Vinfast spends $5 million on Italian car designs

Vinfast will co-operate with Italy’s leading design firm Pininfarina and BMW to develop the two most popular Sedan and SUV automobile designs of the 20 designs offered to vote in October 2017.

Accordingly, on January 18, Vinfast signed the contract with Pininfarina to buy the two designs with the value of $5 million, while simultaneously releasing plans to buy the intellectual property rights from BMW to develop the designs. Vinfast expected to launch these car models the Paris Motorshow 2018 organised in October and Vietnam Motorshow 2018 in December.

Vinfast stated that after launching the two first automobile models, it will continue to collect opinions for the next models, aiming to manufacture products that meet customer demand.

Signing co-operation agreements with the world’s leading partners shows Vinfast’s determination to manufacture safe and modern automobiles meeting international standards.

Previously, Vinfast signed an agreement with Magna and AVL, two leading consultancy firms in automobile manufacturing technology.

In addition, on October 12, Vingroup, the owner of Vinfast, and Bosch, a global supplier of technology and services, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on co-operation in car and e-scooter manufacturing.

Within the framework of the MOU, Bosch will lend a hand in manufacturing cars and e-scooters, including providing hardware and software solutions and services for Vinfast.

Regarding hardware, Bosch will provide Vinfast with components and equipment. Bosch will also support and provide consultancy for Vinfast to develop and apply automotive software and solutions for the operation and management of its factory, such as design and user experience services and customer solutions development.

The two sides will jointly research and apply technological solutions for Vinfast cars, aiming to introduce car models with modern features and bringing an outstanding experience to users. Moreover, Bosch will provide smart campus solutions for the Vinfast plant, including smart security and safety, connected mobility, smart operations, energy management, connected industry consultancy, and deployment.

Bosch will also advise Vinfast on establishing a vocational training centre. Bosch is a suitable partner for this activity due to its experience of investing in Bosch Technical Industrial Apprenticeship training center, aiming to develop high-skilled local technical workforce in Dong Nai province.

At present, Vinfast has accelerated construction works, aiming to complete the 500,000 square metres facility in Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Economic Zone by July this year.

GS Retail to open 50 GS25 outlets in Vietnam in 2018

GS25, South Korea’s No. 1 convenience store, will open 50 outlets in Vietnam this year, following the launch of its first store in Ho Chi Minh City on January 19.

In January 2018, GS25 will open four stores at Empress Tower, a flagship store at 24C Truong Dinh, M plaza, and the Viettel building in the city. GS25 aims to open 2,500 stores nationwide within the next ten years.

Nguyen Thi Hong Trang, CEO of GS5, said that Vietnam is an open market with a large population, youthful, fast-moving consumers, which the company considers as an advantage for the retail business. However, this advantage also creates competition and difficulties. Bringing GS25 to Vietnam is an opportunity and a challenge, but the company believes they will succeed and will soon make GS25 the leading convenience store model in Vietnam.

According to Trang, the experience and success of GS25 in Korea with more than 12,000 stores and more than 30 per cent of the retail market will definitely help GS25 Vietnam to grow non-stop. GS25 will not only provide convenient, quality shopping services, but also bring a new convenience store model that is "friendly-fresh-happy-fun." 

Cho Yoon Sung, the representative of GS25 Korea, is upbeat about the prospects, "GS25 has performed much better in terms of the number of stores as well as sales and operation skills than other brands. We believe that we can do the same in Vietnam."

GS25 Vietnam differentiates itself from the competition with 3 things: the Korean-style fresh food and exclusive food factory, GS25 premium private brand “YOUUS,” and the authentic GS25 store concept “Bring you to Korea.”

GS25 is committed to providing high-quality products and services to Vietnamese consumers. The retailer not only supplies imported branded products directly from Korea, but also offers products unique to Vietnam.

GS25 will also develop new products in accordance with Vietnamese culture based on its business know-how. The GS25 CH Chain will provide fresh food for customers every day. The retailer is also calling on Korean businesses to invest in Vietnam to perfect its supply chain and will expand this supply chain in order to bring more opportunities to supply goods to Vietnamese producers.

FWD opens third office in Vietnam to support rapid business growth

FWD Vietnam Life Insurance Company Ltd. (FWD) has officially opened its new representative office at F.Home Building in the central city of Danang, marking an important milestone in FWD's distribution strategy to make insurance more accessible for people throughout the country.

