Work begins on Asia’s biggest fish-oil plant

Construction of Asia’s largest fish-oil refining plant began Wednesday at the Vam Cong industrial park in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

Sao Mai An Giang Group is building it at a cost of US$15 million and equipment will be supplied by Belgian firm Desmet Balesstra.

The 23,000-square-meter factory will have a capacity of 100 tons per day in the first year after it begins operation early 2012 and double that three years later.

It is expected to have an annual turnover of VND3 trillion (US$150 million).

The oil for refinement will be provided from tra and basa catfish by seafood processing plants in the region.

Vietnam harvests first world-standard cocoa crop

This is the first tons toward the total 560 tons of UTZ-certified cocoa Vietnam plans to harvest this year as part of its UTZ Good Inside Cocoa Program.

Tran Quoc Vuong, Director of Cargill Vietnam’s cocoa purchasing program, said more and more local growers would switch to world standard practices now that UTZ-certified cocoa are fetching much higher prices on the market.

The price for UTZ certified cocoa is around VND64.4 million (US$3,083.5) per ton, VND2 million ($95.7) higher than uncertified products.

At the present, however, only 670 hectares of the 5,000 hectares of cocoa to be harvested countrywide this year are UTZ-certified.

Vietnam’s cocoa plantations, totaling 16,000 hectares, are located mainly in the southern provinces of Ben Tre and Ba Ria-Vung Tau and the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak and Dak Nong.

Tanker caught siphoning off gas in cemetery

Authorities in Quang Ngai province yesterday caught a tanker illegally selling its own gas to a truck at an isolated cemetery.

Tran Van Khanh, born 1960 in Da Nang city, admitted he met a person wanting to buy some gas while he was driving the tanker owned by a Hanoi-based firm to the Dung Quoc economic zone in Quang Ngai.

Upon agreeing on a price, they both came to the Ham Rong cemetery and were caught red-handed extracting gas from the tanker into 30 gas containers labeled Petrovietnam Gas being loaded on the truck.

This is unlawful, said Vo Minh Tam, deputy head of the Quang Ngai Market Management Bureau, adding they can be charged with copyright violations.

The case is now under investigation.

Vietnam cuts oil and petrol tariff to zero

Tax on oil and petrol imports has been slashed to zero percent starting tomorrow from the previous 2-5 percent to ease pressure on domestic prices, the Ministry of Finance said Wednesday in a circular.

This is the fifth time since late last year Vietnam has lowered its tariff to support local businesses.

Businesses now suffer huge losses since global oil prices are shooting up, the ministry said, elaborating they lose VND3,000 (US$0.15) on each liter of petrol and VND4,000 ($0.19) on each liter of oil.

The tax cut is meant to partly offset the losses, stabilize retail oil and petrol prices, and contain inflation, it added.

A fuel price stabilization fund which is running out was once used as a tool to control oil and petrol prices.

Vietnam sees oil and petrol as a critical part of the nation’s energy security so it tightly controls their prices.

It has set inflation target this year at 7 percent or less after last year’s 11.75 percent rate, way above the 8 percent proposed one.

The country is facing tough challenges when gas stations have limited operations or even stayed closed in anticipation of a rumored price hike in the coming months. Oil and petrol have been smuggled across borders to neighboring Cambodia as well.

VNPost to merge postal savings arm with bank

VNPost has received government approval to merge its subsidiary, Viet Nam Postal Saving Service Co, with Lien Viet Bank.

The merged entity will be called Lien Viet Post Commercial Joint Stock Bank and have a capital of VND5 trillion (US$250 million), up from the bank’s current capital of VND3.65 trillion.

It will have 13,000 branches and transaction offices nationwide.

VNPost will hold a 27 percent stake post-merger. Him Lam Corp has 18 percent while the Saigon Trading Group and Southern Airport Service Company hold 4.57 and 2.43 percent respectively.

Customs announces 'manifesto' to cut red tape

The General Department of Customs yesterday officially announced a “Proclamation on Customer Service” aimed at cutting red tape towards better efficiency and transparency.

Under the new proclamation announced at a Hanoi press conference, the customs sector now has specific and customer-oriented deadlines like those for receiving and registering declaration; for dealing with duty exemption documents; for customer relations, for replying to appeals.

Accordingly, customs officers must complete registration within 30 minutes after they receive the documents except for documents with more than 10 items.

Duty exemption cases will take at most 10 days to resolve.

Besides, customs officials are required to respond to client’s queries within five days.

In addition, the customs sector will publicize addresses, phone numbers, hot lines, and email addresses for information relating to customs services, tax evasion and smuggling.

According to Nguyen Duong Thai, deputy director of the General Department of Customs, this new ‘proclamation’ testifies to the sector’s determination to streamline Vietnamese customs procedures and provide better service.

Specific regulations to guide the implementation of the proclamation will be issued next month.

Japan invests $20.8 bln in Vietnam

Japan’s investment in Vietnam in the 18 years since the two countries established bilateral relations tops US$20.8, third behind only Taiwan and Korea, according to the Foreign Investment Agency of Vietnam.

The country is, however, in top position in terms of actual disbursement and number of operational projects.

Japanese firms have invested in more than 42 provinces and cities.

Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai have been the most popular destinations, together attracting 910 projects worth more than $7.9 billion.

Hanoi tops with $3 billion.

Japan investors have focused on manufacturing, investing $18 in the industry.

The Japan External Trade Organization has said future investments are likely to be focused on heavy industry and retail.

Cheap labor and low production costs are the most important factors in attracting Japanese investors to the country.

Last Tuesday 100 Japanese firms and nearly an equal number from HCMC held a meeting to discuss business opportunities.

Many of the former are looking for local partners to set up business here, and so the meeting helped them understand more about Vietnamese culture and business practices.

Last year Japanese investment was worth more than $1.5 billion.

Central bank denies rumor over VND1 million-banknote

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) officially announced they do not have any plan to issue one million dong banknotes as rumored.

Recent rumor has it that SVB is going to issue VND1 million-denominated bank notes in view of the country’s rising inflation and the depreciating dong.

The central bank said the false rumor not only badly impacts public psychology but also damages the country’s financial market.

SVB has asked individuals and organizations to provide information related to the rumor.

Member of the National Advisory Council for Finance and Monetary Policies Tran Hoang Ngan said that it is not the first time the country’s finance and monetary market has had such a rumor.

Logistics meeting promises big deals

Deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars are expected to be signed at an international freight forwarders conference that opened in Ho Chi Minh City Sunday, according to organizers.

David L. Yokeum, chairman of the WCA Family of Logistics Networks which will organize the eight-day WCA Annual Worldwide Conference 2011, said many foreign firms want to enter into joint ventures in Vietnam since local companies know the market.

The conference is being held at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre in District 7 which has put up 500 meeting tables and 80 booths.

It will provide enterprises the chance to build new business relationships and strengthen existing cooperation.

Held every year in Thailand, it will move for the first time to Vietnam, attracting 1,600 logistics professionals from 160 countries.

The WCA Family of Logistic Networks is the world’s largest grouping of independent freight forwarders with 3,417 members in 174 countries.

Viettel makes up 22% state-run conglomerates’ profits in 2010

With 15.5 trillion (US$742.3 million) pretax profit, the military-run telecom firm Viettel contributed up to 21.9 percent of the total pretax profit of 21 state-run groups and corporations last year, according to a recent meeting in Hanoi.

20 of 21 state giants posted profit with a total pretax profit of VND70.778 trillion ($3.39 billion) in 2010, said the recent working session between the government and members of state giants in Hanoi.

The government has also assigned these firms with restructuring their business, investment and building up business plans with an average annual growth of 15 percent.

By the end of 2010, Viettel continued to lead in term of growth and profit rate in the telecommunication sector with a revenue of VND91.56 trillion, up 52 percent year-on-year, as pretax profit rose 52 percent year on year to VND15.5 trillion.

Currently, the total equity of telecommunication firm is VND540.701 trillion, rising 11.75 percent over 2009's.

With the role of the leading firm of the information technology and communication sector, Viettel has this year targeted a growth of 25 percent against 2010, equaling to a revenue of over VND117 trillion.

Motorbike imports soar in January 

Imports of motorbikes in Vietnam reached an all-time high of 16,599 units worth US$27.78 million in January.

According to the General Customs Office the figures showed an increase of 106 percent and 139.8 percent in terms of volume and value over the previous month.

An imported motorbike cost an average US$1,700.

As many as 9,857 motorbikes were imported from Italy, 4,950 from Thailand and 1,660 from China.

According to the related agencies, the hike in motorbike imports was not caused by an increased demand, but actually by enterprises who raised rates when they learnt of an impending hike in foreign exchange rates to avoid any shortfall.

Vietnam also imported 6,117 automobiles worth US$102.76 million in January, showing a decrease of 7.2 percent and 10.7 percent in terms of volume and value over the previous month.

The import turnover of car parts dropped to US$165 million, a decrease of 14.2 percent since last December.

Mekong Delta raises tra fish export revenue 

The Mekong Delta plans to export 600,000-650,000 tonnes of tra catfish (pangasius) for 1.55 billion USD in 2011, 150 million USD more than last year’s figure.

Additional 6,000-6,300 ha of water surface in the Mekong delta, mainly in Dong Thap, An Giang, Ben Tre and Can Tho City, will be marked out for tra fish raising in order to increase its output to 1.3 million tonnes.

The figure will help enlarge the region’s total aquaculture area to 800,000 ha, including 50,000 ha of black tiger shrimp and 195,000 ha of fresh-water shrimp and fish.

The region expects to harvest 2.4 million tonnes of seafood this year, a year-on-year increase of 160,000 tonnes.

To the target, the province will enhance personnel training in seafood raising, tapping and processing and assist businesses in technological renewal as well as expand its market information, promoting and marketing system.

In the meantime, they will continue building the irrigation system for fresh and brackish water, promote quarantine work and increase the management of water environment, the quality and food safety in accordance with international standards.

Equitisation on the back burner again

Vietnamese state-owned giant enterprises’ long delayed plans to go public will probably be delayed again due to tough economic times.

Vietnam Industrial Construction Group (VNIC) has the government’s approval to privatise its nine affiliated companies until 2012, of which Lilama, Licogi and Coma Groups are urged to complete their privatisation within 2011.

VNIC general director Duong Khanh Toan said the success of those privatisations largely depended on the macroeconomic movements and stock market situation. Besides rate of progress, Toan said, the state also required the privatisations generated back a certain amount of capital surplus.

According to Toan, given the context of high expected inflation and high interest rate, which much restrain cash flowing into stock market, there would be a shift in 2011’s three privatisations into 2012.

Vietnam Airlines, included in the government’s restructuring scheme for 2007-2010, is building its privatising plan as well and expected to start the plan within 2011. However, the reason for the state airline delayed making the initial public offer (IPO) last year was also unfavourable stock market conditions.

“How quick the plan could progress depends on stock market conditions, notably the conditions for making an IPO,” said Vietnam Airlines chairman Nguyen Sy Hung.

Besides, Mobifone was forced to early go public, after the telecommunications giant missed its privatising plans several times. Minister of Information and Communications Le Doan Hop indicated that Mobifone and related authorities would discuss the detailed plan in next three months and finish it within this year.