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6 October 2017

finance & business news

FINANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reference exchange rate up 2 VND 1Interbank rates continue to bottom in the last two weeks 2'King' shares still remain 'hot' 2Bancassurance hard to boom 3Positive signals from bad debt treatment 4SME transparency a must for loans: experts 5Banks' moves to avoid overusing short-term funds for long-term

loans 6NPL regulations are not enough 7Vietnam bad debt management firm ready to meet 2017 target 8Foreign investors shun properties with bank debt 9UOB launches Business Banking service for SMEs 10Prudential seeks sale of Vietnam consumer finance unit

for up to $150 million: sources 11Vietnam-EAEU FTA gives boost to economic, trade ties 11HSBC raises growth forecast to 6.6pct 12VN's 2017 growth to quicken: World Bank 13Wood, timber product exports to hit 8 billion USD 14Can Tho to begin exporting rice to Iran 15Vietnamese seafood exporters now put high hopes on

Korean market 15Seafood exporters fear new US, EU regulations on illegal fishing 16Vietnamese instant coffee faces US recall over mislabeling 17VN-Eurasian trade surges 18EVFTA to bring in Hungarian meats 19Thua Thien Hue: offshore fishing fares well 20Petrol price drops slightly after five hikes 20New law to improve civil compensation 20Textile association opposes wage hike 21Boom foreseen in green construction in VN 22HCM City plans major tourism boost 23Da Nang draws up sea-based economic development strategy 23Ninh Thuan lures investment in renewable energy 24

Vietnam, Japan cooperate in countering fake goods 24Regional hub for German investors 25

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27Business Briefs 06 October, 2017 27VN shares fall on intraday profit-taking 27VN Index & HNX-Index lose ground 28Nearly 1 billion additional shares listed on UpCoM 29IDICO sells out at IPO 30Strategic investors hold kedy to IDICO's future 31Rong Viet Securities' 9M pre-tax profit up 86.3pct 31VNPT sets 2019 target for IPO 32PV Power increases shares sold to public 33More people choose Vietnamese goods 33Poor infrastructure, services hamper growth of sea travel 34High-end hotels see drop in occupancy rate as 2-, 3-star

hotel supply increases 34Vietnamese smart cities start with infrastructure 35Aviation authority investigate customer data leak 37Japanese car chair factory launched 37Lotte expands Vietnam ops 38First foreign-owned petrol station opens 39First Code Academy seeking franchisees in Vietnam 39Hanoi taxis protest Grab, Uber with bumper stickers 40Fewer Hanoi-HCM City flights but fares stable 41VN Airlines adds flights for Apec 42Thailand launches Bangkok Phu Quoc flight route 42Becamex Binh Phuoc draws 40 million USD in nine months 42PetroVietnam's 9-month results exceed assigned plans 43Leading Thai logistics group JWD to expand into Indonesia,

Vietnam 43Exhibition on printing-packaging runs in HCM City 43HCM City set for biennial international woodwork fair 44

FINANCEReference exchange rate up 2 VND

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA

The daily reference exchange rate for VND/USD was set at 22,470 VND per USD on Oc-tober 6, up 2 VND from the previous day.With the current trading band of/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,144 VND and the floor rate 21,796 VND.Major commercial banks continued making changes to their rates, with Vietcombank and Vietinbank increasing their rates from October 5.Vietcombank raised its buying rate by 25 VND to 22,715 VND, and its selling rate by 35 VND to 22,695 VND from a day ago.Vietinbank listed its buying rate at 22,695 VND and selling rate 22,765 VND per USD, both up 5 VND.Meanwhile, BIDV set its selling rate at 22,690 VND and its buying rate at 22,760 VND, both down 5 VND from October 5.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-up-2-vnd/119066.vnp

FINANCE

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Vietnam finance & business 6 October 2017

Interbank rates continue to bottom in the last two weeks

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| BIZLIVE

The interbank rates generally tended to level off and stay at low level in the last two weeks, reaching 0.68 percentage points (pp.) on overnight term, 0.82pp on one-week term, 0.96 pp. on two-week term, and 1.48 pp. on one-month term.The market liquidity of commercial banks remained abundant although the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) did not strongly inject capital into the system via Open Market Op-eration (OMO) channel.According to experts of MB Securities Company (MBS), the interbank interest rate lev-el will continue to be low and will tend to level off at bottom level in the next weeks before rising again in the end of the year, when the demand for credit increases.Despite sending many messages about policy easing, SBV did not inject much cash into the system via OMO channel. The increase of money supply and credit in the first nine months of the year was fairly positive, reaching respectively 9.59 percent and 11.02%.The maintenance of USD at low level and the return of trade deficit in Vietnam in Au-gust and September has reduced the pressure on VND. In the first three quarters, Vi-etnam only recorded a trade deficit of 442 million USD.The deposit interest rates of banks in the recent time have remained fairly stable with no major changes in the last two weeks. The mobilisation growth in the first nine months of the year reached 10.08%, lower than the 11.76 percent recorded in the same period of 2016, making it very difficult to lower interest rates, if SBV does not signifi-cantly inject money into the system.According to MBS, in general, the interest rates will slightly increase in the end of the year due to the high demand for credit growth and the needs to shift short-term funds to long-terms of commercial banks.The deposit rates in VND are currently ranging from 0.8-1 percent for non-term depos-its and one-month term, 4.5-5.4 percent per annum for deposits with terms from one month to less than six months, 5.4-6.5 percent per annum for deposits with terms from six months to less than 12 months, and 6.4-7.2 percent per annum for deposits with terms from 12 months and more. The USD deposit rate of banks is 0 percent per annum for deposits of individuals and organisations.Meanwhile, the lending rates are popular at 6-6.5 percent per annum for priority areas on short terms, while state-owned banks apply medium and long-term lending rates at 9-10 percent per annum for priority areas. Normal business and production activi-ties enjoy lending rates of 6.8-9 percent per annum on short terms and 9.3-11 percent per annum on medium and long terms.For the group of good customers with healthy and transparent financial situation, short-term lending rates are from 4-5 percent per annum. The USD lending rates are popular at 2.8-4.7 percent per annum on short terms, and 4.7-6.0 percent per annum on medium and long terms.

'King' shares still remain 'hot'

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DAU TU CHUNG KHOAN

Bank shares are proving its power and regaining the much attention of investors.According to experts, there are many factors that determine the price of a stock, includ-ing external effects such as the supply and demand differential, the market context and, in particular, the internal factors of the business. It is evidenced that VPB-coded share has been bought up very strongly by the investors, even hitting 37,00038,000 dong/share, three times higher than that at the beginning of the year.Nguyen Duc Vinh, VPBank's general director, said that the three key factors that have contributed to the success of VPBank over the past years are as follows: firstly, accu-rately identifying goals, persistence and focus on determined targets. Secondly, the team has a consensus. Thirdly is the best combination on the market."Seven years ago, we identified VPBank's path is retail, serving the majority, including those who have little or no access to banking services," Vinh said. So far, this strategy is working quite positively.After VPBank went public, a newcomer that is expecte to contribute significantly to the attractiveness of the group of "king" shares is LienVietPostBank (coded LPB) with the maiden trading session on UPCoM being slate on October 5. The reference price on the first trading session is 14,800 dong each.According to the statistics of VNDirect Securities Co, at the end of 2016, LienVietPost-Bank ranked 13/35 commercial banks in Vietnam in terms of total assets. Remarkably, with the strong growth of profitability in 2016 and the first quarters of 2017, LienViet-

Intellasia 6 October 2017 2 / 44

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PostBank has risen to the third largest non-state shareholding commercial bank in terms of ROA and ROE, with the first and the second belonging to VPBank and Tech-combank.In addition, this is one of the few banks with significantly improved NIMs with 2.9 per-cent in 2014, 3.1 percent in 2015 and 3.5 percent in 2016. The LienVietPostBank's depos-it rates are among the lowest in the market due to the good liquidity (low loan to deposit ratioLDRaround 72 percent at the end of 2016) thanks to the advantage of cheap capital sources.However, when talking about the plan to list shares on UPCoM market, Nguyen Duc Huong, Chair of LienVietPostBank only emphasized, the bank's main point in this plan is to be the first joint-stock commercial bank whose shares will be held by all staff, from leaders to employees.This policy, Huong added, is to create conditions for all members of the system to be responsible for the "common pot" namely the prestige, effective operation of the bank, have a sense of protecting the LienVietPostBank brand."If all are shareholders, then the Bank's operations are the responsibility and benefit of each person. As soon as LPB shares are listed on UPCoM, we will carry out the plan to increase charter capital through the issuance of shares to existing shareholders and es-pecially to employees, "said Huong.In fact, in the first months of 2017, the growth of banking stocks averaged 35.2 percent and there were also higher growth stocks such as NVB. SHB, ACB, MBB, STB reached growth of over 40%. In addition to benefiting from the strong growth of the stock mar-ket in the first half of 2017, banking stocks are also supported by expectations of bad debt treatment.Resolution No. 42/2017/ QH14, officially taking effect since August 15, 2017, together with Directive No. 32/ CT-TTg dated July 19, 2017 are helping deal with bad debts in many ways, bringing about high effect.Huong said that as of the end of Q2/2017, LienVietPostBank's bad debt ratio was con-trolled at a low level of 1.3%. However, if calculating the bad debt being sold to VAMC, the bank's bad debt ratio was nearly 2.6%.LienVietPostBank's outstanding loans being sold to VAMC in 20132015 period were 358 billion dong, 1.233 trillion dong and 1.334 trillion dong respectively. Since 2016, the bank has not sold debt to VAMC. With this sold bad debt, LienVietPostBank plans to complete all the bad debt being sold to VAMC in 2018.In addition, the bank's business and profit are expected to see high growth in 2017. With credit growth of over 20%, net interest income of banks will also increase as the main profit structure of banks still comes from credit activities (accouting for over 80%).

Bancassurance hard to boom

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DAU TU CHUNG KHOAN

Official statistics of the Insurance Association of Vietnam (IAV) show that till the end of June 2017, the total insurance premium through banking channel (bancassurance) reached 1.822 trillion dong, accounting for 6.4 percent of the total premium income of the whole market."This figure is very modest if comparing to 28.309 trillion dong of the total market pre-miums at the same time. However, considering the current development of the ban-cassurance segment, this is a very good level of revenue, "the IAV representative said.According to the representative, the drastic entry of life insurance companies with names such as Dai-ichi Life Vietnam, Manulife, in addition to the spectacular transfor-mation of recruits such as BIDV Metlife or Aviva, revenue from bancassurance is ex-pected to have new breakthroughs.In fact, over the past few years, the market has witnessed exclusive and prolonged "handshake" between insurers with a large market share and banks with large net-work.For example, in early September, Dai-ichi Life Vietnam and Sacombank signed exclu-sive cooperation in the distribution of insurance products, with a duration of up to 20


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years. By the end of September, Dai-ichi Life Vietnam has signed a comprehensive co-operation agreement with Vietnam Maritime Bank and as planned, whithin this week, it continues to sign a monopoly cooperation with another commercial bank. Dai-ichi Life Vietnam is a 10-year exclusive partner of HD Bank.According to the local newswire Securities Investment Review, bancassurance premi-ums account for nearly 10 percent of Dai-ichi Life Vietnam's premium revenue. By the end of 2017, this percentage is expected to increase to 15%.Selling insurance through banks is also one of the strengths of Manulife Vietnam. Ban-cassurance has become an important distribution channel, contributing significantly to the insurer's business, accounting for 20 percent of total premiums.Manulife Vietnam is also one of the best bancassurance channel growth companies in Vietnam's current life insurance market. Recently, Manulife Vietnam has announced a 15-year exclusive partnership with Techcombank, with the ambitious goal of reaching over 10 trillion dong in insurance premiums over the next five years.Back to the story of bancassurance breakthrough in the Vietnamese market, together with the more aggressive participation of both banking and insurance, according to observers, at the macro level, the success of this model depends on the favourable legal framework and development strategy of services to increase revenue without addi-tional capital of commercial banks.Many experts say that similar to the development of the life insurance market, bancas-surance also requires time to carry out and synthesize the results. The first years of co-operation are devoted to building the foundation, creating the right infrastructure for the partnership.Acceleration will occur at a later stage when the foundation is solid. Therefore, the long-term monopoly period will allow insurance companies to invest heavily in part-nerships, to jointly create diversified products and services that meet the market needs, as well as to support infrastructure development to provide the best service to customers of banks,

Positive signals from bad debt treatment

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| NGUOI LAO DONG

Vietnam Asset Management Co (VAMC)'s recent strong acquisition of tens of trillion dong worth of bad debts has created optimism in dealing with long-term bad debt.When bad debts are sold, banks will recover capital and reduce operating costs, con-tributing to stabilising the interest rates.Most recently, Sacombank has signed contracts to sell 2.85 trillion dong worth of bad debts from three debts of three businesses for VAMC. All of these debts are mortaged by real estate, machinery and equipments in Da Nang and HCM City. Accordingly, two debts of Hoan Cau Group (including Hoan Cau Khanh Hoa Joint Stock Co and Hoan Cau Nha Trang Co., Ltd) are valued at more than 2.577 trillion dong, of which 2.4 trillion is principal debt and interest and costs are more than 177 billion dong.Duong Cong Minh, Chair of Sacombank, said the difference of selling debt to VAMC is the banks quickly recover capital and increase the financial capacity. Meanhile, VAMC decided to acquire debts because it earns profit. "VAMC's acquisition of debt at market prices will help banks meet their target of reducing non-performing loans." Sacombank is striving to reduce its bad debts by 15-20 trillion dong, review the debt to continue selling to VAMC with an amount of one trillion dong. Perhaps, 2017 is con-sidered as the hinge of dealing with bad debt, creating a premise for Sacombank and other banks to reduce the bad debt ratio" Minh said.Meanwhile, Vo Van Chau, general director of Kien Long Commercial Joint Stock Bank (KCB), said that the bank is reviewing the classification of many bad debts to sell to VAMC.A month ago, VAMC also signed a debt purchase agreement with two banks for debts of Sai Gon One Tower Co, Lien Phat Co, Minh Quan Co, Superdeck M & C Co with total outstanding debt (principal and interest) of over seven trillion dong. At the same time, VAMC said it is setting up a price appraisal council, setting the starting price for conducting public auctions in the near future.


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Nguyen Tien Dong, Chair of VAMC, said that the prime minister, the State Bank of Vi-etnam has instructed VAMC to assign specific tasks to deal with bad debts. Therefore, in the immediate period, VAMC will cooperate with six banks (ACB, Sacombank, BIDV, Vietcombank, VietinBank and Agribank) being selected by the central bank to quickly deal with the bad debts of the banking system."In 2018, VAMC will increase chartered capital from two trillion dong to five trillion and increase to 10 trillion dong by 2010. Although this amount is not large compared to $10 billion of bad debts being managed by VAMC, with this capital source together with assigned task and the support from authorities, the bad debt settlement is expect-ed to see positive moves", Dong said.

SME transparency a must for loans: experts

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must improve their transparency to ena-ble them to access banking credits, experts said at a conference on Thursday.The conference was jointly held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the State Bank of Vietnam to discuss credit boosts for SMEs facing long-standing difficulties in accessing loans.According to banking and financial expert Can Van Luc, most SMEs have low man-agement capacity and outdated technology, they lack transparency in information and feasible business plans, and do not have adequate assets for mortgages, making them ineligible for banking loans.Credit institutions are hesitant to lend SMEs money for the same reasons. Luc noted that these problems were compounded by complex banking procedures and a short-age of appropriate loan packages for SMEs.Mac Quoc Anh, vice chair of the Hanoi SME Association, said the efficiency of SMEs is low. "Given the increasingly harsh international competition, points which are often regarded as advantages of SMEs, such as flexibility and low operation costs, are no longer advantages," Quoc Anh said.Hoang Thi Hong, director of SME Development Fund under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said improving transparency of SME information was an important solution to enable SMEs to access credit."It is necessary to develop a database about SMEs for credit institutions to use in eval-uating lending decisions," Hong said, adding that the database should include infor-mation about total assets, equity capital, revenue, profit and operations.Credit market for SMEsAlso needed is a credit market for SMEs, with appropriate lending packages based on demand, Hong said. She added that lending should be provided for a group of SMEs which join with each other in a production chain.In addition, capital raising channels should be diversified, rather than largely depend-ent on banks, for instance raising capital from the securities market, Hong said.According to Nguyen Quoc Hung, director of the central bank's Credit Department, SMEs are a driver of the national economy and are among the priorities for banking credits.Lam Van Chieu, deputy director of Cuong Tan Company which produces rice variety, said that banks should increase trust-based lending, based on the efficiency of firms.Tran Quoc Toan from the Toan Xuan Company said that reasonable interest rates should be provided for SMEs to encourage their investments and expansions.Closing the conference, Dao Minh Tu, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, said: "If economic conditions allow, the central bank will continue to cut rates."SMEs account for 97 per cent of the total number of firms in Vietnam, contributed about 45 per cent of gross domestic product, 31 per cent of the budget revenue and cre-ate five million jobs.http://bizhub.vn/news/sme-transparency-a-must-for-loans-experts_289339.html


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Banks' moves to avoid overusing short-term funds for long-term loans

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETSTOCK

Banks have always been in the state of using too much short-term funds for financing long-term loans. However, this situation has been significantly changed as banks have not only actively increased their equity and sought funding from international finan-cial institutions, but also accelerated medium and long-term mobilisation in the con-text when the interest rate level is currently stable and has been low for many years.The extension of medium and long-term funds will help banks have stable resources to carry out longer term expansion strategies.Actively increasing capitalLien Viet Post Commercial Joint Stock Bank (LienVietPostBank, LPB) on September 25th decided to issue 20 million convertible bonds at a total value of two trillion dong and par value of 100,000 dong per bond. The purpose of the issuance is to meet the de-mand for loans of medium and long-term projects, increasing the scale of capital of the bank. The compulsory ratio to convert to shares is 1:10, which means that one bond can exchange for 10 shares, at convertible price of 10,000 dong per share. With the bond yield of about 8-10 percent and the current buying price of LPB shares on the Over-the-counter market (OTC) of 14,000 dong per share, it is likely to attract the participation of investors.In another development, on September 11th, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) said it would invest 200 million USD in the Vietnam International Joint Stock Bank (VIB) in the form of a senior loan with a maturity of up to five years. Previously, in August, IFC also planned to fund a loan of up to 150 million USD to An Binh Com-mercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBank). In 2011, IFC also invested about 40.5 million USD in ABBank via purchasing convertible bonds, which were later converted to 10 percent of the bank's charter capital.In addition to the issuing valuable papers and looking for long-term financing, banks have also actively increased their internal financial capacity by raising charter capital as planned. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has recently approved the Military Com-mercial Joint Stock Bank (MBB) to increase charter capital from 17.127 trillion dong to 18.155 trillion dong, Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VPBank) from 14.059 trillion dong to 15.706 trillion dong, and Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) from four trillion dong to five trillion dong.Using equityRaising capital has always been an important and thorough target in banks' operation. At present, under the regulations, many safety ratios are limited by equity such as the minimum Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR, 9 percent of equity), the credit limit for one customer and a related group of customers (not exceeding respectively 15 percent and 25 percent of equity), and foreign exchange status (no more than 40 percent of charter capital and reserve funds of the bank).Furthermore, according to provisions of Circular 21/2013/TT-NHNN, the number of branches established must be based on the bank's charter capital. Specifically, the min-imum charter capital of each branch in Hochiminh city and Hanoi must be 300 billion dong per unit, while that is 50 billion dong per unit for branches in other provinces and cities. Therefore, to expand business, banks must ensure that their equity always main-tains stable growth.According to Circular 36/2014/TT-NHNN, banks' equity includes tier-1 capital and tier-2 capital. Tier-1 capital includes major items such as charter capital, reserve fund for supplementing charter capital, fund for investing in banking operations, retained profits and equity surplus. While the tier-2 capital includes 50 percent of the difference due to revaluation of fixed assets, 40 percent of the difference due to the revaluation of the long-term capital investments, financial reserves, general reserves, and convertible bonds and debt instruments with terms of five years or more.To raise tier-1 capital, banks often increase charter capital, do not pay dividends to re-tain profit; while to raise tier-2 capital, banks choose to issue convertible bonds or debt instruments with terms of five years or more. In the context when the CAR of many banks has declined in the recent time due to the reduction of asset quality and sharp


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rise of bad debts, raising capital has become more urgent than ever. In addition, ac-cording to Circular 41/2016/TT-NHNN which will come into force in early 2020, the calculation of CAR will be stricter in accordance with Basel 2 standards. Thus, banks must make more efforts to raise equity from now to timely meet the requirements.Expanding medium and long-term fundMeanwhile, obtaining financial support from international financial institutions has helped banks have stable source of foreign capital, especially when the foreign curren-cy deposits have been partly shifted to VND deposits after the ceiling interest rate in USD was set at 0 percent per annum.With the low-cost USD funding, banks can convert into VND to lend out at high inter-est rates, thereby improving the profit margin and actively influencing profits.In addition, this funding can also help banks increase their medium and long-term funds, thereby improving the ratio of using short-term funds for medium and long-term lending. For banks like VIB and VPBank which offer consumer loans to custom-ers buying cars, house and instalment loans, the need for medium and long-term cap-ital is still very large. In early March, IFC also approved an additional financial package worth over 80 million USD for VPBank. Including the 125 million USD real-ised in 2016, the total funding VPBank received has reached over 200 million USD.From last year until now, banks have also actively issued long-term deposit certificates to raise medium and long-term fund. With the current low interest rate level, the strat-egy of issuing valuable papers to mobilise medium and long-term loans is probably appropriate. When the interest rate level increases again, banks will be much benefited because they have raised a significant source of long-term fund at low cost.Thus, it can be seen that banks have not only been striving to raise equity but also in-creasing medium and long-term mobilisation fund from customers and borrowing in-ternational financial institutions. In fact, raising equity and charter capital has also helped banks increase medium and long-term fund, because under Circular 06/2016/TT-NHNN, the medium and long-term fund of banks include deposits of people and economic organisations; borrowing capital from domestic and foreign financial insti-tutions (excluding credit institutions); mobilised capital via issuance of bills, certifi-cates of deposits, and bonds; charter capital and funds; surplus in equity capital; and retained profits.Recently, SBV has requested banks to review their safety ratios to check whether any of them is violated, and if any, a roadmap to rectify is needed in the near future. There-fore, raising capital to improve and overcome the violations in safety ratios (if any) will continue in the next period.

NPL regulations are not enough

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIR

Although Vietnam is struggling under the weight of its bad debts, before others can help, the country must further improve its legal framework and develop its distressed securities market to support the debt trading process.When Resolution No.42/2017/ QH14 came into force last month, some mechanisms were put in place to improve the handling of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the sys-tem. NPLs can now be traded at market price and the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) can sell bad debts to entities including those without a debt trading licence. The transfer of land use rights and ownership of assets to the buyer is also al-lowed in the new regulation. Shortened court procedures in dealing with collateral should also speed up the process of seizing collateral for NPL holders.The new regulation is supportive, but not enough for Vietnam to deal with its NPLs on its own, or be attractive enough to entice foreign investors or the private sector to become involved with the NPL trading process.As the transfer of the title or ownership of collateral which often involves real estate is not allowed in Vietnam for foreign investors, the challenge for them to enter Vietnam's debt market still remains, according to Alwaleed Fareed Alatabani, lead financial sec-tor specialist for Finance and Markets at the World Bank Group (WB)."That's what kept many foreign investors away, in addition to the issue of the insol-


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vency regime that is incomplete in the case of Vietnam," he said on the sidelines of a NPL workshop held last week in Hanoi by the State Bank of Vietnam, WB, and IFC. "Domestically, if you look at the track record, most of the loans actually go back to the banks, and these banks are pursuing these loans because they have the relationship with the existing clients that took out these loans in the first place.""And we're not seeing a significant amount of private asset management companies (AMCs) flourishing to try to tap into this type of business yet, since banks own AMCs and bank staff is to get collection on some of these debts."According to Dao Thi Thien Huong, partner in Deals and Business Restructuring Serv-ices at PwC, in more developed markets, the debt trading platform has been put up and accompanied by the diversification of products and the participation of NPLs on both the buy and sell sides. In Vietnam, VAMC and bank-owned AMCs mainly trade debts or collateral assets related to the debts as individual loans themselves."In a developed distressed asset market, NPLs can be sold in batches, in portfolios, or as securitised debt products. Why is it important to have a wide range of products on offer? It's because the diversification of products will attract a diversified range of in-vestors," Huong said.Selling NPLs in batches can attract large-scale NPL buyers as each transaction, either small or large, often incurs high costs in terms of valuation and administration. And conversely, these buyers are mainly looking to buy in a batch format.Jakub Zalio, country manager of APS Vietnam, a wholly foreign-owned subsidiary of Czech-based debt recovery and investment specialist APS Group, noted that the key enablers for effective NPL treatment in Vietnam include no or limited barriers for in-vestors to enter the market, simple and understandable legislation in terms of collater-al seizure, and working legal and bailiff procedures.To draw investors's attention, especially international ones, to Vietnam's debt market, it comes down to a sound legal framework that can do the job of drawing in NPL in-vestors, according to Sumant Batra, managing partner of India-based corporate and commercial law firm Kesar Dass B & Associates."This is a chicken or egg situation," Batra told VIR. "For foreign investors to come in and invest in distressed asset markets, what you need is a really reliable insolvency system."Because if you don't have a good insolvency system, you will not be able to resolve NPLs efficiently and quickly, and therefore no investors would want to come to invest in the economy, in the NPL, if the insolvency law doesn't enable them to dissolve and turn around those non-performing assets quickly."NPL investors, as he noted, want to make money in the short term of three to five years, and they put in a lot of effort and money to turn around the distressed assets that they bought. "But for that you would need a legal framework. Without that the challenge will always be that you will never attract enough players in the market. So you need a whole ecosystem, you just can't have one law come up and the others left behind."http://www.vir.com.vn/npl-regulations-are-not-enough.html

Vietnam bad debt management firm ready to meet 2017 target

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS

The Vietnam Asset Management Co has resolved $572.69 million in bad debts so far this yearThe Vietnam Asset Management Co (VAMC), a central bank-run firm formed to deal with bad loans, has met 60 percent of its target for 2017 and is actively working to re-solve the remaining 40 percent of its goal by year end.The VAMC has resolved around VND13 trillion (US$572.69 million) worth of bad debts in the year to date, and expects to handle another VND9 trillion ($396.48 million) in the last quarter of 2017 in order to meet its goal.The asset management company buys the country's bad debts from banks, which ef-fectively means moving the nonperforming loans from the credit institutions' balance to its own before resolving them.


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In August, VAMC decided to seize the ill-fated Saigon One Tower, a $256 million building used by its developer as collateral for a VND7 trillion ($308 million) loan to the asset management company.The seizure came after the debtor repeatedly failed to clear the bad debt that had ear-lier been sold by a group of lenders to VAMC.The move has kick-started a rush for other banks to put collateral assets of bad debtors on auction to resolve the nonperforming loans.VAMC itself is also in the process of auctioning several collateral assets in order to re-solve the bad debts it has purchased.Of these, the most remarkable one is a set of eight land plots a two-party consortium known as Hoan Cau Co. had previously mortgaged for a VND2.4 trillion ($105.73 mil-lion) loan with Sacombank.The land plots total 51,454 square meters and were valued at VND2,418 billion ($106.52 million) when Sacombank offered the mortgage to the consortium.However, the huge debt eventually became a nonperforming loan, forcing Sacombank to sell it to VAMC in August this year.VAMC is seeking an independent unit to evaluate those pieces of land, a move seen as preparation for the auction of its collateral assets.In mid-September, VAMC also purchased a debt the Ba Dac Co. Ltd owed to Viet-inbank, and is scheduled to auction off its collateral later this month.Even banks that do not sell bad debts to VAMC are taking steps to seize or auction the mortgaged assets of debtors.Since the beginning of September, Techcombank seized 55 collateral assets, in the form of cars, production lines, and real estate, in order to retrieve its nonperforming loans.Meanwhile, Vietcombank and Agribank announced plans to liquidate collateral assets under their management.As the 'bad debt resolving' market has gotten increasingly active in the last few months, bad debtors are now publicised, information that was previously inaccessible.Many individuals and organisations have also embraced the news and opportunities to buy good properties or assets at reasonable prices through the auctions and liquida-tions.http://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20171005/vietnam-bad-debt-management-firm-ready-to-meet-2017-target/41920.html

Foreign investors shun properties with bank debt

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

VAMC (Vietnam Asset Management Company) is now holding VND230 trillion worth of bad debt, including real estate which is used as collateral for bad debts it has purchased from commercial banks.It is expected that from now to the end of 2017, VAMC will settle VND23-25 trillion worth of bad debt, or 10 percent of the amounts of bad debt it is holding.With 70 percent of bad debt secured by real estate, roughly VND161 trillion dong worth of property being held by VAMC will be liquidated in the time to come.In the latest move, VAMC has seized and plans to put Saigon One Tower building in district 1 in HCM City in auction. Saigon One Tower JSC, the developer of Saigon One Tower, failed to pay off its debts (principal and interest) of VND7 trillion ($308 mil-lion). The AMCs under commercial banks have also repeatedly announced the sale of assets mortgaged for the loans which they cannot collect form clients.Agribank's AMC on September 19 put into auction for the fourth time the V-Ikor build-ing developed by Viet Thuan Thanh, at the starting price of VND320 billion. However, the auction failed once again because there was no buyer.Besides buildings, banks will auction many properties to serve debt collection. Agrib-ank alone has dozens or hundreds of bad debt items that need to be resolved this way.Analysts believe that the auctions will catch attention from foreign investors who want to join the Vietnamese real estate market. The purchase of the properties would allow them to obtain attractive projects in Vietnam in the quickest way and with reasonable prices.


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However, contrary to predictions, foreign investors are hesitant to buy the properties related to debt because of the fear of complicated procedures.The representative of EZ Land said an investor from Luxembourg doesn't intend to buy properties related to debts.He said EZ Land follows a principle that it only buys 'clean land' which can satisfy its requirements in terms of positions and design.The investor, when learning about the Vietnamese real estate market some years ago, saw construction on hundreds of real estate projects suspended and could not find any project which had quality good enough for it to enter into a merger and acquisition dealAn expert said it would take several years to fulfill the complicated procedures to transfer ownership of properties.In addition, new investors find it difficult to adjust the design and function of proper-ties. They, for example, have to ask for permission from state management agencies to build one more storey to a building initially designed to have 20 stories.

UOB launches Business Banking service for SMEs


Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB) has launched a Business Banking service dedicated to help small businesses in Vietnam grow their business.The move followed the recent State Bank of Vietnam's licensing of UOB as a foreign-owned subsidiary bank at the end of last month.Lawrence Loh, UOB's head of group business banking, said the bank was committed to supporting the growth of Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which have a major role to play in the country's continued economic development."SMEs are the backbone of economies in Asia, and account for 97 per cent of Vietnam-ese companies," Loh said. "They are essential to the health of the economy through the goods and services they provide and the jobs they create. Over the last 80 years, UOB has gained first-hand understanding of what it takes to help small businesses prosper and to grow. We have designed our business banking services specifically to meet the needs of small businesses, to enable them to seize business opportunities such as ex-porting their products and services overseas.""To make it easier for small businesses to apply for the services they need, we are also introducing the first in-market digital solutions," he said. "For example, companies can easily submit their account application through UOB Vietnam's website or the bank's mobile app for businesses, UOB Business, without needing to visit the UOB branch.""UOB will then process the application and, if approved, the business can use their ac-count or receive in-principle approval for their loan applications in just one business day," Loh added.To help small business owners manage their business more effectively, UOB has put together a range of financial solutions to meet their unique needs.The solutions includes transaction accounts to manage day-to-day expenses and oper-ations, small business loans to finance the growth of the business and extend cash flows, and trade financing solutions to manage import and export supply chain pay-ments.Harry Loh, Vietnam country manager of UOB HCM City Branch, said UOB would or-ganise knowledge-sharing seminars in the city, through which small business owners can learn from their peers and adapt the experience to finance the growth of their busi-ness more effectively.The seminars will also offer insight into the ways in which they can use digital solu-tions to take advantage of export opportunities, he said."Running an SME is demanding and often leaves business owners with little time to identify new business opportunities," he said. "Through the seminars, we hope that SMEs in Vietnam will be able to learn from the experiences of others and use the in-sights to optimise the output of their business strategy and leapfrog to the next stage of growth."


