Chairman of Hà Nội People’s Committee Trần Sỹ Thanh has asked relevant departments to start building at least one social housing project by the beginning of October.

At a conference on developing social housing projects in the capital city on Thursday, Thanh said focus should be placed on streamlining social housing projects to improve living standards for low-income earners.

A report by the municipal Department of Construction shows that the capital city has already approved plans for developing five social housing projects with a total area of 248 ha.

Investment policies have also been completed for four projects with a total of 12,300 apartment units. Evaluations are underway.

There are three projects planned in Đông Anh District, a 3,200-unit project called Greenlink City in Tiên Dương Commune, another 3,000 units set to go up in Tiên Dương and 3,600-unit projects in Đại Mạch and Tiền Phong communes. There is also a project in Cổ Bi Commune, Gia Lâm District, which will have a total of 2,400 apartment units.

Thanh asked for progress to be sped up and construction to start for at least one project before October. Still, he asked that quality be ensured.

At a dialogue with workers in late May, Thanh admitted that the implementation of social housing projects remained slow due to bottlenecks in legal and investment procedures, and that the supply fails to meet demand.

In the four-year period ending in 2020, social housing development in Hà Nội met only 26.24 per cent of the city’s planned targets, while the supply met only 20 per cent of the demand. 

Retail sales, services revenue up 8.7% in five months

Việt Nam's retail sales and services revenue in the first five months of this year totalled VNĐ2.58 quadrillion (more than US$1 billion), up 8.7 per cent year-on-year, data of the General Statistics Office (GSO) showed.

In May alone, the value was VNĐ519.8 trillion, a rise of 9.5 per cent from the same period last year, with food and foodstuff sales up 9.9 per cent, household utensils 9 per cent, clothing 9.3 per cent, lodging and catering services 17 per cent and tourism 34.3 per cent.

In the first five months, retail sales reached VNĐ2 quadrillion, accounting for 77.5 per cent of the total and up 7.4 per cent year-on-year (up 4.5 per cent if the price factor is excluded).

Sales of food and foodstuffs rose by 10.5 per cent, household appliances 13.4 per cent, clothing 10.3 per cent, vehicles (excluding cars) 1.3 per cent and cultural and educational products 15.5 per cent. Revenue from accommodation and catering services was estimated at VNĐ296.3 trillion, up 15.1 per cent year-on-year.

During this period, some localities had a high growth in retail sales and services revenue, including Quảng Ninh (up 10.1 per cent), Hải Phòng (up 9.5 per cent), Cần Thơ (up 8.4 per cent), Đà Nẵng (up 8.2 per cent), HCM City (up 6.8 per cent) and Hà Nội (up 6.7 per cent).

Notably, tourism revenue in the first five months of 2024 surged by 45.1 per cent to VNĐ24.2 trillion compared to the same period last year.

Local tourism areas showing strong growth in tourism revenue in the five months compared to the same period last year included Đà Nẵng (up 52 per cent), HCM City (up 46 per cent), Hà Nội (up 44.6 per cent) and Quảng Ninh (up 18 per cent). 

Quảng Nam aims to create more opportunities for investors

Actively creating opportunities for investors instead of just waiting for them is among the contents in the central province of Quảng Nam’s plan to seek high-quality investors and enhance the locality’s capacity to absorb investment through proper mechanisms and policies in the 2024-25 period.

According to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, with a list of 233 projects prioritised for investment attraction, Quảng Nam aims to open up opportunities for cooperation in different areas, from investment to trade connections with foreign partners.

The department reported that in the first four months of this year, Quảng Nam granted investment licences to 109 projects, including 16 foreign-invested ones.

Director of the department Nguyễn Quang Thử said that the department has been assigned to select 30 strategic investors meeting the locality’s investment attraction orientations, along with five international organisations and associations to approach, enabling the province to set up and send working groups to work with them in 2024 and 2025.

One of the criteria for the projects is the capacity to attract satellite manufacturing businesses, forming a global value chain and production-manufacturing-supply-service clusters, he said.

For domestic investors, the locality targets enterprises in the top 500 firms of Việt Nam, from which it will choose 30 prestigious economic groups with high financial capacity to call for investment in the period, said Thử.

The province takes the master plan for the 2021-30 period with a vision to 2050 as the foundation for investment attraction, focusing on areas that the locality has outstanding advantages.

Vice Chairman of the Quảng Nam People’s Committee Hồ Quang Bửu said that the province will evaluate and select investors right from the beginning to avoid the postponements or extension of investment time.

The locality will set up a cooperation relationship with Vietnamese economic and diplomatic representative offices abroad to reach investors, he said.

At a working session with the provincial Department of Planning and Investment in late April, Secretary of the Party Committee of Quảng Nam Lương Nguyễn Minh Triết pointed out that the locality boasts great development potential but its capacity to attract investment remains modest.

He stressed the need for the province to make documentaries introducing the potential and advantages of the locality to investors, while increasing investment promotion abroad. 

Bình Phước holds 7th Fruit and Agricultural Products Fair

The People's Committee of Bình Phước Province is holding the 7th Fruit and Agricultural Products Fair 2024.

The fair takes place until June 3. This year's fruit and agricultural products fair has the participation of more than 400 booths.

These booths are divided into seven main areas including introducing typical agricultural products and One Community One Product (OCOP) of the province; introducing regional specialties; seedling; bonsai; wooden furniture and fine arts; commercial products; and livestock products.

The fair is a great place for managers, scientists, businesses and farmers to introduce, share experiences, and expand markets, especially of fruit and agricultural products.

Chairman of Bình Phước Provincial Farmers' Association Trần Văn Vinh said that the fair has more innovations this year such as a concentrated display area for OCOP products and regional specialty agricultural products; the participation of farmer at booths, and a display area for products serving livestock farming.

In particular, seminars organised within the framework of the fair will focus on improving product quality and applying e-commerce to promote the province's products to the world market.

In addition, the Fair also introduces effective smart agricultural models, high-tech agricultural products, OCOP products of the province and regional specialties.

Four individuals fined for stock manipulation

Việt Nam's securities regulator penalised four individuals for market manipulation and 13 others for account lending that enabled manipulation of Nam Sông Hậu Trading Investing Petroleum's shares (PSH).

Based on monitoring and inspection results, the State Securities Commission (SSC) has fined four individuals - Mai Hữu Phúc, Võ Như Thảo, Đỗ Thủy Tiên and Trần Minh Hoàng - VNĐ1.5 billion (US$58.9 million) each for securities market manipulation.

From February 2021 to May 2022, the four used 26 accounts belonging to 15 investors to repeatedly conduct intra-group negotiated transactions involving 5,607,300 shares of PSH, with a total matched value of more than VNĐ91.1 billion.

This was determined to be a violation of securities laws, as the individuals used these accounts to artificially manipulate the supply, demand and price of PSH shares.

As a result, the four individuals were each fined VNĐ1.5 billion for securities market manipulation. Additionally, the regulator issued a decision to apply preventive and deterrent measures against these four individuals for their violations of securities laws and the securities market.

According to the decision, Phúc, Thảo and Tiên have been prohibited from securities trading and holding positions at securities companies, securities investment fund management companies, branches of foreign securities companies and fund management companies in Việt Nam, and securities investment companies for a period of 2 years starting from May 27.

Meanwhile Hoàng has been prohibited from the same activities for a period of 3 years starting from the same date, and the inspection and calculations found that the individuals did not obtain any illegal gains through their violations.

On the stock market, PSH shares logged the biggest daily loss of 7 per cent to close Thursday session at VNĐ7,170 per share. 

Proposal approved to pilot commercial housing projects using land use rights

The Government has approved the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE)'s proposal to develop a National Assembly Resolution allowing pilot commercial housing projects through land use rights agreements, even for non-residential land.

This was mentioned in the recent issued Resolution No.80/NQ-CP.

The Minister of Justice, on behalf of the Government, submitted a proposal to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.

The proposal requests to supplement the National Assembly's Resolution on piloting commercial housing projects through land use rights agreements or existing land use rights, where the land is not for residential purposes.

The Government proposes to submit this for the National Assembly's decision at their seventh session in May 2024.

The MONRE said that the use of land for commercial housing projects through land use rights agreements or existing land rights is a voluntary land transfer mechanism, in addition to the state's land acquisition.

The 2024 Land Law maintains this voluntary mechanism, but limits it to only allowing land use rights agreements for residential land to implement commercial housing projects.

The ministry noted that in reality, few households or individuals have residential land areas large enough to match the scale and standards of commercial housing projects.

The residential land allocation limits, typically not exceeding 400m2, make it difficult for enterprises to acquire sufficient land area for their planned commercial housing projects, which often require much larger land areas.

After the 2024 Land Law comes into effect, the real estate market is predicted to be limited to only urban development and rural residential projects formed through state land acquisition, as well as projects that convert existing residential or other land to commercial housing as per the law's provisions.

Additionally, the new regulations restrict commercial housing projects to only those undertaken by investors with rights to "residential land" or "residential and other land", meaning projects like industrial parks or tourism areas that had their land use previously changed to residential will not be able to implement the adjusted plans, leading to wasteful spending of state budgets on those plan changes. 

Thua Thien – Hue lures 20 new investment projects in five months

The central province of Thua Thien - Hue granted licenses to 20 new investment projects with a total registered capital of over 5.32 trillion VND (nearly 209 million USD) in the first five months , including eight foreign direct investment (FDI) pones worth more than 33 million USD.

According to the provincial People’s Committee, 330 new enterprises were established with a combined capital of 1.68 trillion VND in the period, up 5% in number and 2.3% in value compared to the same period last year.

The province has focused on resolving difficulties facing businesses, contributing to completing the socio-economic development goals of the locality.

The disbursement of public investment capital has also recorded significant results, with nearly 1.5 trillion VND out of the nearly 6.25 trillion VND allocated by the government, equivalent to 24% of the set plan.

The locality welcomed over 1.6 million visitors in the January – May period, earning an estimated 3.24 trillion VND, representing year-on-year increases of 26% and 10%, respectively.

In the time to come, the locality will continue to focus on addressing difficulties and supporting industrial production projects. Additionally, efforts will be made to develop infrastructure projects in economic zones and industrial parks, and accelerate key projects using the State budget./.

Ample room ahead for Vietnamese rubber exports to US

There remains plenty of room ahead to grow Vietnamese rubber exports to the United States amid the nation’s share of the rubber market in the US has seen gradual improvement.

The Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) reported that in April, the US was the nation’s 10th largest rubber export market.

Citing statistics from the General Department of Customs, the MoIT said that April alone witnessed the nation export nearly 1.09 thousand tonnes of rubber valued at US$1.87 million to the US, marking an increase of 0.3% in volume and 17.5% in value compared to April of last year.

Vietnamese rubber exports to the highly lucrative market during the past four months reached nearly 7.46 thousand tonnes, worth US$11.7 million.

According to an assessment given by the Import-Export Department, recent years has seen Vietnamese rubber exports to the US increase again, with its rubber market share in the US gradually improving, despite accounting for a low market share as part of total US imports.

“Vietnam's rubber still has a lot of room to export to the US market. It is predicted that the nation’s rubber exports to the US will be better in 2024," said the Import-Export Department.

The Import-Export Department outlined that rubber exports to the potential market in the reviewed period were mainly natural rubber. Among them, latex was the most exported type, accounting for 31% of total rubber exports with 2.31 thousand tonnes.

In addition, during the reviewed period the export volume and value of some types of rubber to the US also increased sharply compared to last year's corresponding period.

According to statistics released by the United States International Trade Commission, over the first three months of the year, the US imported 443.12 thousand tonnes of rubber worth US$893.49 million, up 0.2% in volume, but still down 3% in value compared to the same period from last year.

Of which, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, the Republic of Korea (RoK), and the Ivory Coast were the five largest markets supplying rubber to the US during the three-month period.

Agro-forestry-fishery exports rise 21% in five months

Vietnam shipped an estimated 24.14 billion USD worth of agro-forestry-fishery products overseas during January-May, up 21% against the same time last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The sector enjoyed a trade surplus of some 6.53 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 64.5%.

The export of the items posted growth, with revenues of agricultural products rising 27.7% to 13.11 billion USD, forestry 22.7% to 6.58 billion USD, fishery 3.6% to 3.5 billion USD, and husbandry 5.6% to 199 million USD.

Most of the key products saw their export value increase between 7.5% and 23.6%, including wood and wooden products, coffee, rice, cashew, vegetables, and shrimp.

During the period, shipments to Asia, America, Europe, Africa, and Oceania rose 17.5%, 23.1%, 39.4%, 26.1%, and 24.8%, respectively, with the US, China, and Japan remaining the three largest importers.

The MARD has ordered competent authorities and enterprises to keep a close watch on the output of the staple fruits for export such as dragon fruit, longan, mango, and durian, and instruct localities to adjust their production plans and bolster export.

It said it will help localities and businesses with negotiations to handle technical barriers for market expansion./.

PM urges acceleration of site clearance for key transport projects

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has ordered the engagement of the whole political system to accelerate site clearance for key transport projects so that they could be completed as scheduled.

In an official dispatch signed on May 28, PM Chinh said uniform and modern infrastructure is one of the three strategic breakthroughs, with transport infrastructure being an important pillar that creates new development spaces and 

PM orders building of financial plan for 2026-2030

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has recently signed a directive on building a financial plan for the 2026-2030 period.

He ordered ministries, competent agencies and localities to make forecasts on the influence of the global and domestic political, economic and financial situation on mobilisation of and demand for capital and state budget during the five-year span.

They were required to set general and specific targets on budget collection and budget collection structure, budget spending and budget spending structure, state budget deficit, Government debt, public debt and foreign debt, as well as mobilisation and distributions of resources and state budget structure during the five-year period.

Besides, they must pen measures to carry out the five-year financial plan, including those on state budget collection, management to ensure the efficiency of the state budget spending, development of the market and financial service, mobilisation of international resources in emerging sectors, and management of public assets and state-owned enterprises.

PM Chinh requested that the financial plans for centrally-run cities and provinces must cover forecasts of local economic and financial situation and major socio-economic indexes like the gross regional domestic product (GRDP), consumer price index and growth of production sectors that could affect the local capital mobilisation ability and demand during the period.

It must include capital mobilisation and distribution orientations, targets on borrowing limit, outstanding debt and debt management, and other financial measures to carry out the financial plan./.

Bottlenecks removed for recovery of realty market: experts

Roadblocks related to credit accessibility, legal procedures, and demand-supply factor must be removed to bolster the recovery of the real estate market, experts said at a forum held in Ho Chi Minh City on May 29.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HOREA), as legal procedure bottlenecks account for 70% of the realty enterprises’ challenges, supports from policy-makers, banks and investors are necessary to develop the real estate market transparently and safely.

HORE Chairman Le Hoang Chau said that the Government has rolled out a wide range of policies to pull out obstacles for the market, highlighting that its approval for the early enforcement of the Land Law, Law on Housing and Law on Real Estate Business is significant to consolidate the quality of the market which has been mired in difficulties.

Chau expected that new regulations will have positive impacts on the market recovery from the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Vice President of Trung Thuy Group Duong Thanh Thuy said the overlaps between the Land Law and Law on Real Estate Business have put realty companies in trouble, elaborating her group could not put up a project for sale for eight years as it has not been priced yet.

While the Government is working to complete legal frameworks, businesses should restructure and choose a development path that is suitable for new trends to welcome recovery opportunities, she suggested.

Regarding measures to unlock property cash flow, Hoang Huy, a strategist from Maybank Kim Eng Securities Vietnam, held that banks should have flexible credit policies while enterprises need to focus on negotiations for bond extension.

He also stressed that the Government should pen rational policies to promote the realty market development in a safe, healthy and transparent manner.

According to Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City branch Nguyen Duc Lenh, real estate credit has been on the rise, with total outstanding debt in the sector reaching some 981.5 trillion VND (38.55 billion USD) as of the end of April, accounting for 33% of the country’s total and up 1.61% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Industrial Parks Truong Khac Nguyen Minh expressed his belief that the realty market will show a clearer recovery thanks to robust signs in both legal frameworks and transactions.

Vietnam has lured some 8 billion USD in FDI from the outset of the year, with 20% of which having been injected into the real estate market, which means the sector continues to be an ideal destination for foreign investors, especially when it has become healthier with more transparent legal mechanisms, he said./.

Plastics face demand decline, but divestment boosts share prices

The plastics industry has been facing challenges due to weak construction activities, resulting in a decrease in demand for plastic products in the first quarter of 2024. But the industry's performance is expected to improve, especially in the second half of the year, as state capital divestment boosts share prices.

Recently, the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) announced its plan to divest state capital from Tiền Phong Plastic Joint Stock Company (NTP), leading to a surge in the company's stock prices. Over the past week, NTP shares have experienced a significant increase, from just under VNĐ43,000 per share to VNĐ62,600 per share.

Tiền Phong Plastic currently has a charter capital of nearly VNĐ1.3 trillion, with SCIC owning 37.1 per cent of the shares. Other major shareholders include Sekisui Chemical (15 per cent), Southern Tiền Phong Plastic (14.27 per cent), and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Đặng Quốc Dũng (6.87 per cent). Investors anticipate that Sekisui Chemical, a Japanese shareholder, will acquire the shares divested by SCIC and become the controlling shareholder.

Sekisui Chemical, Japan's largest manufacturer of plastic construction materials, has been a major shareholder of Tiền Phong Plastic since 2017. The two companies have a history of collaboration, with Tiền Phong Plastic acting as a distribution channel for Sekisui Chemical's products. In return, Tiền Phong Plastic received technology transfers, molds and equipment to produce and sell products under the Sekisui brand. This partnership has been beneficial for both companies and has contributed to their growth.

Despite a decline in business results in the first quarter of 2024, the expectations surrounding the state capital divestment have driven an increase in NTP shares. Tiền Phong Plastic recorded a revenue of over VNĐ948 billion and a profit after tax of VNĐ109 billion in the first quarter, reflecting a decrease of 27 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively compared to the same period in 2023.

Looking ahead, Tiền Phong Plastic aims to achieve a revenue of VNĐ5.4 trillion, representing a 4.3 per cent increase, and a pre-tax profit of VNĐ555 billion, a decrease of 15.7 per cent compared to 2023. FPT Securities Company (FPTS) predicts that Tiền Phong Plastic's revenue for this year may reach VNĐ5.25 trillion, a 1.4 per cent increase, with an after-tax profit of VNĐ542.7 trillion, a 3 per cent decrease compared to 2023. The housing construction segment's prospects may be constrained by difficulties from residential real estate customers.

Among the 28 plastic businesses that have announced their first-quarter results for 2024, 16 companies reported increased profits compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, two companies moved from loss to profit, three companies reduced losses, six companies experienced decreased profits, and one company changed from profit to loss. The leading enterprises in the industry, including Bình Minh Plastic (BMP), Tiền Phong Plastic (NTP), An Phát Bioplastics (AAA), Hà Nội Plastics (NHH) and Tân Tiến Plastic (TTP), account for nearly 54 per cent of total revenue and 89 per cent of total net profit.

Bình Minh Plastic Joint Stock Company (BMP) achieved a revenue of VNĐ1 trillion in the first quarter of 2024, a 30.5 per cent decrease, with a profit after tax of VNĐ190 billion, down 32.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. However, business results in the second half of the year are expected to improve as the real estate market gradually recovers, leading to increased demand for plastic products.

Bình Minh Plastics aims to achieve a revenue of more than VNĐ5.5 trillion in 2024, nearly a 6 per cent increase, with a profit after tax of VNĐ1 trillion, similar to the previous year's performance. SSI Research suggests that while the business results for the second quarter may improve compared to the first quarter, they are still expected to be lower than the same period last year. The consumption output is projected to recover in the second half of 2024.

For the entire year of 2024, SSI Research forecasts that Bình Minh Plastics will achieve a revenue of VNĐ5.18 trillion, a 1 per cent increase, with a profit after tax of VNĐ915 billion, a 12 per cent decrease compared to 2023. The estimated sales volume is 91,000 tonnes, a 5 per cent increase, but the average selling price is expected to decrease by 4 per cent. By 2025, revenue and net profit could reach VNĐ5.5 trillion and VNĐ1 trillion, respectively.

Despite the challenges faced by the industry, BMP stock price has shown growth, increasing nearly 9 per cent in the past month and more than 63 per cent in the past year.

Overall, while the plastics industry has experienced some setbacks in the first quarter of 2024, there is optimism for a gradual recovery, particularly later this year.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes