Ho Chi Minh City consumers resume buying

Demand for goods and services returned to normal in March after falling in February due to an upsurge in prices, according to the Ho chi Minh City Bureau of Statistics.

Consumer sales has risen 7.2 percent from February to VND105.3 trillion (US$5 billion), it reported.

Together with major promotions at shopping malls and supermarkets, a government program to stabilize the prices of many essential goods has contributed to reducing the pressure of prices.

Earlier, following the Lunar New Year in early February, prices shot up, forcing people to cut inessential spending, the Bureau said.

It announced that prices increased 2.2 percent in March, the highest rate in the first quarter.

Anti-inflation foods yet to lift prices

Vietnamese food company Vissan starting April 1 will raise the prices of fresh and processed foods although those items are under a government subsidization program and as such, should remain stable in price.

It says the suggested hike is due to rising input costs of fuel and electricity that have surged by up to 24 percent and 15.28 percent, respectively.

The company earlier raised on average 15 percent the prices of foods that are not subsidized by the stabilization fund. The fund was set up by Ho Chi Minh City authorities to help prevent price hikes.

It will continue to increase the prices by another 10 percent in mid-April if the input costs stay as high, Van Duc Muoi, general director of the firm said, adding its food prices will not be slashed even if material prices go down.

Vissan is one of the companies in the southern hub to register to join the city’s price stabilization campaign intended to control prices and contain inflation.

Prices have risen in the country following such economic incidents as an 8.5 devaluation of the dong against the dollar on February 11, a hike in fuel price almost two weeks later, volatile dong-dollar exchange rates, swinging gold prices, a surge in power fees earlier this month, and tightened fiscal and monetary policies experts claim could result in lower commodity production output.

A stable macro-economy is now Vietnam’s top priority after last year’s 6.78 percent economic growth at the expense of a pretty high 11.75 inflation rate.

Firm unexpectedly lowers steel prices

Vietnam Steel Corporation Pomina has just decreased sale prices by VND400,000 per ton compared to early March, bringing rolled steel down to VND18.5 mln per ton and reinforcing steel bars to 18.4 mln per ton (including VAT).

This is the first time the southern hub’s enterprise dropped the steel prize after prices abnormally hiked since late 2010. Other steel manufacturers have yet to make any moves about this issue.

Presently, retail prices of steel in the market are roughly the same as those in steel mills since local manufacturers want to reduce inventory to borrow capital.

In January 2011, the steel ingot price increased slightly by tens of dollars per ton to 600-610 per ton. However, at that time, steel mills still could laminate steel with the steel ingot they imported before at a low price of $580 per ton.

In early February 2011, the steel ingot price rose to $690 per ton but then decreased to $660 per ton and it is now staying at $670. As such, a ton of steel ingot can be imported at VND14 million. If counting on the production cost of 1.5 million dong, the cost price would be 15.5 million dong per ton.

Rising world food demand to lift exports

Increasing demand in overseas markets will push the value of Viet Nam's fruit and vegetable exports up significantly this year, the Vietnam Economic Times reports.

Nearly 50 per cent of Vietnamese fruit and greens exports are to the Chinese market where demand for these products are rising.

The consumption of fruits and vegetables in other markets in the world was also expected to increase sharply in the 2010-15 period, the report said.

Viet Nam's fruit and vegetable export revenues were estimated at more than US$471 million last year, 7.4 per cent higher than the previous year. Fresh and processed fruits accounted for the majority of the total revenue, taking up 36.6 per cent of the 2010 export value. They would continue to be the major export products this year, said the Viet Nam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit).

Dragon fruit was the most exported product, posting revenues of $58 million in 2010, an increase of more than 70 per cent over the previous year. Last year, a large number of dragon fruit growers in Viet Nam received Global GAP and EU GAP certification which has boosted exports of their produce.

Vegetable exports, meanwhile, were valued at more than $94 million last year, accounting for 25 per cent or so of the total fruit and greens exports.

