Vietnamnet.vn
Podcast
Foreigner buying saves VN-Index
Foreigners buying blue chips helped the VN-Index, HCM City, rise 0.85 per cent to 434.48 points this morning.
The value of trades was VND604.3 billion (US$28.8 million) and volume totalled 31 million shares.
The foreign investors bought 90,740 of the 101,640 shares of Bao Viet Holdings traded in the session.
They also bought 90,740 of the 95,070 shares in software producer FPT Corp (FPT) traded.
Blue chips to rally were BVH, up VND2,500; FPT, up VND1,000; steel producer Hoa Phat Group (HPG), up VND200; Masan Group (MSN), up VND1,000; PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), up VND1,000 and Sacombank (STB) and Eximbank (EIB), up VND100.
VietinBank (CTG) and Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) were among the blue chips to fall.
Seventeen-stocks matched their ceiling price and nine fell to their floor prices.
In Ha Noi, the HNX-Index fell 0.03 per cent to 99.02 points.
Volume was higher than Tuesday with 30.2 million shares worth VND513.7 billion ($24.5 million) traded.
Four of the 10 most capitalised stocks advanced.
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), was up VND200; Ocean Hospitality Services (OCH), up VND100; PetroVietnam Insurance (PVI), up VND600 and Sai Gon-Quy Nhon Mining Co (SQC), up VND200.
Twenty-one stocks fell to their floor price with the number matching the ceiling prices was just eight.
Export earnings surge 24.5 per cent
Export earnings in January - November surged 24.5 per cent against the same 11 months of last year, preliminary General Statistics Office figures show.
The office puts total earnings to date this year at US$64.28 billion, including $6.45 billion for November.
The increase meant that Viet Nam was likely to meet its target of $70 billion for 2010, it says.
The office says the number of exports staples with earnings of more than $1 billion was 16 in November, up 3 against October.
The staples have made a significant contribution to total export revenue.
Garments and textile earnings of more than $10 billion, up 22 per cent against last year, topped the list.
Footwear earned $4.46 billion; seafood $4.5 billion and crude oil $4.49 billion.
Imports for November cost an estimated $7.7 billion, creating a trade deficit for the month of $1.25 billion and $10.65 billion for the first 11 months of the year.
The General Statistics Office says although the trade deficit equalled 16.5 per cent of total export earnings, it was still below the Government's 20 per cent target for the year.
But measures to restrict the trade deficit should continue because of intense exchange-rate volatility and an imbalance in foreign-currency supply and demand, it warns.
New rules on transfer of profits abroad
The Ministry of Finance issued Decree No 186/2010/TT-BTC on November 18, providing guidelines on a foreign investor's transfer of profits abroad. The new decree takes effect in 45 days from the date it was promulgated and replaces Circular No 124/2004/TT-BTC of December 2004.
The new decree distinguishes between annual transfers and transfers made upon the completion of investment and business operations in Viet Nam.
Annually transferred profits are net profits earned from direct investment in a fiscal year according to either audited financial statements or corporate income tax declarations of the enterprise, less profits that have been re-invested into Viet Nam. Profits to be transferred upon completion of investment are total net profits earned from the investment, less any already transferred abroad.
Foreign investors are strictly prohibited from transferring profits abroad where there have been accumulated losses under audited financial statements after losses have been carried forward from the previous year, in accordance with the Law on Corporate Income Tax.
Foreign investors must give notice in accordance with the law to tax management authorities before commencing any transfer of profits abroad.
Cashew growers lauded for economic success
Speaking at the ceremony, Nguyen Thai Hoc, chairman of Vinacas, said since its establishment Vinacas had developed the domestic cashew industry in line with the Government's macro-economic orientation.
"The association and its members have achieved many good results, making significant contributions to the sustainable development of the domestic cashew industry," Hoc said.
The association has 300 members and three branches, including the Long An Cashew Processing-Import and Export Association, the Binh Phuoc Cashew Association and the Binh Phuoc Farmers Association. In 2003, Vinacas was granted the Labour Order, 3rd class, from the State President.
With help from the government as well as industries and localities, the cashew industry in the last year improved significantly, particularly in production and processing, product diversification, market expansion and technology renewal.
As a result, the industry has brought an increasing amount of foreign currency revenue for the country, Hoc said.
"Significantly, although the world economy recovered slowly after the global economic crisis, the domestic cashew industry, unlike many other industries here, kept developing, with a record export value of estimated US$1 billion this year, 2.2 times higher than the target set for the year," he added.
As a result, Viet Nam is now the world's biggest cashew export earner, and the second biggest cashew producer, after India, which has had a century of producing cashews.
In addition, Viet Nam ranks third after India and the Cote d'Ivoire in productivity and output.
Outstanding achievements that Vinacas and the cashew industry have obtained since 1990 include: expanding the cashew cultivation area to 390,000 hectares, up by 2.1 times compared with the figure recorded in 2003; increasing the volume of cashew nuts exported this year to 180,000 tonnes, up 2.14 times compared with 83,000 tonnes in 2003; and increasing export value to $1 billion, up 3.5 times higher than $284 million in 2003.
Vinacas and its member companies, in cooperation with scientists, have also implemented many research projects that have helped create new cashew hybrids that give high yield and good quality.
In particular, BL1 and CH1 hybrids can yield between three and four tonnes per hectare while old hybrids could only generate 600 to 700 kilos per hectare.
Costs per cashew tree have also fallen, from VND10,000 to between VND2,000 and VND5,000.
Cashew processing techniques have been updated with automatic equipment, resulting in increased labour productivity that is 10 to 20 times higher than that from manual work.
"Proper application of green production technology has also been a main goal of the industry," he said.
A representative of China-based Hai Phu Company said the company discovered Viet Nam's quality cashew nuts in 1992 and decided to import them and sell in China.
"Vietnamese companies gave us active support in building the market. The first shipment to China was in March 1992, and four years later Vietnamese cashews were sold in many big provinces in China," he said.
"Many more Chinese companies became involved in importing and the volume grew from 20,000 tonnes in 2003 to 50,000 tonnes in 2009," he said.
China, the world's most populous market, is a lucrative market for cashew products due to the use of the nut in its cuisine, he added.
Viet Nam's first cashew shipments were transported to the US in 1994.
The volume of cashew exports continued to increase to 52,000 tonnes in 2009, with export value of $245 million, or 28 per cent of the Vietnamese industry's total. The US is the largest importer of Vietnamese cashew.
The high quality of the Vietnamese cashew and exporters' adherence to their contracts contributed to the success of the industry, speakers at the ceremony said.
In addition to the Certificate of Merit to Vinacas, more than 100 people from the cashew industry and other ministries and industries received medals from Vinacas honouring them for their assistance and service.
EU cuts duty on stainless steel fasteners
The European Union ceased imposing anti-dumping duties on stainless-steel fasteners and parts imported from Viet Nam on November 20, said the Trade Office of Viet Nam at the EU.
An automatic stop to the duty was announced when none of the EU based producers of these parts sent complaints about Vietnamese competitors to the relevant office in the EU, the office said.
It was good news and would provide a good opportunity for Vietnamese producers of these parts because similar goods made in mainland China and Taiwan would continue to be subject to anti-dumping duties of 85 per cent and 23.6 per cent, respectively, in the coming 12-15 month review period, the office said.
Products made in Indonesia and Thailand were also not subject to the duty.
The EU started to impose a 7.7 per cent anti-dumping tariff on stainless-steel fasteners and parts imported from Viet Nam on November 19, 2005 following a complaint from the European Industrial Fasteners Institute (EIFI).
Viet Nam was among five Asian countries and territories, including mainland China, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan, that the EU hit with anti-dumping tariffs for stainless-steel fasteners.
Vietnamese defendants in the EIFI's lawsuit included Co-Win Viet Nam, Chian Shyang Enterprise and Header Plan Ltd.
The EU conducted its own investigation at the request of Header Plan Co Ltd, a wholly Taiwanese-invested firm in Viet Nam's southern Dong Nai Province. After the inquiry, the EU decided to abolish the anti-dumping duty on the company's made-in-Viet Nam products from August 2009, the office said.
Nation joins world's top 10 seafood exporters
Viet Nam's seafood products were shipped to over 160 countries worldwide this year, helping the country become one of the world's top 10 seafood exporters, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam.
However, the development of the seafood processing industry had not gone exactly according to plan, resulting in a number of practical difficulties such as an imbalance of supply and demand and an unstable market.
The industry needed to carry out research to assess the market and make predictions for the future in a move to ensure sustainable development, he said.
The fishing industry aimed to increase production by 8-10 per cent per year and to export 6.5-7 million tonnes of seafood worth US$8-9 billion by 2020, following a development strategy approved recently by the Prime Minister.
Under the plan, which would require an estimated VND57.4 trillion ($2.9 billion), the industry would be industrialised and developed to increase output, improve quality, and enhance its competitiveness.
Top priority would be given to developing the cultivation of freshwater fish, molluscs, sea fish, shrimp and crab sectors in the Hong (Red) River Delta and improving the tra fish and shrimp sectors in the East Sea and the country's southern region so that the products were congruent with Global GAP standards.
Plants would also be built in central Viet Nam to produce feed that would be sold domestically and throughout ASEAN.
Viet Nam expects to earn $4.5 billion from seafood exports this year. The country earned $3.98 billion from seafood exports during the first 10 months of the year, up 14.46 per cent compared to 2009.
Developer to sell stake to Deutsche Bank
Viet Nam's second-biggest listed real estate developer, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Co (HOSE: HAG), is planning to sell 19 million shares to New York-based Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas in a private placement.
The developer's deputy general director Vo Truong Son said yesterday the shares would be sold at VND72,000 each, generating about US$70 million, which would be used to invest in the company's rubber plantations and hydroelectric power.
The property developer's shares rose 1.3 per cent in value over the previous session to close at VND78,000 ($3.90) on the HCM City Stock Exchange yesterday.
The Financial Times reported earlier that Hoang Anh Gia Lai was seeking a secondary listing in London which would make it the first big Vietnamese company to sell shares overseas.
However, Son said the company would sell shares to Deutsche Bank in the normal way it sold shares to foreign investors and the bank would turn the shares into global depository receipts and list them on the London exchange.
"The company has completed legal procedure in Viet Nam to carry out the deal, while Deutsche Bank and its partner Elara Capital, a small Indian investment bank, are seeking interested investors and finalising necessary formality for the listing in London," Son said.
He refused to disclose the names of investors but said there had been many investors expressing interest in buying the equities.
Foreign listing would help Hoang Anh Gia Lai boost its brand-name in foreign markets, as well as pave the way for another overseas listing.
The company began as a furniture manufacturer in 1990, but has been expanding business to other sectors including real estate, hotels and resorts, hydropower, mining and football, with the aim to become the leading multi-sector group in Viet Nam.
Source: VNS
.svg){kind=icon}
