180618 Intellasia Finance Vietnam - HKBAV Intellasia_Finance_Vietnam.pdf · Digital economy offers...

18 June 2018

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Reference exchange rate opens new week with rise 2More pressure put on inflation as Fed raises benchmark

interest rate 2Financial experts urge caution against dollar loans 3Banks rush to provide consumer loans, compete with finance

companies 5VN banks actively applying 4.0 technologies 5Huge number of bank cards unused 6Banks to strongly raise profit targets as business prospers 7Unlike others, Techcombank and HDBank target at wholesale 9Techcombank to complete procedures to raise capital to

nearly 35 trillion dong in July 10Strong State coffer depends on tax revenue 10Hanoi needs new momentum for growth: prime minister 11Hanoi follows international development investment trend:

Indonesian Ambassador 12Hanoi leads in six-month FDI attraction for first time 13Quang Binh attracts 14 investment projects in five months 14An Giang to seek investors for 54 projects 15New businesses to enjoy fee-free services in Hanoi 15HCM City calls for more healthcare projects under

public-private partnership 16Kien Giang targets 9.5 billion USD for socio-economic

development 17NA passes resolution on State capital control in SOEs 17VN cyber law keeps with treaties 18Decree 116 moves foreign car makers to expand production in

Vietnam? 18Law on special economic units aims to create new momentum 19Vietnam likely to achieve 10pct export growth this year 20Agricultural product exports via Lao Cai border gate surge 21Seafood exports to China surge 21Chinese and Thai produce top Vietnamese imports of fruit and

vegetables 22Sharp drop in pork and beef imports 22Sticky rice sees price reduction 22Hanoi sets up large-scale aquatic farming areas in eight districts 23Digital economy offers SMEs a bright new world of opportunity 23Being smart in the 'smart' era 24Local companies embracing environment and the community 26Furniture firms must use domestic materials 28Premium product market in VN set to take off 28Pharmaceutical firms make big investments on

predicted market growth 30Cashew industry suffers from weakness 32Vietnam's aviation market heats up 32More foreign investors enter Vietnam's logistics industry 33Foreigners active in food and beverage startups 34

Vietnam's hotel market attracts foreign management companies 35JLL: Industrial property holds promise 35HCM City in property boom 36Grabbing Grab's share a tough ask in Vietnam 37Da Nang seeks EU investment 38

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Business Briefs 18 Jun 2018 39VN Index struggles to regain lost ground 40VN stocks positive on ETF reviews 40Stock market briefs 41Fed's interest rate hike not to have large impact on

Vietnamese stock market 41Stock market confronting macro risks 42Feasibility studies completed for several southern

expressway projects 42TV market heats up for World Cup 43No betting on World Cup matches in Vietnam 43More efforts required to fight cigar smuggling 44International travellers daily spend VND3.3 million each

in HCM City 45Farmers earn higher incomes from protecting mangrove forests 45Thousands of foreign specialists work in Binh Duong,

live in HCM City 46Burial plots offered for sale 46Vietnam builds IT and foreign language centre 47Hanoi's $4 billion smart city to enter first phase by late 2018 48New tollgates in Long An start fee collection on Sunday 48Investor of Trung Luong-My Thuan Expy gets funds for

construction 49BASF introduces chemical-based battery materials for

electric vehicles 50Navigos, ILSSA strike labour information deal 50Vinamilk preparing ambitious plan for Burma market 51TRACODI shareholders set $3.4mln profit goal 51AMD targets 2018 revenue of $100.7 mn 52Saigon Co.op distributes VietGAP litchis 52$53 million hospital to be built in Da Nang 53Da Lat to launch $50-m sheep wool yarn spinning plant 53Alpha King to change HCM City skyline 54HATECO LAROMA to open at end-2019 54Savico sets low targets 55Viettel's general director appointed as new chair 56Seminar sheds light on Kien Giang's real estate 56Local startups can join MTA Vietnam 2018 58Youth Co:Lab Vietnam 2018 kicks off 59HCM City to host Asian-Pacific cities' tourism promotion forum 60

FINANCE
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Vietnam finance & business 18 June 2018

ANCEReference exchange rate opens new week with rise

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNA

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate for June 18, the first day of the week, at 22,602 VND/USD, up 7 VND from the last day of previous week.With the current trading band of +/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,280 VND/USD and the floor rate 21,926 VND/USD.The opening hour rates at commercial banks either stayed unchanged or saw slight ris-es.Vietcombank and BIDV maintained the same rates as on June 15, buying the greenback at 22,785 VND/USD and selling at 22,855 VND/USD.Techcombank adjusted both rates up by 10 VND, listing the buying rate at 22,765 VND/USD and the selling rate at 22,865 VND/USD.The reference exchange rate was on a rising trend throughout the week from June 11 to 15, opening the week at 22,567 VND/USD and ending at 22,595 VND/USD.Meanwhile, the trend at commercial banks was mixed during the week.The buying rate at Vietcombank opened the week at 22,765 VND/USD and ended the week at 22,755 VND per USD. The selling rate started the week at 22,835 VND/USD, and ended at 22,845 VND per USD.At BIDV the buying rate was at 22,765 VND/USD on the first day of the week and 22,775 VND/USD on the last day. The selling rate was 22,835 VND/USD and 22,845 VND/USD, respectively.At Techcombank, the buying rate stood at 22,745 VND/USD on Monday (June 11) and 22,755 VND/USD on June 15. The selling rate was at 22,845 VND/USD on Monday and 22,855 VND/USD on Friday.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-opens-new-week-with-rise/133043.vnp

More pressure put on inflation as Fed raises benchmark interest rate

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| BAO DAU TU

The U.S Federal Reserve (Fed) decided to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 per-centage points while implying that from now till the end of the year, the rate could be raised two more times. How will this affect the Vietnamese economy?*What are the risks for the Vietnamese economy? On the morning of June 14 (local time in Vietnam), Fed officially announced to raise benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points. As such, after remaining the inter-est rate of 1.5-1.75 percent in May, in this June, the decision was made. With this deci-sion, the federal interest rate is currently about 1.75-2%.In fact, Fed's decision to raise interest rate was not surprising to investors as well as economic experts because it was anticipated.The surprising thing was that, along with the decision to raise interest rate this time, Fed also hinted that there would be two more interest rate hikes this year.That means in 2018, there will have four times of interest rate increases instead of just three last year and the previous projection. The reason for Fed's interest rate hike was because Fed's economy has strengthened.Responding to the aforementioned information, the U.S stock market immediately went down on Wednesday.All the three indexes of Down Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell. There needs time to wait for the world market's reaction, but surely many economies are worried about this decision of Fed. The reason is the U.S' interest rate hike will make the US dollar to be preferred, and its value will increase compared to other currencies, includ-ing dong.Regarding this issue, economists admit that Fed's decision to raise interest rate is not too surprising as it was anticipated and this will have certain impact on Vietnam's economy. "The fact that the U.S continued to raise interest rate as well as the relative positive growth of the world's biggest economy is likely to lead to the US dollar appre-ciation instead of depreciating like last year, putting pressure on Vietnam currency", said Can Van Luc.

Intellasia 18 June 2018 2 / 60

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Senior expert Cao Viet Sinh, former vice minister of the Ministry of Planning and In-vestment (MOPI) said Fed's decision to raise interest rate along with the announce-ment to increase interest rate two more times in this year" will "greatly influence on Vietnam's economy". "There may not have large impact in the immediate future but it is going to be different at the end of the year, perhaps even more in the following year. This decision is going to affect dong's exchange rate. Currently, Vietnam still runs trade surplus ($2.67 billion after the first five months of the year-reporter), so there is not much affect. However, we still have to consider exchange rate issue in the long run," said Cao Viet Sinh.The information shows that currently, though Fed has not raised interest rate, the ex-change rate pressure was higher than the previous year. Last year, the US dollar de-preciated nearly 10 percent but since the beginning of this year, this currently increased about 1.8%. This will put pressure on US dollar/dong exchange rate.In the recently released macro-economic report in the first five months of the year, the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC) said from now till the end of 2018, there needs to pay attention to exchange rate issue because the US dollar is tend-ing to increase again, especially when Fed continues to increase interest rate. "There needs to keep abreast of the exchange rate policy and have flexible regulatory moves", said NFSC.*More pressure on inflationNot just exchange rate issue, Fed's interest rate hike which may be four times in this year, will put more inflation pressure on Vietnam, which has been a concern of the economy. "It is likely that Fed's interest rate increase does not have direct impact but will have indirect impact on Vietnam's inflation", said Cao Viet Sinh.It should be recalled that right after the General Statistical Office announced the esti-mated 5-month average Consumer Price Index (CPI) to swell 3.01 percent from the same period last year, although it is within the allowable threshold of less than four percent, many economic experts suppose that inflation pressure is returning to Viet-nam economy.The reports of the government, MPOI also mentioned this and emphasized that CPI in May 2018 increased about 0.55 percent from the previous month, the highest increase in five months compared to previous months in six recent years."With the gradually increasing CPI trend since the beginning of the year, the room to regulate and control prices in the last months of the year is rather limited, and there needs to ensure the CPI increase at reasonable level, ensuring the target of less than four percent for the whole year", MOPI emphasized.Meanwhile, in the latest macro-economic report, NFSC said if the oil price increases an average of about 24-25 percent from the same period, to $65/barrel following the latest forecast of the World Bank, it will cause the price of traffic group to rise about 8-10 per-cent compared to the previous year, and inflation in 2018 may improve 4-4.1 percent year-on-year.If the average oil price in 2018 increases 17-20 percent compared to 2017 as forecasted from the beginning of the year (reaching $60-62/barrel), it will cause the price of traffic group to rise about 5-7 percent from the previous year and inflation in 2018 is forecast-ed to swell about 3.5-3.8 percent from the same period last year.However, with the current developments along with Fed's interest rate hike, this year's inflation is likely to suffer from more pressure. Even, Can Van Luc said it would have been a success if this year's inflation is maintained at four percent.

Financial experts urge caution against dollar loans

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNS

xperts have warned enterprises to be more cautious with their US dollar loans amidst a significant rise in the lending and appreciation of the greenback.Statistics of commercial banks showed that despite a decline in dollar deposits, their dollar lending increased significantly in the first quarter of this year.At BIDV, for example, dollar deposits in the first quarter of this year dropped by 6.05 per cent against early this year, while dollar loans rose by 4.01 per cent to $4.24 billion


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(VND96.79 trillion).The same move was seen at ACB, which posted an 8.99 per cent decline in dollar de-posits but an 8.19 per cent rise in lending to $419.74 million (VND9.57 trillion) in the first quarter.During this period, the foreign currency lending growth rate in some banks was even higher than 10 per cent.MB reported a surge of 11.9 per cent in dollar loans to $1.05 billion (VND24.05 trillion) while the rate at LienVietPostBank even reached 17.08 per cent to $258.77 million (VND5.9 trillion).In its economic and financial report in the first four months of this year, the National Financial Supervisory Commission noted that the country's capital mobilisation rose by 3.5 per cent against December last year, of which dong deposits increased by 3.7 per cent and US dollar deposits declined by 3.1 per cent.During this period, credit growth in dong increased by 4.1 per cent against late last year, and the rising rate in the greenback lending was 6.3 per cent.The dollar loans accounted for 8.1 per cent of the country's total outstanding loans, higher than the 7.9 per cent proportion in late 2017.Currently, enterprises prefer to borrow foreign currency due to its low interest rates.The lending interest rates for short-term US dollar loans are now roughly 2.5 to 4 per cent, while the rates for short-term loans in dong are some 7 to 9 per cent.Financial experts, however, have warned enterprises to be more cautious about the low-cost capital source as the value of the dollar has been appreciating significantly against the dong and there are risks of more pressure on the VND/US$ exchange rate from now until the end of the year due to the global market volatility and domestic in-flation.Much lowerAfter being adjusted upwards consecutively since the beginning of this year, the cen-tral bank's daily reference exchange rate rose by 0.8 per cent, from VND22,415 per dol-lar on December 31 last year to VND22,605 on May 29 this year. However, the rate of increase was much lower than the 2.6 per cent increase in the US Dollar Index in the world market.Ngo Dang Khoa, head of global markets at HSBC Vietnam, told the Lao Dong (Labour-er) newspaper that the global market's pressure on the VND/US$ exchange rate was hard to avoid due to a recent hike of the US government bonds and the US Fed's inter-est rate hike.On June 13, the Fed raised its benchmark overnight lending rate a quarter of a percent-age point to a range of 1.75 per cent to 2 per cent.Besides, some unexpectedly domestic factors, including rising dollar demands, trade deficit in May and low foreign indirect investment inflow in the first two weeks of May, caused the dong to sharply depreciate against the dollar last month. In May alone, the dollar appreciated by VND50 against the dong, the highest rising level to date this year.However, the advantage of stable macroeconomic fundamentals and high foreign ex-change reserves will help the central bank actively manage the exchange rate policy flexibly and stably when needed, Khoa said.To avoid shocks when the market is undergoing negative changes and to help firms do business stably and effectively, Khoa suggested that enterprises should actively use market products to prevent exchange rate and interest rate risks.Boost exportsEarlier this year, the central bank decided to extend the foreign currency lending pol-icy for certain exporters until the end of the year to continuously help local exporters increase their competitive edge and boost exports since their businesses and produc-tion continued to face difficulties.This is also among the government's incentive policies aimed at supporting and devel-oping local enterprises until 2020, which was approved in Decree 35/NQ-CP, issued in May 2016.


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Banks rush to provide consumer loans, compete with finance companies

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAM NET

The State Bank of Vietnam says that outstanding consumer loans exceeded VND1,000 trillion in 2017, but market share held by finance companies shrank to less than 10 per-cent, very small compared with the total number of consumer loans.Consumer lend-ing has become an increasingly important business for banks. In 2017, VP Bank reported revenue and profit growth rates of 45 percent and 55 percent, respectively, from consumer loans.FE Credit, the finance companies belonging to VP Bank, made up 51 percent of the bank's total profit. Its outstanding loans in 2017 reached VND45 trillion, or 12 times higher than 2014, but only accounted for 25 percent of VP Bank's outstanding loans.As such, the outstanding loans of FE Credit alone accounted for 50 percent of total out-standing loans in the consumer finance market, three times higher than that of the sec-ond largest lender Home Credit with 16 percent.A representative of FE Credit said it now has more than 7 million clients, 7,000 partners and 11,000 sale points throughout the country.With such a large scale, VP Bank has been continuously seeking capital sources. It bor-rowed $50 million from Lion Asia, $100 million from Deutsche Bank and $100 million from Credit Suisse AG Singapore.In 2015, HDBank sold 49 percent of HD Finance shares to Credit Saison, one of the larg-est Japanese consumer lenders. HD Saison joint venture began stepping up lending.Its strategy of targeting young consumers and focusing on short term lending has quickly brought achievements.The 2017 report showed that 41 percent of loans were disbursed to fund motorbike purchases, 24 percent to fund household-use appliances.More than 32 percent of loans were in cash and 2.5 percent were disbursed for other lending products. More than 45 percent of total loans were short term (less than 12 months).With finance consumer loans of VND9.5 trillion, HD Saison now ranks third among the biggest consumer lenders, just behind FE Credit and Home Credit.Other banks, encouraged by the big achievements gained by FE Credit and HD Saison, have jumped on the bandwagon. Mcredit of the Military Bank, which debuted in 2016, had consumer loans of VND2.242 trillion by the end of the first quarter of 2018, with more than 352,000 clients.MB Shinsei, the joint venture of MB and Shinsei Bank, hopes that Mcredit will be among the top five finance consumer companies with total outstanding loans of VND5.9 trillion in 2018 and pre-tax profit of VND300 billion.The 2018 shareholders' meeting of the Saigon Hanoi Bank (SHB) approved the plan to put SHB Finance Company into operation, commencing from July.OCB's shareholders have also approved a plan to set up OCB Finance Company.The State Bank of Vietnam says that outstanding consumer loans exceeded VND1,000 trillion in 2017, but market share held by finance companies shrank to less than 10 per-cent, very small compared with the total number of consumer loans.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/202399/banks-rush-to-provide-consumer-loans--compete-with-finance-companies.html

VN banks actively applying 4.0 technologies


Vietnamese banks have actively researched and invested in technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, said Nguyen Kim Anh, deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vi-etnam (SBV).A seminar on the banking sector in the fourth industrial revolution was organised in Hanoi on Friday.Some of the technologies applied include cloud computing, big data analysis, artificial intelligence and applications and solutions such as biometric authentication and open application programme interface (open API).These technologies help to improve operational efficiency and overall customer expe-rience, Anh said.


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Banks also utilise distribution channels and access, and interact with users on digital platforms, smartphone applications and social networks. They have applied digital technologies to improve the efficiency of internal systems operations and business process optimisation.As a result, banks can improve their customer relationship management, helping them to better understand the habits and tastes of their customers to provide the best prod-ucts and support risk management, said Anh.Speaking at the event, deputy minister of Science and Technology Pham Dai Duong said that banking is one of the leading sectors in applying scientific and technological advances in management and business.This has created a solid foundation and competitive advantages in the context of dig-ital economy development as the world economic centre gradually shifts from the West to the East.However, according to deputy minister of Science and Technology Pham Dai Duong, besides the advantages there are many risks and challenges when the development of new technologies such as blockchain, big data and artificial intelligence requires the banking industry to adapt its management and product structures.The risks also come from issues such as cyber security, he said.Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh also said that the banking sector will face great challenges in completing the legal framework for banking operations in accordance with the context of industrial revolution 4.0 development. Other challenges for banks include changing their governance and business model to adapt to customer trends, alongside threats in cyber security risk prevention and customer information protec-tion.Economic experts said that to develop rapidly and efficiently in line with the trends of the world, the banking sector should concentrate resources to apply new legal frame-works, and create a good ecological environment for credit institutions and fintech companies to develop financial services in the digital platform to increase the access of people and businesses.In addition, the experts also advised the sector to invest in IT infrastructure to modern-ise and automate most of the banking process, and to develop banking services through digital technology.This requires the resources of not only banks and credit institutions, but also of the government. The government needs to invest in the development of national techno-logical infrastructure, and carry out incentives to encourage banks to develop financial products and services.http://bizhub.vn/banking/vn-banks-actively-applying-40-technologies_295975.html

Huge number of bank cards unused


Fifty million of the 132 million bank cards issued in the country are not in use, causing an enormous waste of resources, the Vietnam Bank Card Association has said."Each bank card costs around VND30,000 (US$1.3) and 50 million inoperative cards add up to VND1.5 trillion ($53.5 million), a huge financial waste," a spokesman for the association told Ngi Lao Dong (Labourers) newspaper.He blamed banks for the situation, saying they compete with each other to issue as many cards as possible."Bank staff only care about their monthly card issuance target and not the needs of cus-tomers. So many people have several cards but only use one or two of them.Nguyen Van Thuan, a lecturer at the Marketing Finance University, said: "Another reason for the situation is banks approach enterprises when their bosses retire by of-fering loans at competitive interest rates on the condition they should pay their staff salary through them. Thus, enterprises change banks often."To attract customers, banks often waive joining fees and annual fees for cards and do not check people's income verification.A Vietcombank executive said since it is easy for banks to issue cards, they have issued a huge number of cards. But many of them are not operational.


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He warned that swindlers take advantage of the easy conditions to cheat. They hire people to obtain a debit card, pay them VND200,000 400,000 ($9 18) per card and then use the card to cheat people."They call or send messages to people to inform them that since they are involved with criminal gangs, they would be investigated by the police."Then they tell the victims to deposit an amount of money into the account saying if they are innocent the police would return the money."After drawing the money, they destroy the card."The association has advised banks that they should set card targets for staff based on the number of cards actually being used, and should collect fees to avoid frivolous de-mands for cards.The State Bank of Vietnam has recently ordered all banks to tighten cards issuance to ensure safety.http://bizhub.vn/banking/huge-number-of-bank-cards-unused_295980.html

Banks to strongly raise profit targets as business prospers

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTCK

With profits reaching a trillion dong and more in the first quarter (Q1) 2018, informa-tion of Dau Tu Chung Khoan newspaper showed that Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank, VCB) is likely to soon increase its 2018 profit plan from 13 trillion dong to 14 trillion dong. Previously, at the bank's annual general meeting (AGM), VCB raised the profit target in 2018 once from 12 trillion dong to 13 trillion dong.The confidence of VCB is thanks to its significant profit attained in Q1, which was 4.359 trillion dong, up by 59.3 percent compared to the same period of 2017. This is a record high Q1 growth of VCB. Other indicators of VCB were also very positive in Q1, includ-ing 6.197 trillion dong of net interest income, up by 17.5 percent compared to the same period of 2017. In particular, the service area recorded 881 billion dong of net profit, up by 35.5%.From 2018, VCB expects to increase its retail credit proportion in order to achieve high-er Net Interest Margin (NIM). This proportion may surpass 40 percent and even nearly 50%. Specifically, VCB focuses on retail lending with secured assets, instead of unse-cured loans as a trend in some other banks.In addition to the high profit in business, VCB also earned hundreds of billion dong from the divestments in other credit institutions. In particular, VCB collected 340 bil-lion dong from the divestment in Saigonbank and Cement Finance Company (CFC), and 172 billion dong from the divestment in Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB). Currently, VCB is holding shares of Eximbank and MB. According to Hochim-inh Securities Company (HSC), the divestments from the above five credit institutions may bring a profit of nearly 2.5 trillion dong to VCB.For Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB), the profit plan of 5.699 trillion dong set in 2018 seems to not very high compared to the bank's current capability. ACB's pre-tax profit this year is even predicted to surge to over six trillion dong (up by 141%) as it no longer has to provision for the debts of the group of six companies and the bonds of Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC).In Q1 2018, ACB's profit was 1.491 trillion dong, up by 151 percent over the same pe-riod of 2017. This year, the bank aims to grow credit by 15 percent as assigned by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), expand both deposits from customers and total assets by 18%. Do Minh Toan, general director of ACB said that the bank's NIM has increased over the years. To improve this indicator, ACB has promoted retail strategy, collection of bad debts and balanced mobilisation and lending.For Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VPBank), analysts from MB Se-curities Company (MBS) said that the yield from consumer credit market will help im-prove the bank's NIM to 9.42 percent in 2018.With fairly low penetration level in the Vietnam's consumer credit market, the favour-ability of current legal regulations as well as the dominance of its finance company FE Credit, VPBank still can dominate this niche market in the short term. This segment is


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expected to contribute 27 percent to the total loans in 2018 of the bank (up by 39 percent compared to 2017).That is also the basis for VPBank to target 10.8 trillion dong of pre-tax profit in 2018 and it may also surpass this target. Closing Q1 2018, the consolidated pre-tax profit of VPBank reached 2.619 trillion dong.Not until now, right in the recent season for AGM season, many banks have forecasted that the performance of the sector would prosper this year and launched two scenarios of profit growth.In the first scenario, the growth is in line with business targets, while in the second sce-nario, the profit is expected to exceed the plan when the bank's credit growth limit is loosened. The prosperity of the market and warming of some investment channels such as securities and real estate have attracted customers to borrow loans for purchas-ing houses, and expanding business and production activities, etc.At the same time, one of the bad debt bottleneck has been removed since the govern-ment issued Resolution 42/2018. As a result, banks have not only reduced risk provi-sioning but also reversed the risk provisions set aside previously. For example, in Q1 2018, VCB recorded 1.5 trillion dong off-balance sheet items, settled bad debts, and re-versed provisions.In 2018, VCB targets to restructure its credit portfolio in the direction of reducing its outstanding loans of corporate customers having declining financial situation and cus-tomers with low interest rates and low overall efficiency. In addition, the bank will control the growth rate of medium and long-term loan, develop customers by chain, promote cross-selling, and focus on low-cost mobilisation and foreign currency mobi-lisation.For the above reasons, SSI Research forecasted that VCB's profit may rise by 33 percent in 2018, far exceeding the plan VCB submitted to its shareholders committee for ap-proval this year. Specifically, according to SSI Research, VCB's pre-tax profit in 2018 may reach 15.107 trillion dong. SSI Research assumed VCB's credit growth at 18 percent and NIM at 2.48 percent compared to the 2.47 percent in 2017.In addition, VCB may earn about 1.640 trillion dong from the divestments at finance companies and credit institutions such as CFC, OCB, HVN (Vietnam Airlines Joint Stock Corporation), EIB (Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank) and MBB (Mil-itary Commercial Joint Stock Bank). The bad debt ratio of VCB is expected to be 1.14%, slightly down compared to the 1.23 percent recorded in 2017.After announcing the merger with Petrolimex Group Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PGBank) which is expected to complete in August 2018, Hochiminh city Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank (HDBank) said that its pre-tax profit target in 2018 has been raised from 3.933 to 4.712 trillion dong. According to leader of HDBank, as of May 2018, the bank's credit growth has reached over 14%. Meanwhile, closing Q1 2018, the consolidated profit of HDBank was 1.045 trillion dong, in which HDBank alone ac-counted for 851 billion dong, up by 201.8 percent over the same period of 2017, com-pleting 27.5 percent of the annual plan.With bad debts controlled at 1.22%, HDBank has expanded its customers by over 48,504 individual customers, 700 corporate customers, up by 103 percent compared to late 2017. HD SAISON, a joint venture with Credit Saisonthe Japanese leading con-sumer finance and card, has served over 3.9 million customers, up by 151.91 percent compared to the same period of 2017.Meanwhile, in addition to the positive profit number in Q1 2018, general director of ACB said that the bank will strive to tackle bad debts this year to reverse about 500 bil-lion dong of risk provisioning into profit. Thus, ACB is likely to exceed its profit target.With profit in Q1 2018 of 600 billion dong, 2.4 times higher than the same period of 2017, completing 30 percent of the annual plan, OCB said that it is likely to achieve higher profit than the target set in 2018. OCB aims at two trillion dong business target, two times higher than the realised figure in 2017. The bank also sets total asset target at 115.7 trillion dong, up by 37%; mobilisation at 104.407 trillion dong, up by 36%; and


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total outstanding loans of market 1 at 60.679 trillion dong, up by 25%.The profit target set by OCB this year is considered a breakthrough compared to the previous years. However, OCB's general director said that OCB is most likely to recov-er the entire bad debts worth 728 billion dong in VAMC's bonds and will not have to provision for risks. OCB has not yet included this possibility in its estimated pre-tax profit of two trillion dong in 2018.It can be seen that most leading banks attained prosperous business performance in the first five months of the year with profits of trillions dong. According to the research organisations, although the credit growth in 2018 may be lower than 2017, the profit of the entire sector will rise by about 20-25%. Thus, it is forecasted that many banks will adjust their profit plan this year.

Unlike others, Techcombank and HDBank target at wholesale

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNF

The strategy of reducing wholesale and increasing retail is a very typical strategy which has been carried out by commercial banks, especially state-owned ones, over the last many recent years,The shift of models from focusing on large customers (wholesale) to small ones (retail) allows banks to reduce the risk of dependence, increasing the sustainability of custom-ers and profit margin, as personal loans often have higher interest rates.Many banks have attained big achievements from this strategy. Vietcombank has raised its outstanding retail proportion out of the total oustanding credit from 16 per-cent at the end of 2014 to 40.8 percent at the end of 2017, gradually realising the target of becoming the No.1 bank in retail by 2020.For BIDV, the proportion of retail also increased sharply from 17 percent at the end of 2014 to 30 percent at the end of 2017.For VietinBank, over the last three years, the average outstanding loans surged 137.5%. The proportion of outstanding retail out of total oustanding loans swelled from 17.8 percent at the end of 2014 to 25.2 percent at the end of 2017.In fact, private commercial banks which do not have many advantages in the whole-sale segment as most of the previously state-owned large businesses have sought retail segment for a long time. Many banks have also exploited and achieved quite impres-sive achievements in specialised retail segment i.e. consumer finance, typically VP-Bank's FE Credit and HDBank's HD Saison.Some "rockies" such as Mcredit of the Military Bank, SHB Finance of SHB, with the backing of banks, also joined. Previously, Techcombank's Techcombank Finance also marked milestones in consumer finance segment but was then sold to the South Kore-an Lotte."Reducing wholesale and increasing retail" has been the selection of the majority of banks but two private banks i.e. Techcombank and HDBank seem to be going on op-posite direction.As disclosed by Hochiminh City Securities Company (HSC), Techcombank has two worth noticing value chains associated with Vietnam Airlines and Vingroup.The partnership with Vietnam Airlines has provided Techcombank with approximate-ly 37,000 customers using co-branded credit card and debit card. These customers ac-counted for 13 percent of high-end and senior high-end customers with much higher card usage than those using other Techcombank cards.Especially, these customers are having total oustanding loans at Techcombank at 6.5 trillion dong, equal to 15 percent of the total oustanding loans of the bank. It also con-tributed eight percent to the total non-term deposits and seven percent to Techcom-bank's total net profit for service operation.Meanwhile, Techcombank's partnership with Vingroup is the strongest value chain of this bank. About 87 percent of Techcombank's home loans come from the aforemen-tioned ecosystem with 11,000 home borrowers, accounting for 64%. This value chain contributed eight percent to the total non-term deposits, and 24 percent to Techcom-bank's total net profit from service operation.For HDBank, after signing strategic cooperation agreement with Petrolimex along


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with the close relationship with Vietjet, this bank is able to access and exploit as many as 40 individual customers from the two aforementioned sources.HDBank leader has recently said in the immediate future, with the target of exploiting $2-3 service fee revenue each year per customer, the bank expects to have hundreds of US dollar revenue from fee each year.Although the revenue from exploiting customer database of large businesses comes from individual customers but in fact, Techcombank and HDBank have been depend-ent on these large businesses both in credit and deposits, similar to former state-owned banks.It is not easy for other private banks to "imitate" Techcombank and HDBank because this type of ecosystem is formed based on some commitments/rather special relation-ship.For example, Vietjet Air and HDBank have the same owner, Petrolimex and HDBank had special commitment about the merger with PGBank.Or, like Techcombank CEO Nguyen Duc Vinh who used to have many years working as leader at Vietnam Airlines and previously, Vietnam Airlines used to be Techcom-bank's major shareholder and Techcombank used to be the major shareholder of Viet-nam Airlines. Even, the two sides used to cooperate to open up new airlines.

Techcombank to complete procedures to raise capital to nearly 35 trillion dong in July

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| TRI THUC TRE

On June 14th 2018, Techcombank held an extraordinary shareholder meeting in 2018. Accordingly, the bank's shareholders agreed to increase charter capital to 34.965 tril-lion dong from the current 11.655 trillion dong. The source for capital increase is taken from equity.With an expected charter capital increase of 23.311 trillion dong, the number of shares to be issued will be 2,331,061,440 ordinary shares at par value of 10,000 dong. After the issuance, the total number of Techcombank's shares will be raised to 3.5 billion units. Each existing shareholder will receive an addition of two shares, equivalent to a 1:2 ra-tio.After the capital increase, Techcombank will become one of the three listed banks hav-ing the largest charter capital in Vietnam, close to Vietcombank and surpassing BIDV.Techcombank's leader said that the procedures of the capital increase will be complet-ed in July 2018. The issuance is expected to be implemented in the third quarter of the year.The purpose of this capital raising is to share benefits with shareholders by distribut-ing the retained earnings, equity surplus and the charter capital supplement fund. At the same time, the capital increase also helps the bank to convert its existing equity source into available capital which can be used for investment in facilities such as en-hancing investment capacity in the development of modern banking technology, de-veloping the system of head offices, operation network and business activities; helping Techcombank better meet the operational safety standards and improve operational risk management ability.

Strong State coffer depends on tax revenue


Professor Dr Le Xuan Truong, a senior lecturer of tax in the Accademy of Finance, speaks to the Hai quan (Customs) newspaper on various ways to prevent losses in the State budget.The financial sector has done its best to prevent losses in the course of State budget col-lection. What are your assessments on the sector's efforts?The financial sector has done a good job in the fight against losses in tax collection while revising tax documents to facilitate conditions for production and allow busi-nesses to develop.Other important tasks that the financial sector has focused their efforts on are the fight against fraudulent trade and transfer pricing.The task of customs officers is to focus on the fight against fraudulent trade, goods smuggling and transfer pricing.


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Positive performance from tax inspection missions and post checks after custom clear-ance activities have directly contributed to preventing losses to State revenue caused by tax avoidance by enterprises or citizens.What are the limitations in the course of State budget collection?Though the financial sector has done its best to achieve high performance when carry-ing out their missions, there remain a lot of weaknesses and shortcomings due to both subjective and objective reasons.There remain certain loopholes in our tax collection and management system which has enticed taxpayers to commit tax evasion and fraud.I also have to admit that in some localities, tax inspection teams have not yet applied a set of technique tools for risk management during their inspection missions. As a consequence, the results of their missions were still limited.Last but not least, the low morality of certain civil servants working in the financial sec-tor has endorsed the wrongdoings of taxpayers.To avoid loopholes in State budget collection, the financial sector has adopted some new measures. Will you please elaborate on these measures?Some international organisations, including the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, have recommended that Vietnam revise its tax regulations, particularly special consumption taxes on luxury goods or goods which are harmful to the country's production.They have also recommended that Vietnam expand the list of products subjected to paying environmental tax while shortening the list of products subjected to paying value-added tax (VAT).The Ministry of Finance has included these suggestions in the draft revised law on the State budget, which will be presented to the National Assembly for discussion in the near future.Do you have any recommendations to avoid losses in the State budget collection?I have six recommendations as follows:First, the National Assembly should review and make some changes to all legal tax documents issued by the Ministry of Finance and the National Assembly, as well as the Standing Committee of the National Assembly along the lines of transparency and accountability to better facilitate conditions for production and to prevent tax fraud.Second, it is to apply the techniques of risk management throughout the course of tax management and customs management.Third, it is to organise more training courses for tax collectors and customs officers.Forth, it is to conduct regular in-house inspections in order to detect any wrongdoing as soon as possible.Fifth, it is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of tax inspection visits before and after customs clearance.And finally, to further promote mass communication activities to support taxpayers.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/202522/strong-state-coffer-depends-on-tax-revenue.html

Hanoi needs new momentum for growth: prime minister


Hanoi needs to seek new, breakthrough, sustainable momentum for growth in order to materialise its development vision, said prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.The leader was speaking at the conference "Hanoi 2018Investment and Development Cooperation" in Hanoi on June 17, the city's largest investment promotion forum in the year with the participation of nearly 1,000 businesspeople and investors at home and abroad.Hanoi should devise a master plan and an action programme for its development, he said, taking Cau Giay district as an example, which has emerged from a very poor lo-cality into an urban area with industrial value exceeding 43 trillion VND (1.9 billion USD) and State budget contribution of over 7 trillion VND (308 billion USD) thanks to the effective planning scheme.The PM noted his belief that the capital city will take the lead nationwide in develop-


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ing Industry 4.0 and the digital economy, while speeding up the building of a smart city.He urged the city to create high-quality human resources in spearhead sectors like ar-tificial intelligence and data science, and carry forward its role as the country's cradle in personnel training in natural sciences like mathematics, physics and computer sci-ence.He also asked the city to provide timely support for investors when they meet difficul-ties, and create breakthroughs in land-related procedures for investors.Besides, more attention should be paid to the construction of public facilities such as parks and public toilets, with all toilets at schools and hospitals satisfying set stand-ards, the leader said.He called on investors to promptly carry out projects in the city, and urged municipal authorities and investors to coordinate with each other in land clearance.Applauding Hanoi's achievements in socio-economic development over the past time, especially its efforts in building the e-Government, PM Phuc expressed his hope that the city will promote its locomotive role in development in the Red River Delta region and the country as well.Speaking at the conference, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai, said the event demonstrates Hanoi's commitments to improving the business en-vironment, accompanying enterprises and turning the private economic sector into an important impulse in the city's economic reform.Chair of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung revealed that Hanoi aims to help start-ups with all expenditures and convenient services from August 1, 2018. This proposal is expected to be presented at the sixth meeting of the municipal People's Council in early July, 2018.He said domestic private investments make up 51.1 percent of the city's total invest-ment capital. The city, to date, has attracted 2,200 projects run by private investors, worth more than one quadrillion VND (44 billion USD).As of June 15, more than 4,300 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects valued at 33.38 billion USD had come to the city. In 2016-2017 and the first six months of this year, the city lured 12.46 billion USD in FDI, equivalent to the number recorded during 1986-2015, Chung said.At the conference, Hanoi signed memoranda of understanding on cooperation with other localities including Ha Nam, Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh, Nam Dinh, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, Vinh Phuc, Hai Duong, Son La and Bac Giang, and agencies, organisations and investors.On this occasion, the city handed over investment decisions and licences to 71 projects worth 397.33 trillion VND (17.48 billion USD), including 11 FDI projects with total in-vestment capital of over 130 trillion VND (5.72 billion USD)https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hanoi-needs-new-momentum-for-growth-prime-minister/133018.vnp

Hanoi follows international development investment trend: Indonesian Ambassador

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| HANOI TIMES

Hanoi must keep following the international development trend, to catch up with the new technology and science to avoid making Hanoi`s investment environment obso-lete.This was announced by Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam Ibnu Hadi, in an inter-view granted to Hanoitimes, during "Hanoi 2018Cooperation, Investment and Devel-opment" conference on June 17 at the National Convention Centre.What do you think about the investment environment in Hanoi?Hanoi has made significant achievements, particularly in the last three years in its in-frastructure. The capital city definitely commands its leading position and becomes the driving force of economic development in the North and across the country.Talking about the investment environment in Hanoi, I can say it's more advantageous than other provinces in term of geographic location, human resource, daily improved infrastructure, convenient administrative procedures and market potential. Doing


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business in Hanoi will be much easier than the other provinces in all over Vietnam.Foreign investment has recently played a particularly important role in the economic development of Hanoi. I think it is also the plan for Hanoi to promote attracting for-eign investment capital with priorities in the areas of services such as IT and clean in-dustries, technology advancement, high grey matter, healthcare, education...As said in the previous conference on "Hanoi 2017Cooperation, Investment and Devel-opment", the city committed to continue to create an investment environment that is clear, transparent and consistent with process of international integration. And after nearly one year, I can see a quite good improvement in term of investment environ-ment in Hanoi.What do you think about the opportunities for investment cooperation in Hanoi for foreign businesses in general and Indonesian enterprises in particular?Hanoi has a developed and synchronous infrastructure network, industrial parks, ex-port processing zones, and Noi Bai International Airport are just 40 km away from the city centre. Hai Phong and Cai Lan ports which receive investment for import/export purposes are only 120km from Hanoi. The city is the transport hub of the North with a developing railway and road system. I think that the opportunities for investment cooperation in Hanoi for foreign businesses are still many.As an foreign investor to invest in Hanoi, I could see also Hanoi has made a great effort by offering new investors very attractive incentives (for example: Income Tax reduc-tion, advantageous land lease, etc)At the moment, one of the largest investment group from Indonesia is investing in Ha-noi under the name of Ciputra Group. And the result from this investment come out quite successful. With such these opportunities in many fields for investment, I do be-lieve that in the future, Hanoi will attract more foreign firms in which Indonesian com-panies will also take part.Do you have any suggestions to help Hanoi continue to improve the investment envi-ronment, as well as facilitate for foreign businesses?With very great achievements of Hanoi for the last 3 decades, I believe in the near fu-ture, Hanoi will be one of the hottest investment destination not only in Vietnam but also in the South East Asia region.I proposed four groups of measures to improve the investment environment in Hanoi. Firstly, Vietnamese officials should leave their desks and participate in international conferences, meet investors and seek opportunities to show how their area's products differed from elsewhere.Secondly, the procedures in Vietnam in general and Hanoi in particular are still quite slow, the authority should also improve one gate process, shorten the paper process and carry out advantage the online registration.Thirdly, Hanoi must keep following the international development trend, to catch up with the new technology and science to avoid making the Hanoi investment environ-ment obsolete. The last one, more attractive incentives for new foreign investors and enhance current investment cooperation.Thank you very much!http://www.hanoitimes.vn/investment/opportunities/2018/06/81E0C88F/hanoi-fol-lows-international-development-investment-trend-indonesian-ambassador/

Hanoi leads in six-month FDI attraction for first time

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| NDO/VNA

Hanoi drew in more than $5.9 billion in FDI in the first half of 2018, making it the coun-try's largest six-month FDI attractor for the first time in three decades, said Chair of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung on June 17.He made the statement at the annual conference "Hanoi 2018 Investment and Devel-opment Cooperation" in the capital city which saw the presence of prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.During the conference, the Hanoi People's Committee presented investment decisions and licenses for 71 projects with a total investment of VND397.33 trillion (over $17 bil-lion, including 11 FDI projects, worth more than $5.428 billion.


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The event also saw the signing of 24 memoranda of understanding between Hanoi and other localities, Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park and domestic and foreign investors for coopera-tion in multiple fields with a combined investment estimated up to VND70 trillion (ap-proximately $3 billion).In the time ahead, Hanoi and provinces in the northern key economic region, Red Riv-er Delta, and Hanoi Capital Region will continue giving priority to and calling for more hi-tech projects that promote the use of new technologies and renewable energy, alongside projects that boost regional linkages and cooperation.The city also prioritised projects to build affordable homes for low-income workers and others in the fields of waste treatment; hi-tech agriculture; slaughtering and processing of livestock and poultry; animal husbandry; processing of agricultural, for-estry, and aquatic products; education; manufacturing and support industries.In the next few years, Hanoi plans to foster a knowledge economy and the application of information technology; actively take part in and seize opportunities from Industry 4.0 to improve productivity and develop new industries; and turn the city into a hub for start-ups and a smart city.In addition, the city will further enhance the local business climate, accelerate public administrative reforms and infrastructure development, adopt new policies to support enterprises and develop the city as the country's centre of high-quality services. It will work to improve local living standards, in terms of water supply, use of green energy, waste treatment and air quality in a bid to ensure green and sustainable development.http://en.nhandan.com.vn/business/item/6286502-hanoi-leads-in-six-month-fdi-at-traction-for-first-time.html

Quang Binh attracts 14 investment projects in five months


The central coastal province of Quang Binh has attracted 14 investment projects with nearly 3 trillion VND (129 million USD) in total capital into its industrial parks and economic zones so far this year.With the new comers, the aggregate number of investment projects in the province's IPs and EZs to 105 with combined value of nearly 50 trillion VND (2.15 billion USD). Among them there are five foreign invested projects worth a total more than 30 million USD.The province has increased investment promotion over the past time, organising sev-eral events both in and outside the country.The local authorities have built a data base on local advantages, potential and needs, and announced its extra support for investors besides those stipulated by law, such as help in procedures for investment and construction.The provincial administration constantly reviews administrative procedures with a view to improving services for investors and local competitiveness.During the past three years, IPs and EZs in Quang Binh generate an average industrial production value of 3 trillion VND a year and earn nearly 1.5 trillion VND in export value. They also create jobs for 5,000 workers with average monthly income of 5.2 mil-lion VND (223 USD).Quang Binh has approved a list of 48 projects calling for investment for the 2018-2020 period, with an expected amount of up to over 50 trillion VND (2.2 billion USD).The projects, projected to cover more than 8,000 ha of land, mainly focus on tourism, trade and services, industry, agriculture, education and health care.Notably, 14 projects in tourism, trade and services are expected to appeal for over 37 trillion VND in investment, including coastal and ecological tourism and resort com-plexes. These are considered high-value projects that will create many jobs, increase lo-cal budget and foster tourism development in the province.In the field of industry, Quang Binh is calling for over 8 trillion VND in five projects on wind and solar power, electrical and electronic production and assembly, telecom-munication, lightening equipment manufacturing, and auto assembly.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/quang-binh-attracts-14-investment-projects-in-five-months/132961.vnp


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An Giang to seek investors for 54 projects

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

Mekong Delta's An Giang Province plans to call for investment in 54 projects across fields such as agriculture, tourism, industry, transportation, construction and urban development and healthcare, the government news website reported.The provincial People's Committee will call for investors to develop the projects at a three-day conference on investment promotion, which is scheduled to start on Septem-ber 10. The event, under theme, "An Giang Chance connection, booming cooperation," will comprise two sessions: hi-tech agriculture and tourism potential of An Giang.Vuong Binh Thanh, chair of the provincial People's Committee, urged the relevant de-partments and agencies to make use of the little time ahead of the conference to create incentive plans in appealing for investment, particularly for the two key sectors of tourism and agriculture, as well as policies supporting investors and development ori-entation plans so that enterprises can seek out investment opportunities.The projects in need of investment should highlight the crucial role of An Giang as part of the vital central economic region in Mekong Delta, a province boasting advantages in hi-tech agriculture, tourism and sustainable manpower.At the event, the provincial government intends to provide participating investors plenty of information on the locality's economic potential, investment opportunities and incentive policies to attract as much investment as possible. This will pave the way for further investment activities and cooperative expansion between An Giang and in-vestors.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60607/an-giang-to-seek-investors-for-54-projects.html

