VN group starts huge sugar project in Laos

Vietnam’s Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group started work on the construction of a US$100 million sugar and sugarcane industrial cluster in Attapeu province, southern Laos on November 22.

The cluster includes a sugar mill with a capacity of 7,000 tons per day, a 30MW thermal power plant, an ethanol plant with a capacity of 30,000 tons per year and a fertiliser plant with a capacity of 50,000 tons a year.

These facilities are expected to create 20,000 jobs for local people when they are put into operation.

Addressing the ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc thanked the Lao government for their facilitation to Vietnamese businesses and expressed his belief that Lao leaders will continue creating favourable conditions for Hoang Anh Gia Lai and other Vietnamese investors in Laos .

On behalf of the Lao government, Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavath praised Vietnam investors in Laos, particularly Hoang Anh Gia Lai and pledged to facilitate their operation in Laos to contribute to boosting the Laos-Vietnam special friendship and solidarity.

Also on November 22, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Chairman Doan Nguyen Duc handed over the key of a 200-bed hospital worth $6 million as a gift from the group to the people of Attapeu and presented a two-storey school to Saysetha district of the province.

The same day, Hoang Anh Gia Lai inaugurated a four-star hotel in the township of Attapeu.

HCM City hosts international water treatment expo

The country's biggest water industry event, where industry professionals meet to learn about the latest trends, opened yesterday at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre.

The three-day event, named the International Water Supply, Sanitation, Industrial Wastewater Treatment and Purification Technology Show (VIETWATER 2011), is 50 per cent larger than the first event held in Ha Noi in 2008.

It reflects the growth of the water industry in Viet Nam as the Government focuses on providing clean water for home and industrial use.

The expo will focus on energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly technologies and solutions for water supply, sanitation, flood management, and industrial wastewater treatment and purification.

Viet Nam needs potable water and sanitation facilities, and has an urgent need for industrial wastewater treatment installations to protect water resources.

More than 250 exhibiting companies from 20 countries such as Austria, France, the UK, Hungary, Denmark, South Korea, and the US are showcasing their products at the event. National pavilions include Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, the EU, mainland China and Taiwan.

Hitachi Asia Ltd Co, which is taking part in the show for the first time, said it wanted to seek Vietnamese partners and further expand its business in the country. Hitachi's water environment technologies and solutions will be on display at the fair.

The company has identified Viet Nam as well as 10 other key regions, with particular focus on the Asian Belt Zone, where markets continue to grow and increased interest is being seen in the areas of environmental preservation and the creation of social infrastructure.

More than 8,000 international and local delegates and visitors are expected to attend the event.

More than 200 delegates will take part in the Viet Nam Water Industry Conference, themed Towards Quality and Sustainable Water Management, that will be held for two days during the event. Water supply, water treatment, drainage and flood control will be discussed.

The VIETWATER 2011 was organised by Viet Nam Water Supply and Sewage Association, UBM and Star Communications & Entertainment Corporation.

Vietnam-Kansai economic forum opens in Da Nang

The Vietnam-Kansai economic dialogue forum was held in central coastal Da Nang city on November 22 to discuss ways to attract more investment to the East-West Economic Corridor and adjacent areas in central Vietnam.

The forum, the fifth of its kind, is part of the annual economic cooperation exchange programme between Vietnam and Japan ’s Kansai region. It aims to promote connectivity between the central region, the East-West Economic Corridor and Kansai.

Nearly 300 foreign and domestic scholars and businesspeople, including 70 investors from the Kansai region, exchanged views on how to increase and effectively use foreign investment, especially from Japan, to develop infrastructure, manufacturing and support industries in the region.

Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai noted that Japan is one of Vietnam ’s leading economic, trade and investment partners.

Japan is the biggest aid donor and the fourth-largest foreign investor in Vietnam , said the deputy PM, adding that it ranks first among foreign investors in terms of capital disbursement.

Vietnam and Japan signed an investment protection and encouragement agreement in 2004 and a comprehensive economic partnership agreement in 2007, he said.

The two countries signed a joint initiative in December, 2003 to improve the investment environment in Vietnam , laying a foundation to promote bilateral investment and cooperative relations.

Both countries have completed three phases of the initiative and are entering the fourth phase, dealing with issues related to the investment environment in Vietnam .

However, the Deputy PM noted that foreign investment in central Vietnam remains modest. He cited statistics saying by the end of October 2011, the central region attracted 750 projects capitalised at US$23.7 billion. Of the total figure, Japan invested in 71 projects worth $417 million, making up only 2 percent of its total investment in Vietnam .

Vietnam is exerting efforts to attract foreign investment in the central region, with Da Nang city serving as the gateway to other economies in the region and the world, said Hai.

He said Danang is taking shape as a production base in the central region. The city will take part in the global supply chain to create added values for Vietnamese products to further penetrate regional and global economies.

According to the Deputy PM, the forum offered a good chance for the two countries’ businesspeople to discuss investment policy and the potential for investment cooperation.

This year’s event was focused on infrastructure development in Vietnam and the East-West Economic Corridor in particular.

After the opening of the forum, Deputy PM Hai chaired the first two sessions, on Vietnam-Japan cooperative potential and opportunities in infrastructure development in Vietnam and the East West Economic Corridor and Vietnam-Japan cooperation in manufacturing and support industries.

250 businesses attend int’l trade fair 2011

The 9th International Trade Fair (Vietnam Expo 2011) on the theme of “Vietnam - Integration and Development” will be held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in HCM City from November 30 to December 3.

More than 250 local and foreign businesses including those from Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan (China) will participate in the event.

The fair will be divided into seven main pavilions, showcasing agricultural equipment and machinery, construction materials, interior decorations, garments, beverages and food additives.

Notably, the Belarus pavilion will display products for heavy industry, mining, science and technology, medical equipment, and chemicals.

During the four-day event, the organizing board will host a Vietnam-Belarus Trade and Economic forum, carry out a direct trade promotion programme and make a fact-finding tour of industrial zones for foreign businesses that want to explore the investment environment in Vietnam.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group unveils projects in Laos

The Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAGL) began construction on a sugarcane industrial complex in Attapeu province, southern Laos, on November 22.

At the ground-breaking ceremony, HAGL Chairman Doan Nguyen Duc said the sugarcane industrial complex will be the first largest and the most modern of its kind in the southern region.

The project, costing US$100 million, comprises a sugar factory with a capacity to produce 7,000 tonnes per day; a 30MW thermal power plant, an ethanol factory with an annual capacity of 30,000 tonnes and a fertilizer factory with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year.

All the factories are expected to create about 20,000 jobs for the people in Attapeu province.

On behalf of the Party and Government of Laos, Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad highly valued HAGL’s investment in Laos, particularly in Attapeu province.

He affirmed that the Lao Government will create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to cooperate with and invest in Laos.

Also on the same day, Chairman Duc inaugurated 200-bed hospital in Attapeu province and a two-storey school in Saysetha district.

The four-star Hoang Anh Attapeu hotel was also inaugurated on this occasion.

Air Mekong opens Vinh-Pleiku route

The Mekong Aviation Joint Stock Company announced on November 22 that it will operate direct flights between Vinh City in Nghe An province and Pleiku, in Gia Lai province, three times a week beginning on December 1.

The flights will run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Half the seats will be reserved for a special promotion under which passengers flying between December 1-15 will only pay between VND1-1.35 million for airfares.

This is the second air route connecting the north central region to the Central Highlands.

Toyota Vietnam to recall 320 Camry 3.0 cars to check defect

Toyota Vietnam announced November 21 that it will recall 320 Toyota Camry 3.0 cars, for free checking and replacement of crankshaft pulleys that were found to create problems like noise and have steering defects.

The company wants to recall 320 Toyota Camry 3.0 cars produced from July 8, 2004 to April 7, 2005.

Toyota said the recall was due to the possibility that the outer ring of the crankshaft pulley may have become misaligned with the damper, causing noise or illumination of an electric system warning light.

If this condition is not corrected, the belt for the power steering pump may become detached from the pulley and the driver may notice a sudden pressure in steering, said a company representative.

Previously lauded for its safety standards, Toyota became mired in crisis when it recalled nearly nine million vehicles between late 2009 and February 2010 due to brake and accelerator defects, prompting it to recall millions of vehicles globally.

By 2008 Toyota overtook General Motors as the world's largest automaker but since then the Japanese giant has faced obstacles, suffered setbacks during the economic crisis, a series of recalls, and the impact on its production units during the natural disasters in Japan and Thailand.

CanCham expects strong rise in Canada-Vietnam trade

Representatives of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CanCham) are pinning high hopes that two-way trade between Canada and Vietnam would continue the steep uptrend in the future.

The strong trade expansion between the two countries was projected by Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the 192,000-member CanCham, and Winnie Lam, president of CanCham Vietnam.

Canada already stepped up trade with Vietnam with an all-time bilateral trade high of over US$1.4 billion last year and “this is a clear sign of optimism in the trade relationship with Vietnam,” Lam told the Daily on Monday.

Beatty, who was one of the delegates accompanying Canadian Governor General David Johnston to Vietnam last week, said steady growth in two-way trade between Canada and Vietnam over the past year to the more than US$1.4 billion was just the beginning.

“I think we have the opportunity to grow trade between the two countries substantially,” Beatty told the Daily last week in HCMC when the Canadian Governor General was in this economic hub of Vietnam to meet with the city’s leaders and representatives from the business community.

Beatty said one of the important elements of the Canadian Governor General’s visit from November 16 to 19 was to help create awareness in Vietnam about Canada and vice versa, as well as better understanding of how companies of the two countries were able to build partnerships.

Lam of CanCham Vietnam said Vietnam as a growing economy would continue to evolve and with a clear demonstration on the improvement of economic reforms, banking and finance structuring, Canadian companies would see beyond what was in the immediate future but focus on a sustainable relationship.

Lam said Canadian companies continued to pursue opportunities in Vietnam with a focus on different sectors including agriculture, education, information and communications technology (ICT) and wood products.

“Vietnam is a land of opportunity,” Lam said and took for example that life insurance firm Manulife Vietnam’s reported year-on-year strong growth in the first nine months of this year mirrored the success of many other CanCham member companies operating in this market.

The new business annual premiums equivalent growth of over 40% in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the same period last year confirmed by David Wong, senior vice president of Manulife ASEAN Operations when he responded to a relevant question raised by the Daily at a press conference in HCMC on Monday, after the company received the ISO 9001:2008 quality management certificate from Bureau Veritas.

Wong told the certificate presentation ceremony that Manulife had built a very strong foundation in Vietnam. It is now providing financial protection and wealth management services to more than 300,000 customers through a network of over 10,000 agents in Vietnam.

Beatty said a number of Canadian businesses doing well in Vietnam included Manulife, Talisman and BlackBerry. He noted however that the vast majority of Canadian companies had not had experience in this market.

“It takes time (for Canadian companies) to develop relationships, understand the culture, laws and how to do business and find partners…,” Beatty said. He added that a foreign investment protection agreement planned between Canada and Vietnam would create confidence among Canadian investors and be good to attract Canadian investors to Vietnam.
 
Foreign-invested shrimp feed firms control market

Foreign-invested firms hold 95% of the market in the shrimp feed segment and thus control the feed price, according to Duong Ngoc Minh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Minh told the Daily that foreign-invested businesses such as Uni President, CP and Tom Boy have seized most of the local shrimp feed market and are cashing in accordingly.

In the low-season of shrimp farming, shrimp feed with protein ratio of 35%-40% is priced from VND28,000 to VND30,000 a kilo. In the high-season, the price is much higher, ranging from VND38,000 to VND42,000 per kilo.

“Meanwhile, input costs to produce shrimp feed is pretty low,” said Minh. He hinted at the fact that foreign-invested manufacturers enjoy lofty profits from the differential between input costs and the finished products’ price.

Also, foreign firms hold around 70% of the market of shrimp breeds while supply fails to meet demand, creating favorable conditions helping them control prices accordingly.

“Thus, shrimp farming’s cost in Vietnam is higher than that of neighboring nations,” noted Minh.

Local enterprises have lost ground to foreign competitors, resulting from their inability to set up long-term business strategies, financial incapacity and the tightened credit policy at home.
 
Maritime, ADB sign issuing bank agreement

Vietnam Maritime Commercial Bank has signed an Issuing Bank Agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to become an official member of the latter’s trade finance program.

The program provides guarantees and loans to ADB’s partner banks in support of international trade. The finance aims to assist small- and medium-sized enterprises and serve regional transactions within ADB’s member countries.

Accordingly, ADB will provide Maritime Bank a finance limit by assessing its scale, operation and prestige. Following Maritime Bank’s demands, ADB will issue payment guarantee to support transactions such as letters of credit, promissory notes and bills of exchange in U.S. dollar, Euro and Japanese yen for import and export activities in Asia’s markets.

The agreement represented ADB’s appreciation of Maritime Bank’s financial capability and prestige in international transaction. This is also a chance for Maritime Bank to widen its global agent network and better serve customers on the world financial market.
 
Kindle Fire arrives in town

The first tablet computer Kindle Fire from Amazon on Monday arrived in HCMC, marking its debut in the Vietnamese market.

Hoang Giang, managing director of maydocsach.vn, the only sales agent authorized by Amazon.com to sell the tablet in Vietnam, said the firm has received multiple orders from customers, sales agents and enterprises ever since Kindle Fire was launched onto the world market last Tuesday.

The first shipping to Vietnam included over 200 devices to be sold to individual customers making orders in advance. Each week, the company will import the products for distribution to sales agents and customers.

Kindle Fire runs on the operating system Android 2.2, using CoreDuo chip with CPU being GB and memory of 512 MB. The device is officially sold at VND5.6 million per unit with a one-year warranty.

The latest generation of Amazon’s e-book reader named Kindle Touch also debuts on the market on Tuesday and will come to Vietnam next week.

Barnes & Nobles, the main competitors of Amazon, recently released its latest tablet computer to compete with Kindle Fire, but it will be sold at a higher price of VND7 million per unit after its arrival in HCMC next week.
 
Indonesia buys 300,000 tons of rice from Vietnam

Vietnam on Monday signed a contract to export 300,000 tons of 15% broken rice to Indonesia, according to the Vietnam Food Association.

A source said the price of the new contract with Indonesia is US$545 per ton.

The new deal raises Vietnam’s total rice export volume contracted so far to 7,3 million tons. Accordingly, an amount of around seven million tons will have been delivered to buyers by this year-end and the rest will be exported early next year.

Local exporters in the year to date have exported over 6.5 million with the FOB value of US$3.18 billion, up 7% in quality and 22.4% in value year-on-year. Besides, the average rice export price is US$486.48 per ton.

* Despite difficult situation of the rice export market with few export contracts, local exporters still express their hopes in the future as Thailand is still grappling with flood and has barely resumed its rice trade.

It has recently been predicted that the Philippines will import rice next year, and one of the exporters may be Vietnam. Besides, Indonesia has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam to import one million tons of Jasmine rice in the recent ASEAN Submit held in Bali.

However, such information is not enough to improve Vietnam’s rice export market.

Ta Thu Thuy, director of Phuong Thanh Export-Import Co. in Dong Thap Province, said her firm has bought ample amounts of rice. Meanwhile, the number of rice purchase contracts is small, with purchases mainly coming from Malaysia and Indonesia.

The situation is similar in Tien Giang Province, with almost no rice deals made by local exporters, according to a local private firm. The 5% brown broken rice is currently priced at VND9,300-9,400 per kilogram.

Vietnam’s rice trading has been stagnant recently under the pressure of cheap rice sources from India and Pakistan. However, there are some foreign firms waiting until the supply is large and prices are cheap to buy rice for export to Africa and other Southeast Asian buyers.

The rice offered by Thailand Rice Exporters Association has been higher compared to previous weeks, with US$647 for a ton of Thailand’s 5% broken rice, up US$15 and US$36 from last week and early November respectively.

According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), Vietnam has exported 6.5 million tons of rice worth US$3.1 billion in the year to date.

Industrial clusters in Vietnam gain little effectiveness

Though developing at a rapid pace, the industrial clusters around Vietnam have yielded little economic effectiveness with their failing to lure investors, experts said at a conference yesterday.

At the joint conference on industrial cluster development held by the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) and the United Nation Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Hanoi, Le Xuan Ba, head of CIEM, said industrial cluster is defined as a zone spanning less than 50 hectares that is particularly planned for industrial development.

An area larger than 50 hectares will be considered an industrial zone, he said, adding however that since such definition is not widely known, the legal framework regarding the industrial cluster is still unclear.

“Thus, developers of the industrial clusters do not enjoy incentives as do the industrial parks developers,” Ba was quoted by the Saigon Times daily as saying.

Doctor Tran Kim Hao from CIEM said Vietnam is currently home to 1,872 planned industrial clusters, spanning a total of more than 76,000 hectares.

Of these, he said, 918 clusters have become operational, but have managed to lease only 26.4 percent of the 40,600-hectare area.

“We have lost many lands zoned for agricultural production to give place to the mushrooming industrial clusters, but have failed to make good use of them,” Hao said.

Nicola Coniglio, an UNIDO expert, stated that Vietnam should select some clusters for prioritizing development, rather than haphazardly spreading investment on all of them as it is doing.

“The role of the government and local authorities of the localities where the industrial clusters are located in the development of these industrial clustering should also be identified,” he added.

The large number of industrial clusters with little economic effectiveness has again raised an alarming bell on Vietnam’s inefficient public spending.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country needs to invest an additional sum of more than VND100 trillion (US$4.8 billion) on developing infrastructures for the industrial clusters in the next five years.

Japanese firms keen on investing in Danang

A trade promotion seminar was held in Danang city on November 23 to call for more Japanese investment in the central city.

The event was part of the 5th Vietnam-Kansai Economic Dialogue Forum, which opened in Danang on November 22.

Participants in the seminar, jointly held by the Danang City People’s Committee and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), highlighted Danang’s investment opportunities, as well as its important role in the East-West Economic Corridor.

The city has great potential and advantages for developing the support industry, high technology, electronic equipment, consultation services, and renewable energy, they said.

The annual event, which is organized either in Danang of Vietnam or in Osaka of Japan, aims to promote investment in both countries, especially in human resource training, trade, tourism, and cultural exchange.

Japan is considered one of the most important partners of Danang in terms of economics, trade, investment and tourism cooperation. Currently, Japan’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in Danang is estimated at more than US$231.15 million, accounting for 8 percent of the city’s total FDI attractions.

More than 50 Japanese-invested projects are being implemented in Danang. Japan has provided official development assistance worth over US$330 million to the city.

HCM City hosts Chief Financial Officers forum 2011

Nearly 300 delegates from international financial and accounting organizations gathered in Ho Chi Minh City on November 23 to discuss issues related to corporate finance administration and Asia’s economic prospects.

The event, held by the Japan Association for Chief Financial Officers and the Vietnam Club of Chief Financial Officers, aimed to prepare Asian chief financial officers for a new phase of development.

Participants in the forum included business directors and senior financial personnel.

The world’s leading finance experts delivered keynote speeches on the Finance and Accounting Skills Standard, finance shifts, and risk management.

Czech-Vietnam business association in the pipeline

A Czech-Vietnam business association will soon be established, announced Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Doan Duy Khuong.

He made the statement at a meeting for both countries’ businesses in Hanoi on November 23.

Despite the fine development of the traditional relationship between Vietnam and the Czech Republic, their two-way trade turnover only reached more than US$200 million in 2010, he said, adding that the  VCCI and the Vietnam-Czech Friendship Association will establish a business association in the near future in an effort to foster trade ties.

Miloslav Zeman, Chairman of Czech Chamber of Commerce (CCC), pledged to give preferential conditions for Vietnamese businesses seeking investment and cooperation opportunities in the country, especially in the Pilsen Region.

In recent years, Vietnam has exported textiles and garments, wooden products and building materials while it has imported beer and industrial equipment from the Czech Republic in very limited amounts.

Seafood exporters eye Middle East market

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is not only a consumption market but also a gateway for Vietnamese aquatic products to penetrate the Middle Eastern and North African markets.  

This was said by Ambassador Tran Ngoc Thach at a conference on Vietnamese seafood jointly held by the Vietnamese Embassy in the UAE and the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) in Abu Dhabi from November 21-23.

The Ambassador also reviewed the fast growth in trade relations between Vietnam and the UAE in recent years, particularly in the seafood sector.

For his part, UAE Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh said the conference will provide a good opportunity for both countries’ businesses to seek partners and boost cooperation.

The conference was part of the 2011 Middle Eastern Food Exhibition (SIAL Middle East), attended by nine Vietnamese exporters.

APAVE launches risk control services

The APAVE Asia Pacific on November 22 launched its new services of aviation and space technology to promote cooperation in risk control in Vietnam.

The APAVE Asia Pacific is a member company of the APAVE Group, which is one of the world’s leading groups in supervising quality and safety and providing technical assistances in the fields of test, measurement, management consultancy and training.

APAVE Pacific Asia General Director Nguyen Cong Phu said the company has helped the Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration (VCAA), Vietnam Airlines and a number of airport management corporations upgrade their management systems in accordance with the ISO 900 Standard.

It also trained the first 10 engineers and specialists of Vietnam Airlines in the field of Airbus and Boeing aircraft maintenance through an APAVE programme in France, he said.

Many Vietnam-Laos joint venture projects inaugurated

Vietnam’s business investment in Laos has helped many Lao people overcome difficulties and quickly reduce poverty.

The statement was made by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a ceremony for the debut of the new Standing Committee of the Vietnamese Businesses Association (VBA) in Laos and inauguration of a Laos-Vietnam Joint Venture Bank branch and a four-star hotel in Attapeu.

Deputy PM Phuc voiced strong support for VBA’s action plan and spoke highly of the role of Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) in enhancing the prestige of Vietnamese businesses in Laos.

He expressed his hope that the opening of a Laos-Vietnam Joint Venture Bank branch in Attapeu will operate effectively for the benefit of local socio-economic development.

Laos Deputy Prime Minister Somvavat Lengsavath applauded Vietnam’s business projects in Attapeu which he said will help Laos further integrate into the world economy.

On the occasion, the two deputy prime ministers witnessed the signing of several contracts between Vietnamese businesses and BIDV and presented 30 computers and US$50,000 for Attapeu.