290118Intellasia Finance Vietnam - HKBAV · E-government still far away 9 France pours over 2...

29 January 2018

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reference exchange rate up by 10 VND at week's beginning 1Central Bank targets 17 per cent credit growth 2Who would reap benefits from surging euro? 2New law set to help weak banks recover: experts 3Jewellers seek better loans for 2018 4Multi-national lucky money trends 4Vietnamese banks protest after prosecutors call for $266

million to be returned at fraud trial 4Total premium income of non-life insurance market in 2017

estimated at 40.561tr dong 6ANZ, Prudential and the ambition of Shinhan 6Vietnam-EFTA FTA to be signed in H1 7ATIGA regulation worries local sugar manufacturers 8E-government still far away 9France pours over 2 billion euros into Vietnam in 10 years 9Jica seeks agricultural partnerships with Vietnam 10Vietnam anticipates wave of FDI from India 10Dong Nai: selected FDI proves efficient 11Forestry, wood exports to top $9b 12MoIT announces vote for top exporters 13Stainless steel traders complain about time-consuming tests 132017 production of steel products at 22mn tonnes 14Commercial arbitration improves dispute resolution 15Eastern area dominates apartment supply in Hochiminh city 15Steel sector set for 20pct growth 16IT sector needs more tech exchanges 17Is there any reason not to invest in Vietnam? 17Vietnamese garment companies increase competitiveness 18More and more Vietnamese brands bought by foreign companies 18Foreign firms buy into online retail 19French drink-makers eye Vietnam 20Investors conflicted about investing in condotels 21Confectionery firms compete for $1.76 billion market 22HCM City, Laos seek measures to boost trade 23

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Business Briefs 29 January, 2018 24Emerging market status a no-go in 2018 26Capital mobilisation via stock market increasing 27Foreign money ready to be spent on large IPOs 27Four foreign investors eye GENCO 3 28

Govt gets VND4.17 trillion from PV Oil stake sale 29FLC postpones dividend payment due to HSX shutdown 30PV Gas seeks approval for 30pct strategic stake sale 30Malaysia's Samchem plans Vietnam listing for subsidiary 31Blockchain tech may open new era 32Vietnamese people purchase nearly 8,000 Bitcoin 'diggers'

in early 2018 32Women supported to open businesses amid industrial

revolution 4.0 33Vietnam in Top 10 destinations for Americans aged 55+ 34Ha Tinh to receive safe drinking water from EKOCENTER 34HCM City needs IT system for natural resources 35Traffic obstruction at BOT tollgates faces sanctions 35Spain to finance Metro Line No.5 in HCM City 36Debt-laden Mai Linh's effort to seek help seen faltering 37Digiworld looks to foray into FMCG sector 37PNJ strengthens position in jewellery market 38ACV has yet to fix errors uncovered by 38Phu My Hung starts selling The Signature 39Vinamilk set to expand abroad 40FPT Software signs 100 million USD contract with Innogy SE 41SaigonCo.op joint venture opens store 41Vietnam rubber latex processing plant inaugurated in Cambodia 41RoK's CJ Group inaugurates 5th animal food factory in Ha Nam 42Uber and Grab subject to tax in Hanoi 42MTS Systems arrives in Vietnam 43TH Group begins construction of juice factory in Son La 43Ford Vietnam organises first Ford Sunday Service Day 44SCG unveils satisfactory operating results in 2017 44SCG keen to acquire Long Son project 46Phu Yen province receives wind power mega project 46Former Vinashin chief arrested 47Second national survey on women's health and life

experiences launched 482017 Outstanding Property awards given away 49Dozen agreements signed at Vietship 2018 49Three agricultural shows to be held in HCM City 50Five safe farm produce fairs to be opened in 2018 50Can Tho hosts Mekong Delta Trade Fair 2018 51Trade fair displays local goods 51

FINANCE
FINANCEReference exchange rate up by 10 VND at week's beginning
29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNA

The State Bank of Vietnam set its reference VND/USD exchange at 22,426 VND/USD on the morning of January 29, up by 10 VND from the end of January 26.With the current +/- 3 percent VND/USD trading band, the ceiling exchange rate is 23,099

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Vietnam finance & business 29 January 2018

VND per USD and the floor rate is 21,755 VND per USD.Major commercial banks made no changes to their rates.Vietcombank and BIDV offered 22,675 VND (buying) and 22,745 VND (selling), per USD, unchanged from January 26.Vietinbank cut its rates by 1 VND to offer 22,674 VND (buying) and 22,744 VND (sell-ing), per USD.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-up-by-10-vnd-at-weeks-begin-ning/125716.vnp

Central Bank targets 17 per cent credit growth

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNS

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has set its sights on 17 per cent credit growth this year, slightly down from 18.17 per cent last year."[It] will be a tough year with many challenges," SBV deputy governor Nguyen Thi Hong told the media in HCM City on Thursday. "Every move in international markets would directly impact the country."The SBV will strongly focus on the stability of the economy, continue resolving busi-nesses' problems, control inflation, and issue guidelines for amendments to the Law of Credit Institutions."It would follow a pro-active and flexible monetary policy and cut interest rates, be-sides stabilising the foreign exchange and gold markets, and the monetary policy in 2018 would work in close conjunction with fiscal and other policies to control inflation and support reasonable economic growth, she promised.In 2017, credit growth focused on serving production (increase of 12-13 per cent for ag-riculture and rural development), automation and engineering (26 per cent), high-tech (20 per cent), supporting industries (22 per cent) and foreign trade (16 per cent)."Lending next year would focus on the government's priority sectors such as agricul-ture, exports, supporting industries, small- and medium-sized enterprises and hi-tech firms. Lending to risky sectors such as real estate, securities and consumer lending will be limited," Hong said.She said to reach this year's credit growth target of 17 per cent, the SBV must closely align with the government's macro-economic policies to make suitable adjustments from time to time.Vietnam's foreign reserves have risen to a record $53 billion, and the SBV has said it would try to increase them further besides stabilising the foreign exchange market.Measures will be also taken to stabilise the monetary market and ensure liquidity in the banking system, it has said, adding it will continue to restructure credit institutions and settle non-performing loans.Hong said the successful monetary management policy last year also contributed to keeping foundation inflation at 1.41 per cent, helping the banking system cut lending interest rates by 0.5-1 percentage points.http://bizhub.vn/banking/central-bank-targets-17-per-cent-credit-growth_291863.html

Who would reap benefits from surging euro?

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIR

Over the span of 2017 and the first three weeks of 2018, the price of the euro surged, causing mild unease among import-export businesses despite Vietnamese exports to the European Union (EU) hitting $40 billion per year.Specifically, domestic importers like Nhon Trach 2, Bim Son Cement JSC, and Ha Tien I Cement JSC that previously applied to euro-denominated deposits and loans experi-enced major distress as the soaring price of euro multiplied their interest expenses from VND billions to dozens of billions.To date, a substantial number of domestic firms that imported commodities from Eu-rope were reported to raise their commodity prices due to the volatility of the euro.In contrast, according to statistics provided by the general Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC), Vietnam's total commodity export volume to the EU was estimated at over $38 billion, equivalent to 14 per cent of gross domestic export sales.

Intellasia 29 January 2018 2 / 51

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Nguyen Ton Quyen, vice chair and general secretary of Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (VIFORES), stated that Vietnam's total exports of wood forest products achieved nearly $700 million in 2017 and is expected to escalate to around $800 million by the end of 2018."The volatility of the euro would only have a minimal impact on wood products trade as the majority of exporting agreements with EU-based companies are denominated in US dollars," Quyen added.Likewise, the exports of fisheries and aquaculture products to the EU stood at roughly $1.3 billion, leading the domestic markets in sales revenue. Exporting firms such as Vinh Hoan, Sao Ta, and Hung Vuong made vast contributions to the growth of the do-mestic aquaculture market by obtaining dozens of millions of dollars of sales revenue.According to recent surveys on the trade situation between domestic exporting firms and the EU, around 30 per cent of domestic firms applied the euro as the base currency in their contracts. The remaining firms denominated the US dollar as the base curren-cy, which minimised the impact of the euro on general exporting business.The euro's global price spiralled out of control: a 2 per cent rise in the first three weeks of 2018 and a 14 per cent rise over the year of 2017. Likewise, in the domestic market, the euro skyrocketed by 16 per cent in 2017 and 5 per cent over the first two weeks of 2018.http://english.vov.vn/economy/who-would-reap-benefits-from-surging-euro-367632.vov

New law set to help weak banks recover: experts


Some weak banks that are undergoing restructuring might get out of the worse thanks to unprecedented support measures under a new law, experts have said.The revised Law on Credit Institutions, which has taken effect since January 15 this year, includes many regulations to help weak banks rebound and resume healthy per-formance with support from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and other strong credit institutions that are entrusted to support the weak ones.According to experts, weak banks need to have good liquidity to resolve their prob-lems, however, it is not easy, especially when their brands are negatively affected due to being put under the special supervision of the central bank.Without liquidity, their accumulated losses will become more serious as they have to continue paying deposit interest rates to have the capital for balancing non-profit as-sets and funding costs of rising bad debts.Banking expert Nguyen Tri Hieu reveals to online newspaper thoibaokinhdoanh.vn that the central bank has many devices to help weak banks improve liquidity so that they have enough money for operation. The liquidity support is very important for the banks to have a chance of rebound before the central bank takes other measures.Under the new law, when a credit institution has been put under the SBV's special con-trol, SBV shall decide on measures to deal with the institutions, including those to re-cover the institutions.The law stipulates that during the recovery period, weak banks can receive preferen-tial loans, even at an interest rate of zero per cent, from the SBV. They can also receive deposits or loans at preferential interest rates from their supporting credit institutions, along with a permission of buying corporate bonds of the supporting credit institu-tions.In addition to the provisions on liquidation, the law also regulates a host of other amendments, which aim to improve the governance and operation of weak credit in-stitutions.Analysts said these new regulations provide the legal framework necessary for the government to better handle underperforming banks.During the past four years of the country's banking system restructuring, the SBV had to compulsorily acquire three weak banks Vietnam Construction Bank, Ocean Bank and GP Bank at zero dong.The restructuring has been also implemented in other weak banks for the past few


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years and some of them have tended to perform better. The National Citizen Joint Stock Commercial Bank (NCB), for example, has increased its charter capital beside promoting financial services and restructuring board of directors. Especially in 2017, this bank gained a net profit of about VND265 billion (US$ 11.6 million), up 26 percent over the same period of 2016.Under the new rules, banks which have successfully restructured like NCB will cer-tainly have more opportunities to perform better.http://bizhub.vn/banking/new-law-set-to-help-weak-banks-recover-experts_291928.html

Jewellers seek better loans for 2018


The Saigon Jewellery Association (SJA) will continue to call on the State Bank of Viet-nam to make it easier for jewellery businesses, who seek to invest in upgrading their production and trading technology, in accessing bank loans, its chair said.Nguyen Van Dung, SJA chair, said this at a meeting held in HCM City on Friday night to review SJA's performance last year and set tasks for this year.Last year, the association successfully suggested banks allow credit institutions pro-vide loans to jewellery trading enterprises, which has greatly helped them in expand-ing their development, he said.Dung said the association also organised overseas trips to help its members find new exports markets as well as update production technologies.It organised competitions to honour talented jewellery designers and carried out social activities such as giving gifts for elderly people, building bridges in rural areas, pro-viding scholarships to poor students and others.For this year, SJA will focus on three main missions actively giving opinions on the government's policies, especially policies related to the jewellery industry; suggesting SBV ease conditions for businesses in the field in order to access bank loans; and guid-ing its members to strictly carry out the government's policies and help their members manage their gold trading effectively, he said.http://bizhub.vn/news/jewellers-seek-better-loans-for-2018_291942.html

Multi-national lucky money trends

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Many Vietnamese people are seeking to buy sets of multi-national bank notes as the Lunar New Year lucky money for their friends and relatives.The set, which consists of 52 real bank notes of 28 countries, are sold at between VND200,000-500,000 (USD9.09-22.70).The market for Tet lucky money is being transformed by different kinds of bank notes. Besides Vietnamese and USD small changes, there are Belarus 5 Rubles from 1992, Ma-cao 10 Patacas from 2018 with all having the image of the dog on.Among those, the 28-country bank note set is being sold on the internet claiming they can bring luck and happiness for people.According to shop owners, they are real bank notes of countries such as the UK, the US, Japan, Australia and China with the smallest face value. They have the flag of the countries and sold along with a red envelope.Nguyen Ngoc Lan in Hanoi's Thanh Xuan District, a trader, said that the sets have at-tracted lots of customers this year because they are new. Each day, around 20 custom-ers order the set.Lan advised people to carefully consider before deciding to buy a set to avoid fake products.Lien Huong in Cau Giay District, Hanoi, said that she has booked 10 sets of this kind as the lucky money for her friends and colleagues for the Tet Holiday instead of giving them US dollars as in previous years.Tran Van Quang in Hai Ba Trung District selected the set to give his children because he wanted them to know more about the money of countries and have a better under-standing of the world.


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Vietnamese banks protest after prosecutors call for $266 million to be returned at fraud trial

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS

Pham Cong Danh is accused of stealing the money from his own bank and using it to secure loans with three other lenders.The Vietnam Banks Association (VBA) lodged a complaint on Thursday regarding a request made by prosecutors at an ongoing banking fraud trial in HCM City.At the trial of former chair of Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB) Pham Cong Danh, prosecutors on Wednesday requested the court to order Sacombank, BIDV and TP-Bank to return more than VND6.1 trillion ($270 million) to Construction Bank (former-ly VNCB).Danh is alleged to have used the amount to secure loans from the three banks, which then legally seized the money when the loans defaulted. However, prosecutors argued that Danh had illegally obtained the money by stealing from VNCB, so it must be re-turned. It should be down to Danh and his accomplices to repay the three banks, pros-ecutors said.In a letter sent to the prime minister, government agencies and the People's Court of HCM City, the VBA said its members, including Sacombank, BIDV and TPBank, are deeply concerned by the negative impact the prosecutors' request could have on credit institutions."The retrieval of over VND6.1 trillion as requested by the Procuracy will cause the banks difficulties and impede their activities," the letter stated.It stressed that the State Bank's audit into the transactions had concluded that BIDV, Sacombank and TPBank's seizure of the money used by Danh was in accordance with regulations.Additionally, the VBA said it is not the banks' responsibility, nor is it within their ca-pabilities, to verify the source of a customer's money before seizing it when their loan defaults.According to the association, incidents such as this could lead to multi billion dong deals and transactions being disputed, increasing the risks for credit institutions and causing customers to lose trust. This would heavily damage the banking sector's sta-bility, Vietnam's investment environment and the country's ability to attract foreign investment.The VBA has therefore asked related authorities to consider the prosecutor's request carefully before making a decision.The ongoing trial in HCM City is the second into Danh's wrongdoings at VNCB and is focusing on the alleged fraud he commited at other banks.According to the indictment, Danh and other bankers from VNCB secretly withdrew money from clients' savings accounts and used the cash to secure loans from other banks, pay off debts or to deposit into their own accounts.Out of the money stolen from VNCB, Danh used VND6.1 trillion to secure loans from Sacombank, BIDV and TPBank for his ghost companies. As these companies were un-able to pay off the loans, the three banks seized this money, which prosecutors consid-er a loss for VNCB.Prosecutors have proposed a 20-year sentence for Danh. However, as he has already been sentenced to 30 years in prison (the maximum allowed by Vietnam's Penal Code) for stealing over VND9 trillion from VNCB at a trial in September, his combined sen-tence would still be 30 years.The proposed sentence for Tram Be, a former deputy chair of Sacombank, is 5-6 years in prison. Be has been charged with abusing his position to evade banking regulations in order to help Danh borrow VND1.8 trillion from Sacombank.Of this money, Danh spent VND1.7 trillion on paying debts at another local bank for six companies that he owned, and deposited the rest in a personal account.The trial is expected to run until February 7.The banking sector and state energy giant PetroVietnam are at the centre of Vietnam's sweeping corruption crackdown that has ensnared scores of high-ranking officials, in-cluding Dinh La Thang, a former member of the Communist Party's decision-making Politburo who headed PetroVietnam from 2006 to 2011.


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Thang was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Monday for economic management vi-olations, while his subordinate, the runaway oil executive Trinh Xuan Thanh, received a life sentence for embezzlement.Thanh is also standing trial this week for a second embezzlement charge, for which prosecutors have proposed another life sentence. Thang is also set to stand trial again for his role in the infamous multi million-dollar graft case at OceanBank, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/vietnamese-banks-protest-after-prosecutors-call-for-266 million-to-be-returned-at-fraud-trial-3704021.html

Total premium income of non-life insurance market in 2017 estimated at 40.561tr dong

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAM FINANCE

It is estimated that the total assets of non-life insurers reach 73.585 trillion dong; the reinvestment into the economy of insurers touches 38.841 trillion dong; the insurance payment hits 14.951 trillion dong.Data from insurers also show positive business results. Specifically, representative of Bao Viet Insurance Corporation said in 2017, the company exceeded the set plan with the estimated original premium income of more than 8.5 trillion dong, exceeding the market's average growth rate.Representative of BIDV Insurance Company (BIC) said in 2017, the company's total premium income was estimated at 1.825 trillion dong, up 9.2 percent, of which, the original premium income was estimated to hit 1.655 trillion dong, up 12 percent; the consolidated pre-tax profit was 179 billion dong, up eight percent, continuing to be one of the fifth insurance companies having the largest profitability in the non-life insur-ance market.Representative of Vietnam National Aviation Insurance Company (VNI) also said in 2017, VNI achieved positive business results with the total asset scale of more than 1.5 trillion dong, the chartered capital of 800 billion dong; the estimated revenue of 744 bil-lion dong, up 36 percent year-on-year. After two years (2016-2017), VNI has increased five notches in market share ranking and become one of the fastest growing insurers in the non-life insurance market.In 2018, non-life insurers target at nearly 44.7 trillion dong revenue, 77.318 trillion dong total assets; 40.097 trillion dong reinvestment in the economy; and 23.412 trillion dong total insurance reserves.

ANZ, Prudential and the ambition of Shinhan

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DIEN DOAN DOANH NGHIEP

Prudential Plc announced to sell 100 percent of its consumer finance division at Pru-dential Vietnam Finance Company (PVFC) to Shinhan Card Company Limited, a sub-sidiary of the Shinhan Financial Group of South Korea at an estimated price of 151 million USD, equivalent to 3.420 trillion dong, 5.52 times larger than its charter capital of 616.2 billion dong.Nic Nicandrou, Managing director of Prudential Asia said that PVFC is Prudential's high quality unit but not a strategic one. Vietnam remains an attractive and important market for Prudential, where the financial sector has high quality and the demand for life insurance is rising high. Prudential and Shinhan has also agreed on a new long-term bancassurance in Vietnam and Indonesia.Nicandrou also added that the life insurance activities at Prudential Vietnam are fully implemented through Prudential Vietnam Life Insurance Company and Eastspring Investments Fund Management Company.Previously, in April 2017, Shinhan overtook at least four competitors to become the buyer of ANZ's retail business in Vietnam. Representative of ANZ once said that the retail business of the bank was operating well, and he highly evaluated the develop-ment of Vietnam's market in general and retail market in particular. However, the sale of retail business would help ANZ focus on its financial institution.Shinhan's big ambitionIn December 2017, Shinhan Bank officially received the entire retail banking business from ANZ, including the staff of two branches and six transaction offices in Hochim-


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inh city and Hanoi, along with approximately 125,000 individual customers of ANZ. This deal has helped the Korean bank to be the largest foreign bank in Vietnam at the present time.Shin Dong Min, general director of Shinhan Bank in Vietnam said that the deal is ex-pected to help the bank better balance its product structure and create a balance be-tween retail segment and corporate customer segment. The acquisition of ANZ's entire retail banking business helps Shinhan Bank expand its business network and profes-sional human resources, saving time and investment capital. This will be a good foun-dation for the bank to expand its card business and soon to join the top 3 in credit card business in Vietnam's market in the next three years."To grow in the future, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is a must. The purchase of ANZ's retail section is the beginning of this process", said Shinhan Bank Vietnam's general director. The advantage of ANZ is personal and real estate business credit.Regarding the deal with Prudential, Prudential is the first 100 percent foreign-owned financial company in Vietnam with a customer base of 300,000 people as of October 2016. The company's outstanding credit ranks the fourth largest among finance com-panies.PVFC is a 100 percent foreign-owned consumer finance company operating in Viet-nam since October 2017. In 2016, the company recorded revenue of 77.15 billion won (72 million USD) and profit of 13.15 billion won (12.27 million USD).PVFC is currently one of the four companies that dominate Vietnam's consumer lend-ing market, along with FE Credit, HomeCredit and HDSaison. The total outstanding loans of purely consumer finance companies reached 56 trillion dong in late 2016, ac-cording to a report of StoxPlus.This deal will help Shinhan Financial Group expand its consumer credit business in Vi-etnam, a market which has recorded a double-digit growth rate in the recent year and is forecasted to continue to boom in the coming years.The move of Shinhan also marks the third presence of Korean finance companies in Vi-etnam, after Mirae Asset which founded in 2010 and the finance company acquired by Lotte Card from Techcombank a few months ago.

Vietnam-EFTA FTA to be signed in H1

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

A free trade agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Associ-ation (EFTA) consisting of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland will be signed in the first half of this year after nine years of negotiations, news website Dan Tri reports.The information was shared by Vietnamese deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue and Johann Schneider-Ammann, member of the Swiss Federal Council, at their meet-ing on the sidelines of the 2018 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.Hue and Schneider-Ammann were of the opinion that Vietnam-Switzerland ties are growing.Schneider-Amman affirmed Switzerland wants to bolster relations with Vietnam which has an increasing important role in the Asia-Pacific region.The two sides agreed to work towards signing the Vietnam-EFTA FTA to promote their economic development.Vietnam expected Switzerland, which plays the leading role in the bloc, to help accel-erate the early completion of negotiations.Hue reaffirmed international economic integration is a consistent policy of the Viet-namese government, which is evident in the country's accession to more than 10 re-gional and global FTAs.Vietnam and other partner countries will sign the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is also expected this year.Hue noted the FTA between Vietnam and the EFTA should ensure balanced benefits and sustainable development for both sides.He also met with WEF president Borge Brende, former minister of Foreign Affairs of


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Norway.Brende said the FTA between Vietnam and EFTA will be a growth opportunity for the parties involved. He expressed his support for the signing of the Vietnam-EFTA FTA.Negotiations between Vietnam and the EFTA started in 2009.On July 3, 2012, the two sides clinched a memorandum of understanding where the EFTA recognised Vietnam as a market economy.On the sidelines of the WEF in December 2016, Swiss president and Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc expected to early close negotiations over the Vietnam-EFTA FTA.Vietnam and the EFTA have held 15 rounds of negotiations, with the latest held in Ha-noi in late September last year. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the 16th round of talks will be conducted in Norway in May.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58218/Vietnam-EFTA-FTA-to-be-signed-in-H1.html

ATIGA regulation worries local sugar manufacturers


The implementation of tariff reduction to zero per cent under the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) from January 1, is an obsession with the Vietnamese sugar industry.This is because the sugar industry is facing a flood of imported goods entering the do-mestic market.Industry insiders stated that the sugar industry is predicted to perform poorly in the 2018-19 period, as locally-refined sugar will have to compete with sugar from Thailand while the local industry has not yet improved its competitiveness.Several sugar processing factories were closed while farmers turned their backs on growing sugarcane. To rescue the industry, the sugarcane sector needs to solve exist-ing problems as soon as possible.DifficultiesThe difficulties facing the sugarcane industry were cleared at the end of 2017 when the new season began, and enterprises still had high levels of inventory. Although the market price was at its lowest at over VND12,000 per kilogramme, producers still failed to sell.At this time, the inventory was approximately 200,000 tonnes of sugar.Explaining this situation, the Vietnam Sugar Association (VSSA) said that customers waited until early 2018 to buy inexpensive imported products from other Asean coun-tries, including Thailand.In addition, if the situation continues, sugarcane farmers will not be able to sell mate-rials to processing plants at high prices as the plants only need to import raw sugar and invest in a coal-fired boiler that can produce quality products. Therefore, when the sugar market is unfavourable, farmers will face difficulty, VSSA added.SeedlingsChair of VSSA Pham Quoc Doanh told danviet.vn that to solve the industry's difficul-ties at the roots, the most important thing was to raise the quality of sugarcane seed-lings."Firstly, we need quality seedlings which will be developed nationwide, and at the same time we also need seedlings that are suitable with ecology of every area. Thai-land has more than 12 million hectares of sugarcane, but there are only two key varie-ties accounting for 70 per cent of the total," said Doanh.Secondly, after we have key seedlings, we must focus on the production of seedlings. This step is still weak with farmers currently making seedlings themselves. Factories should help farmers by providing all sugarcane growing areas with qualified seed-lings from factories in order to obtain high capacity and high quality," he added.He said the factories needed to stick with farmers, have policies to take care of quality sugarcane growing areas, share benefits and associate with them in order to develop these areas in sustainable and cost-saving ways.Management decreesAccording to the VSSA, it is right time to have a legal corridor, including decrees or


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laws, to manage the operation of the sugarcane industry. Countries in the world all manage sugarcane through laws.To manage seedlings, Doanh said that the government needed to ensure that the agri-culture sector and sugarcane industry stop seedling production by farmers, re-organ-ise the system of seedlings production to have key seedlings by 2020.The State should encourage farmers by helping them open farms and establish coop-eratives which are seen as a link between businesses with farmers, Doanh said.http://bizhub.vn/news/atiga-regulation-worries-local-sugar-manufacturers_291939.html

E-government still far away

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

One of the targets set in government Resolution 36a was to have Vietnam among the top three countries in Asean in OSI (Online Service Index) and EGDI (E-government development index) by the end of 2017.According to Le Duy Hiep, CEO of Transimex, having imports/exports undergo spe-cialised inspection by ministries is hard work for enterprises. There are too many arti-cles subject to inspection, requiring more time to get customs clearance.Using e-customs declarations is an important step to carry out the government's reso-lutions.However, as Pham Thanh Binh, head of the Post-customs clearance Inspection Agency under GDC (General Department of Customs) said, "the improvement remains insig-nificant".Binh said the GDC's regulation on customs declaration papers is causing problems for enterprises which import many kinds of products at once, mostly importers of auto-mobile and electronic parts. They now have to use many declaration papers instead of one as previously applied.MOIT (Ministry of Industry and Trade) now issues C/O in accordance with COD forms, but still requires enterprises to submit a letter of commitment. As such, while enterprises have to have one type of paper at customs agency, they have to submit an-other more type of paper to MOIT.As a result, enterprises would rather submit hard copies to avoid troubles. Therefore, e-C/Os don't have much significance.Since 2014, when Resolution 19 was released, MARD (Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development) has issued more than 10 circulars. But the legal documents still cannot satisfy the requirement stipulated in the resolution that administrative procedures must be simplified to help enterprises save time.According to Binh, a 'lack of transparency' exists as agencies collect examination fees in different ways.A wood chip exporter in the central region complained that it paid VND43 million in fees for 40,000 tonnes of exports.One exporter said the inconvenience in e-customs declarations was eased with e-cus-toms, but 'problems have arisen in other stages'.Enterprises don't have to prepare many papers for declarations, but customs supervi-sion must be implemented in paper form.To date, the 'Asean 4' goal has been unattainable. Vietnam's position has been upgrad-ed by 10 notches compared to 2014, but it still ranks 89th in terms of e-government, and sixth in Asean.Regarding the global competitiveness index, Vietnam ranks sixth in Asean.A research project by CIEM (Central Institute of Economic Management) found that if 30 percent of 100,000 goods are exempted from specialised examination, the national economy would be able to save 8.6 million working days and VND4.3 trillion.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/194086/e-government-still-far-away.html

France pours over 2 billion euros into Vietnam in 10 years


France has funded many projects in Vietnam through official development assistance (ODA), with total disbursed capital amounting to more than two billion euros in the


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past 10 years, heard a Vietnam-France economic dialogue.The Vietnam-France high-level economic dialogue was co-chaired by Vietnamese dep-uty minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong and French minister of State attached to the minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne in Hanoi on Wednesday to review the economic relationship between the two coun-tries, news website Dan Tri reports.The event was held as part of activities to mark the fifth anniversary of the establish-ment of the strategic partnership and the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and France.In 2017, two-way trade between Vietnam and France increased 11.6 percent year-on-year to $4.6 billion, with Vietnam running a large trade surplus. Opportunities to be brought about when the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is signed and comes into force are expected to help the two countries' businesses penetrate their respective mar-kets.France has invested in many projects in Vietnam, especially ODA projects costing more than two billion euros, over the past 10 years. Most of the projects are significant to key sectors like transport, energy, environmental protection, food and banking.At the meeting, the co-chairs underlined growing food trade between Vietnam and France. Despite a number of trade barriers, the sector has achieved encouraging results recently and is expected to gain stronger growth in the future. The European country has exported many of its key products to Vietnam like apple, beef, lamb and goat.The event was attended by government agencies and businesses from the two coun-tries and focused on two major topics of the bilateral strategic partnership, namely cli-mate change and infrastructure development.The topics have been reflected through the French Development Agency's Water Ac-tion Plan and numerous projects and initiatives that would be funded by French agen-cies like CLS's remote sensing service for climate change responses, EDF's solutions for a sustainable city and Air Liquide's cooperation project for petrochemical develop-ment.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58221/France-pours-over-2 billion-euros-into-Vietnam-in-10-years-.html

Jica seeks agricultural partnerships with Vietnam


The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) wants to promote agricultural part-nerships between Vietnam and Japan, with a focus on private sector investment and food value chains.Jica spoke about the effort at a seminar held in HCM City on January 26 organised by Jica, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Vietnam Farmer's Union (VFU).Officials, businesses, groups and individuals with interest in the topic attended the event, which discussed creating food value chains in Nghe An province and current challenges.Besides exchanging ideas on agricultural development, calls for investments from pri-vate companies in agriculture were also heard.The seminar was held on the occasion of the 5th Japan- Vietnam Festival in HCM City.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/jica-seeks-agricultural-partnerships-with-vietnam/125673.vnp

Vietnam anticipates wave of FDI from India


Vietnam is expecting a wave of Indian investment after the meeting between prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and representatives of Indian firms in the framework of the Asean-India Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM).At the meetings with the PM on the sidelines of the SOM on January 24-26, 2018, rep-resentatives of large-scale Indian firms affirmed their wish to invest in large-scale projects in Vietnam. One of the outstanding meetings took place between the PM and Anil Sardana, managing director of Tata Power, which plans to develop the Long Phu


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2 thermal power project in the southern province of Soc Trang."We remain determined to develop the Long Phu 2 project in 2008," Anil Sardana said.In 2008, Tata Group, the parent company of Tata Power, expressed ambitions to devel-op a steel manufacturing plant worth $5 billion in the central province of Ha Tinh. However, in 2014, Tata Group had to withdraw from the project for a variety of rea-sons.Then, Tata Group, through Tata Power, decided to develop Long Phu 2 thermal power plant under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format and received approval from the government.According to the plan, the 1,320MW project will have a total investment capital of $2 billion. In November 2013 Tata Power and the Ministry of Industry and Trade signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop the project. At this meeting, Anil Sardana announced that Tata Power had solutions to accelerate the capital collection.Along with Long Phu 2, Tata Power expressed interest in developing the Long Phu 3 thermal power project and conduct surveys to find investment opportunities in wind power in Soc Trang and Ninh Thuan provinces. At present, the firm operates a coffee processing plant and VISSAI port.The PM also joined meetings with leaders of India-based conglomerate Larsen & Tour-bro Group, ONGC Group (the largest oil and gas group in India), and vDoIT Company operating in the IT sector. Numerous initial investment plans in energy, IT, and ship building were mentioned. The PM highly appreciated these plans and reminded the Indian partners that Vietnam is looking for environmentally-friendly projects.While the fate of the above-mentioned projects remains unclear, Tata Power's plans alone would affect a large change in FDI inflows from India. At present, India stands 27th on the list of foreign investors in Vietnam. In case Tata Power develops the Long Phu 2 project, India's position will definitely improve.According to statistics published by the Foreign Investment Agency under the Minis-try of Planning and Investment, as of December 2017, India invested 169 projects in Vi-etnam with total investment capital of $756 million.This figure is quite small compared to South Korea, Japan, Singapore or the US. How-ever, in 2017 alone, Indian firms poured $187.5 million into Vietnam, equal to 25 per cent of the total FDI from India in the past 30 years. This shows that Indian firms are awakening to Vietnam's potential as an investment destination.Concerns about India's break to the topIn reality, Vietnam and India are rivals in attracting foreign investment. In recent years, by reforming its foreign investment attraction policies, India has become a mag-net for foreign investment.Notably, in the last three fiscal years, India has attracted $114.41 billion in FDI, up 40 per cent compared to the $81.84 billion in the previous three fiscal years.Especially, after the issuance of the "Made in India" policy, between October 2014 and March 2017, India acquired $99.72 billion in FDI, up 62 per cent compared to the period between April 2012 and September 2014.Even China grew concerned about the soaring FDI in India, especially in 2015, when for the first time India ranked first in the world in FDI attraction with the total invest-ment capital of $63 billion, exceeding China's $56.6 billion and the US' $59.6 billion.Vietnamese economists also warned about the competition with India after Apple Inc. released its intentions to manufacture iPhones in India.India is an ideal investment destination for foreign investors as the country's govern-ment issued sweet incentive policies to lure in FDI. In one policy, India allowed foreign airlines to own a 49 per cent stake in Indian national carriers, which are facing financial difficulties. Additionally, India has also loosened regulations in the retail sector to at-tract investment.Besides, India offers low-cost human resources with the labour cost 50 per cent lower than in Vietnam. Furthermore, India has an advantage in high-tech industry as it is considered the "Silicon Valley" of Asia.


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Dong Nai: selected FDI proves efficient

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV

Dong Nai has begun attracting investment in a more selective way over recent years. In 2017 the province got more than 1.2 billion USD in FDI capital.Dong Nai is now home to 30 industrial parks, the most in Vietnam. Many of them have no vacancies. Last year, the province aimed to attract $1 billion worth of FDI but it had exceeded its target by 25 percent. Disbursement reached a record high of $1.1 billion, 88 percent of the registered capital.Woosung Vietnam, a Korean animal feeds processor, chose Bau Xeo Industrial Park in Trang Bom District for investment. Recently it invested an additional $2 million, rais-ing its total investment in Dong Nai to $18.6 million. The company's leaders praised the province's favourable conditions like land lease terms, local incentives, and the po-tential market.Woosung director general Kim Seung Hee, said "When we began operating, the gov-ernment has helped us very much, for example, in the exemption of corporate tax for some years. The land lease price is very cheap. We think it's very good investment en-vironment."In recent years, Dong Nai has prioritised FDI projects that use hi-tech and skilled workers, and are environment-friendly.Despite stricter conditions for investment projects, FDI capital has increased, proving that Dong Nai continues to be attractive to foreign investors. Kadowaki Keiichi, Pres-ident of the Japanese Business Association in HCM City, said that 200 investment projects by Japanese enterprises reflects the potential of Dong Nai's investment envi-ronment. He says regular dialogues between provincial authorities and businesses should be promoted.The selection of FDI projects has, in fact, for years followed the global trend towards safe, environment-friendly production.Mai Van Nhon, deputy head of the Dong Nai Industrial Zone Management Board, said "The prime minister made an impressive statement at a recent Business Forum: each coin invested by investors is a vote for Vietnam's facilitating government. It's the case in Dong Nai. We think when investors pour their money into the province, they must have a strong belief in our working method and support for enterprises."english.vov.vn/economy/dong-nai-selected-fdi-proves-efficient-367505.vov

Forestry, wood exports to top $9b


The country's exports of forestry product are expected to top $9 billion this year, with wood and wooden products accounting for $8.5-8.7 billion, according to the Handi-craft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City (Hawa).Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Hawa chair, said exports of wooden and other forestry products rose by 10.2 per cent last year to a record $8 billion, a figure targeted only in 2020.Exports of wood and wooden products increased by 12.3 per cent a year for the past seven years, and are forecast to rise even faster in the next three years, he told a cele-bration in HCM City yesterday, on the occasion of the forestry products exported val-ue reaching the $8 billion mark in 2017.He listed the opportunities for the sector until 2020, saying the future is bright.China, the world's largest supplier of wooden products, has imposed export taxes on wooden products. It faces a lawsuit in the US for dumping furniture, reducing the competiveness of its products.Other main furniture producers like Germany and Italy have cut production due to higher costs, while Malaysia and some other Asean members have development strat-egies but lack the workforce required.Global demand for furniture remains high, and though Vietnam is strong in that area its exports are insignificant, which means there is considerable scope for Vietnamese firms to increase their market share.Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong hailed the sec-tor's achievements, saying: "Reaching $8 billion in exports is a very important land-mark for the forestry sector."


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It would have opportunities to expand its market share in the global market since "there is an increase in demand," he said."But consumers have increasingly higher demands and furniture producers need to improve quality, designs and features to add value to their products," he said."Vietnam's 100 million population makes it a promising market too."To achieve the export target this year, firms need to invest more in technology and business management to raise productivity and sustain quality, he said.They should "diversify timber sources" to avoid the risk of high prices while saying no to illegal sources, he said.The US has cut corporate income tax to support local furniture producers, and Viet-namese firms should avoid export of products that US firms are producing, he said.Nguyen Lien, general director of Lam Viet Joint Stock Company, said the market for wooden products is good now with many international buyers shifting from China to Vietnam."I think the export target of $9-10 billion is easy to achieve."His company had earned $21 million from furniture exports last year, and it is expect-ed to increase by 20-25 per cent to $25-27 million this year, he said."Businesses have prepared well to capitalise on market opportunities," he added.Wood and wooden products rank sixth in the list of the country's largest export items.Vietnam is the largest exporter of those products among Asean member nations, sec-ond largest in Asia and fifth in the world.Fourteen outstanding wood processing and forestry products export firms were hon-oured for their business achievements at the celebration.http://bizhub.vn/news/forestry-wood-exports-to-top-9b_291916.html

MoIT announces vote for top exporters


The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has announced the vote for prestigious ex-porters of 2017, aimed at supporting local firms in promoting exports and expanding markets.The ministry said the vote, which was implemented for years, is one of its promotional activities to facilitate foreign partners to understand and exchange trade with Viet-namese firms.The vote aims to recognise positive contributions of exporters to enhancing Vietnam's exports. It is a great contribution of the business community in improving competitive-ness and diversifying the export market for the country.The country's export turnover in 2017 reached $214.1 billion, increasing 21.2 per cent from the previous year. This has been the highest increase so farit was triple times higher than the target set by the National Assembly.Any exporter can apply for the award. The ministry will cooperate with the customs, tax and environment agencies to clarify to exporters whether or not they violate regu-lations on environmental protection and tax arrears to be eligible for the vote.The selection criteria are also based on the export turnover for each goods group from January 1 to December 31, 2017.Exporters are required to send their applications to the ministry's Import-Export De-partment at No 54, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi, no later than March 30, 2018.Exporters will be removed from the vote if the ministry finds out any violation or com-plaint from partners both within and outside the country. The selected exporters will be allowed to advertise their products for free on the ministry's website moit.gov.vn, and in its newspapers and magazines. They will be given priority while participating in national trade promotion programmes and receive free training courses on e-com-merce. The ministry will also directly introduce the selected exporters to foreign part-ners.http://bizhub.vn/news/moit-announces-vote-for-top-exporters_291889.html


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Stainless steel traders complain about time-consuming tests


Stainless steel traders now have to wait at least six months to receive results of tests on their shipments even though the maximum period under the current regulations is five working days.At a dialogue between the HCM City Customs Department and the American Cham-ber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham Vietnam) on January 24, a representative of Kim Vi Inox Import Export Production JSC proposed the customs shorten the time to three months to facilitate production activities.According to Decision 2999/QD-TCHQ dated September 6, 2017 of the general Depart-ment of Vietnam Customs, customs offices must complete inspections and analyses of imports and exports in five to eight days, a customs officer told the Daily on the side-lines of the dialogue.Nguyen Quoc Toan, deputy director of the import-export tax division at the HCM City Customs Department, admitted a large volume of stainless steel samples is being stored at the customs office as tests are done by only one agency, leading to a huge backlog.Tests are conducted in accordance with a decision on anti-dumping duty on stainless steel of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Although the decision is applicable to steel imports from certain markets, the Ministry of Finance has asked the customs to inspect all shipments.Nguyen Huu Nghiep, deputy head of the HCM City Customs Department, said the prime minister would issue a new decree providing new customs regulations in March. Particularly, the customs will classify commodities after relevant agencies pro-vide enough information.In addition, the Ministry of Finance has sent the government a draft decree which con-tains measures for removing obstacles to the national one-door customs mechanism.Accordingly, ministries and agencies will carry out inspections based on product clas-sifications by customs agencies, and export and import procedures must be completed on the national one-door portal.The draft decree is expected to be approved this quarter.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58222/Stainless-steel-traders-complain-about-time-con-suming-tests.html

2017 production of steel products at 22mn tonnes

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Production up 23.5 percent against 2016, while sales up 20.7 percent.The production of steel products in 2017 reached 22.027 million tonnes, an increase of 23.5 per cent against 2016, vice Chair of the Vietnamese Steel Association (VSA) Nguy-en Van Sua told the Vietnam Steel Industry Dialogue2017 on January 25.Sales of steel products reached 18.92 million tonnes, up 20.7 per cent compared to 2016. The strongest increases were seen in steel plates, steel pipes, and construction steel.Imports of steel and steel products in 2017 were estimated at 19.91 million tonnes, down 14.2 per cent compared to 2016. Import turnover was estimated at $10.056 bil-lion, up 13.2 per cent.Steel product imports reached 14.985 million tonnes, down 14.5 per cent compared with 2016, worth $9.01 billion, up 16.4 per cent.China continued to be the leading source of steel imports in Vietnam, with 46.5 per cent of the total, followed by Japan with 15.2 per cent and South Korea 11.4 per cent.Steel exports in 2017 stood at 5.509 million tonnes, up 28.5 per cent over 2016, earning $3.6 billion, up 45.4 per cent.Steel product exports totalled 4.708 million tonnes, up 28 per cent, earning $3.1 billion, an increase of 25.7 per cent.Vietnam had seven major export markets last year: Asean countries (with 59.3 per cent of the total), the US (11.1 per cent), the EU (9 per cent), South Korea (5.8 per cent), India (3.4 per cent), Taiwan (2.25 per cent), and Australia (1.88 per cent).Vietnam's steel industry also faced many challenges, including the use of trade reme-dies by many countries to protect domestic production, such as the US, Australia, In-


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donesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and India.Forecasts for the steel industry in 2018 put production growth at 20-22 per cent com-pared to 2017, with construction steel to increase 10 per cent, hot rolled coil 154 per cent, cold rolled steel 5 per cent, welded steel 15 per cent, and gold plating and color coating 12 per cent.

Commercial arbitration improves dispute resolution

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV5

Vietnam's encouragement of commercial arbitration has been hailed by the interna-tional community. The country's socialist-oriented market economy and its strong in-ternational integration have offered numerous opportunities for trade promotion.The Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) reported a 20 percent to 30 per-cent increase in the number of trade disputes in recent years. Most disputes went to the court. A very modest number of cases were settled through commercial arbitration.In Vietnam, commercial arbitration methods are acknowledged in legal and sub-law documents, as well as in international treaties that Vietnam has signed. The Politburo's Resolution on Judicial Reform Strategy to 2020 underscores Vietnam's encouragement of settling disputes via negotiations, reconciliation, and arbitration, adding that the court will assist this process by acknowledging arbitration results.This has laid a basic foundation for setting up legal regulations on alternative dispute resolution methods, including commercial arbitration.The Vietnamese government has promulgated a Decree on Commercial Mediation, the first legislation specifically governing commercial mediation in Vietnam. It has played a very important role in encouraging dispute resolution via reconciliation, and en-hancing mediation methods.Vu Anh Duong, vice Chair of VIAC, said 2017 saw 19 trade disputes settled by arbitra-tion, which were hailed by the Arbitration Council. All parties have pledged to follow the arbitration results.Vietnam is determined to improve its legal system, including regulations on commer-cial arbitration, and to enhance Vietnamese arbitrators' expertise in the near future.

Eastern area dominates apartment supply in Hochiminh city

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS

According to CBRE Vietnam, the East continues to be the hot spot of Hochiminh city's apartment market in 2018, far exceeding other areas in the city such as the South (30 percent), and the West (23 percent), etc. Mid-end apartments are expected to account for the highest proportion with 50 percent from the East, followed by high-end units."In 2018, mid-end products will still account for high proportion. A reasonable volume of high-end and luxury segment to be introduced will create the foundation for a sus-tainable development in the East", said Duong Thuy Dung, Senior manager of CBRE Vietnam.Aidan Wee, Managing director of Huttons Vietnam, member of Singapore's third-larg-est real estate brokerage in Singapore said that in 2018, the growth in both supply and absorption rate in the East will remain high compared to other areas with the launch of many large projects. As estimated by this agency, the high-end and luxury projects in the East will provide about 7,000 apartments to the market.The central area such as district 2 is the choice of investors in high-end and luxury seg-ment, such as Masteri An Phu, Empire City 3rd phase, and One Verandah, etc. In par-ticular, Thao Dien is a valuable choice thanks to the advantage of complete infrastructure, high-class facilities and services, and gatherings of international civili-sation, rich people ad celebrities. Representative of Huttons Vietnam shared that many foreigners choose this area because the profitable from leasing is very high.Real estate experts said that the motivation for the East to continue growing excitingly in 2018 is infrastructure. Transport and social infrastructure projects to be implement-ed in the near future will maintain the growth of the real estate in this area.

Representative of Thao Dien Investment Joint Stock Company said that the purchasing power of customers is still high. Professional investors will be interested in the next


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projects of the investors that they have purchased products. Some people have also moved from townhouses or villas to luxury apartments for safety and convenience. Many rich people and celebrities preferring to live alone or buying houses for their children have also chosen the luxury apartments in this areas.The advantage of the East is also the infrastructure system which is most invested at present and in the future, especially Thao Dien, district 2 area which brings together the international community, and also offers profit while renting, as well as improving the living standards of the residents. Being near the Metro line also adds value to the real estate assets in this location.Benefiting from the key location with synchronous infrastructure development, Mas-teri An Phu project will be launch on January 27th. The project is located in the centre of Thao Dien, district 2, adjacent to three fronts, close to station number 7 (An Phu) of Metro line 1 Ben Thanh Suoi Tien, just 10 minutes from the centre of district 1. The project will supply over 1,000 apartments and shophouses.Representative of the project investor said that to serve the international community, two third of the project area is green space and five-star resort facilities around the 500-square metre Oceano pool. In addition, the aerial garden Sky Jardin with an area of 1,300 square meters ensures a fresh environment.In 2017, the total supply of apartments in Hochiminh city reached 31,106 units, in which the East accounted for 39 percent, according to CBRE Vietnam. "This is the stage where products are more invested in terms of design, facilities and materials to meet the increasing demand of customers. The sales and marketing strategies are also better prepared", said CBRE.

Steel sector set for 20pct growth


The Vietnam Steel Association has predicted a year-on-year increase of 20-22 per cent in steel production this year.Nguyen Van Sua, the association's deputy chair, said at a meeting on Thursday a number of steel projects would become operational this year, including a plant of Hoa Phat Group in central Quang Ngai Province, with an annual capacity of two million tonnes, a three million tonne capacity plant of Formosa in Ha Tinh Province, a 350,000 tonne-capacity production line of Hoa Sen in Binh Dinh and three plants of Pomina, Viet-Y and Tung Ho, with a total capacity of 1.8 million tonnes per year.The new plants would boost steel output significantly, the association said.Specifically, cast iron is predicted to increase by 75 per cent to reach 7,500 tonnes, steel ingot by 14 per cent to 14,000 tonnes and finished steel products by 19 per cent to 26,230 tonnes.Sua said the association would proactively participate in developing national stand-ards for steel products and technical barriers as well as promote the application of trade defense instruments to protect domestic industry amidst rapid international in-tegration.In addition to these, the association would keep a close watch on the import of prod-ucts that local producers can manufacture and propose measures to promote domestic production.According to Nghiem Xuan Da, chair of Vietnam Steel Corporation, the steel industry has seen rapid increases in capacity, output and demand during the past five years. In 2018, Vietnam would continue to be a fast-growing market for steel, he said.He also said the government should increase policies to promote investment and in-ternational cooperation and stimulate steel consumption demand by developing in-dustries such as construction, ship building and mechanics.The association's statistics revealed that steel output reached more than 22 million tonnes in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 23.5 per cent, with a sale volume of nearly 19 million tonnes, up by 20.7 per cent.The industry recorded an export revenue of more than $3.64 billion, up by 45.4 per cent over 2016.Vietnam imported nearly 20 million tonnes of steel in 2017, worth $10.5 billion, a drop


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by 14.2 per cent in volume but a rise of 13.2 per cent in value.http://bizhub.vn/news/steel-sector-set-for-20-growth_291924.html

IT sector needs more tech exchanges


Creating a market to connect demand and supply of technological products will help develop the technology industry, according to experts.The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) recently held several supply-demand connecting programmes to boost Vietnam's science and technology development.In 2016-17, 21 technology transfer contracts and memorandums of understanding were signed. The technology and equipment exhibition Techmart, which provides in-formation for about 500 requests from businesses on technology, equipment and con-sultancy, saw VND158 billion worth of contracts signed in the same period.Pham Duc Nghiem, deputy head of the Market Development and Science-Technology Enterprises Department at MoST, said that there had been many local technology product trading markets.However, those markets had not been working effectively, thus, they had not met the demand of the market for a "true" science and technology trading market, he said.To promote such technology exchange markets, it is important to promote the role of scientific and technological enterprises, so the MoST has carried out programmes and seminars to identify the needs of enterprises.Through those programmes, the ministry has addressed nearly 2,000 science-technol-ogy products created by both local and overseas firms that meet the demand of enter-prises.Middleman communityThe network of intermediary organisations that focus on high-tech product incubation is expanding widely given the fact that the legal system is being improved and the sup-ply of technological products from research institutes, universities, businesses and start-ups is rising.Tran Van Tung, deputy minister of Science and Technology, told a recent meeting that one way to promote the science and technology industry is to develop a new type of intermediary community.He said that Vietnam had more than 20 incubators, which support technological ideas and connect research institutes and universities and seven business support organisa-tions.Those organisations are located in four major cities, which are Hanoi, HCM City, Da Nang and Can Tho. Such networks were quite new to the world and Vietnam and they provided comprehensive solutions for technology start-ups, he said.Nghiem said that there were many bottlenecks for the development of the Vietnamese technology industry, with authorities needing to improve the legal framework and change development models and plans.Technological exchange plays an important role in developing the science and technol-ogy market and is the foundation for trading of technological products, he said.http://bizhub.vn/tech/it-sector-needs-more-tech-exchanges_291919.html

Is there any reason not to invest in Vietnam?

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DIEN DAN DOANH NGHIEP

"The productivity of workers at Samsung Vietnam factories is 80 percent compared to South Korea and it only takes 20 percent of costs, so is there any reason not to invest in Vietnam?", said Prof Nguyen Mai Chair of Vietnam Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises when being asked about whether Vietnam will continue to be an attractive destination for foreign investors in 2018 when the competition in FDI attraction is in-creasingly intense?Mai added "Representative of Samsung Vietnam said only after 4-5 months, workers at Samsung factories in Vietnam have achieved 80 percent of the labour productivity compared to Korean labourers. Meanwhile, the spending on Vietnamese labourers is only 20 percent".In addition, according to Mai, the average salary paid to engineers at Samsung Viet-


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nam Research and Development (R&D) Centre is only equal to 1/4-1/3 compared to Korean ones.This continues to show that abundant source of labourers and cheap labour costs are still one of Vietnam's advantages to attract FDI in 2018 and the following years.Looking back at the picture of FDI attraction in 2017, Vietnam witnessed the booming of investment flow through the capital contribution and share purchase, and the return of projects worth billions of US dollars contributed to cause the total foreign invest-ment in Vietnam to reach $35.88 billion, up 44.4 percent year-on-year, of which, there must mention the increased investment of Samsung Display Bac Ninh to $2.5 billion and the Lotte B- O Mon Gas Pipeline project with the total investment of about $1.27 billion in Kien Giang.The survey results recently released by PwC show that about 47 percent of foreign in-vestors plan to increase their investment in Vietnam in 2018.Dinh Thi Quynh Van, CEO of PwC said "Vietnam is not only a good market for prod-uct consumption with young population but also a regional production hub thanks to the advantages of political stability and macroeconomics as well as the government's commitments about business environment. In addition, the capital divestment of state-owned businesses is also one of the new opportunities to attract foreign investors".Earlier, domestic and international experts used to forecast that with the increasingly high position in the region and the world, and positively changing investment envi-ronment, Vietnam will certainly maintain the growth momentum at least until 2020, and is the "magnet" to attract FDI in 2018."Vietnam is currently a "magnet", the leading destination of businesses worldwide", said Dr Vu Tien Loc.

Vietnamese garment companies increase competitiveness


Vietnam earns billions of dollars from garment and textile exports every year. But in the domestic market, local enterprises are facing fierce competition from foreign rivals.In late 2017 many foreign clothing companies made inroads into the Vietnamese mar-ket heating up the competition with local fashion brands and garment manufacturers. After Zara, H&M opened stores in Hanoi and HCM City last September. With Mango and Topshop, they are the favourite brands in Vietnam.Nguyen Thi Tuyet who lives in Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh city says "I like for-eign brands with affordable prices. They aren't more expensive than local ones but have good materials and good designs and are fashionable."Vietnam's famous clothing brands like An Phuoc, Viet Tien, and Garment 10 focus on trousers, T-shirts, and vests. Other product lines like dresses, sweaters, and pullovers are facing tough competition from foreign brands. Some Vietnamese companies have begun investing in this market segment.Than Duc Viet, deputy general director of Garment 10 Corporation said, "We focus 80 percent of our investment in main product line and 20 percent in fast fashion to in-crease our competitiveness and maintain our market share amidst young people's preference for foreign clothing brands."Vietnamese enterprises are urged to improve their capacity, focus on long-term invest-ment, recruit competent fashion designers, and promote their products.Pham Xuan Hong, Chair of the HCM City Association of Garment Textile Embroidery Knitting (AGTEK) says, "The Association plans to establish a Fashion Design centre in the hope of creating a breakthrough in fashion design in Vietnam."Vietnam is becoming a promising market for foreign clothing makers. Vietnamese en-terprises are advised to change their business strategies and adopt new trends in order not to be left behind in the fierce competition.http://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnamese-garment-companies-increase-competi-tiveness-367431.vov


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More and more Vietnamese brands bought by foreign companies


Many Vietnamese famous brands, one after another, are being bought by foreigners.An analyst commented that it was a 'tragedy' that Vietnam had to sell Sabeco, a pow-erful brewer, to a foreign company."Vietnamese businesses can't run large corporations. What they can do is create brands and then sell the brands to foreigners," he said."They try to fatten the goose to sell the goose for a good price. Wise businesses will con-tinue to raise the goose so that it lays golden eggs," he commented."If the trend continues, Vietnam will no longer have strong brands," he warned.In reply, many economists said M&As and hostile takeovers are common in a market economy.The participants at the Vietnam International Economic Integration Forum 2017 voiced their concern about the big gap in scale between Vietnamese and foreign busi-nesses' capitalisation value, which allows foreign investors to buy Vietnamese busi-nesses.The average capitalisation value of 30 Vietnamese corporations is estimated at $3 bil-lion, just equal to one-fifth of Singapore ($15 billion), and one-third of Thai and Indo-nesia corporations.As such, even if the state wants Vietnamese investors to buy the shares it divests, it would be impossible because of the weak financial capability of Vietnamese investors.VinaCapital's deputy CEO Pham Minh Loan said that it will take a Singaporean inves-tor only three years to be able to buy a Vietnamese large company.According to MOF (Ministry of Finance), by December 20, 2017, agencies had ap-proved the equitisation plans of 45 SOEs with total value of VND213.747 trillion and state capital value of VND88.39 trillion.CIEM's (Central Institute of Economic Management) head Nguyen Dinh Cung said the companies" worries about losing Vietnamese brands is just a lame excuse for their pro-crastination, which slows down equitisation."Foreign investors won't be foolish enough to buy good Vietnamese brands which bring high profits and then eliminate the brands," Cung said.Meanwhile, lawyers, citing current laws, affirmed that the concern about the loss of Vi-etnamese brands seems to be exaggerated.They said after divestment, the state will still hold a high stake to veto unreasonable business policies. In the case of Sabeco, for example, the State still holds a 36 percent stake.With the Enterprise Law, even when foreign owners hold a controlling stake, they do not have the right to make unilateral decisions.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/194278/more-and-more-vietnamese-brands-bought-by-foreign-companies.html

Foreign firms buy into online retail


Foreign companies are increasingly jockeying for position in Vietnam's promising on-line retail market by pouring capital into local companies.JD.com, China's largest retailer, recently gained another foothold in Southeast Asia with its strategic investment in Tiki, Vietnam's leading B2C e-commerce platform. JD.com signed a share subscription agreement as co-lead investor in Tiki's recent Se-ries C financing round. The close of the Series C round is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Upon completion of this investment, JD.com will be-come one of Tiki's largest shareholders.JD.com will partner with Tiki in a range of areas including merchandising, cross-bor-der trade, logistics and fulfilment, technology, financing, and operational capabilities. JD.com already owns an established e-commerce platform in Indonesia and recently partnered with Thai conglomerate Central Group to enter Thailand's market. With its investment in Tiki, JD.com adds Vietnam to its growing foothold in Southeast Asia."With JD.com's expertise in leveraging social media for e-commerce, Tiki's partnership with VNG in social networking and mobile payments is a natural fit as we aim to pro-


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vide differentiated services to suppliers and consumers in Vietnam. We look forward to working with Tiki to deliver a truly world-class e-commerce experience to Vietnam-ese consumers," said Winston Cheng, president of international at JD.com.Under the plan, Tiki and JD.com will cooperate to deliver a wider selection of global brands to consumers, while helping Vietnamese brands to expand internationally via JD.com's global platforms.In its seven years of operations, Tiki has consistently grown by triple-digit percentages annually, tripling the industry average. Tiki's vision is to become Vietnam's largest and most trusted full-category e-commerce platform.Norwegian telecom group Telenor is also upbeat about Vietnam's online retail market after it bought Cho Tot last year."We are very enthusiastic about Cho Tot and the Vietnamese market," said Johan Ros-toft, managing director of 701Search and vice president of online classifieds at Telenor Group.Cho Tot is currently the leading and most effective marketplace for buying and selling goods in Vietnam. For many, it is the go-to platform for varied transactions like selling old phones, buying a new motorcycle, or browsing houses for sale in their area.After five years of operations, Cho Tot has recorded strong performance with more than one billion page views per month and 3.3 million successful transactions in 2017. The number of listings on the platform has increased by 11 per cent on-year, while the number of successful transactions was up 34 per cent from 2.8 million in 2016.According to Rostoft, Telenor believes in the growth potential of digital services. "Mo-bile data coverage and affordable data connectivity are spreading quickly throughout Southeast Asia. Everybody will soon have smartphones and access to mobile digital services. People in the region and in Vietnam are already very proficient users of dig-ital services," he said.Telenor has viewed online classifieds as an interesting and promising digital service. The company entered this segment by partnering with some of the world's leading providers and making significant investments in multiple classifieds sites. Last year, Telenor increased its focus on the Southeast Asia region when the group sold its Latin American assets and acquired Cho Tot, Mudah in Malaysia, and Onekyat in Myanmar.According to Bryan Teo, CEO of Cho Tot, the site is now the top performer in the mar-ket after five years of operation. However, there is still much room for Cho Tot to grow in the C2C segment in terms of traffic and listings, he said."In 2018, we will continue to provide and improve the best user experience for buyers and sellers of pre-loved items. We have leveraged investment to develop features that specialise the user experience for an array of potential products such as vehicles, prop-erty, and electronics," he added.In addition, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has expressed ambitions to expand its operations throughout Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. In 2017, Alibaba an-nounced that it would invest another $1 billion in Lazada Group to increase its stake from 51 per cent to 83 per cent. Lazada Vietnam, under Lazada Group, is among the biggest earners in the Vietnamese tech industry.Meanwhile, Singaporean e-commerce platform Shopee has achieved robust growth in Vietnam since its launch in the country in 2016. Shopee's parent company, Sea, Ltd, re-cently completed its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange to raise $800 million. Thus, the company has more confidence to move forward in the regional e-commerce market, including in Vietnam.According to Nguyen Thanh Hung, chair of the Vietnam E-commerce Association, Amazon is also proceeding with its ambitious business plan for Vietnam's market. Amazon wants to export goods to Vietnam and then import goods from the country. It also wants to support Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises' ambitions to sell on Amazon.http://english.vov.vn/economy/foreign-firms-buy-into-online-retail-367596.vov


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French drink-makers eye Vietnam


Wishing to cash in on Vietnam's skyrocketing demand for drinks, French beverage firms have asked local authorities to ease special consumption tax lines, which they find to be too high and contrary to the country's commitments of reducing taxes for beverages under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.Jean Rodesch, vice president of government Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibil-ity at France's Pernod Ricardthe world's leading producer of high-grade spiritsrecent-ly came to Vietnam to seek opportunities to export products to the country. Vietnam consumes nearly four billion litres of beer and millions of litres of wine and spirits each year."We are preparing to engage more in Vietnam, where the demand for spirits and wine is growing strongly. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will enable us to do better business in Vietnam," he said.Pernod Ricard currently operates more than 85 branches and 100 production work-shops around the world. Its revenue in 2015 totalled at over euro 8.5 billion ($9.02 bil-lion).However, at yesterday's Vietnam-France high-level economic dialogue in Hanoi, French minister of State Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said that French beverage firms like Pernod Ricard will find it difficult to penetrate Vietnam, even though the country has committed to reducing import tariffs for EU drinks under the EVFTA.Under the EVFTA, which is expected to be ratified in 2018, Vietnamese tariffs for wines and spirits will be removed seven years after the deal's entry into force. The tariff for European beer will follow after 10 years."Since the conclusion of the EVFTA, Vietnam has reformed its special consumption tax (SCT) in a way that nullifies the EU's legitimate expectations of improved market ac-cess opportunities for European wines and spirits," Lemoyne said. "Drink exporters will not be able to boost their exports to Vietnam."Nguyen Thuy Linh, a representative from the Ministry of Finance, told Lemoyne that under Vietnam's law amending a number of articles of the Law on Special Consump-tion Tax No.70/2014/QH13, which took effect on January 1, 2016, all wine and spirits products in Vietnam are subject to high SCT levels because they are special items that can affect human health.Vietnam has increased SCT for alcoholic beverages by 5 per cent annually from 2016 to 2018. Taken together, the new regulations will make imported alcoholic beverages much more expensive.Specifically, SCT for alcoholic beverages containing 20 per cent alcohol by volume or more (mainly spirits) was raised to 55 per cent from January 1, 2016, to 60 per cent from January 1, 2017, and to 65 per cent from January 1, 2018.These tax increases have also been applied to beer. SCT for alcoholic beverages con-taining less than 20 per cent alcohol by volume has been raised to 30 per cent from Jan-uary 1, 2016 and to 35 per cent from January 1, 2018."We highly recommend that Vietnam create favourable conditions for French wine and spirits products in the Vietnamese market," Lemoyne said.According to the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, Vietnam has commit-ted itself to ensuring that the conditions for the distribution and sale of spirits will not become more restrictive than at present and that it will abide by certain principles while issuing licences for wines.Also under the EVFTA, many EU geographical indications will be protected in Viet-nam automatically upon the deal enters into force.http://english.vov.vn/economy/french-drinkmakers-eye-vietnam-367595.vov

Investors conflicted about investing in condotels


2017 was a discouraging year for investors who poured money into condotels. How-ever, analysts believe that once legal problems are settled, investment in this type of property will be increasing rapidly.Deputy director of the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department


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Nguyen Manh Khoi said agencies are still arguing about definitions of condotels and proper management.Some agencies consider condotels a type of housing, while others argue it is just a tour-ism product.However, under current laws, houses are not to be used for non-accommodation pur-poses. But a condotel is not recognised as a 'house'.It is also still unclear which laws will be referred to for dispute settlement.'Housing' is understood as long-term residential property. Under the Tourism Law, tourism apartments or villas are just accommodation facilities, not houses. Therefore, condotel must not be managed as a house. Condotel owners don't have the rights that house owners have.In addition, local authorities interpret legal documents in different ways.VTC News cited sources as reporting that investments poured into condotels in 2017 accounting for 60 percent of total investment in the real estate sector.Meanwhile, Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep reported that condotels were the most discour-aging real estate market segment in 2017 with supply on the rise and consumption on the decrease.Twenty-two new projects were launched on the market last year, providing 14,741 condotels, an increase of 12 percent over 2016 (13,121). However, only 33 percent sold (4,821), which was just equal to 55 percent of 2016 (8,726).While the supply was abundant, the absorption rate of the market was low, just 40-50 percent. The figure was 19 percent only in Khanh Hoa market, where signs of oversup-ply have appeared.A number of large projects with thousands of condotels each have been launched. The condotel developers all promise attractive profit of 8-12 percent per annum for 5-10 years and holiday share of 15-20 days a year.Commenting that the resort property segment in 2017 cooled down compared with 2016, DKRA Vietnam, a market analysis firm, said the only 'bright spots' in the market were the appearance of boutique hotels and shophouses. However, the number of boutique hotels and shophouses remains modest and don't bear an impact of the sup-ply and have been marketed to explore market demand.FLC's chair Trinh Van Quyet said he believes that if legal problems can be clarified, the cash flow into condotels will be increasing more sharply.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/194175/investors-conflicted-about-invest-ing-in-condotels.html

Confectionery firms compete for $1.76 billion market


Business Monitor International (BMI) forecasts $1.76 billion in revenue for the Viet-namese confectionery industry in 2018. To take control of this market, firms have set out grand strategies for the Lunar New Year.A competitive marketThe Vietnamese confectionery market is said to grow slowly. It grew by 8-10 per cent in the last two years, while it was 15-20 per cent in 2010-2015 and 35 per cent in 2006-2010.Vietnam's 90 million market is attracting foreign investors. As it grows far faster than the global confectionary market (1.5 per cent), and the Southeast Asian one (3 per cent), according to statistics of Vietinbank Securities JSC.Lotte, one of the Republic of Korea's largest groups is constantly expanding its market share in Vietnam. Mondelez International, one of the leading fast food corporations spent VND8 trillion ($352.5 million) buying 80 per cent of Kido's total shares and in-tends to buy the remaining 20 per cent.Setting foot into the Vietnamese confectionery market, the $64 billion-capitalisation foreign giant will make this market more competitive.According to Truong Phu Chien, director general of Bibica, each country needs a flag-ship domestic brand to compete with global brands. Earlier, Bibica was eyed by vari-ous foreign firms.


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The Lotte-Bibica-PAN Group trio was a hot topic on the confectionery market. In 2008, Lotte bought over 30 per cent of Bibica and intended to raise its ownership further. However, PAN Group butted in 2015, raised its ownership in Bibica to 50.07 per cent in 2017, and became the dominant shareholder.According to BMI, the revenue of the Vietnamese confectionery market was VND27 trillion ($1.2 billion) in 2014, and is expected to reach VND40 trillion ($1.76 billion) in 2018. Thereby, domestic and foreign firms have been constantly releasing new prod-ucts and competition strategies.Particularly, the Orion brand has been very successful as it suits Vietnamese taste and had good marketing campaigns. Thus, the revenue of Orion Vina Co., Ltd hit over $174 million in 2016 through this product.Pham Nguyen Foods released Choco P&N and Phaner Pie at a low price and started distribution at 12,000 retail points. Over 17 million pieces were consumed per month.Bibica also joined the market with Mini Pie Orienko in April 2017 and targeted to cap-ture 20 per cent of the market.Vietnamese confectionery looking for a placeDespite competition with foreign products, Vietnamese consumers are paying more attention to domestic confectioneries due to their improving quality, good looks, and good marketing campaigns.Nguyen Huu Minh, a banking officer, told that he will buy Goody (a Bibica product) instead of Danisa (made in Denmark), along with some fruit jams made in Vietnam for this Lunar New Year.Many Vietnamese brands are springing up on the market, especially processed fruits, dried fruits, and jams receive attention. Experts assess that the gap between the quality of domestic and foreign confectionery is not large.According to the master plan for processed foods by 2020 with a vision to 2030, pro-portion of confectionery in the total processed foods is increasing. Particularly, the market will reach an output of 2.2 million tonnes, capturing 40.43 per cent of the total processed foods market.There are opportunities for all, but firms that can proactively innovate and provide suitable products for consumers will net the largest market share.http://english.vov.vn/economy/confectionery-firms-compete-for-176billion-market-367631.vov

HCM City, Laos seek measures to boost trade


The products of HCM City and Laos are more complementary than competing in na-ture, meeting consumption and production demand of both sides. But their bilateral trade relation has not met the expectations of either side, according to the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC).Trade between HCM City and Laos reached nearly $8.01 million in 2017 compared to $12.7 million in 2016, with HCM City enjoying a trade surplus.Speaking at a seminar on measures to enhance trade relations between HCM City and Laos held on the sidelines of the Laos Goods Week in HCM City, Pham Thiet Hoa, ITPC director, said: "There remain difficulties in border trade between Vietnam and Laos, so this undermines two-way trade."Import-export support services and transport connections between the two countries are still underdeveloped, he said, adding that economic zones on the shared border were short of capital.Vanxay Keovilay, Lao vice Consul, said Lao enterprises see HCM City and Vietnam in general as potential markets as Laos has an advantage in supplying traditionally farmed products with no use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and handicrafts made from natural materials.Vietnamese consumers are very fond of organic agricultural products and handicrafts, which is good for Lao exporters, he said.At the seminar, many producers and traders from different Lao localities introduced themselves and sought Vietnamese distributors for many kinds of regional specialty


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SVietnam finance & business 29 January 2018

products.Through the workshop, Keovilay said he hopes that businesses from both sides can understand more about each other's markets, establish partnerships and propose so-lutions to further facilitate bilateral trade.His consulate, in collaboration with Laos' ministries and localities, are willing to an-swer questions related to trade promotion and the import-export business between the two countries, he said.Phoukham Ouanouansa, director of the Xieng Khouang Business Centre, said that he is looking for trading partners in HCM City to distribute rice and sticky rice.Currently, his partner in Nghe An Province imports 60 tonnes of rice and he will send to this partner another 1,000 tonnes in March.Phoukham Ouanouansa also said he wants to sell Vietnam's high-quality products in Laos as well as provide consultancy to Vietnamese firms who want to invest in Xieng Khouang Province.At the meeting, Vietnamese distributors advised the Lao businesses to develop stand-ards for food products exported to Vietnam in terms of food hygiene and safety.Pham Thi Thanh Tuyen from Saigon Co.op suggested that Lao enterprises pay more attention to improving their product packaging and labels, as well as provide clear in-formation about the products so that Vietnamese consumers can understand them.In addition, although some Lao products are produced following natural or organic methods, their prices should not be too high, she said.Organised by the consulate, ITPC and the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, the seminar attracted around 80 Lao and Vietnamese enterprises in the fields of fruits, vegetables, food processing, confectionery, beverage, plastic, cosmetics, handi-crafts, garments and textiles, footwear, construction, design and environmental pro-tection.http://bizhub.vn/news/hcm-city-laos-seek-measures-to-boost-trade_291937.html

BUSINESSIZ NEWSBusiness Briefs 29 January, 2018

29/JAN/2017 INTELLASIA |

* Phat Oat Real Estate Development Corporation (POR) has been chosen to develop Phan Oinh Phung Sports centre project in HCM City's District 3 under the build-oper-ate (BT) format. POR expects to start work on the VN01.9 trillion project in the first quarter of this year and finish construction after 24 months.* Petro Central Company (PGM) began trading 33 million shares on the HCM City ex-change yesterday at the reference price of VN014,000 each. It specialises in gas cylin-der' production.* KIDO Group Corporation (KOC) saw its 2017 revenue double versus the previous year at VN07.1 trillion thanks to the merger of two cooking oil enterprisesVocarimex and Tuong An. It pre-tax profit was VN0569 billion, above its earlier estimate of VND490 billion. In 2018, KOC aims to make VND 010 trillion in revenue.* Nam Viet Corporation (ANV) said its net profit advanced 6.72- fold against 2016 to VN0130.8 billion in 2017 after it reduced losses in its associated firms. A V's revenue inched up 4.6 percent to V D2.95 trillion. Its losses from joint venture capital contribu-tions decreased 95.9 percent to V 04.76 trillion.* Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) has announced a 0.5-percentage-point reduction in short-term lending rates for five priority sectors- agriculture, export, small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting industries and high-tech business. Borrowers from these sectors are now subject to a maximum lending rate of 6 percent per annum.* Oat Phuong Group (OPG) will close its shareholder list on February 5 to issue over 18 million shares for bonus payment at a 100-for-153 ratio. After the issuance, DPG will raise its capital from V 0118.5 billion to V D300 billion. The firm also has plans to move its listing to the HCM City market.* Noi Bai Catering er rice omp it rose 24.2 percent compared to 2016 to VND84 billion last year while its revenue climbed 15.4 percent to VN0615 billion in 2017, according to Viet Capital Securities Company. The fuli-year earnings per share were VND5,804. In the fourth quarter of 2017, NCS earned net profit of V 025.8 billion from revenue of


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V 0158.6 billion, up 65 percent and 14.4 percent year-an-year respectively.

Bank stocks expected to drive up market29/Jan/2018 Intellasia| VNSVietnamese stocks are expected to rise further on expectations of positive corporate earnings reports from the financial-banking sector and a strong inflow of foreign in-vestment, analysts say.The benchmark VN Index rose 1 per cent to 1,115.64 points on Friday, making a sec-ond-session increase of 2.6 per cent after it had previously shut down for two days due to the technical crash late Monday.The southern market index gained 5 per cent in three sessions last week.Trading liquidity increased on HCM City Stock Exchange (HoSE) compared to the pre-vious week despite the market's Monday crash.An average of nearly 355.6 million shares was traded on the southern bourse in each session of last week, worth VND10.3 trillion (US$459.4 million).The trading figures were up 13.3 per cent in volume and 23.2 per cent in value com-pared to the previous week's numbers.Shares also closed higher on the Hanoi Stock Exchange on Friday with the HNX-Index edging up 0.16 per cent at 126.82 points.The northern market index notched weekly growth of 3.6 per cent.An average of more than 72.2 million shares worth VND1.2 trillion was traded on the northern bourse.The trading numbers fell 1.8 per cent in volume but increased 11.7 per cent in value on a weekly basis.Dang Thanh The, strategic director of KB Securities Co, said the main factor helping drive up the market was the cash flow from funds and institutional investors.As of January 19, the exchange-traded fund VNM ETF attracted total capital of $40.15 million while the figure for FTSE ETF was $10.18 million, The said.Hoang Thach Lan, head of the individual investor division at Viet Dragon Securities Co, said foreign investment was the main driver of the VN Index, with large cash-flows being poured into the two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and from these ETFs into blue-chip stocks on the southern bourse, mainly large-caps in the VN30, the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the HoSE.The expectation that Vietnam's securities market could enter Morgan Stanley Capital International's watchlist to be promoted to the emerging market status would also at-tract foreigners to increase net purchase value, he told tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.Foreign investors on Friday posted a net buy value of VND461 billion on HoSE, raising their total net investment this month to VND11.8 trillion.Information related to the expansion of the foreign ownership in banks and the rise of global oil prices would also contribute to push the VN Index to exceed its all-time peak of 1,170 points in 2007 soon, he said.Vietcombank shares (VCB) have increased by 27 per cent since the beginning of the year. The figures for Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and Vi-etinbank (CTG) are 27.5 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively.Brent crude price closed Friday at $70.52, up 5 per cent from last year's ending figure and up 57 per cent from last year's lowest hit on June 21.PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation shares (GAS) have climbed 12.8 per cent since the beginning of this year. The figure for PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services (PVD) is 26.7 per cent.Lan said large-cap stocks in the finance-banking and securities sectors were likely to rise further, due to the strong purchasing power of foreigners, as those companies were forecast to perform even better in 2018.Additionally, the State capital withdrawal plans in some State-owned enterprises would entice buyers, especially in the energy and chemical sectors, he added.Among those companies, PetroVietnam Power Corporation on Wednesday will put 468 million shares for sale at its initial public offering (IPO) at the starting price of


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VND14,400 per share.At the IPO of the Vietnam Oil Corporation held last Thursday, the company success-fully auctioned over 206 million shares at a starting price of VND13,400 to earn $184 million, 51 per cent higher than expected result.Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company earned $244.5 million from the IPO of nearly 242 million shares or 7.79 per cent of its charter capital. The result was 55 per cent higher than expected.http://bizhub.vn/markets/bank-stocks-expected-to-drive-up-market_291936.html

Emerging market status a no-go in 2018


It remains impossible for Vietnam's securities market to get promoted from a frontier market to an emerging market this year, officials say.Saigon Securities Incorporation chair Nguyen Duy Hung told the recent end of the year meeting held by the State Securities Commission (SSC) that the upgrading of Vi-etnam's status would boost the confidence of both domestic and foreign investors in the local market.SSC should make a list of requirements that must be met for the Vietnamese market to get promoted. Then market regulators, government agencies and securities companies must work together to realise those targets, he said."If those targets are reached, Vietnam's securities market will get a lift. Then the local market will become more attractive and promising to investors, especially foreign ones," Hung said.However, SSC chair Tran Van Dung warned that investors should not think the Viet-namese market would be promoted soon as the local market had not met international standards.In its 2017 market classification review that was carried out in late June, Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc (MSCI), the US independent provider of research-driven insights and tools for institutional investors, did not include Vietnam in the MSCI review list for a potential reclassification to Emerging Markets status.Thus, Vietnam remained in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index and the decision had been widely forecast by several local brokerage firms.There were several major factors that led to the result, including the lack of openness to foreign investors, few English-language issuances of information disclosures made by local companies and problems with the trading mechanism, according to local se-curities companies."The SSC hopes MSCI will include Vietnam in its reclassification review list for the sta-tus promotion in 2018 and 2019. However, we have to wait one more year until the fi-nal decision is made," Dung said.Unrealistic T+0 settlement timeOne of the issues that brokerage firms expect the SSC to improve in the near future is a trading mechanism that will reduce the settlement time for securities transactions from two days (T+2) to intraday (T+0).It means the investors would be able to receive an amount of securities after they pur-chase it and sell it on the same day instead of waiting for two more days to receive and sell that amount of securities.Previously on January 1, 2016, the SSC shortened settlement time for securities trans-actions from three days (T+3) to two days (T+2).According to VNDirect Securities Company general director Nguyen Hoang Giang, the intraday settlement mechanism (T+0) could help financial companies improve their risk management and the quality of the market trading could improve.However, SSC chair Dung said that his agency is working with the Vietnam Securities Depository on the issue but they find it hard to do so due to technical problems.Vietnam is using the T+2 settlement mechanism but the real time is T+2.5 as investors will receive the amount of securities at the end of the second day after they purchase the assets, he said."The standard settlement time for the global markets is still T+3, even in big markets


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like Japan. That proves shortening the settlement time, even just by one day, is very challenging," Dung said.http://bizhub.vn/markets/emerging-market-status-a-no-go-in-2018_291941.html

Capital mobilisation via stock market increasing

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTCK

It has been a long-standing concern that the economy as well as businesses is too de-pendent on the capital source of the banking system. This leads to many consequences for the banking sector itself as well as the economy, including the rising and difficult-to-be-solved bad debt situation, causing the capital cost of the economy to be at high level, negatively influencing the competitiveness of business system.However, the aforemetioned concern is gradually being cleared. According to the up-date of the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC), as of the end of 2017, the total capital supply to the economy from the financial system (including commer-cial banks, securities companies, fund management companies, and insurance compa-nies) is estimated to reach 198 percent GDP, up 28.6 percent compared to the end of 2016, of which, the capital mobilisation from the stock market touched nearly 245 tril-lion dong, up 66.4 percent from the end of 2016. This growth was higher than the cap-ital increase from the system of credit organisations at 18.1 percent in 2017, reaching 6,500 trillion dong as of the end of 2017.In the long run, the signal is much more positive when the role of mobilising and fi-nancing the economy is moving in the direction of reducing the dependence on the system of credit organisations, increasing the role of capital market in mobilising me-dium and long-term capital to the economy.Accordingly, the proportion of capital supply to the economy from the capital market increased from 21.6 percent in 2012 to 35.4 percent in 2017. Meanwhile, with the system of credit organisations, this figure fell from 78.4 percent to 64.6 percent. In 2012-201, the capital supply from the stock market increased at an average of about 33.4 percent/annum, doubling from the capital supply growth rate from the system of credit organ-isation (16.6 percent/annum).With the macroeconomic context, as well as the strengthened restructuring process of monetary and capital markets, NFSC forecasts that the capital supply of financial sys-tem to the economy at the end of 2018 is estimated to grow about 19.3 percent from the end of 2017, of which, the capital supply from capital market continues to attain high growth rate, estimated at 22.5 percent while the capital supply from credit organisa-tions is projected to swell 17.5 percent.However, in order for the capital supply process from securities market to the econo-my to grow sustainably, a reality that the government, especially the finance and bank-ing sector needs to overcome in the process of restructuring monetary market, capital market as well as planning of new strategy is that the asset proportion of finance or-ganisation system is still too modest compared to the system of credit organisations.According to NFSC, out of the total assets of financial institutions which are estimated to reach 200 percent GDP, the asset proportion of credit organisations account for as much as 95.9 percent, compared to just three percent of insurers, 1.1 percent in securi-ties companies and fund management companies. Besides, there also needs to recover the situation that in the system, there still remains some financial institutions with low-er chartered capital than the prescribed level.Overcoming the aforementioned limitations, as well as having strong and efficient enough mechanism for a sharper role allocation i.e. the capital market will mobilise and provide major medium and long-term capital to the economy; the monetary mar-ket will provide short-term capital, will not only help these two markets develop more healthily in accordance with international practice and norms but more importantly to reduce risks to the economy, operating costs, and increase competitiveness for busi-nesses. Thereby, business community will contribute more positively and sustainably to the economic growth.


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Foreign money ready to be spent on large IPOs

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTCK

After Hanoi, the next road show in HCM City of PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) still attracted a large number of investors. This corporation will offer for sale 468 million shares at Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) on January 31.A specialist at a large securities company who is taking care of foreign customers said foreign investors are very interested in such big IPOs, especially specialised and po-tential sectors like electricity, oil and gas. Meanwhile, a group of domestic investors also said they have obtained enough information given by PV Power and have had "plans" in the upcoming IPO of this corporation.At the road show, some people said the disadvantage is that this IPO takes place in the context that many large-scale corporations and businesses also conducted the capital divestment and IPO. Therefore, it will partly affect the purchase price of PV Power's shares, because businesses that run IPO in advance will have more advantages.However, according to securities experts, the IPO plan of large businesses and corpo-rations was announced earlier for investors to have time to study, so it is not really "the early bird catches the worm" but the important thing is whether the goods are "good" or "not".Ho Cong Ky, Chair of PV Power said after more than two years of preparation, many companies organised many road shows in such developed markets as Singapore, South Korea, Japan, etc. and received much attention."Among 100 investors that want to become strategic partners of PV Power, there are many investors coming from Europe, Japan, South Korea, etc. Currently, the company signed information security with three investors", said Ky.Regarding the criteria for selecting strategic investors, the PV Power leader said under the approved equitisation method, PV Power will give priority to investors operating in the power generation sector, followed by investors exploiting mining, gas, coal, etc. and investment funds. After equitising, the State plans to hold 51 percent stake, com-pared to 29 percent for strategic investors while the rest is owned by public investors and employees."The experience of countries in OECD will support domestic businesses in the man-agement of technique, finance, personnel, etc. For investment funds, large trust funds are advantages. This is the favourable condition for capital divestments, IPOs in Viet-nam", said Ky.Dinh Van Son, Head of the Steering Committee on Equitisation at PV Power said from 2019, if Petroleum of Vietnam (PVN) can negotiate with donors and the group can bal-ance the cash flow to repay debt, it will negotiate to repay the debt ahead of time. At that time, PVN is ready to reduce its stake to 36 percent more early, instead of waiting till 2025 as approved in the equitisation method. This information was positively re-ceived and highly appreciated by investors at the road show and is considered to in-crease the attractiveness for strategic investors of PV Power.Earlier, in the IPO of nearly 483.2 million shares of Binh Son Refinery Company (BSR), as many as 4,079 institutional and individual customers registered to purchase shares, in which domestic individuals registered to purchase more than 188 million shares (compared to 44,800 shares of foreign individuals), compared to 144 million shares of domestic organisations and nearly 151 million shares of foreign organisations.Most recently, at the IPO of Petroleum Oil Corporation (PV Oil), the number of inves-tors registering to purchase shares was also very high, with 3,195 people, including 3,091 individual domestic investors (eight foreign individual investors); 42 and 54 do-mestic and foreign institutional investors.Besides, shares of newly listed businesses on the stock market such as PLX, VPB, VRE, VJC, HDB, etc. were positively collected by both domestic and foreign investors.The reality shows that the highlight from large IPOs or capital divestments since the end of 2017 is that they are resonating, not only in Vietnam stock market but also in the region. Many IPOs received significant attention from foreign investment organisa-tions such as the state capital divestment from Vinamilk, Sabeco or public offering at BSR, PV Oil, etc. This shows that there just needs to have a good source of goods, then


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investors, including foreign ones, will always be willing to invest.

Four foreign investors eye GENCO 3


Four foreign investors from India, Thailand, the Republic of Korea and the Middle East registered to buy 36 percent of the charter capital at the Power Generation Corporation 3 (GENCO 3) to become its strategic investors.Dinh Quang Tri, deputy general director of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) an-nounced the development at the roadshow to introduce investment opportunities in GENCO 3 held in Hanoi on January 25. "All of the foreign investors are big firms," Tri said.For example, the Indian investor has electricity capacity of more than 10,000 MW and has invested in coal mines in Indonesia and Australia.The Thai investor has experience in developing gas turbines and big cash flow, while the investor from the Middle East specialises in buying power plants around the world as well as providing gas resources with more competitive prices."The four investors all have great potential. The competition to choose the strategic in-vestor on March 15 will be as attractive as the final match of U23 Vietnam and U23 Uz-bekistan," he added.Tri said following the equitisation plan approved by the government, 36 percent of GENCO 3's charter capital, or 749.1 million shares, would be sold to strategic investors. GENCO 3's charter capital is 20.8 trillion VND, 51 percent of which will be owned by EVN. The corporation has a value of around 52 trillion VND (2.3 billion USD).EVN would divest its capital at GENCO 3 to less than controlling level after 2019 if EVN and the corporation were successful in restructuring its debts and negotiating with lenders."The share selling would help GENCO 3 gain capital for investment in new power projects as well as paying loans from foreign countries which have been guaranteed by the government," he added.Dinh Quoc Lam, GENCO 3's general director, said it would put more than 267 million shares, accounting for 12.8 percent of its charter capital, up for sale in its initial public offering (IPO) in February 2018. Some 0.16 percent or 3.4 million shares would be sold to labourers.Lam said the shares will be listed on the HCM Stock Exchange (HoSE) with the initial auction price of 24,600 VND (1.08 USD) per share.GENCO 3 is one of the three power generation corporations under EVN's manage-ment. It has capacity of 6,304 MW, accounting for 16 percent of the country's total elec-tricity system. Last year, its revenue was estimated at some 34.6 trillion VND and profit from power production was 1.27 trillion VND, surpassing 19 percent of the set targets.GENCO 3 planned to start construction of two solar power projects while implement-ing investment procedures of the Long Son Electricity Centre project using liquefied natural gas in the southern Ba RiaVung Tau province in 2018.The joint venture of VIET Capital Company and EVN Finance will provide consultan-cy for GENCO 3 privatisation.According to Barry Weisblatt, director of VIET Capital, GENCO 3 has key power re-sources in Phu My, Vinh Tan 2, Mong Duong 1 and Buon Kuop plants, giving it an ad-vantage when entering into the electricity market.In addition, it has high quality human resources, including employees who have worked at firms such as GE, Alstom, MHI and Siemens. They will help GENCO 3 quickly adapt to changes in the market, creating a firm foundation in the future.GENCO 3 has been the strongest unit in EVN's power generation corporations. It has nine power plants including four gas-fired power plants, three hydropower plants and two coal-fired power plants with total capacity of 5.5 GW.The corporation also has two subsidiaries of Ba Ria and Ninh Binh Thermo-power companies. It also owns 30 percent of shares at Vinh Son Song Hinh, Thac Ba va Se San 3A Hydropower plants.


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Govt gets VND4.17 trillion from PV Oil stake sale


The government fetched more than VND4.17 trillion (US$183.7 million) from the sale of a stake in PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) on January 25.State-owned PV Oil launched its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange on January 25.The corporation sold more than 206.8 million shares to 1,333 individuals and 45 organ-isations at home and abroad. Foreign investors alone acquired 68.5 million shares.The shares were equivalent to 20 percent of the company's chartered capital and of-fered at a reserve price of VND13,400 (US$0.58) per share.Investors spent VND19,200 to VND40,000 buying a share, so its average price was around VND20,196 (US$0.88), way above the reserve price. The stake sale brought the government over VND4.17 trillion.PV Oil general director Cao Hoai Duong said the company received 10 requests to be-come strategic investors, with half of them foreigners and oil giants.The company plans to list on the stock market after finishing the IPO and listing shares on the market for unlisted public enterprises, or UPCoM.PV Oil is a local fuel distributor with a 25 percent market share. It is also an exclusive oil exporter of Vietnam. The corporation has 28 affiliates and 11 associated companies. Besides, it owns shares in 540 gas stations and more than 3,000 agents.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58217/Govt-gets-VND417 trillion-from-PV-Oil-stake-sale.html

FLC postpones dividend payment due to HSX shutdown


On January 25, FLC Group JSC (HSX: FLC) announced postponing the final dividend payment for the year 2016 which would have been issued as cash payments or as stocks due to the recent technical halt on the HCM City Stock Exchange.A technical fault in the January 22 ATC order matching session put the entire HSX trading platform into a coma for 48 hours. This was the first time that the Vietnamese stock market was deactivated.As a result, FLC postponed the shareholder register for the dividend payment until February 8. The group also announced the ex-rights date of February 1 as well as pay-ing dividends worth 3 per cent of each share to the group's shareholders on January 13.On January 10, the group set up a subsidiary called FLC Industrial Park Development and Management Company Limited with a charter capital of VND100 billion ($4.4 mil-lion). The main business of the subsidiary is investment, industrial zones, and real es-tate.Likewise, the board of directors of FLC Industrial Park Development Investment and Management Limited established a subsidiary called FLC Jewellery Company Limited with a charter capital of VND100 billion ($4.4 million), 100 per cent contributed by FLC. The subsidiary's main business was reported to be gold trading and jewellery manufacturing.After two skipped trading sessions due to the HSX shutdown, FLC closed at VND6,830 ($0.3) per share, with 10.95 million shares successfully transferred.Addressing the technical halt, the chair of HSX previously apologised over the un-wanted incident, stating the exchange would present its maintenance plan for the trad-ing platform in order to prevent similar technical failures from occuring in the long run.http://www.vir.com.vn/flc-postpones-dividend-payment-due-to-hsx-shutdown.html

PV Gas seeks approval for 30pct strategic stake sale


Sale to be made to strategic partner by 2020.Leading State-owned energy firm the PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV Gas) is seek-ing government approval of a divestment plan in which a 30 per cent share will be sold to a strategic partner by 2020.Chair Le Nhu Linh told media on January 23 that approval is expected for the sale to an existing PV Gas partner. Apart from augmenting State coffers, he said, PV Gas is


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also looking for technological input to enhance the efficiency of its core business and increase transparency.PV Gas has worked for many years with foreign partners like Shell and Total. Since 2012, it has also had a comprehensive business relationship with Tokyo Gas. All three have expressed an interest in partnering PV Gas, according to Linh.The State currently owns 95 per cent of PV Gas but plans to reduce this to 65 per cent by 2020. Existing foreign ownership is just 3.31 per cent.PV Gas has been studying the recent share auctions of Vinamilk and the Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp. (Sabeco) to help with its own divestment, according to the Chair. It also revealed at a recent meeting that it has set aside $3.5 billion for invest-ment projects, including gas fields, pipelines, storage facilities, and imported capital equipment.It currently draws gas from four fields: Cuu Long, Nam Con Son, PM3, and Thai Binh, for an aggregate output in recent years of more than 9 billion cu m, more than 1 million tonnes of liquid petroleum gas (LPG), and over 70,000 tonne of condensate.Depletion of the gas fields is an increasing concern, with demand for electricity pro-jected to grow at between 8 and 10 per cent to 2020, making higher imports a necessity.PV Gas has accelerated gas-related infrastructure since last year to handle imports, which will become dominant in the next five to ten years. More than 80 per cent of its production goes to local power plants and over 30 per cent of its LPG is exported to Cambodia.Consolidated revenue last year was VND64.8 trillion ($2.85 billion) and net profit VND9.8 trillion ($431.2 million), year-on-year increases of 9 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively. The positive performance was helped by a rising crude oil price, which was 10 per cent higher than the projected price of $50 a barrel.Assuming an average oil price of $50 a barrel in 2018, PV Gas projects VND55.7 trillion ($2.45 billion) in revenue with VND6.4 trillion ($281.6 million) in net profit, respective increases of 8 per cent and 23 per cent against last year's targets.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/pv-gas-seeks-approval-for-30-strategic-stake-sale

Malaysia's Samchem plans Vietnam listing for subsidiary


Parent proposes Samchem Sphere JSC lists on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.Malaysian chemical distributor Samchem Holdings Bhd has announced it is exploring the possibility of listing its subsidiary, the Samchem Sphere JSC, in which it indirectly owns 63.25 per cent, on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), Vietnam's main bourse."The proposed listing will enable Samchem to capitalise on the fast-growing Vietnam-ese economy and the potential growth of the industrial chemical sector in Vietnam," Samchem Holdings wrote in a filing to Bursa Malaysia.The listing would provide a platform for Samchem Sphere to obtain listing status and gain direct access to Vietnam's capital market to raise funds for future expansion and continued growth without having to rely on existing resources, it added.The VN Index increased 48 per cent last year, putting Vietnam among the three best-performing markets globally.Samchem said a corporate adviser licensed in Vietnam has been appointed to evaluate and advise on the proposed listing and noted that it is still in the exploratory and pre-liminary stage. "Any further material development on the proposed listing will be an-nounced in due course," it said in a statement.Incorporated in Vietnam in December 2006, Samchem Sphere is engaged in the distri-bution of industrial chemical products.It has registered capital of VND10 billion ($440,000), with Samchem holding 63.25 per cent through its wholly-owned unit Samchem Sphere Export Sdn Bhd. The remaining stake is held by its directors Dennis Ho Chin Chye and Nguyen Thi Thu Thaowith 35.75 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.In financial year ending December 31, 2016, Samchem Sphere earned pre-tax profit of


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$2.68 million on revenue of $56.55 million, accounting for 32 per cent of Samchem's consolidated revenue for the year.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/malaysia-s-samchem-plans-vietnam-listing-for-subsidiary

Blockchain tech may open new era


Blockchain, a new technology to help explore the various forms of crypto-currencies, could open up new attractive environment for all businesses and investors, said Nguy-en Duc Cuong, head of consultancy division at Vietstock a local financial-business me-dia.Cuong made the statement at the first summit in Vietnam on blockchain technology and digital money, called Vietstock Blockchain Summit. The event was held in HCM City on Sunday by Vietstock and FundYourselfNow a Singaporean organisation that helps startup businesses to raise funds for their initial coin offering (ICO).Vietnamese investors have caught up with the world trend and turned blockchain and crytocurrencies into a "hot" investment trend. For example, bitcoin and other crypto-currency-related key words were among the top search targets on Google in Vietnam last year.This means that local businesses and investors have a great demand to learn and access the new technology and cryptocurrencies.The digital ledger, in which transactions made in various types of cryptocurrency are recorded chronologically and publicly, can open up new trends in the different fields of finance, banking, retail and telecommunications, Cuong said.He added that being considered as the foundation of the industrial revolution 4.0, which was spreading around the world, this was the time for blockchain technology and digital money to provide additional cryptocurrency products.The prospects of blockchain technology and technology-based digital money had be-come brighter as the technology could help firms replace traditional legal documents, which were handwritten and compiled on computers, with encryption.Therefore, blockchain technology could minimise the chance of identity theft and strengthen personal data security. Recently, government agencies in Singapore, Cana-da, Switzerland and Estonia had started developing national identification systems us-ing blockchain technology.According to Kennett Tan, chief technology officer of FundYourselfNow, blockchain can remove the need for a centralised server to verify ownership and deals. He said the technology could help financial and banking businesses process their transactions fast-er without asking for assistance from any intermediary units. This would save time and costs.In addition, blockchain technology could help businesses retain intellectual property rights and registrations, Tan said.Liu Yusho, CEO of Vinaex.com, a bitcoin wallet service that assists customers to buy, sell and secure bitcoin, said that the total capitalisation of the cryptocurrency market was only $2 billion a few years ago with bitcoin accounting for 90 per cent of the mar-ket value.The numbers had increased to $550-600 billion with nearly 1,500 types of crytocurren-cy. Bitcoin now only dominated 35 per cent of the market value, he said.Liu said that there were risks for investors when they purchased digital money or as-sets and they should take careful look at potential risks.Investors needed to know that as the crytpocurrency market was booming, there would be projects, websites and companies trying to defraud them, he said.The event was carried out to help investors, businesses and the public understand the nature of blockchain technology, its applications, how cryptocurrencies are managed and the nature of the world's quickly rising cryptocurrency market.http://bizhub.vn/news/blockchain-tech-may-open-new-era_291943.html


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Vietnamese people purchase nearly 8,000 Bitcoin 'diggers' in early 2018

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| PHAP LUAT TP HCM

On January 24, Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, deputy director of Courier Express Department, HCM City Administration of Customs, said from January 1, 2018 to January 23, 2018, 7,932 automated data processing machines exploiting virtual money online (Bitcoin) were imported to HCM City.According to Tuyen, the value of nearly 8,000 Bitcoin diggers was nearly $12.3 million (equivalent to nearly 279 billion dong), and the amount of tax paid to the state budget was nearly 28 billion dong. Tuyen said that the current import of the cash dispenser is still normal because there are no regulations prohibiting such kinds of goods.Earlier, according to the HCM City Customs Department, only within more than one month (November 11, 2017 to December 12, 2017), more than 7,000 automated data processing machines were imported to HCM City via express delivery, of which, seven businesses imported more than 2,500 sets; Individuals and organisations without im-ported tax codes brought nearly 3,000 sets.Up to now, the State Bank has confirmed that Bitcoin and other similar virtual curren-cies are not legal means of payment in Vietnam. Using Bitcoin and similar virtual cur-rencies will result in a fine of $150-200 million, and may be subject to criminal prosecution from January 1, 2018.After the multi-level virtual currency trading platform Bitconnect in Vietnam col-lapsed, nearly 50,000 members of the platform might lose all their money, Bitcoins and other coded currencies on the international market also fell sharply, many Vietnamese people still raced to purchase a Bitcoin digger. Price of the diggers has increased rap-idly from 35-45 million dong/machine to 70-80 million dong/machine.Bitcoin diggers say using coded currency diggers is still the safest solution for virtual money investors because of the lowest risks compared to surfing on trading floors.

Women supported to open businesses amid industrial revolution 4.0


As Vietnam integrates into the global economy and embraces the 4th industrial revo-lution, women are more likely to lag behind. A recent forum organised by the VCCI explored ways to help women in Vietnam expand start-up activities and participate more actively in the economy.The forum called "Womenwill Women in industrial revolution 4.0" organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) took place in Hanoi on January 17.Womenwill is a Google initiative to create economic opportunities for women. It pro-motes gender equality and helps women acquire technology skills, get inspired, and connect with each other through trainings, events, and advocacy.Female entrepreneurs helped to share information, get inspiredAt the forum, Google experts invited female entrepreneurs to share their stories about women's role in the 4th industrial revolution.Pham Duc Nghiem, deputy head of the National Agency for Technology Entrepre-neurship and Commercialisation Development, said although businesses owned by women account for only 21 percent of all small and medium-sized enterprises, they make an important contribution to Vietnam's economic growth.Nghiem called for more incentives for women's start-ups: "The Ministry of Science and Technology prioritises a start-up ecosystem for 3 groups of targets. The first is support for creating products which make female work less labour-intensive and promotes gender equality. The second is support for innovative projects owned by women. The third is support for innovative projects or businesses which involve a large number of women."Measures to help women overcome barriersExperts at the forum said that the 4th Industrial Revolution is creating opportunities and challenges for micro and small businesses, many of which are owned and man-aged by women.Female entrepreneurs were asked to take the initiative in accessing technology and


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building long-term development strategies in order to catch up with the trend.Labour-intensive work in industries like garments and textiles, leather footwear, and seafood processing can be replaced by automation. The forum outlined solutions to help female entrepreneurs meet challenges and avoid being left behind.http://english.vov.vn/economy/women-supported-to-open-businesses-amid-indus-trial-revolution-40-367099.vov

Vietnam in Top 10 destinations for Americans aged 55+

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia in Southeast Asia ranked ninth in the Top 10 destinations for Americans who are 55 years or older, according to Alan E. Lewis, Chair of Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T), the leader in small groups on the road less traveled.He announced O.A.T's "Top 10 Destinations for 2018" based on year-to-date bookings by O.A.T. travellers. More than 15,000 travellers have booked an adventure to one or more of these destinations in 2018. There have been 1,295 bookings to Vietnam, Thai-land, Laos, or Cambodia.O.A.T. anticipates 57,012 travellers overall in 2018, up from 46,247 in 2016 and 40,266 in 2013. "Whether 55 or 75, older American travellers are heading to far-flung locations in record numbers and their varying choice of destinations mirrors the myriad inter-ests of their generation," said Lewis. "What these travellers share in common is the de-sire to be fully immersed in local life when travelling, by engaging with students and teachers in rural schools, sharing a meal with a family in their home, or spending the day with local people in their village so they can gain a first-hand understanding of the destination and, ultimately, get a better sense of the world we share."Established in 1978, OAT is part of the Boston-based Grand Circle Corporation's fam-ily of travel companies, which also include Grand Circle Cruise Line and Grand Circle Travel.According to figures from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, total in-ternational arrivals last year reached 12,922,151, an increase of 29.1 per cent compared to 2016. There were about 614,117 arrivals from the US, up 111.1 per cent.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/017004/54961/-vietnam-in-top-10-destinations-for-ameri-cans-aged-55-.html

Ha Tinh to receive safe drinking water from EKOCENTER


Coca-Cola Vietnam initiative to provide up to 6,000 litres of safe drinking water each day to residents of north-central province.Coca-Cola Vietnam, in cooperation with the Phu Tai Duc Group, has opened an EKO-CENTER in north-central Ha Tinh province's Thach Ha district. The EKOCENTER will be operated by the Phu Tai Duc Social Enterprise to create shared values for the com-munity on the journey to bringing sustainable values and improving the capacity of Vietnamese women.Similar to EKOCENTERs in other locations, EKOCENTER Ha Tinh will focus on three main objectives: safe drinking water, women's economic empowerment, and commu-nity facilities, including daily necessities, soft skills and online training, internet serv-ices, health, and sports.Ha Tinh is among the provinces in Vietnam most affected by natural disasters every year, such as storms and flooding. Its clean water supply has also been affected by sa-line intrusion and environmental pollution, creating many challenges. The EKO-CENTER is equipped with a water purification system with a capacity of 6,000 litres a day to provide safe drinking water to local households, contributing to resolving some of the challenges facing Ha Tinh in clean water access."Witnessing the joy of Vinh An villagers as they receive safe drinking water from EKO-CENTER, we feel motivated to continue the mission of supporting the community with sustainable values," said Sanket Ray, Managing director of Coca-Cola Vietnam. "With the cooperation and management of the Phu Tai Duc Group, led by its CEO Nguyen Anh Nga, a member of the Vietnam Business Council, we believe that EKO-


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CENTER will bring more and more benefits to the people and the community, espe-cially with activities that help improve the economic capacity of local women."The EKOCENTER is powered by green energy from solar roof panels. Its computer lab will provide local children and women with access to information, allowing them to practice their computer skills and participate in online startup training."We are proud to partner with Coca-Cola to run an EKOCENTER in Ha Tinh," said Nguyen Anh Nga, general director of Phu Tai Duc. "The goal and mission of the Phu Tai Duc Social Enterprise is to serve and bring benefits to the community, especially safe drinking water and periodic free community healthcare services, especially for the elderly people in Vinh An. Through our training activities, we hope to contribute to enhancing skills, especially among women, allowing them to improve their lives for a better future."Business activities providing necessities, coffee, and computer labs will be managed and operated by Phu Duc Tai according to the criteria for re-investment. A portion of the proceeds from the businesses will continue to be invested in the centre's facilities, infrastructure, and social programmes. Vocational training for baristas and local guides and in cooking, handicrafts, baking, and other fields will contribute to sustain-able values in the local community.EKOCENTER is a Coca-Cola community initiative that promotes public-private part-nerships around the globe. The first EKOCENTER in Vietnam was opened in 2015, and by the end of 2017 there were nine in the country, in HCM City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Hue, Ha Long city, and Ben Tre, An Giang, Dong Thap, and Ha Tinh provinces. Four more are expected to be built this year.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/ha-tinh-to-receive-safe-drinking-water-from-ekocenter

HCM City needs IT system for natural resources


With mega cities like HCM City facing rapid urbanisation, economic constraints and sustainability issues, promoting the use of information technology and ensuring net-work security are key tasks, a seminar heard in HCM City on Friday.Nguyen Toan Thang, director of the city Department of Natural Resources and Envi-ronment, told the seminar: "The ability to improve city infrastructure management through IT application and network security is crucial to defining and achieving social, environmental and economic success."According to the department's report on IT general architecture, "Information and data on natural resources and environment in HCM City should be easily accessible and ef-ficiently exploited. This would be the foundation for creating a development environ-ment serving the city's socio-economic growth."The IT general architecture will meet the People's Committee and natural resource and environment department's strategic vision, plan and decisions and the Smart City project's vision and goals and be in line with international trends like Big Data, IoT, Cloud."The information technology system to manage the natural resources and environmen-tal database will be created based on the department's digitised documents, and inte-grated with the information system for urban management comprising land, construction, master planning, environment, climate change, transport, and under-ground works.The database will be linked with the geographic information system and global posi-tioning system to ensure smooth integration, connection, sharing and online informa-tion provision, it said.http://bizhub.vn/news/hcmc-needs-it-system-for-natural-resources_291912.html

Traffic obstruction at BOT tollgates faces sanctions


The directorate for Roads of Vietnam has ordered the erection of traffic signs banning vehicles from pulling up in more than five minutes at build-operate-transfer (BOT) road toll stations.


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Relevant signs were to be set up at tollgates before January 25. BOT road investors have been told to install surveillance cameras at their tollgates and inform the directo-rate of any disruptive behaviors.The directorate has also told road management units and local transport departments to step up inspections and coordination with police and investors to regulate traffic and handle violations.To ensure security and order and prevent traffic congestion at BOT tollgates, local law enforcement agencies should strictly observe Official Order 82/CD-TTg which the prime minister issued on January 18, 2018 to order tight security at BOT tollgates.Police of cities and provinces where there are BOT tollgates should give advice to local governments on how to maintain social security and traffic safety.In major places where BOT toll stations have become hotspots due to driver protests, police should work out solutions to make sure social security and traffic safety are maintained, quickly deal with any complicated situations and prevent them from worsen.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58226/Traffic-obstruction-at-BOT-tollgates-faces-sanc-tions.html

Spain to finance Metro Line No.5 in HCM City


The Spanish government has promised to provide financial assistance for HCM City to develop Metro Line No.5, heard a meeting between leaders of HCM City and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MEIC) on January 24.According to Jose Kaiser Moreiras, general director for International Trade and Invest-ment at MEIC, Spain with a wealth of experience in developing hi-tech transport projects, advanced technologies and proficient engineers can help HCM City build and operate the project efficiently.The city should develop a comprehensive urban railway system, he said, underscoring the need to ensure effective connectivity between metro lines in the city. Therefore, the city should give priority to the Metro Line No.5 project because it will serve as a transit system for other lines in the city.The two sides will have to work together to revise the project to make it compatible with Vietnam's Investment Law that was amended in early 2015.HCM City vice chair Tran Vinh Tuyen reaffirmed the city's resolve to develop urban railways, including Metro Line No.5, and hailed Spain's financial and technical assist-ance.According to news website Vietnamplus, Metro Line No.5 will require an estimated 1.5 billion euros. Its first section between Bay Hien Intersection in Tan Binh District and Hang Xanh Roundabout in Binh Thanh District will have a total length of nine kil-ometers, including 7.46 kilometers underground and 1.43 kilometers elevated.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58219/Spain-to-finance-Metro-Line-No5-in-HCM City.html

VND1 trillion mall comes into operation29/Jan/2018 Intellasia| The Saigon TimesLead investor Tran Le Nguyen on January 25 inaugurated the VND1 trillion (US$44 million) Van Hanh Mall, the largest commercial centre in District 10, HCM City.The eight-story Van Hanh Mall at 11 Su Van Hanh Street has a total construction area of 90,000 square meters and a commercial floor area of 55,000 square meters.The mall has a wide range of products such as fashion, cosmetics, furniture, household appliances, and food, which can be found at more than 200 stores of domestic and in-ternational brands like Co.opXtra, CGV, Power Bowl, Nike, Levi's, Adidas, and Star-bucks.Tran Le Nguyen, who is also general director of food processor KIDO Corporation, said he will inject more money into developing infrastructure for the mall.In 2008, he put Hung Vuong Plaza in District 5 into operation, which is now full.He stressed the quality of services and goods, and convenient locations for customers


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could guarantee success for shopping centers. "We choose prestigious partners and good services to meet customer demand whenever they come to Van Hanh Mall for shopping and entertainment," he said.He added shopping space at Van Hanh costs $30-60 per square metre and that it is now over 90 percent full thanks to the presence of major and reputable brands.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58220/VND1 trillion-mall-comes-into-opera-tion.html

Debt-laden Mai Linh's effort to seek help seen faltering


Faced with huge debt, Mai Linh Group, which is known for Mai Linh Taxi brand na-tionwide, is seeking emergency help but the possibility of it getting such help is low as it is feared that it might set a bad precedent.The company has proposed its debts be frozen and its unpaid tax and insurance pre-miums be further extended. A news report on news website Vietnamnet said if Mai Linh's proposal is approved, it would do more harm than good.Vietnam Social Security was quoted by the news site as saying that it has no authority to freeze or cut insurance debts. Analysts said Mai Linh's proposal might not be ap-proved.The company earlier wrote to the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and Vietnam Social Security cataloging its difficulties. The eco-nomic downturn triggered by the 2007-2008 financial crisis and high interest rates left the company sitting on a mountain of unpaid taxes, social/health/unemployment in-surance premiums and bank loans.The news report quoted Mai Linh chair Ho Huy as saying that like other traditional transport service firms, Mai Linh is struggling with an unfair competition with ride-hailing firms Uber and Grab. With revenue considerably declining, Mai Linh is on the verge of becoming insolvent.As of late last October, Mai Linh's unpaid tax and insurance amounts amounted to VND150 billion and its late payment penalties some VND80 billion. The company pro-posed it be exempted from loan interest.The debts belong to Mai Linh's subsidiaries which have suspended operations and have piled up since 2012.Under the prevailing regulations, tax payments can be rescheduled in some cases such as natural disasters, fires and accidents.Huy previously told the media that for loan interest and late payment penalties, the company would need a hundred years to pay them off.Authorities and experts said difficulties faced by firms should be handled in accord-ance with regulations and that there should be no exception.Mai Linh has recently made certain changes in its competition with Uber and Grab, such as launching a mobile app, and planning mergers of its units to increase compet-itiveness.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58223/Debt-laden-Mai-Linh percente2 percent80 percent99s-effort-to-seek-help-seen-faltering.html

Digiworld looks to foray into FMCG sector


Digiworld Corporation has said it will make a foray into the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and healthcare products markets this year.Digiworld plans to offer new products in the healthcare sector later this year. The FMCG and healthcare sectors are expected to create new streams of revenue for the company.In quarter three, Digiworld Venture Co Ltd, an arm of Digiworld Corporation, ac-quired a 50.3 percent stake in CL Co Ltd, a local FMCG supplier which has a goods dis-tribution system across the country. The deal is expected to help Digiworld venture into the FMCG market.The corporation made VND3.82 trillion (US$168.2 million) in revenue, and over VND78 billion (US$3.4 million) in after-tax profit last year, beating its full-year targets.


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In quarter four alone, its revenue amounted to VND1.12 trillion, a year-on-year rise of 11.3 percent.Digiworld general director Doan Hong Viet told reporters in HCM City on January 24 that the corporation expects stronger growth in revenue from cell phones this year, at roughly 60 percent. Notably, sales of cell phones like Xiaomi and Sharp have become major revenue sources for the firm.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58227/Digiworld-looks-to-foray-into-FMCG-sector.html

PNJ strengthens position in jewellery market


After a successful 2017 with pre-tax profit rising by 54 percent, Phu Nhuan Jewellery Joint Stock Company (PNJ) will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year, further ex-panding the retail system and promoting e-commerce activities.A profitable yearAccording to 2017 business results of PNJ, the company's consolidated pre-tax profit was VND908.11 billion, up 54 percent year-on-year and equivalent to 121 percent of the full-year plan.PNJ saw total revenue picking up 28 percent to VND11.049 trillion, some VND5.780 trillion of which was retail revenue (up 39 percent). Its gross profit neared VND1.912 trillion, a 36 percent rise against the previous year.Focusing on the retail system is attributed to PNJ's high profit. In particular, the com-pany opened 50 shops last year, bringing the total number of shops to almost 270 across the country.Expanding retail systemTalking about the development strategy for the coming years, vice chair of PNJ Le Tri Thong said that PNJ will open more shops this year. The company will have 300 shops when it marks the 30th anniversary of establishment, April 28.By expanding the retail network, PNJ will have its market share up to 27 percent. Ac-cording to VPBank Securities, the market share can climb to 28 percent this year and to 30.4 percent in 2020 if PNJ sticks to the expansion plan.As revealed by Thong, PNJ targets not only more shops but also new distribution channels and e-commerce to give customers pleasant shopping experience.In addition, PNJ will work on categorising customers and launch new collections for different customer segments. This is to provide them with not only beautiful items but also spiritual values. PNJ will also present tailor-made designs for specific groups of customers, which is in tandem with the management board's earlier vision.PNJ continuously unveiled jewellery collections with outstanding designs, particular-ly young ones, last year. There were eight PNJ Gold collections with thousands of items and seven PNJ Silver collections with more than 1,200 items.Thanks to investments in designing, PNJ was a big winner at a design competition held by the Saigon Jewellery Association with 11 winning works. Also, the company was chosen to design badges and souvenirs for guests at the 2017 Apec Economic Leaders' Week taking place in Danang City late last year.Working towards social activitiesIn the past 30 years, PNJ has always aimed at sustainable development, associating benefits of customers and communities with its own benefits. The company has grant-ed 57 charity homes to the underprivileged nationwide. Besides, PNJ has run other ac-tivities like offering scholarships, building schools and sponsoring the National Fund for Vietnamese Children, among others, with more than VND10.5 billion spent on those activities so far.Besides using part of its revenue to aid the communities, PNJ has launched a pro-gramme called Cm n vi bn khong xa rac (Thank you for not littering) to raise environ-mental awareness.According to the management board of PNJ, such social activities have made PNJ staff feel more meaningful and committed.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58238/PNJ-strengthens-position-in-jewellery-mar-ket-.html


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ACV has yet to fix errors uncovered by


The numerous errors that the government Inspectorate outlined at Airports Corpora-tion of Vietnam (ACV) have not been fixed yet.Over the three months since government Inspectorate announced Conclusion No.2569/KL-TTCP related to asset and capital usage and management, equitisation, and divestment of ACV, the errors has not been fixed thoroughly.According to Report No.680/BGTVT-TTr of the Ministry of Transport (MoT), before the issue of Conclusion No.2569, ACV had retrieved an amount of VND704 billion ($31 million) to the state budget, added VND132.4 billion ($5.83 million) to ACV's Invest-ment and Development Fund.This company also recorded an increase of VND297 billion ($13.1 million) at E6 run-way project and Danang International Airport. SASCO also returned VND12.9 billion ($0.57 million) to a fund of ACV, collected $902,000 to this company's revenue, and re-turned VND4.5 billion ($0.2 million) of corporate income tax to the state budget.Besides, ACV has reduced projects' value by VND3.56 billion ($0.16 million).MoT has collaborated with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense to pro-pose handling solutions related to the amount of VND61.6 billion ($2.7 million) of cost of compensation, ground clearance of 7.63-hectare land on Tan Son Nhat International Airport, VND12.78 billion ($0.6 million) of asset additionally recorded of runways, and VND903.4 billion of secured asset depreciation.According to Le Dinh Tho, MoT deputy minister, equitisation settlement of parent company ACV has not finished yet due to objective reasons. "The MoT has directed ACV to accelerate equitisation and divestment quickly, carefully, and accurately," he said.Regarding violations of land management raised on Conclusion No.2569, representa-tive of MoT said that it is related to Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and provincial people's committees, so that legal procedures of land management right has been conducting.Relevant to charges of services and the path to the airport terminals, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has just submitted to stop charging until government approves solution. "ACV will drastically follow the decisions of state agencies. ACV will stop charging if MoT agreed with the proposals of CAAV," said Lai Xuan Thanh, chair of ACV.http://www.vir.com.vn/acv-has-yet-to-fix-errors-uncovered-by-government-inspec-torate.html

Phu My Hung starts selling The Signature

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| BZHUB

Phu My Hung Development Corporation on Saturday kicked off the third sales phase of the Phu My Hung Midtown complex it is developing in the South District in the Phu My Hung City Centre in HCM City.The Signature is considered the heart of the complex, which will be built on an area of over 13,500sq.m.The Signature contains two main apartment buildings from 18 to 27 floors in height with 516 condos.The Signature has a unique design, with one building in the shape of an egg and an-other in the shape of a leaf.Seventy one per cent of the apartments will have two bedrooms and range in size from 73sq.m to 78sq.m.The other 28 per cent will be three-bedroom condos. The last is two condos with four bedroomsmeasuring 203-259sq.m.The Signature faces Sakura Park, the only one of its kind in Vietnam. It also overlooks the Nam Vien Villa area and parks.People living here can enjoy all the services and amenities to be developed at the project as well as those already created at the Phu My Hung City Centre.The beginning of the third selling phase was very hectic, totally belying the thinking that the last lunar month is a time when few high-value transactions are done.


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Early on Saturday morning many would-be buyers flocked to the Adora Premium Centre in District 7 to attend the event.Phu My Hung Development Corporation estimated that around over 1000 came to the event, 20 per cent of them foreigners.Since demand was five times supply (270 apartments), Phu My Hung had to organise a draw to select the lucky customers who get the option of buying an apartment at The Signature.Many customers said the sales day at The Signature was the most attractive event they have ever taken part in. Many who had been unable to buy a condo in the previous phase came hoping to get lucky this time.They waited almost with bated breath and were overjoyed when they got the oppor-tunity to buy.In just two hours 100 per cent condos were sold.The success of the Phu My Hung Midtown complex's third selling phase was so mean-ingful not just for the company but also the entire city property market. It promises a bright future for the city's luxury-apartment market in 2018.At the sales event, the corporation signed agreements with Vietcombank and Standard Chartered for special loans for buying condos at The Signature: Customers will not be charged interest until they get possession of their condos.Phu My Hung Midtown Complex is a project with foreign direct investment. This is the first project that Phu My Hung Development Corporation has developed in coop-eration with Japanese partners who are leaders in the construction sector in their coun-try.So about 1000 units have been sold in the complex in three phases, the earlier ones be-ing The Grande and The Symphony.The second selling event of The Signature project will be held in March 2018http://bizhub.vn/property/phu-my-hung-starts-selling-the-signature_291929.html

Vinamilk set to expand abroad


Dairy giant Vinamilk will continue to expand abroad, especially in emerging market like Laos and Myanmar, this year."Vinamilk will build a plant in Myanmar and an organic cow farm of several thousand hectares in Laos this year," Do Thanh Tuan, the company's PR director, told a press conference in HCM City on Thursday.All procedures have been completed for the farm, which will be just 100km from an-other Vinamilk farm in the central province of Nghe An."We will expand our [farms in Vietnam] to meet demand." Tuan said.Now dairy production in the country only meets 35 per cent of the demand."Vinamilk can collect 750 tonnes of fresh milk from its 10 farms and 8,000 farming households daily, and that is enough to meet the national demand for pasteurised milk," Tuan said.The company already has plans in place to process coconuts for export, especially to the United States."Vietnam has huge potential in coconut products, but only one domestic company, TTC, is exporting them. We recognise that demand for coconut products in the US is huge, and Vinamilk decided to enter the market and a large raw material supply area will be set up soon in the southern province of Ben Tre."In the last 20 years, 2017 was the first time the company's exports declined due to po-litical fluctuations in the Middle East, a big market for it, he said."We only achieved 67 per cent of the year's export target, but thanks to an immediate change in strategy to focus on the domestic market, Vinamilk's turnover still increased by 10 per cent from 2016."At the end of last year, the company also marked its presence in the sugar industry by acquiring a 65 per cent stake in the Khanh Hoa Sugar Company for nearly VND1 tril-lion (US$44 million) and changing its name to the Vietnam Sugar Joint Stock Company (Vietsugar).


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"Every year, Vinamilk consumes around 130,000 tonnes of sugar, but the price of sugar in Vietnam is always 30-40 per cent higher than in neighbouring countries, especially Thailand."We will be very active in producing sugar and even plan to triple the capacity of Vi-etsugar to 500,000 tonnes a year," Tuan said.He promised that the sugar made by Vinamilk would be cheaper than others' and the company could take advantage of its 260,000 retail shops to sell the product.Last year, the company had a 58 per cent stake of the estimated $4 billion dairy market.http://bizhub.vn/news/vinamilk-set-to-expand-abroad_291920.html

FPT Software signs 100 million USD contract with Innogy SE


FPT Software Company signed a contract worth over 100 million USD with Innogy SE, a member of European energy company RWE, in Hanoi on January 25.The contract is the biggest ever in 20 years, since Vietnam's largest software business was established in 1999. Innogy SE, which has a network of 23 million clients world-wide, earned 44 billion euro in 2016.Under the contract, FPT Software will provide solutions based on SAP technology, In-ternet of Things and digital conversion platforms for Innogy SE in the period 2018-24.Chair of FPT Software, Hoang Nam Tien, said that being a long-term partner of the RWF would make a great contribution to the firm's revenue in the European market and open up opportunities for accessing the RWE's big customers.Fabian Andreas, purchasing manager of Innogy SE, said his company was developing very fast so it was necessary to ensure access to knowledge and resources, but above all innovation capacity in the field of information technology to change the markets of power, water and gas.Previously, FPT bought all the capital of RWE Slovakia IT in 2014 and changed its name to FPT Slovakia. In the same year, it began projects on providing technology services for RWE AG/Innogy SE. So far, these projects have obtained positive results.FPT Software has been supplying services to about 550 clients globally, 75 of which are listed on the Fortune Global 500.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/fpt-software-signs-100million-usd-contract-with-innogy-se/125684.vnp

SaigonCo.op joint venture opens store


The joint venture between the country's leading retailer Saigon Co.op and Singapore's NTUC FairPrice has opened its third hypermarket in the country in HCM City's Dis-trict 10.The 6,500sq.m Co.opXtra Van Hanh cost nearly 96 billion VND (4.2 million USD) and stocks more than 50,000 items.Besides fresh and industrial foods, cosmetics, household utensils and textiles, it also sells electronic products, sports equipment, vehicles, and stationery.Besides Vietnamese high-quality products, the store also has more than 10,000 items imported from Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the US, the EU, Australia, and New Zealand.To mark the opening, Co.opXtra Van Hanh is offering discounts of up to 50 percent on thousands of essential items until February 2.Besides, customers with bills worth at least 300,000 VND will enter a lucky draw offer-ing prizes such as a Honda SH scooter, an Iphone X, a Sony 49" TV and others.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/saigoncoop-joint-venture-opens-store/125683.vnpSaigonCo.op joint venture opens store

Vietnam rubber latex processing plant inaugurated in Cambodia


The Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) held a ceremony to inaugurate its rubber latex processing plant in Cambodia on January 25.The Chu Se Kampong Thom plant, located in Kampong Thom province, is one of the biggest rubber latex processing plants in Southeast Asia.


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The event was attended by Cambodian deputy prime minister Yim Chhay Ly, local au-thorities, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh, VRG executives, among others.Addressing the ceremony, VRG CEO Tran Ngoc Thuan said, the inauguration of the plant forms part of activities to carry out the joint agreement between the governments of Vietnam and Cambodia on developing 100,000 hectares of rubber trees in Cambo-dia, creating huge economic benefits and jobs for local people.On behalf of the Royal government of Cambodia, deputy prime minister Yim Chhay Ly lauded the socio-economic values of VRG's projects in Cambodia.Over the past ten years, the group has planted nearly 90,000 hectares of rubber trees in eight provinces of Cambodia, worth nearly 700 million USD.The Chu Se Kampong Thom plant is VRG's third plant in the country, with the annual designed capacity of 21,500 tonnes. The figure is expected to be raised to 45,000 tonnes by 2022.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-rubber-latex-processing-plant-inaugurated-in-cambodia/125644.vnp

RoK's CJ Group inaugurates 5th animal food factory in Ha Nam


The Republic of Korea's CJ Group opened its fifth animal food factory at Dong Van In-dustrial Park II in Duy Tien district, the northern province of Ha Nam on January 26.The 31.5 million USD plant, built on an area of 7.5 hectares, is capable of producing 320,000 tonnes of animal food per year. It also provides jobs for 300 local labourers.Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Chair of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Dong said that the CJ's plant will spur the development of the local an-imal husbandry sector and make contributions to modernising the agricultural sector.He asked the group to comply with Vietnamese government's policies and regulations and take care of the material and spiritual life of its workers. Local authorities will con-tinue support for and work to remove bottlenecks for the company in a timely manner, he said.Meanwhile, Lee Tae Ki from CJ Group in Vietnam noted that the animal food factory in Ha Nam is equipped with advanced technologies to provide customers with high-quality products at competitive prices, thus helping develop the livestock sector in the country.CJ Group was established in 1973 and the group is currently has 26 plants in the Re-public of Korea, China, Indonesia and Vietnam.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/roks-cj-group-inaugurates-5th-animal-food-factory-in-ha-nam/125643.vnp

Uber and Grab subject to tax in Hanoi


Uber and Grab, which have offices in HCM City and other cities and provinces, will have to pay taxes to the Hanoi People's Committee.This was one of the contents of the document that the Hanoi People's Committee sub-mitted to the government Office on the management of Uber and Grab under the pilot programme called "Application of information technology in supporting the manage-ment and connection of commercial passenger transportation by contract," according to newswire Zing.According to the document, this proposal is to ensure transparency and equality in tax obligations among passenger transport services providers.Besides, Hanoi proposed the Ministry of Transport (MoT) to add a legal framework and improve authorities' management capacity over electronic transactions and elec-tronic trading in order to control the operations of transport units under this pilot pro-gramme.Hanoi also proposed the government to build regulations to identify ride-hailing ap-plication providers as transport firms and impose similar management measures as for traditional taxi firms. Accordingly, Uber and Grab will have to have a transport trading licence for automobiles, register their fleet as well as declare fares as traditional


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taxi firms.Furthermore, Hanoi also asked ride-hailing application providers to register their e-commerce platform licence.In addition, ride-hailing application providers will have to publicise the number of ve-hicles in their fleets, the routes, the working hours of drivers, as well as the operation areas so that the authorities can control and introduce traffic management methods to avoid traffic jams in the inner city.Finally, MoT and the Hanoi People's Committee will have to reach a comprise on the development plan for ride-hailing application providers in order not to upset the city's traffic planning as well as the passenger transport service system in the city.Previously, Hanoi put up traffic signs banning transportation cars of less than nine seats and using technology applications to provide services to customers from roads that are off-limits to traditional taxis. The ban is piloted on 13 streets in the capital on January 11- February 11.The purpose of the above decision is to create a fair playground for both ride-hailing application providers and traditional taxis. The ban will be effective for one month af-ter which the transport department will survey residents. If the majority of the resi-dents agree with the pilot programme, the department will extend the ban.http://www.vir.com.vn/uber-and-grab-subject-to-tax-in-hanoi.html

MTS Systems arrives in Vietnam


Global supplier of high-performance testing systems and sensors engages local com-pany to support its entry into Vietnam.MTS Systems Corporation, a leading global supplier of high-performance testing sys-tems and sensors, announced on January 25 that the MEDTEC Solutions Co. will sup-port the market segments of MTS Vehicles, Structures and Materials in Vietnam, marking the entry of its products into the country."MTS's expansion in Southeast Asia delivers stronger support to all our customers in the region," said Dr Jeffrey Graves, MTS President and CEO. "Our investment in Viet-nam in particular will provide a faster response to meeting predicted near-term growth and better testing solutions to empower future growth."The appointment of its new business partner, MEDTEC Solutions, will accelerate MTS's growth strategies in the region. It expects significant investments in mechanical testing from Vietnamese industries in the near future, especially in the automotive, civil structural and university sectors. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast 6.8 per cent GDP growth this year in Vietnam.With sales offices in HCM City and Hanoi, MEDTEC Solutions serves the automotive, polymer & petrochemicals, metals, pharmaceutical, medical devices, and higher edu-cation industries, which align with MTS's product and service portfolio and will ben-efit greatly from increased MTS representation in the country.MTS Systems Corporation's testing hardware, software, and services solutions help customers accelerate and improve their design, development, and manufacturing processes and are used for determining the mechanical behavior of materials, prod-ucts, and structures. Its high-performance sensors provide controls for a variety of ap-plications measuring motion, pressure, position, force, and sound. It had 3,500 employees as at September 30 and earned revenue of $788 million in fiscal year ending September 30.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/mts-systems-arrives-in-vietnam

TH Group begins construction of juice factory in Son La


The TH Group began construction of its fruit and fruit juice processing factory in Van Ho district in the northern mountainous province of Son La on January 25.Capitalised at 1.2 trillion VND (53 million USD), the factory will be developed in two phases.The first, worth 300 billion VND, will process fruits such as orange, longan, mango and passion fruits with an annual capacity of 30,000 tonnes of products to be sold to other


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fruit juice producers.Meanwhile, the second, valued at 900 billion VND, will provide several kinds of canned fruit juices.In her speech at the groundbreaking ceremony, vice Chairwoman of the National As-sembly Tong Thi Phong suggested the TH Group accelerate the construction of the fac-tory.She also called on local authorities to create the most favourable conditions for the group to put its project into operation soon, helping create more jobs and boosting in-comes for farmers in the locality.Currently, Son La province has 42,600h of fruits and is striving to increase the figure to 100,000 ha by 2020.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/th-group-begins-construction-of-juice-factory-in-son-la/125628.vnp

Ford Vietnam organises first Ford Sunday Service Day


On January 26, Ford Vietnam organised the launching ceremony of Ford Sunday Serv-ice Day, aiming to bring a new experience as well as better service for customers on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. Accordingly, two Ford Sunday Service Days will be held on January 28 and February 4.According to the plan, Ford Sunday Service Day will be implemented at 22 distribu-tion agencies of Ford Vietnam across the country, excluding the distribution agency in Dong Nai province, which is currently undergoing an upgrade.Along with existing services, customers who join Ford Sunday Service Day will enjoy numerous incentive policies, including gifts, vouchers, as well as special maintenance service packages.In the framework of Ford Sunday Service Day, the company's skilled staff members will share their knowledge on car maintenance with customers. The distribution agen-cies will try their best to provide the highest quality services for customers.Pham Van Dung, general director of Ford Vietnam, said that organising Ford Sunday Service Day shows Ford Vietnam's efforts to provide the best products and services for customers, aiming to meet the increase in demand for car maintenance on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. Ford Vietnam is also considering turning Ford Sunday Service Day into a weekly activity for every Sunday.Ford Vietnam expects to serve 1,200 customers on the two Ford Sunday Service Days.As a global company, Ford Motor specialises in designing, manufacturing, and main-taining coaches, trucks, EcoSport-utility vehicles, and trams. Besides, Ford Motor sup-plies financial services through its subsidiary Ford Motor Credit Company. It currently employs a staff of 203,000 all over the world.Ford has one assembly plant in Vietnam with a capacity of 20,000 units a year. The plant, located in the northern province of Hai Duong, is a 75-25 joint venture between Ford and Song Cong Diesel Company.http://www.vir.com.vn/ford-vietnam-organises-first-ford-sunday-service-day.html

SCG unveils satisfactory operating results in 2017


The group's satisfactory 2017 operating results came on the back of its strategy of being promptly adaptable to changes in the market and consumer needs, as it prepares to continue to expand its services.Roongrote Rangsiyopash, president and CEO of leading Thai conglomerate SCG, has just disclosed the group's unaudited operating results for the fiscal year of 2017, with registered revenue from sales increasing 6 per cent year-on-year to VND300.6 trillion ($13.2 billion) from higher chemicals prices, while profit for the period was nearly VND36.7 trillion ($1.6 billion), a decrease of 2 per cent year-on-year, mainly from strong competition in the cement-building materials business.Despite risks associated with the costs of raw materials and energy, the strengthening Thai Baht, and stiffening regional competition this year, SCG focuses on collaborations with digital startups and equipping employees to be adaptable to change, as well as an


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expansion of its service and logistics business to retain its ability to compete. Mean-while, its investments in the Asean are progressing according to plan.In the Vietnamese market, SCG's sales revenue in 2017's fourth quarter amounted to VND6.5 trillion ($297 million), which includes sales from both operations in the coun-try and imports from Thai operations.This represents an increase of 25 per cent year-on-year, mainly from paper packaging and building materials products. The 2017 sales revenue was recorded at VND25.7 tril-lion ($1.13 billion).According to the latest movement in Vietnam, SCG granted scholarships to 114 excel-lent ex-scholars who had been successfully enrolled in universities as business and en-gineering freshmen under the SCG Sharing the Dream Scholarship programme.Moreover, SCG officially handed over a custom-made SCG Sharing the Dream Play-ground for Long Son 2 Primary School in Long Son Commune in the southern prov-ince of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, the location of SCG's flagship Long Son Petrochemical Complex project.In the building materials market, construction grows hand-in-hand with the Vietnam-ese economy, especially in the housing and detached house segments.Recently, SCG Concrete Roof Vietnama subsidiary of SCGwas awarded as one of Vi-etnam's Top 20 Trademarks, and its product 'Elabana' Profile was selected as Viet-nam's Top 10 Golden Products in 2017.These activities manifest SCG's relentless efforts throughout the years to continue im-proving product quality and promote better living standards to answer the needs of Vietnamese consumers.In the packaging business, the demand for packaging has continuously increased, aligning with the Vietnamese economy and higher consumption, which benefits SCG's packaging business."SCG's 2017 operating results are considered satisfactory, despite the heightened do-mestic and regional competition, rising costs of raw materials, and the strengthening Thai Baht which affected the business. However, 2018 brings certain risks such as the rising costs of raw materials for chemicals and packaging, higher energy costs, strengthening Thai Baht, as well as an intense competition in the region, especially in the cement industry," said Roongrote."To mitigate and prepare for these risks, SCG will continue to expand its services and utilise automation and robotics technology to help maximise business efficiency. In ad-dition, the company has established the Reskill Training Programme to develop our employees' capabilities so that they are able to navigate the changes and serve the needs of customers as well as expand the business internationally in the future," he added.SCG has also invested in startups that focus on digital and logistics businesses to allow customers to have access to SCG Logistics' delivery trucks via a digital platform, offer-ing a more convenient and faster service. There are more than 7,000 trucks throughout the Asean region.In addition, SCG also continues to focus on high value added products and services to quickly respond to the needs of consumers. In the past year, the company has invested more than VND2.78 trillion ($123 million) in research and innovation, accounting for approximately 0.9 per cent of its total sales revenue.Sales of high value added products in 2017 totalled at VND117 trillion ($5.17 billion), approximately 39 per cent of the total sales revenue.Meanwhile, collaborations with digital startups are progressing well, with more than 40 on-going projects with potential for commercialisation. The company also sees busi-ness opportunities to connect with startup networks in the US, Israel, and China.The cement and building materials businesses in the Asean are progressing according to plan, serving rising demands in the regional market. Currently SCG operates ce-ment plants in six countries, with a total production capacity of 33.6 million tonnes per year, including the operations in Thailand."SCG has also acquired a 68.3 per cent stake in Interpress Printers, a leading manufac-


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turer of fast food packaging in Malaysia. The acquisition will benefit SCG's develop-ment of fast food packaging to cover the fast-growing consumer demand in the Asean," said Roongrote.http://www.vir.com.vn/scg-unveils-satisfactory-operating-results-in-2017.html

SCG keen to acquire Long Son project


Thai Group asks government to allow it to increase its current 71 percent holding in long-stalled petroleum complex project.The Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest cement maker, may become the only investor in the $5.4 billion Long Son Petroleum Complex.It sent a request to the government on acquiring the entire project to accelerate progress, which had been delayed for some time. SCG currently holds 71 per cent of the complex and PetroVietnam the remainder.SCG CEO Roongrote Rangsiyopash said the company is negotiating with the govern-ment on investment and construction details. Chaovalit Ekabut, SCG's Chief Financial Officer, said the project could be delayed for six more months. It is scheduled to begin operations in the first half of 2022, and con-struction could begin in the first half of this year.Since 2008, when the project was approved, many investors have been involved but not actually invested. Vietnam's largest petrochemical complex has stagnated for many years, and was originally slated to come online last year.Qatar's State-owned Qatar Petroleum acquired a 25 per cent stake in the project in 2012. It withdrew in 2015, however, because of falling oil prices affecting the compa-ny's operations. SCG, which already held a 46 per cent stake, decided to purchase Qa-tar Petroleum's holding after finding a new partner.The project plays an important role in the growth of SCG. "We can clearly see that with the Long Son project, our petrochemicals sector will expand and our business in Viet-nam will also grow stronger," Rangsiyopash said.In order to diversify production activities, SCG is seeking opportunities to expand to other countries in the region, building factories in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, and My-anmar.It has bolstered its investment in packaging production, buying a 68.3 per cent stake in Malaysia's Interpress Printers Sendirian Berhad for $26.5 million earlier this week.SCG's net income in the second quarter of 2017 fell 2 per cent to $1.73 billion, with rev-enue rising 6 per cent, revealing the serious competition found in the cement and building materials sectors.Cement and other construction materials accounted for 39 per cent of total group sales, with petrochemicals accounting for 46 per cent. Revenues from Southeast Asia, ex-cluding Thailand, increased 9 per cent, accounting for 24 per cent of total sales.SCG is the largest and oldest cement and building materials company in Thailand and Southeast Asia.vneconomictimes.com/article/business/scg-keen-to-acquire-long-son-project

Phu Yen province receives wind power mega project


A wind power project has just officially received the investment certificate at the Phu Yen Investment Promotion Conference on January 19.This 300-megawatt project called HBRE-Phu Yen Wind Power Plant will be invested by HBRE Phu Yen Company.HBRE-Phu Yen Wind Power Plant will be constructed in Tuy An district with the total investment of over VND9 trillion ($396.5 million).According to Ho Ta Tin, chair of HBRE Group, to successfully receive the certificate, the investor has conducted research and constructed several wind stations to measure technical statistics related to the feasibility of the project for over a year."With the average wind speed of 7-8 metre per second, the site has huge potential for generating electricity," Tin added.Following the design, the project is going to construct 100 wind turbines. These tur-


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bines are expected to use equipment and technology exported from the US and Eu-rope, costing around 60-70 per cent of the total investment.Tin said that the documents for investment implementation are in progress so that con-struction works can start in late 2018.HBRE-Phu Yen Wind Power Plant is co-funded by world-leading groups in the renew-able energy sector. "After considering a number of prestigious investors around the world, we gave the best marks to those from Singapore. They have rich experience, cutting-edge technology, high credit, and firm financial strength as well as strong de-termination to carry out the project, so we decided to collaborate with them," Tin shared.According to Lim Tian Michael, head of Business Development & Commercial Asset Management (Renewables)Sembcorp Utilities at Sembcorp Industries, after 20 years of investing in Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs), the future investment strat-egy of Sembcorp will be expanding investments into renewable energy in Vietnam, in-cluding wind power."Based on Semcorp's stringent examination and assessment, we consider that the project is a great investment in Vietnam, so the two parties have discussed collaborat-ing and further details related to the project in Phu Yen. This is also the very first wind power project as well as the first one in Vietnam that Sembcorp implements with HBRE Group," Michael noted.Speaking of the renewable energy sector, Michael added that even though Sembcorp has not directly invested in or collaborated to carry out any projects yet, the group has conducted a number of projects of this kind with the total capacity of over 2,000MW around the world.Phu Yen province receives wind power mega project"Before making the decision to cooperate with HBRE, Semcorp has thoroughly exam-ined the project as well as HBRE Group. HBRE Group is our ultimate partner for this project. Thus, we believe we will achieve great success."HBRE Group is a professional investor in wind power in Vietnam. The group has in-vested in phase 1 of the construction and operation of the wind farm in Ea H'Leo dis-trict in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak. This project has a total capacity of 28MW, total investment of VND1.4 trillion ($62 million), and is expected to come into operation in the middle of 2018.In addition, the group has received approval from the Gia Lai People's Committee to conduct research on feasible investment into a wind farm project with the total capac-ity of 80MW in Gia Lai. In the central province of Ha Tinh, HBRE Group is analysing investment opportunities for a 120MW wind farm project.According to the Global Wind Atlas produced by TrueWind Solutions in 2001, Viet-nam had the biggest potential for wind power among the four countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. The Central Highlands and the Central Coast of Viet-nam were found to have considerably good wind speed for such projects.http://www.vir.com.vn/phu-yen-province-receives-wind-power-mega-project.html

Former Vinashin chief arrested


Arrest part of ongoing fight against graft and corruption.A former Chair of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corp. (Vinashin) was arrested on January 25 for allegedly accepting illegal deposit interest payments from the scan-dal-hit OceanBank, as Vietnamese authorities step up their crackdown on graft.The Ministry of Public Security said Nguyen Ngoc Su, the former Chair of Vinashin, is suspected of using Vinashin money to deposit savings into OceanBank that allowed some company executives to appropriate $4.7 million in excessive interest payments.Su, 61, served as Chair of Vinashin from October 2012 until retiring in August last year. Prior to that he was deputy CEO in charge of finance at State oil giant PetroVietnam.His arrest is part of the second stage of investigations into violations at OceanBank. Last September, 51 bankers and businesspeople stood trial in Hanoi for losses totalling nearly VND1.6 trillion ($70.4 million) at the bank.


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Former OceanBank Chair Ha Van Tham was sentenced to life in prison after being held mainly responsible for offering deposit rates above those set by the central bank to var-ious customers between 2010 and 2014. He claimed it was part of a strategy to attract funds and keep the business afloat, but his argument was dismissed.The list of beneficiaries included many State-owned giants such as PetroVietnam, which itself owned a 20 per cent share in OceanBank.Nguyen Xuan Son, former Chair of PetroVietnam, received the death penalty for ap-propriating VND246 billion ($13.6 million) from the bank in excessive interest pay-ments.According to the investigation, more than 50,000 individuals and nearly 400 organisa-tions and businesses received preferential deposit interest payments from the bank.Scores of officials and bankers have been put on trial recently for economic crimes as authorities stepped up their crackdown on corruption under the watch of Communist Party general Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who was re-elected to another five-year term in 2016.Vietnam's highest-profile graft trial wrapped up on January 22, when Dinh La Thang, former Politburo member and former Chair of PetroVietnam, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Thang is set to stand trial again later this month for his role in the OceanBank case, for which he is facing up to 20 years in prison.Trinh Xuan Thanh, a former Chair of PetroVietnam's construction arm PVC, was given life imprisonment for embezzlement in the same trial, which also included 20 other de-fendants, most of them former oil executives.OceanBank was taken over by the State Bank of Vietnam in 2015 at no cost after report-ed accumulated losses of $445 million. The bank was founded in 1993 with a 20 per cent stake from Ocean Group, which also invests in hospitality, securities, media, and retail.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/vietnam-today/former-vinashin-chief-arrested

Second national survey on women's health and life experiences launched


Survey launched to protect Vietnamese women's rights.A launch workshop for the second national survey on women's health and life experi-ence, funded by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, was held on January 25 in Hanoi by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) in cooperation with the General Statistical Office (GSO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam.In attendance were Pham Ngoc Tien, director of the Gender Equality Department at MoLISA, H.E. Craig Chittick, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, and Astrid Bant from UNFPA, together with representatives from MoLISA, the GSO, other line minis-tries, northern provinces, UN agencies, development partners, and international and local NGOs.Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a serious human rights violation and has harmful socioeconomic consequences. According to the National Survey on Violence Against Women in Vietnam, conducted by the GSO and supported by the UN in Viet-nam, in 2010, 58 per cent of women aged from 18-60 who are or have been married have experienced violence at least once in their lives. Of huge concern is that up to 87 per cent of women suffering from violence do not seek any support from public service providers. The study confirmed that violence against women in Vietnam is a serious problem. This figure, however, is only for violence against women within the family setting.Vietnam made good progress in its gender equality targets under Millennium Devel-opment Goal 3. The national legal framework for gender equality and women's em-powerment has been strengthened. However, the prevalence of VAWG remains high and poorly addressed. The study will therefore allow for reliable estimates to be made key indicators on violence against women and girls for six economic-geographical re-gions, for urban and rural areas, for Kinh and non-Kinh populations, and for the coun-try as a whole.


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"In order to develop appropriate, effective, and practical policies, apart from staff ca-pacity we need reliable data and information as evidence for guiding and building laws and policies," Tien told the launch. "I also hope that data collected from the sur-vey will continue to be further analysed to understand the different effects of violence on the country's socioeconomic development. The data collected will be very helpful for policymakers, programmers at national and provincial levels, government agen-cies, social organisations, services providers for survivors, communities, and people in society.""Data on women and girls' experience of violence is the critical first step in providing a just and adequate response to the problem," said Ambassador Chittick. "Most impor-tantly, it also shows women and girls that we believe them and that we have the cour-age to address this hidden harm.""We are very happy to collaborate with the Australian Embassy to support Vietnam in conducting the second national survey on women's health and life experiences," said Bant. "I hope this study will help us collect data and measure the impact of joint efforts in the last decade on ending violence against women and girls. Let's work together to-wards a Vietnam where no woman should have to live in fear, no matter where she is, and where all women are treated with dignity and respect."With technical assistance from UNFPA in Vietnam, this second national survey will be implemented by the GSO in March. MoLISA will be the leading agency in coordinat-ing the survey and in disseminating the results, in early 2019, and in advocating the use of the data in the development, implementation, and monitoring of VAWG-related programmes and policies in Vietnam.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/society/second-national-survey-on-women-s-health-and-life-experiences-launched

2017 Outstanding Property awards given away


Chair of Vingroup, Pham Nhat Vuong, has won the Property Business Person of the Year award at the Outstanding Property Awards given away by Nhp Cau Dau Tu (In-vestment Bridge) magazine.Vingroup also won in the Outstanding Developer category for Office Building Retail along with AEON Vietnam LtdSun Group won in the Outstanding Developer category for Resort and Hotel along with Tanzanite International, and in the Best Feng Shui category with its Sun Grand City Ancora Residence.Trung Nam Construction and Investment JSC won for Best Public Infrastructure and DKRA Vietnam for Outstanding Distributor.Siam City Cement Vietnam, Coteccons Construction JSC and Hoa Binh Construction Group shared the award for Best Construction Materials Provider and Construction Enterprises.Thuan Viet, Phu Long, An Gia, Hung Thinh, and Khang Dien shared the award for Outstanding Developer in the Luxury and Mid-level Apartments category.Pho Dong, Tien Phuoc, Nam Long, and Phuc Khang shared the award for Outstanding Designer.The winners were chosen by a jury of experts.Last year the property market grew by over 4 per cent and contributed 0.21 per cent to GDP growth.It attracted over $3 billion in FDI, or 8.5 per cent of the total amount.This year is again expected to be good, with apartments expected to see prices rise by an average of 3 per cent.http://bizhub.vn/property/2017-outstanding-property-awards-given-away_291881.html

Dozen agreements signed at Vietship 2018


Vietship 2018 saw 12 contracts and memoranda of understanding worth millions of dollars, marked increased cooperation between domestic and foreign partners.


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At the signing ceremony, six cooperation contracts were signed, including three con-tracts for building cruise ships between Halong Shipbuilding Company and three oth-er partners.Additionally, Bach Dang Shipbuilding Company signed a contract with H.P.C Mari-time JSC on the purchase of a 22,500-dwt oil tanker, and Vietnam Shipbuilding Engi-neering JSC and H.P.C Maritime JSC signed agreements to convert their 22,500-dwt and 17,500-dwt vessels into tankers of similar capacity. Finally, there was one ship-building contract between 189 Co., Ltd and GreenlinesDP Technology Co., LtdBesides, other memoranda of understanding (MoUs) include building three fishing trawlers and four barges, building a 6,500dwt tanker, and building a new ship named Jetcat, among others."These are opportunities for Vietnamese and international enterprises to exchange technology, attract investment, and promote trade, as well as boost the development of Vietnamese shipbuilding," said deputy minister of Transport Nguyen Van Cong.The signed ceremony took place within the framework of Vietship 2018 in the presence of representatives from over 100 domestic and foreign enterprises attending Vietship 2018the ninth international exhibition on shipbuilding, shipping, and offshore equip-ments, held by Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC) in Hanoi.Since the first event in 2002, Vietship has become a convergence point for Vietnam and other countries to demonstrate advanced technologies in shipbuilding, marine equip-ment, shipping services, and marine and offshore engineering.http://english.vov.vn/economy/dozen-agreements-signed-at-vietship-2018-367629.vov

Three agricultural shows to be held in HCM City


Agriculture Hub Vietnam, the country's largest exhibition in the agricultural sector and comprising three separate international exhibitions on livestock breeding, cultiva-tion, and agricultural machinery and equipment, will be held in HCM City in March.The three exhibitions are HortEx Vietnam (the first exhibition and conference on hor-ticultural and floricultural production and processing technology), Agri Machinery & Tech Vietnam Expo (the first international show on agricultural machinery, equipment and technologies), and ILDEX Vietnam (the seventh international exhibition on live-stock, dairy, meat processing and aquaculture).They are expected to attract around 420 exhibitors from 35 countries and territories, in-cluding Vietnam, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the US, Japan, Canada, the Republic of Korea, China, and India.Speaking at a press briefing for the event last week, Nguyen Ba Vinh, director of Minh Vi Exhibition and Advertisement Service Co Ltd (VEAS), one of the organisers, said: "Many foreign exhibitors will come for the first time to Vietnam. And they want to con-nect with Vietnamese companies."They will showcase the latest services and technologies related to livestock breeding, cultivation and agricultural machinery and equipment. The event will also feature conferences and seminars to provide visitors with up-to-date information about the sectors, he said.Co-organised along with partners from Thailand, the Netherlands and China, Agricul-ture Hub Vietnam will offer domestic businesses a good chance to seek partners for market expansion and acquire state-of-art technologies from leading countries.The event, to be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre from March 14 to 16, is expected to attract more than 15,000 trade visitors.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/three-agricultural-shows-to-be-held-in-hcm-city/125671.vnp

Five safe farm produce fairs to be opened in 2018

29/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| SGGP NEWS

The HCM City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development just held a meeting yesterday to review its safe farm produce fairs.At the meeting, the department said since August 2016 to date it has launched 3 safe


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farm produce fairs at Dong Ho restaurant on Cao Thang street, Le Thi Rieng Park in district 10 and Le Van Tam Park in district 1.Total 55 organisations have participated in the fairs. In 2018, it is expected to open more five safe farm produce fairs in districts 2, 7, Tan Binh, Binh Tan and Binh Phu.The department said all farm produces which were showcased at the fair, are certifi-cated VietGAP, GlobalGAP and under the city's safe product chain.sggpnews.org.vn/business/five-safe-farm-produce-fairs-to-be-opened-in-2018-72430.html

Can Tho hosts Mekong Delta Trade Fair 2018


Over 200 local and foreign enterprises are displaying their products at the Mekong Delta Economic Trade Fair 2018, which opened in the southern city of Can Tho on Thursday.The event is designed to create favourable conditions for businesses to develop the market and serve the shopping needs of consumers in the Mekong Delta on the occa-sion of the upcoming Lunar New Year 2018.The displayed products include garments and textile products, leather shoes, cosmet-ics and food, as well as soft drinks, handicrafts, ornamental plants and many speciali-ties of the Mekong Delta.The event is organised by the Viet Trademark Development Research CentreVietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, in cooperation with the Commercial Investment Promotion Centre and Exhibition Fair of Can Tho, Vietnam Brand Com-munication Trade Promotion Joint Stock Company, and some other units.It is being held at the Exhibition Fair Centre of Can Tho City until January 31.http://bizhub.vn/news/can-tho-hosts-mekong-delta-trade-fair-2018_291892.html

Trade fair displays local goods


Jointly-hosted by the An Giang Province People's Committee, the provincial Trade Promotion Centre and Sai Gon IP Corp, the fair displays consumer goods, foodstuff, furniture, footwear, apparel, fine arts and handicrafts.The event has been described as a good opportunity for firms to advertise their trade-marks and introduce goods to local customers to boost provincial trade turnover, or-ganisers said.It will run until February 2.http://bizhub.vn/news/trade-fair-displays-local-goods_291938.html End


290118Intellasia Finance Vietnam - HKBAV · E-government still far away 9 France pours over 2...

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