Japanese businesses boost aquatic exports to Vietnam

Japanese seafood processors want to increase shipments to Vietnam, heard a trade promotion programme held in Ho Chi Minh City on February 21.

Vietnam is one of Japan’s most important seafood export markets in Asia, said Kazuhiro Takahashi, an official from the Japan External Trade Organisation, highlighting that Vietnamese consumers increasingly favour Japanese food due to its succulence and safety.

He said that high prices have been a barrier for Japanese aquatic products in the Vietnamese market and Japanese firms are working towards technological solutions to cut prices.

Meanwhile, Katsuya Uchida, a representative from the Kyokuyo company, stressed that trade promotion programmes serve as bridges to link Japanese exporters and Vietnamese distributors, helping reduce preservation costs and shorten transport time.

Vo Thanh Do, deputy head of the Agro-Forestry, Seafood Processing and Salt Industry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, underscored that increasing Japanese shipments to Vietnam will create opportunities for domestic firms to learn about processing technology and increase product quality.

Japan’s seafood exports to Vietnam are estimated at 20 billion JPY (176.1 million USD) each year, accounting for 60 percent of total agro-fishery and seafood shipments to Vietnam. Processed aquatic products, salmon and tuna lead in terms of export volume and value.-

Vietnam Airlines holds extraordinary shareholder meeting

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines convened an extraordinary general meeting on February 20 to discuss reports on selecting strategic investors and amendments to the corporation’s statutes, and elect additional members to the Board of Directors.

The participants agreed on a six-member Board of Directors, and elected a new member - Koji Shibata, a Japanese citizen who is Senior Vice President and Strategic Planning-Asia Pacific Director and responsible for the capital of ANA Holdings Inc in Vietnam Airlines.

The meeting approved the board’s assignment of Ta Manh Hung, who represents the state-owned capital in Vietnam Airlines, to be a member of the board, replacing Nguyen Huy Trang who retired in October 2016.

The selling and leasing back of one Boeing 787-9 and three Airbus A350 planes to be received this year also received approval of the meeting.

One of the important amendments to the company’s statutes adopted at the meeting was the sale of 8.771 percent of its charter capital to Japan’s biggest airline group - ANA Holdings Inc, earning 2.2 trillion VND (99.5 million USD), raising its total charter capital to over 12.2 trillion VND (540 million USD).

Vietnam Airlines put more than 1.2 billion shares on the UPCOM market earlier this year, making the company one of the public firms with the biggest capitalisation on this trading floor.

The airline announced a syndicated profit of 2.5 trillion VND (110 million USD) in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 140 percent, exceeding its annual target by 7 percent.

The company contributed about 4.9 trillion VND (215.6 million USD) to the State budget in the year, an 11 percent rise from the previous year.

It operated roughly 133,000 flights carrying 20.6 million passengers in 2016, up 18.7 percent over 2015. It also transported 264,000 tonnes of goods, exceeding its annual target by 10 percent.

WB-loaned hydropower plant puts first turbine into use     

The first turbine of the Trung Son plant, Viet Nam’s first hydropower project with credit loaned from the World Bank, in Thanh Hoa Province has begun generating electricity for the national grid.

The Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) Group said it is among four turbines with combined capacity of 260MW at the factory, located in Quan Hoa District.

The project is invested by Trung Son Hydropower Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the EVN Power Generation Corporation 2.

When fully operational, the plant is expected to provide more than 1 billion kWh for the national grid each year and will help to control flooding in the downstream Ma River.

Construction of the plant began in November 2012. The fourth turbine is scheduled to be put into operation in the second quarter of 2017, according to Trung Son company’s website. 

HCM City to host coffee expo     

Around 100 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors will take part in the country’s biggest coffee exhibition, the 2017 Cafe Show Viet Nam, to be held in HCM City next week.

The three-day event from March 2 will offer leading global and regional coffee industry companies a chance to showcase their latest products and the latest trends.

They will exhibit under the categories of coffee, beverages, bakery, raw materials, machinery, mergers and acquisitions and start-ups, ice creams, chocolates, and coffee beans.

There will be business matching events enabling companies to find partners to expand their business.

Forums to share experience in and knowledge about the coffee and beverage industries will also be held.

There will be two competitions -- The Cup of the World and the 2017 Viet Nam National Barista Championship.

While the former is for bartenders, the other, to be held for the first time in Viet Nam, is for baristas.

The 2017 Cafe Show Viet Nam is a part of Café Show which has been held for the last 15 years in South Korea.

