Businesses warned of online trade fraud in Cameroon

A number of Vietnamese exporters reported they have been cheated by their partners in Cameroon since early July, according to the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The MoIT said the swindlers often offer preferential conditions on order contracts if a deposit of at least 10 percent is transferred online.

However, when businesses send the money, the impostors immediately stop all transactions and refuse to deliver the goods causing their victims to lose tens of thousands of US dollars.

To avoid such sophisticated swindles and find trustworthy partners in African countries, Vietnamese exporters are advised not to search for partners on the internet which can be used by opportunists to play a trick on genuine businesses.

They should require their partners to provide relevant documents and information to prove their legality and send them to the representative Vietnamese agencies in Africa to confirm their validity before conducting any transactions.

Blue chips help boost indices
 
Shares rallied yesterday on both national stock exchanges, boosted by gains of blue chips.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index gained another 0.77 per cent to finish the day at 429.47 points. The value of trades rocketed to more than VND1 trillion ($47.6 million), up 122 per cent from a day earlier, while the volume of trades rose 70 per cent to over 50.5 million shares.

The VN30 Index, representing the city's 30 leading shares by capitalisation and liquidity, also ended 0.86 per cent higher at 513.36 points, with 19 codes advancing, six declining and five closing flat. Dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) hit the ceiling price of VND111,000 per share while insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vietcombank (VCB), Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI) and Military Bank (MBB) increased by 0.5-2.8 per cent.

MBB was also the most-active share with 22.5 million traded, worth a total of VND337 billion ($16 million), accounting for 48 per cent of total market value on the day. MBB climbed 2.8 per cent to conclude the session at VND14,700 per share.

"Blue-chips continued playing a role in an uninspiring period," FPT Securities Co analysts wrote in a report. "The rally of Vinamilk (VNM), Military Bank (MBB) and other blue chips eased downward concerns caused by yesterday's fuel price hike."

On the Ha Noi exchange, the HNX-Index also advanced by 0.51 per cent to 70.32 points on a modest turnover of VND297.3 billion ($14.2 million).

The HNX30 Index, tracking the northern bourse's top 30 shares, also edged up 0.44 per cent to 134.17 points, with Habubank (HBB) still the most-active code on trades of 5.3 million shares. HBB sank 1.92 per cent to end the day at VND5,100 a share.

In the context of a lack of supporting economic information, stock indices have tended to continue treading water and accumulate value only in the short term, the FPT Securities Co analysts wrote.

Foreign investors again concluded yesterday as net buyers on the HCM City exchange, picking up VND17 billion ($810,500) worth of shares, but they turned to being net sellers on the Ha Noi bourse, responsible for a net sell of VND227.8 million ($11,000) worth of shares.

Budget revenue reaches VND393,500 billion in seven months

Stage budget revenue hit VND49,260 billion in July, bringing the total  to VND393,500 billion in just seven months, according to the Ministry of Finance.   

Total proceeds showed a decrease of 2.8 percent from a year ago, said the ministry. The mining sector made a significant contribution to the State coffers, especially sales of crude oil which saw a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent.

In the reviewed period, total budget expenditure was estimated at VND498,160 billion, including VND81,260 billion in July, up 15 percent on last year..

The increase in budget spending was attributed to the growing demand for national security and defence, social welfare, natural disaster relief, debt settlement, and allowances.

At the end of July 2012, about 50.7 percent of investment capital sourced from the State budget had been distributed, while the expenditure ratio of capital mobilised from sales of Government bonds reached 36.7 percent.

Banks want to boost ATM fees
 
Banks want to raise fees on per inter-bank ATM transaction from VND3,300 to VND5,500 in order to make up for major bank losses incurred by sharing card services with small banks.

The State Bank of Viet Nam has given the green light to banks to charge fees on all internal ATM transactions beginning in 2013.

However, many major banks also want the central bank to increase fees on inter-bank ATM transactions.

The head of a major bank's transaction office in HCM City, who declined to be named, said it was necessary to increase fees on inter-bank ATM transactions because the costs for building and operating facilities for ATMs reached hundreds of millions of dong.

Expenses include the purchase of ATMs, installations and rental of space.

ATM owners also have to pay millions of dong to operate the machines per month, including payments for space rental, security fees and electricity charges.

"This is the reason why many small banks do not have enough money to build many ATMs, although they have issued so many cards. Consequently, cardholders of small banks have to use ATMs of major banks to carry out their transactions," he told Tuoi Tre newspaper.

One bank has issued 80,642 cards, but built only 20 ATMs, while another has issued 64,277 cards but has only 10 machines.

With the current fee of VND3,300 fixed per inter-bank transaction, the money is not enough for ATM owners to cover additional services if they have to serve thousands of cardholders from other banks, according to independent market watchdogs.

According to figures from the Smartlink Card Service Joint-Stock Company, by late 2011 Viet Nam had around 15,000 ATMs, with nearly 40 million ATM cards in usage, resulting in total transactions worth US$32 million.

At present, only six major banks, Agribank, Vietinbank, Vietcombank, Dong A, BIDV and Techcombank, own 8,200 ATMs, accounting for 70 per cent of the total.

However, most banks have not earned profits from card services.

Phi Thi Phuong, head of the card-service office of the Export – Import Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Eximbank), said the bank had installed 300 ATMs in the last 10 years but had not made any profit from this kind of service.

Phuong told the Viet Nam News Agency that all banks, however, were still providing card services because benefits were expected in the future, particularly in retail sales.

The deputy director of another major bank in Ha Noi said that major banks could not support small banks'use of ATMs any longer.

Small banks should invest more to build their own ATMs, or increase fees for inter-banks ATM transactions, he added.

HCM City may divide up sanitation project to attract investment

Municipal authorities are considering breaking up a billion dollar sanitation project in order to attract badly needed investment, officials say.

Luong Minh Phuc, head of the management board of the Water Environment Improvement Project, said the city lacked capital to carry out the Doi-Te Environmental Sanitation Project.

The project needs around US$1 billion, including several million dollars to pay compensation to more than 10,000 local residents, he said.

Local authorities have struggled to compensate residents for land taken from residents for the project.

Phuc said that the city is considering to divide the project into several parts to encourage more investors to join.

The city has five major canals, Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe, Tau Hu-Ben Nghe, Tan Hoa-Lo Gom, Doi-Te and Tham Luong-Ben Cat runing through 24 districts, including the inner-city districts of 1, 3, 4, 6, Phu Nhuan and Binh Thanh.

Over the last three decades, the city government has made great efforts to improve the canal environment, Phuc said.

He said the first phase of the Tau Hu-Ben Nghe project had been completed, making significant contribution to reduced flooding, improving traffic and public health

Although the project has not been finished, thousands of households who live along the canal have benefited, Phuc said. Work on the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal project officially began in 2003, also helping the city fight flooding problems and environmental pollution.

The canal runs for over 33sq.km through seven districts.

The project's first phase, completed in June, cost about $317 million. The funds were raised through Official Development Assistance loans ($294 million) and local capital of nearly US$23 million.

A wastewater treatment plant will be built in District 2 to treat water from the canal. Officials expect Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe to become a "green canal" in the near future.

The three remaining canals are heavily polluted by domestic and industrial wastewater.

The city's Department of Natural Resources and Environment has reported test results showing BOD (biodiversity- oxygen demand), COD (chemical oxygen demand) and coliform contamination were 1,000 times higher than the allowed level. Pollution gets worse at low tides.

Part of the problem is that many facilities operating in the city do not have any wastewater treatment system and release their waste directly into the canal system, officials said.

Ministry urged to hasten airport

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai last Saturday asked the Ministry of Transport to urgently complete its report on financing and building Long Thanh International Airport in southern Dong Nai Province.

All parties concerned should be consulted and their opinions taken into account before the report is submitted to the Prime Minister on August 20, the Deputy PM said.

He advised that ministries of Planning and Investment and Transport as well as relevant agencies petition the PM for establishing a State Assessment Council to examine the investment report.

Under an approved master plan officially made pubic last August, the airport will be built in Dong Nai Province's Long Thanh District, some 40km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City.

The new airport will function as an entrepot in the Southeast Asian region, able to handle 100 million passengers and 5 million tonnes of cargo a year by 2030.

The 5000ha airport will also have the capacity to allow massive jumbo jets like the A380-800 to land and take off.

Preparatory works for the country's biggest airport, including financial arrangements, are already underway. The Southern Airport Corporation is in charge of the project development.

Construction of the airport is scheduled to start in 2015 and completed in three phases.

The first phase, carried out between 2015 and 2020, will involve an investment of US$ 6.74 billion. At the end of this phase, the airport will be able to handle 25million passengers and 1.2million tonnes of cargo every year.

At the end of the second phase the airport will have three runways and the ability to handle 50 million passengers and 1.5million tonnes of cargo.

When the final phase is complete, it will have four runways and four terminals with the targeted capacity of handling 100 million passengers and 5million tonnes of cargo per annum.

The plan also envisages that the Long Thanh International Airport will be connected to HCM City and other neighbouring provinces by a network of highways and express railway routes, some already under construction.

Office rentals forecast to fall another 10%

Office rental prices in HCM City are expected to drop a further 10 per cent by the end of the year, but will rise again next year, according to Savills Viet Nam.

Truong An Duong, research manager of Savills Viet Nam, said there would be a continued oversupply of office rental space this year.

Savills estimated that construction on 47,000 sq. metres of office space for lease will be completed by the end of this year, and 56,000 sq. metres by next year.

Office rental prices dropped by about 13 per cent per year in the 2008-11 period.

However, the market for office rentals is expected to recover in the 2013-14 period.

Office rental prices are expected to rise by 15 per cent next year, and 12 per cent in 2014.

In HCM City, foreign companies occupy 60 per cent of office rental space at A-class and B-class buildings.

Companies in the financial sector occupy the largest area (23 per cent) of office rental space.

 Private airlines plan for flights abroad

Although they are newcomers to the aviation industry, private airlines in Viet Nam hope to spread their wings on international routes.

Three private airlines, Vietjetair, Air Speed Up (Indochina Airlines) and Mekong Aviation, were established in the 2007-08 period.

VietJet Air is making preparations to open international routes, and its first foreign destinations would likely be South Korea and Japan, two markets with potential and stability. The airline expects to launch the first flights at the end of this year.

Mekong Air has also announced that it plans to operate more domestic and international flights. For now, though, the carrier's initial legal capital of VND200 billion (US$9.6 million) allows it to operate only domestic flights.

To expand to international markets, the airline signed a strategic agreement with the Export and Import Joint Stock Commercial Bank, which would contribute and raise the legal capital to VND600 billion.

However, Vietnamese private airlines should prepare for fierce competition in the global market.

For routes such as Ha Noi and HCM City to Singapore, Vietnamese private airlines have the ability to operate but they may find it difficult to compete with well-established airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Tiger Airways, Jetstar Asia, Lion Air and Silk Air.

The Bangkok – HCM City and Ha Noi routes is another popular route, but the situation is the same: many well-known airlines, including Thai Airways, Thai AirAsia, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Tunisia Airlines, fly those routes.

In addition, domestic private airlines do not have the necessary conditions to reach long-distance markets.

One CEO in the domestic aviation industry said that costs needed to fly to international destinations were too high relative to the private airlines' financial potential.

Although the Government has signed a bilateral air-service agreement with 56 countries and territories, both state-run and private airlines are still not qualified to fully exploit air-service opportunities.

Viet Jet Aviation Joint-Stock Company, trading as VietJet Air, is a low-cost airline and the first privately owned airline to be established in the country. Indochina Airlines was originally licensed in May 2008 as Air Speed Up.

Set up in 2009, Mekong Aviation Joint Stock Company, doing business as Mekong Air, operates scheduled passenger flights from its base at Phu Quoc Airport and secondary hubs at Noi Bai International Airport and Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Among the private airlines, VietJet Air has charter capital of VND500 billion – the amount required for an airline to participate in international routes right at the time when it is established.

In the first year of operation, VietJet Air realised its target of operating 5,000 flights and carried over 700,000 to 800,000 passengers on its six A320 planes.

Gold trading floor needed

Experts have recommended that a national trading floor be set up to help stabilise the local gold market and create price parity between domestic and global markets.

They said the future national trading floor should be put under the control of the Government and list the codes of gold commodities, including the stock codes, so that that both domestic and foreign investors can participate in transactions.

Experts have said that a gold trading floor would bring positive results and act as a bridge between local and global markets. It could eliminate illegally gold trading floors, which have expanded recently.

An official gold floor would also help prevent dollar outflows, speculation, price manipulation and gold smuggling, as well as meet domestic demand.

Current gold management policies have made gold price fluctuations difficult to predict.

The world gold price is expected to increase strongly to the year-end and may reach nearly $1,700 per ounce. However, domestic gold investors are still worried about risks in participating in the market because of the gap between global and domestic gold prices.

Although illegal gold trading floors have been banned for two years, they continue to flourish in the country, attracting many investors.

Market observers said that trading on these floors was done via the internet and often allowed investors to make transactions with a high average ratio of 1:100.

To become a member of a gold trading floor, people only have to have a copy of an identity card or several dozen US dollars for the membership registration fee. Some trading floors offer very attractive conditions to investors.

However, only 5 per cent of investors can break even or earn money with trading deals.

These illegal gold trading activities can involve cheating, and the Government can not collect taxes on them.

The Viet Nam National Financial Supervisory Committee has conducted a survey of the level of household income, capital accumulation, and investment in Ha Noi, which showed that more than 31 per cent of households had gold reserves and 92 per cent said they wanted to keep gold for fear of inflationary pressure.

This kind of reliance on gold influences the volume of smuggling. As many as 20-40 tonnes of gold are smuggled into Viet Nam every year to meet market demand, and the growing demand for US dollars to import gold has made it difficult to control foreign currency.

Experts recommend that a state-owned national gold office be set up, with trading floors in Ha Noi and HCM City. They should be run according to international practice.

They also suggested that the central bank remove gold import and export quotas to avoid causing differences in domestic and international prices, and allow commercial banks to mobilise and trade gold through accounts in order to maintain a balance in the market and reduce risks.

Mobile number portability

The Ministry of Information and Telecommunication plans to launch mobile number portability beginning from 2014.

Mobile number portability (MNP) allows mobile-phone customers to retain their numbers when changing mobile network operators.

Customers would be able to keep their number when they change service providers, geographical positions or services.

The plan aims to provide customers with more options and create a healthy competitive climate among telecommunications companies that would help improve services.

Additionally, the plan allows telecommunications government bodies to expand the mobile market and introduce e-commerce.

In Viet Nam, mobile telecommunications services account for up to 90 per cent of the domestic telecom market.

According to the General Statistics Office, as of June, the country had 135.9 million phone subscribers, of which 120.7 million were mobilephone subscribers.

Meanwhile, the country has six mobilephone service providers, Viettel, MobiFone, VinaPhone, SFone, Vietnammobile and Gtel-Beeline. However, 90 per cent of the market is occupied by Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone.

However, to successfully carry out the MNP service, the telecom sector must build a model responsible for managing customers' changing of service providers.

In addition, State management agencies will have to actively support the MNP plan with proper policies.

Foreign bank ownership

The central bank has shown no sign of increasing the foreign-ownership ratio of shares of weak commercial banks, which are eligible for restructuring.

In the plan on credit institution restructuring, a possible increase was suggested.

The restructuring plan for the 2011-2015 period allows foreign credit institutions to buy or merge with Vietnamese banks, and increase foreign-ownership ratios at weak banks that are subject to restructuring.

Foreign investors are seen as the most financially capable investors in the market, at a time when the country needs large amount of money to supplement domestic capital sources, which are becoming exhausted.

However, the central bank has had no specific plans to seek foreign investors to join the bank debt-trading market.

For many managers of foreign banks, the bank market is an attractive investment sector, so they are keeping a wait-and see attitude, particularly about the next move by the Government.

Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam, Nguyen Van Binh, told Dau Tu newspaper that extending the foreign-ownership threshold at Vietnamese banks was an important solution to the credit institution reshuffling.

However, he said the benefits to the country would be doubtful if this was not managed well.

According to Binh, the national economy is experiencing dark days, when bank stocks have become quite cheap. Thus, the banking sector could fall into the hands of foreigners if the ceiling on the foreign-ownership ratio is lifted.

He said it would be better to create a healthier banking sector, which would then force foreign banks to pay reasonable prices to buy banks. In addition, this would ensure benefits for domestic investors.

Agreement signed to spur business performance

OceanGroup and OceanBank signed a comprehensive co-operative agreement with Viglacera last week to support each other in business and production performance.

Under the agreement, OceanGroup and OceanBank will arrange investment capital and financial consultancy for Viglacera's construction projects and business activities. On the same day, OceanBank also signed a VND500 billion (US$24 million) credit loan agreement with Viglacera, a State-run company specialising in the manufacture of construction materials.

Quang Ninh Province opens equipment transaction floor

The northern province of Quang Ninh last week opened a technology and equipment transaction floor.

It aims to help provincial enterprises access information and advanced technologies including equipment for the coal, environmental treatment, energy conservation, seafood and agro-forestry sectors.

It has already attracted 14 businesses to display and transact their products on the floor.

Nipro Pharma builds plant in Hai Phong

Nipro Pharma Viet Nam Co Ltd has started construction of a US$250 pharmaceutical and medical equipment factory in the northern city of Hai Phong's Thuy Nguyen District.

The factory, covering an area of 15ha, is expected to be completed in August next year and become operational in April 2015.

 Farmers to benefit from HDBank-Agribank pact

Farmers nation-wide will gain easier access to bank loans as well as help in using them effectively under a new agreement signed by two major lenders.

The co-operation agreement was signed last Friday by the HCM City Development Bank (HDBank) and Viet Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank).

Under the agreement, comprehensive, co-operative relations will be established in order to fully exploit all the potentials and strengths of both banks

 Delayed tourist projects lose licenses

Binh Thuan Province People's Committee is continuing to investigate roughly 250 delayed tourism investment projects, and where necessary, revoke licences.

These projects were reported to be lagging behind schedule due to complicated compensation procedures, but this was not true in many cases.

Binh Thuan has 406 licensed tourism investment projects with investment capital of VND57.3 trillion (US$2.7 billion). Only 157 projects have been completed and gone into operation.

Exporters to send dragonfruit to US for irradiation
 
Viet Nam has been given permission to export dragonfruis to the US for irradiation.

Exporters can now choose whether to irradiate the fruit in the US or in Viet Nam. Irradiation technology protects fruits and vegetables by killing harmful pests and diseases, keeping them fresh up to 30 days.

The first shipments of dragonfruit from Viet Nam are approved for arrival in the US on September 20.

Nguyen Huu Dat, Director of the Post Import Quarantine Centre under the Plant Protection Department, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said dragon fruit was the first and only fruit to be exported from Viet Nam to the US for irradiation so far.

He explained the unprecedented allowance resulted from the strong reputation for quality that Viet Nam's dragonfruit enjoys in the US.

Dat said that this was an opportunity to promote and expand the market for Viet Nam's dragonfruit because meeting US requirements means Viet Nam's dragonfruit will be likely to satisfy the requirements of any country.

Earlier this year, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted a patent to the dragonfruit grown in the central province of Binh Thuan, recognising the brand name and image of Binh Thuan's dragonfruit.

The recognition from a prestigious US office will help Binh Thuan's Dragon Fruit carve out a niche among fastidious US consumers.

Binh Thuan province is now at the peak of its harvest time, and the price of the fruit has increased between 30 and 40 per cent compared to the same period last year.

According to local farmer Nguyen Van Ba, a dragon fruit farmer can now earn between VND6,000 (US$0,3 cent) and VND13,000 ($0,6 cent) per kilo depending on the type of fruit.

"We have been gaining a lot of profit from selling dragonfruit this season," said Ba.

India and Thailand were also given permission to export dragonfruit to the US for irradiation.

Hydroelectric plant begins operations

The Nho Que 3 hydroelectric facility was inaugurated yesterday in the mountain province of Ha Giang's Meo Vac District. The project, built by the Bitexco Joint Stock Co, was completed after over three years of construction. It has two turbine groups with a capacity of 110MW and an annual output of about 500 million kWh, connected to the national power grid. The plant is expected to create jobs, improve local infrastructure, boost economic development, and increase security in border areas.

Also yesterday, the Nho Que 2 hydroelectric facility began construction in Can Chu Phin and Xin Cai communes in Meo Vac District. The project, with two turbine groups and a design capacity of 48MW, was expected to generate 225 million kWh per year. It is being built at an estimated cost of VND1.4 trillion (US$67.2 million) by the Bitexco Corporation and slated for completion in 2014.

Farmers switch to oranges
 
With thick-skinned oranges fetching higher and higher prices, many farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta have switched to growing the fruit, and worried authorities are warning that a possible glut will deflate prices.

Nguyen Van Hong, a farmer in Vinh Long Province's Tra On District, said he earned a profit of VND200 million (US$9,500) from his one-ha orchard which yielded 18 tonnes of thick-skinned oranges in the last crop.

Because of the high profits from the fruit, he is now planting more than 4,000 new trees.

Le Van Mot, a neighbour, is turning his paddy field into an orchard.

He said: "I grew rice for dozens of years but could not become wealthy. My brothers switched to growing thick-skinned oranges a few years ago and have all become prosperous."

Farmers in Tra On have turned nearly 100ha of paddy fields into orchards, according to the district Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau.

Phan Nhut Ai, director of the Vinh Long Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the area under the fruit has increased rapidly in Thuan Thoi commune.

But he assured that his department was carefully monitoring it and would put a stop if the total area exceeded zoning plans.

It has also warned that farmers should not indiscriminately expand cultivation because of the risk of oversupply, he said.

While the prices of most fruits and other agricultural produce have fallen this year, thick-skinned oranges have been among the exceptions. In Hau Giang, Vinh Long, and Dong Thap provinces, traders buy it at VND23,000-25,000 per kilo-gramme.

In Hau Giang's Chau Thanh District, many orchards yield 30-40 tonnes per ha, bringing a profit of VND500-600 million to owners.

Nguyen Van Dong, director of the Hau Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province, wary of oversupply, does not encourage expansion of the area under the orange.

Hau Giang, one of the delta's main thick-skinned orange growing areas, now has 7,000ha under the fruit.

It has encouraged enterprises and farmers to ensure stability, invest in improving productivity and quality, and create brand names for thick-skinned oranges, Dong said.

Nguyen Minh Chau, head of the Southern Fruit Research Institute, said demand was assured if farmers ensured their trees bear fruits in time.

"The thick-skinned orange is delicious and used to make juice, so there is constant demand for it," he said.

The main market is in the country's north.

Chau said delta provinces need to co-operate to ensure the fruit fetches their farmers high returns.

"Each province has to harvest at a designated time that does not overlap with each other to ensure supply is steady and prices do not collapse because of a glut," he said.

In the southern region, thick-skinned oranges grow throughout the year.

"If authorities do not co-ordinate and guide farmers and leave them to their own designs, they are most likely to harvest the fruit at the same time, causing an oversupply," he warned.

Mekong Delta to breed prawns, crabs, oysters

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region is setting up groups specialised in breeding young fish, shrimp, crabs and prawns and even oysters to serve the aquaculture industry.

The Southwest Steering Committee, the region, which is the national hub of fisheries, is carrying out a breeding programme during the next three years.

The groups will meet all the demands for fisheries in freshwater, saltwater and brackish water.

The plan is to, step-by-step, modernise the breeding of acquaculture species and thus help revive the local economy.

The committee says the programme will produce 35 billion breeding prawns, more than 500 million crustaceans, such as crabs of different kinds, more than 11 billion molluscs, such as shellfish and oysters.

It will also produce more than 3.5 billion breeding prawns, 700 million breeding catfish, over 500 million breeding tilapias (a local fish) and more than 12 billion breeding fish of other kinds.

To achieve their aims, Cuu Long Delta provinces will upgrade equipment at aquatic breeding centres.

This means building a freshwater aquatic breeding centre in Cai Be District, Tien Giang Province; three level-one breeding centres in the provinces of Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Kien Giang – and three level-one centres for freshwater aquatic breeding in the provinces of Can Tho, An Giang and Dong Thap.

In provinces with estuaries, such as Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Bac Lieu and Tra Vinh, mollusc breeding farms will supply the local industry to reduce the exploitation of natural shellfish.

Under the programme, all 13 provinces in the region will build new or improved breeding centres with modern technology to meet local and overseas demands.

The provinces must also improve management quality so that any epidemics can be quickly brought under control. They must also develop their own labels and trademarks.

The provinces must also enhance the quality of their staff by providing more training which can be transferred to other farmers.

At present, the Mekong Delta needs tens of billions of breeding prawns and fish every year, but the 1,500 breeding farms can only meet a small portion of this.

Vina Properties takes over Novotel Phan Thiet

Vina Properties Development Group said it had taken over Novotel Phan Thiet Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort in Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province.

Details of the deal were not revealed but a source from Vina Properties said the acquisition was completed a few days ago. The new owner has changed the hotel’s name to DuParc Phan Thiet Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort.

Indochina Capital Investment Fund is one of the investors in the project. Apart from an 18-hole golf course, the project features a four-star hotel with 123 rooms operated by Accor Hotel Group.

Earlier, Vina Properties acquired the stakes of Hong Kong’s Kovina Investments Limited and Singapore’s AOI Saigon Pte Ltd. in Amara Saigon Hotel in HCMC’s District 3. The 280-room hotel was then renamed Ramana Saigon Hotel.

In 2010, the group expanded its investment portfolio in the hospitality industry by taking over Dalat Palace Luxury Hotel & Golf Club and DuParc Hotel Dalat in Dalat City.

Vina Properties is a local company active in the business fields of hotel-entertainment, aviation and construction.

Foreign consortium hired for Dung Quat II port plan

Dung Quat Economic Zone Authority (DEZA) has signed a contract with a consortium comprising of Japan’s Nikken Sekkei Civil Engineering Ltd. and Port and Waterway Engineering Consultants Company to perform consultancy and produce a detailed plan to the scale of 1/2000 for Dung Quat II Port in the central province of Quang Ngai.

According to DEZA, the project will be developed in Dung Quat II Bay, around three kilometers from the coast with a depth of 24 meters. The bay links to around 5,000 hectares used for developing heavy industries and 2,000 hectares for the supporting industries.

The port is expected to handle ships of 250,000-300,000 DWT, which are the most popular types for carrying crude oil, iron ore and coal. The port will facilitate development of Dung Quat II heavy industry zone in Dung Quat Economic Zone (EZ).

Currently, Dung Quat I Port is able to serve 50,000 DWT ships and most of the space has been handed over to project investors at the economic zone.

The planning of Dung Quat II Port is vital to the development of Dung Quat II heavy industry zone, which is key to the expansion of the Dung Quat EZ.

DEZA hopes to build up long-term cooperation with the contractor consortium to build a bridge between it and the Japanese partners. DEZA also pledged to supply capital and cooperate with the contractors to complete the project as scheduled.

Besides, DEZA suggested the contractor follow the general seaport plan approved by the Government. The consortium has been told to ensure feasibility of the planning and consider a realistic situation in the province.

The Government earlier approved the expansion plan of Dung Quat EZ to 45,000 hectares.

Le Van Dung, deputy director of Dung Quat EZ managing board, said the seaport system has been a main factor in attracting heavy industry projects into the zone. Expansion of the EZ will only be possible with the completion of Dung Quat II Port, which will be double the current Dung Quat I Port in scale.

Local and international experts agreed that Dung Quat II Bay is suitable to lure investment for large projects such as oil refinery, heavy equipment factory, plastic plant, steel rolling mill and shipyard.

With a scale of around 5,000 hectares, the Dung Quat II zone is expected to attract around US$20-25 billion in investment capital by 2025.

Cedar to slip into big plan

The US-based Cedar Point International is ready to jump into the shoes of Polo Beach International and develop a giant recreation integrated resort project in Ninh Thuan province’s Mui Dinh tourism site.

Pham Dong, director of Ninh Thuan’s Department of Planning and Investment, said Cedar Point International had filed an application with the provincial people’s committee to develop a hi-grade tourism project at the Mui Dinh site. “The developer even agreed to deposit $1 million for the project,” said Dong.

No further information was revealed, but Dong said it would be a large project which could change Ninh Thuan tourism industry’s picture. Cedar Point International is a young firm founded in 2006 by a team of financial and operating executives to invest and operate in the world’s most promising emerging markets. In February, Ninh Thuan People’s Committee agreed in principle to allow Cedar Point International to develop this project. However, Dong said there were some procedures that needed to be addressed.

Mui Dinh is where Hong Kong’s Polo Beach International proposed to develop a $4 billion casino integrated resort last year. According to the proposal of Polo Beach International, its project would cover 1,500 hectares, comprising resorts, casino facilities, high-rise villas, a golf course and other facilities. However, it was not approved by the government.

“Cedar Point International’s project is smaller than the proposal of Polo and it does not include casino facilities,” said Dong.

Located in central coastal region and closed to Khanh Hoa province with Nha Trang Bay, Ninh Thuan province has recently become a destination of some foreign developers in the tourism sector. American developer Livingston Group last month came to Ninh Thuan to survey Vinh Hy Bay and Chua Mount for building a high-class resort complex on 466ha and survey Doc Ham Ca Na area to build a Disneyland theme park on 1,500ha.
 
Consumers turn their backs on Chinese produce  

Local traders have been mislabeling Chinese  fruits and vegetables as consumers turn away from cheap, low-quality goods from China.

Along Hanoi Highway, which connects HCMC with Bien Hoa City, street vendors gather offering all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Grapes said to be from America are sold for only VND20,000 (USD0.96) per 500 gr. One of the sellers claimed that the price had dropped because of the bounteous harvest in the U.S.

In reality, however, this type of grape is imported en mass from China to wholesalers in HCM City, such as Tam Binh, Thu Duc at VND25-30,000 per kilo. The traders at Tam Binh said that grapes from America are actually thinner and cost VND150-180,000 per kilo.

Other fruits, such as apples and pears from China are also sold under false labels, declaring that they were grown in New Zealand or Europe.

Some Chinese produce has been changed to make consumers believe that they are of domestic origin. Carrots, for example, were labeled as having come from the north, despite the fact that they can only be harvested around Tet in this area.

Tien, a consumer from Tan Binh District said, "I told the sellers that it wasn't necessary to try to fool people about where produce comes from. Everybody knows this stuff is coming from China. Their reply was that lying will make business run smoother."

Consumers have turned away from Chinese produce because of rumours about  the unsafe use of chemical substances. Some experienced consumers refuse to buy food from China despite lower prices.

Even though Chinese produce makes up about 50% of all imported fruits and vegetables at wholesale markets, they have lost favour among consumers, at the retail level. Even large supermarkets, such as Co.op Mart or Vinatexmart, have given priority to domestically produced goods.

Nguyen Thanh Ha, a trader from Tam Binh said, "Recently the value of fruits imported from China has dropped 30-50%." Ha added that informed consumers have been more thoughtful about the food that they buy. She said that people used to prefer Chinese produce because it looked nicer on the shelves and was cheap. Now, she said, there is much more suspicion about growing practices.

Many traders are actually happier because the fruits from Da Lat have higher prices and better sales than from China.

 Taiwanese firm accused of distributing fake motorbike parts  

A wholly Taiwanese-invested company located in Hanoi were caught trying to sell fake motorbike accessories.
 
Under their business registration certificate, the company was only allowed to make spare parts for motorbikes, including pistons under the Taiwanese brand name of Chen Sheng. However, the inter-agency inspection task force caught the company producing counterfeit spare parts bearing well-known Japanese brands, such as NPR of Nippon and ART of ART.RIKE Metal, who have sole distribution rights under Vietnamese law.

The task force seized hundreds of cases, each containing hundreds of counterfeit products, many of which bore anti-counterfeit stamps. One vehicle was also seized transporting more than 4,000 sets of fraudulant heads and pistons headed to Hoa Binh and Son La provinces for sales.

According to Major Nguyen Ngoc Ly, from Hanoi Economics Security Police Board, the company has been producing these fake products for a long time. The inspection task force has been investigating the firm for some time, he said, also estimating that thousands of other fake spare motorbike parts are still in the company's inventory waiting to be sold.

Authorities complete prosecution procedures on the Taiwanese company.

VND10.7 trillion in taxes exempted or delayed  

Total taxes exemptions and delays added up to  VND10.7 trillion (USD5.2 billion) by the end of July, said the Minister of Finance.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the amount of VAT in April, May and June for 200,000 enterprises which have been delayed reached VND10 trillion, and 8,260 enterprises have their corporate tax deadlines extended, equaling a total of nearly VND350 billion.

VND340 billion of land rental fees from this year were cut in half for 3,000 businesses, and 40,000 households involved in aquaculture and salt processing were also granted exemptions equalling VND10.6 billion.

The Ministry of Finance also completed allocations for an additional VND2 trillion in loans for dyke strengthening, development of transport infrastructure in rural areas and traditional villages.

The Government spent VND498,160 billion in the the first seven months of 2012, an increase of 15% from last year. The Ministry of Finance said the money spent was to assure the success of governmental policies such as salary reform.

According to the General Department of Taxation, the economy is also showing signs of strength, with 46,818 new enterprises set up in July, of which 42,349 are private.

Average lending rate drops to 13.9pct: Govt

The average lending rate has recently been reduced to around 13.9 percent per year after the central bank requested an all-out rate cut toward 15 percent per year for all loans in early July, said the government website.

The proportion of the total outstanding loans in dong at an interest rate of less than 15 percent per year has dropped quickly during the past month.

Specifically, the proportion of loans at the interest rate of above 15 percent per year in total loans has fallen nearly two thirds against that before July 15.

The proportion of loans interest rates between 13-15 percent per year accounted for the biggest part, while loans at an interest rate of less than 10 percent, and from 10-13 percent per year, made up a relatively small proportion.

Accordingly, the current proportion of loans at an interest rate of above 15 percent per year is now only 29.1 percent, while loans at an interest rate of 13-15 percent per year account for 49.1 percent, and the rest are loaned at an interest rate of less than 13 percent per year.

State-owned commercial banks were pioneers in reducing the lending interest rate to 15 percent per year.

The proportion of loans at an interest rate of above 15 percent per year at Vietcombank, BIDV and Vietinbank was at a very low level, at 2.2 percent, 4.8 percent and 5.7 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, at Agribank, 50 percent of loans remain at an interest rate of above 15 percent per year, mainly in individual consumer loans.

Accordingly, the expectation set out is that the proportion of loans at an interest rate of above 15 percent per year will drop strongly, loans at interest rates of 13 percent per year and less will make up the biggest proportion.

The average level will then be only 10 percent per year, as in 2009.

The relatively prolonged negative credit growth rate and abnormally low credit growth in the first seven months of this year are major bottlenecks to economic growth, said the Government Office.

This has contributed to the increase of bad debts, which resulted from the fact that many companies have to narrow production and business, or even face shutdown and bankruptcy.

One of the main causes of the aforementioned situation is high lending interest rates, which previously ranged from 17-20 percent per year and even higher.

As a result, following the government resolution on tackling the situation, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on July 7 directed commercial banks to quickly lower the deposit and lending interest rates.

SBV’s governor, Nguyen Van Binh, requested that the banking system adjust the lending interest rate for old loans down to less than 15 percent per year from July 15.

Following the request, local commercial banks immediately guided their branches throughout their networks to cut the lending interest rate for old credit contracts.

Many banks have reduced the lending interest rate for old loans to 15 percent per year. At the same time, the lending interest rate for new loans is now commonly hovering between 13 percent per year and 15 percent per year.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the SBV’s HCMC branch, said that the lending interest rates of HCMC-based banks are, for the most part, from 10.5-15 percent per year, depending on business ranking and prioritized sectors.

According to the report of the SBV branch, only about 4-5 banks in the city have not reduced the lending interest rate to below 15 percent per year for old loans yet, mainly small banks, and some long term loans have not been adjusted down as banks have not balanced capital sources.

As of July 27, as many as 28 commercial banks had reduced the lending interest rate to less than 15 percent per year for old loans, Tien Phong newspaper reported, citing the SBV.

Several branches of foreign banks did not have loans at the interest rate of above 15 percent per year, such as ICBC, JP Morgan Chase, OCBC, Nataxis, and Cathay Unites Bank while two finance companies, Prudential and PPF, had 100 percent of their loans at interest rates of above 15 percent per year, said Tien Phong.

Vietnam a sleeping e-commerce giant: Bangkok Post

Vietnam is one of Asia’s sleeping giants in terms of e-commerce with a young population eager to buy more online, said Bangkok Post in its recent article.    

However, it said, low trust in online shopping and e-payment remains the main challenge e-commerce can really take off in the country.

The Vietnamese government’s efforts to promote internet use and e-commerce over the last decade have helped popularise the business, it said, citing that buying and selling through e-commerce websites has become popular for goods and services such as airline tickets, tours, hotel rooms, electronics, mobile phones, computers, books, perfume and flowers.

Payment and shipping methods are also flexible to meet the requirements of buyers, many of whom still do not have credit cards, from online payments to bank transfers or cash-on-delivery.

In Vietnam, one-third of population now uses the internet while some 60 percent go online to search information on products before making a purchase.

Internet penetration in the country has recorded the most rapid growth in Asia, with an average annual rate of 20 percent from 2000 to 2010.

According to a survey of 3,400 businesses operating in different fields nationwide by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 60 percent of companies have applied B2B (business-to-business) e-commerce, 95 percent of which received orders online. One-third of the companies said e-commerce accounted for 15 percent or more of their total revenues.

E-commerce transactions in Vietnam now account for 2.5 percent of it's GDP, or nearly US$2 billion. They predicted to reach US$6 billion by 2015.

Despite its huge potential, e-commerce growth in Vietnam is held back by a low-trust environment.