The Government has called on the Ministry of Finance for policies to support enterprises, including exemption and reduction of taxes and fees, in 2023.

The ministry has been asked to implement reasonably loosened fiscal policy with a focus on supporting enterprises and residents to reduce input costs, stimulate production and reduce output costs, contributing to controlling inflation and promoting growth.

The support policies would include the exemption and reduction of taxes and fees and land use fees following the Prime Minister’s directives and be reported to the Government by mid-March.

The finance ministry should join the Ministry of Planning and Investment and relevant agencies to complete the study about the global minimum tax and report to the Government within this month.

A close watch must be placed on the developments in the international markets and adjustments of fiscal, monetary, trade and investment policies of countries around the world to analyse and provide forecasts for timely policy responses.

In addition, the ministry must focus on implementing measures to remove difficulties in credit, corporate bond market, real estate market, and petrol and oil management to ensure stable, healthy, transparent and safe operation.

Regarding price management, the ministry must raise options for adjusting prices of State-managed goods and services with appropriate roadmaps and careful studies of the socio-economic impacts, especially electricity, petrol and oil.

The Ministry of Finance has sent a draft about extending the tax payment deadline to the Ministry of Justice for evaluation.

It was estimated that around VND64-65 trillion worth of value-added tax, which should have been paid in the first half of this year, would be extended. Extension of payment deadlines would also be given to VND42.8-43.6 trillion and VND272 billion of tax on business households.

These sums would be paid to the State before December 31, meaning the extension would not affect this year's budget revenue. 

Domestic trade to grow at 8-9 per cent a year: MoIT

Measures have been taken to boost domestic trade to maintain an 8-9 per cent growth rate per year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The ministry said there is still untapped potential in the domestic market as the country's population reaches the 100 million mark. 

To realise this potential, MoIT said businesses must invest in developing commercial platforms, especially digital sales channels. 

The government has been reviewing current regulations to help streamline trade activities across the country's many regions. According to the ministry, a top priority is improving connectivity and collaboration between Viet Nam's major production centres. 

The ministry called for greater trade support for domestic businesses, especially small-to-medium-sized businesses, household businesses and cooperatives, saying they are in dire need of guidance and financial capital in setting up their sales and distribution channels. 

MoIT said the government encourages the private sector to participate in developing trade infrastructures such as markets, mini markets and convenience stores, especially in remote and poor regions.

A key solution to helping undeveloped regions to gain access to consumers nationwide, said the ministry, is to support them in building their own or granting them access to digital commerce platforms.

According to the ministry, digital sales channels are to play a vital role in developing organic agricultural production, a circular economy and more efficient production, distribution and consumption. 

Since the beginning of the year, MoIT, in collaboration with several ministries and governmental agencies, has held numerous trade promotion events for Vietnamese products. 

"Traditionally, there are more of such events held toward the end of the year, but this year we wanted to start earlier to help producers with sales, which would make it easier for them to maintain their operation," said an official from the ministry. 

For example, with MoIT's support, farmers could put their oranges on the shelves of major retailers with stores all across the country, such as Co-opmart.

In addition, several large digital commerce platforms, including Lazada, have been working alongside farmers to help push sales of Vietnamese agricultural products. 

According to the General Statistics Office of Viet Nam, the country's total retail value for January was estimated at nearly VND500 trillion, a 6 per cent decrease from the same period last year.

The office said the economy is poised to bring its retail value back to the pre-pandemic level in the first quarter of 2023.

New protocol on swallow nests explains new rules for exporters

The protocol on the official export of swallow nests to China took effect in December last year, but many Vietnamese exporters are still scratching their heads about following the rules.

As the protocol contains regulations on origin-tracking, an exporter wondered if his compliance with the regulations would make any difference to his nest prices.

"Would there be any difference in price between the nests produced by compliant producers and those by non-compliant ones?" he asked.

Do Van Hoan from the Department of Livestock Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) responded that nest prices are determined predominantly by the nest quality and buyers' confidence in sellers.

That means compliance with origin-tracking rules would have no impact on nest prices. However, the rules are mandatory, so they are obliged to origin-labelled their products either way.

"The government is planning to launch an origin-tracking database in which nest producers can register their products online," said Hoan.

Another exporter is concerned that importing low-quality nests has been rampant in recent years. Those nests are disguised as genuine nests and sold at as high a price as the latter, posing serious risks to public health.