Last year the former attracted 76 exhibitors from nine nations and territories and 18,000 visitors from 12 countries and territories.

The exhibition at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre in District 7 will open on March 2. 

HCM City to continue focus on modern, urban agriculture

HCM City plans to continue restructuring its agriculture to make it modern and urban, enhancing the use of technology including bio-technology to produce safe, quality products.

Nguyễn Phước Trung, director of its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city would strive to become a centre for supplying high-quality, -productivity and -value seedlings and animal strains.

It would work to meet the market’s needs for safe vegetables, fresh flowers, ornamental fish, and dairy products, he told visiting city authorities.

There would be greater focus on environmental protection and co-operation with the tourism sector, he said.

His department would co-ordinate with Lâm Đồng Province to carry out preliminary processing of farm produce there before they are transported to HCM City for consumption.

Lâm Đồng is the city’s biggest supplier of fruits and vegetables, providing 1,500 tonnes a day.

Some businesses and co-operatives that are part of the city’s safe food chain, mostly retailers, have invested in human resources and facilities in the province for the preliminary processing of fruits and vegetables.

Lê Thanh Liêm, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, said the department should persuade low-yield rice and salt producers to switch to high-value crops by adopting technology.

The agricultural sector should focus on research and adopting high technology including bio-technology at the earliest to improve productivity and quality, he said.

The department should help the city effectively implement its new rural development programme and seven breakthrough programmes.

According to the department, despite many difficulties, HCM City’s agro-forestry and fisheries production rose by 5.8 per cent last year to VNĐ19.59 trillion (US$857.3 million).

The country’s average growth was only 1.44 per cent, it said.

This year efforts would be made to achieve 6 per cent growth in the city’s agro-forestry and fisheries production, it said.

The city plans to expand the areas under vegetables from 15,370ha last year to 17,000ha and flowers and ornamental trees from 2,300 ha to 2,350ha.

Breeding of ornamental fish, seafood and edible birds would also be expanded this year, it added.

Australian firm lands US$520 million waste treatment contract

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has approved award of a contract to construct a waste treatment facility to Trisun Green Energy Corporation of Australia.

Trisun bid the project earlier this month and came in low with a bid price of US$520 million, said Nguyen Thanh Phong, chair of the Committee in making the announcement.

The contract calls for the new treatment facility to be constructed at the Phuoc Hiep Complex in the district of Cu Chi within 33 months.

The City’s goal is for the new plant to treat waste currently being buried at the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex in the district of Binh Chanh, said Phong.

High price delays rice storage plan

A plan to purchase one million tons of rice for temporary storage in the 2016-2017 winter-spring crop has yet to begin as domestic rice prices remain high, Huynh The Nang, chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), said on February 20.

At a conference held on January 23 to review the sector’s 2016 performance and discuss 2017 plans, the association underscored the need to implement the one-million-ton rice storage program in the winter-spring crop to support prices for farmers.

However, the dried rice prices in the Mekong Delta currently stay at VND5,200-5,300 a kilo while the prices of long-grained rice range from VND5,400 to VND5,500 a kilo. According to VFA, these price levels still ensure a profit margin of 30% for farmers, so it is now unnecessary to stock up on rice.

Early this year, VFA said 2017 will be a hard year for domestic rice exporters.

According to the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Mekong Delta has more than 1.5 million hectares under rice farming in the 2016-2017 winter-spring crop. Currently, some 350,000 hectares of rice is being harvested, with average output of 6.4 tons per hectare.

Indochina invests in HCMC

Indochina Company Limited has completed legal procedures and payments to become the owner of Saigon Metropolitan Limited, which holds a 70% stake of Saigon Metropolitan Tower Limited – the investor of Metropolitan Tower at 235 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, HCMC.

Registered in British Virgin Islands, Indochina Company Limited is headquartered at Room 1003, 10/F Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road Central in the financial center of Hong Kong and led by Mr. Kenneth T.M Ying (Canadian) as chairman. Mr. Kenneth T.M Ying is also chairman of Saigon Metropolitan Limited and Saigon Metropolitan Tower Limited.

Metropolitan Tower is located in the business hub of District 1 with 2 façades at the corner of Dong Khoi and Nguyen Du streets, opposite the Notre Dame Cathedral and General Post Office. The Metropolitan Tower location is unique as it overlooks downtown Saigon. In 2008, the Metropolitan Building was selected and awarded as “Typical Vietnam Architecture” in the New Era by the Vietnam Association of Architects.

Multiple investors eye Paradise resort project in Vung Tau

Many investors have shown interest in taking over the slowly-developed Paradise resort project in the southern beach city of Vung Tau in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

The urban, tourism and sport complex on the Thuy Van beach is mentioned in an official dispatch signed last week by Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung. Official Dispatch 227/TTg-CN also gives an investment instruction on the US$100 million Cai Mep Ha (downstream Cai Mep) seaport and logistics center project in Tan Thanh District, also in the same province.

He asked the Hanoi General Import and Export Joint Stock Company (Geleximco) to coordinate with the province, the ministries of transport, industry-trade, and planning-investment to implement the projects in line with development planning and laws.

In 1991, a joint venture between Vung Tau International Tourism Company and Taiwan’s Paradise Development and Investment obtained a 25-year license to develop the 220-hectare resort called Paradise. The project required a total of US$97 million, with the Vietnamese side contributing 25% in the form of land use rights.

At the time, the province expected the site to become a great vacation hideaway. However, the joint venture has not lived up to the province’s expectations since.

The venture just developed some facilities including a 130-hectare golf course with 27 holes, an underwater sports area, a 38-room hotel and a residential area with 54 units, while other key components such as a 500-room hotel, an ethnic minority village, and an entertainment park are nowhere to be found.

The project expired in April last year and the joint venture asked the provincial authorities to either extend its license or allocate the site to the venture to call for investors. However, the province tended to seek another capable investor to develop the resort.

Things have remained unsettled as the joint venture must go through its liquidation process within the next 12 months. A source said it might complete the process next October.

In addition to Geleximco, other investors, mainly at home, have expressed interest in the project, said a reliable source.

The province has issued criteria to select new investors for the Vung Tau Paradise Resort. For instance, investors should invest at least US$2 billion, at least 25% of it from equity capital, and finish the project in three years.    

Fuel retailers earn high profit driven by big discounts

Big discounts offered by fuel wholesalers have allowed their retail agents to earn handsome profits.

A senior source from a fuel wholesale firm told the Daily that discounts  stood at over VND1,000 per liter last year.

Wholesalers have reaped healthy profits in recent years and the growing competition has forced them to offer attractive discounts to retain their sales agents.

The duty on gasoline imports from South Korea is 10%, 10 percentage points lower than other markets. Similarly, tariffs on diesel, jet fuel, and kerosene are 0% for imports from ASEAN markets, and 5% from the South Korean market while the rate is 7% for other markets. These low import taxes have earned wholesalers good profits.

Wholesalers’ high commissions for sales agents facilitate their business activities and help them compete with their rivals. The country now has 29 fuel wholesale enterprises, up 14 from previous years.

Fuel trader Comeco reported net profit of over VND109 billion last year, a year-on-year rise of 10%.

A financial report of Vietnam National Petroleum Group, the country’s leading fuel trading house, showed its after-tax profit reached VND5.16 trillion, way above VND3.4 trillion in 2015.     

HCMC to launch economic census next month

The HCMC government will carry out a general economic survey of economic institutions and administrative units citywide starting from mid-March.

The census will collect data on the number and qualification of laborers, trading-production results, levels of information technology application, as well as structure and allocation of facilities and workforce.

The municipal authorities will survey business establishments within 75 days starting mid-March, administrative units within two months from early April, and individual and religious groups within one month from early July.

The objectives are to build up a database for calculating the city’s total products in 2016, and evaluating the development of enterprises and administrative units in recent years.

The survey units are divided into four groups, namely business, administrative, individual and religious establishments.

The city authorities said the survey is complicated and wide in scope, as the number of the city’s trading facilities is huge, accounting for over 30% of the total in the country.

The study excludes individual facilities in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, whose information was already collected in a 2016 rural and agricultural survey. Vietnam-based diplomatic missions, embassies, foreign consulates and international organizations are also in the list.

The preliminary results are expected to be made public in December 2017 while official data will be released in the third quarter next year, said the statistics office of HCMC.

SCG’s petrochemical project on ice again

Construction of Long Son Petrochemical Complex failed to start by the end of 2016, as was earlier announced by the investors, mainly because withdrawing partner Qatar Petroleum (QP) has not finished transferring its stake to Siam Cement Group (SCG).

QP, which held 25 per cent in the joint venture through subsidiary Qatar Petroleum International Vietnam (QPIV), decided to withdraw from the project in 2015. A source of VIR said that SCG would take over QP’s part. Since then, the project has been pushed back multiple times.

PetroVietnam holds 29 per cent of the project. Thai Plastics and Chemicals (TPC) holds 18 per cent and SCG 28 per cent. Earlier, the Thai partners transferred a 25 per cent stake to QP.

PetroVietnam and SCG are still negotiating on other problems related to joint venture partners and documents QPIV and SCG need to sign to finish the stake transfer.

The deadline for starting the construction has now been pushed back to “early-2017,” and according to the investors, the project is in the process of picking contractors for main components.

Licensed for the first time in 2008, the $4.5-billion project has an area of 460 hectares, located in Vung Tau city. Of the area, 398 hectares are for constructing factories and the remaining is for building a port. The project will produce input for many other industries, such as packaging, textile, car manufacturing, and electronics manufacturing.

SCG has earlier committed to guarantee PetroVietnam’s loans to implement the project.

According to SCG’s January 25 press release, in the financial year of 2016 SCG Cement-Building Materials unit recorded a 4 per cent drop in sales revenue on-year, to MB170,944 ($4.9 billion), as a result of strong competition. The business unit’s profit dropped 17 per cent on-year, to MB8,492 ($242.56 million), due to lower EBITDA and increased depreciation expenses.

Meanwhile, SCG Chemicals’ recorded revenue from sales reduced 6 per cent on-year to MB188,163 ($5.37 million), primarily reflecting lower chemicals prices. The business unit registered a 48 per cent increase in profit on–year, reaching MB42,084 ($1.2 billion) from the cyclical upturn of the petrochemical industry and better performance of associated companies.

SCG Packaging recorded a 5 per cent increase in its sales revenue during the 2016 financial year, to reach MB74,542 ($2.13 billion). The profit for the period registered by the business unit increased by 3 per cent on-year to MB3,565 ($101.8 million).

In Vietnam, SCG is involved in the production of building materials, packaging, and petrochemicals through the Long Son project. In 2015, Vietnam was the country with the third biggest amount of assets of SCG in the ASEAN, only preceded by Thailand and Indonesia. Vietnam was the second biggest contributor to revenue, following Thailand.

In 2015 SCG started expanding its manufacturing base for packaging paper through a capacity upgrade and expansion project at Vina Kraft Paper Co., Ltd. The move increased the company’s production capacity by 243,000 tonnes per year, enabling it to meet the fast-growing demand for packaging paper in Vietnam. The production started in late 2016, earlier than the scheduled second quarter of 2017.    

Vietnam imports more cars as tariff reduced

Vietnam imported up to 12,000 cars worth a total value of USD237 million between January and the first two weeks of February, according to the General Department of Customs.

The department said cars with nine seats account for 65% of the total with 7,800 units.  

Vietnam imported up to 12,000 cars worth a total value of USD237 million between January and the first two weeks of February 

In the first two weeks of February, Vietnam imported 4,700 cars, double the figure of the same period last year. Cars with nine seats make up 51%, equal to 2,400 units, up seven-fold compared to the same period in 2016.

The General Department of Customs’ statistics showed that the daily average number of imported cars into Vietnam reached 244 units in January, meanwhile, the figure increased to 318 units in the first weeks of February.

The average price of imported cars so far this year is USD16,600, against USD21,000.

Experts forecast that car imports into Vietnam will continue to increase, as regional trade agreements come into effect.

From January 1, 2017, Vietnam cut the import tariff on completely built cars from ASEAN members from 40% to 30%, to meet its commitments outlined in the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, which aims to reduce trade barriers and expand markets among member states. From 2018, this agreement requires Vietnam to reduce this tariff to zero.

Over 130 firms join Ha Noi expo     

More than 130 enterprises will participate in the Factory Network Asia Business Expo (FBC Ha Noi 2017) to be held tomorrow at the National Exhibition Construction Centre in the capital.

The expo, organised the first time in the country, will also witness the highest-ever participation of Japanese manufacturers.

Among these manufacturers are 19 major groups from Japan, such as Toyota, Canon, Honda and Yamaha, as well as Tamron, NEC and Sony EMCS, which have expressed interest in buying Vietnamese-made components, baodautu.vn reports.

Co-hosted by Ha Noi’s Department of Industry and Trade and NC Network Việt Nam, the two-day event has been described as a good opportunity for Vietnamese firms to expand their markets and seek new business opportunities. 

Tightening corporate accounting     

Government Decree No 174/2016/ND-CP (December 30, 2016) detailing a number of articles of the Accounting Law on accounting documents, accounting operations, accountants, accounting service business, accounting services across borders and accounting association.

Representative offices of foreign enterprises operating in Viet Nam, business households and cooperative groups may apply the corporate accounting system to open accounting books for monitoring, recording and determining the tax liability.

