Bank scandal erodes share values

Blue chips advanced on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, lifting the HNX-30 Index by 0.28 per cent to 105.10 points, even as the bourse's benchmark HNX-Index declined by 0.7 per cent overall on the day to close at just 56.07 points.

The value of trades spiked to VND805.9 billion ($38.3 million), over three times the previous day's figures, as volume totalled 67.3 million shares.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), the centre of a recent scandal, saw brisk activity yesterday before bottoming out at VND15,900 per share. Nearly 3.9 million ACB shares changed hands through order matching, with 32.94 million shares traded just before 2pm yesterday via negotiation method for VND16,000 per share – a transaction that represented over 3.6 per cent of the bank's charter capital.

At a bank meeting on Tuesday, three key personnel, incuding the bank's chairman and vice chairman, resigned due to their involvement in fraud allegations facing bank tycoon Nguyen Duc Kien. The news once again reignited investor fears over the security of the country's banking operations.

Shares on the HCM City Stock Exchange managed to post modest gains during the final minutes of yesterday's session, enabling the VN-Index to close flat at 394.55 points. Driven by heavy sales, however, the value of trades improved over the previous session to VND697 billion (US$33 million).

The decline of nearly half of the market's 30 leading shares by capitalisation and liquidity sent the VN30-Index down by 0.7 per cent to 457.13 points. Among blue chips managing to post gains were insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Phu My Fertilisers (DPM), steelmakers Hoa Phat (HPG) and Hoa Sen (HSG), Military Bank (MBB) and property developer Vingroup (VIC).

Foreign investors were net sellers in HCM City, unloading shares worth VND10.7 billion ($500,000), but they were buyers in Ha Noi by a margin of VND15.7 billion ($747,600).

PM to push Viet Nam at 2-day China, ASEAN Expo

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will promote Vietnamese business interests when he attends the two-day ASEAN-China Expo (CAEXPO) today.

The event is the ninth ASEAN-China Business and Investment Summit, and is taking place in Nanning, the capital of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The PM's visit takes place as the friendship and co-operation between Viet Nam and China develops rapidly in all fields, bringing practical benefits for both sides.

CAEXPO is held annually by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the 10 ASEAN countries and the ASEAN Secretariat.

Amongst the countries participating at this year's expo, Viet Nam has the largest number of stands, with 200 covering an area of 3,500sq.m. Last year Vietnamese businesses occupied 196 stands out of the 1,200 taken by ASEAN countries. Since then 120 of those businesses have signed contracts worth US$950 million.

Probing ways to woo homebuyers

Local property developers have been struggling to find ways to step up sluggish home sales but their efforts can hardly pay off if they fail to prove their ability to deliver as planned.

Vo Thuy Anh, deputy general director of Novaland Company, a subsidiary of Nova Group, said her business has launched a program called “From dream to reality” in celebration of the group’s twentieth anniversary to lure buyers in the Sunrise City apartment project. The developer promises to give away US$1,000, or over VND20 million, each month to each buyer of a two- bedroom condo at the project located on Nguyen Huu Tho Street in HCMC’s District 7.

With the one-year promotion, homebuyers will be able to take back US$12,000 (over VND240 million) from the project owner.

Novaland is also joining hands with VietinBank to offer a financial support package with a fixed lending rate over a period of five years. As such, homebuyers will enjoy a fixed interest rate of a mere 8% per annum for the first year and 10% for the following four years.

The response of homebuyers toward the scheme is positive, with 30 condos already sold, Anh said.

With a total investment of some US$500 million, six of 12 towers of 31-35 floors with about 750 high-class apartments are complete. The apartments cost VND4 billion to VND6 billion a unit. About 80% of 550 finished flats have found buyers, Anh said.

In addition to developers’ direct promotions, the local real estate market has seen secondary investors racing to launch direct or indirect discounts in a bid to attract homebuyers.

Phat Hung Real Estate JSC as a secondary investor of the La Casa project in District 7 has put up for sale the project at discounts of 15-30% and has received positive responses from buyers. For instance, the firm just held a one-day introduction for some 300 visitors, with 20 of them placing deposits.

The promotion allows those making a downpayment equivalent to 98% of the contract value to get a 30% discount, so the eventual price is down to VND13.6-14.6 million per square meter. The project owner plans to deliver the condos next year.

Similarly, Sacomreal-S One Member Limited Company under the umbrella of Sacomreal JSC has launched a promotional package including interior furnishing items and electronic appliances worth a combined VND200 million for buyers of the Belleza project in District 7.

Ta Chi Cuong, deputy general director of the firm, said about 20 guests come to his company a day on average to take a look into the project. “This is a good signal given the current tough market conditions,” he noted.

Things are now different from the past when customers were ready to spend huge amounts making downpayments for apartments on paper. Developers of a majority of projects trying to boost sales at the moment present their completed products or those nearing completion to assure customers that they would deliver homes on schedule.

Anh of Novaland said the condo market has slowed down as there is no rush for clients to buy in the current situation characterized by an oversupply. But she noted those in need of housing are still interested in owning an apartment, especially a completed one, citing the Sunrise City scheme as an example.

Ngo Huu Truong, managing director of Hopefluent – Compareal Vietnam, said now is the right time to buy homes as prices have dipped to reasonable levels.

Truong, however, advised customers to take prudence when it comes to mulling financial matters and the ability of developers to get their projects done on time. He also asked buyers to inspect a number of projects before having a final decision.

A recent survey of Jones Lang LaSalle Vietnam indicates that there are about 85,000 flats on sale in HCMC, of which some 46,000 are finished and the remainder are under construction. The number of unsold apartments accounts for about 34 %.

The company also forecast an additional 16,300 apartments will be launched onto the market this year, meaning supply of the segment will further rise toward the year’s end.

GSO scrutinises VN industrial output

Vietnam’s industrial production for the year to date is being scrutinised by a GSO senior expert.

Local industrial production in the year ending August reported some of the following noteworthy points:

First, industrial production growth in August 2012 was lower than average growth pace in the first seven months (4.7 per cent against 4.8 per cent). This means industrial growth was slowing down and had yet to bottom out.

Second, in the past several decades industry grew more robustly than that of the economy generally and claimed the largest proportion in the gross domestic product (GDP), becoming a chief growth engine for the economy. Now, industrial growth was slowing down on the back of rising costs leading to declining growth in the sector’s added value. This, in turn, has slowed GDP growth.

Third, mining industries’ index of industrial production (IIP) grew faster than the sector average, highlighted by an increase of crude oil extraction by 13.6 per cent. This helped make up a shortfall in other exploitation fields such as coal which shed 1.8 per cent and natural gas down 2.5 per cent.

Fourth, the IIP of processing industry fared the worst among industrial sectors whereas it held the largest share among diverse industries.

Processing industry’s percentage in the GDP is one of the key criteria to determine whether an agricultural country is turning into an industrial one. The limit for an industrial nation is put by experts at around 37 per cent whereas this rate is approximately 22 per cent in Vietnam.

Fifth, the current processing industry mainly performs export processing with low added values and heavily reliant on imported materials and price factor in the world market.

Labour efficiency in the processing industry was just VND70.1 million/person tantamount to $3,500 in 2011 which was the lowest worldwide. This is a stumbling block in developing supporting industries and the government’s commitment to hiking localisation. This is also one of main causes leading to long-lasting trade deficit in Vietnam.

Rooted on eight-month industrial production and factors which may influence industrial production in the coming period full-year IIP is expected to hike at most 5.5 per cent this year against last year’s 6.8 per cent, leading to the sector’s declining contribution to the GDP (below 6 per cent estimated against 2011’s 7.4 per cent). Growth of the processing industry will even fall below 5 per cent against 8.3 per cent in 2011.

The industrial sector’s slow recovery stemmed from several factors, including its low owner capital amount and high borrowing costs (loans account for 70-80 per cent in scores of firms). Meanwhile, since the stock market is continually in a fix it is hard to raise capital using this channel whereas banks’ lending rates stay high, often higher than firms’ profitability rate.

Sinking consumption in domestic and global markets led to escalating inventory at firms. For instance, processing industry’s inventory hiked over 20 per cent in August of which some areas eyed excessively high growth in inventory such as fertiliser, seafood processing, textile clothing and telecom equipment production etc.

To spur industrial growth major causes slowing down production need to be ironed out parallel to executing long-term and radical measures such as restructuring industrial production, promoting supporting industries, boosting investment efficiency and labour productivity to enhance competitive edge.

In the near term, the barriers blocking the capital channel to support production should be removed; banks’ bad debts soon tackled; old debt interest rates further scaled down and new loans provided. Plans call for financial solutions under Resolution 13/NQ-CP dated May 10, 2012, particularly those relevant to value added tax, to be taken consistently to help firms get out of difficulties.

Training courses for managers, retailers of traditional markets

For the very first time, the Department of Industry and Trade and the Economic University in Ho Chi Minh City will jointly run short training courses on market management for managers and retailers from September 17, with the aim of improving management and sales skills to attract customers to traditional markets.

In the race between supermarkets, convenient stores and traditional markets, the first two seem to have the upper hand as commodities there are displayed on luxurious shelves, clean environment and customers do not fear overpricing or insulting jibes from shop owners.

According to the Department of Industry and Trade, there are 243 traditional markets in HCMC, including 17 first class markets, 48 second class markets and 178 third class markets with 66,598 retail booths and 729 managers.

Le Ngoc Dao, deputy head of the department, said market managers have never been properly trained while it requires better management skills to both manage and set up relations with shopkeepers and customers.

In reality, skilled marketing management will see better sales and no rude or offensive behavior from sales people towards customers who browse but do not buy.

The whole aim of the course is to train market managers to raise effectiveness and revenues, while building a better and appealing image. Managers will receive knowledge of business methodologies, effective methods of brand promotion, commodity control and environmental hygiene.

Managers will be taught five classes on government policies, decrees of management power, management studies, and skills in dealing with complaints and how to develop markets.

So far 2,115 market retailers are participating in such training courses, accounting to a total of three percent. The training course will also provide general knowledge on financial policies, civilized behavior towards customers and retailing skills.

The most important part of the course is to improve communication skills and contribute towards the campaign “Be Vietnamese, Buy Vietnamese”. The course will also provide an opportunity for   enterprises to have meetings with retailers and discuss their products and after-sales services.

The Business Studies and Assistance Center (BSA) will from this month launch a sales training course for retailers in some markets in HCMC. The course offers techniques to display commodities to attract customers and ways to present and speak to customers.

For instance, more than 100 shop assistants joined in a training course at Ba Diem Market in Hoc Mon District held by BSA. When the course wrapped up, retailers admitted their bad habit of giving a dirty look and behaving badly with customers who do purchase from them.  They promised to change this despicable habit as they realized that the customer is the one who gives the money and hence is the one who is always right.

Managers and retailers are excited about the training course as they are keen to lure more customers and increase revenue. They also wanted the government to spend more money to upgrade traditional markets so that they look more appealing and attractive and also provide tough competition to the more modern supermarkets and convenient stores that have sprung up all over the City.

Dong Thap Province tests cultivation of Japanese rice

Japanese rice experts will run a test on the cultivation of a Japanese rice variety called Hikarisinseki in Dong Thap Province in collaboration with Vinh Hoan and Kanematsu Corporations.
Farmers harvesting their summer-autumn rice crop. (Photo: SGGP)

The Hikarisinseki rice variety is popular in Japan. In tests conducted in An Giang, Hung Yen and Thai Binh Provinces, this rice variety showed productivity of 8 tons per hectare.

In related news, Bac Lieu Province will cultivated rice on nearly 30,000 hectares this year for the rice-shrimp farming crop which gives an annual average production of 150,000-180,000 tons, thus is as important as other crops. However, this year farmers are facing unfavorable weather and difficulties in finding salt-tolerant rice varieties for cultivation.

The Agriculture and Rural Development Department in Bac Lieu Province has decided to support farmers with 12 tons of OM6677 and OM5629 salt-tolerant rice seed. These rice varieties were sponsored by GIZ Project and have growth period of about 100 days. Rice seeds sowed in September will be cultivated over 100 hectares of rice-shrimp farming land.

Meanwhile, the price of rice in the Mekong Delta provinces has begun to   decline after surging for a few days. On September 16, traders in An Giang, Ca Mau, Tien Giang, and Dong Thap Provinces bought fresh paddy of low-quality IR 50404 for VND4,800-4,900 a kilo, with price even lower at about VND4,300-4,500 a kilo in some remote areas, a decrease of VND500-800 a kilo compared to the beginning of this month.

Rice price fell as rice producers no longer purchased as much rice as before and long-lasting rain having caused rice crops to flatten on fields, making it difficult for farmers to harvest by combine harvesters but instead having to harvest manually. As a result the paddy is still wet, affecting the rice quality.

Applying CSR norms in business activities

“Applying Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) norms – ISO26000 in business” was the main theme of a seminar held by the Leather and Footwear Research Institute in Hanoi on September 17.     

General Secretary of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association Nguyen Thi Tong said that meeting CSR norms for sustainable development is often considered as a non-tariff trade barrier and challenge on the path to international integration for developing nations like Vietnam.

The ISO26000 project will help Vietnamese businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, become effectively involved in the process of international integration and sustainable development, while facilitating CSR in Vietnam.

It is the manual for human resource training and awareness improvement for businesses, helping raise their profile and competitive capacity in international integration,” Tong told the seminar.

Florian Beranek, Chief Technical Advisor of the CSR project, said that the project’s main objective is to help raise businesses’ awareness of the benefits from integrating CSR into sustainable development of businesses themselves, as well as of the community and society.

Promoting CSR should be an integral part of production and business strategies. It is also necessary to strengthen cooperation between European and Vietnamese businesses in order to develop cooperative ties between Europe and Asia, he said.

Beranek added that dealing with demanding customers today, the project will help businesses address environmental issues and promote social policies for more sustainable production in the future.

Paddy farmers still smiling

Paddy harvested from the ongoing autumn-winter rice crop is selling well, Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta farmers say.

Nguyen Van Lich, deputy chairman of Thuong Phuoc 1 Commune in Dong Thap Province's Hong Ngu District, said the lower quality IR 50404 paddy was sold for VND5,500 to VND5,600 per kg while high-quality paddy fetched VND5,900 to VND6,000 per kg – the same prices as last year's autumn-winter crop.

Lich said that at these prices, farmers can earn profits of VND3 million per hectare.

He said traders have tried to purchase all the paddy harvested from the fields.

The harvest of the autumn-winter rice crop began two weeks ago and will end in mid-October, said Lich.

According to the Plant Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta has some 682,000ha under this year's autumn-winter crop, an increase of 23,700ha over last year's autumn-winter crop.

These comprise 250,000ha in Dong Thap and An Giang provinces, 160,000 ha in the coastal provinces of Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, and 272,000ha in the provinces of Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Kien Giang and Hau Giang as well as Can Tho City.

Lich said Dong Thap authorities have asked farmers not to grow rice in areas outside embankment systems (in the autumn-winter crop) to prevent losses caused by floods.

However, some farmers were unhappy to see their fields left uncultivated and risked incur losses to sow seedlings on 375ha.

As they had began the crop very early, 90 per cent of these areas have been harvested while the water level was still low in the area, he said.

Offshore fishing goes online in Phu Yen
 
How to develop offshore fishing in central Phu Yen Province topped the agenda for discussion at an online dialogue on the Government Web Portal yesterday.

Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Aqua Exploiting and Protection Department Nguyen Ngoc Oai, Vice Chairman of Phu Yen People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc An and Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Tri Phuong participated in the dialogue.

Experts agreed that sea resources were very important industry for the province, which had a coastline of about 190km with many deep-water bays with great potential for expansion of lobster farming.

Last year, the province had its peak crop of 29,000 cages of lobsters with an annual output of more than 500 tonnes. By this August, 35,000 cages of lobsters have been set up with an estimated output of over 950 tonnes per year.

However, in recent years, many fishermen rushed to raise lobsters in cages that suffered from outbreaks of disease due to the high density of lobsters. This resulted in big losses for local farmers, as many cages were set up in the same areas.

The same situation occurred a few years ago when people flocked into investing in lobsters after two years of bumper crops.

In addition, the raising of lobsters raised another problem for onshore aquaculture farmers, who also supplied the main feed for lobster farms. Development of lobster farming therefore threatened the exhaustion of aquaculture resources.

So far, onshore aquaculture farms have been the only food source for lobster farmers as Viet Nam have yet to produced lobster feed on an industrial scale.

"There were shortcomings in the master plan on sustainable farming development," said Vice Chairman of Phu Yen People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc An. "A specific plan on dividing zones for raising lobsters to better ensure against outbreaks of epidemics was also needed."

According to the experts, providing out-of-work fishermen with new jobs was among the key strategies in the coming time and the province needed to focus on developing industrial zones, tourism and services to create these jobs.

Currently, there are three economic zones in the province that bring job opportunities to tens of thousands of labourers. The province has approved the VND370 billion (US$17.7 million) project on providing vocational training to 30,000 labourers in the 2010-15 period and strengthened dissemination on vocational training and jobs for young people.

Deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Tri Phuong said that after a survey of fishing communities who either wished to switch jobs or continue earning a livelihood from the sea, the department developed three models.

Firstly, fishermen could move from fishing to farming or exploit offshore instead of onshore resources. They would need capital to buy offshore fishing vessels and the authority should ensure a system to help offshore fishermen cope with any financial problems.

Most of fishermen can not afford offshore vessels while a bank fund offering loans at a favourable interest rate of 6.5 per cent remained inadequate. Currently, the average interest rate of loan is about 15 per cent.

Secondly, those who volunteered to switch jobs should be given land for production and business. However, shortages and restrictions in the land fund made it difficult to implement.

Finally, a non-agriculture model would provide vocational training for former fishermen to work at economic and industrial zones.

In terms of build-up of sedimentation at some major ports such as Tam Quan Port in central Binh Dinh Province, Ward 6 Port in central Phu Yen Province and Hon Ro Port in central Khanh Hoa Province, Oai said the ministry had mobilised a research group to these provinces to study the situation, while the Institute of Scientific Research Irrigation was also tasked to solve the situation.

Phu Yen is a south-central coastal province with exploitation of seafood as its key economy activity. The value of seafood products accounted for 30 per cent of the total value of the province's agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

Sweet potato glut prompts search for new customers

Authorities and farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta are struggling to finding new sales outlets for sweet potatoes because of a market glut caused by expectations of high demand in export markets.

The expectations, fuelled by high prices in the Chinese market last year, had farmers cultivating the crop on large area, disregarding caution advised by authorities, local reports say.

Vinh Long Province has recommended that the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development help provinces with market forecasts that would help them control cultivation area at the beginning of each crop.

Authorities in Vinh Long, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Can Tho City say they were not able to control the cultivation of sweet potatoes on a large area.

Among these localities, Vinh Long has the largest cultivation area for sweet potatoes.

According to Nguyen Van Liem, deputy director of the Vinh Long Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province had 5,100ha of sweet potatoes in 2009, but it had increased to 9,800ha by August this year.

Nguyen Hoang Hoc, head of the Vinh Long People's Committee's office, said the spontaneous increase in sweet potato cultivation began after a bumper crop last year, when a tonne of sweet potatoes was priced at VND10 million for export to China.

Vinh Long's experience sparked increases in cultivation areas in Can Tho and Dong Thap of 700ha and 800ha respectively.

By May, harvested sweet potatoes began piling up in the province due to difficulties in export. Prices fell to VND1.7 million per tonne and dealers limited purchases, leaving farmers facing huge losses.

"The export of sweet potatoes is completely dependent on the China market. They stop buying at this time, so there's no way to deal with the piling up," said Son Van Luan, chairman of the Tan Thanh Sweet Potato Co-operative in Vinh Long.

The co-operative attempted to access the Malaysian market and won a contract to export 240 tonnes of sweet potatoes. However, this is not a significant amount compared to the quantity that has piled up in the delta provinces.

Dr Tu Van Binh of the HCM City Economic University advised the provinces to engage in trade promotion for sweet potatoes targeting Japan, the US, the UK, Indonesia and Singapore. He said there is a high demand for sweet potatoes in these countries.

Liem said authorities in the provinces should work closely with each other to control cultivation areas of the crop. He said farmers should also act together through co-operatives for better assessment of market needs.

Small delta rice dryers lose business to new technology

Last year, Tran Chi Tam's small paddy dryer in Can Tho City operated at full capacity during the rice-harvest season, but this year business has dropped dramatically.

"The small dryers are not operating as much because they do not meet paddy traders' needs to dry a large quantity at a high quality," he said.

Tam, who has provided drying services in Co Do District for 10 years, said his machines dried about 300 tonnes of paddy during a summer-autumn crop in previous years but only 70 tonnes for this year.

Even though the price of drying paddy has fallen by VND20,000 to VND120,000-140,000 a tonne, Tam still faced difficulty finding buyers.

Thousands of other owners of small paddy dryers in the Delta are also losing customers, who are increasingly choosing larger dryers that have a higher quality.

Co Do District has 200 dryers, but most of them have a small capacity and do not meet paddy traders' needs, according to the District's Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau.

Lam Minh Tri, the bureau head, said the district's dryers could dry only 40 per cent of the summer-autumn rice crop harvested during the rainy season.

"However, small dryers often do not produce high-quality dried paddy as their temperatures are under 40 degrees Celsius, and their products do not meet husking standards for export," he said.

Large dryers that have better technology have been operating at full capacity.

Nguyen Van Nhon, owner of eight large dryers in neighbouring An Giang Province's Phu Tan District, said the issue was one of quality, not price.

Even though many large dryers offer a price of VND180,000 a tonne, VND40,000-50,000 higher than the price of other dryers, traders are still willing to use them.

The paddy from these dryers has a lower rate of broken rice when it is husked, so traders earn a higher profit compared to paddy processed by small dryers.

The Mekong Delta has about 9,600 dryers that can dry 40-50 per cent of the Delta's summer-autumn crop, but most of them are small dryers, according to figures from Delta provinces.

The summer-autumn crop is harvested in the rainy season when the demand for dryers is higher. During the dry season, the rice crops are dried under the sun.

Dr. Pham Van Tan of the Southern Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology said that most traders bought fresh paddy at fields and dried it in modern dryers, so small dryers were losing their competitiveness.

Le Van Banh, head of the Cuu Long Rice Research Institute, said farmers should buy bigger drying machines with better technology.

"Modernisation in the paddy drying process is very important, especially when there is a labour shortage and traders are buying fresh paddy directly at the fields," he said.

Farmers urged to go organic, shun chemicals

Farmers should increase the use of bio-organic products in agricultural production because it would sustain the health of soils, preserve biodiversity and improve people's health, delegates said at a forum held in Mekong Delta's Can Tho City last week.

Viet Nam's agricultural sector has over the last three decades mainly relied on intensive farming techniques that use chemical fertilisers, pesticides and other products to raise crop productivity, said Duong Van Chin, deputy head of the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute.

Chin said the intensive farming method has caused severe ecological imbalances, making the land less fertile and increasing plant diseases.

In addition, land and water environments in rural areas have been seriously polluted due to abuse of crop protection chemicals, he said, adding that pesticide residues in farm produce was still high, he said.

Nowadays, many countries have begun adopting organic agricultural practices, increasing the use of green fertilisers, compost and biological pest control, with the areas devoted to organic farming increasing.

Viet Nam too has called for increased use of bio-organic products in agricultural production in recent years, but the areas under organic farming was still very low, accounting for only 0.2 per cent out of the total agricultural production land, Chin said.

"I think the organic agriculture will have great chance to develop in the coming time to provide safe products for local consumption and export," he said.

He enumerated several advantages of using bio-organic products over chemicals including reduced costs, zero pollution and preservation of ecological diversity.

The environmental advantage was the biggest one yet, said Dr Tran Van Hai of Can Tho University.

He said bio-organic products did not kill natural enemies of pests and increased product quality considerably.

Scientists have developed several bio-organic products that can be used as a control agent for many fungal diseases on rice and other fruit trees, he said.

Chin said the Mekong Delta has about 20 million tonnes of rice straw a year and farmers mostly burn them, causing pollution.

"If we spray a suitable volume of the fungus trichoderma into the straw, it will become organic fertiliser and help improve long-term soil fertility. This will help reduce costs and environmental pollution from using synthetic fertilisers," he said.

Pham Van Quynh, director of Can Tho City's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city has in recent years strengthened the use of bio-organic products in killing brown plant hoppers during the flowering time in rice.

"This method has been more effective than using large amounts of pesticides," he said.

The city has also used bio-fertilisers in planting vegetables and fruits, he said, adding that this not only helped increase crop productivity, but also resulted higher quality produce when compared with the use of chemical fertilisers.

The city planned to expand research and create more bio-organic products for plant protection, he said.

He said the city has conducted training and awareness programmes to instruct farmers in making bio-organic products themselves.

Nguyen Thanh Khinh, a farmer in Can Tho City's Thot Not District, said since applying bio-organic products in his rice field in 2009, his profit has increased by VND1.5-2 million per hectare.

Huynh Hai, a farmer in the same district, said the use of natural products has allowed him to save between VND2.5-3 million per hectare when compared with the use of chemical pesticides.

Phan Huy Thong, director of the National Agricultural Extension Center, said using bio-organic products in production was a must in modern agriculture, which targeted sustainable development as well as hygiene and safety.

"However, it does not mean that we absolutely stop using inorganic products in production, but that farmers must combine the use of bio-organic and in-organic products depending on actual circumstances," Thong said, calling for officials and farmers to be realistic in their planning and execution.

Currently, there are many kinds of bio-organic products available in the market, delegates told the forum, adding that the Government should develop concrete standards for these and enhance management of production and sales to ensure benefit of farmers.

In mapping out the country's development strategy for agriculture and rural development until 2020 with a vision up to 2030, the Government should pay more attention to organic agriculture development as the best way to ensure sustainable growth, Chin said.

More than 400 delegates, including scientists, provincial officials, agricultural scientists and farmers from many provinces and cities in the south attended the forum, which was co-organised by the National Agricultural Extension Center and Can Tho City's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Exports struggle to pick up price of pepper

The export price for Vietnamese pepper fell by 13.8 per cent in August to US$6,500 per tonne against July, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Nguyen Viet Chien, director of the ministry's Information and Statistics Centre, said the reduction in the export pepper price was due to high supply in the world market and low demand for pepper in Europe and Western Asia.

The export price of Vietnamese pepper was expected to continue reducing until the end of this year, Chien said.

Until this year end, the local pepper exporters would have pepper exports under signed export contracts and continue to wait for an increase in the export pepper price, he said.

The fall in price pushed the export value of pepper in August down by 12 per cent against July to $57 million, while the export volume of pepper in August surged lightly by 0.82 per cent month-on-month to 7,000 tonnes, he said.

However, the average export price of Vietnamese pepper in the first eight months saw a year-on-year increase of 25.3 per cent to $6,855 per tonne.

The nation gained a year-on-year increase of 3.7 per cent in total export value of pepper in the first eight months to $581 million but had a year-on-year decrease of 16.7 per cent in export volume to 83,000 tonnes of pepper.

In case world prices fall, farmers could have the choice of keeping their harvested pepper in stock to wait for prices to rise again, said the Viet Nam Pepper Association (VPA).

As a result of this, the VPA has warned pepper enterprises that they need to act with caution when deciding on purchase prices or signing any import and export contracts to avoid risks.

Viet Nam this year can earn up to $780 million from its pepper exports if the price of pepper remains at a high of more than $7,000 per tonne, said the association.

The total pepper export volume would reach between 110,000 and 115,000 tonnes.

Today, Viet Nam continues to be one of the world's leading pepper exporters, accounting for 40 - 50 per cent of the global volume.

Fuel costs trigger commodity rises
 
Commodity prices are expected to rise by 5 to 15 per cent in October, following higher costs for petrol, gas and other items in recent days, according to supermarkets in HCM City.

Local supermarkets said that suppliers had asked them to increase prices of some goods.

Nguyen Phuong Thao, director of Maximark Cong Hoa, told Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper that about 20 commodity suppliers had asked for an increase of 5 per cent, beginning in October.

A representative from the Co-opmart supermarket chain said 10 suppliers had asked for higher prices, particularly for garments and cosmetics.

The Citimart chain of stores, on the other hand, said, compared to other supermarkets, it had received more price-increase requests.

About 100 suppliers of processed food, cosmetics and home products had increased prices by 10-15 per cent, the Citimart representative said.

Because of ongoing low sales, the supermarkets feel pressured into increasing prices, but they are beginning to reconsider the level of acceptable prices.

Thao said that retailers were hesitant to add these suppliers' increases to their retail prices because it would affect their sales.

Many retailers are trying to keep the old prices, and some are accepting losses to solve the problem of too much inventory.

In Ha Noi, meanwhile, there has been no indication of price increases at supermarkets.

Dao Van Ky, who works at Minh Hoa supermarket, said the price of most foodstuff in his supermarket such as meat, egg and fish had remained stable, except for vegetables, which had seen price hikes because of rainy weather.

A representative of the Viet Nam Agricultural Products and Foodstuff Company said the price of transportation had also risen following petrol and gas hikes.

However, he said, only small suppliers wanted to increase prices. The big suppliers, who provide products to schools and supermarkets, were trying to keep prices stable.

He also said that his company would ask the authorities to offer more financial support to domestic breeders because the price of imported pork and chicken has been lower than locally-bred products.

Central coast told to review investment projects

Central coastal provinces and cities should review their master plans to ensure effective investment projects, said central region Development Consultancy Council head Tran Du Lich said.

Provinces and the council would provide a list of crucial projects of the agenda of a conference in Da Nang city next March.

"We should develop an overall plan of different industries in each province which would be an advantage and avoid overlapping." he said.

For example, Quang Ngai had already built an oil refinery plant in Dung Quat industry park so it wouldn't be appropriate to build other plants in neighbouring provinces, he said.

Deputy director of Quang Nam Investment and Planning Department Truong Quang Dung said the province had planned the Cua Dai Bridge project to link three big industrial parks with Da Nang, to be completed in 2015.

"The project needs an investment capital of VND3.8 trillion (US$180 million), of which 50 per cent will come from Government bonds," Dung said. "The bridge ould help boost tourism between Da Nang and Hoi An."

Lich said Binh Dinh Province had been planned as a centre of wood and seafood processing.

"We'll look at proonged sustainable and suitabl development in the region. However, each province should check whether projects are needed," he said.

Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen provinces could share infrastructre projects already operating, uch as airports, sea ports or oil refinery plant.

Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan, two newly recruited provinces in the Co-operation and Development Coastal Centre Region Group, were set to build centres of tourism, plus wind and solar power plants. Ninh Thuan was scheduled as location for a nuclear power plant.

Region industrial parks had attracted 943 projects, of which 775 involved foreign direct investment, with a total capital of over US$1.3 billion.

Dung Quat EZ set for more growth

The central Quang Ngai Province has proposed that 10 per cent of the annual revenue from Dung Quat Economic Zone to 2015, equal to VND1.5 trillion (US$71.5 million) per year, be spent to develop the EZ's infrastructure.

Developing the infrastructure system played a significant role in attracting investments into the zone, which was set to reach US$13 billion by 2015 in the IZ master plan, according to Pham Nhu So, vice chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

The Prime Minister recently approved a plan to expand the EZ about 4.5 times in area to 45,332ha by 2025, with the goal of turning it into an open industrial city.

Dung Quat EZ was among five coastal economic zones around the country to be prioritised in receiving investments from the State's budget in the next three years.

So said after the Prime Minister's decision to expand the zone, a rising number of investors have come to seek investment opportunities.

He pointed out that a 1,200MW thermoelectric plant of Semcorp Group and a 1,200ha-Viet Nam – Singapore Industrial Park were being invested with the total registered capital of up to $3 billion.

The province was currently speeding up the implementation of key road projects such as Doc Soi-Dung Quat Port, Tri Binh – Dung Quat and Tinh Phong – Dung Quat 2.

The Dung Quat EZ would enhance co-operation with neighbouring Chu Lai Economic Zone in Quang Nam Province in developing a synchronous and supplementary infrastructure system between the two zones. Chu Lai Airport would also be expanded.

There were also plans for Dung Quat 2 Port, which was designed to harbour ships of up to 300,000 DWT.

The port was a prerequisite condition for the development of the Dung Quat Heavy Industry Park, which would cover an area of 5,000ha for heavy industry and another 2,000ha for support industries.

By 2015, the EZ aimed to generate VND7.5 trillion ($357.2 million) to develop its infrastructure.

Viet Nam beset by double standards

Improved accounting, auditing and governance standards would help improve the running of investors' operations, said participants at a conference held yesterday in HCM City.

According to Dang Thai Hung, director of Accounting and Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance, the Viet Nam Accounting Standards do not match the new development in the country's economy, particularly since the stock market began operation in 2000.

Currently, businesses that have high standards for management apply international financial reporting standards, while others use Vietnamese ones.

There should be harmony between the two standards so that investors can make comparisons between companies, in terms of turnover, asset value, reserves and profits, said Andy Ho, managing director of VinaCapital.

He cited the case of a major European company planning to acquire a food company in Viet Nam. The company needs these factors for evaluation.

He also complained about recent information in the media about several banks' financial reports that did not match the analyses of experts. That had also caused concerns for investors.

Figures in financial reports without adequate explanations were of no use, he said.

There should be specific guidelines from authorities on the disclosure of information that could affect the company and its prices.

The announcement of business targets should be accompanied with who is specifically responsible for the realised targets.

Participants at the event also raised the issue of corporate governance, which is important in protecting assets and optimising shareholder benefits.

Current internal auditing to ensure transparency, which is regulated by the Ministry of Finance and covers State-owned enterprises, should be applied to businesses in all economic sectors, they said.

Bui Hoang Hai, deputy director of the Securities Issuance Department under the State Securities Commission of Viet Nam, said one of its most important tasks was to protect the benefits of investors via policies to ensure timely information that is released with transparency.

This highlights the role of accounting and auditing standards as well as corporate governance.

During the seminar, the report "Putting Investors at the Heart of the Financial System," carried out by the auditing and consulting firm Grant Thornton Viet Nam and ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), was released.

The report is based on insights gained from a series of roundtable discussions in different markets held by the two groups.

The report reveals that investors want publicly listed companies to provide more forecasts as well as information to help analysts create and evaluate forecasts.

Investors also see the potential for the development of integrated reporting to help fill some of the information gaps.

Integrated reporting that more closely aligns risk management with performance and the provision of clear environmental, social and governance reports could also enhance investor confidence in the management's ability to perform in the future.

The report also shows that while investors believe their needs are too often overlooked, they also acknowledge that they need to play a greater role in the development of new accounting standards.

VDC offers promotion for Southerners

New customers of the Viet Nam Datacommunications Company (VDC) who reside in central Ninh Thuan Province and southernmost Ca Mau Province can benefit from a promotion offer that lasts until October 20.Customers registering for web hosting, virtual servers, anasd email services during this period will not have to pay any installation fee. They will also receive a phone card, a laptop backpack and a shopping voucher.

VN, S.Korea boost cooperation

A delegation from the South Korean city of Busan last Friday made a fact-finding tour to the southern province of Binh Duong to seek ways to strengthen economic co-operation between the two localities.

Vice chairman of Binh Duong's People's Committee Tran Van Nam briefed the delegation on the provinces' recent socio-economic development, with contributions from Busan investors.

On behalf of the delegation, parliamentarian Lee Kyeung Chun expressed special interest in the investment environment of Binh Duong.

More than 400 South Korean-funded businesses currently operate in Binh Duong.-

Chu Lai EZ approves 14 new projects

The Chu Lai Open Economic Zone (EZ) has granted licences to 14 new projects over the first eight months of this year, worth a combined US$271 million, fulfilling 90 per cent of its yearly target, the board has announced.

Up to August, the EZ-located enterprises have generated $38.4 million from exports.-

Vung Ang withdraws development licence

The Vung Ang Economic Zone Management Board has decided to revoke the investment licence of an US$88 million urban development project in the zone.

Deputy head of the board Ngo Dinh Van attributed the decision to the project's slow implementation and law violations.

The project, being developed by Thai Thanh TeaSung Construction Co, received its investment certificate in October 2010.