East-West Corridor seeks publicity

The media can contribute significantly to developing the East-West Economic Corridor, also known as the Trans-Asia Highway, which runs from central Viet Nam through Laos and Thailand to Myanmar, the provincial authority of Quang Tri has said.

Addressing a seminar on Saturday, the director of Quang Tri Department of Information and Communications, Tran Phuong Nam, said the media had helped exploit the potential of the trans-Asia highway by turning it into an economic corridor.

Nam said the media could advertise the achievements of the corridor and call for further investments in areas along the highway, especially in areas in Quang Tri Province, including the Lao Bao Border Economic Zone.

The media could also help publicise the new projects that help promote the exploitation of the corridor in Quang Tri Province, such as the My Thuy Deep-water Seaport and a thermal power complex in the province.

Nam said the media could also help remove the bottlenecks that hinder the implementation of agreements signed between the governments of Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam, such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Cross Border Trade Agreement, and thus promote regional co-operation along the corridor.

As an economic development programme initiated by the ministerial conference among GMS countries in Manila in 1998, the corridor was brought into operation in December 2006, but the exploitation of the Asian Highway remained unsuccesful.

The one-day seminar gathered investors and representative of the local media from across the country.

Deposit interest rates drop, but lending rates remain high

After the rise of the annual deposit interest rate as high as 17.5 per cent, commercial banks finally cooled down the race, lowering it to 14 per cent as required by the State Bank of Viet Nam. They, however, seemed reluctant to cut the lending interest rate accordingly.

Prior to deposit rates returned to 14 per cent, banks, especially small ones, pushed up their lending rates to as high as 21 per cent. Several have begun adjusting their lending rates down for new borrowers, like the joint-stock Western Bank. Its CEO, Nguyen Quoc Sy, said his lending rates for new loans ranged between 18 and 19 per cent.

According to the chairwoman of a garment enterprise in HCM City, businesses could not pay an 18 per cent interest rate for loans to invest in operation development. They only ventured to support their working capital.

Loans to individual customers charged higher rates, of 22 per cent as ACB offers it if the debtor does not have mortgages.

Hoang Van Toan, chairman of Great Trust Commercial Bank, said lending rates would certainly drop but it would take some time, not immediately. This is understandable as banks had offered previously high deposit rates, and credit demand remains strong. A higher money supply is expected after the Lunar New Year as well.

According to a banking industry insider, the high capital demand may prompt banks and depositors to negotiate higher rates. Because of the need of capital, several banks have to accept negotiations with depositors who want a higher interest rate (more than 14 per cent), so banks cannot reduce their lending interest rate.

Several large banks have offered a lending interest rate lower than those of small banks, but they have tight requirements.

Debtors were asked to have high-value mortgage and transparent financial report, which have proven to be obstacles to small and newly established enterprises.

A banker said high lending interest rates were the way to limit access to loans for corporate customers as banks now are focusing on ensuring liquidity by the Lunar Year-end, and lending will resume afterwards. Even larger capable banks are not eager to provide loans because the interbank interest rate for one-month term has come up to 20 per cent.

Ca Mau seafood exports to reach $850 million in 2011

The southernmost province of Ca Mau hopes to increase seafood exports by 11.8 per cent next year to US$850 million, local officials said.

To achieve the target, the province will tackle the current raw-material shortage by zoning 10,000 ha for breeding tiger prawns by 2015.

By next year it will also expand the area under prawn farming from1,500ha to 2,800ha.

It will also continue to promote various prawn-farming models like extensive farming and rice-shrimp cultivation, organic farming, and others, and advanced technologies to increase output.

Ca Mau is home to 34 seafood processing plants with a total capacity of 150,000 tonnes a year, 31 of them specialising in prawns.

Most of them use modern technologies that match international standards and trade with partners in 40 countries and territories.

While continuing to focus on key products and key markets, the province also hopes to diversify its export markets, products, and trading methods.

For the purpose, next year it will continue to explore new markets, especially those that import a large variety of seafood products.

Processing plants'output this year was 93,000 tonnes, an increase of 10.5 per cent over last year, with shrimp accounting for 83,000 tonnes.

Dragonfruit prices scale new heights in December

The price of dragon fruits sold at orchards has increased to VND21,000 a kg since mid –December, the highest in the last 20 years, according to the Post-Import Plant Quarantine Centre No 2 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The centre attributed the high price to a decline in output due to inclement weather and the customary high year-end demand in both local and export markets.

In Binh Thuan Province, the country's largest grower of dragon fruits, farmers have over the last two months used light bulbs to stimulate blossoming of the dragon fruit cacti during the off-season, but the ploy has not worked.

Binh Thuan has more than 12,500ha of dragon fruit orchards, of which 2,600ha meet Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGap) standards. The province aims to have 100 per cent of its dragon fruit cultivation area meeting VietGap standards by 2015.

The province now exports dragon fruits to the US, the EU and Asia, mostly to China, which accounts for 70 per cent of the export quantity.

Dragon fruit export to the US increased sharply this month over previous months, the centre said.

The US was expected to import 800 tonnes of dragon fruit from Viet Nam this year, an eight-fold increase over last year, it added.

Moc Bai border zone sees sales up 30%

The Moc Bai Border Economic Zone in Tay Ninh Province has experienced a significant business boost this year with total sales soaring to VND1.48 trillion (US$75.7 million), an increase of 30 per cent over last year.

Currently, 54 businesses are operating in the zone, selling duty free goods to visitors, according to the its authority.

Although retail sales have fallen a little compared to previous years, contractual sales to other non-tariff areas like Tinh Bien, Lao Bao and Vinh Ba increased significantly.

CT Plaza chooses Korean contractor

Korean group Kumho has been selected as the general contractor for the CT Plaza project on HCM City's Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street.

Construction will begin early next year on the VND1.6 trillion (US$80 million) project, invested by the CT Phuong Nam Joint Stock Company.

When completed in the third quarter of 2012, the 24-storey building in District 3 project will have a trade centre, hotel rooms and apartments.

New apartment project launched

Developers Thai Duong Trading and Construction Joint Stock Co and Malaysia's Sova Holdings Sdn Bhd last Saturday introduced to the public a new apartment complex in the southern province of Dong Nai.

The complex is part of a US$47 million development project in Nhon Trach District that will comprise several villas, apartment buildings, hotels, a supermarket and an entertainment centre.

Work on the Cat Tuong Hung Phat apartment complex is set to be completed in 2012.

Knight Frank values property projects

Knight Frank Viet Nam, an affiliate of Knight Frank LLP of United Kingdom, has made huge inroads in the property valuation and advisory business across Viet Nam with nearly VND20 trillion (US$1 billion) worth of property this year in the country.

Knight Frank has valued over 250 major projects across Viet Nam. They include Kinh Bac, Mapletree, Savimex, Charmvit, Protrade, Vinh Loc-Ben Luc and Nam Long.

Agriculture sector keeps to a stable growth rate 

Despite a number of difficulties in 2010, such as floods and droughts, the agriculture sector has posted a growth rate of 2.8 percent, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said at a conference in Hanoi on December 27. 

According to the report, in the 2006-2010 period, the average growth rate of the sector reached 3.36 percent per year, surpassing the set target of 3 - 3.2 percent and production rose by 4.93 percent per year.

This year, the ago-forestry-seafood export turnover reached US$19.15 billion, an increase of 22.55 percent.

In 2010, the country’s rice output reached 39.8 million tonnes, an increase of 2.4 percent. This was due to an increase in the cultivated acreage to about 23,000 hectares. Besides ensuring domestic food security, Vietnam also exported 6.7 million tonnes of rice, up 750,000 tonnes, as compared with 2009.

The country will try to attain an annual yearly GDP growth rate of 3.5 percent, for the agriculture sector, during the 2011-2015 period.

The Ministry said they hope to see rice output to reach 39 million tons and export turnover to achieve $19 billion.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, asked the Ministry to develop a plan for the agriculture sector during the 2011-2015 period.

He also said that the sector should focus on building a modern and sustainable agricultural sector, which is capable of producing high quality and competitive commodities in large volumes, while ensuring the nation’s food supply.

The sector is striving to reach an annual GDP growth rate of 4.5 percent during the 2011-2015 period.

Deputy PM Hung said agriculture is one of the economic sectors to suffer most from climate change, disasters, epidemics and international competition; while the amount of useable land and number of workers are diminishing. 

To reach this target, he said, the sector has put forward a number of solutions about science and technology, marketing, human resource development, and investments in technical infrastructure and production.