agricultural zone in the city spreads across 100 hectares in Thach Phu commune, Co Do district, specialising in producing purebred rice, high-quality rice and aquatic products.

The Vice Chairman said that enterprises investing in the agricultural zones will enjoy preferential treatment from the Government and locality such as import tax reduction and support to build infrastructure, deliver job training, develop the market and organise exhibitions.

Forum calls for support to private sector

Key participants at the Vietnam Business Forum called for more specific and practical solutions and measures to support the development of private, small and medium-sized, and foreign-direct-investment (FDI) enterprises.

Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said the private economic sector contributes nearly 50 percent to the national gross domestic product.

In the long term, the private sector must be Vietnam’s key growth driver to ensure the economy’s self-sufficiency and effective connections between the FDI sector and the local economy, Loc continued.

To achieve that goal, representatives of the business community recommended the Government create action plans to encourage the development of the private economy.

Virginia B. Foote, Co-Chairperson of the VBF and Chairwoman of the United States-Vietnam Trade Council, appreciated the efforts made by the Vietnamese Government and ministries to support the formation and development of the business community.

She underlined that despite positive changes in the new Investment Law, there are still 267 sectors requiring FDI enterprises to apply for permission to conduct business.

It seems to be a measure to protect local private enterprises, but according to Foote, in many countries the policy has yet to produce more beneficial results than open policies.

Allowing private companies, especially those with access to capital and human resources, to deeply integrate and operate on a fair playing ground with FDI enterprises will benefit Vietnam’s economy, according to Foote.

At the forum, representatives of associations, FDI enterprises and international organisations agreed that Vietnam’s policies have not been adequately effective in promoting the development of advantageous fields in Vietnam.

Public investment reform, the equitisation of State-owned enterprises, streamlining administrative procedures and other areas need concerted efforts, according to participants.

Hau Giang eager for investments in irrigation

The Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang aims to develop a closed irrigation system in a bid to ensure water supply for agricultural production in dry season while preventing flooding during rainy season.

Over the past year, the province has invested hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong in developing a closed dike and sewage system to store fresh water and prevent salt water from intruding.

The locality has also mobilised community resources to dig hundreds of channels to effectively supply water to crop fields.

The province has to date constructed more than 900 closed irrigation systems worth a total of nearly 500 billion VND (23.36 million USD).

Each facility spans between 30-100 hectares.

Hau Giang has 83,000 hectares for rice cultivation and 30,000 hectares of fruit tree and sugar cane growing area.

According to the sector, irrigation facilities have ensured the supply of water for 65,000 hectares, or nearly 50 percent agricultural production coverage.

Ca Mau makes efforts to develop its maritime economy

The southernmost province of Ca Mau has set three priorities to develop its sea and islands economy through 2020.

The plan includes the expansion of offshore fishing fleets, the development of fishery logistics services and the promotion of maritime tourism.

The province is accelerating the implementation of policies under Government Resolution 67/2014/ND-CP, including supporting fishermen in building high-capacity, iron-coated vessels designed for offshore fishing.

In parallel with sea exploitation, Ca Mau will focus on developing fishery logistics services, including service boats to deliver goods and materials from the mainland to fishing vessels at sea.

Inland logistics centres for ship repairs and seafood processing are also a priority.

The province is making efforts to develop islands with favourable natural conditions and abundant potentials for sea and island tourism.

Currently, Ca Mau is calling for investments to develop the pristine Hon Khoai Island, 15 kilometres off the coast of the mainland, into an eco-tourism site by 2020.

Ca Mau’s annual seafood exports yield about 1.3 billion USD.

Ninety-three per cent of apartments in the property project Gateway Thao Dien in HCM City's District 2 have been sold, according to the HCM City-based Son Kim Land Company.

The project was developed by Hong Kong-based private-equity, real estate and financial investment company, the Hamon Group, and Son Kim Land.

The US$100 million project provides 546 apartments, expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Property developments given go-ahead to continue

Following a nationwide inspection of housing development projects, the Ministry of Construction has decided to allow more than 3,100 of them to continue construction.

Inspections revealed that some 460 projects must adjust their structures in line with their plans and market demand, while another 306 projects must halt their construction.

The ministry said that failure in raising more capitals saw most of the projects being temporarily halted.

Savills Vietnam launches Korean Desk

Joon-sun Yoon has been officially appointed as Associate Director, Business Development of Savills Vietnam, and will be in charge of the Korean Desk.

Yoon received a degree in Master of Business Administration from Oklahoma City University, the United States, and has had many years of experience working with Korean clients at Savills Korea and other Korean real estate corporations, such as CJ and Daewon.

Savills has been closely working with many well-known Korean developers, investors, occupiers, and retailers through its 20-year operations and growth in Viet Nam.

The newly-established Korean Desk will extend Savills' expertise to provide full service platform to Korean enterprises and businesses in Viet Nam, as well as other neighbouring markets, including Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.

Ha Noi houses 40% of finished social apartments

There are 58 social housing projects under development in Ha Noi, of which some 8,000 apartments have been completed, accounting for 40 per cent of the total finished units in the country.

This information was disclosed by Deputy Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, at a seminar on housing development for low-income group in Ha Noi held early this week.

Tuan added that this year, the capital city would complete more than 10,000 units on a total area of nearly 800,000sq.m for low-income group. During 2016-20, the city would put into use more than 15,800 units on a total area of 3.65 million sq.m.

The Ministry of Construction's statistics show that the country needed about 700,000 social apartments during the 2012-15 period and another 200,000 by 2020. Social housing projects are in high demand in Ha Noi, HCM City, Da Nang, Dong Nai, and Binh Duong.

Fertiliser plants set for revamp

PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals Corporation (PVFCCo) yesterday signed the EPC Contract (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning) with an international contractor consortium to revamp the Phu My NH3 and NPK complex.

The project, covering an area of over 15 hectares on the land housing Phu My Fertiliser Plant at Phu My 1 Industrial Zone in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, consists of two parts: revamping the NH3 Unit and build Phu My NPK Plant.

The complex project has a total investment capital of nearly VND5 trillion, some US$37 million, 70 per cent of which will be financed by bank loans and another 30 per cent by the owner's equity.

After completion, the upgrading of the NH3 Unit will increase the current ammonia output at Phu My Fertilizer Plant by 90,000 tonnes per year, from the current 450,000 tonnes per year to 540,000 tonnes. Plans call for adopting Denmark's Haldor Topsoe A/S technology.

The EPC contractors include Italy's Technip Group, previously the contractor for Phu My Fertilizer Plant, and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC). The products from the plant will be used as direct feedstock for Phu My NPK Plant, as well as to supply the domestic market, which still suffers from a shortage of NH3.

Meanwhile, the projected Phu My NPK Plant, with a manufacturing capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year, will put in place Spain's Incro SA chemical technology, the most advanced technology in the world, to manufacture high-quality NPK fertilizer, which will guarantee all necessary nutrients for crops at different growth periods and under different soil conditions.

The contractor consortium for the complex is Germany's ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, demand for NPK fertilizer increased from 2.1 million tonnes in 2005 to some 4 million tonnes in 2014, with an annual average growth of 7 per cent. Yet, domestic production can currently only meet 5 to 10 per cent of high quality NPK.

"Total capital investment of the complex project is not large, in comparison with other oil and gas projects, but it has great importance to the national economy that helps ensure the country's agricultural sector," PetroVietnam's chairman, Nguyen Xuan Son, said during the signing ceremony.

Son noted that Viet Nam was still importing around 300,000 tonnes of high-quality NPK fertilizer per year, and the output from Phu My NPK Plant were expected to replace most of the currently imported NPK fertiliser.

The complex will be brought into operation during the second quarter of 2017.

$77.9 million Ha Tinh plant licence revoked

The Ha Tinh Economic Zone Management Board has revoked the investment certificate of Ha Tinh Steel Plant eight years after its issuance, according to newswire Vnexpress.

The plant, licensed in June 2007, was expected to garner the total capital of VND1.76 trillion ($77.9 million), have an area of 26 hectares and to start operation in August 2010 with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes in the first phase and 500,000 tonnes in the second phase.

Ha Tinh Iron and Steel Joint Stock Company (JSC) was the project’s investor, together with two major shareholders, namely Van Loi Company and Hop Thanh Investment and Mineral JSC, both located in Hanoi.

In the 2007-2010 period the project was delayed due to a lack of capital. At the time, various banks having branches in the province lent the investors VND700 billion ($32.1 million) to continue its construction works.

Mapeltree Business Centre starts construction in Saigon South

Mapletree, one of the leading real estate investor from Singapore, has started the second phase of the Saigon South Complex with the office tower Mapeltree Business Centre, following the successful opening of SC VivoCity shopping mall in late April 2015.  

Mapletree Business Centre, which will be completed in the second quarter in 2016, is an international grade A development by Mapletree in Vietnam. The building is located within the Saigon South Complex, a planned 4.4-hectare commercial mixed-use development comprising of three office towers, two towers of serviced apartments as well as Vietnam’s first SC VivoCity shopping mall. According to the developer, the business centre will has 17 floors, providing 28.700 square metres.

It is designed with international grade A specifications, the first of its kind in the upscale District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City. With its accessible location close to the city centre, the office space is well-positioned to meet business requirements of multinational corporations in various industries from information technology, research and development to back-of-the-office operations of banking and financial services.

 Experts determine reasons for fruit congestion at border gates

The Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development has conducted a field investigation to determine reasons for the annual congestion of Vietnamese fruits in border areas with China, which has occurred and plagued farmers for the last 15 years.

At a seminar in Hanoi yesterday Dr. Nguyen Trung Kien from the institute, who led a group of experts to conduct the investigation, said that they had done surveys at border gates in Lang Son province and China’s sides to seek answer for the issue.

China has applied a tight quarantine process causing many fruit consignments from Vietnam unable to enter that market. Meantime, Vietnam has long delayed the construction of storage facilities in the border areas for fruit preservation.

A more important reason is from the weak competitiveness in packaging and price of Vietnamese farm produce compared to Chinese goods. The trade between the two sides has been done via brokers without any contracts.

Businesses have rushed to transport watermelon, the most jammed product, for exports to the neighboring market where the fruit’s farming area has much been expanded.

Chinese watermelon quality is superior to Vietnamese fruits with lower price, fetching only VND9,000 a kilogram in Nanning city.

“Their watermelons are more eye catching and sweeter than our,” said Mr. Kien.

To litchi, China has expanded farming area. Although their fruit is not as delicious as Vietnam’s, their harvest season starts one month sooner in May and the fruit has been transported across the border to flood local market.

Head of the institute Nguyen Do Anh Tuan said the fruit congestion in the border gates was a big concern of Vietnam’s agricultural industry.

Litchi, dragon fruits and others have not been Vietnam’s sole advantages any more. Chinese experts said that they can farm any fruit grown in Vietnam. They even had tropical and temperate fruit farming zones, Mr. Tuan said.

Experts at the seminar said that if Vietnam remained their old production and consumption methods without any advances especially in science and technology, it would not be able to boost exports across northern borderline and might face the flooding of Chinese fruits in local market.

They proposed authorized agencies to set up a body to investigate and do market surveys to inform farmers and businesses so that they reschedule their crops, build up a network of prestigious importers, link up businesses and farmers, advance post-harvest processing technology to improve product quality as well as hygiene and safety, and look for other potential markets beside China.

Long Thanh airport construction necessary

The project on building Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai has received particular interest, with the Party’s 13th Central Committee’s 11th plenum deeming it a national project of special importance and the National Assembly’s 9th session embracing its implementation.

The airport, set to become an international aviation hub, is expected to meeting the rapid growth of the aviation market, serving socio-economic development in the southern key economic region, thus enabling the country to make the most of its economic and tourism advantages.

The southern key economic region with Ho Chi Minh City as the gateway, now accounts for 46 percent of the national passenger volume. The Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat international airport has been operating at full capacity – 20 million passengers per year- since 2013 and is now being upgraded to raise its capacity to 25 million passengers per year. However, it is forecast that Tan Son Nhat will become overloaded in 2017.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the upgrade of Tan Son Nhat airport to handle 40-50 million passengers is unfeasible, because it needs a vast area of 641ha in Tan Binh, Go Vap and Phu Nhuan districts and a lofty cost of about 9.1 billion USD, exclusive of expenses for reconstruction of technical and transport infrastructure.

Another alternative - expansion of Bien Hoa military airport and increased utilisation of some airports in the south is also less viable since they play separate roles in each economic region and ensuring national defence and security, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Long Thanh airport will lie at the heart of Southeast Asia, a good location to serve the transition of passengers and cargo.

In addition, Vietnam, with a population of more than 90 million, is forecast to see rapid growth in air passengers. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) said that Vietnam will rank third among 10 Asia-Pacific countries to see the highest number of air passengers. This is an advantage for Long Thanh airport in competing against other facilities in the region.

Therefore, the investment in Long Thanh airport is urgent and necessary, experts said.

‘Pepper spray' hits coffee, rubber

Farmers in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak have chopped down some of the area's most essential crops, coffee and rubber, to make room for the possibly more lucrative black pepper plant.

After a rapid increase in Vietnam's pepper cultivation, the area has reached 80,000 hectares.

According to the Vietnam Pepper Association, the price of domestic pepper has increased continuously since 2007. It cost 150,000 VND (6.9 USD) per kg in early January, and jumped to 175,000 VND (8.1 USD) by the end of the first quarter of this year. The price of exporting black pepper was nearly 8,800 USD per tonne, an increase of 35 percent compared with the same period last year.

The price hike has encouraged farmers to swap their farms for pepper or increase their yield, regardless of whether their land can support it or not.

Hoang Phuoc Binh, Vice Chairman of the Chu Se Pepper Association, said the pepper supply would increase by hundreds of thousands of tonnes if the cultivation area keeps increasing at a similar pace. He said the planting is being rushed.

Nguyen Van Cuong, a farmer in Cu M'Gar District's Ea Kpam Commune said he hired five people to chop down rubber trees – rubber was quite cheap and if pepper prices remained stable, it would be worth the investment. The land would be used for pepper plantations, and about 500 rubber trees would be used as pillars to help the pepper grow.

Dao Xuan Vinh, a farmer in Buon Ho Town's Thong Nhat Ward, said he switched two hectares of rubber over to pepper with the hope of making billions of dong in the next few years.

Trinh Tien Bo, head of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development's cultivation unit, said pepper has been planted over 16,000ha, exceeding the goal for 2020 by 1,000ha. The unit estimated that 2,000 more hectares would be planted by the end of the year.

Bo said the biggest concerns are the crops' quality and productivity. The pepper is a sensitive tree that would die en masse without proper cultivation.

The Vietnam Pepper Association has asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to require local agricultural authorities to help farmers plant the crops correctly and avoid fertiliser abuse to assure productivity.

Central Highlands’ socio-economic development reviewed

The Central Highlands Steering Committee held a press conference on the region’s socio-economic development in the first five months of 2015 in Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province, on June 8.

Tran Viet Hung, deputy head of the committee, said during the reviewed period, the disbursement of the region’s total development investment capital was 2.6 trillion VND (148 million USD), mainly in rural infrastructure development, education, healthcare and water supply projects in specially difficult and border communes.

The region has over newly-established 1,150 businesses with a combined registered capital of 3.23 trillion VND, up 6.3 percent and 8 percent against the same period last year, respectively.

Its index of industrial production grew 8.5 percent year on year while agricultural production remained stable despite heavy impacts of droughts.

The Central Highland provinces have saw the expansion of industrial tree plantations with green, intensive production, and the increasing application of advanced technology in farming of fruits, tea, vegetable and flowers as well as fish and cow breeding.

Coffee is among the region’s key industrial crops, grown in a total area of more than 573,000 hectares or 88 percent of the country’s coffee-growing area.

Infrastructure development has been also received more attention with the priority given to the upgrade of the Ho Chi Minh Highway section which runs through the Central Highlands, Pleiku Airport, and National Roads 20, 28 and 26.

The region has attracted more than 212.75 trillion VND in social investment between 2011 and 2014, of which 35.8 percent came from the State budget, 19.3 percent from foreign businesses and the remainder from other sources, Hung noted. The investments were mainly pumped into projects on transportation, irrigation, industry, energy, telecommunication and rural infrastructure development, according to Hung.-

Cental Highlands region expands hybrid maize

Central Highlands provinces plan to expand the area under hybrid maize to 250,000 hectares this year, according to the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands region.

Dak Lak province aims to cultivate high-yield hybrid maize crops on 121,000 hectares, the largest area in the region. Some 30,000 hectares have been cultivated in rainy season.

Local farmers are advised to replace wet rice with hybrid maize in areas vulnerable to water shortage. They are also guided in planting maize among young coffee and rubber trees to optimize land and increase their income.

Agricultural authorities have provided farmers with high-yield maize varieties together with cultivation techniques.

According to the Steering Committee, in 2014, the region produced more than 1.3 million tonnes of maize grains, of which Dak Lak accounted for 665,000 tonnes, and Dak Nong, 333,172 tonnes.

LOTTE Mart to introduce Vietnamese products to RoK

An exhibition of Vietnam's favourite products will be organised at LOTTE Mart in District 7, HCM City, from June 24 to 28.

The event aims to showcase the country's favourite products that will be exported through LOTTE Mart Group to the Republic of Korea (RoK) and other markets.

Hundreds of Vietnamese products in fine art, agriculture and seafood, food, garment, plastic, and interior decoration will be on display. At the end of event, the group will select some suitable products and introduce them at the group's exhibition that will be held in October this year.

It's seen as an opportunity for Vietnamese firms as they will be able to penetrate more than 100 LOTTE Mart supermarkets, apart from the RoK market.-

Packaging industry sees growth opportunities

The packaging industry is experiencing favorable growth thanks to its close relationship with export activities and such sectors as foodstuffs and consumer goods production which are experiencing improved performance, the Vietnam Economic News (VEN) reported on June 8.

Packaging has seen rapid development in Vietnam, driven by a growing demand for consumer goods and foodstuffs. This year’s estimated gross domestic product (GDP) growth of approximately six percent has also created a foundation for the recovery of retail indexes and the development of support industries, including the packaging sector.

In addition, soon-to-be-signed bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) like the Vietnam-EU FTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are expected to sharply increase Vietnam’s export contracts (especially those for seafood and garment products), which will also result in strong demand for packaging products.

These favorable tendencies have made packaging one of the most rapidly developing industries in Vietnam. According to the Vietnam Packaging Association (Vinpas), the average annual growth of the sector was 15-20 percent. At present, Vietnam has more than 900 packaging factories, about 70 percent of which are located in the southern region of the country. The market may be divided into five major areas, including plastic packaging; cardboard/paper; metal containers; and others.

According to the Vietnam Plastic Association, over the past years, the plastic packaging sector has been growing strongly at 25 percent per year thanks to the strong growth of food and foodstuff industries. Packaging manufacturers have invested in advanced production lines and supplied to the market various types of high-grade packaging products that could meet strict standards on food hygiene safety.

The prices of input materials for packaging production have also declined, partly due to the slow growth of the Chinese economy, which lowered demand for industrial paper stocks. The prices of PET bottle products also reduced following the falling prices of plastic raw materials as a result of a sharp decrease of petroleum prices.

At present, a relatively high number of enterprises are participating in the packaging market with different types of products such as papers, plastics, metal membranes and PET bottles. The market segment also sees a clear separation between traders serving small-scale customers and big names of packaging manufacturers occupying most of big customers. For example, big brands such as Ngoc Nghia, Bao Van; Tan Tien Plastic and Rang Dong Plastic are accounting for a significant market share of the environmentally-friendly PET bottles while the paper packaging for dairy products belonged to Tetra Pak (Sweden) and Combibloc (Germany) due to the high technology requirements.

With a high population and a rapid development of the packaging sector for consumer goods, packaging production is predicted to continue expanding.

The paper quoted economic experts as saying that packaging products and bags will continue to be produced and sell well in the coming time due to their common usage and advantages in terms of production costs thanks to its light weight, energy-efficiency and especially a quick profit recovery. The industry will also have closer links with canned products thanks to its continuous innovation in terms of improved quality and conveniences.

VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR