State exempts export tax for environment-friendly products

The State will exempt export tariff for environmental-friendly products while the export tariff on some other products will be reduced by half, according to the Circular 128/2016/TT-BTC.

Under the circular issued by the Ministry of Finance on August 9, 2016, the products that are in the export tax tables of the Decree 19/2015/NĐ-CP issued on February 14, 2015, and have Vietnam’s green label certificate, will join the export tax exemption.

Meanwhile, export tax on products from recycling and waste treatment activities located in the export tax table of the Decree 19 will be cut by half.

The new tax rate will be applied for organisations and individuals producing, trading and exporting the friendly-environmental products and the products from recycling and waste treatment activities.

Ineligible products will be still imposed export tax according to regulations in Article 22 of Circular 182/2015/TT-BTC on preferential tax rate for taxable good items.

The Circular 128/2016/TT-BTC will come into effect from September 23, 2016.


Agro-forestry-fishery exports up, rice down

The nation’s agro-forestry-fishery exports experienced a year-on-year rise of 5.6 per cent to nearly US$21 billion in the first eight months of this year, statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have revealed.

Exports of farm produce fetched $9.9 billion in the period, up 6 per cent against the same period last year.

Among these products, coffee recorded the strongest growth in both export volume and value. Coffee exports earned $2.25 billion from 1.27 million tonnes, surging 40 per cent in quantity and 21 per cent in value, with Germany and the US being the two biggest importers.

Significant increases of 31 per cent in volume and 13 per cent in value were also seen in pepper exports. From January to August, 135,000 tonnes of pepper were shipped abroad, bringing home $1.1 billion.

Seafood exports topped $4.3 billion, representing a yearly rise of 4 per cent. China, the US and Thailand witnessed a remarkable surge of 54, 12 and 10 per cent, respectively, in their imports of Vietnamese seafood.

Meanwhile, exports of some other products plunged in the period.

Rubber exports fell 5 per cent in value year-on-year, despite a 10 per cent increase in volume. A modest drop of 1 per cent was also recorded in the export value of tea.  

The export value of wood and wood products in the first eight months reached $4.54 billion, a year-on-year fall of 1 per cent. The US, Japan and China were the three largest consumers, together holding approximately 53 per cent of the total export turnover.

The country exported 432,000 tonnes of rice worth $191 million in August, bringing total volume and value in the first eight months of this year to 3.37 million tonnes and $1.51 billion.

The figures represented decreases of 16.6 per cent in volume and 13.1 per cent in value compared with the same period last year.

China remained the biggest importer of Vietnam’s rice with 36 per cent of the market share. A total of 1.04 million tonnes worth $476 million were shipped to China between January-July, down 21.6 per cent in volume and 11.9 per cent in value year-on-year.

Indonesia followed with 353,000 tonnes and $140.4 million, up 25.5 per cent in volume and 26.8 per cent in value year-on-year.

Rice exports to traditional markets suffered drastic drops, including the Philippines (66.4 per cent), Malaysia (54.5 per cent) and Singapore (36.3 per cent).

However, the Philippines will open the bidding for 250,000 tonnes of rice on August 31 as part of its plan to import one million more tonnes of rice.

Vietnam will participate in the auction, according to the Vietnam Food Association.

Debt must be collected promptly: GDT

Tax authorities have been told to collect tax debts of enterprises totalling VNĐ23.5 trillion (over US$1 billion), or an 18.8 per cent year-on-year increase, by the end of July , the General Department of Taxation (GDT) reported. 

According to Phi Van Tuan, deputy general director of GDT, at the beginning of this year, the GDT had set a target of collecting tax debts of enterprises for the tax authorities and instructing them to carry out strong measures to retrieve debts.

Tax authorities are required to review all tax debts of enterprises and timely adjust “virtual” debts due to errors of accounting and invoices.

Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung said after the National Assembly passed the State budget estimates, the Ministry of Finance identified that the State budget balance would certainly become more intense as the global oil price plummeted early this year. By doing so, the finance ministry had instructed tax authorities and customs at all levels to promptly collect tax debts of enterprises.

Dung said that of the total of VNĐ75.23 trillion in tax arrears until May 31, 2016, the overdue debts had already reached VNĐ34.55 trillion for a period over 90 days. Tax authorities are required to make every effort to collect this amount. Dung also said penalties for late payments incurred by enterprises climbed to VNĐ25.1 trillion, accounting for 33.4 per cent.

Outstanding tax debts worth VNĐ15.55 trillion are the most difficult to collect. This is attributed to problems of tax payers whose businesses were dissolved or went bankrupt, or the business owners and legal representatives were dead, missing or fled their residences. Tax agencies have to classify all kind of tax debts and then report to the National Assembly for a final decision.

With regard to the tax collection till July this year, the GDT had set a target of collecting 97 per cent of tax debts. Of this figure, 13 cities and provinces had to collect tax arrears of VNĐ19.5 trillion.

According to statistics of the GDT, some 55 out of 63 cities and provinces have seen their tax debts rising.

Nguyen Dai Tri, deputy general director of GDT, said difficulties in collecting tax debts were that many businesses deliberately delayed their tax debts. As a result, tax authorities have to implement strong measures to force them to pay debts. Obviously, strong measures sometime had a bad influence on the image of enterprises and their business performance, Trí said.

Start-up gala promotes innovation

Mobile phone apps to help students study and people find houses for rent were among many innovative business ideas, products and services presented and discussed on Start-up Day 2016 last Saturday.

The biggest annual event for the start-up community in the country was held at the Riverside Palace in District 4.

More than 3,000 stakeholders including start-ups, investors, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders attended the 12-hour event organised by the Business Start-up Support Centre (BSSC) and the HCM City Young Businesspeople Association.

The event aims to support young start-ups in finding investors, consultants, business partners and customers.

Part of the event was the Start-up Exchange 2016, which enabled entrepreneurs, groups and individuals running around 100 start-ups to display and present their products and innovative ideas to prospective investors.

BSSC director Truong Ly Hoang Phi said the organising board attached special importance to the “quality factor” while selecting qualified start-up models to participate in the exchange.

Start-up Exchange, which was set up in 2013, has proved effective so far. As of Start-up Day 2015, more than 150 start-ups had attracted investments of over VNĐ22 billion (US$986,547).

On Saturday, many projects found “angel” investors and partners to commercialise their products. The projects also attracted the interest of consumers and mass media.

The event also included the final round of a business start-up contest called Start-up Wheel 2016 and the “Every Businessman-A Teacher” project which seeks to connect young business people with successful entrepreneurs to get their support.

Open to everyone under 35, Start-up Wheel 2016 attracted 632 entries, of which 50 per cent was in the IT sector, 20 per cent in commerce and the rest in agricultural, education and medical sectors.

Blue chips likely to push VN shares up

Vietnamese shares may extend their earlier gains this week as investor confidence in large-cap stocks has been bolstered and crude price gains may bring short-term benefits to listed oil firms.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange on Friday rose 1.4 per cent – the strongest growth in the last two weeks – to finish last week at 667.75 points. Also, the southern market index was up 0.8 per cent from the previous week.

The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange rose 0.7 per cent to end at 83.93 points. Further, the northern market index rallied by 1.5 per cent in the last five sessions.

“Friday strong stock gains and blue chips receiving a strong cash flow signal a new upward trend for the market,” Maritime Securities Inc (MSI) wrote in a note.

“The VN Index has surpassed the level of 660 points thanks to impressive performances of blue chips,” said Le Duc Khanh, MSI’s head of strategy division.

“The VN Index may continue to rise this week and approach the testing range of 675 to 680 points this week.”

Among the largest stocks, Vietcombank (VCB) helped drive the market up in the last two sessions, after the bank announced it would issue nearly 933 million bonus shares for investors, with a rate of 35 per cent.

Each investor will receive 35 bonus shares for every 100 shares he/she currently holds. The share issuance is considered to be a method to benefit current shareholders and assure that the bank’s shares are attractive to investors.

VCB on Friday surged 6.5 per cent to close last week’s trading at VNĐ57,500, up 7.5 per cent during the last trading week.

Consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN) also attracted investors, after the company announced its plan to buy back 20 million shares late Thursday.

The announcement helped MSN cover some of its four-day decline of 8.9 per cent. Further, on Friday MSN advanced 2.4 per cent to end at VNĐ63,000.

The recovery of crude prices during the last two trading days is also expected to boost investor confidence, especially when Iran – one of the leading oil exporters – said it would co-operate with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to stablise the global market.

Also on Friday, London-traded Brent crude traded at nearly US$50 per barrel, up 1.8 per cent after two sessions.

Local energy stocks benefited from the rise of global oil prices. PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) on Friday ended their losing streaks to increase 2.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively.

The market may count on domestic investors, whose “investments are rising” and “foreign net selling may only come from a small group of foreign investors on the market,” according to Nguyen NhatCuong, deputy head of market investment at Vietinbank Securities Co.

Last week, foreign investors were net sellers, with a sell value of VND523.2 billion ($23.25 million), totaling a net sell value of $90 million since the beginning of August.

That may come from the concerns that the US central bank could increase lending rates as soon as September, weakening local currencies against the US dollar.

In comparison, foreign investors recorded a five-week net sell value of more than $116 million in Viet Nam before the US central bank made its first rate hike in December 2015 after a decade.

Last week, Viet Nam’s central bank raised the daily reference mid-point rate by VND39 to VND21,895 per dollar to protect Vietnamese exports on the global markets.

“Investors should pay attention to the status of foreign investors, though the link between US rate hikes and foreign net selling has been unclear,” Bao Viet Securities Corp (BVSC) said.

Ninh Thuan gets $431m of investment

A number of agreements on investment projects in wind power, breeding and high-end resort construction, with a total capital of nearly VNĐ9.5 trillion (US$431.8 million) were signed in the south central Ninh Thuan Province on Saturday.

The signing took place in the province’s Investment Promotion Conference in the presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Speaking at the conference, Phuc urged the province to give more specific policy commitments to win investors’ confidence.

The PM held that Ninh Thuan had a high potential for growth thanks to its favourable location as well as its natural and cultural benefits.

However, he noted that the province ranked 42nd among 63 localities nationwide on the provincial competitiveness index, which was behind many adjacent provinces. “Ninh Thuan is also home to only about 2,000 businesses, far fewer than the country’s average figure,” he said.

PM Phuc suggested the province increase the number of enterprises, while revising its strategic planning towards a green economy and sustainable growth.

“Ninh Thuan should also foster connections with other regional localities to create a larger space for development.”

The local government must change their mindset in management, creating a favourable development space for enterprises and locals, while becoming more active and determined in improving its investment environment, the PM said.

Highlighting the need to protect the environment during industrial expansion, he urged the local administration to require investors to pledge to close their factories if they are found to violate environmental protection rules.

Introducing the province’s potential, the provincial Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Duc Thanh said Ninh Thuan was located at the junction of the south central, central highlands and southeastern regions.

The province has the largest wind and solar energy resources in the country, which are favourable conditions for the locality to become a major hub of economic development, especially in green energy.

With a 105km coastline, the province is also strong in salt production, fishing and the maritime economy. In addition, Ninh Thuan has great potential for tourism thanks to its beautiful bays such as VinhHy, BinhTiên and Ninh Chu.

Currently, the province was encouraging investment in energy, tourism, agriculture, fisheries, industrial production, education, construction and real estate, Thanh said.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Luu Xuan Vinh, said that investors coming to the province would only have to proceed to its Economic Development Office (EDO) to fulfill investment procedures.

The EDO was expected to help reduce the time investors spent on administrative procedures by 30 per cent.

Vĩnh said that this new model was designed in response to the Government’s Resolution No 19 and Resolution No 35 to assist businesses and create a smooth and transparent investment environment.

Wild power plant

Earlier the same day, the PM attended a ground-breaking ceremony for the Trung Nam wind power plant, the first of its kind in Ninh Thuan, invested in by Trung Nam Wind Power Company, a subsidiary of the Trung Nam Group.

Located in Loi Hai and Bac Phong communes in Thuan Bac District, the 90MW plant will be built at a cost of VNĐ3.96 trillion ($177.48 million). The first phase is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2017, providing green power to the province and the country.

Also on Saturday, the Government leader witnessed the launch of construction work at the Binh Sơn-Ninh Chu coastal urban area in Phan Rang City, with an investment of nearly VND1 trillion.

The project is invested in by Hacom Holdings Investment Joint Stock Company covering an area of 52ha, including hotels, trading centres and high-end apartments. It is expected to create thousands of jobs for local people.

Malaysian apartment property invites Vietnamese buyers

The Star Residences Two, a five-star apartment and commercial integrated project being under development in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur city centre has attracted keen interest from people in HCM City when it launched in the city on Sunday by the sales consultant Anpha Holdings.

Eleven potential customers registered their purchases on that day.

Michael Dang, chairman of Anpha Holdings highlighted the location right in the financial and commercial heart of the capital city from which it takes less than a two-hour flight to reach HCM City.

This 57-storey tower with 482 units of 65 to 276sq.m, next to the 200m-long star walk of fame the first one in Southeast Asia, are price at US$5,700 per square meter, around the same of the high-end ones in HCM City and the first group of 30 fine-dining restaurants in the city.

Developed by Malaysia's two leading firms - UMLand and PropNex, the project is expected to complete in late 2019.

Coffee exports expected to earn US$3 billion

Vietnam, the world’s second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, exported 1.5 million tonnes of coffee during the 2015-16 period, with a revenue of US$3 billion, according to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA).

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that in the first eight months of 2016, coffee exports of from 1.27 million tonnes fetched US$2.25 billion, up 39.9% in volume and 20.7% in value. Germany and the US were the two biggest importers of coffee from Vietnam during the first eight months of this year, accounting for 15% and 13%, respectively.

According to VICOFA Deputy Chairman Nguyen Nam Hai, instant coffee factories have sprouted in the country as both domestic and foreign businesses have poured into the sector.

Both domestic coffee suppliers and foreign-funded growers have ceaselessly expanded investment in their instant coffee processing plants and have enhanced the quality of their coffee products to expand their markets, Hai said, adding that these plants consumed large volumes of coffee beans and boosted instant coffee exports.

Many foreign-funded growers are pouring money into instant coffee processing factories and, consequently, domestic enterprises need to renovate technologies in order to compete with foreign businesses, he noted.

During the 2014-15 period, Germany and the US were the two largest markets for Vietnamese coffee, with export volumes reaching nearly 201,000 tonnes and more than 145,000 tonnes, respectively.

Source: VNS, VIR, dtinews