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One of the greatest challenges facing Vietnam’s agricultural sector is to maintain the competitiveness as the country further integrates into the world economy, heard the Vietnam Agricultural Outlook Conference 2013.
Speaking at a conference in Hanoi last week, Do Anh Tuan, director of the Center for Agricultural Policy, said agro-product exports hit a record high of US$27 billion and achieved growth of 3.4% last year. Rice, coffee and furniture generated a turnover of over US$3 billion each, while rubber, tra fish, shrimp, cashew and cassava brought in more than US$1 billion each.
“In the context of economic woes, agriculture remained a lifebuoy for the economy,” said Tuan.
Still, Vietnam’s agriculture has a lot of problems to deal with. For example, the country’s processing capacity has not caught up with the regional level; product quality and food safety are not guaranteed; unstable macroeconomic environment makes production of agribusinesses stagnant; and farmers are facing many difficulties.
Jennifer Ellen Ifft, an agronomist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the global agricultural market was forecast to face multiple challenges this year due to price fluctuations, stringent requirements of consumers and climate change impacts on agricultural production.
Vietnam this year has to sharply reduce import duties on several food and processed agro-products such as beef, pork and milk, while export items face stricter requirements for product quality. Therefore, fluctuations in the world market will affect agricultural production in Vietnam more quickly and strongly.
These are huge challenges to the goal of sustaining growth and competitiveness of agriculture and business efficiency of agricultural firms, as well as securing livelihoods for rural people.
Moreover, the question is whether agriculture will remain a bright spot in Vietnam’s economic picture as the productivity of the major export items like rice, coffee and cashew has not improved much over the past few years.
Dang Kim Son, director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), said market information was extremely important. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and relevant agencies have sought to keep farmers and enterprises abreast of changes in the global market before making decisions on farming and trading.
The Vietnam Agricultural Outlook Conference has been held for five consecutive years by IPSARD and the Center for Agricultural Policy. It serves as a bridge between policy makers, scientists and businesses related to agriculture and rural development.
This year’s event featured three sessions on rice, animal husbandry and fisheries. Besides, there is a special session on rural development, reflecting the actual status of rural development and annual welfare for rural households.
* The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will focus on attracting foreign investments into agriculture from now until 2020 to increase the value of major exporting farm products.
Speaking to the Daily on Monday, an official from the Planning Department under the agriculture ministry said that in addition to offering incentive policies, the ministry will hold promotion forums to attract investors.
The ministry will map out a scheme for developing seafood industrial zones in the Mekong Delta in the period 2013-2015.
Besides, the ministry will boost investment and trade promotion activities in the U.S., Russia, Japan, South Korea and European countries.
The series of events to be carried out in the 2013-2015 period will cost an estimate of nearly VND10 billion. Besides, the ministry will make an investment promotion trip in the U.S. in next year’s fourth quarter to call for high-tech investments into Vietnam’s agro-forest-aquatic sector. There will be another trip to Europe or Japan in the third quarter of 2015 to invite investors in the agro-forestry-aquatic processing technologies.
HCM City sets up ‘market' for new technologies
A market displaying new technologies and equipment ready for production opened in HCM City yesterday.
Techmart Daily, at 79 Truong Dinh, District 1, displays innovations by research institutes, schools, and enterprises that are ready for use, Phan Minh Tan, director of the city Department of Science and Technology, said.
Set up by the city-based Centre for Science and Technology Information, it will also help researchers commercialise their results, he said.
At the moment it features 58 technologies and equipment made by 31 different agencies, including those in fruit processing and preservation, fuel from waste plastic, solar energy, and waste-water treatment.-
International housewares fair attracts 400 exhibitors
Local companies are expected to sign dozens of export contracts at an international home decor, gift and housewares fair that opens today in HCM City, according to the fair's organiser, the Viet Nam Handicraft Exporters Association.
Lifestyle Vietnam 2013, held at the Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Centre until April 21, includes 850 booths from 400 local and international exhibitors.
The US-based TigerTrade, which specialises in export promotion, will send a delegation of 15 US wholesalers to seek business partners at the fair. They are expected to sign a total of US$1 million in orders.
Of the 15 wholesalers, nearly 80 per cent of them are new customers, according to Tiger Trade. Importers are interested in buying wooden products, lacquer, porcelain, wall decoration and other items.
Equipment exhibition draws international tech products
More than 100 companies from 10 countries are displaying products on laboratory technology, biotechnology and diagnostics at an International Analytical Exhibition that opened on April 17 in HCM City.
The analytical Vietnam 2013 has attracted many companies from Japan, India, and Germany, France, Spain, the US, Singapore, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and Switzerland.
High-tech equipment in the areas of chemical, electronics, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and environment are showcased at the exhibition.
During the biennial event, a two-day seminar is scheduled to take place, during which the world’s leading scientists will speak about the latest developments in the field.
This year’s exhibition is seen as an in-depth conference with speeches made by local and international experts, Hung said, adding that the event will include lectures on food analysis, pharmaceuticals and environmental technology.
The three-day exhibition, the third of its kind in Vietnam, was organised by Messe Munchen International Corporation and its subsidiary International Fair and Exhibition Service, and Vietnam’s National Agency for Science and Technology Information.
Vietnam-Singapore Business Forum 2013
Vietnamese and Singaporean businesses are discussing the possibility of cooperation in finance, property, medical services, tourism, and logistics, at a joint forum in HCM City from April 17-19.
Leading experts, lawmakers and business leaders will present opinions on investment and business opportunities to assist the two business circles to seek out new partnerships.
A range of activities are taking place within the framework of Vietnam-Singapore Business Forum (VSBF) 2013, such as an exhibition and fact-finding tours of industrial zones and hospitals in the southern region.
SBF Director Ho Meng Kit said VSBF 2013 serves as an important bridge for business communities to strengthen their partnerships.
Currently, Vietnam and Singapore enjoy special benefits as a result of bilateral trade agreements. The ninth Vietnam-Singapore Ministerial Meeting on Connectivity, which opened in HCM City on April 16, also helps to intensify cooperation in the private and public sectors.
In addition, a strategic partnership agreement, which is expected to be signed this year, will open new partnership opportunities and boost bilateral economic cooperation.
VSBF 2013 aims to help the Singaporean businesses stay abreast of Vietnam’s macro-economy and investment policies.
The forum, being held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), is part of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Singapore diplomatic ties.
US supports Vietnamese businesses
A US-funded project to help connect and support Vietnamese small-and-medium sized businesses was launched in Hanoi and HCM City on April 17.
The project will run until January 3, 2014 under the auspices of the Embassy of the United States in Vietnam.
It is one of just 36 projects around the world that was selected for funding by the US Department of State, after careful consideration of more than 700 applications registered worldwide.
It will be carried out by lecturers and students from the Fulbright and Humphrey Scholarship Programs, and the International Visitor Leadership Program.
It will target young entrepreneurs who are facing difficulties in starting up their business. The project will create opportunities for young leaders to meet, exchange and learn from each other through consulting methods imparted from the advisory board.
In Hanoi, the advisory board includes economic experts, company directors and corporate board members who will be on hand to consult with the 30 young business operators over a six month period.
The project for the northern region will be held later in the year. It will take enrollments from April 17 to June 10, 2013, at their website www.smevietnam.org.
President Place, a grade-A office building focusing on green merits in HCMC, was officially opened on Wednesday.
Located at 93 Nguyen Du Street in District 1, President Place covers an area of 11,500 square meters, with 13 floors and three basements. The building utilizes environmentally-friendly material and a Building Management System (BMS) for monitoring the operational status of all systems including air conditioning, water supply and lighting.
Low energy-loss glass is selected to minimize warming by sunlight and lower energy loss, and efficient clean water systems are designed to treat and reuse wastewater where possible. Not only do these design aspects minimize the impact on the environment, they also result in reduction of operating costs for tenants.
“With the concept of bringing green aspects into the design of President Place, we believe that we are on the right track among several other businesses in Vietnam by focusing more on environment matters along the way we’re doing business,” said David Clarkin, general director of President Place Saigon LLC.
President Place is invested by President Place Saigon LLC, and developed and managed by Sakkara Asia Pacific Project Holdings and Investment Real Estate JSC. Tenants of the office building are prestigious names like Schindler, Diageo, Microsoft, HiringBoss, Canon and PENM Partners, of which Schindler was the first customer leasing its space from late September 2012.
President Place is the first building in HCMC to be awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environment Design) Golden Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
GIVI opens first showroom in Vietnam
Italy-invested GIVI Vietnam Co., Ltd. on Thursday launched its first showroom in Vietnam located at 480 Nguyen Chi Thanh Street in HCMC’s District 10, showcasing a wide-ranging collection for bikers.
The showroom GIVI Point HCMC puts on display functional and aesthetically pleasing products as well as safety products manufactured locally and imported from both Malaysia and Italy including luggage boxes, rain suits, air masks, and safety vests.
The company said GIVI Point is a showcase center not only for motorcyclists but also GIVI Vietnam’s dealers network. Apart from being a selling and viewing point, GIVI Point HCMC will set an example and will also educate the dealers in selling and presenting the GIVI products.
On Hai Swee, managing director of GIVI Asia Sdn Bhd, said, “We hope that with the opening of GIVI Point in HCMC, motorcyclists will not only see it as a sales outlet where they can view our range of products but also a place where they can gather with fellow motorcyclists.”
The company has a factory in Long An Province’s Tan Duc Industrial Park.
Vinacomin to transfer stake in insurance firm
Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, or Vinacomin, has plans to offer five million shares in Vietnam Aviation Insurance Joint Stock Company on April 18 as part of its plans to pull out from non-core business.
In a statement released on Thursday, Vinacomin said it would sell five million shares at the starting price of VND11,000 each.
Established in 2008, the insurer with a charter capital of VND500 billion provides a wide range of non-life insurance products. Vinacomin is among five founding members of the company.
According to the insurer’s financial statement, the enterprise obtained nearly VND62 billion in pre-tax profits in 2012.
Vinacomin under its restructuring plan approved by the Government for the 2012-2015 period would divest all of its holdings in nine companies, including this insurance firms. The others are SHB-Vinacomin Insurance Joint Stock Corporation, Vinacomin Finance Company, Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Bank, Vinacomin Infrastructure and Housing Development Company, BIDV-Vietnam Partners Investment Management Company, Saigon-Hanoi Securities Company, Hai Ha Economic Zone Investment and Development Joint Stock Company, and Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company.
Last October, Vinacomin held an auction for over 5.9 million shares it owned in SHB-Vinacomin Insurance Company. The plan then failed as only one investor joined the bidding.
Banks say credit growth quotas not an issue of interest
Local banks do not attach much importance to the maximum credit growth rates the central bank has just allocated to each lender, saying that these quotas do not make sense as demand of the economy is too weak now.
An official of the central bank said this year’s credit growth quotas have been granted following performance of banks, of which financial safety criteria are the top priority.
Lenders that have been put on the restructuring plan are not allowed to increase credits this year or are added in the group with a low credit growth quota. Banks classification has been conducted by inspectors and supervisors of the central bank.
Pham Huy Thong, deputy general director of Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank), which has been allocated with the highest credit growth quota of 13% this year, said that VietinBank will sell 20% stake to its foreign strategic partners to increase charter capital to VND32.6 trillion this year.
This deal is one of reasons why VietinBank has received the higher quota than other banks. The lender has also posted up positive credit growths over the past years, Thong said.
VietinBank earlier has provided large loans to State-owned giants in the fields of electricity, oil and gas, post and telecom. This year, the bank will focus on small and medium-sized enterprises to diversify customers and increase revenues.
Higher charter capital will also enable the bank to raise outstanding loans given the requirement of the total debt to equity ratio.
However, problems of the economy such as high stockpiles and bad debts are obstructing banks from giving more loans.
Nguyen Phuoc Thanh, general director of Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), which is granted with a 12% growth quota, said that good lending rate policies still fail to secure credit growth rates.
Banks will face many challenges in finding out borrowers in the current context. Producers cannot sell their goods while the Government has also tightened public investments, so the demand for capital will be low.
To support credit growth, the Government should continue expanding unfinished projects to create more jobs and stimulate economic development, Thanh said.
Vietcombank, awash with the low-cost capital, is able to reduce its lending rates to around 8-9% per annum, which are below the average level of the market. However, this move is unlikely to work as the market has no demand for credits.
Thanh said credit growth classification is necessary but the central bank should not impose strict limit on strong banks. The important thing is to prevent credits from running into ineffective sectors.
Trinh Van Tuan, chairman of Orient Commercial Bank, said that the bank has been allocated with a credit growth quota of 11%. The bank will strive to speed up loans this year after posting a modest rise in credit growth in the first quarter.
Tuan also said that the central bank should not limit credit growth of healthy banks listed in groups 1 and 2. The quotas should only be imposed on weak banks to secure safeness of those banks and the entire banking system.
Standard Chartered lends Simexco US$24 million
Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam (SCB) has just signed a credit agreement with coffee exporting firm Simexco Daklak for a loan worth US$24 million to serve as working capital.
Cooperating with coffee enterprises is a new activity of SCB as the local coffee industry in the last two decades has achieved staggering developments and became one of the key export products of Vietnam, Louis Taylor, general director of the bank, said.
Thanks to SCB’s loan, Simexco is able to store coffee with competitive expenses and make deliveries in line with processors’ requirements. “The credit will enable our company to achieve the export revenue as targeted,” Le Duc Thong, general director of Simexco, said in a statement.
HCM City eyes economic growth of 9.5-10%
The economic growth of HCMC will average out at between 9.5% and 10% in 2011-2015 and the city will continue to keep the same economic growth target in the 2016-2020 period, said the city’s chairman.
The city’s economic growth reached 9.7% annually from 2011 to 2012, Chairman Le Hoang Quan said on Thursday at the 13th session of the municipal Party Standing Committee. The city is looking to achieve an economic growth of 9.5% or higher in 2013, he noted.
With an annual economic growth target of 12% set for 2013-2015 in line with the Party committee’s resolution at the 9th congress, the city needs to obtain an average economic growth of 13.56% a year, seen as a tough job given the current economic difficulties.
“Therefore, setting economic growth of 9.5-10% for the city in 2011-2015 is seen suitable, and the target ensures the city’s economic growth will be 1.5 times higher than the national average,” Chairman Quan remarked.
As such, HCMC needs to achieve economic growth ranging between 9.36% and 10.2% annually from now until 2015, which is appropriate with the present conditions.
The city’s economic structure will lean more toward services, with the services sector making up 53.75-54.8% of the total GDP, the industrial production and construction sector 44.24-45.27%, and agriculture 0.96-0.98% by 2015, Quan said.
The city by 2020 will make efforts to have the services industry accounting for 53.94-56%, the industrial production and construction sector 43.23-45.26%, and the agricultural sector 0.76-0.79%, he added.
Dairy producers boost investment in farms
Dairy producers now attach great importance to expansion of dairy cow farms and cooperation with farmers, seeing this as a strategy for material source development.
Vietnam Dairy Products Co. (Vinamilk) late this month will open two large factories, so the company is seeking ways to expand its material zone.
Vinamilk currently has five dairy cow farms and will set up three more in the coming time. Since the 1990s, the company has been joining hands with dairy cow farmers.
Now, Vinamilk every day collects about 500 tons of milk from its own farms and from farmers. Such a volume will meet only half of the capacity of the new factory to be inaugurated late this month, said Mai Kieu Lien, general director of Vinamilk.
At present, Vinamilk has over 8,500 dairy cows, in which 4,300 are yielding milk with a daily output of more than 90 tons.
In 2012, Vinamilk collected over 161,000 tons of milk, up 12.24% over the year before, including 141,000 tons bought from farmers.
The company is looking for land to expand its material zone, said Lien.
TH Milk has made great investment in dairy cow farms. The company now has 30,000 hectares of farms with more than 20,000 dairy cows, said Tran Bao Minh, former deputy general director of TH Milk.
The number of dairy cows may reach 100,000 in the future.
Minh, who now serves as managing director of International Dairy Products Co. (IDP), said his company was boosting investment in material zones.
IDP will spend VND600 billion providing farmers with breeds and technical supports, with a pledge to buy all milk from them at good price. Currently, the company has about 10,000 dairy cows and is looking to increase this herd.
IDP will continue to give aids to farmers so that they will be able to raise 7-10 dairy cows each household instead of three.
FrieslandCampina also has its plan for development of dairy cow farms in Vietnam.
Experts said it is very costly to expand fresh milk material zones. Dairy cow farms often require large pieces of land and heavy investment in technology.
Currently, the majority of dairy cow farms are located in the northern region, where dairy cows produce muck milk during winter but the demand is low. Even so, dairy producers have to buy milk frequently because fresh milk if not collected within 24 hours cannot be used anymore.
Despite the heavy costs, dairy companies must invest in dairy cow farms as it is a long-term strategy.
The global demand for dairy products is surging, but supply does not rise significantly, leading to material price hikes, dealing a hard blow to local producers.
“In the long run, those who are independent of material sources will win,” said Minh.
Commodity exchanges call for help
Commodity exchanges want the authorities to take more positive actions to deal with the gloomy trade situation.
Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Exchange Center (BCEC) began operation in December 2008 and now it has quite adequate facilities, equipment, regulations and business processes. However, BCEC Director Vo Thanh Chau said the business results of spot and forward trading were not as good as desired.
For spot trading, since the 2009-2010 crop, the amount of coffee brought to the center for deposit and transaction has been only over 1,000 tons. Meanwhile, forward transactions have been mainly made among brokers, said Chau at a workshop on development of farm produce exchanges in Vietnam held this Wednesday in HCMC.
At several previous workshops, leaders of BCEC constantly suggested management agencies like Daklak’s government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the central bank create a legal framework and support programs to lure participants into commodity exchanges.
He said BCEC, as well as other commodity exchanges, is in need of market makers, or individuals and companies with financial capacity to lead the commodity trading market.
Tran Luong Thanh Tung, director of CFE Commodity Exchange Company, deemed the poor liquidity in the commodity trading market as the greatest barrier to participants, especially financial investors.
“This is a chicken-and-egg problem. Without investors, liquidity will not improve, and if liquidity is not good, financial investors will not participate in transactions,” he said.
To create the necessary liquidity, “there must be a big push, not by coffee growers, import-export firms and financial investors, but by State agencies,” he said.
Tran Thanh Hai, general director of Vietnam Gold Investment and Trading Corporation, said so far there had been only three types of commodity exchanges, namely trading floors by bullion traders, securities floors, and the farm produce exchange.
Such exchanges have done nothing to support the items they are trading like coffee and rubber. Prices of these items are still pushed down and not connected to the world market.
Hai suggested organizing commodity exchanges in two forms: public-private partnership (PPP) and equitization to provide commodity exchanges with more resources. A more important task is to attract local and foreign traders, who are members of large exchanges abroad.
“Representatives of Singapore Commodity Exchange (SICOM) often come to Vietnam and invite commercial banks and large businesses to become SICOM members to increase liquidity,” he said.
Textile, garment to have more local materials
Local textile and garment enterprises expect the localization rate of the industry to amount to 60-70% in the next three to five years compared to the current rate of almost 38%, said Hoang Ve Dung, Deputy General Director of Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex).
According to Dung, if textile and garment enterprises want to increase the value of exporting products, the capability of supplying materials and accessories is very important as there are more and more foreign customers wanting to have the accessory supply produced locally.
He was speaking at a press meeting at the 24th international expo on textile, garment and accessories 2013 (SaigonTex 2013) which is taking place at Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Center until Sunday.
This year’s expo is a good chance for enterprises to find the supply of machinery and accessories for the textile-garment industry as there are up to 357 enterprises coming from 22 countries displaying their products, according to the organizers.
China has the highest number of participating enterprises with 160 units.
Although textile and garment enterprises are encountering many difficulties like increasing wage and costs of electricity, water and materials, declining product price, several enterprises have signed exporting contracts enough for production until September.
Dung said that the industry grew by nearly 17% year-on-year in the first quarter with the export turnover amounting to around US$4.2 billion. This is a good signal for the industry to achieve US$18.8-19.2 billion in export turnover for the whole year.
In the first quarter, the volume of textile and garment products exported to big markets increased, with over US$300 million recorded in Japan and Europe each and US$1.3 billion in the U.S.
In addition to traditional markets, Vietnam will boost exports to new markets such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, South Korea and African countries.
HCM City enjoys positive Q1
In the first quarter of the year, HCM City's GDP growth reached 7.6 per cent, while the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell, according to the HCM City Party Committee.
The city's price stabilisation programme had helped lower the city's CPI, according to a report from the municipal People's Committee, delivered by deputy chairman Hua Ngoc Thuan at a conference held in the city on Thursday.
In the first quarter, the city attained export growth of 12.8 per cent and import growth of 7.8 per cent. Sharp increases in exports were recorded, including computers and electronic products (86 per cent) and textiles and garments (26 per cent).
Revenues in the service sector rose by 8.3 per cent and the industrial and construction sectors by 6.8 per cent, compared with the same period last year.
Capital mobilised by commercial banks was estimated at nearly VND1,018 trillion (US$48.5 billion), up by 2.5 per cent compared with late 2012, including foreign currrencies equivalent to VND175.1 trillion (nearly $8.4 billion), according to Thuan.
The People's Committee has mapped out 10 major tasks to reach its targets this year.
These include measures on social welfare, efforts to help businesses solve inventories and bad debts, and policies to help the property sector resolve its problems.
In addition, the city will collaborate with the State Bank of Viet Nam to settle interest rate issues for the sectors of agriculture and rural development; manufacturing of exported goods and exporters; support industries; small- and medium-sized enterprises and businesses in hi-tech industries.
"We are building HCM City into a civilised and modern city which takes the lead in the country's industrialisation and modernisation, contributing more and more to the development of the region and the nation," said Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the People's Committee.
"We are turning it into an economic, financial, commercial, scientific and technological centre of the nation and the Southeast Asian region, helping to make Viet Nam an industrialised country by 2020," he added.
Quan said the city would try to attain annual GDP growth rates of 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent in the first stage (2011 - 15); similar rates for the second stage (2016 - 20); and GDP growth rates of 8.5-9 per cent in the third stage (2021 - 25).
The city has targeted raising per capita income from $4,747 to $4,865 by 2015; $8,240 to $8,624 in 2020; and $13,040 to $13,965 by 2025.
Per capita income of HCM City residents in the 2011 - 20 period are expected to be 1.5 times higher than that of the entire country.
By 2025, HCM City is expected to have a population of 10 million.
To reach these targets, HCM City must realise eight major tasks and mobilise all sources of to develop high-quality human resources and science and technology.
Other aims include protecting resources and the environment, enhancing cooperation with other localities, promoting relationships with other countries and improving the efficiency of State management.
Industrial park builds social housing
Construction on the first social housing project in the southern province of Dong Nai has begun in Nhon Trach Industrial Park.
Work on the apartments, parks, private roads and public facilities, started last week, is expected to be completed in eight years.
The Viet Nam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (IDICO) under the Construction Ministry invested VND758 billion (US$36.3 million) in the project.
The 100,000sq.m complex will have 27 five-storey buildings with a total of 3,491 apartments for employees at the industrial park.
Each apartment, with an area of 30 – 65sq.m, will offer affordable prices. A 36sq.m apartment will sell for about VND180 million ($8,600).
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Construction Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said a large number of workers at industrial parks faced a lack of housing.
Two million workers are employed at industrial parks but only 20 per cent of them have housing.
IDICO, which manages 17 industrial parks with hundreds of workers, targets building more than 20,000 apartments in the provinces of Dong Nai, Long An, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and HCM City by 2020.
By 2015, the country is expected to have 6.2 million labourers working in industrial parks, and 7.2 million by 2020.
Investors have shown little interest in social-housing projects because of low profits, according to Dung.
To address the issue, a decree from the Ministry of Construction will be submitted to the Government to propose incentives for businesses to develop social housing.
Dinh Quoc Thai, chairman of Dong Nai Province People's Committee, said this was the first project under a programme to develop housing for low-income residents in the province.
The province, which has more than 400,000 workers, plans to build 40,000 apartments for workers by 2015.
The social-housing project will be a model for others expected to be developed soon.
Nguyen Van Dat, director of IDICO, said a housing fund would be set up for workers in Nhon Trach Industrial Park. This would also help the province attract investment.
Ornamental-fish sector revises business strategy
With an annual growth rate of 20 per cent in recent years, the ornamental-fish industry in HCM City last year earned US$15 million in export revenue, far from the city's target of US$40 million set for 2015.
The industry is believed to have the potential to outstrip other agricultural sectors in revenue, but the lack of sufficient infrastructure and high added value has hindered its progress.
Industry insiders said that to ensure sustainable development and higher export value, localities should have long-term strategies that can create large areas specialising in production of ornamental fish.
Vuong Phuoc Trung, deputy director of the city's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city had outlined an ornamental fish development programme for the 2011-15 period.
"Under this scheme, we will keep ornamental-fish establishments in inner-city districts and outlying districts such as districts 8, 9, 12 and Go Vap," Trung said.
"This will be done in the rural districts of Cu Chi and Binh Chanh under a modern model," he added. "We will also build an area specialising in the development of new ornamental fish species in the Cu Chi Agricultural Hi-Tech Park."
With this plan, the city expects to produce 100 million ornamental fish by 2015, with 20-30 million of that figure to be exported, doubling the current amount.
All establishments will be upgraded so they can qualify to export products to the EU and the US.
In 2004, the HCM City People's Committee chose ornamental-fish cultivation to be a key component of its plan to restructure crop and livestock production to 2025.
However, many companies are still operating on a small scale, with poor infrastructure that does not protect fish from disease. In addition, few companies are actively developing new species of fish.
As a result, product quality has been uneven, and some producers cannot provide high-value orders to buyers, particularly in American and European markets.
The Ba Sanh Ornamental Fish Company is one of HCM City's three establishments qualified to export to American and EU markets.
Owner Vo Van Sanh said the company's export value in these two markets had fallen by US$300,000 annually in recent years.
"We have found many ways to return to these outlets, but the results have not been very positive," he said.
Vietnamese ornamental fish are exported to 32 countries, mainly in Western Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific markets.
HCM City is a major centre for breeding ornamental fish, accounting for 50 per cent of the country's ornamental-fish export earnings, according to the city's Center for Agricultural Consultancy and Support.
The city has bred many species, both foreign and local, and has established many feed mills that have contributed to the growth of the industry. Sources of feed are abundant in the city's waterways and soil.
According to the city's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 283 companies are involved in raising or trading ornamental fish.
In HCM City, Sai Gon Aquarium, Hai Thanh company and Chau Tong are the three major significant ornamental-fish companies.
Exports rise to robust $30bn in first quarter
Despite the continuing difficulties in the domestic and overseas markets, Viet Nam's exports were robust in the first quarter, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
In the period export revenues topped US$29.69 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.7 per cent.
Speaking at a meeting in HCM City last Friday to review the export performance, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said most key export items saw growth.
Ten items, including seafood; coffee; footwear; and computers, mobile phones, and their parts, achieved exports of more than $1 billion, he said.
Export of fuel and minerals was down while that of processed industrial goods was up.
The former was worth $2.6 billion, accounting for 8.8 per cent of exports and down 1.7 per cent year-on-year.
Exports of industrial goods were worth $20.4 billion, accounting for 75.8 per cent of the total and up 30 per cent.
Exports of farm and forestry produce and seafood topped $4.7 billion, or 15.9 per cent of total exports, with many agricultural goods like rice, cashew, and seafood seeing an increase in volume but a drop in value due to a fall in prices.
Domestic firms saw their exports double but foreign companies remained key players, accounting for 58.5 per cent of export revenues.
Asia, the EU, and the US were the key markets for Vietnamese goods.
The deputy minister and other participants agreed that exporters would continue to face difficulties for some time yet.
Most key export markets had their own problems – like the EU's debt crisis and slow economic growth in many other countries.
"Importing countries increasingly apply trade barriers, causing even more difficulties for Vietnamese firms that were already suffering due to fierce competition from foreign rivals," he said.
He cited the examples of some Southeast Asian countries that try to keep out Vietnamese steel products, South American nations that act against leather shoes, and the US, which slaps punitive tariffs on shrimp.
At home, the companies face challenges like sluggish demand and smuggled and fake goods, he said.
Many delegates pointed out that bank credit remains expensive compared to other countries despite the recent reduction in interest rates, affecting the competitiveness of Vietnamese businesses.
To meet the year's targeted export growth of 10 per cent, Anh said his ministry would work to resolve the hardships faced by enterprises so that export growth could be maintained.
"The ministry will accelerate negotiation for free trade agreements with major economic partners around the world to bring more export advantages to industries like garment and textiles, footwear, processing, and manufacturing."
It would improve the flow of market information to help businesses make plans to penetrate key export markets.
Le Phuoc Vu, representative of the Viet Nam Steel Association, urged the ministry to quickly come out with industrial standards and technical barriers to prevent sub-standard goods from entering the Vietnamese market.
The director of the city Department of Industry and Trade, Huynh Khanh Hiep, called on the ministry to help firms in the city's export processing zones and industrial parks take part in the country's trade promotion programmes.
Many business associations called on the Government to reschedule their loans to help them tide over the current difficulty.
They also urged relevant agencies to strengthen oversight of transfer pricing by foreign firms to avoid tax losses and ensure a fair business environment.
US businesses support Vietnam’s TPP agreement negotiations
US businesses have voiced their support for Vietnam’s efforts in promoting negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement between Vietnam and other countries, including the US.
They made the pledge while working with Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Cuong during his recent visit to Kentucky and Ohio states in the framework of TPP agreement negotiations held by the US Business Coalition.
Ambassador Cuong expressed hope that the early signing of the TPP agreement will help speed up Vietnam’s economic restructuring and growth in a sustainable manner and create more favourable conditions for its exports to TPP partners.
Local authorities and businesses in Kentucky and Ohio states expressed their keen interest in the Vietnamese market, saying that they are seeking measures to boost economic and trade relations with Vietnam.
A representative from UPS, which earns over US$50 billion in revenue annually, spoke highly of the Vietnamese Government’s decision to grant business license for the company to establish a wholly foreign invested firm operating in the express delivery sector in Vietnam.
A leader of General Electric (GE) which boasts US$147 billion in annual revenue revealed the company’s plan to expand its operation in Vietnam, with a focus on the infrastructure development industry.
A representative from Proctor&Gamble with an annual revenue of US$84 billion said his firm will expand operations in Vietnam in the near future.
On this occasion, Ambassador Cuong granted interviews to media workers in Dallas and Houston cities on bilateral economic ties between Vietnam and the US.
Foreign investment up 109 pct in HCM City
HCM City’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the first quarter of the year rose 109 percent year on year, showing investors’ growing confidence in the local economy.
According to the city's Department of Planning and Investment, 78 FDI projects with a total investment of nearly US$160 million were licensed in the past three months.
The profitable operation of companies in the city's Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks, especially foreign-invested enterprises, is behind the rising investment trend, said Nguyen Tan Dinh, deputy head of the HCM City Export Processing Zone Authority (HEPZA).
This year, Dinh said that HEPZA will take measures to attract even more investment to the city's EPZ and IPs.
Focus will be on hi-tech industries that have high added value: mechanics, electronics/information technology, chemicals, and food and foodstuff processing.
In addition, the city will map out a plan to build an industrial area for support industries within the Dong Nam Industrial Park, and is seeking Japanese investment for infrastructure construction.
Promotion campaigns in other countries will also be held to attract investment to local IPs.
The HCM City Trade and Investment Promotion Centre, the Department of Planning and Investment, and the IP and EPZ Infrastructure Development Company will organise investment promotions in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the US and Canada.
According to HEPZA, the city's EPZs and IPs in the first quarter mobilised a total investment of US$144.5 million, up by 21.4 percent compared with the same period last year. Of the total, US$122.65 million was worth of FDI capital.
Japan consumes more Vietnamese tra fish
The export volume of Vietnamese tra fish to the Japanese market has risen considerably since March, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP).
The VASEP said there has been an increasing demand for Vietnamese tra fish in Japan and, from January 1 to March 15, tra fish export earnings to this market hit more than US$535,000, up 2.76 percent over the same period last year.
At the recent 38th International Food and Beverage Exhibition, FOODEX Japan 2013, Vietnamese tra fish drew a lot of attention from Japanese consumers, who were also keen on frozen fillets.
Last year, Vietnam exported 24,930 tonnes of frozen fillets to Japan, ranking seventh among the largest exporters sending the product to the Northeast Asian country.
However, the quality of Vietnamese seafood should be improved to secure a firm foothold in the demanding Japanese market, which requires the development of sustainable aquaculture and clear labeling of product origin.
Trade with Switzerland grows 11 percent
Two-way trade between Vietnam and Switzerland rose 11 percent year on year, reaching 167 million USD during the first two months of this year, said Luong Manh Hung, Trade Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in Switzerland.
During the period, Vietnam exported 122 million USD worth of goods to Switzerland, 14 percent more than last year, while its imports hit 45 million USD, an increase of 45 percent.
Export turnover for machines and electrical equipment also boomed. This revealed a major structural shift in Vietnam’s exports, Hung said, since the Asian country previously exported mostly gold to Switzerland.
Vietnamese enterprises needed to improve their understanding of Swiss quality standards and sharpen their products’ competitiveness in order to boost exports, he said, explaining that the European country with a small population of eight million enforces strict quality requirements.
Organising trips for Swiss enterprises to come to Vietnam to seek business opportunities is a major priority for the trade office, according to Hung.
The office plans to join hands with the Asian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce to bring 15-20 small and medium sized Swiss enterprises to Vietnam to explore the market this year.-
Build-transfer projects in Hanoi remain stagnant
A number of build-transfer (BT) projects in Hanoi are incurring lots of problems and need re-planning due to capital shortage or site clearance issues.
The municipal Department of Planning and Investment said the capital has caused delays to 63 BT projects. Of the total, 12 projects are underway, 20 have selected investors, 25 got approval from the prime minister but yet to find investors and six have good chances for their proposals.
To date, only five projects have been completed, of which four have been put in operation since October 2010, including the Hanoi Museum, Tri Thuc or Intelligentsia Palace, Bac Ha Dong Road and extended Le Van Luong Road. Yen So Wastewater Treatment Plant was completed last year and should be handed over to local authorities soon.
Of those five completed projects, only the Intelligentsia Palace has completed the auditing.
Among seven projects that have signed construction contracts, five have started building. Due to slow site clearance, construction of several projects has been stagnant including Bac-Nam road route in Ha Tay, Le Duc Tho – Xuan Phuong road route, and the Do Xa – Quan Son road.
The department said total investment of some of such projects would have to be adjusted or some provisions of the contracts may have to be changed to accelerate the construction.
The department attributed the stagnant construction to the impact of the economic downturn, hindering capital mobilisation.
The slump in the real estate market has also affected the construction of new urban areas and apartment buildings, impeding the implementation of such BT infrastructure projects.
Urban and satellite planning have yet to be approved, which hindered the scope of several BT projects, the department noted.
The lack of cooperation between contract management agencies and investors as well as slow site clearance has also affected the construction process of these projects.
The department proposed that the municipal government to require the contract management agencies of five completed projects to speed up the completion of a balance sheet.
Singapore Airlines launches big discounts
Singapore Airlines Office in Vietnam has cooperated with nine sales agents to offer a promotional program from Monday to Thursday, with a 30pct discount for business-class seats and up to 70pct for economy-class ones for flights to Singapore and many other destinations.
Singapore Airlines Office in Vietnam has cooperated with nine sales agents to offer a promotional program from Monday to Thursday, with a 30pct discount for business-class seats and up to 70pct for economy-class ones for flights to Singapore and many other destinations.
As such, economy-class tickets for air services to Singapore are on offer from VND4.2 million each, while that to Japan is from VND13.3 million and Australia from VND18.9 million. Air tickets for routes to Europe and U.S. are from VND19.9 million and VND24 million respectively.
Discount tickets are available at five sales agents in HCMC, namely AST Travel at 63 Tran Quoc Thao Street in District 3, Blue Sky Travel at 16 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Hong Ngoc Ha at 187 Le Thanh Ton Street, Phat Thanh Giang at 76 Ngo Duc Ke Street and TransViet at 170-172 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 1.
Four sales agents in Hanoi are also involved in the promotion. They are Esperantour at 112A Hai Ba Trung Street in Hoan Kiem District, FC at 149 Ton Duc Thang Street, Nam Thanh at 51 Dao Duy Tu Street and TransViet Travel at 9 Dao Duy Anh Street.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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