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Port network suffers from lack of roads
Nguyen Tuan Minh, secretary of the province's Party Committee, told Nguoi Lao dong (The Labourer) newspaper that this is turning away businesses who are eyeing investments in sectors that require sound infrastructure.
According to Vu Ngoc Thao, director of the Department of Transport, eight ports are operational, 12 are under construction, and 24 are in the planning stage, with Provincial Road 51 serving all of them.
Thao said it was a hurdle in attracting investors.
The Department of Planning and Investment blamed it on a lack of funds. The province has plans to build a 22km road to connect the ports together but work has yet to start as a result.
The road will cost VND6 trillion (US$308 million), according to the department.
The province had sought funds from the Government for road construction, and the latter had agreed to raise the money by issuing bonds, Thao said.
National port design consultant PortCoast expects the Cai Mep – Thi Vai area, where many of the large deep-water container terminals will be situated, to become the most important maritime gateway to the country.
The 44 ports have been or being built at a total cost of $4.5 billion on an area of 3,000ha that has been earmarked for their development.
Many global shipping lines are investing in the area – including Singapore's PSA, Hong Kong's Hutchison, Denmark's Maersk, the US's SSA Marine, France's CMA-CGM, and Taiwan's Yang Ming.
But experts warn that if traffic and other infrastructure does not keep pace with the rapid development of the ports, there could be severe cargo backup just like in HCM City and Hai Phong.
With trade usually increasing at the end of the year, the Phu My Port Authority, which operates one of the province ports, has warned that any accident or blockage of the road at this time would be disastrous.
WWF Vietnam stands for removal of tra fish from Red List
WWF Vietnam recently announced to temporally remove Vietnamese pangasius tra fish from the Red List in the Guide Handbook for seafood consumption in 2010-2011 in some European countries.
The WWF Vietnam’s decision was made following the petition from the Vietnamese Fisheries General Department for the removal of the fish.
However, the WWF Vietnam said that it is not sure whether the decision would receive approval from the WWF Global.
Pham Anh Tuan, Deputy Head of the Fisheries General Department, announced that the agency would hold dialogues with the WWF on the reason why it put the fish on the Red List and work out final conclusion.
He asserted that the WWF has made groundless assessment on Vietnam’s tra fish which is a key national-scale product.
According to Tuan, it is necessary to collect huge statistic data in order to assess such a product.
The MARD suggested the WWF Vietnam, a member of the WWF Global, early figure out specific criteria on which the WWF used to put Vietnam’s tra fish on the Red List.
As reported earlier, Mark Powell, head of the WWF would arrive in Vietnam to answer questions on technical measures and process that led to the Fund’s action.
Bank shares rise but indices decline
Stocks slipped this morning as investors rushed to realise profits after three successive days of gains.
In HCM City, the VN-Index slid 0.12 per cent to finish at 489.65.
The value of today's trades soared 72.6 per cent to almost VND3.28 trillion (US$156.2 million) while trading volume jumped 64.6 per cent to almost 135 million shares.
Declines outnumbered advances 197-52.
Bank shares again performed well. Except for Sacombank (STB), which posted a gain of 4.3 per cent, Eximbank (EIB), Vietinbank (CTG) and Vietcombank (VCB) all hit the limit of their trading band.
Sacombank - almost 15 million shares sold - was the most active.
Blue chips such as insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) and property developer Vincom Co (VIC) also rose in value.
In Ha Noi, the HNX-Index declined 1.77 per cent to close at 119.61.
But market volume and value doubled over yesterday to almost 111 million shares worth VND2.26 trillion ($107.6 million).
Declines were six times higher than advances.
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Ha Noi Housing Bank (HBB) and Sai Gon - Ha Noi Bank (SHB) rose - the latter two to their ceiling prices.
Ha Noi Housing Bank (HBB) was the most heavily-traded share nation-wide with more than 16 million changing hands.
Ha Noi chases FDI with one-stop-shop approach
Ha Noi is dedicated to creating the most favourable conditions for foreign investors, particularly those from Singapore, to invest in its industrial and export processing zones (IZs&EPZs) through a one-stop-shop mechanism and incentives in taxes and land use.
The director of the municipal IZs&EPZs Management Board's Information and Investment Promotion Centre Nguyen Si Hien made the statement during a conference organised last Sunday.
Singaporean firms have to date pumped US$3.2 billion into 104 projects in Ha Noi. That pushed Singapore into becoming the second largest foreign investor in the city behind South Korea.
However, only eleven projects, capitalised at $100 million, have invested in the city's IZs to date. Hien said that this figure remained modest compared to the great investment potential between Singapore companies and its IZs.
Currently, eight of the 19 IZs approved by the PM in Ha Noi have reported full land occupancy.
"From now until 2015, the city will have 20 IZs put into operation, which will offer great opportunities for Singaporean investors," he noted.
Viet Nam was an important market to Singapore, said the Second Secretary of the Singaporean Embassy in Viet Nam Raymond Lui.
International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), an agency to promote the overseas growth of Singapore-based enterprises, has opened 30 representative offices worldwide and Viet Nam was the only country in Southeast Asia that has two offices, one in Ha Noi and the another in HCM City.
As of September, Singapore had 792 valid projects valued at $17.6 billion in Viet Nam. The island-nation's investors have gradually shifted their attention to Ha Noi and some northern provinces recently rather than their previous focus in the south, he said.
Many Singaporean businesses have committed to long-term investments in the country such as Sembcorp, APL, DBS, OCBC, UOB and Mapletree.
Singaporean enterprises wanted to invest in Viet Nam, especially in processing, healthcare and logistics, in the coming years, said Vietnamese Investment Counsellor in Singapore Le Truong Son.
Up to 20 Vietnamese companies had invested over $100 million in Singapore thus far, Son said.
S Koreans start $139m steel mill
The POSCO VST Co Ltd Viet Nam, a subsidiary of South Korea-based POSCO group, held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for its new stainless steel cold rolling mill in the southern province of Dong Nai's Nhon Trach District.
The US$130 million mill, to cover 39,000 square metres, is expected to operate in February 2012.
The mill will be the biggest stainless steel plant in the country, with the capacity of 150,000 tonnes per year and will employ 400 labourers.
Products will be provided for local demand and exported to Southeast Asian, European and American markets.
Big hopes
"The dynamic and potential of the Vietnamese economy has led us to expand investment, with the hope of increasing the total capacity for the mill to 285,000 tonnes in the future, meeting all local demand," said Chung Joon Yang, managing director of POSCO group, who delivered the opening speech at the ceremony.
Viet Nam's demand is high, and most stainless steel is imported.
Founded in South Korea in 1968, POSCO is the world's fourth largest steel group. It established an office in Viet Nam in 1991.
Mideast hungry for building materials
The Middle East market is becoming a new and promising destination for local construction material producers to explore in the coming years.
Head of the African, West and South Asia Markets Department under the Industry and Trade Ministry, Ly Quoc Hung, said the industry was booming in the Middle East as governments target infrastructure development.
During the 2009-10 period, the construction projects in this market totalled US$3 trillion and it is estimated that its infrastructure development projects would grow 5.4 per cent annually over the next five years, compared to the global growth of 5.2 per cent.
"This sounds very promising for our producers since almost all of the materials used for these projects must be imported," Hung said.
The latest figure from the Construction Ministry show-ed that despite a production capacity that far exceeds domestic demand, the industry has not yet reached $500 million a year in exports.
For example, cement production increased from 24.1 million tonnes in 2005 to 51 million tonnes this year. Glass production in 2005 was 80 million square metres but was estimated to increase to 142 million square metres this year.
In the near future, the country would have to cope with an abundance of materials if local producers did not create a proper plan, said Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam.
Nam cited the Middle East as having great potential if local producers take advantage. China recently closed nearly 600 cement plants due to environmental concerns and more plants will probably shut down in the near future. Thailand had a planned capacity of 60 millions tonnes of cement per year but the real capacity has fallen short by nearly half.
Hung, who agrees with Nam that the Middle East presents promising uncharted waters, said: "Market regulators should have tighter relations with this market via the memoranda of understanding and agreements to boost exports."
He added that producers should work to improve product quality and survey good opportunities.
Bui Van Luyen, director of Ha Long Cement Company noted, however, that local producers had been challenged by foreign demand to keep export prices steady for at least six months, while power and coal prices was increasing.
Foreign banks hold 11.25% market share
Foreign banks continue to affirm their important position in Viet Nam. They now hold assets valued at over VND420 trillion (US$20 billion), or 11.25 per cent of the entire finance sector, according to State Bank governor Nguyen Van Giau.
He released the figures at a meeting with representatives from foreign banks late last week.
According to the data, total capital mobilisation reached nearly VND364 trillion ($17.3 billion), an increase of 33.8 per cent. Total outstanding loans stood at over VND230 trillion ($10.9 billion), marking an increase of 26 per cent against 2009 and accounting for a 10.77 per cent share of the banking system's credit market.
By October 31, Viet Nam had 71 foreign credit institutions and 48 representative offices operating in the country.
After operating for one year, five foreign banks have 14 branches nationwide while the number of joint venture banks remains unchanged at 30.
Most of these institutions are investing in the production and service industries. Real estate loans and securities account for only a low proportion of trade.
The majority of foreign credit institutions have carefully implemented credit policies that help minimise bad debt. They maintain levels below 1.5 per cent of total outstanding loans.
The bad debt of wholly-foreign invested banks reached only 0.4 per cent. However, the ratio of bad debt from foreign banks still increased to 60 per cent, or VND2.7 trillion ($128 million).
According to Governor Giau, the global economy is predicted to bounce back further next year and strong growth rates are expected, although not guaranteed.
Next year, the State Bank of Viet Nam would monitor carefully monetary and financial policy to curb inflation and stabilise the country's economy, he added.
The banking system would begin the new year by implementing State Law and a new law on credit. This would be an important milestone in bringing the banking system in line with the market economy, Giau said.
Source: VNS
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