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Prudential seeks sale of Vietnam consumer finance unit for up to $150 million: sources


Prudential Plc has kicked off the sale of its Vietnam consumer finance unit, which could fetch up to $150 million, as the UK firm sharpens focus on its core insurance business in the Southeast Asian nation, people familiar with the process said.An adviser has been appointed as part of the sale process of Prudential Vietnam Fi-nance Company Ltd, which is in an early stage, two of the sources said.They said interested buyers include private equity firms and financial services compa-nies, though Reuters was not able to ascertain names of potential bidders.A sale of Prudential Vietnam Finance, which offers personal and mortgage loans, would mark Prudential's first major asset divestment since it named its former group CFO, Nic Nicandrou, as the head of its Asia business last year.The move comes as some global insurers, including AXA are similarly looking to sell smaller and non-core units in Asia to better focus on their main insurance businesses in a region that is attractive due to low insurance penetration, but is also hyper com-petitive.Prudential has a separate insurance business in Vietnam, which is much smaller com-pared to its major Asian markets that include Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Indo-nesia, and which it plans to focus on after the finance unit sale, said the people, who did not wish to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Prudential's Asia unit declined to comment on the possible sale of the Vietnam consumer finance unit.Started in 2007 as the first fully foreign-owned consumer finance company in Vietnam, the insurer's finance unit had about 300,000 customers by October 2016, its website showed.Annual premium and contribution equivalents, a key growth metric for insurers, in Vietnam rose to 62 million pounds ($82 million) in the first half of 2017, compared to 914 million pounds in Hong Kong and 144 million pounds in Indonesia.Prudential reported a 25 percent rise in first-quarter new-business profits in May worldwide, and its operating profit rose to 2.36 billion pounds in the first half, also boosted by growth in Asia.The insurer, however, has been selling or restructuring some units to save costslast month it sold its broker-dealer network in the United States for $325 million and merged its M&G asset management and UK and European insurance businesses.http://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20171005/prudential-seeks-sale-of-vietnam-con-sumer-finance-unit-for-up-to-150 million-sources/41910.html

Vietnam-EAEU FTA gives boost to economic, trade ties


The Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement (VN-EAEU FTA) has created a strong momentum for economic and trade ties among the signatories, said EAEU diplomats.The ambassadors of the EAEU member countries, namely Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia, shared the view at a press conference in Hanoi on October 5 to mark one year since the pact took effect.Belarusian Ambassador to Vietnam Vladimir Goshin said that Vietnam's exported 37 million USD worth of products to Belarus in the first eight months of 2017, the same amount as Belarus's exports to the Southeast Asian nation.This is the first time the two countries have seen a balanced trade turnover as Belarus had previously run a trade surplus with Vietnam, he said, stressing that Vietnamese businesses have been making the most of advantages offered by the deal to boost ex-ports.Kazakh Ambassador Beketzhan Zhumakhanov said among the EAEU countries, Ka-zakhstan has experienced the biggest trade growth with Vietnam, with two-way trade reaching 364.7 million USD in the January-August period, nearly equivalent to the fig-ure of 366.2 million USD for the whole 2016.Russian Ambassador Konstantin Vnukov told participants that between October 2016 and April 2017, the export-import turnover between the EAEU and Vietnam rose by


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28 percent.The reduction of import tariffs has facilitated the export of wheat flour, corn, fertilisers and metals from the EAEU countries to Vietnam, he added.Dang Hoang Hai, director of the European Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the deal has created an impulse for cooperation between Vi-etnam and the countries across fields.He noted his hope that through the agreement, Vietnam and the EAEU will increase the types of commodities exported to each other's markets.The ambassadors held that to uphold the positive results, the countries should en-hance dialogues and cooperation with businesses by increasing the exchange of visits and participation in fairs and exhibitions.The Vietnam-EAEU FTA was inked in Burabay, Kazakhstan, on May 29, 2015 and took effect on October 5, 2016.Under the agreement, Vietnam will remove import tariffs on 59 percent of the total tax lines on goods from the EAEU, including meat products, wheat flour, alcohol, me-chanical equipment and steel products. The tariffs on another 30 percent of goods will be gradually reduced to 0 percent in the transitional period.The average level of Vietnam's duties on EAEU goods will drop from 10 percent to 1 percent, while EAEU's average import tariffs on Vietnam's goods will be reduced from 9.7 percent to 2 percent in 2025.The tax removal is expected to spur the EAEU's export of agricultural and industrial products to Vietnam, and vice versa, Vietnam's farm produce, garment, bags and elec-trical devices will have better access to the EAEU market.At the same time, businesspeople of both sides will have opportunities to take part in joint projects in the EAEU countries and Vietnam.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnameaeu-fta-gives-boost-to-economic-trade-ties/119038.vnp

HSBC raises growth forecast to 6.6pct

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Bank points to rising exports and industrial production as well as a continuing strong tech cycle as pushing up growth.HSBC has revised its growth forecast for Vietnam this year up to 6.6 per cent, days af-ter data from the General Statistical Office showed the economy grew 7.46 per cent in the third quarter year-on-year; its strongest third-quarter growth since 2010.In a recent statement, the bank said that July-September growth was "surprising". It had lowered its growth forecast from 6.4 to 6 per cent in July after the economy hit a three-year low of 5.2 per cent growth in the first quarter.A continued rise in exports and industrial production were some of the primary driv-ers of growth, as the strong tech cycle in the second quarter persisted throughout the third quarter, the bank noted.The composition of growth in July-September showed that the majority of the econo-my continues to perform well, with the exception of the mining sector. "We have pre-viously noted that this mining drag has marginally slowed the country's growth over the past few quarters and has negatively affected government revenues," it added.The report pointed out that the manufacturing sector's contribution to growth has steadily climbed since the beginning of the year to reach its highest level in at least ten years. This is attributable to the expansion of Vietnam's export industry over the years, particularly in the production of clothing, apparel, and electronics."We expect manufacturing to remain robust in the fourth quarter, albeit slowing slight-ly from a marginal drop in electronics exports, while services should remain steady on the back of strong tourist arrivals," the bank said.The positive outcome in the third quarter has driven overall growth for the first nine months to 6.41 per cent, the highest since 2015 but still below this year's target of 6.7 per cent, one that both officials and industry insiders have lamented as being too am-bitious.From another perspective, the World Bank has said that Vietnam's real GDP growth is


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projected to rise slightly, to 6.3 per cent this year, boosted by buoyant domestic de-mand, rebounding agricultural production, and strong export-oriented manufactur-ing.Over the medium term, growth is going to stabilise at around 6.4 per cent in 2018-2019, it wrote in an October report, which also raised growth forecasts for other Asian econ-omies including China, Malaysia, and Thailand.In January it said that Vietnam's economy would expand by an average of 6.3 per cent over the next three years, buoyed by strong foreign direct investment and manufactur-ing exports.Vietnam recorded its highest GDP growth in five years in 2015, of 6.7 per cent, but growth then dipped to 6.21 per cent last year; the first slowdown in four years and amid low coal and oil prices as well as damage from a major drought and mass fish deaths caused by a pollution spill at the Taiwanese steel plant Formosa in north-cen-tral Ha Tinh province.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/vietnam-today/hsbc-raises-growth-forecast-to-6-6

VN's 2017 growth to quicken: World Bank


Vietnam's medium-term economic outlook remains positive, with GDP growth rate projected to accelerate slightly to 6.3 per cent in 2017, according to the latest World Bank East Asia and Pacific Economic Update, released on Wednesday.The growth is underpinned by buoyant domestic demand, rebounding agricultural production and strong export-oriented manufacturing, aided by a recovery in external demand, the report says.The country's inflationary pressures will remain moderate, reflecting stable core infla-tion and the tapering of administrative price hikes. The current account is expected to remain in surplus, albeit at a lower level as stronger import growth resumes.Over the medium term, growth is projected to stabilise at around 6.4 per cent in 2018 -- 19, accompanied by broad macroeconomic stability. Barring extreme weather-relat-ed shocks, poverty is expected to fall further.The report also mentions risks and challenges facing Vietnam and offers some recom-mendations for the country. The World Bank says that domestic and external risks call for continued macroeconomic prudence. In view of resilient growth momentum, so-lidifying macroeconomic stability and rebuilding policy buffers should remain the top priority.Lowering the fiscal deficit will help to contain rising risks to fiscal sustainability and provide fiscal space to accommodate potential future shocks.Containing risks from rapid credit growth requires continued improvements in super-vision and prudential regulation. The longer-term challenge for Vietnam is to sustain rapid growth and poverty reduction.Considerable gains are possible from structural reforms that alleviate constraints on productivity growth, including through SoE reforms, further improvements in the business environment and more efficient factor markets for land and capital.The gender wage gap remains a concern, particularly in the urban FDI sector where the average wage for males rose even as that for females marginally declined, unlike in rural areas where the increase was proportionate.Regional outlook"The recovery of the global economy and the expansion of global trade are good news for the East Asia and Pacific region and its continued success in improving living standards," said Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank vice President for the East Asia and Pa-cific Region."The challenge will be for countries to strike a balance between prioritising short-term growth and reducing medium-term vulnerabilities, so that the region has a stronger foundation for sustained and inclusive growth," she said."The improved prospects for global growth offer a window of opportunity for coun-tries to reduce vulnerabilities while pursuing reforms that can yield growth dividends


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over the longer term," said Sudhir Shetty, WB Chief Economist for the East Asia and Pacific region. "Reducing risks to financial sector stability and strengthening competi-tiveness, including through deeper regional integration, remain priorities."The report notes that improved global growth prospects and continued strong domes-tic demand underpin a positive outlook for the developing economies of East Asia and the Pacific.Stronger growth in advanced economies, a moderate recovery in commodity prices, and a recovery in global trade growth, are the favourable external factors that will sup-port the economies of developing East Asia and Pacific to expand by 6.4 per cent for 2017, it says.SolutionsTo maintain resilience against risks, the report calls for countries in the region to move away from measures aimed at short-term growth and towards policies that address fi-nancial sector and fiscal vulnerabilities.These measures include: strengthening supervision and prudential regulation in coun-tries experiencing rapid growth in private-sector credit and debt; reforming tax poli-cies and administration to help boost revenue collection; and being ready to tighten monetary policy if warranted by the pace of interest rate increases in advanced econ-omies.Structural reform priorities differ across countries. Sustained reforms of the State sec-tor in China and Vietnam can improve growth prospects. The Philippines, Thailand, Lao PDR and Cambodia will benefit from continued improvements in public invest-ment management systems to support expanding public infrastructure programmes. In Indonesia, liberalising the regulations for foreign investment remains important.For lasting inclusive growth, measures to reduce extreme poverty must be accompa-nied by policies that broaden access to quality services and more productive jobs, and stronger social protection systems that reduce the consequences of adverse shocks.http://bizhub.vn/news/vns-2017-growth-to-quicken-world-bank_289315.html

Wood, timber product exports to hit 8 billion USD


The export of wood and timber products is forecast to bring home 8 billion USD in 2017, heard a workshop in Hanoi on October 5.The strong growth of wood export was seen in almost traditional and key markets such as the US, Japan, the EU, China and the Republic of Korea. The value of exports to the five markets makes up nearly 90 percent of the total export turnover of Vietnam-ese wood and timber products, said vice President and general Secretary of Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (VIFORES) Nguyen Ton Quyen.However, there will be changes in policies of the Republic of Korea and Japan to tight-en the management of imported wood products, he said, adding that this will directly impact on Vietnam's exports to the markets.Apart from domestic wood, Vietnam imports a large amount of wood material worth 1.7-1.8 billion USD annually, equivalent to about 20-30 percent of the export turnover.In May 2017, after the six-year negotiation process, Vietnam initialled the Vietnam-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Govern-ance and Trade (FLEGT).Quyen said the implementation of this agreement in Vietnam will ensure all wood products in the list agreed by the Vietnamese government and the EU, including do-mestic and imported ones, are legal.The signing of the document is important as it could create fundamental changes for Vietnam's wood processing sector as well as domestic and export markets, including nations supplying wood material for Vietnam and countries buying wood and timber products from Vietnam, he added.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/wood-timber-product-exports-to-hit-8 billion-usd/119048.vnp


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Can Tho to begin exporting rice to Iran


Can Tho City expects to export its first batches of rice to Iran in the last quarter of 2017, Huynh Trung Tru, deputy director of the city's Department of Industry and Trade, said.At a meeting to review import-export activities organised by the city's People's Com-mittee on Wednesday, Tru said a company in Iran in August directly dealt with a rice firm in Can Tho to finalise a contract to export to Iran 100,000 tonnes of rice from now until the end of the year."Previously, Can Tho did not export rice to this market," the official said.According to Tru, if rice shipment to Iran meets favourable conditions, the city hopes that the partner will sign a longer term contract next year.Tru said demand for rice imports has increased in many markets such as Bangladesh, the Philippines and Iran.For the Bangladesh market alone, the country needs to import some 500,000 tonnes."Particularly, in October 2017, they demand for 250,000-300,000 tonnes," Tru said, add-ing that local firms have probably registered with the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) to participate in bidding for the shipment of rice.In the first nine months of 2017, the city's total rice export volume reached over 638,000 tonnes, bringing turnover of $262 million, up 22 and 20 per cent year-on-year, respec-tively.According to reports of the city's Department of Industry and Trade, the locality's ex-port revenue from January to September reached over $1 billion, a surge of 16.9 per cent compared with the same period last year.The city also imported goods worth $321 million, up 47.6 per cent from the same peri-od last year, driven by the increased purchase of equipment and machines for produc-tion.According to VFA, in the first nine months of the year, the country exported 4.57 mil-lion tonnes of rice, reaping a turnover of $2.02 billion, rising by 20.8 per cent in volume and 18.6 per cent in value against the figures of the corresponding period last year.The association forecasts that in 2017, the country's rice exports will reach some 5.7 million tonnes, including 1.8 million tonnes in the last quarter, and 800,000 tonnes higher than 2016.http://bizhub.vn/news/can-tho-to-begin-exporting-rice-to-iran_289329.html

Vietnamese seafood exporters now put high hopes on Korean market


Vietnam exported $475 million worth of seafood products to South Korea in the first eight months of the year, an increase of 27 percent compared with the same period last year.Exports to South Korea have been going smoothly with Nha Trang Seafood (F17). In the first half of the year, F17 earned $20 million from the South Korean market out of total export turnover of $95 million.South Korea appears to be a new market for many Vietnamese exporters, but it has been a loyal market for F17 for many years.The target markets for most Vietnamese seafood companies, unlike F17, are the US, Europe, Japan and China. South Korea is not in the list, though the market brings the fourth largest export value for Vietnam. South Korean statistics show that Vietnam is among five major supply sources of the country.According to VASEP, in 2016 Vietnam exported $617 million worth of products, up by 5.5 percent over the same period last year. The major import items were shrimp, small octopus and Juichi cuttlefish, while frozen products accounted for 69.6 percent and processed products 30.3 percent.Analysts believe that now is the right time to boost seafood exports to South Korea. Under the Vietnam-South Korea FTA, more product items can enjoy preferential tar-iffs, including seafood.Meanwhile, research by Nha Trang University found that NFQS and MFDS, the two Korean agencies in charge of supervising seafood imports from Vietnam, have set up


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more comfortable regulations.If the import consignments from Vietnam are found not meeting requirements on food hygiene, the agencies will suspend imports.South Korea has recently taken moves to learn more about the Vietnamese seafood market as it is the third largest trade partner of Vietnam, following China and the US.KFTA in July opened an aquatic product export promotion centre in HCM City in or-der to seek new markets for Korean exports. In 2016, South Korea exported $97 million worth of aquatic products to Vietnam, up by 9 percent over the year before.Khong Trung Thang, vice president of Nha Trang University, said Korean consumers previously liked meat products, but now use more seafood products.According to Huynh Long Quan, deputy general director of Nha Trang Seafood, the competition in South Korea is mostly in price and exporters do not face technical bar-riers on product quality.However, South Korea might be not an attractive market for many Vietnamese com-panies because the expected profit from the market is lower than that of the US, Europe and Japan.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/187332/vietnamese-seafood-exporters-now-put-high-hopes-on-south-korean-market.html

Seafood exporters fear new US, EU regulations on illegal fishing


The EU is set to rule this month on the Vietnamese seafood industry's compliance with its regulations on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and the US has just announced new rules relating to the same issue. Facing scrutiny from two signifi-cant seafood markets, Vietnamese seafood exporters are anxious, and worried that both their fellow companies and the government aren't doing enough to meet import-ers' requirements.Earlier this year, the EU fisheries working group announced that Vietnam is likely to receive a yellow card from EU inspectors, particularly if it did not fulfill IUU fishing requirements related to anti-mining. Such a ruling could have far-reaching implica-tions for the country's seafood exporters. September 30 was the deadline for Vietnam to show improvements on the requirements, and the ruling will be issued at the meet-ing on October 20 by the EU mission to the government Office, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, VASEP and some agencies related to IUU.A yellow card creates nervousness among EU retailers about seafood imported from that country, and they may look elsewhere to buy. Other import markets will also strengthen checks of seafood exported by that country. If a country gets a red card, its seafood products will be banned in the EU.Chair of Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading JSC Tran Van Linh said that although the company's exports of seafood to EU account for less than 10 per cent of the total export value, the company has still been working with other enterprises to fight against IUU fishing."If the EU issues a 'yellow card' to Vietnam, it will affect the image and reputation of Vietnam's seafood export in the world market," said Linh.According to a list provided by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Pro-ducers (VASEP), 57 Vietnamese businesses have committed to combat IUU fishing. These enterprises will only purchase seafood from licensed fishing vessels and only import legally exploited seafood. The list includes several businesses that have never exported to the EU, but want to demonstrate the Vietnamese fishing community's commitment to addressing the problem.But some of the committed companies say their efforts alone aren't enough. Vo Quang Vinh, deputy general director of Cau Tre Company, which has been exporting seafood to the EU for over 20 years and joined the VASEP list, said State action is necessary to protect the reputation of Vietnamese seafood."The EU does not just judge based on a few firms but on the whole community, includ-ing many other businesses that are exporting to the EU," said Vinh. "Therefore, if only some enterprises in the process of participation in the assessment do not meet the re-


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quirements will affect the entire seafood businesses."He said the State needed to enact clear regulations to guarantee that the origin of fish-ing vessels is easily traceable.Experts from VASEP said that businesses need to set up an alliance to meet the require-ments of food safety, traceability and operational transparency at every step of the sea-food production process.At the same time, enterprises should strictly carry out internal regulations, such as not buying seafood from illegal fishing vessels, fishing without licences or fishing with prohibited tools. Such regulations can protect the reputation of Vietnam seafood in the world market.Speed is important, as the US is also set to enact new regulations to eliminate IUU-caught seafood among its imports. The American regulations are part of the Seafood Import Monitoring Programme, which establishes reporting and recordkeeping re-quirements to prevent IUU-caught and or misrepresented seafood from entering US commerce, with the goal of protecting the national economy, global food security and the sustainability of shared ocean resources. The US regulations will take effect on Jan-uary 1, 2018.http://bizhub.vn/news/seafood-exporters-fear-new-us-eu-regulations-on-illegal-fishing_289328.html

Vietnamese instant coffee faces US recall over mislabeling


Vinacafe Bien Hoa failed to declare milk allergens among the ingredients of its 'Wake-Up' instant coffee mixA New York-based trading company is recalling a Vietnamese-made instant coffee product after discovering the manufacturer failed to declare milk allergens among its ingredients.Vinacafe's 'Wake-Up' instant coffee mix contains undeclared milk allergens which pose a "risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reactions for consumers who are al-lergic to milk allergens," Hong Lee Trading Inc. said in its announcement.The recalled instant coffee mix was in distribution throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut before Hong Lee Trading began urging consumers to return the pack-ets to the place of purchase for a full refund, according to an announcement posted on the US Food and Drug Administration website.The recall was initiated after routine sampling by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Food Inspectors and a subsequent analysis by Food Labora-tory personnel revealed the presence of milk allergens in the product which had not been declared on its label.Hong Lee Trading noted, however, that no illnesses or allergic reactions involving the product have been reported.Vinacafe is a brand name of Vincafe Bien Hoa, a joint stock company located in Dong Nai Province, neighbouring HCM City.A Vincafe Bien Hoa representative told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the recall campaign involving its instant coffee is only due to a labeling error, not product qual-ity.The Vietnamese company has shipped 43,797 cardboard boxes of Wake-Up coffee to the US so far in 2017.Of those, only 100 boxes out of 4,300 shipments delivered to Hong Lee Trading were improperly labeled, the representative underlined.Vincafe Bien Hoa is reprinting the labels and plans to send them to the US to resolve the issue, he added."This is a mistake in the labeling process for the products involved and has nothing to do with their quality," the company representative said."In the worst-case scenario, if the FDA rejects our relabeling solution, we will compen-sate Hong Lee Trading with 100 new correctly labeled boxes."This is not the first time Vinacafe Bien Hoa has had its instant coffee mix recalled in North America due to mislabeling.


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In November 2014, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also asked the Vietnamese firm to recall a batch of products that failed to declare milk allergens on its labels.http://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20171005/vietnamese-instant-coffee-faces-us-re-call-over-mislabeling/41915.html

VN-Eurasian trade surges


During the first 10 months of the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eur-asian Economic Union (EAEU), total trade turnover between the sides grew 32 per cent, with exports from Vietnam to EAEU countries increasing 28 per cent.The relatively balanced growth in exports and imports shows that the VN-EAEU agreement is built on the principle of equality and transparency, said Mukai A. Kadyrkulov, Member of the Board, minister for Customs Cooperation, Eurasian Eco-nomic Commission, at an event on Thursday marking the pact's first anniversary.Dang Hoang Hai, director of the European Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), agreed that the EAEU trade agreement has strongly pro-moted trade, investment and cooperation in many fields.The VN-EAEU FTA has been a strong impetus for the development of economic and trade relations between its participants, and an important step towards a commercial partnership across the wider regions of Asean nations and the EU, said Konstantin Vnukov, Russian ambassador to Vietnam.New marketsSome businesses have found completely new markets with impressive growth, such as radio navigation equipment, the exported amount of which has increased more than 900 times from Vietnam to EAEU countries, remarked Kadyrkulov.He attributed the progress to the tariff reduction of 43 per cent for all Vietnamese goods. Over the next 10 years, the amount of duty-free imported goods from Vietnam to the EAEU market will be constantly increasing and will account for 90 per cent of the latter's unified tariff schedules.Vladimir Goshin, Belarusian Ambassador to Vietnam, said trade turnover between Vi-etnam and Belarus in the first eight months of 2017 showed a balanced bilateral ex-ports and imports volume of around $37 million. Goshin also noted that Vietnamese businesses are more active than ever in taking advantage of the preferential trade op-portunities offered by the agreement to boost their exports.Goshin said Belarus considers Vietnam an important partner to strengthen its position in Southeast Asia.The new Vietnam-Belarus automobile manufacture and assemble joint venture, the Minsk Automobile Plant in Hung Yen Province, is expected to begin operations by the end of the year, promoting cooperation to increase the localisation rate of products as well as technology transfer.Nevertheless, Hai from the European Market Department noted that according to MoIT data, the number of businesses from both sides taking advantage of the FTA is roughly 20 to 30 per cent, due to differences in language, culture, taste, consumption habits, and said he hoped that over time, such difficulties would gradually be re-solved.The conference was held at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Hanoi., with the participation of ambassadors from EAEU member states, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and other nations' chambers of commerce in Vietnam.http://bizhub.vn/news/vn-eurasian-trade-surges_289335.html

EVFTA to bring in Hungarian meats


Hungarian firms are seeking to intensify their agri-food presence in Vietnam, in re-sponse to growing demand and upcoming slashed tariffs under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.Executives of 60 Hungarian firms, including nearly 20 agri-food ones, came to Vietnam last week to hunt for investment and business opportunities in the country, which is


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expected to sign the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) with the EU next year.These agri-food firms want to take advantage of EVFTA's tariff cuts (see box for de-tails) and Vietnam's growing demand for safe agri-food products, which is rising by 15-20 per cent per year. They met with hundreds of Vietnamese partners at a Vietnam-Hungary business forum last week in Hanoi.Sandor Horvath, president and CEO of Integral Zrt, said Vietnam is a very important market to his firm, which produces and exports goose and duck liver, leg, and breast meat. "We see that Vietnam's people like these products very much, and that's our op-portunity to export products to Vietnam. First we want to establish a firm network of distributors here, and then we may think about establishing a joint venture or even building a factory in Vietnam," Horvath said.In its business plan, Integral Zrt will expand its market share in Vietnam by taking ad-vantage of tariff cuts under the EVFTA, which Hungary's government is pushing other EU nations to ratify as soon as possible.In another case, Kometa Co., Ltd Hungary's preeminent pork processor is seeking Vi-etnamese partners to distribute its pork products in Vietnam, where the firm sees a huge demand for pork consumption."Under our new business plan, Vietnam is a key market in Southeast Asia. We want to establish long-term partnerships with Vietnamese firms. EVFTA will be a very good tool for us to do this," said the firm's export director, Larissza Barakka.Kometa has a slaughtering capacity of 800,000 pigs annually and a processing capacity of more than 20,000 tonnes of pork over a wide range of cooked and matured meat products.Master Good Kft, a producer of feed, breeds, hatched chicken, broilers, and meat prod-ucts, is also exploring opportunities in Vietnam."Master Good Group is the largest broiler company in Hungary, accounting for more than one-third of Hungary's production. In Vietnam we see many supermarkets sell-ing broilers, and we want our products to be consumed in the country," said the firm's managing director, Laszlo Barany.According to the Hungarian National Trading House, Vietnam's rising demand for agri-food products and EVFTA's tariff reductions are drawing not only Hungarian firms into the country, but also those from other EU markets.A representative from the EU Delegation to Vietnam said that many EU firms stand ready to invest in Vietnam's agri-food sector once EVFTA takes effect in 2018."EVFTA is expected to help Vietnam attract more EU agri-food investment and prod-ucts thanks to tariff elimination by Vietnam for EU agri-food products," the represent-ative said.The average tariff on agricultural items will drop from the current 67.7 per cent to 31.3 per cent in the third year of EVFTA's entry into force, then to 17.9 per cent in the fifth year, 4.7 per cent in the seventh year, and down to 2.6-4.6 per cent by the 10th year.Meanwhile, the average tariff on fishery items will drop from the current 86.7 per cent to 0.4 per cent in the third year, and 0 per cent in the 10th year.Forty-two EU agri-food firms came to Vietnam recently in search of investment and business opportunities. These firms have a total revenue of euro 170 billion ($188.8 bil-lion) per year, and sought to ink multi million-euro deals to either establish joint ven-tures or distribution channels with Vietnamese enterprises. Last year, firms in Vietnam spent nearly $11.4 billion importing goods from the EU, more than $1 billion of which was for buying agri-food items, while the rest was for importing machinery, equip-ment, services, and other industrial products.http://www.vir.com.vn/evfta-to-bring-in-hungarian-meats.html

Thua Thien Hue: offshore fishing fares well


Total seafood output from both fishing and aquaculture in the central province of Thua Thien -- Hue reached 40,166 tonnes in January-September, up 15.6 percent, in-cluding 28,777 tonnes of wild catch, up 19.7 percent.


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Vice Chair of the Thuan An town People's Committee Ngo Van Du attributed the in-crease to the high-capacity fishing fleet and modern logistic system, which helps lengthen an average fishing trip to at least 10 days and preserve catch better.So far this year, the province has earmarked 13.6 billion VND (599,500 USD) and 1.6 million VND (70,928 USD) for Phu Vang and Phu Loc districts, respectively, to carry out policies to support local offshore fishermen and fish farmers.Under Decree 67/2014/ND-CP on policies for fisheries development, the province has collaborated with communal administrations and banks to help local fishermen access preferential credit, thus building and upgrading 40 vessels.Communication work has been strengthened to encourage local fishermen to repair and build high-capacity fishing steel vessels to develop offshore fishing while also contributing to protecting the nation's sea and island sovereignty.The natural resource and environment sector has focused on monitoring the sea and lagoon environment to ensure stable livelihood for fish farmers and socio-economic development in the locality.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/thua-thien-hue-offshore-fishing-fares-well/119021.vnp

Petrol price drops slightly after five hikes


The retail prices of RON 92 and E5 petrol dropped by 112 VND and 105 VND per litre, respectively, from 16:55 of October 5, according to a joint decision of the Ministries of Industry and Trade and Finance.This is the first decrease after five straight times of price rises from July 20. Since early this year, domestic retail petrol prices have experienced seven hikes and eight drops.Meanwhile, the prices of diesel and kerosene rose by 147 VND and 318 VND per litre, respectively.After the drop, the maximum price of RON 92 is 17,999 VND per litre, while that of E5 is 17,731 VND per litre, diesel 0,05S is 14,588 VND per litre, and kerosene is 13,433 VND per litre.The ministries also decided to maintain the amount of money set aside for the fund for petrol price stabilisation, as well as the fund's spending.They reported that average world petrol prices in the recent 15 days was 67.049 USD per barrel of RON 92, a slight decrease of 0.5 USD per barrel; 68.949 USD per barrel of diesel 0,05S, a rise of nearly 1 USD per barrel; and 69.088 USD per barrel of kerosene, up nearly 2 USD per barrel.Meanwhile, the pre-tax price of ethanol E100 is 13,763 VND per litre.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/petrol-price-drops-slightly-after-five-hikes/119044.vnp

New law to improve civil compensation


Vietnam's new law on State Compensation Liability is expected to create transparent mechanisms for compensating people mistreated by authorities, deputy minister of Justice Nguyen Khanh Ngoc said on Wednesday.The law was adopted by the National Assembly in June and will go into effect next year.Speaking at a Ministry of Justice meeting on preparations for implementing the law, deputy minister Ngoc said the 2017 State Compensation Liability law was expected to address shortcomings of the previous legislation adopted in 2009.Nguyen Van Bon, director of the ministry's State Compensation Department, said that under the new law, more people would be eligible for State compensation, including individuals or organisations harmed by officials in admnistrative, legal and law en-forcement proceedings, their heirs or their representatives.The law also extends the statute of limitations for initiating a lawsuit from two to three years. Compensation claims must be handled within 71 days instead of 125 days as regulated in the 2009 law.The law stipulates that negotiations must be held between the plaintiffs and the State over compensation demands. Unsuccessful negotiations can then be followed by a lawsuit.


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Some 250 claims were submitted under the 2009 law, but compensation was paid on time in only one case, whereas other claimants waited for a long time, even years. Au-thorities hope that shortening the mandatory handling of claims will alleviate this problem.Under the new law, State employees involved in mistreatment of residents must pay a sum equal to 30-50 times their monthly salary if the mistreatment is not serious enough for them to be charged with a crime. The compensation under the previous law is limited to 30 times the official's pay.During the last seven years, officials only contributed about VND676 million ($30,000), or merely 6 per cent, to the total amount the State had to compensate residents.The biggest number of compensation claims so far involve wrongdoing in judicial pro-ceedings, together with misconduct in administrative management and law enforce-ment procedures. More than VND56 billion ($2.5 million), about half the total figure the government compensated the residents, were paid out in such claims.The biggest settlement so farVND23 billion ($1 million)was paid under a November 2015 court order to Luong Ngoc Phi, wrongly convicted of tax evasion and appropri-ation of state property in 1999, who spent 15 years clearing his name.Early this year, Huynh Van Nen from Binh Thuan Province, who spent 17 years in jail after being falsely convicted of two murders in the 1990s, was offered compensation of over VND10 billion. Nen is the only man in Vietnam to have been wrongfully convict-ed of two murders.http://bizhub.vn/news/new-law-to-improve-civil-compensation_289319.html

Textile association opposes wage hike


The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) on Wednesday proposed that the regional minimum wage (covering four regions in the country) not be increased next year.A 6.5 per cent increase in the regional minimum wage for 2018 had been decided in August this year by the National Wage Council and submitted to the government for final approval.Amounting to an increase of VND180,000-230,000 (US$8-10) a month, it was said to be the lowest wage increase ever in the country.However, at a conference on the effects of wage and social insurance policies on textile enterprises in Hanoi yesterday, VITAS proposed that there be no increase in the min-imum wage in the next one or two years, since several enterprises are already strug-gling with wage increases in the last decade.In the 2007-2017 period, minimum wage in domestic enterprises increased by 21.8 per cent, leading many enterprises to reduce workers' bonuses every year and use ma-chines instead of labourers, said VITAS.Truong Van Cam, vice chair of VITAS, said that increasing the regional minimum wage does not ensure increases in workers' living standards because "wage increases often drag along increases in commodity prices and increases in the cost-of-living."Moreover, constantly increasing minimum wage reduces competition and shifts the labour structure, preventing enterprises from expanding production and robbing la-bourers of job opportunities," he said.Social insurance premiums also increase when minimum wages increase. For the Hung Yen Garments Corporation with 15,000 workers, the increase in social insurance premiums would go up by VND18 billion ($792,000) per year, said Chair Nguyen Xuan Duong."Five out of our 14 member enterprises are already struggling. It will be hard for us to stay in business if the minimum wage keeps increasing." Duong said. "In fact, several textile enterprises in our Hung Yen Province have closed down."Apart from the minimum wage, VITAS has also proposed that adjustments be made soon to address what it seems as drawbacks in Labour Code 2012, which covers over-time, severance pay, unemployment benefits, health and occupational safety and la-bour discipline.


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Boom foreseen in green construction in VN


There will be a boom in green buildings in Vietnam if the community's awareness of environmental protection improves, an expert told a symposium in HCM City Thurs-day.Green buildings are defined as those with high efficiency in the use of energy and ma-terials and not having much adverse effect on human health and the environment.Tran Khanh Trung, president of the HCM City Green Architecture Club, said: "Viet-nam now ranks 17th in Asia and 37th in the world in the number of green buildings, but the fact is the construction of such buildings has been steadily increasing, going up from 28 in 2016 to 48 this year."He listed the hurdles to green building construction in Vietnam."Low awareness of the community about how green buildings can protect the environ-ment is the biggest challenge."Misconceptions about green buildings are the next hurdle. People mistakenly think a green building must have a lot of trees and energy saving equipment, it is only about unique architectural solutions."People also think it is very difficult to get green certification and green buildings are very expensive. They are wrong."He said they cost 5 30 per cent more than normal buildings, but a very good consultant could bring it down to just 0.5 2 per cent.He himself constructed a green building for his company at 8 per cent extra cost, he said."I spent 4 per cent more for energy efficiency and fully recovered my money in three years."He invested another 3 per cent to ensure no harmful materials or equipment were used indoors, considering that an investment for his and his staff's health, he said.In Vietnam, the concept of green buildings is still relatively new to the public and is not fully understood even by those working in construction and architecture, he said.He was confident that "If the community's awareness of environmental protection im-proves, there will be a boom in green buildings."Vu Linh Quang, vice president of the club, said: "Green buildings also contribute sig-nificantly to the process of urban development by creating a sustainable living envi-ronment, attracting foreign investment and increasing tourism."Joseph Azzarello, senior staff engineer sustainability, at Kohler Company and LEED certification coach at the US Green Building Council (USGBC) said: "Buildings have a great impact on the environment and we must change them to green for environmen-tal protection."Globally, buildings account for 17 per cent of water use, 33 per cent of CO2 emissions and 40 per cent of the energy consumed, he said.The symposium attracted property developers, architects and interior design special-ists, giving industry professionals an opportunity to share and discuss problems, hear from leading experts about world trends, and promote green buildings in the country.Following the symposium, Kohler organised an LEED Green Associate training pro-gramme, and awarded attendees a certificate that is a pre-requisite for the official LEED GA certification exam.http://bizhub.vn/property/boom-foreseen-in-green-construction-in-vn_289344.html

HCM City plans major tourism boost


The HCM City People's Committee on Wednesday signed an agreement with the HCM City Tourism Association to boost the tourism sector.The agreement, valid for 2017-20, would help enhance the role of the association and facilitate the operations of tourism businesses, Tran Vinh Tuyen, deputy chair of the People's Committee, said."City authorities will have more opportunities to listen to businesses to create favour-able conditions for them to develop."The move is also part of the city's efforts to develop tourism into an economic spear-


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head, he added.The Department of Tourism works with related agencies to carry out the terms of the agreement and regularly report on the work and results to the People's Committee.Bui Ta Hoang Vu, director of the Department of Tourism, said the agreement would give a boost to tourism businesses and improve tourists' security.The department and related agencies would co-ordinate with the association for tour-ism stimulation and promotion programmes, develop tourism products, cooperate with other cities and provinces to diversify tourism products, and train human re-sources, he added.Tran Hung Viet, chair of the HCM City Tourism Association, said the city led the coun-try in the number of hotels and travel agents.The association and the department would work on concrete activities to boost tour-ism, he said.In the first nine months of the year the city received 4.2 million foreign visitors, a 16.6 per cent increase year-on-year, according to the department.Tourism revenues are estimated at VND84 trillion (US$3.7 billion).

Da Nang draws up sea-based economic development strategy


The Da Nang city People's Committee has recently approved a project on developing sea-based economy by 2025 with vision to 2030, aiming to build the central city into a maritime economic hub with explosive growth in companion with environment pro-tection and sustainable development.To carry out the project, the city will need over 19 trillion VND (835.9 million USD) for the 2017-2020 period, 13 trillion VND (571.9 million USD) for 2021-2025 and 17 trillion VND (747.9 million USD) for 2026-2030.The city targets tourism growth of 13-14 percent during 2016-2025 and 13 percent dur-ing 2026-2030, while the output of processed aquatic products for exports would in-crease by 12-13 percent per year by 2025 and 8-10 percent per year by 2030. Local ports will raise their annual throughput to 12-13 million tonnes of commodities.Along with branching out new tourism products, yacht industry and coastal tourism infrastructure, the city will focus resources on developing maritime transport.Accordingly, Tien Sa port will be reserved to serve cruise ships and Lien Chieu is set to become the major cargo port in the city. More inland container ports (ICDs) will be built to facilitate import-export activities as well as commodity transportation through the East-West Economic Corridor that links Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.The city has formed policy to support training for logistic human resources and ar-ranged experts to research marine economic development policies. Project on contain-er transportation between Tien Sa and Lien Chieu has been set up to improve speed of the boats.Regarding seafood exploitation, the city will upgrade Tho Quang fishing port to the top-grade national standard one, aiming to become one of the five fishery hubs in the country. A fleet of high-capacity composite and steel fishing vessels will be developed while equipment, machines and fishing nets will be modernised to improve product quality.Connections among fishermen, cooperatives and logistics and distribution businesses will be set up as well.The Da Nang College of Food Industry will be upgraded to university level to train high-quality human resource in seafood cultivation and processing.The city will pay due attention to enhancing management capacity for fisheries sur-veillance force, investing in information management system for fishing grounds and communication equipment for fishing vessels to ensure safety for fishermen.It also works to build a project on tuna exploitation and exports and ask Japan to sup-port local fishermen with tuna fishing techniques.State-of-the art waste water treatment will be built in Tho Quang boat shelter. The city encourages businesses to use green production technology to reduce waste and sew-age, save energy and materials as well as effectively handle pollution.


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Ninh Thuan lures investment in renewable energy


The south central coastal province of Ninh Thuan is trying to create favourable condi-tions to lure investment in developing wind and solar power towards ensuring sus-tainable development of the power sector and contributing to national energy security.So far the province has granted investment licences to 8 wind power projects with a combined capacity of 514 MW, and total capital of VND19.7 trillion (US$866.9 mil-lion). Construction work has started on four projects, namely Mui Dinh, Cong Hai 1, Trung Nam and Dam Nai.The 40 MW-Dam Nai wind power plant was connected to the national grid in Septem-ber with an initial three turbines with a combined capacity of 6MW in the first phase. The second phase will see the installation of 13 more turbines, expected to be complet-ed in October 2018, raising the plant's capacity to 40MW.Besides, the provincial People's Committee has granted approval to investment plans of three solar power plants and allowed 30 other potential investors to survey locations in the province.The locality is completing its planning for solar power development from 2016-2020 with a vision to 2030 to submit it to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for approval, thus laying the legal foundation for attracting investors, and receiving investment from the central budget for the transmission network serving renewable energy pro-duction.Incentives in terms of land, taxes and infrastructure will be offered to investors, ac-cording to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.Director of the Department Pham Dang Thanh said renewable energy is identified as an advantage to create a boost to the development of other economic sectors, adding that every investment project has been considered on both socio-economic and envi-ronment aspects.Ninh Thuan aims to increase local wind power capacity to 1,429 MW, and solar power capacity to 4,848 MW by 2030.A survey by the World Bank has found that Ninh Thuan has the greatest wind speed of the nation, averaging 7.5 metres per second for 10 months a year, an ideal condition for developing wind power. The province also has the average sunshine duration of 7.7 hours a day.http://english.vov.vn/economy/ninh-thuan-lures-investment-in-renewable-energy-359787.vov

Vietnam, Japan cooperate in countering fake goods


Vietnam and Japan co-organised a training conference on countering counterfeit prod-ucts and enforcing intellectual property rights in northern Lang Son province on Oc-tober 5.The conference was held by the Japanese Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in partnership with the general Department of Vietnam's Customs' anti-smuggling division. It aimed to share experi-ence from Japan in preventing fake goods and enforcing the intellectual property rights to Vietnam.At the event, delegates from the division were instructed in how to distinguish be-tween genuine and counterfeit items of some Japanese brands.The delegates also learned about how the Japanese government has worked to prevent fake products and process for customs clearance in Japan.According to Chief Representative of JETRO Hanoi Kitagawa Hironobu, the training conference is among JETRO's annual activities to improve capacity of law enforcement forces in Vietnam.It has been held multiple times in Hanoi and HCM City.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-japan-cooperate-in-countering-fake-goods/119032.vnp


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Regional hub for German investors


With Vietnam's significantly improved business climate and large consumer demand, Germany's investment and goods flows into the country one of their most important markets in Asia are set to grow. Thanh Dat reports.German-backed lighting supplier Osram Vietnam is busy completing a contract for a large project which will provide lighting consultancy and equipment for Sala City in HCM City's Thu Thiem New Urban Area over the next few months. Sala City is one of the biggest property projects in southern Vietnam."Aside from Sala City, Osram is supporting many key projects in Vietnam such as the Saigon Seaport, the Tan Hoang Minh building, Gold Plaza, the InterContinental resort on Phu Quoc, and many factories in Vietnam," the firm's CEO Do Huu Hau told VIR.Osram Vietnam, which currently accounts for 30 per cent of Vietnam's LED lamp mar-ket, plans to expand its LED product portfolio in the country with several hundred new product types.Osram considers Vietnam its key growth driver in Asia as the country is one of the two markets with the highest growth in sales in the region. "We continue to expect a growth rate in the double digits this year, as our growth rate has been over 20 per cent annually over the past 10 years," Hau said.A regional hotspot for investment and goodsAccording to Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, thanks to its central location in the Asia-Pacific region and a large number of agreements, Viet-nam provides good business opportunities for many German firms wishing to invest, especially in the manufacturing sector and in transport and energy infrastructure.The growth potential for exporting companies is particularly great in the fields of ma-chinery, chemical products and pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles, and electrical engi-neering.Bosch Vietnam told VIR that it wants to expand its business and investments in Viet-nam, which is one of its growth drivers in Southeast Asia. "In the fiscal year 2016, Bosch recorded growth of more than 40 per cent in Vietnam. Bosch will continue to de-velop new business opportunities and increase its market presence for all business seg-ments within the country," said Guru Mallikarjuna, newly-appointed managing director of Bosch Vietnam.In 2017, Bosch is investing $47 million in our plant in the southern province of Dong Nai, and plans to increase the capacity and competency of its research-and-develop-ment workforce."We look forward to joining hands with the local government and businesses to devel-op tailor-made solutions for smart homes and buildings, smart cities, connected mo-bility, and Industry 4.0 to improve the quality of life for city-dwellers," he said.Siemens Vietnam president and CEO Pham Thai Lai said that, as one of the fastest-growing markets in the region, Vietnam is strategically important for Siemens espe-cially given its large population. According to Lai, Vietnam also serves as a regional hub, due to a number of trade agreements between Vietnam and global markets, such as the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. These will further boost the economy and make Vietnam an even more attractive investment target in the future.In September, Vingroup and Siemens signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote technological cooperation, with both parties agreeing to consider feasible business models for cooperation in order to develop sustainable infrastructure and in-dustries in Vietnam, including the automobile industry.In early July, during prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit to Germany, nearly 300 representatives of German and Vietnamese firms participated in a German-Vietnam-ese business forum focusing on business opportunities. At the forum, 28 cooperation agreements collectively worth euro 4 billion ($4.8 billion) were signed.Vietnam's FPT Group, for instance, inked strategic cooperation deals with Siemens and BPCE International. FPT will cooperate with Siemens to utilise MindSphere, an open Internet of Things (IoT) platform based on cloud computing. The two will train some 1,000 workers in Vietnam. FPT will work with BPCE International in developing


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solutions for digital banking.Phuc met with leading German firms including Siemens, BMW, Deutsche Bank, Ta-lanx, Schaeffler, Philips Lighting, and BPCE International.The German firms expressed their wishes to cooperate with Vietnam in the areas of healthcare, high-tech agriculture, renewable energy, education and training, and smart power-saving solutions.According to these firms, Vietnam has many advantages, such as a workforce very keen on knowledge and development. Additionally, Vietnam's urbanisation and in-dustrialisation are taking off strongly and the country is envisaging a smart economy.These trends offer great opportunities for companies to widen their product offerings, especially in the areas of connected solutions for smart cities and Industry 4.0.Bayer Healthcare Pharma chief financial officer Julio Triana said the firm has been op-erating in Vietnam for 20 years and hopes to make a stronger investment in healthcare and agriculture.Philips Lighting DACH's CEO Karsten Vierke affirmed his company's wish to invest in human resources training and developing smart cities using its latest technology, which can reduce electricity usage by up to 65 per cent.Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank expressed its wish to expand investment in the finance and stock sectors in Vietnam.In July, many German packaging and printing firms came to Vietnam in search of in-vestment and business opportunities, especially amid the country's rising demand for consumer goods and in the pharmaceutical and food sectors. The firms include CGS, Heidelberg, HP, KBA, Kurz, and One Vision.In May, executives from 20 firms in Germany came to Vietnam seeking investment op-portunities in the sectors of high-tech wastewater treatment, air treatment, and envi-ronmental pollution reduction technology.Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment reported that, as of August 20, Germa-ny had 288 valid investment projects in Vietnam, registered at nearly $1.7 billion. Ger-man investments in Vietnam can be found in many sectors, including automobile production, energy, and machinery.Strong confidenceDo Huu Hau from Osram Vietnam said that his firm "has great expectations for Viet-nam's economic prospects and investment climate, which are significantly improv-ing"."Next year, Osram will continue implementing many key lighting projects in Vietnam, such as the VietinBank tower in Hanoi, and Tam Truc Temple the biggest one in Asia in the northern province of Ha Nam," Hau said.Meanwhile, according to Bosch Vietnam, Vietnam is experiencing a robust urbanisa-tion and industrialisation, with a positive outlook towards a smart economy. "This will help us offer our customers and partners connected cross-domain solutions from a sin-gle source. And we are willing to work closely with them," said Bosch Vietnam's Guru Mallikarjuna.In a bid to facilitate German investment and trade flow into Vietnam, Germany's Baden-Wurttemberg state, the GDP of which hit $552 billion in 2015, established a rep-resentative office in Vietnam in July. Located in HCM City, the office provides advice to firms about the market, business, and investment environment in Vietnam. It also assists Baden-Wurttemberg businesses in finding partners and exploring Vietnam's in-vestment environment.According to the AHK World Business Outlook survey released last year by German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam (GIC/AHK Vietnam), more than half of the Ger-man firms surveyed are upbeat about Vietnam's economic prospects. About 60 per cent expect a good business performance this year, while 58 per cent perceive their business outlook as "positive". Some 54 per cent are considering an increase in their in-vestment in Vietnam."German enterprises are now seeking investment opportunities and further invest-ment in Vietnam, because they see Vietnam as an attractive destination in terms of en-


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SVietnam finance & business 6 October 2017

couragement by the country's government and other location advantages," said GIC/AHK Vietnam's chief representative Marko Walde.http://www.vir.com.vn/regional-hub-for-german-investors.html

BUSINESS NEWSBusiness Briefs 06 October, 2017

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA |

* Saigon Thuong Tin Real Estate Company (SCR) has decided to cooperate with CJ Cau Tre Food Joint Stock Company to develop a project at the premises of CJ Cau Tre head-quarters in HCM City's Tan Phu District. Both sides will establish Thuong Tin-CJ Cau Tre Co Ltd with a chartered capital ofVND700 billion, in which SCR owns a 74 percent holding.* Tan Tao University has registered to buy 10 million shares of Tan Tao Investment and Industry Corporation (ITA) to raise its ownership from 3.9 percent to 4.95%. If the transaction is done, the investor will become the fourth largest shareholder at ITA after Tan Tao Group with a 14.7 percent stake, Tan Tao University Joint Stock Company with 7 percent and chairwoman Dang Thi Hoang Yen with 5.79%.* HCD Investment Producing and Trading Company (HCD) will offer 12.8 million shares to existing shareholders and 657,000 shares to employees at VND 1 0,000 each from now to December. HCD estimates to raise VND 135 billion from the issuance, and has plans to spend VND 100 billion building a new factory and VND35 billion supple-menting its working capital.* The State Capital Investment Corporation failed to offload 5.12 million shares of An Giang Import-Export Company (AGM) during the registered period between August 30 and September 28 as no transactions were made. The share volume accounts for more than 28 percent ofchartered capital of AGM. Earlier, the investor planned to auc-tion the shares at the starting price ofVND19,400 each.* VNECO 1 Electricity Construction Company (VEl) plans to sell three million shares to strategic shareholders via a private placement to double its chartered capital to VND60 billion. VEl will offer the shares to two enterprises and three individuals atVNDlO,OOO each. Of the proceeds, the firm will spend VNDlO billion investing in projects in southern and central provinces, VND14 billion for a project in cooperation with foreign partners and VND6 billion upgrading facilities.* An Phat Securities Company (APG) is seeking approval from the State Securities Commission to issue 20.5 million shares at VND lO,OOO each at the end of this year, thus spurring its capital from VND135 billion to VND340 billion. The shares are not transferable within one year from the issuance date.

VN shares fall on intraday profit-taking


Shares retreated on the HCM Stock Exchange on Thursday as large-cap stocks were brought down by late profit taking, signaling poor investor sentiment.The benchmark VN Index was down 0.05 per cent to close at 805.23 points as investors locked in their stock portfolios after the index reached a high of 810.54 points during the day.The benchmark index added nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday to recover from its pre-vious three-day decline of 0.84 per cent.The market breadth was negative with 141 losing stocks, 128 gaining ones and 53 stocks ending unchanged.Pressure from investors' profit-taking pushed market trading liquidity up from Wednesday by a quarter in volume and 36.7 per cent in value to more than 148.4 mil-lion shares and VND3.38 trillion (US$150.2 million).Large-cap stocks underperformed with 17 of the top 30 companies by market capital-isation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket declining.The VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the top 30 listed companies, rose 0.21 per cent to 797.42 points, narrowing its gain from the intraday high of 801.36 points.PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), steel producers Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG), logistics firm Gemadept (GMD), and property developer Kinh Bac City Devel-


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opment Holding (KBC) were among the worst decliners.GAS closed down 2.2 per cent after growing as much as 0.3 per cent, HPG fell 2.1 per cent and hitting its highest intra-session growth rate of 0.6 per cent.Other stocks such as HSG, GMD and KBC performed in a similar manner, ending the day down between 1.1 per cent and 1.8 per cent.Bank stocks on the southern bourse returned to negative territory after a positive ses-sion that pulled the market up on Wednesday.According to analysts at BIDV Securities Co (BSC), the benchmark VN Index stepped back from a strong gain as investors looked for profits after local stocks performed quite well in the previous session."The level of 810 points will remain a tough short-term challenge for the VN Index," the brokerage said in its daily report, adding that the benchmark could go down fur-ther to test the supportive level of 800 points.On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.44 per cent to end at 106.96 points, reversing from its 0.8 per cent gain on Wednesday. Nearly 47.3 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth more than VND557 billion.http://bizhub.vn/markets/vn-shares-fall-on-intraday-profit-taking_289341.html

VN Index & HNX-Index lose ground


Mixed day on Vietnam's stock market on October 5.The VN Index and the HNX-Index both closed down on October 5.On HSX, the VN Index fell 0.43 points (0.05 per cent) while the VN30-Index increased 1.66 points (0.21 per cent).On HNX, the HNX-Index lost 0.47 points (0.44 per cent) and the HNX30-Index 1.26 points (0.64 per cent), while the UPCoM-Index gained 0.12 points (0.23 per cent).Liquidity on HSX reached VND3 trillion ($130.4 million), 35 per cent higher than yes-terday, and on HNX was VND545.7 billion ($23.7 million), 40 per cent higher.The VN Index opened at 806.56 points and rose to 808.51 points before ending the morning at 808.19 points. It then closed the day at 802.23 points.In food and beverages, VCF increased 1 per cent and VNM 0.3 per cent, while BBC lost 2.6 per cent and KDC 0.4 per cent. TAC and TLG closed at their opening price.In banking, MSN increased 4.9 per cent, SSI 1.8 per cent, and CTG 0.5 per cent, while EIB lost 1.6 per cent, MBB 1.3 per cent, STB 0.8 per cent, BID 0.7 per cent, BVH 0.6 per cent, VCB 0.3 per cent, and VPB 0.1 per cent. VCI closed at its opening price.In energy, NT2 rose 4.9 per cent and PLX 1.7 per cent, while GAS lost 2.2 per cent, PGD 1.5 per cent, and PPC 0.5 per cent. PVT and PVD closed at their opening price.In construction and real estate, QCG gained 4.1 per cent, ITA 2.3 per cent, VIC 1.3 per cent, ROS and HT1 0.7 per cent, and REE and FLC 0.1 per cent. DXG and CTD lost 1 per cent as NVL closed at its opening price.The Top 5 shares bought by foreign investors were SBT (VND12.3 billion ($534,782)), CTD (VND10.6 billion ($460,869)), VIC (VND10.2 billion ($443,478)), VNM (VND6.3 billion ($273,913)), and SCR (VND5.6 billion ($243,478)).On HSX, CII was the largest net sold share, with VND236.7 billion ($10.3 million), fol-lowed by GAS (VND21.6 billion ($939,130)), VCB (VND16.9 billion ($734,782)), VJC (VND15.8 billion ($686,956)), and KBC (VND10.7 billion ($465,217)).PVS was the largest net sold share on HNX, with VND15.8 billion ($686,956), followed by HDA (VND1 billion ($43,378)), CSC (VND832.5 million ($36,195)), TNG (VND525.8 million ($22,860)), and APS (VND399.6 million ($17,373)).On UPCoM, foreign investors bought 1,520,890 shares worth VND33.87 billion ($1.47 million).They net sold on HSX by VND279.27 billion ($12.1 million) and on HNX by VND17.31 billion ($752,608).http://vneconomictimes.com/article/banking-finance/467rrjgw-vn-index-hnx-index-lose-ground


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Nearly 1 billion additional shares listed on UpCoM


The Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) welcomed the listing of nearly one billion shares of four companies on October 5. The share value registered for trading is equal to VND11.8 trillion (US$518 billion).This was the highest number of shares registered for listing on UPCOM in a single day so far, according to stock market news website tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.Of the four companies, Lien Viet Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (LienVietPost-Bank) had the largest number of registered shares with 646 million to be listed.The shares were traded at the reference price of VND14,800 per share under the code LPB.In July, LienVietPostBank was given approval by the State Bank of Vietnam to raise capital to VND7.5 trillion through the issuance of shares.The bank has decided to limit the maximum ownership of foreign investors at 5 per cent of charter capital.As of July 17, the bank's largest shareholder was the Vietnam Post Corporation, hold-ing 12.54 per cent of the company's charter capital.In 2016, the post-tax profit of LienVietPostBank reached VND1 trillion, up 103 per cent year-on-year. In the first six months of 2017, its post-tax profit totalled VND706.5 bil-lion.Another company also listed on the UPCOM on the same day was Hua Na Hydropow-er JSC, the owner of the Hua Na Hydroelectric Power Plant in the central province of Nghe An.With a total investment of VND7.1 trillion, the plant has a design capacity of 180MW and an average annual power output of 716.7 million Kwh.Hua Na Hydropower JSC has registered to list 225.6 million shares on the UpCOM with the code HNA. Reference price on the first trading day was VND10,000 per share.The company was licensed for operation by the Department of Planning and Invest-ment of Nghe An Province in May 2007. It was established by the Vietnam Machinery Installation Corporation (LILAMA) and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) with initial chartered capital of VND1.2 trillion. In May 2015, the company increased its chartered capital to more than VND2.2 trillion.Since July 25 this year, Hua Na Hydropower JSC's two largest shareholders, who hold 89.25 per cent of charter capital, were PetroVietnam Power Corporation and North Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank. The co-founder LILAMA owned more than 8.72 million shares, equal to 3.8 per cent of charter capital.In the first six months of 2017, the company gained VND207.5 billion in revenue, up slightly compared to 2016's figure of VND202 billion. During the period, the company recorded a loss of more than VND87 billion, bringing total accumulated losses to more than VND178 billion.Also on October 5, nearly 33 million THN shares of Thanh Hoa Water Supply JSC were also listed on UPCOM at the reference price of VND10,000 per share.In the first half of 2017, the company earned nearly VND136 billion in revenue and nearly VND6.3 billion in post-tax profit.The fourth company having shares listed on UPCOM was Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park Joint Stock Company, with 60 million shares under the code HPI and being traded at the reference price of VND16,000 per share.HPI is known as the sixth biggest industrial park operator in Vietnam after Becamex, VRG, IDICO, Sonadezi and VID Group.In the first half of 2017, HPI earned a profit of VND38.1 billion, up nearly six times compared to the same period last year.HPI's existing shareholders include Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Company Limit-ed and Tuan Loc Investment Construction JSC, who respectively hold 40.54 per cent and 33.33 per cent of the company's charter capital.http://bizhub.vn/markets/nearly-1 billion-additional-shares-listed-on-upcom_289338.html


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IDICO sells out at IPO 06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIR

Foreign investors acquired almost all offered shares of Vietnam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (IDICO) at its initial public offering (IPO) this morning.Notably, foreign investors succeeded on acquiring 41.35 million out of 55.3 million of-fered shares, equaling 74.8 per cent of the offered shares.IDICO earned VND1.32 trillion ($57.98 million) on the IPO, selling 55.3 million offered shares at the average buying price of VND23,940 ($1.05) apiece. The lowest winning bid was VND23,200 ($1.02) and the highest VND28,600 ($1.26).The event attracted the participation of 582 domestic individuals, 25 domestic organi-sations, and 40 international organisations, and nine individual foreigners, with the to-tal registered share volume of 269.82 million, five times higher than the offered figure.Along with the shares put on sale at its IPO, IDICO will put another 45 per cent stake, equalling 135 million shares, on sale to strategic investors. After the sales, the govern-ment will also offload its 36 per cent controlling stake in IDICO after December 31, 2018.Previously, at the roadshow to introduce investment opportunities in IDICO organ-ised on September 21, IDICO general director Nguyen Van Dat announced listing the company on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) after 90 days of its IPO.Being considered one of the "industrial park typhoons" of Vietnam, IDICO's IPO gar-nered attention from both domestic and foreign investors. Besides, the race to become a strategic investor of IDICO has been heating up due to the entrance of heavyweights.Dat stated at the earlier road show that 12 investors expressed their interest in becom-ing strategic investors of IDICO.According to newswire Diendandoanhnghiep, three of these 12 investors, namely Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corporation, Bitexco Group, and SSG Group, al-ready submitted the deposit.IDICO operates in three major fields. First is investing and trading in technical infra-structure in industrial parks, the second is manufacturing and trading power, and the last one is real estate. One of the important criteria in selecting strategic investors is that investors must have experience in at least one of these sectors.The race is quite tight because each enterprise has different strengths in different sec-tors.Notably, in the industrial park sector, KBC is considered a heavyweight as it is one of their core sectors of operation. With 14 years of experience in this sector, KBC manages 5,154 hectares of land to develop IPs, making up 6 per cent of the country total. Mean-while, IDICO currently holds 3,271ha of land, but the occupancy rate in IDICO's IPs is quite low, thus the cooperation with KBC will help IDICO to improve the occupancy rate in IPs thanks to KBC's management experience.Regarding the power sector, Bitexco is far ahead the competition. Bitexco has invested in 10 hydropower plants and runs 18 hydropower plants across the country with a to-tal capacity of 1,000MW.Regarding the real estate sector, all three enterprises regard it as one sector of the core operations, with all of them being well-known across the real estate industry, boasting of large-scale projects. SSG has Saigon Pearl, Pearl Plaza, Bitexco with Bitexco Finan-cial Tower, The Manor, JW Marriot Hotel, while and KBC has large-scale infrastruc-ture projects in operation.As of June 30, 2017, IDICO owned an equity of VND2.85 trillion ($125.2 million). It tar-gets to reach the average annual growth of 15 per cent in revenue and profit within the next three years. In the 2018-2019 period, IDICO expects to earn VND15.57 trillion ($683.9 million) in revenue and VND669 billion ($29.4 million) in pre-tax profit.http://www.vir.com.vn/idico-sells-out-at-ipo.html

Strategic investors hold kedy to IDICO's future


Vietnam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (IDICO) sold its entire offering of more than 55.3 million shares in an initial public offering at


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HCM Stock Exchange on Thursday.IDICO auctioned 55.3 million shares, equivalent to 18.44 per cent of its charter capital, at the initial price of VND18,000 (US$0.79) per share. A total of 656 investors partici-pated in the auction. Total bidding amounted was 269.3 million shares, five times high-er than the total offering.All the shares were sold at an average of VND23,940 per share.Foreign investors purchased 41.35 million, equal to 75 per cent of total shares.IDICO has charter capital of VND3 trillion ($132.2 million), equivalent to 300 million shares. Under the equitisation plan, the State will retain a 36 per cent stake in IDICO while the amount sold to the public amounted to 55.3 million shares, or 18.44 per cent of its capital.Another 135 million shares, or a 45 per cent stake, will be offered to strategic investors.The government plans to divest entirely from IDICO by the end of 2018.In the lead-up to the sale, IDICO CEO Nguyen Van Dat said 12 investors had ex-pressed interest in becoming strategic partners. Kinh Bac City Development Share Holding Corporation, Bitexco Group and SSG Corporation have submitted documents and made deposits.IDICO's representative said all three companies could become strategic partners if to-tal bidding was lower than a 45 per cent stake. If the total bidding is higher than 45 per cent, the company will organise an auction with the initial price being set higher than the average winning price in the IPO.The most important criterion for selecting strategic investors is that investors must have experience in at least one of the three core business lines of IDICO, including con-struction of technical infrastructure in industrial zones and transport; electricity pro-duction and trading; and construction and development of urban and residential areas.Prospective investors must have total assets of at least VND2.5 trillion and owner's eq-uity of at least VND1.5 trillion. They must have enough financial capacity to buy at least 15 per cent of IDICO's charter capital.IDICO's representative said the company's next development strategy would depend much on its strategic partners.http://bizhub.vn/markets/strategic-investors-hold-kedy-to-idicos-future_289342.html

Rong Viet Securities' 9M pre-tax profit up 86.3pct


Corporation records handsome results in revenue during first nine months.The Rong Viet Securities Corporation has released its business results for the first nine months of the year, revealing pre-tax profit of over VND100 billion ($4.4 million), up 86.33 per cent year-on-year.Net revenue in the first nine months increased 47.16 per cent year-on-year, of which brokerage revenue increased by more than 75.3 per cent, securities underwriting 94.13 per cent, self-trading 28.73 per cent, and margin trading 50.03 per cent.In the third quarter, in addition to upgrading its infrastructure, Rong Viet also contin-ued to improve its online services with many integrated features to provide conven-ience and cost savings for investors.In addition to raising capital, Rong Viet will continue to optimise its service system, upgrade infrastructure and technology, and improve its human resources to expand its brokerage market share, which represent its development orientation.Rong Viet is one of the leading securities firms in Vietnam, operating in all securities-related businesses: brokerage, investment and financial advisory, underwriting, secu-rities deposit, and propriety trading.The CEO of the KIDO Group Corporation (KDC), Tran Le Nguyen, is Chair of the Board at Rong Viet. He and his brother are founders of the food company, KIDO Cor-poration, which was formerly known as the Kinh Do Group.Rong Viet officially transferred from the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HSX) on July 19.


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VNPT sets 2019 target for IPO


Vietnam's leading state-owned telco is set to make its initial public offering and com-plete its equitisation in 2019.This was confirmed by Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) chair Tran Manh Hung in a talk with VIR.The telco company has founded a specialised committee to work on the group's equi-tisation plan, and required member units to make necessary preparations towards re-alising the move. The group just submitted its equitisation plan to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), which will then report to the prime minister.VNPT will engage in conducting initial public offering (IPO) procedures after getting the government's approval. A highlight of its shakeup plan is the proposal to establish a new corporation to work on technological aspects.The new unit is designated to not only produce hardware, but also software to handle important tasks. It would be the fourth member of VNPT, with its three existing cor-porations VNPT VinaPhone, VNPT Net, and VNPT Media established following the group's restructuring two years ago.VNPT's ICT capacity has developed by leaps and bounds in the past two years. The group has developed and supplied diverse software applications to the government and its ministries and sectors, provided smart city software for many localities, and even created solutions and applications for healthcare and education.The telco giant currently holds 50 per cent market shares in many ICT services.Apart from ICT services, VNPT has spent big on research and development, striving to roll out products carrying its brand, such as handsets, the set-top box MyTV, mod-ern internet services, and high-speed Wifi.These products have helped reduce VNPT's reliance on foreign partners, and given the firm ICT products to roll out under a Vietnamese brand for export to global markets.The proposal on establishing the new corporation has received an in-principle approv-al from the MIC.In addition, the equitisation plan proposes restructuring the current VNPT global unit (VNPT-I). Its trading segment will be transferred to its member firm VinaPhone, while VNPT-I will focus on global operations."Much work remains to be done on the path to equitisation, such as hiring consultants, fixing the enterprise value, and selecting strategic partners. In respect to consultants, our top choice is well-respected foreign units," said Hung. "Though impediments per-sist with our equitisation plan, like waiting for a guiding decree on the land issue and handling costs related to hiring foreign consultants, we still commit to completing all necessary procedures in 2018 and making our IPO in 2019."In its equitisation plan, VNPT also asks for permission to retain 20 per cent of Mobi-Fone's chartered capital when MobiFonea former chief member firm of VNPT and one of the top players in the local telco business makes its IPO next year.Hung said that when MobiFone split from VNPT in August 2014, this made a dent in the latter's chartered capital which has yet to be filled.In a working session with French bank BNP Paribas this May, deputy minister of In-formation and Communications Pham Hong Hai said that when equitising VNPT and MobiFone, the Vietnamese government doesn't take optimising revenue as the top tar-get. The ultimate target instead is sustainable operation in the post-equitisation period.http://www.vir.com.vn/vnpt-sets-2019-target-for-ipo.html

PV Power increases shares sold to public


PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) will sell 20 per cent of its shares at its initial public offering (IPO) in late November or early December, Vietnam News Agen-cy reported on Wednesday.PV Power general director Nguyen Xuan Hoa said the proportion of shares sold to the public during the IPO will be 20 per cent, instead of 4-5 per cent as previously an-nounced.This increase in the number of shares is because many investors are interested in ener-


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gy stocks and it is also in line with the stance of the State steering committee on corpo-rate equitisation.Under the PV Power's equitisation plan submitted to the government on August 15, PV Power's business operation is not listed in the industries of which the State must have controlling stake. Thus, from now until 2018, the State will reduce its ownership from 100 per cent to 51 per cent.Specifically, 28.882 per cent of the shares will be sold to strategic investors, 20 per cent will be publicly traded through the IPO and 0.118 per cent will be issued to employees.According to Hoa, if PV Power's equitisation plan is approved by the prime minister in October, PV Power will quickly launch an IPO in late November or early December. The sale of PV Power shares to strategic investors will also be made following the IPO's success.Hoa added that PV Power held a roadshow to introduce the company's potential to in-vestors ahead of the IPO, which included the participation of many domestic and for-eign financial institutions and funds such as Dragon Capital, Standard Chartered, VietFund AM and Mirae Assets Global Investments, as well as Duxton, Phatra Capital and City Pacific.PV Power is the second-largest electricity producer in Vietnam after Electricity of Vi-etnam. PV Power is managing plants with total capacity of 4,208MW. Last year, the company's plants generated 21 billion kWh of electricity output.http://bizhub.vn/markets/pv-power-increases-shares-sold-to-public_289336.html

More people choose Vietnamese goods


More than 300 booths from 200 domestic names received a warm response from con-sumers during the 'Vietnamese give priority to Vietnamese goods' trade fair held re-cently in Hanoi."The designs and quality of Vietnamese goods have improved, many products have high quality, especially agricultural products which are well-known internationally," said Hoang Quang Huy, a visitor to the trade fair.Favourable merchandises include apparel, home appliances and food stuffs. Accord-ing to enterprises, the three key factors consumers consider when purchasing an item include design, quality and price."There are plenty of Chinese products entering Vietnam with competitive prices and good designs," Phung Van Binh from Hanoi Rubber Joint Stock Company said. "How-ever, our company has promoted its brand through communications channels and trade fairs such as the 'Vietnamese give priority to Vietnamese goods' campaign in every location," he added.Surveys have shown the ratio of Vietnamese goods being favoured domestically has climbed rapidly year after year and has accounted the majority in many major distri-bution channels.According to deputy Head of Domestic Market Department under the Ministry of In-dustry and Trade Le Viet Nga, before the campaign launched, only 23 percent of con-sumers gave priority to Vietnamese goods.After six years of implementation, the figure increased to more than 70 percent. Many Vietnamese goods have satisfied the world's most demanding markets such as the EU, Japan and the US.To maintain and promote the campaign, agencies will strengthen dissemination activ-ities while manufacturing and supply enterprises will be advised to diversify product designs, increase quality and lower prices.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/more-people-choose-vietnamese-goods/119063.vnp

Poor infrastructure, services hamper growth of sea travel


Vietnam has seen a significant increase in the number of foreign tourists travelling to the country by sea but poor infrastructure and a lack of high-quality services for cruise tourism may hinder growth.Vietnam welcomed nearly 285,000 sea travellers last year, an increase of 67.7 percent


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from 2015. The increase left airline travel behind, which posted growth of 31.7 percent in 2016, while travel by land has been steadily declining in recent years.According to Saigontourist CEO Vo Anh Tai, the country has a great outlook for sea travel since it is blessed with a long coastline and beautiful beaches.However, there is no terminal exclusively for cruise passengers in Vietnam; and in fact, they had to land at cargo terminals, he said, adding that a lack of such basic services has caused many international cruises to hesitate to sail to the country.The World Tourism Organisation forecast strong growth for Asian sea travel by 2020, enjoying revenue of 30-40 percent higher than travel by air and by land, said director general of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Van Tuan.Though Vietnam has become a more appealing destination for cruise holidaymakers over the past few years, the rise in the visitor number is till below the country's poten-tial, Tuan noted.To lure more travellers, the sector should continue improving infrastructure, services and policies in the field.Vietnam must build modern, convenient passenger ports to serve large cruises while domestic tour operators need to enhance their services as cruise travellers are often ready to spend a lot of money, President of Vietnam Tourism Association Nguyen Huu Tho urged. New tourism products, featuring unique local products, should also be introduced, he added.Echoing's Tho view, Tuan suggested the industry design a wider range of tours and services for cruisers in places where they land.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/poor-infrastructure-services-hamper-growth-of-sea-travel/119020.vnp

High-end hotels see drop in occupancy rate as 2-, 3-star hotel supply increases


While the number of travellers to Vietnam has been increasing rapidly, the number of guests staying at high-end hotels has not risen.The number of foreign travellers to Vietnam increased from 7.9 million in 2015 to 10 million in 2016. In the first eight months of the year alone, Vietnam received 1.2 million foreign travellers, an increase of 35.1 percent compared with the same period last year.In principle, the increase in the number of travellers will have direct impact on accom-modation services. However, high-end hotels have not felt the impact.A report from Grant Thornton released in July showed that foreign travellers to Viet-nam tend to stay at 3-star hotels rather than luxury ones.In 2016, the number of foreign travellers to Vietnam increased by 26 percent. However, many of them did not stay at luxury hotels as they had many choices for 2-3 star hotel rooms.Tao Van Nghe, president of Odyssea Hospital, which runs the Liberty hotel chain, lux-ury hotels also have to share their customers with serviced apartments as well.Therefore, despite the higher number of travellers, the occupancy rate has decreased and room rates increased at luxury hotels.Grant Thornton found that the average room rate at 4-star hotels was $75/room/night in 2016, 3.8 percent higher than in 2015, but still lower than the $87.2 rate in 2014.As for 5-star hotels, the room rate was $104.4 on average, lower than the 2015 $106.8 rate and 2014's $110.1.2016 was the year that marked the recovery of the hotel sector with improvement in the high-end hotel capacity.However, as the supply of high-end hotel rooms is expected to increase significantly, the competition among high-end hotels will be fierce. More than 90 percent of polled 5-star hotels said the new supply was their major concern.Hanoi and HCM City are the main sources of high-end hotels. HCM City is expected to have 3,500 more rooms from 13 hotels developed by private investors in the next three years, and nine of them are luxury hotels.In Hanoi, according to JLL, about 3,000 rooms at 12 hotels will join the market, most of which will be in the high-end market segment.


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Analysts noted that Samsung has been a big client of high-end hotels in Hanoi. Tony Chisholm from Accor Hotels in Vietnam said Samsung sometimes orders 3,000-4,000 rooms at the same time.Samsung may think of building hotels in Vietnam as it did in other markets, adding even more rooms to the supply.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/187333/high-end-hotels-see-drop-in-occu-pancy-rate-as-2---3-star-hotel-supply-increases.html

Vietnamese smart cities start with infrastructure


Vietnam is pursuing sustainable development in the wave of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with a focus laid on creating smart cities.But how can such cities become smart, resilient, and more liveable? Siemens Vietnam's president and CEO Pham Thai Lai spoke to VIR's Thanh Tung about the path Vietnam should take to realise its dreams.Construction of smart cities has become a big global trend in recent years. You have been living in Vietnam for five years. What smart city solutions do you think Vietnam should introduce into its socio-economic development plan?Today, Vietnam is faced with major urbanisation, which poses great challenges to the key basic infrastructure of cities like Hanoi, HCM City, Danang, and Hai Phong. City mayors and planners are challenged to provide sustainable city infrastructure such as transportation, energy, construction, healthcare, water, and much more in order to make their cities attractive, liveable, and also more competitive.Transportation, for example, is a key part of urban infrastructure, since people in cities want to move efficiently from A to B.This can be achieved by widely deploying public transportation systems such as metro lines or BRT systems, as well as implementing intelligent traffic management systems to regulate and optimise the traffic flows in the city.A smart integration of these systems can provide convenient services to the people. For example, it could be possible to advise inhabitants to use the metro due to dense traffic or congested roads in real time.Smart technologies can also help to optimise existing infrastructure. For example, the Munich metro system was implemented in the early 1970s, to carry around 250,000 passengers per day.The same system is now capable of transporting around 800,000 passengers per day. This was made possible with smart automation and signalling technologies that allow a higher flow of trains per hour without having to build extra tunnels or tracks.For Vietnam, it is of vital importance to start implementing these basic infrastructure innovations in a smart way.What are the main emerging trends in the way cities are adopting smart urban tech-nologies? Besides developing a good transportation network, what should Vietnam do to create its smart cities?There are several steps needed to build intelligent and smart city infrastructure. As mentioned above, the first step is to start deploying basic infrastructure like metros or traffic management systems.The second step would be to automate these systems or make them more intelligent, for higher efficiency and reliability. Examples include driverless trains and dynamic tolling or congestion charging systems.The third step would be deploying Industry 4.0 technologies supported by cutting-edge ICT technologies to interconnect the various mobility systems and services in or-der to make them fully integrated and intelligent.This can be done by using the Industry 4.0 platform called Mindsphere, which we are currently rolling out commercially into the market. Mindsphere interconnects individ-ual systems, analyses their data, and makes it possible to provide individual services to travellers, for example advising people to use their own cars, the metro, or car shar-ing services, depending on the traffic situation and the time budget.One of the biggest challenges impeding Vietnam's path to building smart cities is cli-


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mate change. What is your view about this? How can Siemens support Vietnam in this regard?Besides being one of the most populous countries in the world, Vietnam is also one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. It has a large amount of land area at or even below sea level. Furthermore, research reveals that about 80 per cent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are generated in cities. As Vietnam has grown and is still growing rapidly, the energy demand is enormous and growing by around 12 per cent every year. This has a negative impact on the country's CO2 emissions. With intelligent building management systems from Siemens, energy consumption can be reduced sig-nificantly up to 30 per cent as proven at the iconic Taipei 101 tower in Taiwan. Today, hundreds of these systems are implemented in commercial buildings like the German House in HCM City, in residential buildings, and resorts.Our highly efficient gas turbines are responsible for the most efficient power plant in Vietnam helping to reduce CO2 emissions by nearly five million tonnes per year com-pared to the world average. Our power transmission technology and smart grids help to minimise the loss of transmitted power over long distances, due to the centralised power generation structure in Vietnam.The Fourth Industrial Revolution promises the application of digital technologies. How crucial will these technologies be for our lives in smart cities?The use of Big Data, machine-to-machine learning, analytics, and automation is chang-ing the world of infrastructure. The Internet has arrived in the industrial sector. It is not a matter of "How", but rather "When" it will fully emerge in our daily lives and so-cio-economic systems. Vietnam will follow this trend sooner or later.Siemens has acquired knowledge in many sectors. As mentioned above, our Industry 4.0 platform Mindsphere will play a central role in interconnecting and analysing Big Data. Digital technologies are integrated into urban planning from the very start. Thus, cities benefit immediately by reducing congestion, improving air quality, and increas-ing energy reliability. This will help to improve the quality of life.What challenges will Vietnam face in developing smart cities?Currently, the basic infrastructure in Vietnam is weak and insufficient to meet the de-mands of the rising population, urbanisation, and the ceconomic growth of the coun-try. At the same time, the requirements for each city are different. The needs of Hanoi are different than those of Can Tho or HCM City or Hai Phong. As such, it is important for each city to set individual priorities and develop their own master plan that reflects their key needs.The good thing is that technologies and modern solutions are available to support the implementation of such a master plan. There is no need to wait for technology to catch up, but rather an urgent need to set the right priorities and rigorously execute the plan.We are working with different cities in Vietnam to contribute with the experience we have gained in more than 200 countries all over the world. We are grateful for the op-portunity to help make Vietnamese cities smarter and therefore more sustainable and liveable.You said that weak road infrastructure remains a big headache for authorities. So what can Siemens offer to Vietnam to solve this?We are working with the Ministry of Transport and different city governments to make transportation more efficient by implementing intelligent traffic lights and traf-fic management systems to regulate the flow of traffic.We believe that a widely-deployed public transportation system will be the key factor to making cities more liveable and more competitive.Our metro solutions are available to support cities such as Hanoi and HCM City in do-ing this. Further down the road, driverless trains, driver assistance systems, or e-tick-eting systems will make commuting more convenient for the urban population. http://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnamese-smart-cities-start-with-infrastructure-359758.vov


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Aviation authority investigate customer data leak

06/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

The director of Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam Dinh Viet Thang said they would form inspection teams to probe into the selling of passenger data at local airports.After receiving feedback from the public and directives from the Ministry of Trans-port, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam asked the airlines to report on cases where many passengers were constantly bothered by transportation firms. Thang went on to say that they would set up inspection teams to deal with the case.Many passengers, especially passengers at Cam Ranh Airport in Khanh Hoa Province, have received calls from different firms offering them transportation services after they bought the tickets or arrived at the airports.Linh, a local from Hanoi, said, "I definitely didn't call for a taxi or booked any service. But once the plane landed and the phone was turned on, I had offers."Chung from Hanoi also expressed his frustration. He said, "I only bought tickets from the airlines' agencies or online but why did the transportation firms know my num-bers? Obviously, my information was leaked by the airlines."Nguyen Huy Duong, deputy director of Noi Bai International Airport said the respon-sibility for passenger data security was on the airlines.The airlines denied leaking the information. According to Vietjet Air, the ground serv-ice employees or ticket sellers also had access to the information and the airlines had strict punishments for violators.Vo Cuong, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, said they had asked the airlines to recheck personal data security. Cuong also wanted help from the police because of the complication of the case and lack of technology."The airlines said they hadn't found the cause of the leak. Vietnam Airlines asked for an investigation from the Ministry of Public Security," Cuong said.The Ministry of Transport asked the Civil Aviation Authority to investigate the case on October 3.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/017004/53132/aviation-authority-investigate-customer-data-leak.html

Japanese car chair factory launched


Japan's Ohtsuka Sangyo Material Vietnam Company Limited officially launched its $4.4 million car chair components factory in Ha Nam's Dong Van III Industrial Park on October 5.The factory specialises in manufacturing, producing and assembling seat pads and seat trim covers for cars. The plant is expected to manufacture six million products per year and to provide some 200 jobs.Otsuka Keiichiro, president of Ohtsuka Sangyo Material Japan Company Limited, said the company has a history of operating over 30 years in the automotive auxiliary field and currently holds 70 per cent of the market share in Japan. The prroducts made in Vietnam will be exported to Japan and North America.Nguyen Xuan Dong, chair of the Provincial People's Committee, asked the firm to comply with Vietnam's laws and to ensure its workers well being.Dong Van III Industrial Park has a favourable location, with preferential policies and technical infrastructure to attract Japanese investors. The new factory is the second Japanese investment in the park.http://bizhub.vn/news/japanese-car-chair-factory-launched_289334.html

Lotte expands Vietnam ops


Lotte Card's purchase of TechcomFinance from Techcombank is considered a move to expand in Vietnam and break into the $26.55 billion consumer finance market, which has been showing signs of rapid development.Joining a vibrant consumer finance marketTechcomFinance, formerly known as Vietnam Chemical Finance Joint Stock Company before the 2015 acquisition by Techcombank, carries a chartered capital of VND600 bil-lion ($26.5 million).