"Low-quality nests are doctored with harmful chemicals. They are unsafe for consumption", said the exporter.

However, Hoan revealed that the supposedly low-quality nests that domestic producers have imported to produce nest-related products are genuine.

"Producers import more nests than they buy from domestic traders. Those imported nests are real nests", Hoan stressed.

The official also asserted that producers who add other substances to genuine nests must specify the substances on the product label. As such, it cannot be the case that unpure nests are sold at as high a price as pure nests.

Tran Thi Thu Phuong from the Department of Animal Health, MARD, underlined 16 sanitary rules applied to Vietnamese nests exported to China, which lay down certain standards of labelling, packaging and food safety.

She said producers must first apply to local authorities for a farm code and submit a relevant dossier to the department to be recognised as a bird farm.

Next, they have their nest sample tested to see if the nests are up to Vietnamese and Chinese standards. If the nests tick all the boxes, the producers move to the last step involving information gathering to be registered as nest exporters.

"According to the census, Viet Nam had 23,665 recognised bird farms by late 2022. Most of the farms cluster in Kien Giang and Binh Dinh Provinces", said Phuong.

Official Hoan was concerned that many swallow-rearing farmers have engaged in exports to follow suit. They do not have a long-term vision for their products and are ill-informed about sanitary rules.

Hoan said MARD had assigned his department the task of developing a national database on bird farms to help farmers get entry into foreign markets more easily. The database contains a data-sharing section that would keep them updated to foreign standards.

He also said farmers must follow a three-step process to obtain a farm code. In the first step, they must fill out Form No.01 and submit it to local commune-level authorities for approval.

Once the form gets approved, they will upload it to https://csdlchannuoi.mard.gov.vn and fill out another form on the site. When a relevant agency confirms that the information on the forms is correct, the system will assign farm codes to the farmers.

If farmers want to go as far as to be registered as nest exporters, the agency will carry out an on-site inspection to see if they are eligible for exports. Eventually, the system sends exporter codes to eligible farmers via email. 

Trademark protection important for farm produce to go far in international markets

It’s critical for Viet Nam to focus on promoting intellectual property rights for areas associated with agricultural products which would enable farm produce to go far in international markets.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was planning to propose the Government approval to build a decree on managing national brands of agricultural products. This is pressing as the export of agricultural products was seeing a significant drop in the context of increasing uncertainties in the global market.

Statistics showed that the agro-forestry-fishery export value was estimated at US$6.28 billion in the first two months of this year, dropping by 22.5 per cent against the same period last year.

Director of the ministry’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority Nguyen Quoc Toan said that economic and political instabilities coupled with changes in production policies of many countries made many farm produce of Viet Nam lose advantages, such as coffee, rice, cashew, tra fish and timber and wooden products.

It’s time to attach greater attention to protecting brands and geographical indications for farm products to go far in the international markets, he said, adding that protected brands and geographical indications would help increase value while creating confidence among consumers about their origin and quality.

Bac Giang was a good example of protecting the brands of agricultural products in foreign markets.

The northern province was known for the largest thieu lychee production in Viet Nam with a total area of more than 28,000 hectares and an annual output of about 200,000 tonnes. The specialty was thieu lychee from Luc Ngan District which provided 120,000 tonnes and brought a value of more than VND3 trillion each year.

Luc Ngan thieu lychee is currently granted certificates of industrial property protection by the Ministry of Science and Technology in seven countries, including China, Laos, Cambodia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Australia and the US. This is also the first agricultural product of Viet Nam granted a certificate of geographical indication in Japan, opening up significant opportunities for this product to reach out to international markets.

Bac Giang also developed trademarks for Yen The hill chicken which was protected in China, Laos and Singapore and Chu noodle protected in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Laos. The province also built brands for Yen Dung fragrant rice and Van Village wine.

Nguyen Phuc Thuong, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Science and Technology, said that trademark protection contributed to increasing the value of agricultural products. Products with protected trademarks had guaranteed quality and origin, met the requirements of export markets and gained the trust of consumers.

However, the protection of geographical indications in foreign markets remained complicated in terms of time, procedures and costs, he said.

For example, it took nearly three years to negotiate the protection of geographical indication for Luc Ngan thieu lychee in Japan.

Many other provinces and cities paid attention to the development of intellectual property for local products.

However, the use of geographical indications for the commercialisation of products remained inefficient.

Stressing that products with protected geographical indications were mainly agricultural products, Mai Van Dung, from the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam, said there were challenges in the protection of geographical indications.

While there was an increasing trend of protecting processed products, not many processed products of Viet Nam were protected, he said. In addition, the production scale of protected products remained modest.

According to Tran Le Hong, Deputy Director of the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam, the number of geographical indications increased strongly recently but just a few products were successfully commercialised in the domestic market and for exports.

To date, only 40 out of 94 products with protected geographical indications were exported, of which, only 26 were printed on the packaging and labels when exported while the rest of 14 were exported under other brands.

According to Thuong, greater effort must be taken to increase communication and provide training to improve the awareness of intellectual property and form a culture of intellectual property protection as well as encourage innovation.

Consultancies and guidance would also be given to localities, businesses and cooperatives in registering and establishing rights to products of high economic value with a focus on building geographical indications for key products.

Special attention should be paid to foreign market research for commercially potential products to implement protection in export markets.

Trademark protection alone was not enough, he said, adding that it was also critical to strengthen production linkage and develop value chains to ensure traceability, origin and quality of products. 

Domestic steel enterprises suffer falling demand

The high prices of raw materials have caused domestic steel companies to increase selling prices many times to compensate for production costs and reduce losses.

In the context of weak domestic steel demand and rising costs pushing up global commodity prices, the selling prices of finished steel are increasing slower than the prices of input materials.

Analysts say that the business performance of construction steel companies is still insignificant.

According to the Viet Nam Steel Association (VSA), steel prices have continuously increased mainly due to the fact that input prices of input materials for steel production such as coal, iron ore, scrap steel, and hot-rolled coils are still climbing.

VSA believes that the high prices of raw materials have caused domestic factories to increase selling prices many times to compensate for production costs and reduce losses.

Since the beginning of the year, steel prices have been continuously adjusted up, with a total increase of more than VND1 million per tonne. Although the upward momentum has slowed down, steel prices will continue to increase in the coming months.

As for steel giant Hoa Phat Group, the analysis team of VNDirect Securities Company said: "With weak demand, Hoa Phat Group may transfer the risk of increasing input material prices to consumers. In addition, low factory operating efficiency in the first half of 2023 will also affect the company's profit margins, so we forecast Hoa Phat Group's net profit may be still negative in the first quarter of 2023."

New data released by the group shows that consumption of steel products in domestic and foreign markets both decreased over the same period. This reflects two different states of the construction market in early 2022 and 2023.

In the first quarter of 2022, construction steel consumption reached a record high thanks to strong growth in market demand. In 2023, the market was quiet due to weak demand, leading to negative steel consumption.

Accumulated in the first 2 months of this year, Hoa Phat Group's crude steel output reached 809,000 tonnes, down 42 per cent over the same period last year. Sales of construction steel, hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and billet was recorded at 877,000 tonnes, down 34 per cent compared to the first 2 months of 2022.

At the recent 2023 General Meeting of Shareholders of Hoa Sen Group, a representative of this enterprise said that steel exports still saw many potential uncertainties in the context of increasing competition and challenges caused by trade barriers.

Forecasting the market situation in 2023, according to this business, the fierce competition in the domestic market, tightening monetary policies, increasing interest rates, and escalating exchange rates may negatively affect the economy and production of steel companies.

Hoa Sen Group proposed two consumption plans for the financial year 2022-2023.

Under the first plan, the sales volume will reach 1.52 million tonnes, the revenue will be VND34 trillion and the profit after tax will be VND100 billion. In the more positive plan, this enterprise can achieve a sales output of 1.62 million tonnes, revenue of VND36 trillion and profit after tax of VND300 billion.

Previously, according to the report of the fiscal year 2021-2022, the consumption output of Hoa Sen Group reached more than 1.81 million tonnes, completing 91 per cent of the yearly plan; revenue reached VND49.7 trillion, completing 107 per cent of the plan; consolidated profit after tax reached VND251 billion, completing 17 per cent of the plan.

According to the analysis team of VNDirect, the prolonged low demand of the domestic civil construction sector will have a significant impact on the demand for construction materials in 2023. This means that the demand in short term for steel products remains low.

However, the demand for iron and steel is expected to improve thanks to more public investment projects being implemented.

Recently, the Ministry of Transport was assigned by the Government to disburse public investment with a capital of VND94 trillion this year, 1.7 times higher than in 2022.

Other positive signals from the export market, especially recovering demand in China - the largest steel producer and consumer, accounting for more than 50 per cent of total supply and demand in the world - will support domestic steel enterprises.

The research team of DSC Securities said that iron ore prices have witnessed a strong increase of nearly 50 per cent from $85 per tonne to nearly $120 per tonne.

DSC expects demand as well as steel prices to increase further in the second half of 2023. However, the DSC team noted that these recovery signals are still quite weak and likely to be unsustainable.

China had abolished its zero-COVID policy, but it will still take a certain amount of time to really restart the economy. According to DSC, FDI growth and public investment are also not certain factors. When the supporting factors have not been put into practice, steel prices may end up gaining momentum due to high expectations and enter a correction span.

However, last week, steel stocks still recorded gains in the context that the steel industry is expected to recover thanks to the government's boost in public investment and recovery in demand in China.

Accordingly, Nam Kim Group (NKG) increased by 8.8 per cent, Hoa Sen Group (HSG) rose by 7.2 per cent and Hoa Phat Group (HPG) gained by 4.7 per cent. 

Domestic investors open less than 100,000 new accounts in the first 2 months

Newly opened accounts in February increased by nearly 28,000 on-month to January, but they were still low compared to the average level of the past two years, according to data from the Viet Nam Securities Depository (VSD).

In February, domestic retail investors opened 63,731 new accounts and institutional investors opened 133 new accounts.

In the first two months of the year, domestic investors opened a total of less than 100,000 new accounts. At the end of February, the total number of domestic retail investor accounts reached 6.94 million accounts.

After a surge from 2021 to the first half of 2022, the influx of new investors has slowed down significantly.

Liquidity, therefore, decreased gradually for the fourth month in a row. In February, the average matching value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) was only about VND8.6 trillion per session, down 10 per cent month-on-month. The figure continued to decline sharply to only about VND6.5 trillion per session since the beginning of March.

The drop in liquidity was partly due to a reduction in foreign investors' transactions after a period of fast and strong buying. In February, foreign investors net sold VND640 billion on HoSE. The trend continued in the first few days of March.

Last month, foreign investors opened 176 new accounts, a sharp increase from 112 in the previous month. Specifically, retail investors opened 151 new accounts while institutional investors opened 25 new accounts in the past month. At the end of February, there were a total of 43,029 accounts belonging to foreign investors. 

Mini Thailand Week 2023 to get underway in Quang Ninh

Mini Thailand Week 2023 is scheduled to take place from March 16 to 19 in the northern border province of Quang Ninh to promote bilateral trade between Thailand and Vietnam.

This year’s event is expected to draw the participation of 20 Thai companies and 50 Vietnamese agents who will showcase a range of high-quality products and services originating from Thailand.

The expo will also provide an ideal venue to help firms from the two nations seek new products, expand networks, and enjoy fresh business opportunities.

Thai outstanding products at the event range from food and beverages, household products, electrical appliances, fashion and lifestyle, jewelry, health care and beauty products, pet food, decorations and travel services.

Furthermore, a wide range of activities will be held in order to help visitors gain greater insights into Thailand and its culture.

Mini Thailand Week 2023 is to be jointly held by the Department of International Trade Promotion, the Royal Thai Government, the Vietnamese Trade Office in Thailand, the Royal Thai Embassy in Hanoi, and the Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad).

Over 250 petitions submitted to authorities on fragility of petroleum regulations

The petitions concern the alteration of petroleum business restrictions in decrees No.83/2014/ND-CP and No.95/2021/NQ-CP, resulting in losses for retail establishments.

On March 14, over 250 urgent petitions regarding market volatility were lodged by fuel and oil dealers with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. These retailers own almost 9,000 outlets throughout the nation.

According to the petitions, the Regulations on Petroleum Business in Decrees No.83/2014/ND-CP issued in March 2014, and No. 95/2021/NQ-CP issued in November 2021, are the primary cause of the depletion of fuel station owners.

To minimise local shortages, gasoline merchants suggest procuring commodities from three distinct sources, including distribution traders.

"Only importing items from one focal point would eliminate the rivalry of enterprises," Le Van Bau, director of Le Hong Thu Co., Ltd., argued in the appeal.

These retailers also advocated amending the rules on the methodology for determining the base price and discount rates to guarantee justice and put a stop to the scenario of opening and selling at a loss, shutting down, and being sanctioned by the authorities that has persisted for over a year.

According to merchants, the basic pricing formula has a standard cost of doing business per litre of petrol (4.3-5.3 US cents per litre, depending on the kind), but at varying times, major firms have retained the whole amount above with no discounts.

The state management of petroleum is delegated to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) by the Vietnamese government. Ho Duc Phoc, Minister of Finance, said at a session on February 28 where the Central Committee's Economic Commission explained the state of the petroleum market and the results of tasks and remedies in the administration of petroleum that there are some limits on how the state can handle petroleum.

According to Minister Phoc, one of the present difficulties is that there are too many wholesalers and distributors. According to him, Vietnam has 34 significant retailers, while Japan has five and China has only four.

In the minister's opinion, too many middlemen would increase expenses and cause fuel prices to rise. He advocated reducing wholesaler regulations from 34 to 10 units. Likewise, the existing number of roughly 332 distribution merchants is excessive and must be decreased.

According to several enterprises, Vietnam's petroleum market lacks a focal point for administration to direct, control, and clarify duties. The government makes the final decisions.

Minister Phoc suggested in a meeting of the National Assembly in October last year to shift the supervision of petroleum, from price regulation, cost standards, and business, to the MoIT so that the supply can be proactive. However, the MoIT proposed that the administration of petroleum be delegated to the MoF.

HCM City speeds up use of invoices generated from cash registers

The People's Committee of HCM City has urged various departments and agencies to take steps to expedite the use of e-invoices generated from cash registers in order to meet the set roadmap.

The municipal Department of Taxation has been directed to collaborate with departments, sectors, the people’s committees of Thu Duc City and districts, and relevant units to put the scheme into action.

Emphasis has been placed on tackling obstacles linked to policy, professional process, and software application in the plan, as well as boosting communication campaigns to raise taxpayers’ awareness of the advantages of using e-invoices generated from cash registers.

The municipal Department of Planning and Investment has been assigned the responsibility of notifying and instructing businesses, business households, and individuals to register for the use of e-invoices created from cash registers when they establish a business and engage in business activities.

HCM City is one of three localities that piloted the use of e-invoices generated from cash registers. Despite more than two months of implementation beginning on December 15, 2022, the number of taxpayers who have successfully registered in the city remains low, with just 278 as of February 26 this year.

According to a preliminary survey, HCM City has 5,268 business households and 266 businesses that are trade centres, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, and entertainment service providers, all of whom are the targets of the programme.

Innovation platforms boosting sustainable development announced
     
The Institute for Innovation and Development (IID) on March 15 held a “Drive Innovation for Impact” event to announce three digital innovation platforms boosting sustainable development.

They are iMapVietnam at http://imapvietnam.org, impactUP at https://impactup.site, and V.innovate at http://vinnovate.vn.

Specifically, iMapVietnam is a business authentication and impact measurement platform for firms doing business for sustainable development in Viet Nam.

Meanwhile, impactUP is a platform for training, incubating, and accelerating social entrepreneurship in and among Vietnamese people; and V. innovate is an assessment platform for the innovation-startup ecosystem and social impact for universities and localities.

IID is a not-for-profit science and technology organisation under the Asia-Pacific Economic Centre (VAPEC). It is positioned as a leading research institute in the field of innovation for sustainable development, with three pillars of activity: creativity and knowledge sharing; capacity building; and resource connection.

Prof., Dr. Vo Dai Luoc from VAPEC welcomed the platforms announced this time, and stressed the importance of innovation in the current situation.

He also emphasised the need to consider learning from the experience of countries around the world to shorten the application process in practice in Viet Nam. 

Vietjet announces first direct air route between Vietnam, Queensland

Vietjet will operate the first air route connecting Vietnam with Australia’s Queensland state in June, the airline announced on March 16.

Accordingly, the leading Vietnamese new-age carrier will operate twice weekly services between Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Brisbane Airport (BNE) by modern wide-body aircraft, starting June 16.

The flights are expected to bring more than 30,000 Vietnamese visitors in Brisbane, generating 25.6 million AUD (17 million USD) for Queensland’s economy, and creating 240 jobs for the state, during the first year of operation.

The flights to Brisbane will take off from Ho Chi Minh City every Monday and Friday at 10:05 (local time) and land at Brisbane at 21:10 (local time). The return flights will depart at 23:10 (local time) every Monday and Friday and land at Vietnam's largest city at 04:50 the following day (local time).

Brisbane Airport Corporation Chief Executive Officer Gert-Jan de Graaff said that Vietnam is a rapidly growing market for Queensland. Non-stop flights between  Vietnam and the Australian state will bring about benefits for both countries.

Vietjet Deputy General Director Nguyen Thanh Son said that adding Brisbane to the airline's list of destinations will be another development step to broadly connect Australia and Vietnam.

Vietjet operates around 450 flights daily on 160 routes connecting Vietnam and Asian and European countries.

Da Nang speeds up China flight connections to attract travelers

Da Nang, a tourist hotspot in central Vietnam, is hastening to relaunch direct air routes between it and Chinese localities to welcome the return of Chinese holidaymakers.

The local tourism industry will soon reopen air routes from major Chinese localities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai in 2023, and at the same time promote MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism, golf tourism, and luxury beach resorts in China, a market with high spending on tourism, according to the Da Nang Department of Tourism.

In addition, the city will continue to promote it as a safe, friendly and attractive destination in an enhanced communication campaign. To this end, it is expected to welcome a Chinese Famtrip group to survey services and connect tours, appoint travel representatives in China, and launch a communication campaign through E-newsletter and Wechat in China.

The Da Nang International Fireworks Festival is set to come back in June 2023 following a three-year pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Major tourist destinations of Da Nang such as Sun World Ba Na Hills and Asia Park will organize many festivals, music and art performances on this occasion to lure visitors.

According to Cao Tri Dung, chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association, Chinese visitors often come in large groups and they are keen to discover local cuisines.

Da Nang is fully capable of receiving the return of Chinese visitors thanks to its modern airport infrastructure, diverse accommodation facilities and attractive cultural and culinary tourism products, said Dung.

He also said that local travel agencies are currently recruiting Chinese-speaking guides to promptly serve the influx of Chinese tourists when they are back.

China recently decided to add Vietnam to its list of countries to receive its group tours on a trial basis after it eased COVID-19 travel restrictions. The first group of Chinese visitors arrived in Vietnam on March 15.

EU and US businesses keen to invest in Vietnam

Financiers from the EU and the United States have expressed their keen interest in investing in the Vietnamese market, especially in such fields as green energy, infrastructure, and logistics, according to industry insiders.

A recent survey conducted by the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) for more than 1,300 EU firms indicates that 41% of the respondents planned to move their production facilities to the country, up 30% compared to data compiled during the previous survey.

Furthermore, approximately 35% of the respondents named Vietnam among the top five most attractive investment destinations.

Meanwhile, John Rockhold, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham Vietnam), revealed that investors from US also intend to pour a huge amount of capital into the country’s green energy, logistics, and infrastructure sectors.

Explaining the growing trend, the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) pointed to the fact that Vietnam effectively shifted to the implementation of the circular economy model in a number of industries throughout the 2021 - 2022 period.

Indeed, economic zones have gradually turned into ecological economic areas with a number of ecological urban industrial zones taking shape, a factor that has attracted the world’s large corporations to invest in high-tech products such as Samsung, LG, Intel, and Toyota.

Professor Nguyen Mai, chairman of the VAFIE, emphasised that among ASEAN member states, Vietnam can be considered as a rising star in the global supply chain, as it makes up a significant market share in multiple fields, including garments and textiles, footwear, and consumer electronics.

Vietnam has also emerged as a manufacturing hub for electronic products as part of the global supply chain. Its electronics exports hit a record high of US$100 billion in 2021, representing about one third of its total export value.

According to the 2022 annual report detailing foreign investment in the country, there remains a number of hurdles faced by foreign investors, including cumbersome administrative procedures and visa policy for foreigners.

The report outlines that although 68.5% of the FDI firms rated Vietnam as being more favourable in terms of investment location, labour costs and quality, taxes, the Government's capability to respond to emergencies compared to other countries, the quality of infrastructure, and public service delivery in the country must be improved moving forward.

Petroleum imports skyrocket in two months

Vietnam spent approximately US$1.7 billion on importing petroleum of all kinds during the initial two months of the year, an increase of 56.3% year on year, with crude oil imports witnessing a 2.2-fold rise in volume and a 2.1 fold-rise in value, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

A representative of the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) said that between January 20 and February 21, the group imported 168,596 cubic metres (m3) of petrol, 162,308 m3 of diesel, and 24,931 m3 of mazut oil to supply the domestic market.

Meanwhile, domestic refineries’ import volume for petrol, diesel, and kerosene stood at 284,369 m3, 245,619 m3, and 1,651 m3, respectively.

Petrolimex's domestic sales volume during the reviewed period was 435,800 m3 for gasoline, 344,935m3 for diesel oil, 1,961 m3 for kerosene, and 18,171 m3 for mazut oil.

Vietnam spent a total of US$46.62 billion on importing goods in the past two months, a decline of 16% against the same period from last year.

Most notably, there are 13 import items worth over US$1 billion each, accounting for 69.1% of the total import turnover, including two items with turnover reaching over US$5 billion, accounting for 39.3%.

Vietnam emerges as attractive market for Singapore firms

Vietnam is emerging as a popular market in which Singaporean companies are interested in seeking opportunities to promote trade and investment, heard a conference on trade connection between the two countries in Ho Chi Minh City.

The event was jointly hosted by the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) of HCM City, the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI).

Addressing the event, SCCCI President Kho Choon Keng said Singapore and Vietnam have shared close and long-term economic relations, and their two-way trade grew steadily in the past decade, hitting 31 billion SGD (over 22.9 billion USD) in 2022.

Singapore has been always among Vietnam's largest foreign investors, especially in HCM City, he said.

Many Singaporean companies have established their offices or are actively seeking opportunities in many areas in Vietnam, including infrastructure development, production, transportation, logistics, education, tourism, finance and agriculture, Kho added.

Apart from further strengthening cooperation in existing fields, the two countries can also expand their cooperation in new areas, such as sustainability, green economy and digital economy, Kho noted.

According to Cao Xuan Thang, First Secretary in charge of the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, said there is ample room for Vietnam and Singapore to step up their trade and investment cooperation.

Singapore is emerging as a service and finance centre in Southeast Asia, while Vietnam has also become an attractive destination for investors and goods distributors, Thang stressed.

Cao Thi Phi Van, Vice Director of ITPC, Singapore ranks second among 140 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with total registered capital of 71.85 billion USD. Singapore remains the biggest foreign investor in HCM City with over 1,677 projects worth nearly 14.02 billion USD, she added.

Van attributed the results to Vietnam's political stability, transparent and attractive investment environment, positive economic growth, and qualified and hard-working labour force, saying that the country is maintaining its advantages in attracting foreign investors, especially those  from Singapore.

Notably, HCM City becomes more and more attractive to international investors thanks to the synchronous infrastructure system, which facilitates trade connection among domestic and international areas, she added.

Nguyen Quoc Vinh, Head of ITPC’s Investment Promotion Division, said HCM City has always made efforts to maintain rapid economic growth and promote sustainable and comprehensive development in all fields.

Investing in the city, businesses will have the opportunity to access a large number of customers, he said, adding that HCM City is also a bridge helping businesses effectively approach to the ASEAN community with a market of 500 million people, Vinh said.

Hoa Binh eyes further cooperation with Vietnamese enterprises in Japan

The northern province of Hoa Binh recently held a conference to foster cooperation with the Vietnam Business Association in Japan (VJBA).

In his remarks, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Chuong highlighted the locality’s potential and socio-economic development, saying the province welcomes all domestic and foreign investors who want to do long-term investment here.

VJBA Chairman Vu Hoang Duc said that since its establishment 11 years ago, the association has focused on bringing high-quality human resources and goods from Vietnam to Japan through official channels as well as seeking ways to connect businesses of the two countries, especially small and medium enterprises.

Duc said he hopes that in the coming time, the Hoa Binh provincial administration and relevant agencies will create favourable conditions for human resources training and popularising high-quality agricultural products and foods in Japan.

Participants at the event discussed the advantages and challenges for investment promotion and human resources training activities as well as sales of agricultural products in Hoa Binh province and Japan.

Hoa Binh’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) grew 9.03% last year, with per capita income reaching 66.7 million VND (2,827 USD) per year. The rate of trained labourers was 59.2%.

The province has 729 private investment projects, of which, foreign invested ones account for 5%, valued at 608 million USD. Japanese enterprises have poured 343.3 million USD into projects in the locality.

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