Hungarians want to invest in VN
     
Energy, high-tech agriculture and information technology are the new investment fields discussed yesterday at the Viet Nam-Hungary Business Forum held within the framework of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visit to Viet Nam.

Hungarian business representatives expressed interest in varied investments in Viet Nam, ranging from bio-fungicides for agriculture to transmission lines protection.

Jamniczky Zsolt, representative of Hungary’s E.ON company, said his company looks forward to exploring the Vietnamese market for investment and cooperation opportunities in energy production and equipment, especially of solar power.

Total bilateral trade turnover between the two countries reached US$266 million in 2016, up 35.7 per cent from 2015. Viet Nam’s exports to Hungary reached $93 million, a 41 per cent increase, including textiles and garments, footwear, computers, electronic components, transportation vehicles and spare parts. Viet Nam’s main imports from Hungary include pharmaceutical products, machinery, spare parts, chemicals, and animal feed.

Computers, electronic products and components make up a major part of the total traded value at nearly $20.6 million, accounting for 40.7 per cent of total exports. Automobiles and accessories account for 3.9 per cent of bilateral trade, reaching nearly $2 million, albeit down by 13.3 per cent from 2015. Textile and garment products are new additions to the list of exports to Hungary, reaching over $1 million, followed by the footwear segment at $0.3 million, a sharp increase of 106 per cent year on year.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, trade turnover in the first six months of 2017 between the two countries reached $145 million, up by more than 60 per cent from the same period last year.

In terms of investment, Hungary has installed 15 valid foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Viet Nam with a total registered capital of $50.66 million, ranking 55th among 105 countries and territories with direct investment in the country.

Nonetheless, Nguyen Dang Bela, a Hungarian-Vietnamese businessman with many years experince in high-tech agriculture, said at yesterday’s forum that the biggest difficulty of joint ventures between Viet Nam and Hungary is the lack of established brand names in foreign markets.

At the moment, the majority of Vietnamese products, such as coffee, sold in supermarkets in Hungary are not traded under the brand name of any Vietnamese company, which does not satisfy Hungarian consumers’ demand for Vietnamese trademarked goods and needs improving at the earliest, said Bela.

The forum’s discussion was attended by representatives of 50 leading Hungarian enterprises in the fields of agriculture and agricultural mechanical engineering, agri-food processing, agricultural waste treatment, medical healthcare, information technology, banking, architecture, and construction.

It was organised by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the Hungary Trade House, and the Hungarian Embassy in Ha Noi. 

State Bank licenses MS Finance
     
The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) last Friday licensed the establishment of MB Shinsei Finance Limited Liability Company (MS Finance).

MS Finance’s charter capital is VND500 billion (US$22 million), of which Military Bank owns 50 per cent, Japan’s Shinsei Bank Ltd has 49 per cent and Xuan Thanh Construction and Development Company owns 1 per cent.

Under this licence, the finance company, whose operation can continue for 50 years, is allowed to engage in activities performed by consumer credit finance companies in accordance with Viet Nam’s law, such as mobilising funds through deposits of the organisation; issuing certificates of deposits, promissory notes, bills and bonds to raise funds of organisations; borrowing loans from credit institutions, financial institutions at home and abroad in accordance with the law; and borrowing from SBV in the form of refinancing according to SBV’s law.

The company is also permitted to grant credit in the following forms – loans, including installment loans and consumer loans; discount, rediscount of negotiable instruments and other valuable papers; along with issuing credit cards.

It can act as an insurance agent and provide consulting services in the fields of banking, finance and investment, as well as provide services of managing and preserving assets of customers. 

VietBank to change savings funds into transaction offices
     
The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has allowed Vietnam Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VietBank) to change 11 savings funds into transaction offices in HCM City.

This was established under Document No 7541/NHNN-TTGSNH issued by the SBV last week.

VietBank was also permitted to establish two branches in HCM City.

The SBV requires VietBank to be responsible for implementing the procedures of inaugurating, registering and publicising the branches and transaction offices, in line with Circular No 21/2013/TT-NHNN dated September 9, 2013, on the operational network of commercial banks and other applicable legal texts.

The approval will cease to be effective if VietBank does not inaugurate the offices within 12 months from the date of signing, SBV noted.

VietBank currently has 100 transaction offices located at the main economic regions of the country.

It last year also successfully converted 19 savings funds into transaction offices in HCM City, Ha Noi, Khanh Hoa and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

SeABank gets new general director
     
Nguyen Canh Vinh will take charge as the new general director of the Southeast Asia Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SeABank) from September 25.

Prior to this, Vinh was Techcombank’s deputy general director. He replaces Dang Bao Khanh, who resigned as the bank’s general director from July 5, reported the online newspaper ndh.vn.

After Khanh’s resignation, the Board of Directors appointed Le Van Tan, SeABank’s Deputy General Director, to take over the reins till a new general director was appointed.

Born in 1974, Vinh graduated from the National Economics University and the National University of Civil Engineering. He also has a master’s degree from Latrobe University.

Vinh has 21 years of experience in banking and finance, and has held many senior management positions, particularly in the retail sector. 

KIDO Foods to trade on UPCoM
     
KIDO Foods (KDF), the frozen foods subsidiary of KIDO Group, has obtained approval from the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) to trade 56 million shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) under stock code KDF.

KIDO Foods will start trading on September 28 at the starting price of VND60,000 (US$2.64) per share.

According to the group’s latest report, KIDO Group sold 2,688 million shares of KDF under the put-through method from August 24 to August 28, 2017. After trading, the group still holds 36.4 million shares, equivalent to 65 per cent of capital at KDF.

Currently, KDF’s products are divided into three main brands -- ice-cream Merino, high brand ice-cream Celano and yogurt Welyo.

Until August 25, 2017, the number of shares held by foreign investors was 3,927,000 shares, accounting for 7.01 per cent of the charter capital, while domestic shareholders held 52.073 million shares, equivalent to 92.99 per cent.

The company has three founding shareholders -- Kido Group holds 36.4 million shares, accounting for 65 per cent, Tran Kim Thanh and Tran Le Nguyen hold 156,000 shares, representing 0.28 per cent.

According to Euromonitor’s report, KDF held 25.5 per cent share of the ice cream market in 2010, 36.4 per cent in 2014 and 34.7 per cent at the end of 2016.

In the first six months of 2017, the company’s net revenue reached over VND778 billion, after-tax profit reached nearly VND82 billion, fulfilling 40.47 per cent and 40.95 per cent of the business plan, respectively.

This year, the company estimated revenue of nearly VND1.83 trillion and after-tax profit of VND200 billion. The firm also targets holding 50 per cent share of Viet Nam’s ice cream market by 2020.

In 2016, KIDO Foods expanded to 10,000 retail outlets, bringing the total to 70,000 points nationwide, while expanding distributors to the district level instead of only the provincial level.

Happy All Technology JSC launches social networking app Azibai
     
Happy All Technology JSC launched Azibai, a social networking business, with applications for Android and IOS on September 22.

The outstanding features of Azibai are a full-fledged business social network that optimises a range of business activities like marketing, sales, administration, customer care, is simple and easy to use and very practical and has a modern, user-friendly interface.

With this interface and features, Azibai is geared towards a wide variety of users to help their businesses easily develop systems.

In addition, businesses can access as well as create jobs for those who lack the opportunities or conditions to optimally use their capabilities.

Suppliers, wholesalers and retailers of goods and services have an optimal tool for development, management and operation to achieve goals such as developing a nation-wide distribution chain and creating their own e-commerce trading platform.

Customers will get perfect service when ordering, making payment, shipping orders, and making collections on the Azibai app.

The creation of the app marks a tie-up between Azibai and G-market of South Korea.

Azibai also becomes the exclusive distributor and retailer for G-market in Viet Nam.

Azibai is confident of becoming a research unit and supplier of business development applications in Viet Nam. 
     
G-bond transactions on sharp rise

Total government bond (G bond) transaction value hit more than 1.5 quadrillion VND (65.9 billion USD) in the first nine months of the year, up 42.4 percent year-on-year, according to the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX).

The value of G bonds in outright transactions was calculated at 778.5 trillion VND (34.2 billion USD) while sales in repurchase transactions reached 734.6 trillion VND (32.3 billion USD). 

Average transaction value in the period stood at 8.56 trillion VND per auction, 1.35 times higher than the same time last year. Notably, there were many transaction sessions worth over 10 trillion VND (439.9 million USD) per auction, even 15 trillion VND (659.8 million USD) recorded on June 22.

The HNX said that Vietnamese G-bond market has experienced robust growth in recent years, represented through the increase of repurchase transaction value which occupied 48.2 percent of the total while the last year’s figure was only 40 percent.

Foreigners have also become more interested in Vietnam’s G-bond market, spending 95.4 trillion VND (4.2 billion VND) on G bonds during January-September. 

They posted a net buy value of 20.66 trillion VND (908.8 million USD), up 162 percent from 2016. That was an improvement compared to total foreign investors’ net sell value of 4.4 trillion VND (193.6 million USD) made in 2015.
     
Rice exporters advised to diversify markets

Vietnam exported more than 4.5 million tonnes of rice in the first nine months of this year for 2 billion USD, up 19.6 percent in volume and 18 percent in value year on year, but its dependance on the Chinese market brings latent risks.

According to the Vietnam Food Association, China consumed 38 percent of total rice exported from Vietnam with more than 1.5 million tonnes worth over 700 million USD, followed by the Philippines with over 400,000 tonnes and Malaysia with more than 360,000 tonnes.

A surge in demand in Asia from June this year pushed rice prices to above 400 USD per tonne, which also helped boost the domestic rice price.

Lam Anh Tuan, Director of Ben Tre-based Thinh Phat food company, said that along with the Chinese market, the Philippines and Bangladesh also have high demand for Vietnamese rice. However, he noted that Vietnamese firms should be careful in bidding for contracts in these markets.

Noting the stability of African markets, Dang Thi Lien, Director of Long An food company said that along with major markets in Asia, her firm has contracts with African partners.

While choosy markets such as the US, Europe and Japan are difficult to conquer, China is a promising market for Vietnamese farm produce, including rice. But experts said that focusing only on this market brings many risks, as China is encouraging farmers to increase rice production to reduce dependence on imported rice.

They advised domestic firms to develop new markets such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines, while building rice trademarks.

Tuan said that as all countries are striving to become self-reliant in rice supply, Vietnamese firms should diversify their markets.
     
GoBear Vietnam and MIC Ben Thanh join hands to deliver special offer

GoBear Vietnam and MIC Ben Thanh have signed a business collaboration agreement to deliver special offer for international travel insurance products.

From now until August 16, 2018, users who register to buy international travel insurance products provided by MIC Ben Thanh via website www.gobear.com/vn/travel-insurance will be eligible for an instant fee discount of 45 per cent.

The international travel insurance products provided by MIC Ben Thanh are highly ranked on GoBear Vietnam’s website in terms of benefits and fee. As of this moment, users can search, compare and register to buy among four international travel insurance products provided by MIC Ben Thanh via website www.gobear.com/vn/travel-insurance to ensure protection throughout the trip and enjoy the special offer of fee discount.

Doan Tu Anh, GoBear Vietnam acting country director, said: “The business collaboration agreement between GoBear Vietnam and MIC Ben Thanh is part of our strategy to add more benefits to users over time. By offering a discount for users who register to buy international insurance products via GoBear Vietnam’s website, we want to encourage Vietnamese users to form the good habit of buying travel insurance to protect themselves when travelling. In the future, GoBear Vietnam will continue to join hands with more partners to bring better benefits to users."

Since it officially went live in Vietnam in early December 2016, with three products – comparison of credit cards, personal loans and travel insurances, GoBear Vietnam has landed over 650,000 comparison hits on the website www.gobear.com/vn and became a trusted provider of search and compare services for financial products in Vietnam.

GoBear is Asia’s first and only metasearch engine in insurance and banking products. It was founded based on the simple premise that a consumer should find freedom and ease when making financial decisions related to insurance, credit cards and loans.

Headquartered in Singapore since early 2015, GoBear is also in Thailand and Malaysia the Philippines, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Just over two years into its operation, more than 15 million users have put their trust in GoBear to make comparison of financial products in a fast and personalised way. As one of the fastest growing fintech startups in Asia, GoBear is leading the way in democratising financial shopping experience with its unbiased and personalised comparison process.

GoBear’s user-oriented platform neither aggregate nor sell products. GoBear simply offers consumers a free and transparent comparison process based on their financial needs. The result is a user-friendly and informed experience that saves consumers both time and money.

KIDO Foods' 9M net revenue up nearly 5% y-o-y

KIDO Foods, the frozen food arm of the KIDO Group Corporation (KIDO), has released its business results for the first nine months of the year, with net revenue standing at VND1.2 trillion ($52.8 million), an increase of 4.9 per cent year-on-year.

Gross profit is expected to be VND650 billion ($28.6 million), 2.4 per cent lower year-on-year, as its plant in northern Bac Ninh province began operating in early 2017, increasing depreciation costs and other fixed costs.

Pre-tax profit in the first nine months was the same year-on-year, reaching VND160 billion ($7.04 million). After-tax profit is expected to increase sharply, by 9.8 per cent to VND140 billion ($6.16 million), thanks to tax incentives for the Bac Ninh plant.

In the final quarter of the year, the company is expected to expand its portfolio of products to new dumplings and products from Dabaco Food, in which it recently acquired a 50 per cent holding, including fresh sausages and canned and processed foods.

KIDO Foods will officially trade on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) on September 28, with 56 million shares trading under the code KDF.  

A recent report from Euromonitor shows that the KIDO Group has maintained its leading position in ice cream and frozen desserts, with a 40 per cent share this year.

Ice cream and frozen desserts have seen retail volume growth of 7 per cent and retail value growth of 15 per cent this year, reaching 26,600 tons and nearly VND3.1 trillion ($136.4 million).

In June, northern livestock giant the Dabaco Group JSC decided to sell 50 per cent of its subsidiary Dabaco Food to the KIDO Group for VND100 billion ($4.4 million).

Under the sale, Dabaco Food will be an outsourcing company while KIDO will fully control products and brands.

After investing in Dabaco Food, KIDO now has a presence in three key segments in the food industry: fresh food, frozen food, and canned food.

In the frozen food segment, it targets holding a 50 per cent share of the ice cream market by 2020. It currently has more than 70,000 points of sale around the country and plans to increase this by 10,000 to 20,000 each year.
     
Vietnamese garment enterprises have opportunity to access US market

Vietnam's textile and garment export turnover to the US has grown sharply in recent years and Vietnam is using more raw cotton materials from this market, offering domestic enterprises a range of opportunities to access the US market.

Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), said that Vietnam's textile and garment export turnover, in 2017, is estimated at US$30.5 billion, of which the US market accounts for approximately 51% of total turnover.

In the first eight months of 2017, textiles and garments exports grew steadily, with export value increasing by 9.9%, over the same period last year, to US$19.8 billion. Currently, textile and garment exports to the US account for the largest share of the industry, making up around 51% of the export market share.

However, Vietnam is also importing cotton from the US for its spinning industry, accounting for up to 60% of its total demand. In recent years, the cotton cultivation areas in Vietnam have narrowed down to just 0.04% of the total demand. Meanwhile, American cotton is considered the best for Vietnamese spinning, due to it containing less impurities and being put through a tightly controlled production process.

In order to create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises to approach the US cotton market, VITAS and the US Cotton Council International (CCI) recently held Cotton Day in Ho Chi Minh City, in mid-September. According to Giang, this event created an opportunity for US firms to evaluate the potential and importance of the spinning and textile industry in Vietnam, before making proposals to the US Government for policies to support the spinning, textile and garment industry in the Southeast Asian country.

Among them, the most important is the recommendation on the establishment of cotton bonded warehouses in Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong that would help to create better opportunities for Vietnamese spinners to access US cotton products, while shortening buying times and reducing financial pressure.

Giang said that Cotton Day 2017 acted as a bridge between the Vietnamese textile industry and the US cotton industry for the benefit of both parties, presenting an opportunity for Vietnamese fashion brands and Vietnamese businesses, who have not yet exported to the US, to seek opportunities for cooperation with US enterprises and buyers.

According to VITAS, Vietnam’s cotton imports surged over the past ten years from 150,000 tonnes in 2005 to approximately 1.2 million tonnes in 2016, with US cotton making up a large proportion.

In the first seven months of 2017, Vietnam imported 808,000 tonnes of cotton, worth US$1.47 billion, annual rises of 32.6% and 58%, respectively. The US accounted for 60% of the market share, marking a milestone in the development of US cotton in Vietnam. 

To pave the way for Vietnamese apparel exports to the US and to help customers recognise high-quality products, the CCI granted licences to 12 Vietnamese businesses using the COTTON USA™ label, including Hoa Tho Textile, Dong Xuan Knitting, Phu Cuong Spinning, Phu Gia Spinning, Viet Hong Dyeing, Sunrise Spring Vietnam, Thanh Cong Textile and Vi Son Textile.

The use of COTTON USA ™ labels will help consumers to recognise quality products, as well as helping exporters enjoy more favourable conditions when exporting textiles to the United States.

Nguyen Ngoc Binh, Deputy General Director of Hoa Tho Textile, said that his company currently has three fiber factories in Da Nang and Quang Nam, with an annual capacity of around 1,600 tonnes of yarns. Raw materials used in the plants are cotton and man-made fibers, of which cotton imports from the US account for more than 60%.

Binh added that, compared with cotton imported from West Africa or India, cotton from the US contains less impurities, so the finished product quality is higher. Recently, US cotton has had a more competitive price, making it a good choice for manufacturers in meeting the high requirements of high quality orders.

CCI Director William Bettendorf said that in recent years, the Vietnam textile and garment industry has made breakthrough growth, becoming a bright spot in the textile industry around the world. Currently, Vietnam is the largest customer of the American cotton industry.

This year is also the first year that CCI has supported Vietnam’s fashion brands using the COTTON USA ™ label to create more favourable conditions for Vietnamese exports and better transparency for consumers concerning the origin of materials.

Developing “agriculture 4.0”

Agriculture is a foundation, a development axis, and a strong pillar of the economy. Over the years, the sector has recorded continuous growth with important achievements, contributing to nationwide economic stability, reducing poverty and improving the standard of living for rural residents.

With enormous progress, Vietnam has emerged as one of the world’s leading exporters of agricultural commodities and is among the top five for aquatic products, rice, coffee, tea, cashews, black pepper, rubber and cassava. But it is facing major demographic, economic and environmental challenges that require changes in order to generate more economic value whilst using fewer natural, human and other resources, as well as the need to restructure the patterns of production and the organisation of the supply chain.

Agricultural growth has mostly relied on increasing cultivation areas and a more intensive use of inputs, such as fertilisers and natural resources, such as water. The sector is experiencing a low quality of growth, as shown by low profits for farmers, underemployment among agricultural workers, unreliable product quality, alongside poor food safety and limited technological innovation.

Developing high-tech agriculture is an important task and also the inevitable trend of Vietnam’s socioeconomic development strategies in the context of deeper international integration.

Together with the foundation of rapid development and the high-level integration of scientific achievements and modern technologies in the sectors of digitalisation, bio-technology and physics, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to remarkably change the appearance of manufacturing in the world and Vietnam in the near future. This model will help enterprises increase their productivity, flexibility and efficiency, in addition to shortening production time in making products available in the market, resulting in the improvement of an enterprise’s competitiveness.

The revolution could create both opportunities and challenges for Vietnam. If Vietnam doesn’t catch up with the world and the region in terms of development, it would face challenges and the effects of backward technologies, decreasing production, abundant skilled labour and copyright violation.

Hi-tech farming is considered as one of the driving factors for sustainable agricultural development in line with the government’s policy. Since the beginning of 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed a resolution on providing a credit package worth VND100 trillion (US$4.4 billion) to invest in the development of high-tech agriculture at lower than market rates. The resolution aims to encourage, support and promote the development of hi-tech farming applications.

Following the Prime Minister’s instruction on supporting high-tech agriculture development late last year, the SBV has instructed banks to apply preferential loans to high-tech and clean agricultural projects. Interest rates of the loans will be 0.5-1.5% per year lower than other average lending rates. Meanwhile, the lending interest rate for short-term loans averages at 6-9% per year and 9-11% for medium and long-term loans.

Science and technology have been flagged as an effective solution for agricultural development, but the most urgent task that should be carried out in the near future is establishing an effective roadmap for the sector’s development in order to help the sector promote its important role as a strong pillar in the economy.

In order to promote the economic strength of agriculture, it is necessary to have specific directions, mechanisms and policies to attract the relevant economic sectors and scientific enterprises to invest in technological innovation and high-tech applications for agricultural production.

Therefore, it is necessary to restructure the country’s agriculture industry towards sustainable and effective development, while increasing the income and improving the standard of living for rural residents and farmers should be associated with the building of new-style rural areas.

Local authorities should create favourable conditions to encourage the application of advanced technologies and machinery in agricultural production in order to reduce costs and improve the productivity, quality, and competitiveness of agricultural products.

Last bid packages of Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway carried out

Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) and contractors yesterday signed contracts to implement three last bid packages of Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway, connecting the Mekong Delta and the southeastern region through HCMC.

The three packages have the total length of 25 kilometers, designed to meet A standard with the speed of 100 kilometers an hour.

Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway runs from the Mekong Delta province of Long An, travels through Ho Chi Minh City and links up to the southeastern province of Dong Nai.

The work started on the 51.7 kilometer project in July 2014 with the total capital of VND31.3 trillion (US$1.38 billion).

Vietnam Rubber Group prepares for equitization

The equitization project of Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) was approved yesterday by the company’s unusual conference of worker delegates in HCMC yesterday.
 
The real value of VRG including the parent company, 20 agricultural subsidiaries and four public service units is over VND49 trillion (US$2.16 billion).

VRG director general Tran Ngoc Thuan said that the group has agreed to submit the equitization project to the Prime Minister with the selling price of VND13,000 per share and the auction will be organized at the HCMC Stock Exchange.

VRG shares will be sold to rubber farming workers and households and labor unions with the selling price accounting for 60 percent of the lowest successful auction price. 

They will also be sold to eligible workers with the price equal to the lowest successful auction price.

Over 475 million shares, accounting for 11.8 percent chartered capital, will be publicly offered for sale. In addition, another number of shares with the same chartered capital value will be sold to strategic investors.

VRG proposed to complete the share auction within three months after the equitization project is approved.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNEVET