DLG teams up with German group for power supply

Duc Long Gia Lai Group (DLG) and German group Merica inked a comprehensive cooperation deal on Wednesday to supply power on Con Dao Island and in other parts of Vietnam.

The agreement signing was witnessed by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung as part of Dung’s visit to Belgium, Germany, the European Union and Italy from October 12 to 18.

Both sides will cooperate in investment, production and supply of power on Con Dao and in mainland Vietnam. Currently, Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) has diesel-fueled generators on the island off the coast of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province but its output meets only 30% of demand, so power prices are high.

The project is expected to meet power demand for local enterprises and households, generate more jobs for residents and fuel economic growth on the island.

This is part of DLG’s strategy to focus on agriculture, energy and infrastructure. Earlier, the group announced a plan to invest VND11 trillion in cow farming and cultivation.

Merica provides economic solutions for energy, agriculture, forestry sectors, and is present in Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Hawaii.

Vicofa urges coffee retention

The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa) said it will seek the Government’s approval to temporarily stock up on 200,000 tons of coffee from this 2014-2015 crop to shore up prices.

Chairman of Vicofa Luong Van Tu told the Daily that it takes around two months to harvest coffee of each crop, and that farmers tend to sell their beans right after harvest to cover the costs spent on fertilizer and others, causing the prices to fall. Therefore, the retention scheme will help keep prices from falling.

This is not the first time Vicofa asks for permission for a temporary storage of coffee but in recent years, the association has failed to get the Government’s nod.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam exported 1.35 million tons of coffee worth US$2.81 billion in the first nine months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 32% in volume and 28% in value.

The average coffee export price of Vietnam in January-August fell 3.6% against the same period last year to US$2,068 per ton.

Vietnam’s coffee now accounts for 15% of global output while its commercial coffee volume represents 17% of the world market. For robusta coffee only, the country holds 40% market share, said the International Coffee Organization (ICO).

Coffee prices in the Central Highlands ranged around VND41,000-41,200 per kilo on October 16, rising VND200 per kilo against the previous day.

Gov’t backs rice branding project

The Government has thrown its support behind a project to build a rice brand for Vietnam and requested relevant authorities to work it out, the Government web portal chinhphu.vn reports.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said the rice brand development project is necessary as it requires synchronous solutions in production, processing and export of Vietnamese rice, which will help improve the image of the country’s rice products on the global market.

The move will also help raise the product value, expand the rice export market and boost the restructuring process of the paddy sector towards higher efficiency and sustainability, the Government office said in an announcement referring to Hai’s opinions.

Hai asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with relevant ministries, the Vietnam Food Association, rice growing localities and rice exporters to keep studying and completing the project.

The initial stage of the project will be carried out in the Mekong Delta, the country’s largest rice basket.

The project should be developed in line with the market demand and the country’s production capacity and potential to enter deeper into the world rice market in the coming time.

In addition, there should be policies to encourage and support localities and enterprises to join hands in the project, said the deputy prime minister.

The agriculture ministry is ordered to finish the project and report to the Government this December.

BIDV inks deals with Japanese banks

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has struck memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Minato Bank and Bank of Yokohama (BOY) to support Japanese customers’ plans to expand their Vietnam operations.

These agreements enable the two foreign banks to help their clients gain easy access to information about the investment environment, regulations and tariffs among others when they look for business opportunities in this Southeast Asian market.

Minato Bank and BOY will join forces with BIDV to offer a wide range of services related to payment, foreign exchange, trade, credit and merger and acquisition (M&A) for Japanese customers.

Previously, BIDV opened two offices called Japan Desk in Hanoi and HCMC to provide banking services with information in Japanese for its customers.

BIDV has clinched cooperation agreements with 17 Japanese financial institutions, including SuMi TRUST Bank, Chiba Bank and Shinkin Bank to serve Japanese clients operating in Vietnam.

HCM City seeks special mechanism to finance metro projects

The HCMC government has proposed the Government grant a special mechanism for the city to mobilize funds its metro developments as sufficient capital has not been found for several metro lines.

At a meeting with National Assembly (NA) deputies of HCMC on October 16, HCMC vice chairman Hua Ngoc Thuan said the city is looking for the Government’s assistance in official development assistance (ODA) loans and other investment sources for metro projects.

Thuan did not elaborate on a specific mechanism for HCMC but said the city is finding finances for metro lines No. 3a, No. 3b, No. 4 and No. 6.

According to Thuan, Metro Line No. 1 stretching 18.1 kilometers long from Ben Thanh Market to Suoi Tien Theme Park in District 9 is under construction and scheduled to be put into service in late 2017 or early 2018.

The implementation of Metro Line No. 2 is slower than initial schedule as its design has to be adjusted. Under the initial plan, this track will be completed in 2017 and officially used in late 2018, but the HCMC government now expects this project will get off the ground next year and be put into operation in 2019.

In August 2010, work started on some components of Metro Line No. 2 like ground leveling, fence erection and technical maintenance center. The nearly-20-kilometer track is divided into two sections, with the first one being 11.3 kilometers long and going through districts 1, 3, 10, 12, Tan Binh and Tan Phu. The entire line worth over US$1.3 billion consists of 11 underground and elevated stations.

Agri-aqua-forestry exports could reach US$30 bil.

Vietnam’s export revenues of agri-aqua-forestry products in the January-September period rose by 11.4% year-on-year to US$22.7 billion, and are forecast to reach US$30 billion for the whole year.

To realize the target, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said the ministry and enterprises in the sector are striving to enhance product quality and meet standards required by major export markets.

Phat told a conference in Hanoi on Wednesday that local agricultural enterprises have almost secured material supply for their processing of agri-aqua-forestry products for export.

However, the minister pointed out a number of challenges for private firms to improve their competitiveness and that contribution of agricultural enterprises in general to the nation’s economy is still lower than expected.

Currently, private companies make up only 7.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the agri-aqua-forestry sector and 12% of the country’s GDP.

Figures of the General Statistics Office showed there were less than 3,520 agri-aqua-forestry startups nationwide as of the end of 2012, accounting for a mere 1.6% of the total number in the country.

Last year, some 1,020 agri-aqua-forestry firms were established, down 1.4% against the previous year. However, as many as 1,332 enterprises in the sector were dissolved or suspended operations in the same year.

At the meeting, the minister told agencies to do what they can to remove difficulties related to policies to support operations of agricultural enterprises.

“What we do is to help enterprises sustain growth and support the development of the economy in general and the sector in particular,” Phat said.

‘Buy Vietnamese’ drive pays off

The campaign to promote Vietnamese goods at home has brought about robust results, as over 90% of consumers in Hanoi and HCMC say that they are aware of such efforts and nearly three-quarters assert priority for home-made goods.

Findings from a survey conducted by the Information and Education Commission of the HCMC Party Committee show that 96% of respondents said they are interested in the “Buy Vietnamese” campaign.

The findings were released at a meeting held in HCMC on October 16 to review five years of the campaign.

A similar survey conducted by the Party Central Committee’s Information and Education Commission made public in Hanoi last week also show that 92% of respondents are interested in the campaign.

The seminar here on October 16 also gave an insight into local consumers’ shopping behaviors.

Up to 73.43% of respondents in HCMC said that “when shopping, home-made goods take the top priority in their lists.”

Up to 62.8% of respondents said they also advise relatives and friends to buy Vietnamese goods, while 28.15% said they have relinquished the previous habits of buying imported products when local goods of same categories are available.

Up to 85.8% of the polled consumers said they purchased home-made household appliances compared to the rate of just over 50% in 2009.

More favorite local items, according to the survey, are farm produce (76.46%), apparel products (74.58%), foods (74.08%), milk (47.17%), toys and learning tools for children (43.4%).

The HCMC Department of Industry and Trade in a report given at the meeting said that Vietnamese commodities accounted for 80% at traditional wet markets as of August this year, while that rate rose to 90%-95% at supermarkets and convenience stores.

The consumers’ awareness about the campaign and their priority for domestic goods in HCMC are better than in Hanoi.

The survey conducted in July by the Party Central Committee’s Information and Education Commission shows that 92% of respondents said they are interested in the campaign. Some 63% said they prioritized local goods, while 54% advised relatives and friends to do so.

Le Dang Doanh, an economist formerly serving as head of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said data from the surveys are very encouraging.

However, he warned of complacency, and said there should be a closer look at the people surveyed to see whether they are widely representative as well as their purchasing power.

“There could be cases of a moneyed consumer buying an (imported) item worth hundreds of times larger than items purchased by the poor,” Doanh said.

In addition, the surveys were only carried out in the two biggest cities, while the landscape in the countryside may be different.  

Pham Xuan Hong, chairman of the HCMC Textile-Garment Association, agreed that maybe up to 74.58% of consumers loved locally made goods as surveyed, but perhaps “it’s not correct that such a high number of people purchased local goods.”

Consumers care most about prices before considering the quality, Hong said, adding that most of low-priced footwear and apparel products on the market now are imported items while local manufacturers are still grappling with difficulties.

“Many manufacturers in the footwear and apparel sectors are seeing their sale volumes dwindle. Surveys in these sectors show that many have had to scale down business and reduce the number of their outlets,” he said.

Tax exemptions mulled for agri-coops

The Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development is drafting a decree consisting of supportive measures for agricultural cooperatives, including the exemption of corporate income tax (CIT) and value added tax for them.

Appropriate policies and changes to agricultural production is one of the core parts of a scheme to restructure the nation’s agriculture sector to make it perform effectively, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat told a conference held in Hanoi on Tuesday to review the development of cooperative economic organization in the agriculture sector.

Phat admitted the capacity of cooperatives are still limited and many are able to provide certain input services for agricultural production and fail to help find outlets for their members.

Statistics of the ministry showed that there are almost 10,340 agricultural cooperatives nationwide and the number of service and agricultural cooperatives makes up 92%.

However, a mere 10% of the total number is well-performing, the minister said and added that there are still many ineffective cooperatives across the country.

Phat said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has permitted the ministry to collect comments from relevant agencies to complete the draft decree and send it to the Government for consideration and approval soon.

Under the draft decree, the Government could request the National Assembly to consider exempting value added tax (VAT) for the transactions conducted among cooperatives to support their development. Corporate income tax break is also mulled.

The Government plans to earmark a significant proportion of the national annual trade promotion fund to aid agricultural cooperatives in promoting their agri-aqua-forestry products. They could even take out loans worth up to VND1 billion without collateral.

Firms want special consumption tax hike plans delayed

Companies and business associations have proposed delaying planned applications of and increases in special consumption taxes on certain products.

Representatives of enterprises and business groups made the proposal at a meeting with HCMC’s National Assembly (NA) deputies on Wednesday.

According to the draft law on special consumption tax to be presented at the NA’s eighth session starting next week, the tax rate on tobacco products will rise from 65% to 70% between July 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017 and to 75% from 2018.

Vu Xuan Hung at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said the planned road map for the tax hikes should be put on hold until 2017 and 2020 respectively.

Hung explained the delay is to make the tax rises synchronized with the policy of the Government.

Decree 67/2013/ND-CP on tobacco development orientations states that an enterprise has to change its business areas or be merged into others if its annual production volume is less than 100 million packs. Therefore, according to Hung, if the tax increase is not delayed, it could make it hard for enterprises to follow the decree.

Vu Van Cuong, chairman of the Vietnam Tobacco Association (VTA), said higher special consumption tax rates as outlined in the draft law would lead to increased tobacco smuggling and therefore cutting the use of tobacco would turn out to be a hard nut to crack as aimed for the tax increases.

According to VTA, 21.9 billion cigarettes were smuggled into Vietnam last year and this volume accounted for 20.7% of the market share. Tobacco produced in Vietnam is currently subject to a special consumption tax rate of 65%, a value-added tax (VAT) rate of 10% and an import tax rate of 135% while the tax rates imposed on tobacco in neighboring countries like Laos, Cambodia and China are low, making it easy for these products to be illegally imported into Vietnam.

Cuong called for the Government to step up anti-smuggling activities before raising the special consumption tax as a measure to reduce the domestic use of tobacco.

Hung of VCCI said the planned special consumption tax increases for other products such as beer and online games should be made in line with the master zoning planning for these industries.

Nguyen Duc Tho, chief inspector of the HCMC Department of Information and Communications, said in support of Hung that special consumption tax should not be slapped on online game as online games are produced by foreign producers and distributed by local companies currently subject to many types of taxes and fees, including VAT, foreign contractor tax, corporate income tax and royalties.

Tho suggested that there should be a road map for tax adjustments to assist domestic enterprises in producing digital content products and software to replace foreign ones.

Phan Thi Hoai Thu at VNG Corporation calculated that if special consumption tax is applied to online games, the State budget could collect an additional VND800 billion per year. But, VND626-1,043 billion will be lost as revenues of digital contents decline if a special consumption tax rate of 10% is applied.

At the meeting, participants also proposed not imposing the special consumption tax on battery-powered vehicles as they are being used mainly for tourism purposes or on air conditioners as these are essential products.

Experts said special consumption tax is to influence consumer behaviors by taxing a product the Government does not encourage or restrict people from using while collecting more for the State budget.

NCB introduces two more board members

National Citizen Bank, or NCB, announced two new members of the board of directors during its extraordinary general meeting in Hanoi City on Tuesday.

Dang Thi Xuan Hong, who served as chairwoman of Saigon Commercial Bank from 2010 to 2012, and Tran Hai Anh, general director of NCB, were elected board members of the lender in the 2010-2015 term, according to Vietnamplus. The bank’s board of directors now has five members.

Speaking at the meeting, Nguyen Thi Mai Suong, director of the central bank’s Hanoi branch, said NCB is expected to finish its restructuring scheme prior to the deadline.

Its restructuring plan won approval from the central bank in June last year.

NCB chairman Vu Hong Nam said the lender has made some improvements and hoped new board members will contribute to its further development.

The bank has recently shifted its focus to retail banking services for individuals and families, financial solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises and credits for selected large businesses.

Ending the third quarter, NCB obtained over VND34.5 trillion in total assets, up 40% year-on-year, while its mobilization was over VND30.2 trillion and total outstanding loans were over VND16.8 trillion.

Customs procedures to be cut to ten hours

The General Department of Customs has set an ambitious target to reduce the time needed for customs procedures to 10-11 hours from the current 21 days, a customs official told the Daily on the sidelines of a conference in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Au Anh Tuan, deputy head of customs control and supervision division at the General Department of Customs, said the World Bank estimated that it takes a shipment 21 days to be transported to ports and cleared, and the department will strive to check documents within two hours and goods within eight hours.

To realize the target, the department has requested the Ministry of Transport to simplify goods delivery procedures at ports.

Tuan said with e-customs applied from April this year, the customs authorities can receive declaration forms from enterprises and send feedback within a couple of seconds. Normal goods shipments can be tested in eight hours while new scanners can check a container in 10 minutes.

According to Tuan, the department will improve coordination with the State Treasury and banks so that customs offices can clear goods for enterprises right after being informed of their fulfillment of tax obligations. In addition, the use of barcodes will soon be piloted in Haiphong City.

Network providers launch new services for businesses

To serve the mobile office demand of enterprises, domestic network providers have offered the mobile switchboards operated via mobile network applications.

With the recent launch of MobiFone’s OneContact and VinaPhone’s MEG, corporate customers registering for the services will be provided with a hotline number used to handle all contacts relating to them, including phone calls and text messages.

In addition to operating as an internal switchboard, the services enable users to make multipoint conference calls. Normal phone calls can facilitate only two subscribers, but with the new mobile services, up to 256 numbers can be included in a group call so that a number of mobile phone users can talk and exchange information at the same time like a conference call.

Nguyen Dinh Chien, deputy general director of MobiFone, said OneContact has been launched with an aim to catch up with a shift from landline to mobile phone. Employees of enterprises often work outside their offices and MobiFone’s new service will be very useful for their mobile working trend.

To use the OneContact service, corporate customers have to pay a registration fee of VND300,000 and VND50,000 for each hotline number they sign up for. In addition to the registration fee, users have to pay VND300,000 a month and every hotline number is charged VND30,000 monthly, not to mention phone call charges.

The monthly fee and the registration fee of MEG are VND299,000 each. Unlike MobiFone, hotline numbers do not have to pay the registration fee but pay a monthly charge of VND15,000.

Vinaliving introduces The Point villas in Danang

VinaLiving, the real estate brand of VinaCapital, will officially put up for sale its The Point in the central coast city of Danang on October 23 at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, the company said in a statement.

The Point is the latest premier golf villa estate at the international award winning Danang Beach Resort. Inspired by the design of The Dune Residences which have now sold out, The Point consists of 40 villas, 20 of which will comprise the first phase release which will be offered for sale from VND4.9 billion a villa including VAT.

The Point lies adjacent to the 14th fairway of the Greg Norman-designed Dunes golf course providing clear views of the clean and lush surrounding environment.

All villas include three bedrooms with modern amenities on land plots ranging from 273 to 280 square meters. Homes range in size from 286 to 289 square meters.

Each home, according to the developer, has its own private swimming pool together with full access to back-up power. An extensive range of facilities and amenities have already been developed for the project.

Located mid-way between Danang and Hoi An, The Point targets buyers including both golf players and real estate investors, the company said.

The first ten buyers of the villas there will enjoy exemption of three years management fee, according to the company.

Ministry urged to report Long Thanh airport project to Politburo

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has assigned the Party head at the Ministry of Transport to act on behalf of the Party chief of the Government to report the Long Thanh airport project to the Politburo.

Earlier the Prime Minister passed an investment report on the multi-billion-dollar project as requested by the Party committee at the Ministry of Transport, the Government portal chinhphu.vn reports.

However, the National Assembly Standing Committee at its meeting in Hanoi last week questioned the possibility of raising sufficient funds for the airport covering 5,000 hectares in Long Thanh District, Dong Nai Province at a time when the country is grappling with economic woes.

NA vice chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan told the meeting that the Long Thanh airport project would require a huge amount of investment while the economic slump is not yet over.

Ngan asked the Ministry of Transport to help the Government find capital sources for site clearance and the development of the project, and carefully prepare reports for the project if the Government wants to win NA approval. She noted that the NA Standing Committee has agreed the project can go before the NA’s upcoming session later this month, but not giving official approval for the project.

Despite the huge amount of investment, the HCMC government has thrown its weight behind an early development of the Long Thanh international airport as the expansion of Tan Son Nhat International Airport will require a staggering US$9.2 billion if it is carried out by Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) to ease a future overload at the biggest international airport in Vietnam.

In a recent document sent to the National Assembly Economic Committee, the HCMC government said 641 hectares north of the airport in Tan Binh District would have to be cleared and 140,000 households would be displaced to make room for site clearance if the airport is expanded.     

The city said Tan Son Nhat covers 1,500 hectares including 590 hectares used for civil aviation activities and is located in an area of high population density. The annual number of 20 million passengers going through the airport often leads to traffic overloads on the streets leading to the airport.

Besides the relocation of 140,000 households as planned, the expansion will make traffic around the airport go from bad to worse even though metro lines No. 2, 4 and 5 as well as monorail and overpass projects are completed.

HCMC said expanding the airport will put a dent in urban development as zoning and airspace management of the Ministry of Defense would be impacted in addition to noise pollution and exhaust emissions that would exceed allowable levels.

For the aforesaid reasons, the city assumed the expansion plan would not be cost-effective. Therefore, the city government supports an early construction of Long Thanh international airport in neighboring Dong Nai.

Earlier, ACV unveiled a plan to expand Tan Son Nhat to enable it to serve 26 million passengers a year when Long Thanh airport is not ready.

ACV said Tan Son Nhat could handle a maximum of 25 million passengers a year and forecast it to be overloaded in 2016-2017 while the first phase of Long Thanh airport with an annual capacity of 17 million passengers would not be completed before 2020.

The first phase of the project is estimated to cost over US$7.8 billion and is projected to handle 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of goods a year by 2025 in an effort to ease the overload at Tan Son Nhat. Its capacity will be increased to 100 million passengers and five million tons of goods a year by 2030.

Big stores look for specialty suppliers

Many big supermarkets are looking for suppliers of special agricultural and food products from localities nationwide, according to the HCMC Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC).

ITPC said in a statement that the center is executing a program to build a strong bridge between retailers, distributors and potential suppliers who are businesses, co-operatives and household producers.

Representatives of major domestic and foreign retailers such as BigC, Metro, Aeon, Lotte and Fairprice Singapore told the center that they need to purchase vegetables, fruits, seafood and food specialties of Vietnam.

The retailers are expected to participate in the supply-demand connectivity program held by ITPC at the upcoming exhibition Hi-Tech Agro 2014 set to take place at Le Van Tam Park in HCMC’s District 1 from October 22 to 26.

On Tuesday, some 50 manufacturing enterprises, associations, distributors, retailers, trading and logistics companies joined a connectivity event for supply and demand for domestic consumption and export. The participants included BigC and Uy Tin Trading and Services Co. Ltd., which owns online market Golmart.

Le Thanh Trung of BigC said the company is focusing on developing local special products in different parts of Vietnam, especially popular specialties. BigC attends to producers of agricultural products and fresh foods, successful businesses in localities keen to expand their markets, and the enterprises which want to partner with Big C in developing private labels.

Housing oversupply

The southern province of Binh Duong will likely find itself mired in a housing quagmire due to an excessive residential zoning master plan that maps out supply far exceeding demand, resulting in high stockpiles fueled by land speculation.

There are as many as 112 projects to develop residential quarters and apartment buildings with a combined area of over 6,350 hectares, according to data from the provincial government.

However, only 28 projects, or less than a quarter, have been basically complete, while 38 projects see developments limited to technical infrastructure construction, and 46 others have merely started the very initial steps of compensation and site clearance.

However, data from Binh Duong Province’s Department of Construction as covered in local media show there are as many as 220 property projects in the province, and many of them have never got off the ground. It is also said that the market has reached the saturation point, and property business can hardly revive there in the next few years.

The Construction Department said that out of 220 projects, up to 94 are still stuck in compensation and site clearance, and 75 others have remained stalled.

An expert estimated over 90% of property projects in the province are divided by investors into land lots for sale to secondary investors, while there are few projects to develop complete housing units.

Much of the land zoned for residential development is left unattended to as buyers, who for the most part are speculators, do not build houses given the frozen real estate market.

Ngo Huu Bang, a resident in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District, recalls he bought a land lot measuring 300 square meters in Binh Duong Province’s Ben Cat District back in 2007 at a price of VND500 million. Ever since, the property bubbles there have burst, and early this year, Bang sought to sell it, offering a half price at only VND250 million, but he could not find a buyer.

In a different situation, Ngo Thi Hien Thuc from HCMC’s Go Vap District purchased two land lots of 125 square meters each at a total cost of VND400 million, but after six years, the primary investor still has not handed over the land ownership certificates to her. Now Thuc cannot build houses on the land lots, nor sell back the land due to the lack of such certificates.

Several brokers in Binh Duong told the Daily that the locality witnessed overheated investment in the property sector during 2007-2008.

Many speculators, with the majority coming from HCMC, rushed to buy land there due to much lower prices compared to that in HCMC. And now, given the dreary real estate market, such secondary investors are seeking to stop losses by offloading their stocks, but there are few buyers.

Even primary investors also find it tough to pursue their projects in Binh Duong.

The new urban project Binh Nguyen in Di An Town, for instance, is a case in point. The project comprises of 140 land lots for villas of 300 square meters each and 500 land lots of 100 square meters each for street-front houses.

Private company Thao Nguyen as the project owner has managed to sell almost all smaller land lots, but it could not offload land lots for villas. The company is now seeking approval from local authorities to split such land lots into smaller ones to make them sellable.

This project, however, has almost been deserted with just a few houses going up, while most of the land has become gazing ground.

The picture is even more somber.

However, there are also several promising projects in Binh Duong.

Dang Thi Kim Oanh, general director of Kim Oanh Real Estate Company, admitted that the property market in Binh Duong had experienced tough times due to overheated, rampant development. However, land in prime sites are still attracting homebuyers, she said.

Within just one month, her company’s The Mall City project in Di An Town has had up to 400 land lots out of the total 450 ones find buyers, she said, adding those projects in close proximity to main axis routes and populated areas with good infrastructure are still attractive to buyers.

Regarding the apartment segment, Oanh said the prospect is not so bright, especially for high-quality condo buildings. However, budget apartments can still sell fairly well in the province, and many investors are still pouring money into such projects. She cited for example the First Home Premium project in Thuan An Town with nearly 600 apartments.

Marc Townsend, managing director of the property market research company CBRE, noted that Binh Duong as a major industrial manufacturing base is still attracting property investors as the population is rising rapidly, partly owing to surging migration.

Thuan An Town close to HCMC, for example, is still a good land for investors, he said.

The provincial government said its population is forecasted to surpass two million next year compared to some 1.75 million in 2013, and the number is expected at 2.5 million by 2020.

Anticipating the rapid population increase, the provincial government has mulled a scheme to develop 123 additional property projects with the total area of 13,540 hectares. This scheme, if realized, may aggravate the housing woes in Binh Duong due to oversupply.

Nippon Paint opens US$14-million plant

Nippon Paint has inaugurated a US$14-million plant in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, the third of the Japanese paint manufacturer in Vietnam.

The facility covering 60,000 square meters at Ba Thien 2 Industrial Zone has an annual production capacity of 15,000 tons and generates 500 jobs for locals.

Fujita Tetsuro, senior corporate officer at Nippon Paint Co. Ltd., said in a statement that the opening of the Vinh Phuc plant is a major milestone in the history of Nippon Paint in Vietnam and also an important part of its regional expansion strategy. The new investment demonstrates the company’s commitment to strengthening storage capacity to better meet customer demand here in the country.

“With automobile and motorcycle manufacturing developing strongly in recent years, especially in Hanoi and Vinh Phuc, we are seeing increased opportunities and needs of customers,” Tetsuro said.

To support the domestic automobile and motorcycle manufacturing industry, the company plans to increase the production capacity of the new plant to encompass coil, general industrial-use and heavy-duty coating products among others. Also in the plan will be water-resistant and architectural paints and resin production.

Nippon Paint opened its first facility, Nippon Paint Vietnam in Bien Hoa Industrial Zone II in Dong Nai Province, in 1994 and the second, Nippon Paint Vietnam Hanoi, in 2006.

VinaCapital’s infrastructure fund to be open-end

VinaCapital announced a plan to change one of its investment funds, Vietnam Infrastructure Ltd. (VNI), into an open-end fund on October 16.

According to VinaCapital Managing Director Andy Ho, the fund will be split into two parts, one for infrastructure development projects and the other for a portfolio of listed shares.

The decision was prompted by the ongoing national trend to convert closed-end funds into open-end ones that allow capital investors to the fund to withdraw from the Vietnamese market more easily.

However, VinaCapital is not considering changing any other subsidiaries, such as the Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited (VOF), as they are not suitable to the open-end model.

VNI was formerly a closed-end fund with net assets worth more than 231 million USD at the end of September. It mainly focused on projects in telecommunications, petroleum, industrial parks and urban area development.

VinaCapital is an asset management firm in Vietnam that currently manages three close-end funds registered on the AIM Market at the London Stock Exchange, including VOF, VinaLand Limited (VNL) and Vietnam Infrastructure Limited (VNI).

The firm also co-manages the DFJ VinaCapital LP technology venture capital fund with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an international technology group.

Its net asset value now totals nearly 1.5 billion USD.

G-bond sales forecast to hit new highs

Government bond sales by the State Treasury would reach new highs this year thanks to strong market demand, the Saigon Times Daily reported.

As of on October 15, the State Treasury had sold around 220 trillion VND worth of G-bonds, meeting over 92 percent of the year’s target set by the Ministry of Finance. The figure was around 60 percent higher than the same period last year.

Vietnam Development Bank and Vietnam Bank for Social Policies have also reported positive bond sales this year.

According to the Finance Ministry, the State Treasury mobilised 12 trillion VND worth of G-bonds in September, down over 23 percent over the previous month but 26 percent higher than the same period last year.

The G-bond market saw many advantages in January-September thanks to the more active participation of investors, the ministry said.

Last month, each session attracted 10-14 investors to bid for every tenor. Investors bid for 32 trillion VND versus 12 trillion VND put up for sale.

In the coming time, the ministry will focus on issuing long-term bonds from five to 15 years to ease debt payment pressure in the next one or two years. It will also strengthen government debt restructuring solutions amid the unfavorable market.

In fact, long-term bonds have sold well in recent times. Last month, the State Treasury halted issuing bonds with tenors of three years or shorter while focusing on tenors of five, 10 and 15 years.

The ratio of three-year bonds of the total volume mobilised has declined sharply against 2013.

On October 13, the Hanoi Stock Exchange sold over 4.24 trillion VND worth of State Treasury’s bonds. Of which, there was 345 billion VND worth of five-year bonds at the winning rate of 4.8 percent per annum, 3 trillion VND of 10-year bonds at 6.19 percent per annum and 900 billion VND of 15-year bonds at 7.05 percent per annum.

Vietnam's economy expected to enjoy robust growth

The Vietnamese economy, facing a lot of difficulties though, managed to secure a relatively stable growth driven by industrial exports, the Vietnam Business Forum Magazine (VBF) reported.

Vietnam ’s export turnover was projected at 148 billion USD in 2014, up 12 percent over 2013 and higher than the growth target of 10 percent set by the National Assembly.

The nine-month export earnings fulfilled 75.4 percent of the target of 145.4 billion USD set for the whole year. The foreign direct investment (FDI) sector continued to lead other economic sectors in export revenue and its percentage is getting higher and higher.

The FDI sector accounted for 61.3 percent of Vietnam ’s export earnings in the first nine months of 2014, higher than 60.5 percent in the same period of 2013.

Export growth outpaced import growth in the January-September period. If the export growth is 10 percent as expected for this year, the import spending will reach 145.4 billion USD. The country already fetched 109.6 billion USD in the first nine months.

In recent years, Vietnam ’s exportation tends to accelerate in the last months of the year and, given no sudden changes, the country is likely to take 148 billion USD in the year, up 12 percent over 2013. Exports are projected to reach 146.5 billion USD, up 11 percent year on year. As a result, Vietnam will run a trade surplus of 1.5 billion USD.

The growth rates of the country’s key exports such as apparels and textiles, leather and footwear, and woodworks were higher than the overall export growth. Chemicals, handbags, suitcases, hats, umbrellas, toys and sports equipment saw over 30 percent growths.

As the demand for these commodities has incrementally increased in new markets, Vietnam needs to have support, export promotion and market expansion policies for Vietnamese companies to boost their exports to those markets.

The growth rates of agricultural, forest and aquatic products were also higher than the average overall export growth, particularly seafood, vegetables, pepper, cashew nuts and coffee. Vegetable and fruit export expanded 42.7 percent over a year earlier.

In the nine-month period, price drops took away nearly 280 million USD from export of agricultural products meanwhile fuel and mineral products increased export earnings by 59 million USD. In combination, Vietnam saw a drop of 221 million USD in exporting these two groups of products. Due to big export volumes, the country still enjoyed an increase of 843 million USD from export of these two groups of products.

Exports to new markets and niche markets soared in the first nine months of 2014. Free trade agreements (FTAs) also helped boost export growth.

Shipments to Americas rose more than 25 percent, of which the United States posted a 22.7 percent growth and Canada boasted a 39.7 percent growth. Key exports to these markets were seafood, cashew nuts, coffee, pepper, apparels, machines, equipment, tools and spare parts.

Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa did not contribute much to Vietnam ’s overall exports. However, the trade with these markets climbed substantially. Latin America and Caribbean nations posted a 41.5 percent growth in imports from Vietnam . Especially, Chile saw a 132.9 percent growth in imports from Vietnam after the bilateral FTA took effect.

Vietnam ’s exports to African countries soared over 50 percent. Developing African countries are currently in high need of agricultural products, textiles, computers, electronic products, mobile phones and vehicles. So, Vietnamese enterprises should fully tap this market for export expansion.

Exports to European markets grew more than 10 percent. Remarkably, the EU, Ireland , Belgium and Finland saw a more than 30 percent growth. However, exports to Western European, Eastern European and Nordic nations continued to decrease 10 percent, mainly because of tensions in Russia and Ukraine .

Oceania, which contributed 3 percent to Vietnam ’s total export turnover, saw a growth of 23.5 percent in imports from Vietnam . Australia, the biggest market, mainly imports seafood, vegetables, cashew nuts, crude oil, apparels and footwear from Vietnam.

Vietnam saw a 10 percent growth in exports to Asian markets, which contributed 49 percent to Vietnam ’s export earnings. East Asian nations took 29.4 percent of the share, led by Japan and China with more than 10 percent each.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will seek solutions to remove difficulties and boost production and export. The ministry will also seek to expand and diversify export markets by grasping opportunities generated by international commitments, particularly FTAs. Vietnam will focus on increasing exports to traditional markets while boosting market integration in Eastern Europe, West Asia, South Asia, Africa and America Latin.

Vietnam becomes attractive destination for Japanese investors

Vietnam has surpassed China as a prime overseas investment destination of Japanese businesses, radio The Voice of Vietnam (VOV) cited a recent survey by Teikoku Databank as saying.

Teikoku Databank, a company specialising in collecting business information on companies in Japan reported 10.9 percent of 23,000 Japanese enterprises surveyed in September consider Vietnam the best investment destination abroad while the selection rate for China was just 6.9 percent.

Japanese firms have a keen interest in such areas as interior decoration, garments and textiles, information and technology in Vietnam. They chose Vietnam primarily due to low costs and its highly skilled young labour force.

The survey, released on October 16, shows Vietnam ranked fourth in the list of the safe markets in which Japanese business enterprises have attached the most importance to, trailing China, the US and Thailand.

President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc was quoted as saying that this is good news. The most important thing for Vietnam is to maintain a positive image in the eyes of Japanese investors and foreign investors alike, Loc said.

Recently, the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Hanoi said up to 30 percent of Japanese enterprises are investing abroad and regard Vietnam as the primary option.

According to a JETRO report in February, Vietnam has become the top nation attracting Japanese investment, surpassing other rivals - Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Up to 70 Japanese firms in Vietnam unveiled their business expansion plans in 2014.

An Giang attracts 164 million USD in FDI

The southern province of An Giang have so far this year granted licences to 13 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, with a total registered capital of 163.8 million USD.

The figures represented year-on-year rises of 9 and 156.4 million USD in number and value, respectively, according to Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment Pham Thanh Nhon.

The value surge was attributed to a 100 million USD garment-textile project from Taiwanese investors and a 15 million USD footwear one from the Republic of Korea .

The province now boasts 33 FDI valid FDI projects worth over 213 million USD, nearly 52 million USD of which has been disbursed.

Local authorities are taking numerous measures to improve policies, mechanisms and information technology system in an effort to lure more foreign investment.

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