Agricultural product exports top US$19.15 billion in 2010 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced exports of agricultural, forest, and aquatic products reached a record of US$19.15 billion this year, an increase of nearly 22.6 percent year-on-year.

Of which, agricultural product accounted for $9.95 billion, up by 24.22 percent over the previous year; aquatic product $4.94 billion, rose by 16.3 percent; and forest product and furniture $3.63 billion, gained by 29.8 percent.

Three products whose exports topped above $3 billion were aquatic products, furniture, and rice. Rubber export was above $2 billion, and coffee and cashew nut exports above $1 billion.

FDI inflows lower than target, total $18.6 billion 

Almost US$18.6 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows was registered in Vietnam for this year as a whole, equal to 82.2 percent of last year’s performance and lower than an expected US$22 billion – US$25 billion, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The FDI inflows were registered for 1,238 foreign-invested projects, according to a report by the ministry’s Foreign Investment Agency.

The report said US$17.23 billion was invested into new licensed projects and almost $1.4 billion added to existing projects.

However, US$11 billion was disbursed this year, 10 percent higher than last year’s disbursement.  

The foreign sector posted a year-on-year rise of 27.8 percent in export revenue, putting the total at almost US$38.83 billion. The sector registered trade surplus of some US$2.3 billion for the whole year.

VN-Index slightly restores

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index slightly added up on December 27 as wariness almost drove market to move flatly.

The measure of 275 companies and five mutual funds listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.06 percent, or 0.29 points, to close at 473.05 points.

Of the index, 119 stocks gained, 93 dropped, while 68 treaded water.

Trading volume severely fell over the previous trading session. Around 39.24 million shares changed hands at a value of VND975.08 billion, the lowest level in the past one month.

Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Joint Stock Company (QCG) was the most active share in volume with 2.45 million shares.

Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank or Sacombank (STB) followed with 1.58 million shares, tagged along by Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) with 1.5 million shares.

Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company (BTT) jumped 5 percent to VND27,300.

Hoang Quan Consulting – Trading – Service Real Estate Corporation (HQC) advanced 4.96 percent to VND38,100.

Tay Bac Minerals Investment Joint Stock Company (KTB) rallied 4.9 percent to VND25,700.

Sao Ta Foods Joint Stock Company (FMC) tumbled for three consecutive days, reducing 8.39 percent to VND13,100.

Gia Lai Cane Sugar Thermoelectricity Joint Stock Company (SEC) slashed 5.95 percent to VND25,300.

Viet Thang Aquafeed Joint Stock Company (VTF) retreated 4.9 percent to VND13,600.

The smaller bourse in the north also opened week in green as the Hanoi’s HNX-Index revived 0.22 percent, or 0.24 points, to close at 111.43 points. Trading volume faintly recovered to 36.1 million shares worth VND704.58 billion.

Meanwhile, the UPCom-Index collapsed 1.21 points to 41.3 points this morning. A total of 279,000 shares changed hands at a value of VND3.8 billion.

Hanoi’s exports increase sharply in 2010   

Hanoi’s export turnover reached nearly 8 billion USD in 2010, a year-on-year increase of 26.3 percent, according to the Hanoi Statistics Office (HSO).

The HSO said the rise was attributed to the fact that the capital city has penetrated major export markets such as EU, the US, Japan, China and ASEAN along with new potential markets such as Africa, Middle East and South Asia.

The city has also focused on potential export items, including agricultural products, garment and textile, electronics, computer components, peripheral devices, glass and handicrafts.

Among the commodities, computer components and peripheral devices earned 1.5 billion USD, up 34.3 percent; garment and textile, 1 billion USD, up 33 percent; and glass and glass products, 300 million USD, up 37.1 percent.

Meanwhile, coffee and pepper contracted 51.5 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively.

This year, the city’s import value reached over 21.2 billion USD, an increase of 12 percent over 2009, of which local imports stood at roughly 7.8 billion USD, up 3.8 percent.

Of the import items, plastics saw the sharpest rise of 23.9 percent with 455 million USD, followed by oil and gas with 17.5 percent increase.

Investor group urges cap for forex deposit interest

The central bank should cap interest rates on foreign-currency deposits to rein in the rise in the value of the currencies, according to the Vietnam Association of Financial Investors.

The association wants the State Bank of Vietnam to initially bring down the rates to 3-3.5 percent from around 5 percent that most banks offer now.

The most suitable time for the cut will be February next year, it said.

The central bank should also review its policy of providing loans in foreign currencies to exporters since this drives up demand, it pointed out.

It is partly as a result of this that banks are forced to raise their foreign-currency deposit rates to attract deposits, in turn pushing up free market exchange rates, the association added.

German wholesaler opens new outlet in southern VN

Wholesaler Metro Cash & Carry has opened a new outlet in the southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, 130km away from Ho Chi Minh City.

The new store is the German group’s first outlet in the coastal city and 13th in Vietnam.

More than 25,000 products - 95 percent of which are made in Vietnam - are sold at the outlet.

Entering Vietnam in 2002, the group is currently operating 13 outlets in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Danang, Can Tho and Dong Nai and two distribution platforms in Binh Duong and Lam Dong.

The group operates 655 stores in 29 countries.

ADB offers $100 mln loan for Vietnam business development

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved loans of US$100 million to improve business environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.

The loans will be disbursed through a program on SMEs development and a sub-project in the finance sector.

Ayumi Konishi, ADB’s Country Director in Vietnam said that small and medium-sized businesses are key to private sector development in Vietnam, adding that over the past time, the programme has made important contributions to creating jobs for about 1.7 million young workers annually.

The program will improve transparency of the market, helping raise State supervision capacity to companies, develop macro-economy and reduce poverty sustainably.

This programme aims to develop securities and bond field through policies to create transparency and protect investors and consumers, thus increasing stability and raising competitiveness in the sector.

Vietnam's rice exports reach US$3.23 billion

Vietnam’s rice exports have hit a record high in volume and value this year totaling 6.88 million tonnes, according to Informatics and Statistics Centre under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

In December, the country exported around 500,000 tonnes of rice, earning a gross US$245 million. By the end of 2010, Vietnam’s rice exports are expected to reach 6.88 million tonnes, posting a turnover of US$3.23 billion, up 15.4 percent in volume and up 21 percent in value against the previous year.

At present, the price of export rice continued to rise slightly compared to the previous month. The average price of rice reached US$468 per tonne in the past 11 months of the year, up over 5 percent compared to last year’s figure. Especially, Vietnam’s rice exports to the Indonesian market increased sharply, up 24 times in volume and 30 times in value.

According to the MARD, this year, the country’s food productivity is estimated to reach 44.6 million tonnes, including 40 million tonnes of rice, a 1 million tonne increase compared to 2009.

PVN asks Laos to help speed up power projects

The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) has asked Laos to double efforts to help it implement projects currently being underway in Laos.

PVN Director General Phung Dinh Thuc held a working session with Samane Vinhakhet, politburo member of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and Head of the Central Steering Board on Ideological, Theoretical and Cultural Affairs in Hanoi on December 26.

PVN urged Laos to apply special mechanism and incentive policies for hydro-electric power projects, especially the US$3 billion Luang Prabang plant that is of economic and political significance to both countries.

It proposed that the Lao government consider extending the build-operation-transfer period for the Luang Prabang hydro-electric power plant to 40 years and soon decide the price level for electricity generated by the plant as well as a power consumption plan in Laos.

PVN has been carrying out big projects in Laos, including the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas at Lots C, S, and Savannakhet, the mining of barite and plaster in Savannakhet province and copper in Siengkhoang and Huaphan provinces, and the Luang Prabang, Xekaman 1, 3 and 4, and Dac Y Mon hydro-electric power plants.

Vietnam, Laos hold first share bidding

The LaneXang Securities Company and the Development Bank of Laos and the Sacombank Securities Company of Vietnam have held the first ever bidding of shares of the Lao Bank for Foreign Trade (BCEL).

At the bidding on December 26 more than 20.49 million BCEL shares were offered at an initial price of 5,000 Lao kip per share.

As many as 429 investors, including 11 organisations, took part in the bidding, registering for 34.58 million shares or over 170 percent of the offered shares.

The lowest price of the bidding was 5,500 kip and the highest price was 50,000 kip per share. On average each share was sold at 5,910 kip.

At the event, 372 investors bought shares at a total value of 121 billion Lao kip.

Vietnamese goods receive awards for high quality

The Ministry of Science and Technology held a ceremony on December 26 to present the 2010 national quality prizes to 96 businesses and the Asia-Pacific Quality Awards to three others in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung.

The National Quality Awards aim to honour businesses with outstanding achievements in improving the quality of their products.

The gold awards recipients included six manufacturing enterprises and five services enterprises, which also received certificates of merit from the Prime Ministers and were nominated for participating in the Asia-Pacific Quality awards.

Addressing the awards ceremony, Deputy PM Hung emphasized the importance of focusing on quality, which he said would help raise the competitiveness of Vietnamese businesses in the contexts of the market economy and economic integration.

He said Vietnamese businesses should devise their strategies on the basis of quality standards to gradually assert their trademarks both inside and outside the country.

Timber products’ exports to hit US$3.4 billion

Vietnam earned US$165 million from wood and timber products’ exports in the first half of this month, an increase of 7.1 percent over the same period last month.

Wood and timber products’ exports are estimated to hit nearly US$3.4 billion this year, a year-on-year increase of 30.8 percent.

Exports of luxury timber interior furniture to major markets, such as the US, the EU and Japan are growing rapidly. There was also a high increase in exports of outdoor chairs, for which Vietnam producers are particularly renowned.

In addition to traditional markets, such as Australia, the Republic of Korea and China, the US’s future import demands are expected to be huge.

U.S. supports Vietnam socio-economic development

The U.S. embassy announced on Thursday it had granted over US$70,000 to four projects to promote and enhance socio-economic development in Vietnam.

A grant of nearly US$20,000 was awarded to the Center for Education Promotion and Empowerment of Women, which will implement a project in the northern province of Bac Giang to promote gender-sensitive good governance by increasing the number of People's Council female deputies for the 2011-2016 term.

The Vietnet Information Technology and Communication Center was granted US$15,000 for a project supporting the U.S. Government’s efforts to empower women in Vietnam. The center will set up a network of female entrepreneurs and organize training seminars.

Nearly US$20,000 was provided for the Center for Cultural Heritage Research and Promotion to promote educational programs for youth and ethnic minorities in Hanoi and the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong.

With a grant of over US$15,000, the Center for Development and Integration will carry out a project to promote migrant workers’ rights in the capital. The project will develop twelve “mobile aid clinics” to directly reach out to those with limited access to information, distribute thousands of pamphlets and handbooks on labor and social rights, as well as create a documentary film on legal aid available to migrant workers.

S&P downgrades Vietnam’s currency rating

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) on Thursday revised down the foreign currency rating of Vietnam from BB to BB-, and local currency rating from BB+ to BB.

In line with the downgrade on national credit rating, the institution has lowered credit rating of two local banks of Vietcombank, BIDV from BB to BB- and revised the outlook of Techcombank from stable to negative despite keeping the rating unchanged at BB-.

The institution said on its website that “We rarely rate financial institutions above the long-term sovereign rating on their home country, in particular because we generally consider it unlikely that these institutions would remain unaffected by developments in their domestic economy.”

The downgrade of S&P came just over a week after Moody’s had downgraded Government bonds. An expert told the Daily that this was not a surprise given uncertainties in financial market and the economy.

Meanwhile, the downgrade on foreign currency loans is likely due to Vinashin’s matured debt of US$60 million which cannot be paid on time.

PV