UK operator’s 3rd Vietnam hotel set to open

InterContinental Hotels Group’s third hotel in Vietnam is all set to open its doors, The Saigon Times Daily quoted Chihiro Tamao, the UK-based hotel operator’s director of sales and marketing, as saying.

The Crowne Plaza West Hanoi in the capital’s Tu Liem District has 393 rooms and also offices and serviced apartments for lease.

It has started accepting bookings for stay from January 15 onwards.

Ground was broken for the property in 2007 when IHG signed a management deal with the investor Tran Hong Quan Co, a gas supplier.

The other two hotels IHG manages in Vietnam are the 305-room InterContinental Asiana Saigon which opened in Ho chi Minh City in 2009 and the 359-room InterContinental Hanoi Westlake which opened in 2008.

IHG has also agreed to manage Holiday Inn Resort Phu Quoc and Holiday Inn Resort Cam Ranh Bay near Nha Trang.

Viet Nam to increase exports to Egypt

Vietnamese exports to Egypt were likely to increase by 40-50 per cent to over US$270 million this year, according to the Viet Nam Trade Counsellor in Egypt Dang Ngoc Quang.

In order to achieve this, the country should develop new export products as well as traditional goods with high export value. A long-term and effective export strategy was also necessary to better penetrate the market, he said.

Two way trade reached over $200 million last year, of which Viet Nam enjoyed a trade surplus of nearly $180 million. Among Viet Nam's key export items were seafood, pepper, petroleum, garments and textiles, footwear, pharmaceuticals and plastic goods.

Egypt has a high demand for imported goods and each year, imports billions of dollars worth of products.

The Egyptian economy was also likely to recover this year, resulting in an increased demand for imports, Quang noted.

Consumers turn to local sweets

Confectionary companies are seeing more orders for Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday as consumers switch their preference from foreign to domestic confectionary products.

Hoang Thi Tam Ai, director of HCM City-based Tri Duc Company in Cu Chi District, said her factory was operating at full capacity as orders from supermarkets had increased over the previous year.

Tri Duc planned to produce about 100 tonnes of various kinds of sweetened fruits for Tet, up 20 per cent against last year.

Nguyen Lam Vien, director of Vinamit Co Ltd, a leading company that produces fried fruits, said his company had increased the production of dried fruits by 20 per cent for Tet because Vinamit products sell well at wholesale markets and supermarkets.

The Government campaign for Vietnamese people to prioritise Vietnamese goods had had a positive impact, experts said.

Imported confectionary products without original labels and domestic products that do not ensure quality and food safety have not been selling well, according to businesses.

Duong Quynh Trang, a representative of Big C supermarket chain, said 90 per cent of confectionary products and sweetened fruits to be sold during Tet would be locally made.

Big C plans to stock about 130 tonnes of traditional sweetened fruits and confectionary products for Tet.

"The products are ordered from prestigious domestic producers which ensure quality," Trang said.

Cuc, a trader at the Binh Tay Market in HCM City's District 6, said she only sold domestically made confectionery products because their prices were cheaper and they sold well.

The prices of imported confectionary products has increased by 20-25 per cent against one year ago, while the prices on local products rose by only 10-15 per cent.

"Domestic confectionary companies have offered better policies for traders, including higher discounts," she said.

To offer more convenience for consumers, domestic confectionary producers have also been selling their products to more supermarkets and shops.

Domestic confectionary producers have also developed new distribution networks and markets in provinces and cities, ensuring distribution of their products nationwide.

Bien Hoa Confectionery Joint-Stock Co's (Bibica) products, for example, are sold at 50,000 points of sale and 200 supermarkets nationwide.

With added points of sale, consumers in urban and rural areas will be offered a stable price, according to a Bibica.

Cooking gas prices up on world rally

Local retailers Tuesday revised up their cooking gas retail prices on higher world prices.

The price of a 12-kilogram cylinder was increased by VND3,000 to VND325,000 – VND330,000, announced Saigon Petro and Petrolimex Gas Saigon, two major gas cooking suppliers.

They attributed the price hike to higher contract prices on world markets. The prices have rose by $2.5 to $928 a ton.

The supplier PetroVietnam Gas Company (PV Gas) reduced the price for local retailers by $20 a ton of gas in December last year and early this year it halved the price support to only $10.

Cooking gas prices on the local market have gone wild in the past month. Earlier December the retail prices rocketed by VND38,000 to an all-time high of VND343,000 per 12-kilogram container but a week later major suppliers announced to cut their prices by VND8,000 per tank.

Contractors chosen for refinery

The Nghi Son oil refinery has granted engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts worth a total of US$5 billion to French-based Technip, Japan's JGC Corporation, Spain's Tecnicas and PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Co.

The four firms were also the primary contractors involved in the construction of the Dung Quat Oil Refinery.

The $7 billion Nghi Son project, being developed by PetroVietnam Group in partnership with Kuwait Petroleum International Ltd and Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co and Mitsui Chemicals Inc, would begin construction in the central province of Thanh Hoa in March, said PetroVietnam chairman Dinh La Thang.

It has been designed to generate 10 million tonnes of refined products per year in its first phase, 1.5 times higher than the design capacity of the Dung Quat facility, which would make it the nation's largest petrochemical complex once completed in 2014, Thang said.

Products would include 2.3 million tonnes of petrol and 3.7 million tonnes of diesel fuel annually, he added, as well as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Sharp rise in unofficial exports of pigs to China

Higher pork prices in China along an increase in the value of Chinese yuan have led to an increase in the unofficial export of live pigs from Viet Nam to the neighbouring country.

Nguyen Minh Cuong, head of the Mong Cai Animal Quarantine Station, said in recent months, about 40-50 trucks transported pigs to a place near the Mong Cai Border Gate everyday. These were then taken to China by boats.

About 500 tonnes of pig were unofficially exported to China a day, he said.

"It appears that pigs are not only bought from northern provinces, but also from the south, including HCM City, Binh Duong and Dong Thap provinces," he added.

Truck owners as well as pig traders had found several ways to take their pigs across the border, and it was difficult for concerned agencies to prevent them, he added.

According to experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the new practice was in direct contrast to the previous years, when there used to be a massive influx of pork and live pigs from China into Viet Nam in the later months of the year.

Chinese traders have been increasingly buying pigs from Viet Nam, especially those weighing between 80-120 kilos each.

There are different views on the increase in export of pigs to China. While some fear that it will cause a shortage of pork in the domestic market for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, others have said it is a good opportunity for breeders to earn higher profits, creating a momentum for the local husbandry industry to develop further.

Hoang Kim Giao, head of the Animal Husbandry Department, said there were an estimated 27.3 million pigs nationwide by the end of 2010, yielding about three million tonnes of pork, an increase of more than 3 per cent over 2009.

Poultry output in 2010 also increased by nearly 100,000 tonnes to 615,000 tonnes. In addition, output of beef and buffalo in 2010 was 6 and 6.5 per cent higher than that in 2009.

"Demand for meat of all kinds is expected to increase by 20 per cent this Tet, and the animal husbandry industry can meet the demand. Therefore, there will be no shortage of meat before, during and after Tet," he said.

MARD deputy minister Diep Kinh Tan asked pig traders to reduce unofficial exports to China to ensure supply in the local market for the nation's largest holiday, saying that from now until Tet, which falls early February, pig traders should only export a total of 10,000 tonnes of live pigs.

The ministry would increase checks on import and export of meat products in the coming time, with a focus on ensuring sufficient local supply, he said.

Inflation fears depress shares

Shares plunged yesterday on both of the nation's stock exchanges, with worries over rampant inflation plaguing the markets.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index declined by 0.84 per cent to close at 481.91.

The value of trades rose 34 per cent over the previous day but remained meagre at just VND1 trillion (US$47.6 million). Volume increased by 37 per cent to 40.6 million shares.

A few blue chips posted gains, including Kinh Bac City Development (KBC), which rose 2.1 per cent; Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), up 1.5 per cent; and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), up 0.8 per cent.

Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) was the most-active share in HCM City, with 2.4 million traded, but lost 2.8 per cent of its value to close at VND31,300 ($1.50) per share.

Cautious sentiment of investors continued to dominate the market, said Bao Viet Securities Co analyst Nguyen Duc Thi, who believed that the greatest risk this month remained soaring inflation in the run-up to Tet (Lunar New Year). He predicted market fluctuations throughout the month.

"The VN-Index is expected to break out of its rut once the consumer price index (CPI) shows signs of slowing down," Thi said.

Analysts with Viet Star Securities Co agreed buyers were cautious about high inflation, while potential sellers were holding onto shares in light of positive economic forecasts predicting solid growth in the coming months.

"The market has left a difficult year behind and current prices already reflect most of the economic issues," they said.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost nearly 2 per cent to end yesterday's session at 111.16 points. The volume of trades rose by 24 per cent over the previous day to 28.6 million shares, but value remained a modest VND550.3 billion ($26.2 million).

Advancers outnumbered decliners by 234-56, with none of the 10 leading shares by capitalisation posting gains.

Ha Noi Housing Bank (HBB) became the most-active stock nationwide with 2.9 million traded. HBB declined by 3.5 per cent, however, to close at VND11,200 ($0.55) per share.

Ben Thanh Services Co (BSC) and Seagull Shipping Co (SSG) both debuted on the northern bourse yesterday, and both closed their first trading day higher. BSC closed at VND11,000 ($0.52) on a volume of 8,000 shares exchanged and SSG at VND15,000 ($0.71) on a volume of 15,000 shares.

Foreign investors continued as net buyers on both exchanges yesterday, picking up a net total of almost 2 million shares worth over VND73 billion ($3.5 million).

Real estate group gets down to business

The Dong Nai Real Estate Association was inaugurated yesterday with an initial membership of 100 individuals and companies, including large firms like Tin Nghia Corp and Sonadezi.

Chairman Nguyen Thanh Lam said the association would update members with relevant policy developments as well as market information within and outside the province.

The association would also assist its members in several areas, including management and business promotion via seminars and training courses, and provide consultancy services, he said.

Lam said the province had posted an economic growth of 13.5 per cent last year, almost twice the country's average rate, drawing US$1.5 billion in foreign direct investment. These were signs of a positive investment environment for many sectors including real estate, he added.

Dong Nai plans to speed up major transportation projects including the HCM City-Long Thanh Dau Giay Expressway and Long Thanh International Airport.