Anantharaman Sridharan, FWD’s general director, said, "FWD has experienced strong growth recently and exceeded its business plan for the past year. The office opening in Danang will not only serve our rapid business growth, but also meet the life insurance needs of the local population. From now, besides Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, people in Danang will be able to buy the simple, easy-to-understand, and innovative products of FWD.”

With the motto “Get ready to live,” FWD's new office is designed with a modern, innovative, and professional environment that demonstrates FWD’s ambition to become a leading and digitally-driven life insurer. Agents and customers will be able to experience the comforts and convenience of the new office as well as enjoy FWD’s promise to “celebrate living.”

FWD plans to open more offices in 2018 to support its continued business growth in Vietnam.

Established in Asia in 2013, FWD Group is the insurance business of investment corporation Pacific Century Group.

FWD Group spans Hong Kong and Macau, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and Japan, offering life and medical insurance, general insurance, and employee benefits across a number of its markets.

It is focused on creating fresh customer experiences with easy-to-understand products supported by digital technology. Through this customer-led approach, FWD aims to become a leading pan-Asian insurer that changes the way people feel about insurance.

Xiaomi’s dreams of becoming the number one smart phone brand in Vietnam

Xiaomi’s leader announced the corporation’s ambition to become the number one smart phone brand in Vietnam. The target is considered out of Xiaomi’s reach in light of the dominance of big guns and the heated competition in the low-cost segment.

The smart phone market in Vietnam has been saturated by leading smart phone brands, including Samsung and Apple, putting smaller fish on the withdrawal with little to no profit.

Notably, almost all of the high-end market is dominated by Samsung, Apple, and Oppo, that make up 80 per cent of smart phone sales and 90 per cent of the revenue. In the low-cost segment, the market is held by Mobiitstart, Huawei, Vivo, Asus, Lenovo, and HTC, among others.

Both the high-end and low-cost segments are ripe with underground wars between competitors.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi has numerous disadvantages in the war for market share, putting the top spot far out of reach. Notably, although Xiaomi appeared in Vietnam in 2014, it has yet to fight its way among the top 10 smart phone brands in Vietnam. At present, Xiaomi only contributed 0.78 per cent to smart phone sales and 0.54 per cent to the market’s total revenue.

Furthermore, Xiaomi is a newcomer from China, struggling with Vietnamese customers’ deep-rooted preconceptions against low-cost “Made in China” products.

All in all, Xiaomi’s low-cost strategy to gain the top spot is considered too little.

Doan Hong Viet, general director of Digiworld, the distributor of Xiaomi in Vietnam, issued the plan to popularise Xiaomi’s products in 15 cities and provinces this year and to build 1,000 Xiaomi stores across the nation by 2020.

In reality, building a secure retail distribution system across the country is considered a core factor in the success of a smart phone brand.

Oppo, which is the direct competitor of Xiaomi, ranks in the top three smart phone brands in Vietnam after only six years of entering Vietnam. In order to reach this success, along with meeting customers’ taste, Oppo focused on developing its retail distribution network. As a result, within a short three years, Oppo’s products were present on the shelves of almost all retail electronic stores.

Meanwhile, other smart phone brands like LG, Microsoft, Nokia, Sony, HTC, and Asus either had to withdraw from the market or maintain operations with low profit due to a failure in building out a nationwide retail distribution system.

Work begins on second phase of first wind farm in Ninh Thuan province

The construction of the second phase of Dam Nai wind farm, a joint project between Vietnam’s TSV company and Singapore’s the Blue Circle group, began on January 20 in the south central province of Ninh Thuan.

The farm covers 9.6 hectares on the two communes of Tan Hai and Phuong Hai in the Ninh Hai district, and Bac Phong commune of Thuan Bac district, and costs a total of US$75 million.

The project’s second phase, with the combined capacity of 30MW, will have an investment of US$60 million.

The phase is scheduled for completion in November, being expected to generate 110 million kwh of electricity to the national grid.

The US$15 million first phase of the farm was completed and put into commercial operation in October 2017 with a total capacity of 7.8MW. It has provided more than 11.2 million kwh so far.

Chairman cum the CEO of TSV joint stock company Do Van Dien said that once the second phase is completed, the Dam Nai project will continue to be expanded to bring the total capital to around 105MW with 40 turbines, generating about 350 milion kwh per year.

He also noted that the wind farm had laid a foundation for Ninh Thuan to become a renewable energy centre in the country.

Preliminary data of general economic census announced

The General Statistics Office (GSO) held a press briefing in Hanoi on January 19 to announce the preliminary data of the general economic census in 2017.

As of January 1, 2017, there were 518,000 enterprises across the country, increasing by 176,000 enterprises and 1.5 times higher than in 2012. Of which, the number of non-State-owned enterprises was 500,000; and FDI enterprises was 14,600, an increase of 54.2% compared to five years ago. The number of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) was only 2,701, down by 18.3% or 607 compared to that of 2012, due to the implementation of the policy of equitisation.

In 2016, the enterprise sector recorded approximately VND17.45 quadrillion (US$767.8 billion) in net revenue. Of which, domestic private enterprises reached the highest revenue of roughly VND9.76 quadrillion (US$429.4 billion), followed by FDI enterprises with VND4.81 quadrillion, and SOEs with only VND2.88 quadrillion.

Non-State-owned enterprises also accounted for the highest proportion of contribution to the State budget with 46%, followed by SOEs with 29% and FDI with 25%.

The service sector has the largest number of enterprises with 362,000, accounting for 70% of total enterprises, up 57% compared to 2012, of which 354,000 enterprises are currently operating, up 61% over five years ago.

Several sectors saw a sharp increase in the number of enterprises such as education and training, up 155%; arts and entertainment, up 106%; science and technology, up 87%, healthcare, up 84%; warehousing, up 63.9%; and real estate, up 63%.

In addition, as of January 1, 2017, enterprises in the service sector attracted the most capital for production and business with VND18.5 quadrillion, 1.9 times higher than in 2012. Along with the industry and construction sectors, the service sector also recorded the largest revenue, reaching VND8.75 quadrillion, 1.5 times higher than in 2012. Service enterprises also contributed 51.7% of the total remittances to the state budget.

Also at the press conference, the GSO introduced a plan to announce the official results of the General Economic Census, which is scheduled to be carried out from May to December, 2018.

The General Economic Census is carried out in two phases. The first phase, implemented from March 1 to May 30, 2017, surveyed the production and business establishments in the business sector, administrative offices, as well as the branches and representative offices of foreign enterprises, and foreign non-governmental organisations.

The second phase has taken place since July, 2017, during which information was collected on religious and belief establishments, and individual non-agricultural, fishery and forestry business and production establishments.

The census’s objectives are to help assess the country’s socio-economic development, and to help the Party and State to build development policies.

Action plan for development of shrimp industry promulgated

The Prime Minister has recently promulgated the National Action Plan for the Development of the Shrimp Industry through to 2025.

The plan aims to turn the shrimp industry into a key economic sector with sustainable development that is adaptable to climate change and environmentally friendly.

It is also expected to improve the quality, efficiency of production, and competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp products, in a bid to benefit farmers, businesses and the country’s economy.

According to the action plan, the domestic shrimp industry is expected to gain approximately US$5.5 billion in export value and record an average annual growth rate of 0.79% during the 2017-2020 period.

The total area for rearing brackish water shrimp is estimated to reach 710,000ha, with a total output of 850,000 tonnes of shrimp.

During the 2021-2025 period, a hi-tech shrimp industry and large-scale eco-shrimp farming areas will be developed with infrastructure and technical services that use synchronous, efficient and sustainable investment. The shrimp industry expects to reach the goals of US$10 billion in export value and an average growth of 12.7% per year.

The total area rearing brackish water shrimp is expected to expand to 750,000ha with 1.1 million tonnes of output in the period.

Vietnam sees decline in number of State-owned enterprises

Vietnam has seen an increase in the number of private enterprises and a decrease in the number of State-owned enterprises (SOE) due to the boosting of SOE equitisation, according to the preliminary results of the General inquiry into the Vietnamese economy in 2017 announced by the General Statistics Office in Hanoi on January 19.

The report showed that Vietnam had around 518,000 enterprises as of January 1, 2017, including 12,800 enterprises in the investment phase and 505,000 enterprises which were actually operating, up 55.6% over the General inquiry's results in 2012.

The number of private enterprises dominated the market with 500,000 enterprises, up 52.2% over 2012 and saw an annual growth of 8.7%.

The foreign direct investment sector posted 14,600 enterprises, up 54.2% compared to 2012 and a 9.2% annual growth in the number of enterprises.

Meanwhile, the number of operating SOE in Vietnam was more than 2,700 as of January 1, 2017, down 18.3% compared to 2012 (equivalent to 607 enterprises) due to the government’s efforts to privatise SOE over the past few years.

The service sector witnessed the highest number of enterprises at 362,000, accounting for 70% of the total number of enterprises, which mainly operate in the areas of education and training, entertainment, health, warehouses, and real estate.

Notably, the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises increased by 6 percentage points compared to 2012, while the proportion of labourers fell by 0.8 percentage points, indicating that the size of enterprises is diminishing.

In addition, the country had approximately 63,000 firms involved in import-export activities as of January 1, 2017, up 48.2% against 2012.

Over 2,000 new style cooperatives established in 2017

An extra of 2,226 new style cooperatives were established in 2017 increasing 46.5 percent over the previous year, of these 51 percent come from agricultural field, reported Vietnam Cooperatives Alliance yesterday.

Reporting at a conference attended by deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue in Hanoi, the alliance said that the country had 19,487 active cooperatives with 6.4 million members by the end of 2017. In addition, there were 97,589 cooperative groups with about 1.57 million members.

The alliance has organized five cooperation signing ceremonies with economic groups, institutes and international organizations to develop cooperatives according to new models in 2018-2020.

Speaking at the conference, deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue appreciated results in developing cooperatives and cooperative economy.

The establishment of over 2,000 new style cooperatives last year was a suprising archievement, showing their important role as well as attraction, he said.

He appreciated the ratio of 38 percent well performing cooperatives last year. It was only 10 percent in 2012.

The development of new style cooperatives has not only contributed in the economy’s growth but also created jobs for residents, increased income, ensured welfare and boosted new rural development.

The development potential of cooperative economy is very huge but the contribution level to economic growth has been limited with about 4-4.5 percent.

Talking about solutions to develop collective and cooperative economy in 2018 and following years, Mr. Hue required the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance to clearly show its role of a organization representative for cooperative members and protecting their benefits.

The alliance should efficiently show its leading role in collective economy and work with relevant sides to develop new cooperative models connecting production with market demand.

In 2018, he urged it to develop members, build and efficiently use cooperative development fund, act as guarantee for cooperatives to get bank loans, provide human resource training for cooperatives and pilot cooperative model development in chains.

He emphasized that cooperative development must have the support by businesses and connectivity between cooperatives and enterprises. Therefore, it is needed to attract businesses to invest in agriculture and rural field, organize trade promotion activities for cooperatives and seek consumption sources for their products.

There is investment wave in agriculture: Institute Head

“Currently there is a wave of businesses investing in agriculture,”said Dr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, head of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development at a forum in Hanoi yesterday.

Although the policy of attracting businesses to agriculture has been long issued but there were only about 200-300 companies investing in the field a year before 2017.

Last year the number went up to nearly 2,000 companies. However as many as 1,000 agricultural companies dissolved in the same year.

The number of agricultural businesses increased from 4,500 in 2016 to 5,500 in 2017.

Besides farming rice, businesess have transferred into making products which the market needs such as fruits, shrimps and pangasius fish with higher export value.

Fruit export turnover jumped from $2.5 billion in 2016 to $3.45 billion in 2017.

Still investment in agriculture has been low, accounting for 5 percent of total social investment capital. The funds that the state and businesses investing in agriculture approximates $3 billion a year. Half of the number is from central and local budget.

According to Mr. Tuan, attracting businesses to agriculture and rural development has been slow and difficult because policies have not met their demand. The policies have not solved two most difficulties in land and credit, 50-70 percent of businesses have lamented about land procedures and loan access difficulties.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has submitted draft decree 210 on creating mechanisms to lure businesses to agriculture with outstanding solutions. For instance, firms will be permitted to use properties on land such as glass and net houses as mortgages to access bank loans.

In addition, they can get loans with interest rate 1-1.5 percent a year lower than common rates and local buget will make up the difference for banks at the end of every year.

The ministry has suggested cutting corporate tax and import tariff for buisnesses investing in agriculture. However this is difficult to be accepted for requiring changes in relevant tax laws.