Last year also saw a remarkable increase in export value of flowers, nearly 40 per cent higher than in 2009.

The export value of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables to the Chinese market, mostly fruits, reached $235 million last year.

Japan is the second biggest market behind China for Vietnamese fruits and greens. Export revenues from this market reached $54.5 million, over 26 per cent higher than 2009. The export volume of fruits and greens to the Japanese market has been increasing every year by at least 10 per cent since 2007. More than 20 new varieties of fruits and greens have been added to the exports list to this market since last year.

Meanwhile, export revenues to the US last year topped $26 million, making it the fifth biggest consumer of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables after China, Japan, the Netherlands and Russia. In recent years, the US has been importing more fresh produce rather than canned products from Viet Nam.

The US would import 1.2 million tonnes of fruits each year in the coming years, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. This means Viet Nam has a big chance to boost exports to this market, the Vietnam Economic Times said, adding that it was necessary for Vietnamese firms to have a long term strategy to improve exports to the American market.

Shrinking land for cultivation and disadvantageous weather conditions all over the world would result in increased prices of fruits and vegetables in the international market, the report cited local firm Vinafruit as saying.

The EU and other developed countries will remain the biggest consumers of fruits and greens in the coming years, with the former increasing its imports of vegetables by 1.8 per cent a year. Their demand for tropical fruits was expected to grow faster, at 8 per cent a year, the report said.

HCM City CPI rises in March 

The Ho Chi Minh City consumer price index in March is estimated to increase by 2.2 percent over last month and 10.76 percent compared to the same period last year.  

 

This was disclosed by Nguyen Duc Tri, deputy head of the HCM City Statistics Office.

Transport saw the biggest increase of 7.73 percent, followed by housing and building materials which increased by 2.62 percent and food prices that increased by 2.38 percent.

According to market experts, the reason which caused the city CPI to increase was due to a nationwide hike in the prices of petrol and electricity.

In addition, the fluctuation of the dong/US dollar exchange rate has also resulted in the hike in prices and will in turn also lead to rise in many other commodities and services.

In March, gold and dollar prices rose by 5.22 percent and 3.0 percent since February.

ProPak Vietnam 2011 to be held in Ho Chi Minh City 

The sixth International Processing, Filling and Packaging Exhibition (ProPak Vietnam 2011) will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City from March 22-25.  

243 participants from 28 countries will be presenting a wide range of products like services, technologies and machinery of sectors such as filling, packaging, handling, labelling, quality management, measurement, test, automation, transportation, storage, refrigeration and pollution control.

ProPak is the largest international trade event for the processing, filling and packaging sector in Vietnam. It is also an international trade channel to link Vietnamese and foreign businesses, producers, suppliers and experts.

At ProPak Vietnam 2011, businesses and individuals will have a chance to learn about the most cost-effective solutions which can help them deal with business problems. They will also have an opportunity to approach new products, services and technologies in the processing, filling and packaging sector.

In 2010, many technology transfer contracts were signed during the event.

Conference to promote trade with Korea 

The Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City is coordinating with the Incheon Business Agency to organize a conference on business and investment between Vietnam and Incheon City in Korea, on March 23.

Delegations from Incheon City include eight enterprises covering manufacturing, technology development, cosmetic distribution, cosmetic raw material and deep sea    camera equipments.

Vietnamese companies will be supplied with information relating to investment in Incheon City and have the chance to coordinate with Korean businesses. They will also have the opportunity to exchange experiences and look for business partners.

The conference will be held at the New World Hotel on Le Lai Street in District 1.

IBA is a non-profit organization established by Incheon Metropolitan City and Small and Medium Business Administration to provide comprehensive support to small and medium enterprises and venture businesses in Incheon City. The agency helps enterprises overcome difficulties in the areas of production, management and sales so as to become more competitive.