New businesses to enjoy fee-free services in Hanoi


The government of Hanoi City will cover all business establishment costs from early August if the city People's Council approves its proposal, said city chair Nguyen Duc Chung at a conference in the capital city on June 17.Speaking at the "Hanoi 2018 Investment and Development Cooperation" conference, he said, "Today I'm glad to announce the Hanoi City People's Committee has proposed the city People's Council at its sixth meeting in late July approve its proposal to cover all business establishment and service costs as from August 1."According to local media reports, the conference was aimed at finding ways to im-prove the local investment and business environment, develop supporting enterpris-es, and spur the private sector into a driving force of its economic restructuring.More than 1,500 delegates, including leaders of the central government, ministries, Party agencies and other localities; representatives of international organisations; and investors at home and abroad, took part in the annual conference.Nguyen Duc Chung, chair of the Hanoi City People's Committee, said investors who wanted to set up businesses would just need to apply online and results would be de-livered to their doors.The city government will fully cover all business establishment costs, he noted.The new policy will make it possible for the city to fulfill its target of having a total of 40,000 businesses by 2020, according to Mac Quoc Anh, vice president and general sec-retary of the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.The current cost for business establishment procedures is around VND600,000 (US$26.3), Anh said, adding the new policy could encourage household businesses to convert into companies.He added Hanoi has over 25,000 operational businesses, so the city should try to raise the figure to 30,000 this year.At the conference, which was also attended by prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the city presented in-principle approval and investment certificates to 71 projects worth VND397.3 trillion (US$17.4 billion) at the conference.They included 11 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects capitalised at VND130.06 trillion equivalent and 60 domestically invested projects worth VND267.2 trillion.Notably, Hanoi, other neighbouring localities, the Authority of Hoa Lac High-Tech


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Park, and domestic and foreign investors clinched 24 memorandums of understanding on cooperation in the fields of smart city, higher education, high-tech agriculture, healthcare, tourism, and the environment. Total investments are expected to reach roughly VND70 trillion (US$3.06 billion).As such, Hanoi has become the second largest FDI attraction destination of the coun-try.Chung said the city's economy expanded 7.15 percent in 2016 and 7.31 percent in 2017, and that the first half of 2018 might see growth of 7.07%.As of mid-June this year, Hanoi licensed more than 4,300 FDI projects worth $33.38 bil-lion.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60651/new-businesses-to-enjoy-fee-free-services-in-hanoi.html

HCM City calls for more healthcare projects under public-private partnership


HCM City has great demand for healthcare projects that develop facilities, equipment and digitisation under the public-private partnership (PPP), said the city's vice chair, Tran Vinh Tuyen, at a June 15 meeting on healthcare cooperation between Vietnamese and American companies.HCM City seeks to improve the quality of medical examinations and treatment pro-vided to local residents, he said, adding that given the overstretched State budget, at-tracting PPP investments is an effective solution to promote the growth of the healthcare industry.Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the HCM City Health Department, said the municipal healthcare sector has much room for growth. The city has 28 drug manufacturing plants, 1,200 pharmaceutical companies and 8,200 drug stores which generate two-thirds of the country's drug sales.Binh added that the city has better access to new drugs, technology transfers and drug manufacturing technology, as part of the country's international integration. The city also has an intensive network of grassroots healthcare facilities 115 hospitals, 12 spe-cialised medical centers, 24 district-level healthcare centers, 319 public clinics and 5,302 private clinics.However, he noted that the municipal healthcare sector is faced with huge challenges including overloaded specialised hospitals and an increasing number of local resi-dents travelling abroad for medical treatment.Therefore, according to Binh, the local healthcare sector should further invest in infra-structure and advanced healthcare equipment; carry out intensive training courses in hospital governance; boost the application of information technology, such as elec-tronic health records; as well as hone professional skills among doctors.The head of the municipal healthcare sector said the city has invested in standard healthcare facilities between 2016 and 2020, including 91 projects worth roughly VND32 trillion (US$1.4 billion) financed by the State budget, and 14 others capitalised at some VND15 trillion, made possible thanks to the PPP format.The city also has huge demand for drug manufacturing plants using cutting-edge tech-nologies, as the majority of existing factories only meet the Good Manufacturing Prac-tice (GMP) standards set by the World Health Organization and have yet to accommodate production lines, as part of the GMP of the European Union and the Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme.Company representatives from the United States showed their strength in chemother-apy, radiation therapy to treat tumors and cancers, hospital governance, modern med-ical equipment, and information technology in the healthcare sector.Additionally, the city's vice chair, Tran Vinh Tuyen, expressed his hope that local res-idents will have access to safe and high-quality pharmaceuticals, the best healthcare equipment, as well as quick and accurate information technology for medical exami-nations and treatment in the near future.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60632/hcmc-calls-for-more-healthcare-projects-un-der-public-private-partnership.html


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Kien Giang targets 9.5 billion USD for socio-economic development


The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang aims to mobilise 9.5 billion USD for socio-economic development by 2020 and 45 billion USD by 2030.The adjusted target was recently approved by the prime minister as part of a master plan to 2020 and towards 2030 for the province.Kien Giang targets becoming a well-developed locality and a transportation and tour-ism service destination in the Mekong Delta, and a development hub of the southern key economic region.The province aims for an average Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of 7.5-8 percent per year by 2020.Also, the province is striving to improve quality of transport services, while promoting its advantageous geographical location and natural conditions of the province.The province has so far this year attracted 41 FDI projects from 19 countries and terri-tories with a total registered capital of 1.44 billion USD, of which 37 percent has been disbursed.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/kien-giang-targets-95 billion-usd-for-socioeconomic-devel-opment-by-2020/133032.vnp

NA passes resolution on State capital control in SOEs


The National Assembly (NA) has approved a resolution on improving and enhancing the implementation of policies in using State capital and assets in State-owned enter-prises (SOEs) as well as the equitisation of those firms.The resolution was approved by almost every deputy of the total 475 present in the last session of the 14th National Assembly Meeting, which ended on Friday.According to NA Economic Committee chair Vu Hong Thanh, SOEs have transformed their operations to focus on key industries in which private firms have not yet entered.Despite their role as an essential driving factor for the Vietnamese economy, the NA resolution pointed out remaining issues inside SOEs regarding business policies, cor-porate governance and financial management."The State's administrative management influences SOEs, leading to poor transparen-cy in evaluating and selling State assets in said companies. This leads to underper-formance of the companies," the resolution stated.The resolution also listed other issues with SOEs, such as inefficient investment in non-core industries and overseas projects, high State ownership in company charter capi-tal, slow transformation of corporate governance models, limitations in drawing stra-tegic partnerships, and violations in business valuation and assessment of land properties.The NA report on using State capital and equitising SOEs showed there were 18 State-owned corporations and groups at the end of 2016 that had invested a total $12.6 bil-lion in 110 overseas projects and had spent $7 billion of the total registered capital. The projects were mostly in the telecommunications, gas exploration and exploitation, mining and rubber production indutries.Solving violationsThe National Assembly has asked the government to provide detailed, specific plans to resolve the issues. For example, the government should publish a set of standards to assess the performance of SOEs based on their sectors and operations by May 2019.In addition, the NA asked the government to transfer its ownership of SOEs to respon-sible agencies and completely resolve issues in those that violated regulations and caused losses in State capital and assets.The government should not use the State Budget to cover the losses that SOEs have procured, NA deputies said in the resolution, adding that individuals and groups must take accountability for violations, and these must be reported to the NA's seventh session in May 2019.NA deputies also asked the government to tighten its supervision over the raising and use of capital in SOEs, especially those that have made foreign loans, those that have invested in domestic and overseas projects, and those that have been active in merger


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and acquisition deals, while it should also minimise its guarantees for these compa-nies.The government must take closer watch over land and properties belonging to SOEs, and should evaluate their value to avoid losses during the equitisation process of the companies, the NA resolution said.The government should also perform stricter management and monitoring of post-eq-uitisation land use in accordance with the firms' equitisation plans. If the land and properties have been granted for different uses than the equitisation plan, they must be reclaimed and auctioned based on related regulations.The inspection of land use changes from business purposes to housing purposes dur-ing the period of 2011-17 must be reported to the NA's eighth session in October 2019, the resolution stated.The NA resolution also required the government to study a policy on management and use of income gained from selling State capital in SOEs so that said income can be accounted for in the State's annual budget and mid-term financial and investment plans.Any excess income must be reported to the NA for consideration.http://bizhub.vn/news/na-passes-resolution-on-state-capital-control-in-soes_295978.html

VN cyber law keeps with treaties


The Law on Cyber Security conforms with the Constitution and does not hamper the implementation of international treaties to which Vietnam is a party, Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said on Thursday.She made the remark at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press conference in response to reporters' questions about the recently adopted Law on Cyber Security.She said the law was approved on Tuesday with the majority of votes after many rounds of discussions which took into account the opinions of National Assembly dep-uties and the public in a widespread and transparent manner.Cyber security is an important issue that greatly affects national security, Hang said, noting that it has become of special concern for many countries and international and regional organisations in recent years.Attacks on the cyber environment have grown fast in both form and scale and oc-curred across borders, seriously affecting the economic and political stability of each country, she said.Efforts to improve security on the cyber environment still face numerous difficulties, especially due to the shortage of legal regulations and the capacity of ensuring cyber security.This made the Law on Cyber Security critically necessary in the current context, the spokeswoman stressed.The National Assembly earlier passed the law with an 86.86 percent majority.http://bizhub.vn/tech/vn-cyber-law-keeps-with-treaties_295941.html

Decree 116 moves foreign car makers to expand production in Vietnam?

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIR

Vietnam's policy on tightening car import regulations under Decree 116 may be the main reason behind foreign car makers' decision to expand production in Vietnam.Most recently, Toyota Vietnam proposed the Vinh Phuc People's Committee to rent 9.1ha of land in Phuc Yen city to expand its automobile manufacturing plant, raising its annual capacity from the current 50,000 to 90,000 units by 2023. Accordingly, the to-tal capital for this expansion is about $40 million.Toyota's move is supposed to be the result of Decree No.116/2017/ND-CP, which in-troduced many strict conditions and regulations about importing cars, which came into effect early this year. Not only Toyota, but Ford and Hyundai are also planning to expand production scale in Vietnam due to the decree.According to the Vietnamese government, Decree 116 aims to boost the development of the country's automobile manufacturing industry and enhance the standards of im-


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ported cars across a variety of metrics. In addition, the high standards stipulated in the Decree also contribute to improving the localisation rates of car makers doing business in the country.However, the decree also made Toyota and other car manufacturers temporarily halt production in Indonesia due to difficulties in exporting cars to Vietnam. According to the Indonesian Association of Automotive Manufacturers, the new regulation tempo-rarily halted the production of 9,337 vehicles which were meant to be exported to Vi-etnam.Newswire thejakartapost.com quoted the Indonesian trade ministry's director general for International Trade Oke Nurwan saying that the new Vietnamese regulation could significantly affect Indonesian exports of completely build-up (CBU) vehicles to the country.With the new regulation, in addition to business licences, car exporters and manufac-turers must have Vehicle Type Aproval (VTA) certification issued by authorities in the exporting countries.Furthermore, government bodies will randomly inspect one or two cars of each im-ported batch. Accordingly, the levels of air emissions, quality, as well as engine secu-rity will be inspected.On February 22, the general secretary of the Association of Indonesian Automotive In-dustries Kukuh Kumarasaid that Decree 116 has increased export expenses. The in-spections could last for one or two months, during which the rest of the batch also need to stay at the ports and exporters have to pay storage charges.Oke also added that Indonesia stood to lose $85 million in vehicle exports to Vietnam under the decree in December 2017-March 2018.Maybe the decree's strict conditions have made it more desirable for car manufacturers like Toyota and Hyundai to expand their manufacturing facilities in Vietnam to save export costs.Previously, Korean car manufacturer Hyundai in March made a deal with the north-ern province of Ninh Binh to construct its second Vietnamese automotive plant in the province. While expanding business scale in Vietnam, Hyundai expects to increase its localisation ratio to 40 per cent to export vehicles to Southeast Asia.http://english.vov.vn/economy/decree-116-moves-foreign-car-makers-to-expand-pro-duction-in-vietnam-377011.vov

Law on special economic units aims to create new momentum


The draft law on special administrative-economic units was built with the aim of cre-ating breakthroughs and new development momentum for the economy and capital-ising on advantages of localities, said Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang.She fielded a question about the purpose of the draft law on special administrative-economic units at the Foreign Ministry's regular press conference on June 14.She said over the past years, the State of Vietnam has continually worked to perfect policies and laws and comprehensively taken many measures to better ensure the legal rights and legitimate interests of the people, promote national development and pro-tection, and actively integrate into the world.The draft law on special administrative-economic units is part of the law and ordi-nance making programme of the National Assembly (NA) in 2018.Vietnam plans to build the three special administrative-economic zones of Van Don in northern Quang Ninh province, Bac Van Phong in central Khanh Hoa province, and Phu Quoc in southern Kien Giang province.On June 11, the NA agreed to postpone the consideration and adoption of the bill until the sixth session of the parliament later this year, instead of in the ongoing fifth session.According to NA vice Chair Uong Chu Luu, the building of the draft law is a major policy of the Party and State. However, this is a new, complicated and controversial issue, so the NA Standing Committee had agreed with the government to ask the leg-islature for permission to delay the approval of the bill in order to have more time for


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consideration and completion.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/202485/law-on-special-economic-units-aims-to-create-new-momentum.html

Vietnam likely to achieve 10pct export growth this year


With 15.8 percent growth in the first five months of this year to 93.09 billion USD, achieving export growth target of more than 10 percent for the whole year is feasible.According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), export turnover hit 19.2 bil-lion USD in May, up 4.5 percent month-on-month and 7.1 percent year-on-year. Of which, 5.63 billion USD was from domestic firms, up 14 percent and the remaining from foreign-invested ones, up 4.5 percent.The highest growth was seen in fuel and minerals, soaring 35.9 percent, mostly driven by crude oil, up 110.5 percent from April.In the first five months of this year, domestic exports increased by 17.8 percent to 26.43 billion USD while exports of foreign-invested firms (inclusive of crude oil) moved up 15 percent to 66.6 billion USD.According to experts, the growth was thanks to positive signals in major markets such as the US, European Union and China, the global economic recovery and increasing commodity prices.Statistics showed that 10 of 16 commodities fetched higher export prices during the pe-riod, including rice (up 25.6 percent), cashew nuts (3.2 percent), cassava and its prod-ucts (43.6 percent) and crude oil (32.8 percent).The US was Vietnam's largest importer with turnover of 17.4 billion USD, up 9 percent annually. It was followed by the EU, China, Asean, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK).Up to 19.7 billion USD was spent on imports, up 14.5 percent monthly and 6.3 percent annually.As of late May, the country's total imports rose 8.2 percent annually to 89.7 billion USD, 36.82 billion USD of which was spent by domestic firms, up 10.4 percent, and the remaining by foreign-invested ones, up 6.7 percent year-on-year.Imports were mostly computers, electronics and spare parts, fabrics, iron and steel, petrol, plastics, metal, garment materials, footwear and chemicals. The largest import market was China with a value of 24.2 billion USD, up 9 percent annually, followed by the RoK, Asean, Japan, the EU and the US.Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the MoIT's Export-Import Department, said Vietnam ran a trade surplus of 3.4 billion USD in the five months.Head of the ministry's Planning Department Duong Duy Hung attributed the out-comes to an improving business climate, support for start-ups and increased foreign investment.Vietnam's major currency earners like apparel, footwear, machinery, wooden furni-ture, farm produce and aquatic products continued to benefit from free trade agree-ments. The garment, leather and footwear sectors have received orders till the end of the third quarter and throughout 2018.However, Vietnamese exporters also meet difficulties with China changing export-im-port policies, tightening quality management, boosting domestic manufacturing pro-tection and limiting cross-border trade.Protectionism has increased since early 2018, particularly among industrial products like iron and steel.Countries have adopted strict regulations on food safety and environment protection standards such as control of the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade.Hung said the MoIT will facilitate manufacturing restructure, control supply and im-prove quality of farm produce and aquatic products for export while maintaining growth in traditional markets.It will also improve the efficiency of trade promotion and branding and cope with pro-tection measures, he said, adding that institutional and administrative reform will con-


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tinue to create favourable conditions for enterprises.In coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and units concerned, the MoIT will discuss dispute settlement with the US to protect Vietnam's shrimp and tra fish exports.The ministry will hold working sessions with relevant countries to speed up their rec-ognition of Vietnam's quarantine, food hygiene and safety system, thus facilitating farm produce exports.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/202477/vietnam-likely-to-achieve-10-per-cent-export-growth-this-year.html

Agricultural product exports via Lao Cai border gate surge


Earnings from agricultural product exports via Lao Cai International Border Gate in the northern province of Lao Cai since the beginning of 2018 exceeded 250 million USD, up 40 percent year-on-year.Tran Anh Tu, deputy head of border gate's customs sub-department, said among farm produce, dragon fruits and litchis saw the highest rises in export turnover.During the reviewed period, more than 284,500 tonnes of dragon fruits and nearly 7,900 tonnes of litchis were exported through the border gate, ranking in 185.7 million USD and 4.1 million USD, up 688 percent and 162 percent, respectively.Other agricultural products also enjoyed export growth such as pepper with over 16,600 tonnes worth 46.7 million USD; vegetables with almost 11,000 tonnes worth 19.6 million USD and watermelon with 12,400 tonnes worth 4.7 million USD.The rises were attributed to bumper crops in Vietnamese provinces and cities as well as Lao Cai's efforts to encourage domestic businesses to export agricultural products via the border gate.The province cut border gate-related fees while authorised forces such as customs, border guards and plant quarantine, have created optimal conditions for exporters to speed up customs clearance.Customs officers have also begun their work hours from 30-60 minutes earlier than the opening hour of the border gate to help enterprises complete procedures.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/agricultural-product-exports-via-lao-cai-border-gate-surge/132960.vnp

Seafood exports to China surge


China is projected to become Vietnam's leading seafood importer from this year's sec-ond quarter with growth of 37 percent, said deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam.Vietnam's seafood export value to China rose to 1.28 billion USD in 2017, helping the country become Vietnam's fourth biggest seafood importer and accounting for 15 per-cent of total import turnover.Nam revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will soon hold a trade promotion event in the northern province of Quang Ninh with Chinese import-ers.The ministry will also pay working visits to China to address trade barriers for exports of Vietnam's staples such as seafood, fruits and rice, among others.China is currently Vietnam's biggest trade partner, while Vietnam is China's largest trader in Asean.Two-way trade reached 93.6 billion USD in 2017, up 30 percent year-on-year, and ac-counting for 22 percent of Vietnam's total import-export turnover. Of the total, 35.4 bil-lion USD came from Vietnam's exports.In the first five months of 2018, Vietnam recorded a year-on-year rise of 9.7 percent in aquatic export value to 3.12 billion USD. The figure for May alone was estimated at 671 million USD.The US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea were the four biggest importers of Vi-etnamese aquatic products between January and April, making up 52.7 percent of total fishery exports in the period.


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Meanwhile, markets with strong growth in aquatic imports from Vietnam were the Netherlands (60.2 percent), China (28.8 percent), the UK (27.4 percent) and Germany (27 percent).https://en.vietnamplus.vn/seafood-exports-to-china-surge/132916.vnp

Chinese and Thai produce top Vietnamese imports of fruit and vegetables

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA|THE SAIGON TIMES

Vietnam's total import expenditure on fruits and vegetables exceeded $600 million, or VND13.6 trillion, in the past five months, with Thailand and China remaining the country's largest suppliers, VnEconomy newspaper reported.Data from the general Department of Vietnam Customs showed that the country im-ported $384 million worth of fruits and vegetables from Thailand and China, account-ing for 64 percent of the total. This means the Vietnamese people spent over VND58 billion per day on produce from the two countries.In particular, Vietnam imported $274 million worth of mostly Thai fruits and some vegetables, including mango, dragon fruit, rambutan, jackfruit, durian and longan.Meanwhile, $110 million was spent on Chinese produce, such as carrots, cabbage, po-tatoes, pomegranates, pears, plums and grapes, over the past five months, increasing the country's fruit and vegetable import turnover by $31 million, or VND700 billion, year-on-year.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60599/chinese-and-thai-produce-top-vietnamese-imports-of-fruit-and-vegetables.html

Sharp drop in pork and beef imports

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV

Vietnam purchased 477 tonnes of pork worth $797,250 from foreign markets in April, down 44.8 percent in volume and 46.2 percent in value compared to March, according to the general Department of Vietnam Customs.Approximately 19,750 tonnes of meat and meat products valued at $30.64 million were imported into the country over the period, a drop of 19.7 percent in volume and 21.3 percent in value compared to March. In addition, imports of beef and buffalo meat also saw a fall from March.The country bought meat and meat products from 34 markets in the world, with the US ranking first, making up 37.3 percent of the total import volume with 7,360 tonnes, worth more than $10.49 million (down 11 percent in volume and 11.9 percent in value). Poland came second with 1,930 tonnes, worth more than $2.16 million, down 17.8 per-cent in volume and 6.1 percent in value.Last year, Vietnam spent nearly $527 million on meat imports, including $11.07 million on pork, $75.7 million on poultry meat and more than $415 million on live cows and buffaloes, and beef and buffalo meat.http://english.vov.vn/trade/sharp-drop-in-pork-and-beef-imports-377090.vov

Sticky rice sees price reduction


The prices of Vietnam's sticky rice are facing a downward trend due to its over-supply and dependence on a single large market, according to the Department of Farm Pro-duce Processing and Market Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Ru-ral Development (MARD).Although it is now the beginning of the harvest of the summer-autumn crop, sticky rice farmers have few orders and few prospective buyers.The statistics of Vietnam Food Association (VFA) showed that, in 2017, Vietnam ex-ported 1.4 million tonnes of sticky rice, mainly to China.Last year, as Vietnam was expanding sticky rice production, China also quickly in-creased sticky rice cultivation. The current inventory of Chinese enterprises is quite large; therefore, it is impossible to promote the export of sticky rice to China in the near future, a sticky rice exporter to China revealed.Due to the declining demand for sticky rice, its price declined sharply from 530-540 USD per tonne in January-February to 460-470 USD at the moment. The domestic sticky rice price also fell sharply compared to other types of rice.


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In contrast, the consumption of fresh rice IR50404 in the last winter-spring crop in the Mekong Delta has been quite "smooth". Domestic supply is not sufficient to meet all export contracts.Therefore, prices of IR50404 rice in this region have continuously risen, setting the highest record in recent years. In some periods, the price of fresh rice IR50404 in the field was purchased by traders at a price of nearly 6,000 VND per kilogram, up 1,000 VND per kilogram compared with the peak price of 2017. The export price of this type of rice also rose significantly, higher than the price for rice from Thailand, India and Pakistan.Looking at the contrast between the two types of rice, it is clear that the current crop structure in the country's largest granary is not yet flexible enough to quickly adapt to meet market demands.Exporters said in order to avoid the oversupply of sticky rice and the undersupply of other rice types, MARD should coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the VFA to study the import market and the demand for each type of rice. Then they can provide information to farmers, enterprises and localities to make ad-justments before the planting season, they suggested.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/sticky-rice-sees-price-reduction/132989.vnp

Hanoi sets up large-scale aquatic farming areas in eight districts


Hanoi has established 56 areas for large-scale aquaculture production in eight rural districts, according to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Develop-ment.The areas are located in the districts of Ung Hoa, Phu Xuyen, Thanh Oai, My Duc, Ba Vi, Chuong My, Thanh Tri and Thuong Tin.To expand the aquaculture farming area, Hanoi has transformed lowland fields into farms for large-scale aquaculture production, mostly of common carp, grass carp and tilapia, and fruit farming. Some farms started cultivating higher-value fish like black carp, hemibagrus guttatus and bass. Many of them also offer eco-tours.However, farmers here mainly use traditional fish farming techniques and have yet to apply advanced agricultural practices like VietGAP.According to a survey in 2017, the city's total fish farming area was estimated at more than 23,000 hectares, producing a combined output of approximately 98,000 tonnes of fish.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hanoi-sets-up-largescale-aquatic-farming-areas-in-eight-districts/132913.vnp

Digital economy offers SMEs a bright new world of opportunity

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV

With the application of digital technologies and e-commerce, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to compete on a more level playing field with major en-terprises when accessing the market.Trinh Duy Hoang, from Vietanalytics Market Research Company said the digital econ-omy has developed rapidly in Vietnam but there remains limited application of digital technologies in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).According to Hoang, digital technologies have become perceived as 'strange' by many businesses and there has still only been a small-scale rollout of these technologies in production activities due to high investment costs.From the perspective of Hoang, the biggest hindrance for businesses is the human re-source factor. Currently, newly-emerging tech start-ups in Vietnam are mostly SMEs which originate from households. Especially, these businesses have not improved the capacity and qualifications of human resources to get access to advanced technologies in the digital economy.Hoang emphasized the need for investments in the field of information technology (IT) as several businesses have gained access to digital technologies and data.He noted that to integrate into the digital economy, relevant agencies need to over-come any hindrances in terms of management thinking for new business forms related


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to digital technologies.Many economists say that the digital economy presents a revolution in economic de-velopment with the foundation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which has provid-ed huge opportunities for SMEs and micro businesses to develop and get access to the global market.With the application of digital technologies and e-commerce, micro-businesses will gain a more equal footing to compete with big companies in seeking new partners and markets, opening up huge opportunities for future development.Vu Tien Loc, Chair of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry says that the digital economy and e-commerce have brought the world's markets closer together and helped SMEs to grow while removingbarriers for them when approaching the glo-bal market"To seize these opportunities, businesses of any scale should become more transparent by applying the global standard management system. The State needs to create a fa-vourable mechanism for the application of digital technologies and must invest in cre-ating infrastructure to facilitate the development of technical infrastructure for the digital economy," says Loc.Loc also underlined the importance of restructuring and reforming the entire system of education and training with a focus on human resources in accordance with the re-quirements of the digital economy. In the coming time, the demands for the workforce in the digital and IT field has increased sharply, leading to a workforce shortage for the digital economy.Furthermore, several fields face the risks of growing unemployment, such as garment and textile, footwear, and electronics, as they are impacted by the digital economy and the automation process brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Therefore, businesses need to re-train their workforce to adapt to the jobs available under the dig-ital economy, says Loc.He also identified measures to ensure safety and protect privacy and confidentiality in business activities and in people's social lives.It is essential to devise mechanisms and legal frameworks for the digital economy and to ensure suitable infrastructure to promote creativity and strengthen control over in-formation security as Vietnam's digital economy is still in its initial stages, notes Loc.http://english.vov.vn/economy/digital-economy-offers-smes-a-bright-new-world-of-opportunity-376245.vov

Being smart in the 'smart' era


Creating a smart factory is the objective of all of Vietnam's leading manufacturers but internal and external obstacles must be tackled.A robot called DX2 was introduced to more than 30 Vietnamese enterprises a few months ago at the "Future of ManufacturingInfusing Digital Technologies into Facto-ries" gathering in HCM City, where it showcased its distinctive functions, especially talking and interacting with people. Created by Deloitte, "this robot represents rapid development in state-of-the-art technologies, such as cloud computing infrastructure, big data analysis, and device connection, which have been greatly influencing produc-tivity and quality in the business and production processes of enterprises," said Mu-ralidhar MSK, Manufacturing Consulting Leader at Deloitte Southeast Asia.Towards AIVietnam has seen a wave of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years, with major local manufacturers concentrating on updating to new technologies and applying AI into their production lines as part of becoming a "smart factory".Vietnam's No. 1 milk producer, Vinamilk, is gradually bringing AI into production and management at its factories. "Our dairy plants are receiving new machinery and equipment that use advanced technology and high levels of automation," said Tran Minh Van, Executive directorProduction, at Vinamilk. "For example, our Vietnam milk facility in southern Binh Duong province has applied AI in almost all production stagesinput materials, processing automation, packaging, equipment efficiency analy-


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sis, and many others."The company's workplace productivity, quality, and output have all increased signif-icantly as a result, cutting costs and allowing Vinamilk to compete with imports from famous global milk brands. "Vinamilk has frequently updated and absorbed develop-ment trends in the world's most advanced technology in the food processing and dairy industries," he added. "We cooperate with leading global partners in integrating auto-mation solutions into our plants."Among the Top 3 pharmaceutical firms in the country, Traphaco last November opened Vietnam's most modern pharma plant, in northern Hung Yen province, as part of its ambitions to become the country's leading manufacturer in terms of pharmaceu-tical technologies by 2020. With the application of information technology (IT) in man-agement and production, the plant has the most up-to-date eye drop production line in Vietnam, using BFS technology, and a pills production line using European-stand-ard robotic arms.Its large-capacity syringe and liquid medicine production lines are fully synchronised and connected automatically. Based on the principle of "No touch, No dust" in produc-tion, the lines minimise human intervention in production, improving product quali-ty. "The opening of the smart pharmaceutical factory demonstrates the determination of our employees to realise our sustainable development strategy," said Tran Tuc Ma, general director of Traphaco. "The factory has a capacity of 1.2 billion products a year, with only 130 workers involved in the whole production process, just one half of the workforce needed for the older production processes, while productivity has in-creased three-fold."Leading local auto maker the Truong Hai Auto JSC (Thaco) commenced operations at its largest and most modern manufacturing factory in Southeast Asia in March, in cen-tral Quang Nam province. The first phase of the project, costing $307 million, has been completed, with half of the designed capacity of 200,000 units per year. The plant adopts a digitisation-based production operating system, connecting automation lines with information on the value chain, from ordering to production. The company has applied intelligent production by use of automobile assembly using robots and smart workshops towards becoming a smart factory.Even smarterFrom discussions with industrial automation suppliers, Muralidhar said there is sig-nificant optimism about the adoption of robotics based on sales of industrial robots. Some of the automotive plants set up recently in Vietnam are among the most ad-vanced and automated in Southeast Asia. With the latest in global technologies, mul-tinational companies (MNCs) in Vietnam are prominent in terms of digitised manufacturing and operation systems.As one of the world's largest industrial manufacturers, general Electric (GE) is usher-ing in a new era of manufacturing by merging hardware and software and reimagin-ing how products are designed, made, and serviced. "At GE, we have something called a 'brilliant' factory. Our brilliant factory uses big data, software, sensors, controllers, and robotics to increase productivity and deliver asset and operations optimisation," Pham Hong Son, CEO of GE Vietnam, told VET. "This means that AI is the essential, but not the only, part in our factories."GE is in the process of developing 17 brilliant factories around the world, each balanc-ing operational excellence and lean manufacturing with maturity and the implemen-tation of digital technology. "The GE Hai Phong plant, or the 'Hai Phong Brilliant Factory', is among these and the first in the Asean region," Son said. Since its transfor-mation in 2016, productivity at the Hai Phong plant has increased 20 per cent, product lead time has been reduced by 50 per cent, and inventory cut by 20 per cent. "We are pushing the boundaries to get even more impressive results by putting in place weld-ing robots and crane-free operations and moving line manufacturing, as using digital tools to help welding increased efficiency from 12 to 30 per cent, while smart torque improved quality control in manufacturing and increased productivity by 5 per cent," he added. This facility now exports manufactured parts, particularly for the renewable


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energy sector, worth more than $500 million since inception, to Europe, the US, and China."GE started the journey by creating digital solutions for our businesses, applying them to enhance efficiency in administration and operations, and we will keep the pace to drive value for customers,' Son went on. "As Industry 4.0 is occurring around the world and also right here in Vietnam, we are ready to ramp up to achieve even more and support others."http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/being-smart-in-the-smart-era

Local companies embracing environment and the community

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Many Vietnamese companies now actively define their business strategies as being linked to environmental protection and community contributions.2018 is an important year for leading Vietnamese pharmaceutical company Traphaco in materialising its sustainable development strategy in the 2017-2020 period. Its business growth needs to be attached to environmental protection and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, both of which have been the foundation if its success since establishment in 1972. Its Green Plan project has been one of the company's most notable practices, launched in 2009 with the goal of producing materials made from herbs as well as helping local farmers eradicate hunger and reduce poverty.After ten years of research and development (R&D) and implementation, Traphaco possesses nearly 36,000 ha of medicinal plants with ten precious herbs that meet GACP (Good Agricultural and Collection Practices) WHO standards. Its land holding covers 28 cities and provinces and creates stable employment for local farmers. The reason why the company pursued the project is that pharmaceutical and medicinal plant pro-duction in Vietnam is 70-90 per cent dependent upon foreign inputs, and the company decided to be a pioneer in greater localisation. Inputs for its pharmaceutical products are now 93 per cent locally-grown. Other Vietnamese pharmaceutical companies have followed suit and together contribute to the sustainable development of traditional Vi-etnamese medicine and society.Traphaco spends 1-3 per cent of total revenue on its CSR activities each year. "The story of Traphaco is typical of how a Vietnamese enterprise can build its business model to-wards sustainable development, even matching the efforts of multinational corpora-tions," said Professor Nguyen Huu Ninh, an internationally-recognised environmental researcher.Notable practicesCreating value for the community and the poor are also goals of other Vietnamese companies. At Biti's, two fields where the Vietnamese shoemaker seeks to bring value to the community are support for the poor in remote areas to provide better and more sustainable lives, and educating children about Vietnamese culture."In terms of business strategy, we commit to pursuing sustainable development in im-plementing our mission of 'Taking care of Vietnamese feet', through providing high-quality and durable footwear and communicating better living and educational mes-sages," Vuu Le Quyen, deputy general director at Biti's, told VET.CSR activities have been conducted by staff at each division of the company, she add-ed, and are not just for society but also for its own employees. "Each company is a com-munity and needs its own strategies for implementing CSR activities," she said. "We view CSR as key to ensuring our sustainable development and promoting harmony between the company and society."The Mobile World Investment JSC (MWG), the largest mobile chain retailer in Viet-nam, believes its biggest contribution to society lies in helping its more than 39,000 em-ployees have a better life. "The core values our employees pursue at the company can be applied in their life and relations," Dang Thanh Phong, MWG's PR manager, told VET. The company has determined that creating a comfortable workplace for employ-ees is important for its development.TPBank, meanwhile, has focused its CSR activities in recent years on developing a sus-tainable and transparent bank. "With the goal of becoming a digital bank, we have pro-


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moted the application of modern technology into our operational activities, which help increase productivity and security," said CEO Nguyen Hung. "We are constantly improving our modern, professional, and friendly workplace environment and taking care of employees' lives both materially and spiritually."Besides its Green Plan project, Traphaco has also materialised its sustainability com-mitment by internal annual action programmes, which require the firmness of leaders and unity and determination between management and each employee. "Under a pro-gramme we launched this year with the message of 'Strengthening ControlRealising Targets', each division at the company will submit its own projects with breakthroughs and solutions for improving existing activities," said Marketing manager Dao Thuy Ha. "We also have awards to encourage innovation throughout the company that con-tributes to future development." The company's budget for the awards is some 8-9 per cent of annual after-tax profits.Benefits come with challengesTPBank's business results from implementing sound CSR activities have been out-standing. Assets stood at VND12.4 trillion ($544.6 million) at end-2017, charter capital VND5.8 trillion ($254.7 million), and pre-tax profit VND1.2 trillion ($52.7 million). "CSR efforts improve financial matters, reduce operational costs, increase our prestige, manage risks, and resolve crises better," Hung said. "It also boosts our commitment to our workers and relationships with the government, State agencies, and the commu-nity. CSR also helps increase the value of our brand and can help increase revenue and attract more partners, investors, and talented employees."CSR activities have become more common and of greater concern to more local enter-prises and this is good news, according to Quyen. CSR now has a direct effect on com-mitments on product quality. Nearly 90 per cent of businesses surveyed in February by Vietnam Report said that corporate reputation is a driving force in enterprises car-rying out CSR activities. In other words, social responsibility is a gateway for business-es to attract consumers and the community as a whole.Well-executed CSR activities not only help businesses succeed but also aid them in ad-dressing strategic business and social issues. Some enterprises in the Vietnam Report survey, however, said that implementing CSR in Vietnam comes with certain challeng-es. The survey revealed that the primary challenge is perceptions of CSR as being mere sponsorship activities. Phong said that many people confuse CSR with philanthropy, believing it to be raising money for the less fortunate, building houses of charity, or similar deeds.Sustainability of community projects is Biti's greatest challenge. Its projects have been handed over to local authorities to bring the greatest benefit to the target community, Quyen explained. "This requires that enterprises and partners have rigorous project implementation and management processes, and at the same time have consensus and coordination from local authorities to ensure the legality of the project," she said.In the course of project implementation there must also be persons responsible for han-dling and correcting any problems. Quyen pointed out that the cost of key human re-sources being directly involved in implementing a project is a controversial matter, as they are considered volunteers. "The professionalism and sustainability of a project can be impacted by a lack of key personnel and expertise to monitor and evaluate projects on a regular basis," she said.Furthermore, the government also plays an important role in CSR activities conducted by enterprises. A problem in implementing CSR around the country, the Vietnam Re-port survey found, is the absence of government incentives.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/local-companies-embracing-environ-ment-and-the-community

Furniture firms must use domestic materials


The world's wooden interior decor market is predicted to grow at 3.5 per cent in 2018 and continue expanding, providing opportunities to Vietnamese businesses to in-crease exports of the products.


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If Vietnamese businesses optimise the material sources they have and make the best use of trade promotion activities, their export earnings are expected to surpass $8 bil-lion.According to Huynh Van Hanh, vice president of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association (HAWA) of HCM City, in the past 15 years, the wood industry has main-tained a growth rate of 8 to 15 per cent per year despite global economic fluctuation.The main issue of the wood-processing enterprises in Vietnam is that they are focusing on a market section with low added value, mostly concentrating on outsourcing to for-eign clients.To further develop the domestic wood sector, businesses should pay attention to sell-ing abroad the whole space of high-end interior decor instead of doing outwork and selling separate products.Meanwhile, the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association asserted that it was necessary to make full use of domestic material sources to create a breakthrough for the sector.Statistics show that Vietnam has more than three million hectares of acacia, with an output of 150cu.m of wood per hectare per year. By exploiting only half of the total ar-ea, Vietnam will have 22.5 million cubic metres of wood per year, meeting the material demand of the whole sector for both domestic and foreign markets.Moreover, acacia wood is much cheaper than imported wood, which will help facili-tate a closed production chain for made-in-Vietnam wooden products.Along with optimising material sources, trade promotion activities should also be strengthened to help increase domestic sales.According to Hanh, trade fairs and exhibitions are currently considered the most eco-nomic and effective means of promotion. Therefore, HAWA has informed its members of many events abroad in 2018. It will support them in joining these events to seek part-ners and broaden markets.Hanh said that exhibitions in the country had also drawn an increasing number of en-terprises, especially small ones, which would help them know about the number of deals secured immediately.He noted that the Vietnam International Furniture and Home Accessories Fair 2018 at-tracted 4,528 firms, while the 2017 event gathered only 2,000. Transactions at the event also increased this year.Besides traditional trade promotion, digital marketing is popular in many countries, such as the US, Germany, Italy and China. But it is hard to find Vietnamese wooden decor firms on the internet as Vietnamese firms are yet to efficiently exploit the digital medium.http://bizhub.vn/news/furniture-firms-must-use-domestic-materials_295936.html

Premium product market in VN set to take off


Mollis organic towels of Phong Phu Corporation have received "very good response" in the market after being launched last year, a sign that premium products are becom-ing more popular in Vietnam.Doan Anh Dao, sales and marketing manager of Phong Phu Corporation, said the tow-els, which are made from 100 per cent imported cotton, are strictly inspected by the Control Union from all stages, from input to output to sales and inventory.They are priced 30-40 per cent higher than that of normal cotton towels."Sales of the products via Con Cung shops are very good. At Co.opmart, Big C, Aeon and some Vinmart stores, more and more customers know about the products," Dao said.According to retailers, sales of Vinamilk organic fresh milk have also been very good since its launch despite their much higher price compared to normal products.Realising the potential of the Vietnamese market, many foreign companies via exhibi-tions and fairs want to seek business partners to distribute their products in Vietnam.For instance, Shin Je Hwan from South Korea's Hap Chun Foods Co. Ltd, which par-ticipated in the VIPREMIUM 2018 held recently in HCM City, said: "This is the first


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time my company is participating in the fair. We want to look for agents or distributing and importing companies in Vietnam."Dao said: "There's a great potential for organic and premium products in Vietnamese market because consumers have increasingly paid attention to products that are good for their health."A recent survey of Nielsen showed that with significantly improved income, Vietnam-ese consumers are not only buying more goods, but also spending more money on pre-mium products.Premium products have selling prices at least 20 percent higher than other products of the same kinds in the market, according to Nielsen.Imported productsDespite the potential of the premium product market segment, the market is mainly dominated by imports, accounting for about 80 per cent, according to Nguyen Phi Van, chairwoman of the Saigon Innovation Hub's Board of Advisors.Products are mostly from the Asia Pacific region such as Japan and South Korea, and from Western Europe and North America, according to Van, who is also founder and chairwoman of Retail & Franchise Asia.The premium market in Vietnam features mainly healthcare products, beauty care products, household appliances, consumer products, and electronic products as well as services.In the high-end market segment, Vietnamese firms find it hard to compete with for-eign firms because they have not caught up with market trends, while their foreign ri-vals have done this very well, Van said."Foreign firms are very knowledgeable about design and business model innovation to suit digital consumers as well as future consumers. Due to these difficulties, in the high-end consumer segment, Vietnamese goods cannot compete with products pro-duced by foreign manufacturers," she said.According to experts, Vietnamese producers of both premium and popular products do not understand world market trends and thus cannot take advantage of the trends.This is the biggest challenge for Vietnamese firms.Domestic businesspeople have accessed an international business mindset, but the ap-plication of these mindsets into production and business operations is still slow com-pared to that in other countries.Their resources are also very limited, and they struggle to protect their popular con-sumer products in the market. So they have not had proper investment in exploiting higher consumer segments.Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the High Quality Vietnamese Goods Business Associa-tion, said: "Consumers like imported products from Thailand, Japan and Korea. One of the reasons is that as incomes increase, consumers can pay more for products in gen-eral, but they also pay more attention to the value that the products bring, especially foods and beverages good for health."Van said: "I hope that more Vietnamese businesses will participate in the premium market segment, but it may take a long time for them to build their position in the mar-ket."Many experts believe that with the current situation, imported premium goods in Vi-etnam will continue to increase in the near future.Under free trade agreements, tariff duties will be reduced, and imported goods will become more competitive, causing difficulties for Vietnamese firms.According to Van, in this situation, Vietnamese firms need to make a big change in their managerial mindset and expand cooperation, including with foreign partners to develop the market together.Businesses should also understand mega-trends that will lead the market not only now but also in coming years to develop suitable business innovation ideas as well as capitalise on market opportunities.http://bizhub.vn/news/premium-product-market-in-vn-set-to-take-off_295986.html


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Pharmaceutical firms make big investments on predicted market growth


The pharmaceutical industry is expected to see big changes this year thanks to invest-ments from both Vietnamese and foreign companies.According to BMI, the revenue of Vietnam's drug market was $5.2 billion in 2017 and the figure is expected to reach $7.7 billion in 2021.A report shows that the average spending on drugs has increased from $9.85 in 2005 to $37.97 per capita in 2015. In 2017, the figure was $56 and expected to maintain an annual 14 percent growth rate until 2025.Encouraged by the high growth rates, more and more foreign pharmaceutical firms have joined the Vietnamese market through M&As.Abbott acquired 51.7 percent of shares in Domesco and bought Glomed Pharmaceuti-cal which allowed it to immediately have two factories worth $18 million which spe-cialise in making non-beta lactam and beta lactam (Cephalosporin) products.Sanofi from France signed an agreement on expanding strategic cooperation with Vinapharm.Meanwhile, Adamed Group, Poland's second largest pharmaceutical group, acquired 70 percent of shares of Davipharm in a deal worth $50 million.Vietnamese companies have been prospering with 2-digit growth rate. Hau Giang Pharmaceutical in 2017 reported revenue of VND4.062 trillion and net profit of VND642 billion. Traphaco reported post-tax profit of hundreds of billions of dong.Analysts say the two companies are prospering because they are gathering strength to conquer the OTC (over the counter) market, develop retail networks and make prod-ucts from materials available in the domestic market.However, the analysts say that Vietnamese firms are at a disadvantage as they have to import materials. Their production heavily depends on input material supply, prices and exchange rates. Vietnamese firms also have limited R&D capability.According to Vu Thi Thuan, chair of Traphaco, about $1 billion is needed to use more active drug ingredients, but this goes beyond enterprises' financial capability.Some pharmaceutical firms are trying to cut production costs by reducing active ele-ments in drugs. As a result, their drugs have low effectiveness and this has encouraged people to use foreign rather than made-in-Vietnam products.To improve competitiveness in the drug market, some domestic firms have found new ways to proceed. At Hau Giang Pharmaceutical, a new shareholder has appeared Tai-so Pharmaceuticals. With its large distribution network and Taiso's capital and expe-rience, Hau Giang can now compete with big rivals.Thuan said Traphaco targets a niche market making herbal medicine as a solution to avoid direct confrontation with big rivals.Domesco has also cooperated with many foreign companies to buy input materials and export finished products to other markets through foreign partner relationships.A report shows that the average spending on drugs has increased from $9.85 in 2005 to $37.97 per capita in 2015. In 2017, the figure was $56 and expected to maintain an annual 14 percent growth rate until 2025.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/202157/pharmaceutical-firms-make-big-investments-on-predicted-market-growth.html

Foreign gi1ants earn almost 90pct of profits in beer business18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| THANH NIEN

After Saigon beer, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) is going to divest the majority of stake from Hanoi Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Habeco) in this year. The domestic beer market becomes the race of foreign giants.Industry and Trade minister Tran Tuan Anh has just affirmed to the press that the Min-istry is actively directing the divestment from Habeco and can still do this in this year.Although the state capital sold at Habeco has not been officially announced, it is more likely that the ownership rate of the Ministry of Trade will decrease sharply from 81.79 percent now to just equivalent to the ratio it is holding at Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Bever-age Corporation (Sabeco) at about 36%.


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Currently, foreign shareholder Denmark Carlsberg Beer is holding 17.34 percent stake at Habeco. Under the previous agreement, when the State divests capital, priority will be given to this investor.Representative of Carlsberg Vietnam repeatedly expressed the intention to raise in-vestment in Habeco, even higher the dominant level of more than 51%. If this is com-pleted, the control of the two giants in Vietnam beer industry including Sabeco and Habeco will belong to foreign corporations.The report of Euromonitor International Research Company shows that at the end of 2016, Sabeco, along with Habeco and Heineken Vietnam, are three dominant compa-nies in Vietnam beer market. Sabeco dominates in the premium beer segment with the maximum market share of 41%; Heineken dominates the high-end beer segment with 23 percent and then Habeco with 18.4 percent market share.Carlsberg also reckons for 7.6 percent because of governing the majority of beer market share in the Central region after the acquisition of Hue Brewery Company since 2011 when the State divested.For the whole year 2017, data from Vietnam Beer Alcohol and Beverage Association (VBA) shows that the consumption of the entire country reached more than four bil-lion litters of beer. On average, each Vietnamese person drinks nearly 45 litters of beer.In terms of quantity, Vietnam is among the top 10 beer consumers in Asia. The cost of beer consumption in Vietnam is about $3.4 billion/annum and almost 90 percent of the money is flowing into the pockets of foreign giants. Especially, the average beer con-sumption in our country is forecasted to increase 65 percent from 2011 to 2021 and this is still considered as a "golden mine" to exploit.*Many domestic brands will be acquiredAccording to Dr Nguyen Van Viet, Chair of VBA, the beer market in the near future will compete more strongly. Domestic beer businesses not only face difficulties with large brands producing in place but even products from Thailand and Laos are also entering the market more and more when tariff barriers are removed.However, Viet affirmed that small businesses in the country still have opportunity if they have determination. He quoted the story that many foreign giants withdrew from Vietnam after a period of investment such as Foster, BGI. Or, San Miguel, Sapporo, SABmiller, etc., in spite of still operating, are not much successful."Growth potential of beer industry is still quite large and that is the reason for many foreign groups to jump in. But large businesses also have their own difficulty and not all foreign brands are successful when entering Vietnam. Private businesses them-selves have flexibility, change easily so if they know how to exploit well, study suitable products to consumers' taste, they will be able to survive", said Dr Viet.After the divestment of the majority of stake from Sabeco, many people still regret when the Thai people have owned this "chicken laying golden egg" and worry that Vi-etnam's large brands will gradually disappear.However, Nguyen Hoang Hai, deputy Chair of Vietnamese financial investors said in general, businesses like Habeco have not been effective over the last few years, result-ing in poorer and poorer profits. Therefore, the divestment must be carried out as soon as possible.Though the State asks foreign investors to commit retaining domestic brands such as Sabeco but in reality, the majority of profits made will flow to their pockets.It is regretful that domestic businesses are not strong enough to acquire state capital to continue building and developing long-lasting brands. In fact, when the State sells the entire capital, hardly any domestic business immediately has several US dollars to par-ticipate like Thai investor who spent about $5 billion to own Sabeco.

Cashew industry suffers from weakness

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON EIMES

Vietnam is expected to remain the world's No. 1 cashew nut exporter in 2018 with a global market share of 65%, but local cashew enterprises have operated inefficiently, facing numerous problems, including shortages of raw materials and thin profit mar-


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gins, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported.Citing a representative of the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), the newspaper said that as of May, Vietnam earned some $1.4 billion from exporting 141,000 tonnes of cashew nuts, up 21.4 percent in volume and 25.35 percent in value. Vietnam's cash-ew revenues are expected to reach $3.7 billion in 2018, rising by $80 million against last year.Mentioning difficulties in Vietnam's cashew industry, Nguyen Duc Thanh, chair of Vinacas, lamented that farmers and processors who spend a great deal of money and time on farming and manufacturing cashews only saw an increase of 30-35 percent in profit, while foreign traders took the lion's share of 65-70%."Such trade inequality is considerable, but we find it difficult to change since the pro-duction in Vietnam remains unstable," he said.A group of small processing plants, representing 70-80 percent of the country's cashew plants, have stopped operating due to a shortage of raw materials, while cashew nut prices have consistently fallen, from $11 to $8.2 per kilo since October 2017, resulting in the plants only breaking even or operating at a loss, according to members of Vinacas.Ta Quang Huyen, director of Hoang Son 1 JSC in Binh Phuoc Province, said that the world's cashew nut demand increases by 3-5 percent per year, while Vietnam's cashew nut output surges by 25%, leading to an oversupply. That plants rush into purchasing materials, producing and exporting at the same time, unintentionally paves the way for a squeeze on prices from foreign importers."Cashew products can be stored for a year, but small plants short on capital must sell the products after processing them, leading to a fall in prices as a result of a massive sale," Huyen noted, asserting that prices will bounce back in the near future, as cashew nut warehouses have been emptied.Thanh also said cashew nut consumption would rise at the end of the year, adding that enterprises should not act in haste and keep prices unchanged owing to the limited supply source."An aim of the cashew sector is to cut quantity and focus on the quality of processing to push selling prices up," Thanh noted.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60630/cashew-industry-suffers-from-weakness.html

Vietnam's aviation market heats up


Sixty-three foreign airlines from 25 countries and territories will have 105 international air routes to Vietnam by October 2018, a sharp increase compared with 2016 when there were 78 air routes.Nguyen Thanh Binh, who works for a construction company in Go Vap district, HCM City, is from Thach That district in Hanoi. She returns to her home village once a year. Previously, she used to take a train or coach. However, it was inconvenient. It took her three days to travel and she could stay home for two days before returning to HCM City.In recent years, Binh has travelled by air, because tickets are only slightly higher than rail tickets booked several months before the departure day, VND1.5 million vs VND1 million. It takes only two hours to fly from HCM City to Hanoi.Vietnam air carriers have been expanding their air route networks and flight frequen-cy. There are 52 domestic air routes linking Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City and 18 lo-cal airports, according to Nguoi Dong Hanh.As for the international market, 63 foreign airlines provide flights to Vietnam.The number of foreigners travelling to Vietnam by air has bounced back. According to the General Statistical Office (GSO), in the first nine months of 2017, over 8 million travellers returned to Vietnam by air, a growth rate of 31 percent compared with the same period of 2016, accounting for 80 percent of total foreign travellers.Randy J. Tinseth, vice president of Boeing, said the South East Asian aviation market has been growing rapidly as economic growth has led to high demand for travelling and long-distance transport services.


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Boeing estimates that its partners in the region would need 940 wide body aircraft, worth $280 billion in the next 20 years.Vietnam is a market with a high growth rate thanks to the high GDP growth rates in the last 10 years. The number of passengers travelling domestically has increased by 20 percent and abroad by 7 percent.The strong rise of Vietnam's economy has also led to higher demand for travelling to Vietnam. This has prompted foreign airlines to open air routes to Vietnam.Air Seoul Inc, a subsidiary providing budget airlines, belonging to Asiana Airlines opened a new air route to Da Nang City, Vietnam last May. Six South Korean air car-riers are providing flights to the city, which attracts 500,000 South Korean travellers each year.Meanwhile, Edelwiss from Switzerland in late May announced it will officially pro-vide direct flights between Zurich and HCM City, commencing from November 15, 2018.Vietnam air carriers have been expanding their air route networks and flight frequen-cy. There are 52 domestic air routes linking Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City and 18 lo-cal airports.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/202397/vietnam-s-aviation-market-heats-up.html

More foreign investors enter Vietnam's logistics industry


Foreign logistics firms have flocked to Vietnam's logistics industry strongly through merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in a move to cash in on market opportunities.Warburg Pincus, the New York-based private equity firm that's been betting on the growth of the Asian logistics sector, has recently formed a $200 million joint venture to enter the Vietnamese logistics market.The venture, called BW Industrial Development JSC, will use the capital to develop and operate modern warehouses and factories in key economic and industrial zones, according to Jeffrey Perlman, head of Southeast Asia at Warburg Pincus.Earlier, logistics market was tumultuous with the handshake between Vietnam's big-gest freight and road transportation company Minh Phuong Logistics with Samsung SDS, a subsidiary of Samsung, to establish a new joint venture.According to experts, in order to penetrate into the domestic logistics market where road transportation accounts for as much as 65 percent market share in Vietnam, Sam-sung has no other way to move faster than to cooperate with Minh Phuong.With the expertise of a global operator of hi-tech logistics system, the cooperation with Minh Phuong will help Samsung SDS's information technology and logistics services better penetrate into Vietnam's freight and cargo industry.Besides Samsung SDS, Tae Kwang Industrial Co. Ltd, another South Korean company, has also acquired controlling stake in Gemadept Shipping (GMD) to gain a part of Vi-etnam's market share.Prosperous outlookThe deals have appeared as Vietnam is emerging as a high potential market with its logistics industry projected to account for 8-10 percent of the nation' GDP by 2025.Besides having a strategic position and a large domestic market, Vietnam's logistics market is also considered potential as the country has become a new low-cost manu-facturing hub and an increasingly high foreign investment attraction, especially for Japanese, South Korean, Chinese and Singaporean investors, thanks to good growth prospects.Vietnam is also seen as a gateway for international firms to penetrate Asean, a market of 640 million people. Logistics therefore will be a key to promoting exports and im-ports in Vietnam and Asean.The factors are the motivation to promote M&A deals in the logistics sector to happen more strongly in Vietnam."With the transformative shift of the manufacturing base from markets like China to Vietnam as well as with the rapid rise of domestic consumption, the logistics and in-


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dustrial real estate market in Vietnam is in the 'early innings' and at an inflection point for outsized growth," Jeffrey Perlman, head of Southeast Asia at Warburg Pincus, said.The Asian Development Bank forecast the nation's economy will expand 6.7 percent this year, the second highest growth among Southeast Asian countries, trailing only the Philippines.Foreign investment in the country's logistics industry is also forecast to further grow as the government has recently passed a decree, permitting foreign investors to estab-lish their wholly foreign-owned companies providing logistics services.Under Decree No.163/ND-CP, foreign investors can provide 16 main logistics service types in Vietnam, including container loading and unloading (excluding airports), warehouses for supporting transport, transport and customs agencies, and shipping.Regarding road transport services, foreign investors can establish 100 percent foreign-owned companies with the condition that all drivers need to be Vietnamese citizens.Along with newly-established firms, foreign investors can also join M&A activities with the maximum ownership limit of 49-51 percent, depending on the sector, accord-ing to the decree.According to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and In-vestment, logistics has ranked eighth among industries receiving the largest foreign investments to date. Until the end of April this year, foreign companies registered to pour more than $4.7 billion into 692 logistics projects in Vietnam.http://www.hanoitimes.vn/investment/news/2018/06/81E0C87D/more-foreign-inves-tors-enter-vietnam-s-logistics-industry/

Foreigners active in food and beverage startups


An American sells roast meat, others sell high-end chocolate, and a Singaporean sells frog porridge. They all can see great potentials in the 90 million people market.Many foreign investment funds have poured money into the F&B (food & beverage0 sector as well.Lion City Restaurant in HCM City, for example, is run by Singaporean owner Harry Ang, who has been living in Vietnam for 17 years. The workers at the restaurant said the boss, who was trained as an architect, knows how to communicate well with cus-tomers.Ang says the country has high potential for restaurant chains, especially in HCM City, which is considered a 'small Asean' and the 'crossroads' of different cuisines.He said the opportunities are great as more Vietnamese have demand for quality food bearing local characteristics in a modern space and with quality service.Meanwhile, Tim Scott and Mark Gustafson from the US run a grilled pork rib restau-rant and sell craft beer.Their Ut Ut and BigCraft restaurants have been prospering as they attract young cus-tomers. The fifth restaurant of the chain will open in June and the number of shops is expected to increase to 10 by the end of the year.Vincent Mourou-Rochebois, a French-American, said some people called him and Samuel Maruta, of France, 'crazy men' when they decided to make Marou chocolate. The people said Vietnamese like milk and tea, not chocolate.However, they bet on chocolate because they could see the great potential and the country's large cocoa growing area. They believed the most important thing was to have good raw materials.In 2011, they moved ahead with the plan to make bean-to-bar chocolate, the first of its kind in Vietnam. Four years later, they launched the high-end chocolate brand Marou and put Vietnam on the world's chocolate map.An analyst said that Vietnam, like many other markets, is now being exposed to many food trends from all over the globe.Many foreign investment funds have invested in the F&B sector and foreign brands are seeking franchise contracts in Vietnam.Mekong Capital, for example, in 2008, poured VND2.6 billion into Golden Gate. In 2016, the Mekong Enterprise Fund III invested $6.9 million, or VND150 billion, into the


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company which owns the Wrap & Roll chain.The opportunities are great as more Vietnamese have demand for quality food bearing local characteristics in a modern space and with quality service.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/202158/foreigners-active-in-food-and-bev-erage-startups.html

Vietnam's hotel market attracts foreign management companies

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Vietnam has witnessed an influx of international hotel brands and hotel management companies in the last few years, according to property consultant Savills Vietnam.From 30 hotels with international brand names in 2010, the number had increased to 79 at the end of last year.Four Seasons is the operator of The Nam Hai resort in Hoi An ancient town. (Photo: fourseasons.com)There has been a particularly big jump this year with recent announcements by Man-darin Oriental and Movenpick in HCM City and Best Western Premier in Quang Binh and Long Hai.There have also been new brands entering the market in the last three years, including Ozo and X2 Vibe (Hoi An), Hilton's Double Tree (Ha Long, Vung Tau and Hanoi), Four Seasons (Quang Nam and Hanoi), Oakwood (HCM City), Glow (Da Nang), and Mai House (HCM City).Mauro Gasparotti, director of Savills Hotels Asia Pacific, said a big increase in opera-tors' interest in the country in the last three years has resulted in the expansion of the hospitality market."The number of international operators is expected to grow in the coming years along with local management companies."Operators are launching new brands to target all kinds of clients including millennials and health-conscious travellers, he said, adding that Vietnam is a promising market for them to introduce focused brands since people travelling here are largely diversi-fied.Vietnamese investors are still new to hospitality products, but with a large amount of supply coming, there would be rapid learning for some of them and more quality as-sets are expected to come up, he said.The number of international tourist arrivals in Vietnam in the first five months of this year was 6.7 million, up 27.6 percent year-on-year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.Tourism revenues are estimated at 260.2 trillion VND (11.41 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 22.6 percent.The strong growth of the tourism sector has also given a boost to the hospitality indus-try.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/018/56989/vietnam-s-hotel-market-attracts-foreign-man-agement-companies.html

JLL: Industrial property holds promise


Vietnam possesses several advantages that make it an attractive destination for indus-trial development.The industrial property market in Vietnam, including industrial land, ready-built fac-tories, warehouses, and other logistics properties, is in the nascent stages of develop-ment and is strongly featured by the following: industrial parks and other industrial properties compete with each other mainly on location rather than on standards of in-frastructure, buildings, and services; industrial parks and other industrial properties are mostly sparse and major industries are not gathered together for development on a regional basis; and major occupiers are predominantly in labour-intensive indus-tries, including textiles and apparel, food, wooden products and furniture, and rubber and plastic products. The contribution of the value-added sector remains insignificant.Given Vietnam's improving market fundamentals, it stands a good chance of winning market share as its regional peers shift towards more mature industrial development.


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There are several notable advantages that make Vietnam an attractive destination for industrial development.Strategic location: Vietnam's advantageous geographical location, with access to the world's major sea trade routes, offers the country huge opportunities to develop mar-itime transport, particularly for logistics services. Its close proximity to China also makes it a worthy option for manufacturers looking at alternative locations in South-east Asia because operating costs in China have increased continuously over recent years.Strong economic growth: The key drivers of Vietnam's economic growth are urbanisa-tion, FDI, growth in the manufacturing sector, and growth in the middle-income pop-ulation. These factors have created spillover effects that drive the country's demand for international transport and logistics services.Thriving middle-class and favourable demographics: As Vietnam's economy moves from agriculture to manufacturing and services, household incomes are likely to in-crease. According to the Brookings Institute, Vietnam is expected to enjoy the strong-est growth in the middle-income population bracket, with a 19 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) from 2018-2020; up 14 per cent from the previous dec-ade. Figures from the General Statistical Office show that Vietnam is experiencing a "golden population structure", with the average working age ranging from 20 to 50 in 2016 with a median age of around 30. A young population coupled with growth in av-erage incomes will support purchasing power and help the country remain an attrac-tive destination for both local and foreign investors.Low cost: Vietnam has become more attractive to foreign manufacturers, their associ-ated suppliers, and support industries thanks to its existing variety of tax incentives and low labour costs. This in turn will allow further potential growth in the industrial sector generally and logistics services in particular.In comparison to its regional peers, Vietnam's industrial property market is still rela-tively immature. However, as it steadily approaches the growth stage of its industrial market evolution, specific areas of opportunity are beginning to emerge as it develops an intermediate product and value-added offering. Moving from more labour-inten-sive to more capital-intensive and automated resources, JLL anticipates that the typol-ogy of the industrial offering will steadily become more sophisticated as occupier requirements develop and industrial market demand moves from its current low spec-ifications to higher specifications needs.A significant area of land is planned for industrial development to 2020, at nearly dou-ble the current market size. Thus, major opportunities exist in Vietnam for both exist-ing players and potential new market entrants to access potential land banks and capture market share.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/op-eds/jll-industrial-property-holds-promise

HCM City in property boom


The HCM City housing market will continue to grow this year, especially the VND1 billion (US$44,000) condo segment, the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA) has predicted.Le Hoang Chau, its chair, said the VND1 billion segment would be the most liquid while the luxury segment will be restructured in line with actual demand.Authorities would continue to cool down the land and condotel segments, it said.In the second half of the year developers would continue to upgrade the city's infra-structure, rebuilding old apartments, joining in resettlement programmes and devel-oping smart urban areas, it said.They would strengthen relations with foreign investors to raise more funds, it said.In the first five months of this year the property market was slightly down compared to the same period last year, with only 29 projects launched, almost 10 per cent fewer.Nearly 9,200 housing units were put in the market, 8,690 of them apartments and the rest houses, down by more than 44 per cent.The slowdown had spread to the apartment market, with the luxury segment declin-


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ing by 26 per cent, the mid-price segment by 32 per cent and the low-end segment by 70 per cent.Land prices shot up, especially in District 9, though of late they have levelled off.Fifteen M&A deals were done.Property attracted the third highest amount of FDI.According to HoREA, developers face challenges in getting loans since banks are tight-ening credit on instructions from the State Bank of Vietnam.The association wants the government to control two main factors that affect the mar-ket: the imbalance between demand and supply in the luxury apartment and condotel segments and the disinformation spread by brokers to manipulate land prices.http://bizhub.vn/property/hcm-city-in-property-boom_295979.html

Grabbing Grab's share a tough ask in Vietnam

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VN EXPRESS

Local ride-hailing firms lack deep pockets needed to out-incentivise market leader Grab.After Uber Technologies Inc sold its ride and food-delivery businesses in Southeast Asia to bigger regional rival Grab last March, Vietnamese firms have tried to chip away at Grab's dominance.A number of ride-hailing apps have been introduced recently, like Aber, which was developed by a group of Vietnamese students studying in Europe; FastGo, an affiliate of NextTech Group; and MVLchaina Singapore-based transportation startup; VATO; Didi; and MaiLinhBike.Besides competing in the bike- and car-hailing businesses with dominant player Grab, the new entrants also plan to offer good delivery, car rentals and long-haul ride serv-ices.But, for the moment, none of them have shown the ability to fill the gap left by Uber or to threaten Grab's supremacy, because they have not differentiated themselves from the competition.Newcomers did look for some "killer features" that are absent from previous apps to lure customers. For instance, VATO allows users to bargain with the driver for the most competitive price and Mai Linh Bike says it will collect lower commissions from its drivers and will not increase ride prices during peak hours.But such measures are not enough because ride-hailing is a cash burn business and only those with strong financial resources can endure, experts say.EasyTaxi has probably learned how tough this fight is. The Brazil-based company came to Vietnam at the end of 2013, six months before Grab and Uber's presence in this market. Despite being the first comer, it withdrew from the market just two years later. Money, or the lack of it, was the reason, industry insiders say.Cash burn strategyEven big players like Grab and Uber have reported heavy losses in Vietnam. Accord-ing to the general Department of Taxation, Grab, with a total registered capital of only VND20 billion ($881,057), has incurred losses of nearly VND1 trillion in three years of operating in Vietnam.But this cash burn strategy is how Grab and Uber are eating up traditional taxi firms' market share. In 2014-2015, they launched intense promotional programmes including free rides and discounts to lure customers. They also expanded their driver networks by providing them with subsidies and big rewards based on performance.Limited funding limits the budding competitors' ability to offer incentives the way the big players can, so the former are always playing catch up. They can't offer discounts, and can't expand their network of drivers in order to offer faster, better rides.In a price-driven market, customers are always looking to choose the cheapest possible ride. And they have complained that it is not easy to book a ride with the new apps even in downtown areas.Duc Huy, a senior student at the Academy of Journalism and Communication in Ha-noi, told VnExpress that he found it difficult to get a ride on MaiLinhBike as there are not many drivers around North Tu Liem District where he lives.


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"I have to wait for 10 minutes to get on a MaiLinhBike ride because the river is 2-3 km away," he said.Drivers too see Vietnamese ride-hailing platforms as backup options. They are not ready to switch despite Grab cutting back on drivers' incentives.Taxi driver Duy Ngoc said he operates on both Grab and VATO apps, but gets just two or three rides booked on the VATO platform a day."So, I mainly drive on the Grab platform to ensure my income," he said."New apps do not have a large customer base. Drivers just sign up to get incentives, so their main driving service remains the previous one (Grab)," said 25-year-old Grab motorcycle driver Quoc Anh.Market nichesWith Go-Jek about to set foot in Vietnam with its Go Viet app, competition is only get tougher for local firms. The Indonesian ride-hailing firm is a heavyweight competitor to Grab in the Southeast Asian region. Will local apps stand a chance? The answer is, unlikely, in a head-to-head fight."Capital shortfall is a disadvantage for Vietnamese ride-hailing apps, so they should not enter the cash burn race," said Dr Nguyen Duc Thanh, head of the Vietnam Insti-tute for Economic and Policy Research.He said going head-to-head with bigger rivals is not the right path to follow. There are other ways to succeed, he added."They can enter niche markets like good delivery, car rentals or long-distance ride services. Instead of trying to divide market share in the beginning, newcomers should think of a long-term strategy to build a solid foundation," Thanh added.It was not a fluke that even a well funded Uber lost to a more localised opponent, he said.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/grabbing-grab-s-share-a-tough-ask-in-viet-nam-3764462.html

Da Nang seeks EU investment


The central city of Da Nang has been compiling simplified investment procedures to support European businesses with more transparency and a reduction in informal charges.Speaking at the Whitebook Briefing 2018 between representatives of EuroCham, Euro-pean businesses and the city's leadership on June 14, deputy director of the city's In-vestment Promotion Agency Huynh Thi Lien Phuong said new procedures would be introduced later this year, helping European investors to obtain investment licenses, clear land and understand tax and customs regulations.She said Da Nang had been working hard on administrative reform while it promoted 2018 as The Year of Investment Attraction.Phuong said the city would offer cooperative opportunities to European partners and local colleges to boost education, information and communication technology (ICT) and human resources training.Chair of the city's people's committee, Huynh Duc Tho said the city would create fa-vourable conditions for investors and tourists from the EU.He said Da Nang and EuroCham had been cooperating well to promote the city's in-vestment environment.EuroCham's co-chair Denis Brunetti said: "EuroCham and Da Nang have been coop-erating closely for the past two years, and that is also due to the excellent work of our local EuroCham central Vietnam delegates."The local government understands that EuroCham members and European business at large could be the best partners for their investment strategy vision over the next few years, betting on excellence in ICT, tourism, education and other value-added sec-tors in which European businesses are global leaders, he added.Brunetti also introduced the focus and content of the Whitebook 2018 at the meeting, highlighting its most important sectoral and cross-sectoral issues and recommenda-tions, ranging from important regulations on distribution and customs, to calls for


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SVietnam finance & business 18 June 2018

greater enforcement of sustainable practices among businesses in Vietnam.The Whitebook 2018 was officially launched in Hanoi.EuroCham member Catherine McKinley, director of Greenshoots International School, raised concerns about how difficult it was for foreign teachers to gain permis-sion to work in Vietnam.She said some foreign teachers wasted time and money in order to obtain the necessary paperwork.Jose Sanchez-Barroso Gonzalez, vice consul honourary of the Kingdom of Spain in Da Nang, suggested more direct flights from Europe to Da Nang with connections to pop-ular destinations in central Vietnam and Southeast Asia.He said Da Nang should connect with Hoi An, Hue and Quang Ngai to offer extension stays for European tourists, and Da Nang could also become a base for connections with Siem Reap, Luang Prabang, Bali and Phuket.Gonzalez said Da Nang should develop a master plan for tourism development that focuses on sustainable business and a 'green' environment.Dang Ngoc Hai, branch director of Axon Active Vietnam, said the city should consider how it can reduce training times for ICT students while improving the quality of stu-dents to meet the increasing demand for manpower in the IT sector.He also said that English language skills could help IT students get jobs for foreign companies in Da Nang.Nguyen Hai Minh, the tax and legal partner at Mazars Vietnam, said local authorites should apply international standards when it comes to tax and transfer pricing to ease pressure on the tax system.He said support measures for SMEs and start-ups should also be implemented.There are currently 73 EU-backed FDI projects in Da Nang worth $219 million. French investors account for 40.5 per cent of FDI investment from the EU, with 21 projects in the city.Import-export turnover between the city and the EU reached $316 million in 2017.http://bizhub.vn/news/da-nang-seeks-eu-investment_295974.html

BUSINESSIZ NEWSBusiness Briefs 18 Jun 2018

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA

* Viet Capital Securities Company (VCI) has decided to issue 42 million shares at a 10-for-3.5 ratio, thereby raising its total outstanding volume from 120 million shares to 162 million shares. VCI plans to conduct the issuance in the second or third quarter of 2018.* The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange has given its approval to Tri Viet Securities Com-pany (TVB) to float over 15 million shares on Vietnam's main exchange. TVB debuted on the market for unlisted public enterprises, or UPCoM, in June 2015, and has seenIts share price soaring over 125 percent from VNDll,200 to VND25,200 each. In 2018, the firm targets VND45 billion in revenue and VND22.5 billion in after-tax profit, up 87.5 percent and 73 percent versus last year, respectively.* The Nawaplastic Industries (Saraburi) Co., Ltd, has registered to buy 1.17 million shares of Binh Minh Plastic Company (BMP), or a 1.43 percent stake, to spur its own-ership to 54.39%, equivalent to 44.5 million shares. The investor has turned BMP into its affiliate after several share purchases, raising its ownership to 52.96 percent at present.* SAM Holdings Company (SAM) plans to issue VNDI00 billion worth of bonds to supplement its working capital, and will sell the bonds to Agribank Securities Compa-ny. In 2018, the enterprise will focus on the finance, real estate and hi-tech agriculture sectors.* PetroVietnam Ca Mau Fertiliser Company (DCM) estimates its net profit at VND400 billion in the second quarter of this year. In the first quarter, DCM saw its consolidated net profit falling 9.2 percent year-on-year to VND258 billion, but its revenue rose 5 per-cent to VND1.27 trillion in the period.* Phu Tai Company (PTB) will make a dividend payment at 60 percent for 2017 on the record date of-June 28. Of the amount, the firm will spend VND32 billion paying a cash


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dividend of VNDl,OOO per share on Iul 16 and i ue 16.2 million hare at a 2-for-l ratio. The firm currently has 32.4 million outstanding shares.* Electric Equipment Company intends to buy 1.77 million shares of Dong Anh Electric Equipment Company (TDB) to raise its holdings from 18.6 percent to 24.9%.

VN Index struggles to regain lost ground


After losing up to 15 points on June 14, the VN Index of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Ex-change (HoSE) struggled to regain lost ground, ending up just nearly 1 point from the previous day.Early in the morning session, the index dropped 3.01 points to 1,012.71 points, and then slid further to 1,008 points at the end of the morning session.Demand picked up in the afternoon, helping the index climb back to 1,016.51 points at the end of the day, just 0.79 points higher than the closing level on June 14.More than 165 million shares worth over 4.94 trillion VND (216.55 million USD) were traded on the HoSE.Among the large-cap stocks, VIC and BVH tumbled 2,500 VND and 1,500 VND per share respectively, while CTG, GAS, MSN, SAB and VCB gained from 300-1,900 VND per share.In the VN30 basket, which measures the performance of the top 30 stocks in terms of market capitalisation and liquidity on the HoSE, price rises were seen in 18 stocks, and 11 others saw decreases, with only one staying unchanged.The VN30-Index gained 0.73 points to 1,005.04 points with over 56 million units worth some 2.61 trillion VND (114.49 million USD) traded.In the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index was up 0.99 points to 115.9 points with 45 million shares changed hands for 1.059 trillion VND (46.44 million USD).The HNX30-Index, tracking the 30 leading shares on the HNX, also gained 1.66 points to 207.98 points. The northern bourse witnessed 32 million shares traded at 939 billion VND (41.18 million USD).The UpCoM-Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UpCoM) dropped by 0.03 point to 53.07 points when more than 10 million shares worth 120 billion VND (5.26 million USD) were traded.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vnindex-struggles-to-regain-lost-ground/132964.vnp

VN stocks positive on ETF reviews


Vietnamese shares closed Friday on a positive note as investors started buying in when exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offloaded stocks during their portfolio reviews.The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up 0.08 per cent to end at 1,016.51 points and recovered from a 1.44 per cent drop made on Thursday.The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange gained 0.86 per cent to finish at 115.90 points, covering half of its 1.5 per cent loss made in the previous session.The VN Index and the HNX Index recorded a weekly loss of 2.16 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.More than 210.4 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND6 trillion (US$266.8 million), up 1.8 per cent in volume and 17.3 per cent in value day-on-day.Foreign investors posted VND591.4 billion in net sell value on Friday. They net-sold VND660 billion worth of local stocks on Thursday, targeting property developer Vin-group (VIC), and steel producers Hoa Phat (HPG) and Hoa Sen (HSG).The stock market recorded a large volume of purchase-in transactions to counter for-eign selling during the At-the-Close (ATC) period, especially when the VN Index fell off the 1,000-point level.Strong buy-in boosted the large-cap VN30 Index to end up 0.07 per cent at 1,005.04 points with 18 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the basket advancing.Gainers included financial-banking stocks MBBank (MBB), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietcombank (VCB), Petro-Vietnam Gas (GAS) and petrol dealer Petrolimex (PLX).


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Twelve of the 20 sectors saw share prices increase, such as banking, securities, con-struction and energy. The twelve sector indices were up between 0.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.According to Viet Dragon Securities Co (VDSC), there was a dull and sleepy atmos-phere on Friday morning when investors "seemed to stand aside until the ETFs fin-ished their trading."Despite the market recovery in the last minutes, liquidity was still very low and capital movement was quiet, VDSC said in its daily report.The market had suffered from strong selling for four consecutive sessions this week, proving the market sentiment was weak and the downtrend could remain intact, the company said.http://bizhub.vn/markets/vn-stocks-positive-on-etf-reviews_295971.html

Stock market briefs 18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

Petrolimex Information Technology and Telecommunications Company (PIA) will make a dividend payment at 48 percent for 2017 with the record date set for June 21. Of the amount, the firm will spend an estimated VND5.4 billion paying a dividend of VND1,800 per share on July 23 and will issue 900,000 shares to pay a share dividend at 48%. The firm currently has three million outstanding shares. After the issuance, the firm will raise its registered capital to VND39 billion. Earlier in May, Petrolimex, Viet-nam's leading fuel distributor, sold its entire stake in PIA to Petrolimex Group Con-struction and Trading Corporation-Joint Stock Company (PG Contrade Company), a unit of Petrolimex. Therefore, PG Contrade Company is the largest shareholder of PIA, with a 50.3 percent stake.HCM City BIDV Securities Company (BSC) has passed a plan to issue 500 bonds in a private placement between now and the end of the third quarter. The unsecured bonds will have a tenor of one year and a maximum coupon of 10 percent per year. In addi-tion, BSC has announced a share issuance plan to pay a remaining dividend for 2017 at 3.1%, with the record date scheduled for June 19.HCM City Dong Phu Rubber Company (DPR) made a gross profit of VND148 billion in the first five months of this year, up 105 percent year-on-year and meeting 78 per-cent of the year's target. Its revenue was VND272.8 billion between January and May, down 0.9 percent year-on-year and fulfilling 37.3 percent of the year's plan.HCM City LDG Investment Group (LDG) has announced plans to divest its entire stake in Giang Dien Tourist Joint Stock Company, which operates the Giang Dien Wa-terfall ecological tourist site in Dong Nai Province. LDG has raised over VND400 bil-lion from the divestment.HANOI Vo Van Binh, a board member of Thu Dau Mot Water Supply Company (TDM), will be buying 4.25 million TDM shares from now until July 16. Binh currently holds 250,000 shares of the enterprise, or a 0.31 percent stake. Earlier, D&B Trading, Technique and Service Co., Ltd, offloaded nearly nine million shares, or a 10.99 percent stake, in the enterprise.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60608/stock-market-briefs.html

Fed's interest rate hike not to have large impact on Vietnamese stock market

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTCK

According to analyst reports of many securities companies, Fed's recent interest rate hike on June 16 affects the US stock market but does not have much impact on Vietnam stock market.Interest rates in Vietnam are maintained at a relatively low level, the exchange rate is stable because the government will give priority to stabilising exchange rates and in-flation.However, as the US dollar interest rate increases, the funds may withdraw part of the investment from marginal and emerging markets to the US.


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Stock market confronting macro risks


The stock market is still exposed to many macro risks such as foreign capital with-drawal and rising inflation, although many international organisations have raised Vi-etnam's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast.Since the beginning of the second quarter, the VN Index has shed over 20%, having earlier seen share prices skyrocket. Notably, foreigners have been aggressive on the selling side, focusing on large caps such as property giant VIC, steel maker HPG and dairy enterprise VNM, said a news report on vietstock.vn.The US Federal Reserve's (Fed) rate hike is the main reason behind the foreign with-drawal. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) recently hiked its target range for the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 1.75 percent to 2%, marking the second hike this year and the seventh hike since 2015.Further, the Fed signaled it would accelerate the frequency of raising interest rates from three times to four times this year as the unemployment rate has fallen and infla-tion has picked up.According to Viet Capital Securities Company, the Fed rate hike seems to have been already priced into the forex market as following the Fed's announcement the US Dol-lar Index dropped 0.22 percent while dong depreciated slightly by 0.02 percent against the greenback."Coming Fed rate hikes could continue to put some upward pressure on the dong, but given solid foreign inflows, we expect the dong will continue to remain stable. Despite two recent Fed rate hikes, the dong has weakened by only 0.49 percent against the dol-lar since early this year," the securities firm said.Besides, rising commodity prices in recent time has challenged the government's infla-tion control target. Having barely risen in the two previous months, the nation's con-sumer price index (CPI) marked a 0.55 percent increase in May.The economy has seen some headwind after a strong growth in the first quarter. As a sensitive market, equities will be exposed to risks upon any negative macro informa-tion such as GDP, CPI, forex rate and bank rates.The VN Index eked out a small gain of 0.08 percent last Friday after falling almost a percent during the morning phase. For the week, the index slid 2.2%, breaking a two-week winning streak.Most bank stocks were able to claw back some of their losses from the previous session, including VCB, BID, MBB and CTG while VPB and insurer BVH bucked the trend.VIC, the largest listed firm by market cap, fell for a second day along with its subsidi-ary, VHM.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60643/stock-market-confronting-macro-risks.html

Feasibility studies completed for several southern expressway projects


According to the Ministry of Transport, three projects to build the southern sections of the North-South Expressway have had their feasibility studies (FS) completed and submitted to the ministry for appraisal and approval. These sections are Dau Giay-Tan Phu, Nha Trang-Cam Lam and Vinh Hao-Phan Thiet.In addition, a project to build a northern section linking Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa has also had its FS completed. The north-south expressway project was earlier approved for investment by the National Assembly.The first section, Dau GiayTan Phu, going through Dong Nai Province has a total length of 59.6 kilometers and is 17 meters wide, with four lanes to be built in phase one and a allowed speed of 80 kilometers per hour. The project requires a budget of VND6.668 billion under public-private partnership (PPP) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) formats and will be completed between 2018 and 2022.The next (29-kilometer) section, Nha TrangCam Lam, will pass through Khanh Hoa Province's Dien Khanh and Cam Lam districts, worth VND4,059 billion, of which VND3,219 billion was subsidised by the State budget and the remainder came from the BOT source. This section also has four lanes, 17 meters wide, with maximum speed reaching 120 kilometers per hour. Construction is expected to begin next year and is


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due for completion in 2021.The investors in the Nha Trang-Cam Lam section expected to recover their investment in at least 23 years.The third (101-kilometer) section, Vinh HaoPhan Thiet, running across Binh Thuan Province will have four lanes in the first phase as well, which will then expand to six lanes in the following phase. The project is supported by VND19,648 billion, of which VND8,076 billion was sourced from the State budget for site clearance and construc-tion costs, while the remaining capital was mobilised through the BOT format.Besides this, the feasibility study for another project for northern highway section Ninh BinhThanh Hoa has been handed over to the ministry. The section, measuring 63.6 kilometers in length, runs from Ninh Binh Province's Yen Mo District to Thanh Hoa Province's Nong Cong District, and costs VND13,788 billion. In phase one, the section will have four lanes, 17 meters wide, and will take three years to complete and 18 years to recoup the capital.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60598/feasibility-studies-completed-for-several-southern-expressway-projects-.html

TV market heats up for World Cup


With the 2018 FIFA World Cup underway, businesses are fighting to attract TV buyers, offering various promotions.There is a bustling atmosphere at major supermarket chains in Hanoi like Nguyen Kim, HC and Media Mart which have offered discounts on electronic products, espe-cially TVs with prices cut by up to 40 per cent.Customers of Oled and Qled TVs with sizes from 55 to 77 inches in Nguyen Kim su-permarket chain will get a VND5 million (US$215) discount and can pay by install-ments with a zero per cent interest rate. The 45-inch smart TVs are also discounted from VND1 million2 million.Meanwhile, apart from 50 per cent off, Pico supermarket chain also promises attractive gifts for customers.Pico supermarket in Nguyen Trai Street said its TV sales had increased sharply with turnover up 20-30 per cent against the same period last year.Electronic maintenance and small-scale electronic shops are also enjoying a boom in business.However, experts said customers should be cautious as businesses may raise TV prices high before offering discounts, suggesting they trace real price, origin and warranty duration of products.The FIFA World Cup takes place in 12 stadiums in Russia from June 14 to July 15.http://bizhub.vn/news/tv-market-heats-up-for-world-cup_295968.html

No betting on World Cup matches in Vietnam

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VN EXPRESS

Sports betting is legal, but a betting operator has not been selected for premier football event.Football fans and punters in Vietnam cannot bet on World Cup matches this year, even though sports betting has been legalised.Only a few companies have shown interest in operating a betting business in Vietnam, and none of them have actually submitted bidding documents.The lack of agreement between relevant ministries on how to organise the bidding process is among the reasons for the delay, an unnamed finance ministry source told Tuoi Tre.Limited betting options are another reason. Vietnam only allows betting on interna-tional soccer games recognised by the governing body FIFA and approved by the sports ministry. These include the World Cup, the Confederations Cup, Copa Ameri-ca, Champions League and Europa League. These are all short tournaments with lim-ited number of matches, leaving a lot of "idle time."Meanwhile, the most popular football leagues in Vietnam, the English Premier League (EPL), La Liga (Spanish League), German Bundesliga, Serie A (Italia) and Ligue 1


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(France), are out of the betting pool.If a bookmaker were to operate for just FIFA recognised tournaments, they would suf-fer heavy losses, said economist Nguyen Tri Hieu.According to a government decree that took effect on March 31, 2017, Vietnamese cit-izens can bet on international football games and horse and greyhound races. Only those above 21 years old are allowed to gamble and bookmakers have to be at least 500 meters away from schools and other public venues for children. The minimum bet val-ue is VND1,000 (4.42 cents) and the daily maximum limit is VND1 million ($44).Bookmakers will have to meet strict charter capital requirements: VND1 trillion ($44.2 million) for horse racing and soccer and VND300 billion ($13.2 million) for greyhound racing. It is planned that one soccer betting provider will be selected for a five-year trial phase through a bidding process.On Thursday, Vietnam's National Assembly approved a new law that allows locals to bet on sports events. The law is based on the 2017 government decree. Under the new law, betting will be allowed for other sports when the government approves a decree proposed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The new law will not come into effect until next year.Vietnamese are known for their love of gambling. It is estimated that they spend at least $800 million a year on gambling overseas, mainly in Macau, Singapore and Hong Kong.Official figures show that Vietnamese citizens spent $13 billion on the lottery between 2011 and 2015, driving an average 12 percent gain in annual revenues of lottery com-panies over that period, according to Nikkei.The Tuoi Tre report quoted a source from the Ministry of Culture and Information as saying that for now, "It is unclear when soccer betting will start."https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/no-betting-on-world-cup-matches-in-vietnam-3764291.html

More efforts required to fight cigar smuggling


Deputy prime minister Truong Hoa Binh, head of the national steering committee for combating smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeits, has signed into issuance of offi-cial dispatch No.222/CD-BCD389 on strengthening the fight against illegal smuggling, transportation and trading of cigars.Under the document, customs forces nationwide were asked to intensify the inspec-tion and control and coordinate with authorised agencies to timely detect, arrest and handle those who illegal transport and trade cigars through international border gates, especially at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat International Airports and customs areas.The Ministry of Defence was requested to direct border and coast guard forces to in-tensify patrols and control at border areas, both on land and at sea, for timely detec-tion, arrest and handling of cigar smugglers.Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Security was asked to hold responsible for working with authorised agencies to identify areas and target groups, thus stepping the fight against cigar smuggling gangs.The Ministry of Industry and Trade was demanded to direct market management forc-es to coordinate with relevant agencies to regularly inspect and control the market, handle the illegal storage, transportation and trading of cigars in the domestic market and the illicit cigar trading via the Internet.According to the official dispatch, authorised forces and localities have arrested and handled over 20 million packages of cigarettes.However, illegal cigar trading and transportation activities have become increasingly complicated, especially in big cities and key provinces. Notably, Hanoi's authorised forces and the general Department of Customs have arrested two cases of cigar smug-gling and illegal transportation with a total of 42,000 cigars.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/more-efforts-required-to-fight-cigar-smuggling/132972.vnp


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International travellers daily spend VND3.3 million each in HCM City


A foreign tourist stayed 5.21 days on average in HCM City in 2017 and spent some VND3.3 million a day, or $145, according to data from a survey on the city's tourism market in 2017 released by the HCM City Department of Tourism on June 15.The data also indicates that a local tourist stayed 3.6 days and spent VND1.58 million per day, far less than international ones.The survey, jointly conducted by the HCM City Department of Tourism and the HCM City Statistics Bureau, found that 48 percent of international respondents had a stay of four to seven days while the number of tourists staying for eight to 14 days accounted for 40 percent of the total. The last year welcomed over 6.38 million international ar-rivals.As for the domestic segment, local travellers' average duration of stay was surveyed to be 3.6 days. Some 61.1 percent of local tourists stayed for one to three days and 35.1 percent for four to seven days. The city last year welcomed as many as 24.9 million lo-cal travellers.Last year, the city's tourism sector earned VND116 trillion (nearly $5.1 billion) in rev-enue, or an increase of 12.6 percent against 2016.The department noted that the city's tourism sector has also been performing well this year, with an estimated 3.83 million foreign arrivals over the first half of 2018, up 26.5 percent year-on-year.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60644/international-travellers-daily-spend-vnd33 million-each-in-hcmc.html

Farmers earn higher incomes from protecting mangrove forests

18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNS/VNA

Local households assigned to plant mangrove trees and breed aquatic species in for-ested areas are earning higher incomes in two coastal districts of Kien Giang province.The families were allocated a certain area of forest to protect under a provincial pro-gramme.The submerged forests in the coastal areas of An Bien and An Minh districts have a length of 60km and cover more than 4,000ha. Of the figure, nearly 3,000ha have been allocated to 867 households. The rest are protected by the An Bien An Minh Forest Management Board.The submerged forests, which run from An Bien's Tay Yen commune to An Minh's Van Khanh Tay commune, are divided into one main forest belt and a secondary forest belt.The secondary forest belt in which most "duoc" (rhizophora apiculata) trees are plant-ed have been allocated to local households for protection.Since 2011, the board has assigned local households to protect submerged forests, plant new forests and breed aquatic species.Under the policy, forest-allocated households are allowed to use 70 percent of forest land to plant trees and 30 per cent to breed aquatic species such as fish, shrimp, crab and blood cockles.The breeding of aquatic species in the forests has helped many poor households escape poverty, according to the management board.Van Kin, who has protected 15ha of submerged forests in An Minh's Thuan Hoa com-mune, said besides planting mangrove trees, he breeds blood cockles, shrimp and crab in his forested area. He earns an income of 150-200 million VND (6,6008,800 USD) a year, mostly from harvesting blood cockles, he said.In the next few years, his family will have additional income when mangrove trees are harvested, he said.Tran Phi Hai, director of the management board, said that submerged forests have re-covered after being allocated to households.Nguyen Van Khoe, who protects 12ha of submerged forests in An Minh's Nam Thai A commune, said his seven-year-old mangrove forests are well-protected. "My forests look like primitive forests and are beautiful," he said.In his forests, he breeds blood cockles as this bivalve mollusc offers higher profits than


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shrimp or crab, he said.Every year, he earns a profit of 400-500 million VND (17,60022,000 USD) from breeding blood cockles, he said."Most households here have become much better-off from breeding blood cockles and planting submerged forests," he said.Blood cockles from these areas are well-known for their good flavour.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/farmers-earn-higher-incomes-from-protecting-mangrove-forests/132965.vnp

Thousands of foreign specialists work in Binh Duong, live in HCM City


Attracting $31 billion worth of FDI (foreign direct investment), Binh Duong Province is the workplace for thousands of foreign specialists. However, their homes are not in Binh Duong, but in HCM City.Every day, thousands of specialists working in the industrial zones (Izs) of Thu Dau Mot City in Binh Duong province spend two hours travelling from HCM City to Binh Duong and back.Expats, especially high-ranking executives at foreign invested enterprises located in Binh Duong, want to buy or lease high-quality houses convenient to their office.But they have to find the houses in HCM City. Some mid-end apartment projects have been developed in Binh Duong province. However, as they are not located in the cen-tral area, they cannot attract buyers. The apartments are not high quality and lack amenities.The real estate market has developed strongly in the northern part of Binh Duong, in-cluding the districts of Tan Uyen and Ben Cat, where there are many IZs. However, there is only land and there are no apartments in the area.Thus, expats would rather live in HCM City, especially in the districts of Thu Duc, 2, 9 and 7 to enjoy modern utilities and developed services.Binh Duong leads the country in competitiveness in attracting FDI. By the end of March 2018, it had attracted $31 billion worth of FDI.Ranked second in terms of FDI attraction, just to HCM City, Binh Duong has attracted thousands of specialists and workers.According to CBRE Vietnam, about 8,500 foreign workers out of total 15,000 expats working for IZs had registered their temporary residence by March 2018. This means high demand for the real estate market in Binh Duong.It is estimated that Binh Duong every year needs 30,000-40,000 more workers to devel-op local trade, services, education and entertainment services.Soon after Thu Dau Mot City was upgraded into a first-class urban area, many real es-tate developers accelerated the implementation of projects.These include apartment projects, namely The Habitat Binh Duong, ECO Xuan, Sora Gardens, Roxana Plaza, Citadines Central, First Home Premium and Metro Tower, Marina Tower and Samsora. There are also house and villa projects such as Golden centre City, Mega and Midori Park.Duong Thuy Dung from CBRE Vietnam said many real estate firms have realised great potential in Binh Duong and are moving ahead with projects. These not only include domestic but also foreign investors from Asia.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/202253/thousands-of-foreign-specialists-work-in-binh-duong--live-in-hcm-city.html

Burial plots offered for sale


There is a new segment in the property market in and around HCM City: burial grounds.There are advertisements with offers of 15-20 per cent profits, and in some areas even 100-120 per cent, for investors buying a share of a cemetery, usually in places situated 20-40 km from the city.They include the 50ha Sala Garden Cemetery in Long Thanh District of Dong Nai Province, the 6ha Sai Gon Thien Phuc Cemetery in Long An Province's Can Giuoc Dis-


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trict, the 200ha Hoa Vien Cemetery in Binh Duong Province's Ben Cat District, and the 18ha Phuc An Vien Cemetery in HCM City's District 9.The prices families have to pay to get a piece of land in these cemeteries to bury their loved ones are high. For instance, a 4.5 square metre burial plot at Sai Gon Thien Phuc costs VND118 million 186 million (US5,2008,260), or VND33.7 million per square me-tre.A family burial site measuring 68-90sq.m at Thien Gia Phuc Cemetery costs VND1.6-2.3 billion ($82,500).The rates have been increasing by 15-20 per cent a year, according to a report by Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper.The 'cemetery park' model is popular with affluent families, who are willing to pay 2-3 billion dong (US$130,000) for a burial site since the common belief is that dead people who get a nice burial site will shower their blessings on their descendants, Nguyen An Binh, an agent selling burial sites in HCM City, said.Nguyen Van Khuan of Ben Luc District in Long An Province, another burial site bro-ker, said in the last five years people have been investing increasingly in cemetery parks.Mai Thi Mo, a property broker in HCM City's District 9, said it is difficult for investors to earn profits in the short term from cemeteries.That is why developers promise profits of 100-120 per cent in four or five years, she said."These are higher than the profits investors can earn from other asset classes."http://bizhub.vn/property/burial-plots-offered-for-sale_295976.html

Vietnam builds IT and foreign language centre


Construction started on June 14 on the second phase of the information technology and foreign language centre of the Defense Ministry's Telecommunications University in Nha Trang city in Khanh Hoa province of Vietnam.The work is a fruite of cooperation between Vietnam and India.The building of the centre's IT infrastructure is funded with VND120 billion (US$ 5.19 million) by the Indian government.Maj. Gen. Khuc Dang Tuan, Commander of the Signal Corps, said the centre covers 30,000 square meters of land in Vinh Hoa ward of Nha Trang city.Once completed, it will be able to provide training for 2,000 people and also be the working place of 1,000 people with research and development tasks to provide servic-es for the army and the society.Visiting Indian minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman appreciated the two coun-tries' cooperation through the outcomes of the first phase of this centre, adding that In-dia is ready to send experts to continue supporting Vietnam in IT infrastructure building and personnel training.She said this cooperation is a demonstration of the enhanced comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Vietnam.Deputy minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh said that the results of the centre's activ-ities during the past time have confirmed the right direction for the cooperation and friendship between the governments, armies and people of Vietnam and India.This is also an important pre-condition for the two defense ministries to continue in-vesting in the second phase to turn the centre into a prestigious establishment in train-ing high-quality IT and foreign language manpower and researching, applying and transferring IT and telecommunication technologies.With strong support of India, phase I of the IT and foreign language centre was inau-gurated in April 2015.It has opened 52 training courses on IT and English for more than 4,000 army and non-army students so far.The second phase of the centre is set to be put into use in late 2019.http://www.hanoitimes.vn/science-tech/2018/06/81E0C882/vietnam-builds-it-and-for-eign-language-centre/


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Hanoi's $4 billion smart city to enter first phase by late 2018


The total fund for the phase is forecast at over $1 billion.The announcement was made on the sidelines of the conference "Hanoi 2018 Invest-ment and Development Cooperation" on June 17, by a representative of Sumitomo Group one of the two firms shaking hand in the smart city project in Hanoi.President and CEO of Sumitomo Corp, Masayuki Hyodo affirmed that the project could commence work on the first phase by late 2018 or early 2019, in which the initial components would be built, focusing on infrastructure for clean water supply."The total fund poured in first phase is estimated at more than $1 billion", he noted.The project is funded by the joint venture formed between Japan's Sumitomo and Vi-etnam's BRG, which signed the deal to carry out the smart city project during Vietnam-ese prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit to Japan in 2017.The city spans 272 hectares in Dong Anh- a district in northen Hanoi and will cost $4.138 billion, connecting with the centre via the Nhat Tan-Noi Bai axis. In phase 1, the joint venture SumitomoBRG will pour over $1 billion into facilities on an area of 73.11 hectares.Smart city model currently lures much of international attention. It heads to create a living zone for residents, where environment-friendly features combine with ad-vanced landscape and broad green spaces, said Masayuki Hyodo from Sumitomo Group."It is Sumitomo's honor to partner with Vietnam's BRG to construct the smart city in Hanoi, amid the long-standing trade ties between Vietnam and Japan," CEO Masayuki Hyodo said, stressing that it will work closely with the Vietnam conglomerate to make the project a success, contributing to the sustainable development of Hanoi.Established in 1993, BRG Group provides services in numerous areas, namely real es-tate, hospitality, entertainment, golf courses, trade, retail, production, and construc-tion.Meanwhile, Sumitomo is one of the largest trading and investment companies in Japan engaged in multifaceted business activities through a network of 132 locations in 67 countries worldwide with total 70,000 employees.http://www.hanoitimes.vn/hanoinews/2018/06/81E0C892/hanoi-s-us-4 billion-smart-city-to-enter-first-phase-by-late-2018/

New tollgates in Long An start fee collection on Sunday


Toll collection on Provincial Road DT 830, the first build-operate-transfer (BOT) infra-structure project in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, has started today, June 17.Toll rates range from VND25,000 to VND165,000 per trip, from VND750,000 to VND4.95 million per month and from VND2.02 million to VND13.36 million per quar-ter.Regarding container trucks, tolls depend on their load, and vehicles that go through two tollgates on DT 830 in the same direction will pay once.Vehicles of companies headquartered in three communes of Ben Luc District, and one of Duc Hoa District are to get a 20 percent discount if they purchase monthly or quar-terly fares.The consortium developing the project Bang Duong Investment, Construction and Trading Co Ltd and Bamboo Capital Group has also pledged to run towing service on the road in a timely manner and charge the owners of such vehicles at no costs.The company's director Nguyen Van Cuong said the expansion of DT 830 helps facil-itate goods transport from industrial parks in Long An to Hiep Phuoc Port in HCM City. Before the road was expanded, vehicle owners had no way but to travel on Pro-vincial Road 10 of HCM City, which is longer and bans trucks in certain hours.The road now has four lanes and spans around 24 kilometers, together with median strips, allowing a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour. As such, the travel time between HCM City and the neighbouring province is likely reduced by half.A representative of the Long An Department of Transport told the Daily that DT 830 is not the single route. Road users can choose to travel on an alternative road called DT


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816, which runs in parallel with DT 830, if they do not want to pay tolls.The provincial government of Long An approved the expansion of DT 830 and a sec-tion of DT 824 with total capital of VND1,079 billion (US$47.2 million) in 2016. The in-vestor also built eight new bridges as part of the project.Toll collection is expected to last 18 years. However, according to the investor, the time may be shorter if the road sees an increasing traffic flow.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60645/new-tollgates-in-long-an-start-fee-collection-on-sunday.html

Investor of Trung Luong-My Thuan Expy gets funds for construction


The investor of the Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway has negotiated an agreement with four local banks to receive VND6.86 trillion (US$298.7 million) to develop the long-delayed build-operate-transfer (BOT) expressway project, the government news website reports.BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan JSC signed a credit agreement with Vietnam Bank for In-dustry and Trade (VietinBank), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Bank (VPBank) and Vietnam Bank for Agri-culture and Rural Development (Agribank) in Hanoi City on June 15.Under the agreement, Vietinbank will provide a loan package of VND3.3 trillion, BIDV and VPBank VND1.28 trillion each, and Agribank VND1 trillion.The loans are to be used to carry out the first phrase of the big-ticket project, which is of national importance. The project is included in a master plan for developing Viet-nam's expressway system until 2020, with a vision afterwards and a detailed plan for the Eastern North-South Expressway.Duong Quang Chau, chair of BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan JSC, said at the signing cer-emony that the expressway project requires more than VND9.6 trillion (US$421.3 mil-lion), with the owner's equity accounting for 30 percent of the total, equal to VND2.8 trillion."The project has already had more than VND1.7 trillion disbursed from the investor's capital, including over VND1.3 trillion for site clearance and roughly VND460 billion for construction, consultancy and other costs," Chau said.The company plans to start work on three out of 21 construction packages later this month so that the expressway will be opened to traffic by late 2020, according to its general director, Phan Anh Dung.Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said the Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway is part of the HCM City-Can Tho Expressway. Local residents, especially those from HCM City and the Mekong Delta, hold high expectations for the project.The said the government has issued various policies to ensure the early execution of the project. However, despite having broken ground for the project many times in the past five years, the execution process has moved slowly.In a bid to soon complete work on the Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway, the trans-port ministry has suggested the government and the National Assembly give the green light to develop a bridge called My Thuan 2, facilitate work on the My Thuan-Can Tho Expressway project, and complete an expressway section between Can Tho and HCM City.The minister added the National Assembly has approved VND5.5 trillion to build the bridge. He also pledged to create favourable conditions for BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan JSC to execute the project and remove remaining obstacles in a timely manner so that the project is completed on schedule and guarantees high quality construction.The four-lane expressway will be some 51 kilometers long, with 4.5 kilometers of ac-cess roads, through five outlying districts of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang. It will start at the intersection of Than Cuu Nghia T-Junction and HCM City-Trung Luong Expressway, and end at the intersection with National Highway 30.Work on the Trung Luong-My Thuan-Can Tho Expressway is scheduled for comple-tion by late 2020. The expressway is expected to shorten travel times between HCM City and Mekong Delta provinces, bolster the socio-economic growth of Vietnam's


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southwest region, and reduce traffic congestion on National Highway 1.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60631/investor-of-trung-luong-my-thuan-expy-gets-funds-for-construction.html

BASF introduces chemical-based battery materials for electric vehicles


Global chemical company BASF is launching a new communications campaign to cel-ebrate its innovations in cathode active materials that help make electric vehicles a more economical and practical reality, according to a news report.Since the development of the catalytic converter in 1973, catalytic technologies launched by the company have eliminated over one billion tonnes of pollutants from vehicle emissions. BASF remains committed to improving air quality in the country.The continual development of advanced emission control technologies and increasing demand for electric-powered cars will help reduce emissions and improve air quality on a global scale, noted Dr Martin Brudermuller, chair of the Board of Executive direc-tors and chief technology officer of BASF.Brudermuller stressed that efficient, cost-effective storage of electrical energy in lithi-um-ion batteries, which are used in most of today's electric vehicles, will be critical to the commercial success of electric cars and contribute to a reduction in environmental pollution and global mobility needs.Cathode active materials from BASF are among the most important components of these batteries, determining efficiency, reliability, cost, durability and the size of the battery. Their properties enable speed, acceleration and power from compact cars to SUVs and from trucks to buses.BASF's researchers are determined to bring cathode active materials to the next level of efficiency to support the ongoing evolution of e-mobility, including changing their chemical composition, morphology (form and structure) and production process.BASF aspires to deliver the highest energy density cathode active materials on the market and expects the market for lithium-ion batteries to grow rapidly.BASF is a strong player in the battery materials market and runs pilot and production plants in all major regions, including Ludwigshafen, Germany; Elyria and Beachwood, Ohio, United States; Battle Creek, Michigan, United States; and Onoda and Kitaky-ushu, Japan.BASF supplies cathode active materials to the platforms of leading automotive original equipment manufacturers and is further growing its battery materials business.In 2017, BASF expanded its production capacity in Asia, strengthened its footprint in the United States and announced its intention to add production capabilities in Eu-rope.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60609/basf-introduces-chemical-based-battery-mate-rials-for-electric-vehicles.html

Navigos, ILSSA strike labour information deal


Navigos Group Vietnam said on June 14 that it had inked a memorandum of under-standing (MOU) with the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA) on sharing information on the domestic labour market.Under the deal, Navigos Group partnered with ILSSA, under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, to receive updates on the local labour market, including employment recruitment demand and trends in various sectors. The group will pro-vide relevant information for the institute to print in the labour supply-demand con-nection and labour market prospects sections of the ministry's quarterly labour market reports.ILSSA director Dao Quang Vinh noted that the cooperation agreement with Navigos Group would provide an additional supply of essential information for the institute to better execute strategies related to labour and social issues, securing jobs and social welfare for employees in Vietnam.Nguyen Phuong Mai, managing director of Navigos Search, described the agreement as a step forward in the cooperation between enterprises and policy planners in creat-


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ing a sustainable working environment for labourers. In addition, the deal was a tes-tament to Navigos Group's commitment to helping improve the quality of Vietnamese human resources.Navigos Group is one of the country's leading job search service providers and cur-rently operates online job service website VietnamWorks, as well as Navigos Search for executive job search services and career platform Primus for candidates looking for managerial jobs with a minimum monthly salary of $3,000.Over the past 16 years of operation in Vietnam, Navigos Group has built a database of millions of jobseekers and dozens of employers and now provides information on some 13,000 jobs every day on vietnamworks.com.Navigos Group regularly releases reports on employment demand, challenges and op-portunities for employers and job-seekers across many industries.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60606/navigos-ilssa-strike-labour-information-deal.html

Vinamilk preparing ambitious plan for Burma market


Vinamilk, the country's leading dairy processor, has drawn up a long-term and ambi-tious plan for the Myanmar market after achieving success in Cambodia and Laos, said a representative of the company.Despite not revealing the specific plan, the representative confirmed that Myanmar is a major market in the Asean region for Vinamilk.In May 2016, Vinamilk inaugurated a dairy processing plant in Cambodia, named "AngkorMilk." This was a joint venture between Vinamilk and its Cambodian distrib-utor and strategic partner, BPC Trading Co., Ltd, with respective stakes of 51 percent and 49%.In March last year, Vinamilk spent more than $10 million acquiring BPC's stake in AngkorMilk to raise its ownership in the plant to 100%.Regarding its business in Laos, the dairy processor buys fresh milk from a Japanese partner with organic dairy farms in the neighbouring country to supply its dairy processing plant in Nghe An Province, Vinamilk CEO Mai Kieu Lien noted at the firm's recent annual shareholder meeting.The firm has plans to develop more organic dairy farms in the central region to meet the rising demand for organic dairy products. Such farms may be built in Laos due to its short distance from Vietnam and favourable natural conditions.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60597/vinamilk-preparing-ambitious-plan-for-my-anmar-market.html

TRACODI shareholders set $3.4mln profit goal


Shareholders in the Transport and Industry Development Investment Joint Stock Company (TRACODI) approved this year's business targets at the company's annual general meeting in HCM City on Friday.The company expects to achieve after-tax profits of VND77.1 billion (US$3.38 million) and revenue of VND1.15 trillion ($50.4 million), up 3 per cent and 5 per cent respec-tively.Nguyen Ho Nam, the company's chair, said manufactured and agricultural products were expected to account for the largest share of sales at around VND450 billion, fol-lowed by infrastructure development and real estate with VND390 billion.Mining was expected to contribute VND300 billion, while the rest would come from labour exports and training, he said.The targets are based on the impressive results achieved last year, when profit and rev-enue reached VND74.95 billion and VND1.095 trillion, up 24 per cent and 32 per cent from 2016.General director Nguyen Thanh Hung said the company would focus on its core busi-ness activities: trading in manufactured and agricultural products, infrastructure con-struction, real estate, mining and labour exports.In terms of infrastructure construction, it would focus on the BT 830C project and so-


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cial housing in Long An Province, solar power and property projects under parent company Bamboo Capital, he said.Shareholders also approved several other proposals, including paying a 10 per cent dividend for 2017 in shares and a 10-12 per cent cash dividend for this year.Bamboo Capital owns a 50.61 per cent stake in the company.http://bizhub.vn/markets/tracodi-shareholders-set-34mln-profit-goal_295972.html

AMD targets 2018 revenue of $100.7 mn


Miner aiming for handsome growth over 2017.The FLC AMD Investment JSC (HSX: AMD) targets revenue of VND2.3 trillion ($100.7 million) and pre-tax profit of VND70 billion ($3.06 million) for this year, up 10 per cent and 20.5 per cent, respectively, over results in 2017.The company will focus on promoting the brand name of its AMDSTONE natural stone in addition to executing key projects, buildings, and resorts around the country and developing its distribution network nationwide. Exports are expected to contrib-ute a significant proportion of revenue.A major partner from Belgium visited AMD's offices, plants, and mines recently, with an eye to closer cooperation in the future. Many partners and agents from Italy, Tur-key, and India have also come to FLC AMD to offer cooperation and distribute prod-ucts.The company is also focusing on building its brand development by holding talks with hundreds of partners and architects on the quality of AMDSTONE natural stone com-pared to other imported marble.Along with the development of its business plans, communications, and brand devel-opment, AMD will continue to bolster information technology and modern machinery and equipment and improve risk management and internal control.The company targets becoming a mining and construction stone corporation with a high profile in the region and the world.Although the business environment in 2017 featured a lot of competition, especially in its core business fields of building and operating mines, AMD, a subsidiary of the FLC Group, continued to strive to achieve significant success. Total consolidated revenue was VND2.09 trillion ($91.5 million) last year, up 50.79 per cent compared to 2016 and exceeding the annual plan by 39.4 per cent. Pre-tax profit was VND58.1 billion ($2.2 million), equivalent to the 2016 figure and representing 83.1 per cent of the annual plan.AMD will also prioritise resources to invest in the construction of stone quarries and production plants in Loang Mountain and Ben Mountain in north-central Thanh Hoa province. In the first phase of mining at Ha Linh, also in Thanh Hoa, results were im-pressive, reflecting the efforts of the entire board of directors and staff at AMD.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/amd-targets-2018-revenue-of-100-7-mn

Saigon Co.op distributes VietGAP litchis


Saigon Co.op, operator of hundreds of supermarkets and convenience stores, on June 14 planted a litchi tree in the compound of its supermarket Huynh Tan Phat in HCM City, which it had received as a gift from the Bac Giang and Hai Duong provinces that day.The tree symbolises the store chain operator's commitment to purchasing litchis from the two provinces for distribution, with expected consumption volume of 400 to 600 tonnes this harvest season.Saigon Co.op held the event after it joined a conference on producing and consuming Bac Giang Province's litchis and other key farm produce, hosted by the provincial Peo-ple's Committee on June 8.Nguyen Anh Duc, deputy general director of Saigon Co.op, stated that the fresh litchis purchased directly from the provincial source would be transported by specialised ve-hicles and centrally distributed so that customers can enjoy authentic litchis at reason-able prices.


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Saigon Co.op is also in charge of shipping fresh litchis and other farm produce to re-gional markets. It has registered to participate in multiple programmes hosted by Bac Giang Province and has considered alternative purchasing methods related to ex-change floors and auction floors, similar to worldwide agricultural models, to help Vi-etnamese farmers and the local market avoid concerns over losses.Notably, all of the purchased litchis are in full compliance with VietGAP standards and have food safety certificates.After the event, Saigon Co.op's retailing chains, including Co.op Mart, Co.op Xtra, Co.op Food and HTV Co.op, will run a wide range of incentive programmes, including offering discounts, providing litchi samples at supermarkets and promoting events to boost the consumption of litchis originating from Luc Ngan in Bac Giang Province and Thanh Ha in Hai Duong Province.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60600/saigon-coop-distributes-vietgap-litchis.html

$53 million hospital to be built in Da Nang


The Trung Nam Group plans to invest VND1.2 trillion (US$53 million) to build a 500-bed hospital in the Golden Hills residential area to cater to residents in Lien Chieu Dis-trict.The general hospital will be built on 6,000sq.m of land, as part of the city's master plan for 2030, with a vision to 2050.The location, in the west of the city, was designed as a key urban space capable of ac-commodating 5,000 people in connection with the Lien Chieu port and logistics centre, the North-South Expressway and railway system, and hi-tech industrial zones.The new hospital in the Golden Hills urban area will join the city's existing healthcare service system of 11 hospitals with 1,000 doctors and more than 620 consulting rooms and medical care centres.Last month, VinGroup opened the 222-bed private VinMec Da Nang hospital with a total investment of $53 million.The Ministry of Health also plans to build a world-class pediatric hospital in Cam Le District, with an estimated price tag of $300 million.The city has four international standard hospitals including the Da Nang general Hos-pital, the Family Hospital, Hoan My-Da Nang and VinMec Da Nang.Da Nang has called for investment in 68 projects in the fields of technology, education and training, healthcare, tourism and services, trade, infrastructure, agriculture, enter-tainment and environment in the 2017-20 period.http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/53 million-hospital-to-be-built-in-da-nang_295969.html

Da Lat to launch $50-m sheep wool yarn spinning plant


Da Lat Worsted Spinning Limited Company on Friday held the ground-breaking cer-emony for a sheep wool yarn spinning plant in Phat Chi industrial cluster, Tram Hanh Commune, Da Lat City.The plant has a total investment of $50 million and is a joint venture project between Germany's Sudwolle Group and Lien Phuong Textiles Industry Company, based in HCM City.The wool spinning mill has a total area of more than 61,00sq.m, of which, the construc-tion area is some 32,000sq.m.The designed capacity of the factory is some 4,000 tonnes of yarn per year, while the domestic consumption and export markets account for 50 per cent.Once in operation, the plant will use imported raw wool to carry out fiber production. Subsequently, the finished wool yarn from the factory will be shipped to textile com-panies using sheep wool. Currently, there are some 50 garment factories in Vietnam that use sheep wool, most of them imported from Australia.Da Lat sheep wool spinning mill will be in operation from April 2019, and is expected to earn more than $100 million in revenue per year. In addition to the production func-tion, the factory will be open to visitors who can watch the whole process of producing


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yarns from natural wool. The project will contribute to the employment of local work-ers with the need to employ up to 400 people.http://bizhub.vn/news/da-lat-to-launch-50-m-sheep-wool-yarn-spinning-plant_295959.html

Alpha King to change HCM City skyline


Developer's office block and mixed development projects to be launched by 2020.Alpha King Real Estate, one of the leading foreign property developers in Vietnam, has prepared the launch of two projects in prime locations on HCM City's Tran Hung Dao Street in District 1: the Alpha Town office block and the Alpha City premium in-tegrated development.Alpha King is a 100-per-cent foreign-owned company operating primarily in the field of developing multi-functional real estate projects, from shopping malls to luxury apartments. Its team of 90 professionals from 12 different countries are experienced in consulting on, designing for, and managing real estate and can be found in countries such as Hong Kong, Australia, China, and the US.Alpha Town will be the only 35-storey Grade A office block built by a foreign devel-oper in the city's prime CBD, just minutes away from the central bus station and future metro station and surrounded by major attractions such as Ben Thanh Market, Saigon Square, and Nguyen Hue Walking Street.Inspired by the "ao dai", Vietnam's iconic national dress, Alpha Town artistically re-minds one of old Saigon in a modern way and sets a new standard in HCM City for living and working and in entertainment and leisure. Among a city full of block hous-es, Alpha Town is like a piece of art and will change the city's skyline. With an open plan architectural design that maximises open space inside, it will be a workplace where people feel inspired and relaxed.The project features a generous 2,000 sq m gross floor area (GFA), along with a metre-high ceiling, providing full views of the city. It will be the first office block in Vietnam to apply the most advanced technology in the world, such as facial recognition and guest enrolment systems.Built for the purpose of altering the view of real estate investment in Vietnam, Alpha City is a premium integrated development comprising residential and retail space. The project sits on one of the last few remaining freeholds in District 1.Within Alpha City, Alpha Mall is inspired by Saigon street art and block houses and will boast two large atriums, a transparent facade with LED promotion screens, and express elevators.In order to provide a comfortable and safe living environment, Alpha King's projects are equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Smart Building (SMART), which also help in the management of design, construction, operations, and marketing.Alpha Town and Alpha City were selected as the two pilot BIM technology projects by the Ministry of Construction.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/property/alpha-king-to-change-hcmc-skyline

HATECO LAROMA to open at end-2019


High-end Hanoi property to open in fourth quarter of next year.The Hateco Thang Long Joint Stock Company announced its high-end apartment project, HATECO LAROMA in Hanoi's Dong Da district, will be in operation by the fourth quarter of 2019.The project covers a land area of 3,135 sq m and features 281 apartments and a com-mercial space on 31 floors.HATECO LAROMA will present a premium living option for local people and expats who are seeking a high-quality apartment in the heart of the city that is exceptionally well-managed and with a full range of amenities.Among the amenities are a swimming pool, a fitness centre, spa facilities, a wine cellar, a children's playground, a kindergarten, F&B options, and outlets of top quality fash-


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ion brands in the world.HATECO LAROMA was designed by the renowned FINENCO Architects from Italy, with exquisite lines from the landscapes, the building's exterior, and the corridors to the interior of the apartments.Hateco Thang Long has appointed CBRE Vietnam as the exclusive agent for consul-tancy and property management.Proficient in property management and with an extensive track record in the opera-tions management of hundreds of properties around Vietnam, CBRE's experienced property managers add value to HATECO LAROMA, bringing higher-quality servic-es and enhancing the lives of residents."We believe that our extensive experience in the property management area, our un-derstanding of the market and local needs, and a dedicated, professional team will re-inforce the position of HATECO LAROMA in the market and ensure it is a pleasant place to live, work and play," said Nguyen Hoai An, CBRE Hanoi Branch director.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/property/hateco-laroma-to-open-at-end-2019

Savico sets low targets 18/JUN/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

Saigon general Service Corporation (Savico), which trades in the auto, motorcycle and real estate sectors, has set targets of VND14.2 trillion (US$622.4 million) in revenue and VND175 billion in pre-tax profits for this year, up a mere 3 percent and 1%, respective-ly, over last year, which shareholders said are modest.At Savico's annual shareholder meeting on June 15, Savico general director Mai Viet Ha said the targets have been set based upon the corporation's current business condi-tions.According to Savico, auto sales will decrease by 10 percent in the first half of the year, as local importers cannot receive vehicle type approval certificates from exporting countries, as required in Decree 116 on manufacturing, assembly and the import of au-tos. However, the market will return to its regular growth path during the second half of the year.This year, the corporation will put into service seven auto agents offering Ford, Toyota and Hyundai cars.Ha said Savico's targets will be adjusted up if the market has significant changes, add-ing that the company has yet to include the profit to its targets from the transfer of a 56.9 billion project on Pho Quang Street. Savico is waiting to be granted the land use rights certificate for the project.Savico mainly trades in auto distribution, real estate services with the exploitation of Savico Tower, the Melisa Wedding Conference centre and Mercure Son Tra Resort, as well as financial services.The corporation has also targeted a dividend payment of 12 percent this year.In related news, Savico has become the exclusive distributor of Volvo autos in Viet-nam. The corporation had completed import procedures, in line with Decree 116, and received the first shipment of Volvo cars from Sweden late last month.Ha said Volvo autos are selling well in the local and international markets, but did not reveal Savico's Volvo car sales from last year.By May, Savico had more than 40 auto agents. Last year, the corporation sold over 27,000 autos, reaching 95 percent of its target, up 3 percent against 2016 and accounting for 9.9 percent of the domestic auto market.Last year, Savico generated consolidated revenues of nearly VND13.8 trillion, up 1 percent over 2016, though consolidated pre-tax profits went down 18 percent year-on-year to VND174 billion.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60628/savico-sets-low-targets.html

Viettel's general director appointed as new chair


The prime minister has appointed Nguyen Manh Hung as the new chair cum general director of Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group, starting June 14, 2018.Hung is a member of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commis-


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sion and has been working as general director of the group since March 1, 2014.Born in 1962, Hung is an Australian Business Alumni with a master's degree in tele-communications from the University of Sydney. He also holds a master's degree in business administration from the National Economics University in Hanoi.Hung is considered the captain of Viettel, having found success in the strategy of bringing telecommunication services to rural areas, popularising mobile phones in the past and currently developing the defence industry.He will be the first chair of Viettel, following Decree No.05/2018/ND-CP on the organ-isation and operating charter of the parent company---Military Telecom (Viettel Group)---issued by the government early this year.This decree provided Viettel's management structure, including chair, general direc-tor, deputy general directors, control units, chief auditor, assistance device and inter-nal control. Viettel's chair will also assume the position of the company's general director.According to the decree, the parent company, Viettel Group, is a defence and security company with 100 per cent charter capital owned by the State. It is in charge of all parts of the Central Military Commission and carries out political, military and defence tasks commissioned by the State and the Ministry of Defence in accordance with the law.As of January 5, 2018, Viettel's charter capital was VND121.52 trillion (US$5.3 billion).http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/viettels-general-director-appointed-as-new-chair_295952.html

Seminar sheds light on Kien Giang's real estate


Local authorities and experts today, June 15, converged in Kien Giang's Rach Gia City to dig deep into the province's real estate market which the provincial leadership said has witnessed upheavals of both fever and freeze in the recent past.The seminar, titled "What is new in Kien Giang's real estate market," was jointly organ-ised by the provincial government of Kien Giang and Saigon Times Group, with an aim to get an insight into factors behind turbulent land transactions.In his opening remarks at the seminar, Kien Giang Province Chair Pham Vu Hong not-ed the fast urbanisation in the Mekong Delta province, saying one-third of its popula-tion is living in towns and cities.Many residential, commercial and tourist complexes have been springing up lately, meeting the demand for accommodation by both locals and tourists and contributing to the province's socio-economic development, Hong said.However, numerous problems are surfacing in Kien Giang's real estate market regard-ing the operational mechanism, market players, structure of realty products, transac-tion systems, and the local government's capacity to control the market, the provincial leader said."The ultimate goal is how to improve transparency so as to tap the potential of the re-alty market and bring its advantages into play in accordance with the approved master plan," Hong told the seminar.Chaotic transactions on Phu QuocPhu Quoc Island off Kien Giang Province stole the spotlight at the seminar, as land transactions have turned chaotic there lately, as seen in an overview given by Nguyen Xuan Loc, director of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environ-ment.While acknowledging the fast urbanisation process on the island that has helped spur socio-economic development in the island district as well as the whole province, Loc admitted that real estate transactions there have veered off the local government's management, especially after news of the island being chosen for development into a special economic zone.Numerous illegal land deals have taken place, which on one hand causes a loss of rev-enue for the provincial budget, and stirs up social turbulence that gives way to numer-ous disputes on the other hand, said Loc, adding that such a situation can be partially


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attributed to a lack of transparency.Citing data from Phu Quoc Land Registry Office and other notary offices, Loc said last year saw 7,690 land transactions with a combined area of 634 hectares, but this first quarter witnessed the respective figures amount to 4,578 deals and 361 hectares, rising by more than twice compared to the previous year's first quarter. Most of the land buy-ers came from Hanoi, HCM City and some other cities in the country, he said.The data however only mirrors those deals conducted via official channels, while the number of illegal transactions is beyond local authorities' knowledge, according to Loc, who stressed that such deals pose numerous risks to both the people and the gov-ernment."Transactions of forest land or land without land-use certificates are rampant, which is risky to land buyers as they do not know whether areas they acquire are in accord-ance with zoning plans or not," said Loc. He added that a number of households leas-ing forest land from the State have illicitly transferred the public land, which makes the land market even more chaotic.Part of the turbulence is due to the lack of transparency in land management in Phu Quoc, he told the seminar. Local authorities have not promptly provided information on zoning plans, giving way to false news or rumours spread by land brokers about such zoning plans, while inspections by authorities have been inadequate, Loc said.The negative implications will not only impact land buyers, but the State agencies as well. He anticipated an upsurge of land disputes between buyers and sellers, while au-thorities and genuine investors will face difficulties when it comes to site clearance for their approved projects.Urbanisation to continue fast growthIn his report given at the seminar, Le Quoc Anh, director of Kien Giang's Department of Construction, revealed that the urbanisation ratio in the province is currently 28.49%, but the ratio is poised to rise quickly in the coming years under master zoning plans already approved.The provincial government targets to raise the urbanisation ratio to 32.2 percent by 2020, and up to 41.5 percent by 2025, in accordance with a master plan issued in 2010 by the provincial government, Anh said. That is to say the newly-urbanised area will increase by nearly a half within the next seven years.To realise the goal, Kien Giang should raise the number of cities, towns and townlets to 23 by 2025 compared to only 14 now. By then, Kien Giang will have two first-grade cities namely Phu Quoc and Rach Gia, one second-grade city named Ha Tien, and 19 other lower-grade towns.Given the chaos on the provincial real estate market and the target of fast urbanisation in the coming years that will usher in more complications, experts at the seminar called for measures to assume proactive control of the market by local authorities.Referring to Phu Quoc, Dang Hung Vo, former deputy minister of Natural Resources and Environment and also an expert in the sector, observed that land fever is a normal phenomenon when infrastructure develops, but it would be a grave concern if land prices turn overheated due to failure by authorities to control transactions.Vo suggested that authorities take measure to ward off speculators who seek to cash in on the fever by surfing in the real estate market, especially when grassroots officers join forces with speculator for the aim.The local government should also improve transparency by disclosing all information regarding zoning plans to contain land fevers, he said. In addition, high taxes should be slapped on land transactions conducted within short periods of time to prevent speculation and overheating.Do Viet Chien, former head of the Urban Development Department under the Minis-try of Construction, suggested that Kien Giang have a full-fledged urbanisation pro-gramme with specific short-, medium- and long-term targets, and allocate resources to realise such targets."Areas to be urbanised should be made transparent, with concrete steps of develop-ment for every year and every five years so as to avoid thinly spreading investment


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resources," he said.Tourism property highlightedExperts agreed at the seminar that Kien Giang needs to focus on tourism property as its strategic approach, given numerous natural conditions there."Kien Giang has its coastline facing the Gulf of Thailand, instead of the East Sea like other localities. This condition makes the province stand out in terms of the marine en-vironment," said Dang Hung Vo. He stressed the coastal section from Rach Gia to-wards Phu Quoc should be the strategic location for tourism property development.The province should rev up its real estate market by focusing on tourism, which will make Kien Giang a peculiar location, according to Vo.Regarding Phu Quoc, he asked the provincial leadership to invite big conglomerates to develop tourism infrastructure, and in turn, other smaller enterprises will follow suit.Do Viet Chien, meanwhile, also agreed that urbanisation in Kien Giang should follow the model of green development, targeting smart and ecological measures.With his position as an investor, Tran Dao Duc, deputy general director of CEO Group as owner of Novotel Phu Quoc, said that tourism property should take centre stage in the real estate market in Kien Giang, and "the nucleus of an ecosystem of accommoda-tion, entertainment, and international transactions."He laid special emphasis on Phu Quoc, saying the island has all the favourable condi-tions for tourism property development, since it is within just two hours' flying from all capital cities of Southeast Asian countries.As the coorganiser of the seminar, Saigon Times Group's Editor-in-Chief Tran Minh Hung noted that a vital factor for the healthy development of the real estate market is information disclosure. With this aim, the media group has recently collaborated with provinces in the Mekong Delta to organise seminars, such as with Can Tho City in a seminar on startups, with Dong Thap on agribusiness development, and now with Kien Giang on the real estate market.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60615/seminar-sheds-light-on-kien-giang%E2%80%99s-real-estate.html

Local startups can join MTA Vietnam 2018


MTA Vietnam 2018, the largest international precision engineering, machine tools and metalworking exhibition in Vietnam, will kick off on July 3 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention centre in HCM City's District 7. Notably, the four-day event will host pavilions for local startups.BT Tee, general manager of UBM Vietnam and organiser of MTA Vietnam 2018, shared the news with reporters at a press meeting announcing the event on June 15 in the city. Local enterprises need nurturing and competitive opportunities to approach international customers by joining manufacturing supply chains to achieve sustaina-ble development in the marketplace, remarked Tee.Therefore, UBM Vietnam and the Multi Engineering Solutions Laboratory will jointly organise a booth chain specially designed for Vietnamese startups in the field of hi-tech manufacturing. The startups joining the expo will be able to display products in engineering, machine tools, and metalworking at a booth covering six square meters, at a low cost, but they will still enjoy the same benefits as companies hiring standard nine-square-metre pavilions. They can also choose to only display samples or present innovations, Tee added.Calling for more local startups to operate in this industry might be challenging, but Tee hopes for further robust growth among the startups, so he is ready to create favourable conditions to attract startups to join the international expo and approach overseas cli-ents. Further, pavilions for startups will be featured at the MTA Vietnam, to be held in Hanoi.Addressing the media meeting, Cao Thi Phi Van, deputy director of the HCM City In-vestment and Trade Promotion centre (ITPC), stated that most startups in the city in particular and throughout the country in general are operating in the information tech-


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nology sector. However, ITPC will work with the municipal engineering association to search for appropriate companies to join the show.MTA Vietnam 2018 is projected to attract over 380 firms from 16 countries and regions, featuring 14 international group pavilions from the United Kingdom, Germany, Tai-wan, Japan and Singapore and introducing metalworking solutions and smart manu-facturing equipment.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/60612/local-startups-can-join-mta-vietnam-2018.html

Youth Co:Lab Vietnam 2018 kicks off


UNDP, the Citi Foundation, and Ministry of Science and Technology co-leads in star-tup support programme.Vietnam has the third-largest startup scene in Southeast Asia but its social impact star-tup ecosystem continues to lag behind leaders in the region, such as Thailand and Ma-laysia, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). To solve this challenge, UNDP, the Citi Foundation, and the Ministry of Science and Technolo-gy (MoST) have become co-leads in delivering Youth Co:Lab Vietnam 2018.The launch of the Youth Co:Lab initiative was held in Hanoi on June 15 and attended by deputy minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung, the UNDP's Vietnam Country director, Caitlin Wiesen, and Senior vice PresidentHead of Corporate Affairs at Citi Vietnam, Bui Quang Huy.The Youth Co:Lab initiative is looking for the next generation of leading social entre-preneurs in Vietnam, following on from the success of the SDG Challenge in 2017, where four Vietnamese startups received over $85,000 in equity-free seed funding and a year-long business incubation programme.The Youth Co:Lab programme will bring all major players in the impact startup eco-system together and plot a course to foster the growth of the sector and connect start-ups to the business of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).At the launch, Wiesen said that a vibrant startup ecosystem and skilling are keys to un-leashing the creative energies of young people in meeting the most pressing SDG chal-lenges in Vietnam. "The UNDP will open up applications for SDG Innovations Incubator and selected teams will receive an intensive business incubation and impact acceleration programme as well as opportunities to pitch their ideas to national and in-ternational investors," she said.Deputy minister Tung said that social impact businesses both make profit and have a positive effect on the community. "With their ability to adapt and replicate quickly around the world, these innovative businesses are the best models to tackle social chal-lenges, create social impact, and accelerate the achievement of the UN SDGs," he said. Huy spoke of Citibank's commitment to youth and noted that entrepreneurship aspi-rations don't just come to life on their own. Young people have told the bank they need certain things, including the right skills for the right jobs and the right policies in place, and would like mentoring and guidance along the way. "Which is why the Citi Foun-dation has committed to investing $100 million to support 500,000 young people to be-come career-ready and employable by 2020," he said.The Youth Co:Lab programme will be kicked off by other high level diagnostic events in HCM City on June 22, bringing together experts from the private sector, the govern-ment, NGOs, investment firms, social entrepreneurs, and startup incubators, as well as guests from Thailand and Malaysia, and developing a set of recommendations for all sectors to help build social impact startups in Vietnam to address some of the great-est challenges the country faces.The programme also includes a series of exciting activities to train and mentor young Vietnamese. Up to 130 young people from around Vietnam will be trained in design thinking, 21st century skills, social innovation, and SDG entrepreneurship, in Hanoi and HCM City later this month. The Youth Co:Lab programme strongly focuses on "leaving no one behind". One-third of participants are young people from rural and mountainous areas, communities of people with disabilities, the hearing-impaired,


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LGBT people, ethnic minorities, and people living with HIV.A wide range of partners are on board and contribute in different ways to making the initiative a success and reaching out to as many young people as possible, including UP Coworking Space, the centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2030 Youth Force, AIESEC, and Vietnam Airlines.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/youth-co-lab-vietnam-2018-kicks-off

HCM City to host Asian-Pacific cities' tourism promotion forum


The 8th Tourism Promotion Organisation for Asian-Pacific Cities (TPO) Forum will take place in HCM City on June 21-22, said the municipal Department of Tourism on June 15.Themed "Smart tourism", the event is expected to draw the attendance of about 300 delegates from 25 cities of six TPO member countries.It will focus on measures to improve tourism development capacity of OTP member cities. Delegates to the event will also propose initiatives and strategies to promote the development of the tourism sector amidst the fourth industrial revolution.The forum will include two sessions on "Smart Tourism" and "Case Study Presentation by member cities on Smart Tourism", with the participations of international speakers and experts operating the tourism field.Other programmes will be the 31th Meeting of the TPO Executive Committee, the TPO Travel Trade exchange and a smart tourism exhibition; the TPO Bilateral Meeting, and the TPO Best Award.In the TPO Bilateral Meeting, representatives from Busan city of the Republic of Korea with the role as the chairship of TPO and ten member cities in the organisation's Exec-utive Committee, including HCM City, will discuss orientations for the operation of TPO in the near futures, and ways to enhance cooperation in developing tourism among TPO members.Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, deputy director of the municipal Department of Tourism, said the highlights of the forum would be initiatives and strategies to push smart tourism development.She hoped that by hosting the forum, HCM City's tourism sector could uphold its po-sition in Asia Pacific, and enhance tourism cooperation with other member cities of TPO, thus strengthening the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam in general and HCM City in particular with foreign countries.TPO is an international organisation established in 2002 at the 5th Asian-Pacific City Summit. TPO was borne to be an inter-city network to promote the exchanges and de-velopment of the tourism industry among major cities in the Asia Pacific region.HCM City is a co-founder and member of the Executive Board. Currently, the organi-sation consists of 86 cities, and 45 travel agencies and institutes and other tourism or-ganisations from 10 Asia-Pacific countries and territories.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hcm-city-to-host-asianpacific-cities-tourism-promotion-fo-rum/132980.vnp

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