Overseas shipments of tra fish are expected to bring about $1.54 billion in revenue this year, said Le Hang, deputy head of VASEP’s training and promotion centre.

Following continuous growth in the first seven months, the export of this product dropped sharply between August and October due to COVID-19 impacts. However, as from November, it has seen strong recovery signals. In November alone, tra fish export value grew by over 50 percent.

The US has been recorded the strongest growth among export markets of tra fish this year, at nearly 50 percent. The export will grow further as free trade agreements Vietnam has signed continue to be levers for promoting trade to many markets, especially Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Colombia, and Thailand.

Binh Duong promotes investment from Europe

Binh Duong province on December 9 held a conference to promote investment from Europe in the context of the "new normal" situation.

Standing Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Mai Hung Dung said as of mid-December, Binh Duong had drawn $2 billion in foreign direct investment, ranking second nationwide. So far, Binh Duong has been home to 4,011 foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of $37 billion from 65 countries and territories.

Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam Alain Cany said European firms have chosen Binh Duong as one of the top three destinations given its favourable geographical location, complete transport infrastructure and friendly business climate. Binh Duong is one of the leading localities in Vietnam in flexibly adapting to and quickly controlling COVID-19 for economic restoration.

Vietnam International Agricultural Fair opens

The 21st Vietnam International Agricultural Trade Fair, AgroViet Online 2021, kicked off on December 9. The fair, entitled “Connecting the value of Vietnamese agricultural products - Towards a sustainable agriculture", aims at creating an online platform for trade promotion activities in the field of agriculture and rural development.

Featuring 50 virtual booths, the fair displays agricultural products representing each region, along with those of the One Commune One Product programme.

The event at 3d.agroviet.com.vn runs until December 13. The online platform will keep running until January 9, 2022 to facilitate transactions of enterprises.

Vietnam wants stronger trade, investment ties with Latin America

Vietnam currently has trade ties with all the 33 Latin American countries. Bilateral trade rose by over 63-fold from 245 million USD in 2000 to 15.6 billion USD in 2020, including 8.3 billion USD in Vietnam’s exports.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has had several investment projects worth hundreds of millions of USD in this region. Twenty-seven countries and territories from Latin America have invested in 297 projects in Vietnam, registering total capital of some 9.3 billion USD.

Vietnam has signed agreements with several regional countries, especially the free trade deal with Chile that was inked in November 2011 and took effect in 2014, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which includes the three Latin American countries of Mexico, Chile, and Peru.

Vietnam looks to raise bilateral trade with Latin American countries to about 20 billion USD by 2025 and attracts 12 - 13 billion USD in investment from the region. 

Quang Ninh to welcome foreign visitors back in January 2022

Quang Ninh has issued guidelines for safely serving international tourists as the northern coastal province is set to welcome the first group of foreign visitors in January 2022 after months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The province is among five destinations in Vietnam, including Phu Quoc (Kien Giang), Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa), Quang Nam and Da Nang, re-opening to foreign tourists under a pilot scheme. It plans to give priority to promising markets, such as China, Japan, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Quang Ninh has issued a temporary set of safety standards for tourists, providing 24 compulsory and 11 recommended criteria. Member companies of the Quang Ninh Tourism Association have also set their own safety guidelines which specifically require guests to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with two doses and test negative with the virus.

HCM City’s industrial production up 13.3% in November

Ho Chi Minh City’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) decreased 15.5 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months of this year despite growth of 13.3 percent in November, according to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade (DoIT).

Most industries suffered a drop compared to the same period last year, including beverage production, maintenance and installation of machinery and equipment, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four key industries saw decreases in IIP in the 11-month period, with the largest decline seen in the electronics manufacturing industry (down 18.7 percent). It was followed by the food and beverage industry (15.1 per cent), mechanical industry (10.6 percent) and chemical and pharmaceutical industry (5.6 percent).

Vietnam-Brazil eye stronger trade ties

A workshop to promote trade cooperation between Vietnamese and Brazilian enterprises has been held recently by the Vietnamese Embassy in Brazil and the Sao Paulo Trade Association in Sao Paulo.

At the event, President of the Sao Paulo Chamber of Commerce Alfredo Cotait Neto and Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Brazil Ngo Xuan Ty signed a memorandum of understanding on promoting trade bond between the two countries in the coming time.

According to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, two-way trade between Vietnam and Brazil hit about 5.2 billion USD in the first ten months of 2021, up nearly 40 percent year-on-year.

Vietnam is leading ASEAN member nations in terms of trade cooperation with Brazil. The two sides has continued to study and negotiate a free trade agreement within the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).

Ha Long Bay entry tickets to be discounted by half

The northern province of Quang Ninh has half-priced entry tickets to Ha Long Bay in the first half of next year. The discount will also be applied to Yen Tu tourist site and Quang Ninh Museum during the period.  

Ha Long Bay, Yen Tu tourist site and Quang Ninh Museum benefited from a half-price discount for the first six months of 2021. The province also offered free entry to the three spots since July.

Having been reopened since late September, Quang Ninh has attracted a modest number of visitors. Ha Long Bay serves around 100 travellers per day.

The ticket sales of the bay is estimated at around VND7 billion (USD304,347) for 2021 against average figure of VND1.2 trillion in previous years. The majority of the figure came from the first months of the year.

Breakthrough M&A deals expected in VN banking and finance

Many large deals are on the horizon in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in banking and finance in 2022, with transaction values of billion of dollars.

VPBank plans to sell a 15 per cent stake to an undisclosed partner. The bank expect to acquire approximately VND30 trillion ($1.3 billion) from the deal, which is equal to the deal with VPBank and FE Credit. In October,VPBank announced the completion of the sale of a 49 per cent stake in its consumer finance arm FE Credit by SMBC Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. The deal cost $1.4 billion, a record M&A transaction in the sector.

There may be another billion-dollar deal involving Vietcombank next year, which plans to offer 6.5 per cent of its charter capital for sale. The bank would acquire VND30 trillion from the sale.

BIDV also plans to offer 8.5 per cent of its stake to earn VND15 trillion ($652.17 million) from the deal. However, to date, it has yet to disclose details of its plans.

A series of banks are looking for strategic partners via issuing shares, such as SHB, OCB, NamABank, SCB and LienVietPostBank.

Nearly US$4 billion to be invested into two Southern railway projects

Dong Nai has just submitted the Prime Minister the proposal of being assigned to be the competent state agency to implement the Thu Thiem – Long Thanh international airport light railway project.

The project will have its starting point at Thu Thiem Station in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City and an ending point at Long Thanh International Airport in Long Thanh District, Dong Nai Province. The total length of the project is 37.5 kilometers with a total investment of around VND40,566 billion (nearly US$1,8 billion).

Dong Nai Province has also proposed the Prime Minister consider it to develop Bien Hoa – Vung Tau railway project. The project will have its starting point at Trang Bom Station in Trang Bom District, Dong Nai Province and the ending point at Cai Mep – Thi Vai International Port in Phu My Town, Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province. The project has a total length of 65 kilometers with a total investment of around VND50,822 billion (US$2.2 billion).

Vietnam Digital Awards 2021 presented

The awards ceremony of Vietnam Digital 2021 was held online and offline yesterday by the Information and Communications Ministry.

Despite being organized during the fourth Covid-19 outbreak, the contest witnessed a rise in submitted papers to 300 from organizations, enterprises, and individuals nationwide thanks to the use of online registration.

The judge board was able to select 53 excellent papers in four categories to deliver awards: state units, businesses, products and solutions, products and solutions to bridge the digital gap.

All chosen papers have displayed creativity and socio-economic efficiency, such as rice ATM and face mask ATM by Blue Universe Corp.; Microsoft Teams solution to support online learning for schools free of charge; the basic medical information management platform by Viettel Solutions.

Deputy PM assigns deadline for site clearance at Long Thanh Int’l Airport project

Handover of land for Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai must be completed next June, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh ordered at a meeting on December 9.

He agreed with the Ministry of Transport’s proposal to establish a steering committee for the project as part of the effort to accelerate its progress.

He demanded the Dong Nai People’s Committee to hand over 1,810 hectares of land for ground levelling this month, while the remaining 700 hectares must be released in January 2022. Site clearance for the project must be finished in June next year.

The Ministry of Transport has to assign a specific deadline for each of the project’s components, the official said, adding that the goal is to complete the first phase of the airport before January 2025.

Ministries told to speed up disbursement of public investment

Central government agencies and ministries were told to speed up the disbursement of public investment funds, during a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on Wednesday.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Pham Anh Tuan said his ministry only started receiving funding in the third quarter of 2021. Given the sheer amount of paperwork and protocols that were to be followed, the ministry expects full disbursement of their projects by the end of June next year.

Deputy Minister of Sport, Culture and Tourism Doan Van Viet said his ministry has disbursed over 62 per cent of its allotted public investment fund for the year 2021. As paperwork has been completed for a number of projects by the end of September, the ministry has set a target to disburse 98 per cent of all received investment funds for the year.

Dam asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to hand in a report on all projects using public investment funds in 2021 and analyse factors that have been causing delays. 

Central bank restrains banks investing in corporate bonds

The State Bank of Vietnam has recently introduced new regulations on the purchase and sale of corporate bonds by credit institutions and foreign bank branches, effectively curbing banks’ investment in this market.

According to Circular No 16/2021/TT-NHNN, banks are not allowed to purchase corporate bonds if those bonds are issued to restructure debts of the issuer, to contribute capital or purchase shares of other enterprises, and to raise the issuer’s working capital.

In the context of the real estate sector leading the bond market in the first ten months of 2021, with bond issues reaching VND163.9 trillion (US$7.1 billion), experts believe the new regulation is mainly aimed to curb banks pouring money into real estate enterprises.

Local banks offer higher deposit rates 

Last month, the State Bank of Vietnam decided to extend the credit growth limit for 11 banks to meet the rising capital demands of the economy at the end of the year.

Following this, many banks have raised their interest rates by 0.5-0.8 per cent and have implemented a series of incentive programmes that offer additional interest rates for online savings or gifts to attract depositors.

With the adjustment, the highest savings interest rate in the market currently is 7.1 per cent per year, but customers must meet various strict conditions, including minimum deposits.

Shares post gains on December 9

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index gained 2.35 per cent to end at 1,446.77 points. It had gained 1.04 per cent to end at 1,467.98 points on Dec. 8. The market's breadth was positive with 321 gainers and 130 losers.

As many as 631 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VND18 trillion (US$783.3 million).

On HoSE, foreign investors returned to net buy more than 7 million shares, with net buying value of VND349 billion. The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, gained 0.89 per cent, to end at 1,529.61 points. Twenty-six out of 30 stocks in the VN30 basket posted gains, while three declined.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 0.62 per cent, to 452.53 points. During the session, investors poured over VND2.5 trillion into the market, equivalent to a trading volume of 88.3 million shares. 

Reference exchange rate down VND21 on Dec. 10

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,175 VND/USD on December 10, down 21 VND from the previous day.

With the current trading band of /-3 percent, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day is 23,870 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,479 VND/USD.

During the week from December 6-10, the daily reference exchange rate followed an upward trend for the first three days before turning around to drop on the last two days. It ended the week up 10 VND. 

Vietnam’s tuna export has bright prospect

Vietnam’s export of tuna to the Middle East this year has risen by nearly 15 percent year on year. Accordingly, the region remained the fourth biggest importer of Vietnamese tuna, with Israel, Egypt and Lebanon the biggest buyers.

Seafood companies forecast that once the COVID-19 pandemic is put under control, demand for tuna in the Middle East will bounce back, especially in the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Besides the Middle East, Mexico has emerged as a promising market when Vietnam’s shipment of tuna to the country soared by 446 percent year-on-year in October.

Tuna export to China also surged by 85 percent annually to 338,000 USD.

HCM City looks to 6-6.5 percent growth in 2022

 The target was set in the city’s Resolution on 2022 socio-economic tasks which was adopted in the fourth meeting of the municipal People’s Council for the 2021-2026 tenure on December 9.

The Resolution also devised 19 specific targets, including services accounting for over 60 percent of the GRDP, total social investment nearly 35 percent, expenditure on science and technology above 0.75 percent; and rate of skilled workers at 86.05 percent.

The city strives to be among top five localities in terms of the Provincial Competitiveness Index and top 15 in the Public Administration Reform Index, with 95 percent of the public satisfied with the service of administrative agencies.

The council also approved a Resolution on the city’s socio-economic development plan for 2021-2025. 

Can Tho City’s urban planning set

An international consulting consortium comprising the US-based Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Netherlands’ Royal HaskoningDHV has been chosen to detail out a new master urban plan for the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, with special emphasis on solutions to cope with climate change.

The consortium will prepare the urban planning for the city for immediate development in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050.

While BCG will primarily flesh out socio-economic plans for the city and deal with solutions and resources to implement the master urban plan, Royal HaskoningDHV will devise socio-economic development orientations. These include land-use schemes, urban and rural development, technical and social infrastructure systems, environmental protection, prevention of natural disasters and response to climate change.

VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS DECEMBER 9

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