Vinh Long lures 514 million USD for social development

The Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long expects to mobilise 10.8 trillion VND (514 million USD) for its social development this year, up 6.35 percent against 2013.

To achieve this goal, the province has increased investment promotion activities in Japan , the Netherlands and Belgium as well as assisted its businesses in joining domestic and international seminars and trade fairs.

It has focused on developing urban areas and trade centres to call for investment, especially from foreign businesses, while providing incentives for investors, diversifying capital mobilisation forms and streamlining administrative procedures.

Vinh Long is now home to 322 projects worth 1.24 billion USD in total, with 28 of them invested by foreign businesses.

This year, the province granted investment licences to three FDI projects capitalised at 33.1 million USD.

Vietnam looks for closer trade ties with Kuwait

The Vietnamese and Kuwait business communities should further foster cooperation to narrow their trade gap and raise two-way trade to 1 billion USD in the future, a Vietnamese economic expert has said.

Deputy Director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’s Ho Chi Minh City branch Nguyen The Hung made the suggestion during a workshop in the city on December 12, which aimed to provide Vietnamese firms with necessary information on opportunities to make deeper inroads into the Middle Eastern country.

Domestic enterprises must actively study the demand of the Kuwaiti market to promote export and import activities, trade and investment in the country, Hung said.

Efforts made by the Vietnamese and Kuwait Governments to boost their all-around cooperation, especially in oil and gas, education and tourism, will help create more trade and investment links between the two countries and their businesses, he noted.

Sharing Hung’s view, Abdulraman Alothaina from the Kuwait Consulate General in HCM City voiced that Vietnamese firms should actively introduce their products in his country through organising fact-finding tours, exhibitions and fairs, thus setting up partnerships with Kuwaiti businesses.

Vietnamese enterprises can invest in Kuwait in the domains of infrastructure, oil refinery, health, tourism, banking and finance and urban development, the diplomat noted.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Kuwait in 2013 hit over 740 million USD, including only 35.3 million USD worth of Vietnamese exports. The respective figures for the first ten months of this year were 555 million USD and 53.7 million USD.

Vietnam mainly shipped farm and aquatic products, vegetables and fruits, green tea, products from grains to Kuwait while importing fuel and industrial products from this market.

SBV orders tighter measures for bad debt management

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) this week required its branches nationwide to adopt stricter, more comprehensive measures to accelerate progress in restructuring debt and resolving non-performing loans (NPLs).

The move by the central bank is considered to be part of its efforts to meet the task assigned to the banking sector to reduce the number of NPLs to less than 3 percent of all loans by next year, a target approved by the National Assembly last month.

Guided by Document 9332/NHNN-TTGSNH, SBV Governor Nguyen Van Binh instructed the branches to closely monitor the NPLs of local credit institutions and their progress in handling these loans in accordance with the central bank's instructions. Regular assessment of the way NPLs are being handled is necessary in order to meet the central bank's target on schedule.

The branches must also make regular and close inspections of credit institutions, especially ailing and ineffective ones with high NPL ratios.

The branches were also instructed to improve cooperation efforts with the relevant local agencies to ease difficulties in dealing with guaranteed assets in order to speed up the process of resolving NPLs.

After a year of implementing strict measures to resolve NPLs including making risk provisions and selling bad debts on behalf of the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC), the NPL ratios of many credit institutions have improved significantly.

VIB, for example, after accepting a profit reduction and setting aside roughly 560 billion VND (26.29 million USD) for risk provisions, reported NPLs of 2.19 percent by the end of the third quarter, down 19 percent against the same period last year.

The VAMC reported that it has bought more than 100 trillion VND (4.76 billion USD) in bad debts so far, of which, debts worth some 65 trillion VND (3.10 billion USD) were purchased this year alone.

According to the Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper, the company sold and recovered about 4 trillion VND (190.48 million USD) of the debts.

VAMC Chairman Nguyen Quoc Hung told the newspaper that the firm's greatest challenge currently lay in determining how the debts can be sold while ensuring that the interests of both the banks and the borrowers are served.

A complete mechanism for dealing with property mortgages has not yet been put in place. Thus, accelerating debt processing is still difficult, he said.

"If the VAMC sold debts at any price, the damage for the banks and the borrowers would be significant. Besides, it is not easy to find bad-debt buyers at a time when market conditions are still tough," he added.

In a move to ease the pressure on the VAMC, the central bank has so far submitted to the government a draft document revising Decree No53/2013/ND-CP, which regulates the establishment and organisation of the VAMC.

In the draft, the central bank suggests that the charter capital of the company be raised to 2 trillion VND (95.24 million USD) from the current 500 billion VND (23.81 million USD).-

SBV to support high-tech agriculture

The State Bank of Vietnam's An Giang branch will give 3 trillion VND (142.8 million USD) to high-tech projects in agriculture in the southern An Giang province.

Announcing this in a meeting here on December 17, the bank's branch director Le Trong Nghia said that the fund will be available for the owners of high-tech agricultural projects, as approved by the provincial leaders.

The borrowers will enjoy a maximum interest rate of seven percent on short-term loans and 10.5 percent per year on medium-term and long-term loans.

Priority will be given to owners who are provided training in applying advanced technology in agriculture.

Phan Van Sau, secretary of the An Giang provincial party committee, lauded the contribution that the bank has made to its agricultural and rural development sector.

Sau added that the province will create convenient conditions for the bank and borrowers to effectively use the fund, and develop the provincial agriculture sector.

An Giang has focused on developing eight groups of farm produce since 2012, including rice, vegetables, fisheries and fruits. The province has 22,200ha of large fields for rice cultivation and 35ha for planting medicinal herbs. Farmers earn 25 million VND (1,190 USD) per ha of medicinal herbs and more than 200 million VND (9,523 USD) per ha of banana trees.-

Conference focuses on TPP challenges

A meeting to review opportunities and challenges of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to the national economy was held in Ho Chi Minh City on December 18.

Representatives of the southern regions’ business community highlighted the need for information support and legal guidelines to utilise investment and business opportunities in the context of the country’s further integration into the world economy and Vietnam’s participation in TPP.

TPP’s member countries are potential markets for Vietnam, accounting for 40 percent of GDP and 30 percent of the total export-import revenue worldwide.

Head of the National Institute for Finance Vu Nhu Thang said that, in the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam’s imports from these countries reached 27,921 million USD, equivalent to 23 percent of its total import value. It exported 48,368 million USD to these countries, amounting to 39 percent of export value.

Further, in terms of investment, 11 member countries account for nearly 32 percent of the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam.

Officials note that it is a necessary preparation for Vietnam to evaluate opportunities and challenges when joining TPP, as well as analyse the impacts of the agreement to the country’s market. Therefore, enterprises and the nation’s economy could utilise such advantages effectively.

Ngo Chung Khanh, deputy head of the Ministry’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said opportunities for Vietnam include export-import market mechanism improvement, regional and global production chains, institutional environmental improvements, production capacity creation and job creation.

However, the TPP agreement also creates competitive pressure and social impacts upon the country. Therefore, Vietnam needs to make efforts to adjust its legal system and management capacity, he added.

The TPP has been discussed at more than 20 official negotiation sessions and is expected to be signed next year.

The conference was organised by the National Institute for Finance and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Course improves skills to promote trade in EU market

A training course to develop strategies and improve skills to promote trade in the EU market was opened in the southern province of Kien Giang on December 18.

The two-day event is jointly held by the Export Promotion Centre (PROMOCEN) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Trade Promotion Department, the Tourism, Commerce and Investment Promotion Centre of Kien Giang province (KITRA), and the European Trade Policy and Investment Support Project (EU-MUTRAP).

According to KITRA Deputy Director Nguyen Giai Phong, the EU is a potential market posing both opportunities and challenges to Vietnamese businesses. The course is expected to help organisations and enterprises in the locality and surrounding areas to increase their capacity of accessing this market.

More than 50 participants are equipped with trade promotion knowledge and skills as well as methods of building strategies for small- and medium-sized enterprises to enter the EU market.

After the course, the trainees will be able to assess the effectiveness of each form of trade promotion and select suitable ones for their businesses. They will know how to build, develop and protect the trademarks of their products and services.

Beijing workshop analyses Vietnam-China economic ties

Potential, opportunities, and challenges of the economic cooperation between Vietnam and China came under the spotlight at a workshop in Beijing, China, on December 17 with a view to working out measures beefing up their ties in the field.

Addressing the event, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Van Tho said the two countries have made considerable strides in their economic, trade, and investment relations despite some unsolved issues. They are also implementing a five-year plan on developing economic and commercial linkages for the 2012-2016 period.

By November 2014, two-way trade reached 53.41 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 26.1 percent. The two countries target a trade turnover of 60 billion USD in 2015.

Over the past years, China has always been Vietnam’s largest trade partner while Vietnam has become the second biggest ASEAN trade partner of China, after Indonesia. China now ranks ninth among countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation with a total investment of 7.94 billion USD.

Both countries are also parties to several regional connectivity mechanisms which are shaping up such as the upgraded ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank initiative, Tho said.

During the workshop, held by the Vietnamese Embassy and the ASEAN-China Centre, participants shared the view that the two countries hold enormous potential and opportunities in economic and trade cooperation.

They pointed out to problems and challenges of their ties and stressed that the nations need to further bring into play their similarities and potential, reduce Vietnam’s excessive import of Chinese goods, improve the quality of investment cooperation, and build infrastructure in line with their development models and orientations.

Attendees also suggested the countries make use of development chances brought by bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements and regional connectivity.

Mobile World's profits up

The The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World) Joint Stock Company has reached a post-tax profit of VND609 billion (US$29 million) after 11 months, 140 per cent of the annual target, the company has announced.

The revenue during this period was more than VND14 trillion ($666 million), as much as 108 per cent of the annual target.

In November alone, the revenue was over VND1.6 trillion ($76 million), significantly surging by 70 per cent year-on-year.

The company also announced that it will reach the target to open 350 outlets nationwide by the end of the month.

In November, it opened 19 outlets. Last Friday, the company opened four new outlets in HCM City.

CEO Nguyen Duc Tai said his company had reached all annual targets, including an expansion of their system. They had also increased sales and profits, and had improved services.

Lotte Mart opens new store

The South Korean retailer Lotte Mart yesterday opened its 10th supermarket in Viet Nam in Tan Binh District of HCM City, contributing to its expansion nationwide.

Located at 20 Cong Hoa Street, Lotte Mart Tan Binh has investment capital of US$9 million and covers an area of over 8,500sq.m.

The supermarket sells more than 30,000 items, including essential commodities, clothes and fresh food, of which 90-95 per cent is locally made.

To mark its opening, the supermarket is offering attractive discounts on more than 1,000 items from December 18 to 24. In addition, customers will have a chance to win valuable gifts from a lucky draw.

Lotte Mart, which came to Viet Nam in 2008, plans to have 60 stores nationwide by 2020.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MoPI), the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) on December 17 held their first meeting to enforce the recently signed macro-economic management regulation.

Under the chair of MoPI Minister Bui Quang Vinh, the meeting focused on three topics including the management and regulation of macro-economic norms in Q1 and the whole year of 2015 and the formulation and cooperative mechanisms of relevant ministries, agencies and organizations.

Earlier, the regulation was inked on December 1, 2014 under the witness of PM Nguyen Tan Dung and other Government members.

The document aimed to realize Decision No.1317/QĐ-TTg, dated August 6, 2013 on approving the scheme on reforming the coordinating mechanism in managing and controlling the macro-economy, especially for the policies of finance, monetary, credit, investment, trade and prices.  

The regulation stipulates that the MoPI is in charge of presiding over and assessing cooperative outcomes in managing macro-economic norms. Each ministry is responsible for establishing a coordinating team to conduct the regulation.  

It  also regulates cooperation in building and proposal of annual, medium and long term macro-economic orientations especially on economic growth rates, inflation, State budget collection, trade and consumption balance.

The four ministries are also in charge of cooperating; consulting and sharing informations with each other to compose, implement, supervise, evaluate, explain the implementation of policies on investment, resorce allocation, monetary, credit, trade, export and consumption.  

Specifically, the MoPI chairs the building and management of economic growth focusing on GDP growth rate, total social investment, State credit, investment of all types of enterprises, PPP model and social consumption.

The SBV builds and manages inflation goals especially total credit growth of the economy, total means of payment, interest rate, balance of payment and exchange rates.

The MoF is responsible for fiscal policies including balance of buget collection and spending, State budget overspending, management of debts and foreign debt payment, public debts.  

The MoIT is in charge of regulating domestic trade, export, import, trade balance, particularly the development of the domestic market, export-import and trade balace.

Foreign-invested cinemas going places, owners keep expanding to new business in VN

Foreign film distribution and screening companies haveoverwhelmingly dominated the local market and their operators already began taking up other business opportunities in Vietnam.

Several such companies have launched new cineplexes with increased numbers of theaters and seats in time for Christmas, New Year and especially Tet (Lunar New Year) – the country’s biggest traditional holiday – which kicks off on February 19, 2015.

They have also tried to lure cinema goers by offering discounts on new flicks and showing previously launched films for free.

CJ CGV – the largest multiplex cinema chain in South Korea, which also has branches in China and the United States – has consolidated its dominant position in the Vietnamese film market by opening three new cineplexes this month.

According to a CJ CGV Vietnam representative, the group inaugurated on Tuesday the CGV Big C Dong Nai in Bien Hoa City, some 30 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City.

Their two other new cinemas, CGV Vincom Ha Long in the northern province of Quang Ninh  and CGV Thao Dien Pearl in Ho Chi Minh City, are slated to come online next Thursday – Christmas Day – and on Saturday next week, respectively.

The cineplexes boast hi-end technology, tasteful decor and comfy seats, and couples can also sit intimately in Sweetbox seats.

The screening rooms are equipped with uniquely shaped lounges and eye-catching film posters, allowing young cinema goers to chat and pose for selfies and wefies before show time.

CJ CGV caused quite a stir when it purchased Megastar, Vietnam’s once largest multiplex, in an over US$70 million deal in 2011.

Vietnam was still a limited movie market back then.

At that time, Megastar owned seven multiplexes worth a total of $38 million, which accounted for 60 percent of the country’s box office revenue.

Since the takeover, CJ CGV cinemas have screened more Korean movies alongside a large number of Hollywood pictures.

CJ CGV launched its representative office in Vietnam in the early 2000s.

Tae Sun Jung, head of the representative office of CJ E&M – a subsidiary of CJ Group – told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in July this year that they are cooperating with local producers in creating films both to make money and help tap into the country’s fledgling yet potential film industry.

With Vietnam producing only 15-20 flicks every year, CJ E&M aims at making three to five films annually.

The three new cineplexes have raised CJ CGV Vietnam’s total number of cinemas to 21, with 139 screening halls, including two 4DX rooms, forty-one 3D rooms, ninety-six 2D rooms, and roughly 20,000 seats.

The CJ CGV Vietnam representative said the CGV Art House project will be initiated for the first time next year in a bid to provide an impetus for the country’s movie industry. The cinema operator aims to increase the number of cineplexes to 30 by 2017.

Korean group Lotte Cinema has announced the launch of its new Lotte cinema in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, which is scheduled for Friday next week.

The new cinema, which boasts five screening halls and 664 seats, will take the group’s total number of cinemas throughout Vietnam to 16, with 69 screening rooms and 10,803 seats.

In 2008, Lotte Cinema purchased Diamond multiplexes before launching new theaters adjacent to Lotte supermarkets.

The group plans to increase the number of cineplexes to 70 in the next five years.

Since the launch of its own multiplexes in Vietnam, every month Lotte Cinema has shown new Korean movies, which usually have simple plot lines and star popular Korean actors and actresses.

CJ and Lotte currently own 30 of the 40 multiplexes nationwide, three-fourths of the “pie” of the Vietnamese film market.

Apart from doing business in cinemas, film production and distribution, both groups have also started offering other services in Vietnam.

While CJ has opened eateries and the bakery chain Tous les Jours, Lotte has launched Lotte Mart, which sells Western and Korean products.

Last week, Galaxy Cinema, a trademark of the Vietnamese firm Thien Ngan, opened its new 1,024-seat cinema in Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City.

The cinema, with seven screening halls, is the district’s first standard facility.

The addition raises the number of Galaxy cinemas in the city to five, with 25 screening halls and 5,073 seats.

The cinema operator has handed away vouchers for viewers to watch older films for free and offered up to 50 percent discounts on new films to celebrate its inauguration.

KMW seeks investment opportunities in Ha Nam

A delegation from the Korean telecommunication corporation KMW was impressed with the investment environment in the northern Ha Nam province during a working visit, Vietnamplus reported.

At the meeting with the provincial leaders on December 17, KMW Director Dae-Ik Yoo appreciated the convenient investment environment that the province has created for foreign enterprises.

Good policies to attract investment, a convenient location near the capital city and organised transport network made the province an attractive destination for foreign investors, including Korean ones, the KMW leader admitted.   

He added that if KMW invests in Ha Nam, the province will become a telecommunications hub not only of the northern region, but of the whole country.

Mai Tien Dung, chairman of the provincial people's council, emphasised that the province has always granted favourable conditions to foreign investors, including those from South Korea.

The province gives priority to small and medium-sized projects, high-tech, telecommunications and environment-friendly industries.

Dung also revealed that Ha Nam has some industrial zones that are waiting for investors.

Currently, the province is home to 57 projects from South Korea, accounting for 48 per cent of the FDI projects with a total investment capital of about US$250 million.

A source from Bloomberg Business Week said that KMW Inc designs, develops and manufactures various air interface products for communication service companies worldwide. The company offers black hole filters, remote radio heads and antennas, as well as filter units and tower-mounted and high-power amplifiers.

It also provides LED lighting products, such as streetlights, area/security lights, and internal and lighting products, as well as floodlights, sports lights and IT-converged LED lighting products, besides safety helmets.

The company was founded in 1991, with its headquarters in Hwasung, South Korea.

Bayer CropScience supports Vietnam rice farming

Bayer CropScience Vietnam is working on a four-point action plan to boost rice farming and the agriculture sector in Vietnam as a whole, thus helping local farmers improve their incomes, said Torsten Velden, country head of Bayer CropScience Vietnam. Mr. Velden shared this information at the Rice Symposium 2014 held in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho late last week. More than 250 participants representing key stakeholders from across the public and private sector nationwide gathered at the event to discuss issues faced by rice farmers.

At the event, speakers and experts discussed the current state of Vietnam’s rice cultivation sector as it is a foundation for enterprises in the industry to map out sound strategies and action plans.

While Vietnam has seen rice export volume increasing year after year, the added value of exported rice has barely followed suit. Farmers are mostly low-income earners and do not have much funding for technology, seeds and crop protection products to help them increase output and improve their livelihood.

In addition, most farmers are small growers or family-run businesses, meaning that rice production is mostly carried out on a small scale, resulting in higher costs. Meanwhile, there are many stakeholders involved in the rice production process from seed to table.

Key stakeholders and participants at the symposium agreed that there is an urgent need to look into harvest technologies to help improve productivity and output, and boost the branding of Vietnam rice to increase its competitive edge over neighboring countries.

With a close relation with the objectives, Velden updated Bayer CropScience Vietnam’s activities towards realization of its action plan to fuel the growth of rice farming in the nation.

First tabled at the rice symposium last year, the plan outlines four key areas to drive a holistic approach towards increasing rice yields and advancing world food security and food safety. These include leading innovations to address the key challenges of rice farming through new solutions, improving farmer capability by providing them with tools, technology and training, raising agricultural productivity in an environmentally-compatible and sustainable manner, and expanding partnerships across the rice value chain and between the public and private sector.

Over the past year, the plan reported the strong progress that Bayer has made towards realizing its action plan, Velden said.

Moreover, Bayer inaugurated a SeedGrowth Center in Can Tho in June. The first such facility in Vietnam showcases modern seed treatment technology and machinery and provides an integrated system for on-seed application, helping minimize the impact of pests and diseases as well as lowering the instances of chemical use and handling.

By introducing this new technology and making it available to farmers, Bayer for the first time is providing farmers with a solution to control the rice blast disease from sowing without interrupting their traditional process of soaking.

Regarding the Rice Value Chain (RVC) project which Bayer started last year, Velden said that the concept has expanded to more provinces covering a larger area, with the number of participating farmers double. RVC farmers have seen an average decrease of 9% in input costs versus an increase of 6% in yield, leading to a 30% increase in profit.

The Better Rice Initiative Asia (BRIA) is another key partnership that Bayer has undertaken with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) under the German Food Partnership to improve the rice value chain in Vietnam. Since the roll-out of BRIA, Velden said that they have observed an improvement in livelihood options for rice farmers in three provinces, as a result of an ecologically sustained increase in rice production and an improved linkage to quality markets. Bayer will continue to roll out the BRIA initiative in three more provinces next year.

The need for more and closer collaboration across the value chain is more pertinent now than ever. On December 18, the global rice production still fails to meet consumption needs, but this increasing demand has not translated into higher rice prices and, in turn, improved incomes for Vietnamese rice farmers, he stressed.

“By linking these smallholder farmers with value chain partners such as rice millers, distributors and retailers, as well as with global food processors, Bayer has enabled farmers to enjoy more assurance with the sale of their harvests and the prices of their produce. At the same time, they now have access to the necessary tools, technology and training to help them increase their productivity and yields.” Velden added.

LG Electronics leases more land in Trang Due IP

LG Electronics yesterday signed a land-lease agreement for the second stage of the firm’s investment expansion in the northern port city of Haiphong following the successful implementation of the first phase.

A signing ceremony for the in-principal agreement in land sub-lease between LG Electronics, Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corporation (KBC) and Saigon- Haiphong Industrial Park Corporation (SHP) took place on December 18. Accordingly, LG Electronics is going to rent additional 40 hectares of land at the Trang Due Industrial Park (IP) for its second stage of expansion plans.

Back in January 2013, LG Electronics made an influencial decision to invest in Haiphong. It chose KBC’s Trang Due IP to build its manufacturing plant to produce electronic components with the total investment capital of $1.5 billion. LG Electronics signed a 40ha-land lease agreement with KBC at that time. LG Electronics was granted an investment certificate by the Haiphong Municipal Economic Zones Management Authority in June 2013.

Since then, LG Electronics has been actively speeded up the construction of plant in the Trang Due IP. The plant has been regarded as one of the fastest-built facilities in Haiphong and it has been put into trial production.

KBC is also inviting LG Electronics’ suppliers to set up shop at the Trang Due IP. To this end, the IP developer has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean Electronics Association and other electronics part manufacturers in Korea.

The Trang Due IP has become an important part of the port city’s Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Economic Zone since 2013. In 2015, KBC hopes to draw in further investment projects from Korea.

Giant fish sell like hot cakes in Ho Chi Minh City restaurants

A Siamese giant carp weighing 127kg was sold within three days at a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City at a costly price of three or four million Vietnamese dong (US$144-192) per kilogram.

Because it is highly sought-after and sold at expensive prices, most Siamese giant carp (‘cá hô’ in Vietnamese), whose the scientific name is Catlocarpio siamensis, caught in the wild are coming to big cities like Ho Chi Minh City.

Ly Nhat Hieu, the owner of HD restaurant in District 4, said his guests have to place an order sometimes years in advance so that they can enjoy the precious meat of a big fish.

Hieu recalled he was notified that a fisherman in Mang Thit District of the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long had caught a giant Siamese carp, and he immediately set off for the destination.

Three hours later, the owner clinched a deal with the fisherman to take home the 127kg fish for VND162.6 million ($7,800), or VND1.28 million ($61.5) per kilogram.

This was at midnight on December 7.

Hieu explained that, “This kind of fish at that weight level is invaluable because you may not be able to buy it even when you have money.

“We can only buy this once every few months or years. Clients placed an order before so I have to get it immediately.”

The fish was frozen and taken to his restaurant while dozens of clients sat waiting.

Seven or eight restaurant staffers slaughtered the fish with an electric saw because the scales and bones were so tough.

The most expensive and popular parts of the fish include the cartilage round its lips, as well as the bladder, stomach and breast, which are sold for around VND4 million ($192) a kilogram.

The meat is often prepared for processing with vinegar. The fiber in the muscles is firm, bright red and alternates with layers of yellow fat.

“I heard that a giant carp kept in a pond can weigh up to nearly 10kg after many years. In the wild, a 100kg fish must live long and collect good nutrition,” said a guest at the restaurant.

Several guests have flown from Hanoi to the restaurant to enjoy the meat of the fish and take home a few kilograms as gifts for family and friends.

Previously the restaurant had a ‘cá tra dầu’, a giant catfish that weighed 230kg, but it was sold within two weeks. The giant catfish, Pangasianodon gigas, is a very big and critically endangered species, native to the Mekong basin in Southeast Asia and adjacent China.

Once, Hieu was hesitant to buy a ‘cá hô’ since it was too expensive, but his guests chipped in with thirty or forty million Vietnamese dong ($1,442-1,900) each to bring the fish home.

Another restaurant, LS in District 9, bought a 128kg ‘cá hô’ which sold after a week, but dozens of clients asked and ordered the fish meat later, said the restaurant manager, Nguyen Quoc Thai.

Fish as big as 20-30kg each are not rare here, he added.

To have fish of 100kg or more, restaurant owners have to set up their own networks at ports, even in Cambodia which has a giant lake – Tonle Sap – with different species of big fish.

Many ‘cá tra dầu’ weighing over 100kg have been bought from Tonle Sap and taken to Vietnam, said Nguyen Thi The Thu, the owner of aquatic product shop Bay Thu in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Big fish like ‘cá hô’ and ‘cá tra dầu’ are banned from being caught because they are listed as endangered species, according to Tran Dinh Vinh – head of the department for the protection of aquatic products in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development even has an ordinance prohibiting the export of these species of fish.

In reality, ‘cá hô’ is banned from being fished because it is so much rarer in nature, but it is now well bred in ponds and ‘cá hô’ of 10kg each are ready for commercial purposes.

Fishing them should be seen as normal in that case, but the ban is now in place so it is still a violation if someone catches the fish, Vinh said.

Goldmark City launched in Hanoi

Viet Han Real Estate Construction and Trading Company on December 18 signed an exclusive management, operation and development agreement with TNR Holdings Vietnam to develop the Goldmark City project in Hanoi.

Situated at 136 Ho Tung Mau street in the west of Hanoi, Goldmark City covers 12 hectare and has ideal location next to the under construction elevated railway, a great convenience for transport access in and out of the new city project location.

On this occasion, a range of other strategic cooperation contracts were signed between Viet Han, TNR Holdings Vietnam and their contractors and partners including Cotec Construction Company, Vietnam Maritime Bank, Bredon Education Development Company and Century Real Estate Joint Stock Company.

Goldmark City is one of only some projects at the west of Hanoi which is being developed in a green environment equipped with high-end facilities and services.

The complex consists of nine 40 storey buildings which will offer around 5,000 apartments.

According to Nguyen Van Nhan, representative from TNR Holdings Vietnam, Goldmark will bring a Singapore living style for buyers in which residents can enjoy green, clean safety and friendly environment.

Maritime Bank is also offering favourable financial package of instalment payment for Goldmark City’s home buyers.

More supermarkets open in HCMC, Mekong

Saigon Co.op on December 17 inaugurated a supermarket in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap while Lotte Mart opens a new store in HCMC’s Tan Binh District on December 18.

Co.opmart Cao Lanh is the 15th store of Saigon Co.op in the Mekong Delta and the 74th nationwide of Saigon Co.op. The 8,000-square-meter, VND140-billion facility sells more than 30,000 products, including items the enterprise has registered for the price stabilization program in HCMC.

Nguyen Thanh Nhan, deputy general director of Saigon Co.op, said Co.opmart Cao Lanh plays an important role in completing the enterprise’s distribution chain for products of the price stabilization program and Vietnamese goods in 13 localities in the Mekong Delta region.

Lotte Mart’s new store in HCMC is part of the leading South Korean retailer’s strategy to expand in Vietnam after six years it entered this market. Lotte Mart Tan Binh is located at 20 Cong Hoa Street, Tan Binh District, where Pico Plaza was situated before its shutdown early this year.

A source from Lotte Mart said the company has leased space from Pico for a long term.

The US$9-million facility covers an area of 8,500 square meters and stocks more than 30,000 products, with 90-95% of them made in Vietnam.

More Vietnamese nurses to work in Japan

Around 500 Vietnamese nurses and caregivers will be sent to Japan for guest work until 2016 to meet the increasing demand in that country in a program within the Vietnam-Japan economic partnership agreement (EPA).

The first group of 138 Vietnamese health workers came to Japan in 2012. They had been chosen as they hold the N3 Japanese language proficiency certificate and understand the Japanese language for everyday conversations. They have been working at clinics and healthcare centers in Japan.

Last year, 179 Vietnamese were recruited to take part in Japanese courses. They will start to work at healthcare facilities in Japan from May next year if they pass language tests.

The Overseas Labor Management Department under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs has begun the third Japanese course for 180 health workers and they will to go to work in Japan in 2016.

In all, nearly 500 Vietnamese will work in Japan by 2016 if they can pass tests on Japanese and earn the N3 certificate.

Last year marked the first year when the number of Vietnamese apprentices sent to Japan has ever reached 10,000. The figure is expected to exceed 17,000 this year.

Do Hai Nam, deputy head of the Overseas Labor Management Department, said that Japan needs around 2,000 health workers a year, and the demand is predicted to soar in the next ten years due to Japan’s rapidly aging population.

According to the department, Vietnamese health workers can earn monthly salaries of VND34-40 million in Japan. In case they can get career training certificates, their salaries would increase to VND55-60 million a month.

Takei Koichi, managing director of EPA Vietnam program, said Japanese employers highly evaluate working skills and Japanese proficiency of Vietnamese nurses and caregivers.

Candidates selected for the EPA program do not have to pay fees, except charges for health checks and visa procedures.

VEC to open more roads leading to southern expy

Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) will open to traffic two more roads leading to HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway on December 20 to make it more convenient for vehicles to use the expressway.

VEC said roads C2 and B1 at the intersection with Ring Road No. 2 in HCMC’s District 9 have a total length of 12 kilometers and offer eight exits and entries to the expressway.

The roads belong to Package No. 9, which got off the ground in April last year with a combined investment of VND2.43 trillion, including taxes. The package will be finished five months ahead of schedule.

VEC calculated that with the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway, it takes 2.5 hours to travel 120 kilometers from HCMC to Vung Tau City. When the roads leading to the expressway are put into use, they will reduce the travel distance between the two cities to 95 kilometers and the traveling time to one hour and 20 minutes.

VEC has opened to traffic the first 20 kilometers of the 55-kilometer-long HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway connecting HCMC and Long Thanh District in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Construction of the remaining 35 kilometers was originally scheduled for completion late next year. However, VEC has urged contractors to complete work on this section on February 15 next year to meet the increasing demand for passenger and cargo transport between HCMC and localities in the southwest region, particularly during the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet).

Work started on the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway on December 1, 2009. The first phase of this project costs VND20.63 trillion, funded by official development assistance (ODA) loans from Japan and Vietnam’s reciprocal capital.

Binh Duong’s FDI approvals grow strongly

Binh Duong Province has seen foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals 65% higher than its target for the entire year and expanding 23% against last year.

The staggering rises are contributed by the FDI pledges of US$204 million for 29 new and operational projects whose investors on December 17 got investment certificates from the southern province.

Most of the projects are active in supporting industries, food processing, consumption goods, electronics, leather, apparel and textile.

The operational projects licensed to increase investments include Five Metals Rui Zhan Co. Ltd., which will add US$9 million to US$15 million, and Bel Vietnam Co. Ltd., which will inject an additional US$18 million to raise its investment capital to US$25 million.

Francis Pons of Bel Vietnam said the French company’s cheese and dairy products processed at its factory in Song Than 3 Industrial Park have been selling well on the domestic market. The capacity increase will help the enterprise meet the demand of local consumers and prepare for export to markets in Asia Pacific.

“We will develop our factory in Binh Duong into a major production base in the Asia Pacific region,” Pons said.

Eris Hong, general director of garment firm Poong In Vina, said the company’s products are mainly exported to the United States. The investment spike is to capitalize on the opportunities from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which Vietnam will sign with other Pacific Rim countries, including the U.S.

Regarding the service sector, Sachin Somaiah Appaiah, deputy director of Molenbergnatie Vietnam Co. Ltd. at Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park II-A, said the company would raise its investment capital to US$21 million for expansion plans related to bonded warehouse and goods storage facilities.

Also on December 17, Binh Duong Province awarded investment certificates for domestic projects with total registered capital of over VND444 billion.

Le Thanh Cung, chairman of Binh Duong Province, said FDI investors have registered more than US$1.65 billion for 151 new projects and 126 operational projects this year, or 65.5% higher than targeted for the year, and up 23% over last year.

Meanwhile, domestic investors have pledged nearly VND12 trillion for 2,055 new and 377 operational businesses this year.

So far, there have been 2,375 active FDI projects with total pledged investments of over US$20 billion. Binh Duong is one of the five localities in Vietnam with FDI approvals of at least US$20 billion. The others are HCMC, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Hanoi and Dong Nai.

Techcombank lends VND2 trillion to Vietnam Air

Local bank Techcombank on December 17 inked two credit deals to provide nearly VND2 trillion for Vietnam Airlines.

Under the agreements, the airline will borrow a short-term loan of VND1 trillion and a medium-term loan of US$42 million from Techcombank to buy new aircraft.

The credit contracts mark another milestone of close cooperation between Techcombank and Vietnam Airlines over the past 15 years.

Techcombank became a shareholder of Vietnam Airlines after the carrier launched its initial public offering (IPO) in November.

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