Foreign contractors having permanent establishment or residence in Viet Nam and not qualified as independent units may choose to apply all or some requirements of the Vietnamese corporate accounting system and notify the same to tax authorities.

In case the foreign contractors choose to apply the Vietnamese corporate accounting system in full, they need to apply it consistently for one accounting period. The Decree takes effect on January 1, 2017, and replaces the Government’s decrees No 128/2004/ND-CP (May 31, 2004) and No 129/2004/ND-CP (May 31, 2004).

Governmental guarantee

Government Decree No 04/2017/ND-CP (January 16, 2017) on governmental guarantee provision and management.

Rate of the Governmental guarantee, by original value of loan or issued bond amount, must not exceed 70 per cent of total investment capital of an investment programme or project.

In particular, the guarantee rate for the project approved by the National Assembly or Government, or project subject to urgent implementation must not exceed 70 per cent of total investment capital; for a project grouped A with its total investment capital of more than VND2.3 trillion and approved by the Prime Minister, the rate must not exceed 60 per cent of total investment capital; for other projects, the rate must not exceed 50 per cent of total investment capital.

The decree takes effect on March 1, 2017, and replaces the Government’s Decree No 15/2011/ND-CP (February 16, 2011).

EPC contracts

Ministry of Construction Circular No 30/2016/TT-BXD (December 30, 2016) guiding engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts.

EPC contracts apply to projects, construction packages having a term which should be shortened or which have high technical requirements.

EPC contractor must have eligible experience, financial, professional and operational capacity to perform the entire scope of work of the EPC contract.

The EPC contractor must not assign more than 60 per cent of EPC contract workload to subcontractors. The circular takes effect on February 20, 2017.

Land management

Government Decree No 01/2017/ND-CP (January 6, 2017) amending and supplementing a number of decrees detailing the implementation of the Land Law.

The decree provides that land users who do not comply with obligation of payment of land use fees, land rent and were forced to pay but still did not do so, must be subjected to land retrieval measures.

An investor may continue to use land for 24 months after the investment project is terminated, and in case of not assigning the land use right or selling the property attached to land after the said 24 months, the investor is subject to land retrieval measures.

Land lease contracts and land use right mortgage contracts will be terminated when the State retrieves the leased land and mortgaged land due to national defence, security, national and public benefits or violations related to land regulations.

Additionally, in case the State retrieves land for other person’s use, the person receiving land must reimburse the person whose land is retrieved for the remaining value of the property attached to the land. The decree takes effect on March 3, 2017. 

Venture firm Innovatube launches US$5 million pre-seed fund for Southeast Asian startups     

Innovatube, a pre-seed venture firm, launched a US$5 million pre-seed fund for Southeast Asian startups.

The new fund targets startups in the Southeast Asian region, especially Viet Nam, as it has achieved some success in the market and realised its potential.

The fund will focus on solutions for businesses and frontier tech areas such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, augmented and vitual reality, Fintechs and Blockchains.

Innovatube will invest in the pre-seed round and exchange for five to 10 per cent equity of a portfolio startup.

The fund was founded by Hajime Hotta and Danny Goh, two entrepreneurs and angel investors from Singapore and London. Over the last three years, the fund has invested in eight companies in Viet Nam.

Even before introducing the fund, Innovatube had been a familiar face in the Vietnamese start-up community, sharing experiences of early-stage startups.

Last year, it co-operated with nine other partners in the region to organise the ASEAN Ricebowl Startup Awards, a series of events throughout Southeast Asia that lauds those in the startup community who display exemplary talent in their field.

Another popular event of the venture firm is Launch IT, allowing people to discover the newest startup products in Viet Nam.

BIDV, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust announces new joint venture     

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) on Tuesday gave its in-principle approval for expansion of leasing business between the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB).

The SuMi TRUST will invest 49 per cent of the total equity of its subsidiary BIDV Financial Leasing Company (BLC).

The new joint venture will be called BIDV-SuMi TRUST Leasing Company (BSL).

SMTB was the largest trust bank in Japan with total assets of US$585.4 billion by the end of September 2016. Its owner equity is $19.9 billion.

BIDV and SMTB have co-operated since 2013 to study and develop many business projects, training and technological transfer.

On April 29, 2016, the two sides signed an agreement in the financial leasing sector to transfer BLC into BSL, while increasing charter capital from its current VND448 billion to VND896 billion to improve financial ability and meet development demands.

BSL is expected to provide competitive, attractive and convenient financial leasing products to the market, thanks to SMTB’s support by establishing relationships with Japanese suppliers, as well as BIDV’s nationwide network.

BSL is the first financial leasing company in Việt Nam to apply a joint venture model between a local commercial bank and a foreign financial institution.

BSL will contribute to BIDV’s diversified products to better serve customers’ demand in credit, insurance and security financial leasing.

Japanese seafood exporters keen to explore Vietnamese market     

More than 30 Japanese seafood processing businesses participated in the Viet Nam-Japan trade co-operation programme organised by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in HCM City on Monday.

The programme is one of the largest export promotion events of the Japanese seafood industry held in Viet Nam.

Kazuhiro Takahashi, director of the JETRO’s agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food division, said Viet Nam was one of the most important seafood import markets for Japan in Asia.

The Japanese seafood industry uses modern processing technology, ensuring safety, a unique flavour and freshness. However, the main obstacle faced by the Japanese seafood industry in the Vietnamese market is the price, which is really high compared with domestic seafood products, Kazuhiro Takahashi said.

Katsuya Uchida, a representative of Kyokuyo Company, said Japanese businesses expected to increase consumption in Viet Nam in the future.

He said Viet Nam occupied 30 per cent of his company’s total seafood exports, of which salmon and tuna were two key products which had been well consumed and received active comments from Vietnamese consumers.

However, the company was exporting its products through a go-between agency, which pushed the price up and made it difficult to compete with others, Katsuya Uchida said.

According to Le Van May, chairman of Lotus Group, most Vietnamese customers appreciated the quality and flavour of Japanese seafood. This was not only an advantage for Japanese businesses to boost exports to Viet Nam but also an opportunity for Vietnamese firms to expand their business of such high-quality seafood products.

Vo Thanh Do, deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agro-Forestry, Seafood Processing and Salt Industry Department, said Japan was one of Viet Nam's traditional partners and actively contributed to developing Viet Nam’s seafood processing industry.

Japan’s promotion of seafood exports to Viet Nam will create further opportunities for Vietnamese customers to use high-quality seafood products and will be a driving force for Vietnamese firms to learn more about processing technology to improve quality and value of Vietnamese seafood.

It is estimated that Japan’s seafood export value reached 20 billion yen (US$176.25 million) per year, accounting for 60 per cent of Japan’s total export value of agro-forestry and seafood in Viet Nam. 

Vinalines to develop logistics centre in the capital     

Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) plans to develop a large-scale logistics centre in the capital as part of its development strategy for 2020, thoibaotaichinhvietnam.vn reports.

The centre, which will connect major seaports such as Hai Phong, Dinh Vu and Lach Huyen through the Dinh Vu inland waterway system, is expected to meet rising demand for container transport in the north while helping reduce transportation costs and environmental pollution.

It is slated to be built at Phu Dong Port in Gia Lam District.

Logistical development is a key service industry goal for Viet Nam. The target is to meet domestic demand and extend reach to the regional and global markets, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s draft action plan for enhancing competitiveness and developing logistics services.

The logistics services industry hopes to contribute 5 per cent of the GDP and have a growth rate of 15 to 20 per cent per year by 2020, according to the draft.

Improving logistics infrastructure and the capacity of logistics firms is essential, the ministry said. 

Taxation body prepares for APEC meeting

The General Department of Taxation is holding a seminar on deploying an action plan for base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) in APEC on February 22. 

The event aims to prepare for the two-day APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting (FCBDM) in Nha Trang City, the central province of Khanh Hoa, between February 23 and 24.

It will gather 100 state officials and experts from APEC member economies, the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Participants are set to discuss the BEPS action plan, particularly minimum standards and multilateral instruments.

Their discussion will be translated into a report for submission at the FCBDM the next day.

Also on February 22, several meetings among APEC groups are underway. These groups include the Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures, Counter-Terrorism Working Group and the Human Resource Development Working Group.

RoK helps Quang Tri develop organic farming

The Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the World Vision Foundation of the Republic of Korea launched a project to develop a local value chain for organic farm produce in Trieu Phong district of central Quang Tri province on February 21.

The project will be carried out from now to 2019 in five communes: Trieu Trach, Trieu Tai, Trieu Trung, Trieu Thuong, and Trieu Son with a total investment of nearly 1 million USD.

As many as 4,200 people from 1,000 local households are expected to benefit from the project.

The project will support farmers with advanced farming techniques and environmental protection while putting an end to the use of pesticides in agricultural production.

Earlier, the KOICA and the Korean Exchange Bank co-sponsored a project to protect the environment in eight communes of Trieu Phong district.

After two years of implementation, the project has reaped encouraging outcomes such as increasing local incomes and providing clean foodstuff for consumers.     

VIB deposit certificates a superior investment tool

The Vietnam International Bank (VIB) on February 20 officially issued certificates of deposit (CD) worth 18 million VND and 24 million VND for personal and corporate customers to meet their investment demands for deposit.

“Along with savings account, CD is now one of the investment channels preferred by corporate and personal customers with a large source of finance,” VIB said.

“For investors who look for security and flexibility in the use of capital, CD will adequately meet this criterion as it is an investment channel belonging to a group of investment assets which generates a fixed income and suits medium-and-long-term investors,” it said.

According to the bank, when customers apply for an 18-month CD valued at a minimum of 1 million VND, they will enjoy a fixed interest rate of 6.68 per cent; while the a 24-month CD will bring them a fixed interest rate of 6.88 per cent.

CD holders can also resell the CD to VIB after six months from the issue date at the price equivalent to its face value and enjoy an interest rate at the reselling date based on the interest rate listed on the CD, the bank said, adding that the CD’s interest rate will be fixed during the tenor and be paid on the date of maturity or on the reselling date, and customers can apply for as many CDs as they need to invest.

Besides this, customers can also inherit, give and transfer VIB’s CD freely on the secondary market. In urgent cases, customers can use the bank’s CD as collateral for a loan at VIB and enjoy a preferential lending interest rate. Furthermore, it can also be mortgaged for loans at other banks by law.

On the maturity date of the CD, if customers do not contact VIB, the CD will be automatically converted into a regular deposit account with the same tenor or a shorter tenor if the former is not available, the bank noted.     

Japan ranks second in foreign investment in Binh Duong

As many as 246 projects worth US$5.19 billion invested by Japanese firms are operating in the southern province of Binh Duong, accounting for nearly 20% of foreign direct investment (FDI) poured into the locality so far.

The information was revealed by Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Thanh Liem during his reception on February 21 for a delegation of businesspeople from Japan’s Shizuoka prefecture, who visited Binh Duong to seek investment opportunities. 

According to Liem, Japan ranks second and third in the total foreign investment and the number of projects in Binh Duong, respectively. 

Binh Duong has lured 2,878 foreign-invested projects from 59 countries and territories worldwide, with a total investment of over 26.737 billion USD, becoming one of the five leading localities in FDI attraction in the nation, he said. 

The province is home to 28 industrial parks (IP) and ten industrial clusters with a total area of 10,560 ha. The occupancy rate of IPs reached about 70 percent. 

Under a master plan approved by the Prime Minister, the locality will have 33 IPs covering an area of 14,790 ha by 2020, Liem said, adding that the province has been building a plan to develop hi-tech IPs, commercial and service centres, and new urban areas. 

Representatives from the delegation spoke highly of efforts made by the local authorities to draw investment, and Binh Duong’s modern technical infrastructure facilities, which help the locality to attract more and more investment projects. 

Japanese guests said they will pay more attention to hunting for investment opportunities in the province in the coming time.     

HCM City official wants to tax Facebook shops

The Ho Chi Minh City taxman should consider collecting taxes from an increasing number of people who are selling their stuff through Facebook to ensure budget revenue, the municipal industry and trade department has said.

Finding solutions to reduce tax losses for the municipal budget and to tax online traders was high on agenda at a meeting between the city’s administration and several departments and agencies on February 19.

Speaking at the meeting, Pham Thanh Kien, director of the industry and trade department, said e-commerce has been booming in Ho Chi Minh City in the last three years.

“There are now 80,000 e-commerce websites registered in the city, half of which run stable operations,” Kien said.

However, Kien admitted that it is difficult to oversee the revenue of these platforms, even when authorities know where the electronic traders put their website servers.

In recent years, many people have also turned to Facebook to advertise and sell a number of products, Kien said, adding that it is even harder to tax these ‘Facebook traders’.

“I suggest that the municipal administration work with Facebook to have their support in monitoring the revenue from sales conducted via the social network,” he said.

The world’s largest social networking site currently allows users to add a shop section to their Facebook Page to sell products right from the Page.

Any individual Facebook user is also able to run ads for their products on their personal profile as a free yet effective marketing channel.

In both cases, local tax bodies are powerless to oversee the transactions and charge the sellers any tax.

At a February 19 meeting, the Ho Chi Minh City tax department did not comment on the suggestion from its trade counterpart.

However, Tran Ngoc Tam, head of the city’s taxman, has previously said that it is not easy to tax online traders or Facebook businesses, pointing to a number of reasons.

The main reason, he was quoted by the Saigon Times Online as saying on February 6, is the Vietnamese habit of using cash.

“You may browse goods and place orders online but will eventually pay in cash,” Tam said.

“This makes it difficult for tax agencies to know the exact revenue of the online traders, even when they have all papers and receipts for those transactions.”

Tam admitted that with those who sell stuff via Facebook, “tax authorities can start inspecting their business, but it is a different story if we can really verify the scale of their revenue and profit.”     

Tra fish prices on the rise

Prices of tra fish for processing have increased in response to high demand from the Cuu Long Delta provinces.

The Dong Thap Agriculture and Rural Development Department said, in Dong Thap Province, the price has surged by VND3,000-4,500 per kilo year-on-year to VND22,000-25,000 for tra fish pieces, weighing 0.7-0.8 kilo per unit year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the price of tra fish varieties also went up by VND10,000 per kilo to VND35,000-36,000 for 30 units per kilo some two months before the Tet festival because of the higher prices of tra fish pieces.

The province has dedicated 2,000ha of land to rearing tra fish each year, with a capacity to produce 358 tonnes of tra fish per hectare, the department said.

Farmers and tra fish export processing enterprises in Dong Thap have seen a profit based on the current prices. Most of these enterprises rear tra fish under the safety standards of Global GAP, VietGAP, Best Aquaculture Practices and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council to ensure an adequate supply of high-quality raw materials for export processing.

According to Dong Thap’s development plan, by 2020, the total output of rearing tra fish will reach 541,000 tonnes, and the province’s total capacity of processed tra fish will be 250,000 tonnes. Tra fish will be one of five key products included in the provincial restructuring plan for agriculture.

Enterprises in the Cuu Long Delta provinces expected prices to continue rising because the current fish supply for processors has reached 50 % of demand, at 4,500 tonnes per day.

Ho Van Vang, vice chairman of Vietnam Tra Fish Association, said export orders for tra fish early this year rose by 10 % year-on-year, while the output of tra fish reared in 2016 for export processing fell because farmers had suffered losses in tra fish development last year.Despite the higher prices of tra fish for processing, farmers have not increased the area dedicated to rearing tra fish as they do not expect the price to remain at its current high level over the next 6-8 months, according to the association.

So far, Can Tho City has dedicated 334ha to rearing tra fish, or 79 % of the total area rearing tra fish in the same period last year, and its total output is 12,000 tonnes, or 78 % of the total output year-on-year, said representatives of the Can Tho Fishery Sub-department.

Poultry firms react to avian flu risk

A number of poultry producers and suppliers in HCM City have taken measures to protect their farms and slaughterhouses from the risk of an avian flu epidemic spreading to Vietnam given a worrying outbreak in China.

Nguyen Thanh Phi Long, technical director at Long Binh Livestock Co Ltd in HCMC’s District 1, said the company has maintained a biological safety process at its farms and slaughterhouses since temperatures in southern Vietnam began falling several months ago. Poultry is vulnerable to disease infections around this season, Long noted.

However, Long said the preventive measures against dust, insects and diseases have been intensified at the company’s farms in line with Vietnamese Good Agriculture Practice (VietGAP) standards amidst the avian flu outbreaks in regional countries.

He added demand for chicken usually picked up after the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet) but dropped 10-20% compared to the same period last year due to fears of the regional avian flu outbreaks.

The director of a big chicken processing firm in HCM City said his company was concerned about the ongoing China avian flu outbreak. 

The enterprise has strengthened controls on chickens supplied by farms and partners and only bought chickens with quarantine stamps to ensure its products are safe for consumers. A stringent food safety process also applies to poultry slaughtering.

Asked about the risk of infected Chinese poultry making its way to Vietnam, the director called for consumers in the localities that share the border with China to practice caution. 

But he said consumers in HCM City and other parts of southern Vietnam are unlikely to buy avian flu-infected chickens as it is costly to transport them from the north to the south.

He advised consumers to buy chickens from reliable suppliers to get quality products.

Pham Thi Ngoc Ha, director of HCM City-based San Ha Co Ltd which specializes in poultry products, said sales of her company had remained stable at 100 tons a day since the company started selling quarantined chickens and ducks.

Truong Chi Thien, director of Vinh Thanh Dat Food Joint Stock Company, said though there are no requirements for poultry egg quarantine but since August 1 last year, the eggs produced by the company have been carefully checked.

VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VET/VIR