Ninh Thuan Province grants licenses for new projects 

Ninh Thuan Province's Economic Development Office announced on March 19 that it had granted licenses to four new projects with a total capital of VND6.4 trillion (US$320 million). 

 

Among the four new projects, the most remarkable is the Phuoc Nam Enfinity renewable energy plant of 124.5MW capacity with investments by Belgium-based Enfinity Company.

Another notable project are the wind and solar power plants in Phuoc Nam, Phuoc Minh and Phuoc Ninh communes in the central province with an investment of VND5.2 trillion ($260 million). Besides these, there are projects to build tourist sites and also to exploit minerals in the province.

The office also said that provincial authorities had received a big project to develop the Mui Dinh Urban Area at a total cost of VND85.5 trillion ($4.5 billion) by the Korean-based Polo Beach International Ltd. Company.

 

Dung Quat gasoline receives international ISO certificate 

Eight types of gasoline produced at Vietnam’s first oil refinery of Dung Quat in the central province of Quang Ngai has been granted the quality certificate ISO 9001:2008 by the Norway-based organization, Det Norske Veritas (DNV). 

The announcement was made on Saturday by Nguyen Hoai Giang, general director of Binh Son Oil Refining & Petrochemical Co., Ltd.

According to Mr.Giang, the eight types of gasoline include gas, propylene, Mogas 90, Mogas 92, Mogas 95, Jet A1 aviation fuel, kerosene and diesel oil.

DNV has also given the Dung Quat Oil Refinery certificates of OHSAS 18001:20011 for safe and healthy working environment and ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management.

The Binh Son Oil Refining & Petrochemical Company has received the three above certificates after one year since the contractor Technip Consortium handed over the Dung Quat Plant to the company.

The same day, experts from France, Japan and the US came to the Dung Quat Oil Refinery to find solutions to the residue fluid continually cracking (RFCC) workshop where operations stopped since March 16 due to some breakdown.

RFCC workshop is the most important at the Dung Quat Plant. It is expected that the problem will be resolved within the next few days.

At present, the Dung Quat Oil Refinery operates at 95 percent of its capacity. As of February this year, the plant has received nearly 10 million tons of crude oil and has processed about nine million tons of gasoline and oil products.

 

Singapore shows increasing confidence in Vietnam 

Singaporean Ambassador to Vietnam Simon Wong has emphasised the increasing confidence of his country’s investors in trade and investment cooperation potential between the two countries.

Addressing a meeting of more than 300 Vietnamese and Singaporean busineses held in Hanoi on March 18, the Singaporean diplomat cited the outstanding successes in the two countries’ economic cooperation such as the Vietnam-Singapore industrial parks, the PSA deep water port, and many large real estate projects around Vietnam. 

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has affirmed that Singapore’s investment capital, which almost doubled in 2010, reflected the confidence and effective cooperation potential of Singaporean investors and businesses in Vietnam.

Singapore has become the country with the largest investment capital in Vietnam, with 900 projects totalling almost 23 billion USD, said the Deputy PM, adding that in the first two months of 2011 alone, Singapore had registered an additional 1.1 billion USD in various fields.

At the meeting, the two countries’ businesses explored steps to implement the Singapore-Vietnam Connectivity Framework Agreement in the fields of finance, information technology, investment, service and trade, transport, and education and training.

UK businesses show interest in PPP in VN

The United Kingdom wants to exchange experiences and help Vietnam develop infrastructure through the public-private partnership (PPP) model that has made important contributions to developing infrastructure in the UK during the past 50 years.

Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Bear made the statement at a seminar themed, “Realising PPP opportunities in Vietnam”, co-organised by the British Embassy, the UK Trade and Investment Agency and the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Hanoi on March 21.

Michael Bear said he hoped Vietnam would continue to consider UK as a strategic partner, especially since the PPP cooperation model would play a key role in the fields of mobilising capital, purchasing equipment and bidding to develop infrastructure.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong affirmed that Vietnam highly values the experience and strength of the UK in carrying out PPP projects, adding that Vietnam has a legal framework to ensure that these projects would be implemented in a transparent and fair way and in accordance with international standards.

According to the British embassy, the UK has significant experience in developing PPP models that have created a foundation for modernizing public services in the country, with over 900 projects and a combined investment from private businesses of US$100 billion over the past 12 years.

Vietnam and the UK plan to raise bilateral trade to US$4 billion and the UK’s direct investment in Vietnam to US$3 billion by 2013.

The seminar was held within the framework of Alderman Michael Bear’s visit to Vietnam from March 19-24.

Vietnam participates in int’l tourism fair in France

Four Vietnamese tourist companies - La Palanche Voyages, Luxury Travel, Vietnam Originale and Cle Voyage - joined in the 2011 Le Monde à Paris (MAP) International Tourism Fair from March 17-20.

MAP is one of the biggest tourism fairs in Europe, together with the annual Top RESA Tourism Fair which is held in September.

This year’s fair highlighted special festivals from different countries throughout the world, such as carnivals of Brazil, Belgium and the northern region of France; harvest festivals of Croatia, Spain, Turkey, and Greece; and water festival of Myanmar.

More than 100,000 visitors flocked to the four-day fair, which featured over 500 booths of well-known travel firms, hotels and restaurants worldwide.

Director of La Palanche Voyages Nguyen Xuan Hai said his company has considered France a strategic market to directly introduce its services to French as well as European holidaymakers.

Vietnam has been a favourite destination of French and European tourists thanks to its political and security stability well as its cultural diversity, he said.

Central region attracts foreign investment

 

The central key economic zone promised to become a spotlight in the country's foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction this year, said Trinh Minh Van, director of the Investment Promotion Centre for Central Viet Nam under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Despite these effects of the global economic downturn, the zone including the provinces of Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and the city of Da Nang would continue to ensure increased FDI attraction, Van said.

Last year, the zone attracted US$4.84 billion in FDI, accounting for over 28 per cent and 97.2 per cent and of total investment registered in the central and Central Highland regions and the country, respectively.

FDI registered in the zone was 166.4 per cent higher than that in the northern key economic zone and equalled 82 per cent of the southern key economic zone.

However, there was an imbalance in FDI structure in 2010, Van said.

Up to 95 per cent of FDI was invested in the trade and service sector with real estate trading attracting the lion's share of FDI and only 5 per cent was invested into the fields of industry and construction. No investment had been made in agriculture, forestry and fishery.

Van attributed the imbalance to the region's advantages for developing real estate projects and competition between some provinces in the key economic zone in attracting investors, resulting in series of investment incentives being offered. Some investors took advantage of those preferential policies, signing contracts without realising them.

The inadequate infrastructure, a lack of skilled personnel and low competitive investment costs in logistics and services were also blamed for insufficient investment capital flowing into the fields of manufacturing, high-tech and support industries.

Meanwhile, sluggish FDI disbursement was also problematic, Van said, adding that only 4.2 per cent of registered FDI was disbursed last year.

"The zone needs to make larger efforts to further implement investment promotion programmes and also draw up more effective strategies on attracting FDI," he said.

Solving the problems regarding administrative reform, infrastructure construction, human resource training and co-operation among provinces in the zone was also necessary.

This year, the Government also gives priority to solving these problems with a focus on luring FDI in support industries and infrastructure through Public-Private Partnerships, according the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Van's centre would work with provinces to draw up a list of the fields calling for investment based on local conditions and draft concrete investment promotion programmes.

It would also co-ordinate closely with local authorities to strengthen inspection activities to guarantee the efficiency of foreign-invested projects, Van said.

The zone was attempting to attract investment in its potential and competitive sector such as oil and gas, ship building, logistics, coastal tourism development, hi-tech and clean industries.

Habubank to issue $45.71 mln bond

Habubank shareholders have approved a plan to issue VND960 billion (US$45.71 million) in convertible bonds next year to raise the bank's charter capital to VND5 trillion ($238.1 million).

This year, the Ha Noi-based bank plans to spend VND1.05 trillion ($50 million) from a convertible bond issuance in August last year to increase charter capital to VND4.05 trillion ($192.86 million) from VND3 trillion ($142.86 million). The additional charter capital will be spent on improving infrastructure and to do business.

The Ha Noi Stock Exchange-listed bank (coded HBB) targets a pre-tax profit of VND700-750 billion ($33.33-35.71 million) this year. Its shares closed flat yesterday at VND9,900.

The bank also plans to equitise in-house securities firm Habubank Securities, pending legal approval.

Habubank posted its 2010 fiscal report earlier this month, with a net profit of VND746.7 billion ($35.55 million), up 13 per cent against the previous year. The bank's service arm posted a profit of over VND114 billion ($5.43 million) while its forex business posted a loss of VND15.85 billion ($754,761).

Securities services earned only VND2.4 billion ($114,285), falling over 84 per cent year on year while securities investment earned over VND221 billion ($10.52 million) profit, a four fold increase against the previous year.

The bank's earnings from other operations hit VND243.8 billion ($11.61 million), seven times higher than in 2009.

Hanoi-Hai Phong National Highway to open in 2013

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has ordered the completion of the Ha Noi – Hai Phong National Highway Project by 2013.

The project, worth VND24,000 billion (US$1.1 billion), was being implemented under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, and when finished would have six lanes allowing a maximum speed of 120km per hour, Hai said.

After three years, land clearance has been basically completed, and project investor Viet Nam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company has built 37 resettlement areas.

The project, one of a number of priority national constructions, was expected to reduce traffic jams connecting existing industrial parks on National Highway 5, and develop new ones in the North East region, Hai said.

Resumed land lots to be sold to fund projects

HCM City authorities will auction land to mobilise funds for some key and urgent projects, according to a newspaper report.

Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) said this year the HCM City Land Development Centre had recommended to the People's Committee to sell 18 land lots that had been taken back from investors or were in the process of retrieval.

They were part of 44 that had to be retrieved this year due to various reasons like investors' violations of rules of tardy progress.

Those already retrieved were in Tan Thanh Tay and Tan Phu Trung Communes in Cu Chi District and Vinh Loc Commune in Binh Chanh District.

The Centre had called for speeding up the process of revoking nine lots, including those at 462-464 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 3; 234 Ly Tu Trong, District 1; and 93/2 Long Son, District 9.

Vo Cong Luc, its deputy director, said the Centre had hired a consultant to fix prices for the 18 lots while the Department of Justice would finalise procedures for the auction.

According to HCM City authorities, the auction of public lands were aimed at not only exploiting land effectively but also to make land management transparent.

Of the 44 land lots measuring 1,956ha to be taken back from allottees this year, 23 would be because investors used them for unauthorised purposes – like 205 Ben Chuong Duong, District 1, given to Ben Thanh Rubber Co, and 16/1 Aâu Co, District 11, given to Gia Dinh Textile Co.

Fifteen lots measuring 21.6ha would be retrieved because of land-use violations and the remaining seven, because of investors' tardy progress as concluded by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The City People's Committee had warned seven other investors that failure to complete their projects by July this year would see them losing their land.

More foreign projects gain licence approval

Foreign investments continue to flow into the country.

The central coastal province of Ninh Thuan last Saturday licensed the US$250 million Phuoc Nam-Enfinity renewable energy plant by Belgium-based Enfinity Company, Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review) reports.

Many other projects worth billions of dollars are waiting for approval – like the giant Mui Dinh tourism complex project to be built at a cost of $4.5 billion which is waiting for the green light from the Government.

The 1,500-ha complex in Thuan Nam District will be developed by the Hong Kong-based Polo Beach International Limited Co. It will have a high-end resort and villas, amusement and shopping areas, and others.

Another notable project awaiting a licence is the Japan-based Toyota Tshuno Corporation's $130 million project to mine rare earths in northern Lai Chau Province.

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has announced plans to build a manufacturing plant in northern Bac Ninh Province that is expected to be licensed in the second quarter.

Many foreign delegations have also been visiting Viet Nam looking for investment opportunities.

Local phone links with Yahoo! for ‘leverage'

Yahoo! Viet Nam and Q-Mobile, a Vietnamese mobile handset manufacturer, have tied up to have Yahoo! applications preloaded into all Q-Mobile data-enabled handsets.

Following the agreement signed last Thursday, users of Q-Mobile handsets will have several applications as a default feature in the quick-launch menu.

Similarly, Q-Mobile's Android operating system handsets will be preloaded with Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, and Yahoo! News.

Tommaso Del Re, head of mobile and business development, Yahoo! Southeast Asia, said: "Yahoo!'s partnership with Q-Mobile is an important part of our strategy to create an immersive experience that leverages the unique attributes of these devices.

"Working with Q-Mobile will allow us to bring exciting services to consumers through a seamless PC to mobile experience."

Nguyen Quang Minh, CEO of ABTel, owner of Q-Mobile, said: "The co-operation between Q-Mobile and Yahoo! is an important milestone in our quest to be a prominent player in the data-enabled device market.

Capital has $1.2b March trade deficit

Ha Noi's trade deficit in March was about US$1.2 billion, pushing the figure of the first quarter of this year to $3.5 billion despite attempts to limit imports, announced the city's Statistics Office.

In March, the office reported, the city's total import turnover was nearly $2 billion, lifting the total import value in the first three months to nearly $5.58 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.4 per cent.

Cong Xuan Mui, head of the city's Statistics Office, said about 75 per cent of the imports were raw material and machines.

The import value of products such as spare parts, steel, fertiliser, chemicals and petrol increased by between 3.4 per cent and 23.7 per cent, he said, explaining that many oursourcing industries such as garment and textile, footwear and electronic had to import 60-70 per cent of raw materials to meet the requirements from foreign companies.

In detail, Ha Noi poured more than $2.46 billion to import raw materials in Q1. Of this number, $337 million was spent to buy steel.

More than $1.27 billion was used to import spare parts and machines.

During the first quarter, the export revenue from State-owned companies was $3.65 billion. Followed by private companies and foreign-invested companies with $1.02 billion and $900 million respectively.

In terms of export activities, the capital city in the first quarter earned more than $2 billion from exports, an increase of 28.1 per cent over the same quarter of last year.

The increase is attributed to the high export value of tea, garments and computer components.

Deputy PM promotes electric market

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai released an official announcement on Wednesday about building a competitive power generation market.

To pursue the goal of piloting a competitive power generation market by July 1, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been appointed to complete the regulatory system for the market before June 30.

The ministry must also finish a project to restructure the electricity industry and develop a project to establish a national electricity regulation council before late 2011.

Three seafood companies merge

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development last Thursday held a ceremony to mark the merger of three seafood corporations, including Seaprodex Viet Nam, Ha Long Seafood Corporation and East Sea Fisheries Corporation into the Viet Nam Seafood Corporation (VSC) in HCM City.

The wholly State-owned VSC, with VND839 billion (US$39 million) in charter capital, aims to establish a powerful State organisation and boost aquatic development.

VSC is required to arrange jobs for the workers of all three former companies, boost the export market and apply modern science and technology to seafood processing.

Draft regulations issued for ATMs

The State Bank of Viet Nam has issued a draft circular guiding commercial banking activities.

One new regulation included in the draft is that banks must seek approval from SBV branches if they wish to open new automatic teller machines (ATMs).

Local SBV branch managers will be authorised to investigate and approve commercial bank requests for installation or termination of ATMs.

Insurer AIA likes Government bonds

AIA Viet Nam Life Insurance Co last week announced that 80 per cent of its investment portfolio is comprised of Government bonds, while the remaining 20 per cent is Government guaranteed corporate bonds and bank deposits.

AIA Viet Nam's Financial Director Ho Viet Ha said that these investments earned the company its largest profits compared to insurance services which raised very little money. Last year, AIA Viet Nam earned VND139.2 billion (US$6.63 million) in pre-tax profit, up 35 per cent against the previous year.

Refinery closes for maintenance work

Dung Quat Oil Refinery, the first of its kind in Viet Nam, will be shut down for two weeks for maintenance, general director of Binh Son Petrochemical and Refining Co Ltd, Nguyen Hoai Giang, said yesterday.

Giang said work at the installation, in the central province of Quang Ngai, was being undertaken by more than 1,000 engineers, workers, and 60 contracted experts from Technip and SK companies.

While the work is being carried out, petroleum outlets plan to import about 400,000 tonnes of petroleum products to add to an existing stockpile of about 100,000 tonnes to serve the market.

The US$3 billion refinery is designed to process 6.5 million tonnes of crude oil a year.

Construction of software technology park begins

Ha Noi Electronics Corporation (Hanel) stated that it would start construction on Software Technology Park (STP) project in April 2011 in Long Bien District.

The 31-ha project will consist of software production and commercial buildings. Hanel has committed to investing around US$35 million in STP.

First locally built semi-conductors handed over

Two batches of semi-conductor equipment were handed over to Japanese Tokyo Electron Ltd by Global Equipment Services (GES) Viet Nam last Friday.

According to GES Viet Nam, these were the first semiconductor equipment to be produced in Viet Nam.

City welcomes new solar module plant

Work begins on the thin-film solar module factory in Dong Nam Industrial Zone, Cu Chi District to day by First Solar Inc Viet Nam.

The US$1 billion project is planned to open in mid-2012 with an annual capacity of 238MW in the first phase of operation.

Thanh Hoa hypermarket to be built

Quang Long Limited Company, Groupe Casino, Viet Nhat Real Estate Company and Thanh Hoa Province started construction on the Big C hypermarket project in Dong Hai Commune, central Thanh Hoa City last Saturday. The VND1,000 billion (US$46.5 million), 7-ha site will provide wholesale and retail goods, lease stalls and showcase products.

Sacombank brokerage services prosper

Sacombank Securities Company intends for brokering services to account for 50 per cent of annual total turnover, said the company's general director Nguyen Thanh Hung.

To achieve the target, the company would develop new products in conjunction with their brokering services, Hung said, adding that institutional investment was anticipated to contribute 30 per cent, while consultancy and banking investment would account for 20 per cent of turnover.

"The situation in the market remains challenging, which will affect our investments. In such a situation our target will be stocks of safe business sectors with high dividend payments," said Hung.

Volatilities among gold, inflation and interest rates in 2010 had created great challenges, leading to a drop in profits, he said, noting that post-tax profits for 2010 fell 64 per cent from 2009 to VND92.2 billion (US$4.3 million). The figure represented 56 per cent of their revised business target.

This year, the company targeted a pre-tax profit of VND200 billion ($9.3 million) and a dividend payment from 8 to 12 per cent. The management board will decide whether the dividend will be paid in cash or shares.

The brokerage house scheduled an overseas listing in one of four stock markets, including London, Luxembourg, Laos or Singapore. The management board will initiate a detailed process for this overseas listing which is expected to be implemented during the 2011-13 period.

An extra issuance of shares will be executed this year to increase the company's charter capital from VND1.3 trillion ($60.5 million) to VND1.4 trillion. The total share offer includes 16.7 million stocks, of which about 12.7 million will be sold to existing shareholders under a 10:1 ratio. Another 2 million will be offered to a strategic partner based on a price established by the company's management board, while the remaining 2 million will be sold to staff at face value.

Money raised through the issuance, would be allocated to Lane Xang Securities, a subsidiary of Sacombank Securities in Laos, said the brokerage chairman Nguyen Ho Nam.

The company would use part of this capital to open a non-life insurance company and allocate the remaining capital to working funds, Nam said.

The company shares, SBS, yesterday closed up 4.65 per cent at VND17,200 a piece.

SBV calls on banks to focus on small firms

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has reminded commercial banks to abide by its directive to prioritise lending for the manufacturing and SMEs sectors.

The banks should also give lending priority to enterprises engaged in agriculture in particular and rural areas in general, the central bank has said.

Governor Nguyen Van Giau on Friday sent an official letter (No 2200/NHNN-CSTT) asking SBV branches nation-wide to inspect and request local commercial banks to intensify mobilisation of capital and reduce loans for the non-manufacturing sector in the spirit of the central bank's directive (No 01/CT-NHNN) issued on March 1.

The directive is related to the implementation of monetary and banking measures aimed at controlling inflation, stabilising the macroeconomy and maintaining social security.

The directive asks credit institutions to formulate and implement reasonable business plans for 2011 in line with credit growth and quality improvement targets set by the Government.

Commercial banks are required to reduce non-production loans in their lending structures to a maximum of 22 per cent by June 30 and 16 per cent by December 31,2011.

The letter also tasks SBV branches with supervising, speeding up and settling problems that arise between local credit organisations and borrowers in line with current regulations.

Luxury imports continue to flood market

 

Luxury goods including high-priced cars and motorbikes, cosmetics, mobile phones and alcoholic beverages continue to be imported despite a package of measures unveiled by the Government last month to reduce the trade deficit.

Their imports had in fact risen sharply at southern ports in recent times, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.

In the first two months they jumped by 24.8 per cent to US$1.1 billion or 7.4 per cent of total imports.

The goods subject to import restrictions in Viet Nam include tobacco, automobiles, motorcycles and spares, consumer goods, alcoholic beverages, and cosmetics.

Cosmetics imported from the US, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea and sold at HCM City shopping malls like Vincom, Parkson, Diamond Plaza and Zen Plaza have become very popular.

A sales agent who declined to be named said imported shower gels and shampoos were competing with local brands at cosmetics shops.

She said they had previously been brought home by people travelling abroad but were now imported.

Hien, a sales agent at a HCM City-based firm that imports and distributes shower gels, said his company imported seven containers of these cosmetics every month for VND14 billion ($660,000).

According to the customs office at Sai Gon Port, cosmetics imports have increased sharply in the last few months.

At Cat Lai Port, also in the city, cosmetics worth $3.42 million had been imported by March 10, a year-on-year increase of 54.8 per cent.

Import of upscale mobile phones is also on the rise.

Nguyen Quoc Bao, chairman of mobile phone company Thanh Cong, said his company imported around 5,000 handsets a month.

Consumer trends have changed with many customers now preferring expensive models instead of the low-end ones they did even three years ago.

The Sai Gon Port customs said imports of consumers goods through the port had amounted to $577.4 million in the first two months, 29.5 per cent up from the same period last year.

They include 266,000 hand phones worth nearly $7 million, a 200 per cent increase in volume and 177.4 per cent rise in turnover.

According to the National Statistics Bureau, in January and February, 10,600 automobiles were imported at a cost of $179 million.

They include top-of-the-range brands such as Maybach, BMW, Lexus, Bentley, Porsche, and Ferrari.

Euro Auto, a company that specialises in BMW cars, said the company had sold more than 150 this year, with the cheapest being a BMW X1 costing more than VND1.15 billion ($54,761). The company also said 31 Rolls-Royces had been imported at more than $400,000 each before tax.

A customs officer, who asked not to be named, said it was difficult to limit the import of luxury goods since the country had to cut tariffs as committed under the WTO roadmap.