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According to the bank's report, in 2016, TechcomFinance earned VND33 billion ($1.5 million) in revenue and VND28 billion ($1.23 million) in pre-tax profit. It has focused on strengthening its operations, consolidating the system of policy documents, report-ing system, and maintaining existing business activities.Techcombank has recently confirmed the information that Lotte Card Co., the credit card unit of Lotte Group, is in negotiations with Techcombank to take over its entire holdings in TechcomFinance.However, a representative of Techcombank refused to comment on this deal because the negotiations were on-going. Meanwhile, according to South Korean newswire The Investor, the two parties are in the final stages of talks to complete the deal. The deal's value is expected to be VND1.7 trillion ($74.67 million).If the deal is approved, Lotte Card will join Vietnam's vibrant consumer finance mar-ket with an annual growth of between 30-40 per cent while the credit card rate is still very low.StoxPlus reports that the Vietnamese consumer finance market is the most attractive in the region, with high growth potential and profit margins.At present, the sector is dominated by four companies, namely FE Credit (VPBank), Home Credit, HDSaison, and Prudential Finance. In 2016, Home Credit earned VND1.23 trillion ($54.03 million) in profit, FE Credit VND2 trillion ($87.8 million), and the two remaining companies earned hundreds of billions dongs in profit.Along with Lotte Card, numerous domestic and foreign investors are actively seeking to enter the consumer finance market through the M&A deals.Notably, after the takeover of ANZ Vietnam's retail business, South Korean Shinhan Bank is planning to acquire a financial institution in Vietnam. This plan aims to expand its business in the Vietnamese retail banking sector.In addition, two other Japanese investors are also negotiating to purchase 49 per cent of the stakes in two different Vietnamese financial institutions.Military Bank has launched its consumer lending brand Mcredit, with the support of its Japanese counterpart, Shinsei Bank. At the end of last year, Shinsei Bank purchased a 49-per-cent stake in Mcredit, the consumer finance arm of Military Bank. Afterwards, MCredit was renamed MB Shinsei Consumer Finance Limited Liability Company.Creating leverage for deep penetrationEntering Vietnam in 2007, Lotte Group now owns 12 subsidiaries operating in numer-ous sectors, including confectionary, fast food (the Lotteria brand), retail (Lotte Mart, Lotte Department Store), amusement (Lotte Cinema), real estate (Lotte Hotel & Re-sort), e-commerce (Lotte.vn), and information technology, among others.Lotte Mart makes massive contributions to the group's revenue. Notably, there are 13 Lotte Marts in operation in Vietnam. In the recent four years, Lotte Mart has seen an average growth of VND1 trillion ($43.9 million) per year and reached more than VND5.1 trillion ($224.03 million) in 2016. As of December 31, 2106, Lotte Mart had a chartered capital of VND3.9 trillion ($171.3 million).Lotte Group planned to pour an additional $287.3 million into expanding the opera-tions of Hanoi-based Lotte Mart and plans to open 60 stores by 2020.Thus, with a large-scale operation network in numerous sectors, joining in the con-sumer finance market will help Lotte control payments in its systems as well as credit payments in Vietnam.http://www.vir.com.vn/lotte-expands-vietnam-ops.html

First foreign-owned petrol station opens


The first wholly foreign owned petrol service station in Vietnam was opened on Octo-ber 5 in Hanoi's Thang Long Industrial Park.The station is owned by a 50:50 joint venture of Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Company Lim-ited and State-run Kuwait Petroleum International Limited.It covers a 6,000 sq.m area in Thang Long Industrial Park, Dong Anh District, Hanoi, which is home to the facilities of numerous Japanese firms.Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum Limited Liability Company (LLC) was established in 2016 to


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distribute petroleum products in the expanding Vietnamese market, based on the ex-perience of the two partners in Europe and Japan.The station is equipped with an automated station management software system that allows payment by card with many advanced features. The software allows accurate management of fuel quantities, providing detailed reporting of transactions to custom-ers.Hiroaki Honjo, general director of Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum LLC, said the joint venture would become Vit Nam's number one service provider.Idemitsu Kosan has been conducting petroleum exploration in Vietnam since the 1990s. Recently, the investor has been involved in Nghi Son Refinery in Thanh Hoa Province and a number of lubricant business activities nationwide.Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum LLC plans to build a sales channel by opening a network of service stations concentrated on the area between Hai Phong Port and Hanoi along Na-tional Highway 5, home to a concentration of logistics operations. The company also plans to expand its service stations to southern provinces.http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/first-foreign-owned-petrol-station-opens_289333.html

First Code Academy seeking franchisees in Vietnam


Hong Kong-based Academy looking to provide STEM and coding education in Viet-nam under the franchise model.First Code Academy (FCA), one of Asia's largest coding schools, is searching for fran-chisees in Vietnam with the VF Franchise Consulting Company, to provide young Vi-etnamese learners with digital literacy and computational thinking skills and empowering them to become creators with technology to enter the world's digital era.Founded in Hong Kong in 2013, FCA now has over 5,000 students taking regular se-mester classes and holiday camps in learning centers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. Using proprietary curriculum adapted from Silicon Valley high schools, FCA's after-school learning programmes are designed to stimulate inquiry-based learning, logical thinking, and creative problem-solving.The ideal partner must share its vision and mission to educate the next generation to be creators with technology. "We are looking for partners with a passion for education and an entrepreneurial spirit, who are eager to drive the next wave of education and technological change in Vietnam," Michelle Sun, FCA's CEO and Founder, told VET. "We see a lot of potential in Vietnam for coding education, and are looking for a part-ner who is committed long-term to grow and expand the business locally."There is a need to understand the market differences as parents are at different stages of prioritising coding education and have different perspectives on integrating coding into their children's development. "That is a major criterion in our selection of a local partner in Vietnam," Sun said. "Our ideal partner is someone who has a good under-standing and long experience in Vietnam, who will be able to identify needs and con-cerns unique to parents and education here, so that we can tailor our services to the market."Vietnam has always been education-focused, with rapid growth from education pro-viders offering courses in English and math, according to FCA. With rapid develop-ment, economic growth, and a young and growing population, the education sector is set for exponential growth as more young families look to invest in their children's ed-ucation."We see this trend as well in other countries in Asia, where after-school programmes and academic and non-academic classes are in high demand and continue to grow each year," Sun added. "With relatively few market leaders and education subjects, there is a lot of room for more education providers in a range of services, from academ-ic to non-academic subjects in broad and niche areas."Coding education in Vietnam is a relatively new service, with schools only just starting to look into incorporating technology-related education into their programmes. In its experience in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, FCA found that in the initial stages,


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educating the public about the importance of coding literacy is an important first step.At the same time, demand for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and coding education often grows in parallel with various factors such as economic growth and technological improvements and it can be seen that there is rising demand for en-gineering talent to drive growth in the technology sector. With development in all these areas locally and a global focus on STEM education, demand for coding educa-tion is poised to grow rapidly in the next few years as parents and students in Vietnam increasingly prioritise coding literacy as an important skill for the 21st century.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/first-code-academy-seeking-fran-chisees-in-vietnam

Hanoi taxis protest Grab, Uber with bumper stickers


The taxicabs object to the government's approval of a pilot scheme for cab-hailing serv-icesHundreds of cabbies in Hanoi are placing bumper stickers on the back of their vehicles in opposition to the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport's decision to allow ride-hailing apps Uber and Grab to be piloted in several locales.The demonstration is a joint effort by prominent taxi brands in Hanoi such as Mai Linh, Vina, My Dinh, Sao Thu Do, and Hoan Kiem."We object to the wrongful pilot scheme approved in Decision 24 by the Ministry of Transport"; "We demand an immediate stop in issuing more logos for pilot vehicles"; and "50,000 vehicles under Decision 24 reported a revenue of VND18 trillion [US$793 million] but only pay VND15.8 billion ([$696,000] in taxes" are among the stickers now common on Hanoi's cabs.Decision 24, issued in January 2016 by the Ministry of Transport, allows ride-hailing apps to be legally piloted in five provinces and cities in Vietnam, including the capital.The two-year pilot scheme launched in January last year as a means of paving the way for taxi-hailing apps such as Uber and Grab to become licensed to legally operate transportation services Vietnam.Last Tuesday, the Hanoi Taxi Association sent a formal petition to multiple Vietnam-ese leaders and relevant authorities demanding that the pilot programme be prema-turely terminated by the end of September and a review be issued to evaluate its "consequences."The petition said the pilot scheme has led to "insecurities" within the community and calls for the immediate cessation of allowing cab-hailing services to contract with more drivers.It also requested that Grab and Uber publicise data on the number of vehicles operat-ing under their service and the number of trips made by its drivers to ensure that they are adhering to regulations on maximum working hours and speed limits.However, Do Quoc Binh, chair of the Hanoi Taxi Association, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday that the bumper stickers were the spontaneous ideas of sep-arate taxi firms and have nothing to do with the association."They have the right to put bumper stickers on their vehicles as a demonstration of their objection to the decision, which violated their rights. The stickers draw public at-tention to the situation," Binh explained.Traditional taxicabs and 'technology-assisted taxis' a nickname coined by local media to refer to services such as Grab and Uber have been engaged in a feud since the latter entered the local market.Taxi associations in Hanoi and HCM City have repeatedly called for stricter regula-tions on their technology-based rivals.Meanwhile, Grab and Uber drivers have faced assaults by conventional 'xe om' drivers who feel the harsh competition has put a strain on their livelihoods.http://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20171005/hanoi-taxis-protest-grab-uber-with-bumper-stickers/41917.html


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Fewer Hanoi-HCM City flights but fares stable


Domestic airlines operating on the popular Hanoi-HCM City route have reduced the number of their flights due to technical and staff difficulties, the Civil Aviation Au-thority of Vietnam (CAAV) reported on Thursday. Nonetheless, it assured passengers that the domestic carriers were adhering to the flexible fare mechanism and not ex-ceeding the ceiling level regulated.The announcement followed recent complaints about lack of seats and surging fares despite this being the off-peak season.Under existing regulations that went into effect in September 2015, the ceiling price of a one way Hanoi-HCM City ticket is VND3.2 million (US$140.5), excluding taxes, fees and other service charges.Airlines say they offer more than 10 price levels on that popular route with the maxi-mum net price of a one way ticket, ranging from VND3.15 million on Vietnam Airlines (VNA), VND3 million on Jetstar Pacific (JPA), and VND2.87 million on Vietjet Air (VJA).Although fuel prices have increased since 2015, Vietnamese airlines are still selling tickets within the regulated price range. "If the airlines violate the price regulations, the authorised body will step in and fine them in accordance with the law," said the CAAV.Fewer flightsIn response to passenger complaints of a recent drop in the number of flights and in-crease in ticket prices, especially on the Hanoi-HCM City route where few discounts are available, CAAV explained that budget carrier Jetstar Pacific had cancelled a series of flights due to staff shortage, especially pilots.Meanwhile, budget carrier Vietjet Air also reduced its flight frequency from an aver-age 25 one-way flights a day to 16 flights per day due to the planned maintenance of aircraft and increased international flights.Overall, according to CAAV data, from late September to early October, there were an average of 47 one-way Hanoi-HCM City flights, 85.5 per cent more than the same pe-riod last year. Vietnam Airlines accounted for 25 flights (increased by 85.5 per cent), while VietJet Air has 16 flights (down 15.7 per cent), and Jestar Pacific operates six flights (down 53.8 per cent). Flights are totally booked and passengers are having to postpone travel in some cases.In order to meet demand, the CAAV has directed airlines to increase the number of flights. By mid-October, Vietnam Airlines plans to add 2-3 flights per day between HCM City and Hanoi, on average. It will also use larger aircraft on several of the flights. Vietjet Air is planning to add 4-5 flights per day, to an average of 20 flights on the route next week.Jetstar Pacific will not add flights, for now, but has been working closely with Vietnam Airlines to ensure those having bought tickets get to their destination despite the de-creased flights. Starting in November it hopes to operate 8-9 flights on this route, on average.http://bizhub.vn/news/fewer-ha-noi-hcmc-flights-but-fares-stable_289340.html

VN Airlines adds flights for Apec


The national carrier Vietnam Airlines has added nearly 110 flights supplying more than 20,000 seats on the routes between Hanoi, HCM City and the central city of Da Nang to meet demand during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. The event started on October 5 and runs until November 13.The airline will not only meet the high demand during the high-level week, but also ensure the connection and movement of officials and delegates from 21 economies and visitors taking part in activities on the sidelines of the event.Duong Tri Thanh, director of Vietnam Airlines, said the compnay was proud to be a partner of Apec.The company has trained staff to meet the needs of passengers travelling during this peak period.


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Thailand launches Bangkok Phu Quoc flight route


Bangkok Airways recently launched a direct flight between Thailand's Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok and Phu Quoc International Airport in Vietnam's Kien Giang prov-ince.The launch ceremony on October 3 was attended by Vietnamese Ambassador to Thai-land Nguyen Hai Bang and Bangkok Airways President Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, among others.The Vietnamese Ambassador highlighted the tourism potential of Phu Quoc, with the island designated a special economic zone.The flight route will not only boost tourism, but also facilitate trade links and invest-ment in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.For his part, the Bangkok Airways President hailed the beauty of Phu Quoc, saying it's Bangkok Airways second destination in Vietnam, following the central city of Da Nang.The airway's first flight to Phu Quoc will depart on October 29, he added.Known as a tourism paradise, Phu Quoc is endowed with long, white-sand beaches and clear waters, while numerous high-end facilities have been developed to serve tourists.In the first seven months this year, Phu Quoc received nearly 1.2 million tourists, ac-counting for 87.5 percent of the target set for 2017, including 200,000 domestic visitors.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/thailand-launches-bangkok-phu-quoc-flight-route/119016.vnp

Becamex Binh Phuoc draws 40 million USD in nine months


The Becamex Binh Phuoc industrial and urban complex in southern Binh Phuoc prov-ince attracted 40 million USD in the first nine months of 2017 and expects to draw in 5 billion USD in investment in the near future.According to Chair of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Tram, Binh Phuoc has been working to lure more investors to Becamex Binh Phuoc, the province's largest industrial and urban zone as the complex is seen as the main engine driving the local industrialisation in the next few years.The infrastructure development of the 4,600-hectare complex is in the finishing proc-ess, general director of Becamex Binh Phuoc SJC Nguyen Thanh Nha said, adding that Leoch Super Power Co., Ltd and Leoch Battery Co., Ltd from Hong Kong (China) have landed in the complex with the total investment of 40 million USD.The Becamex Binh Duong Complex includes a 4.5-hectare industrial park and a resi-dential area, stretching across over 2.18 hectares, in Chon Thanh district. It has been constructed at a total cost of over 21.2 trillion VND (over 935 million USD).https://en.vietnamplus.vn/becamex-binh-phuoc-draws-40 million-usd-in-nine-months/119049.vnp

PetroVietnam's 9-month results exceed assigned plans


Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam)'s financial targets surpassed as-signed plans, with the group earning VND367 trillion (US$16.15 billion) in revenue in the first nine months of 2017.The revenue exceeded the group's set plan by 16 per cent, contributing VND68 trillion (some $3 billion) to the State budget, 21 per cent above the target.According to statistics announced by PetroVietnam earlier this week, domestic crude oil output of the group exceeded the government-assigned plan by 297,000 tonnes, sig-nificantly contributing to the growth of the country's Gross Domestic Product.Total output of oil reached 19.01 million tonnes, meeting 73.6 per cent of the year's plan.Specifically, oil production during the period hit 11.7 million tonnes, an excess of 2.8 per cent in comparison with the set target. Domestic production was at 10.25 million tonnes, exceeding the plan by three per cent, or 297,000 tonnes, and foreign production was at 1.46 million tonnes, surpassing the plan by 1.4 per cent.


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In addition to crude oil production, PetroVietnam also surpassed other output targets, including nitrogenous fertiliser production (1.32 million tonnes, exceeding the plan by 10.1 per cent) and petroleum production (4.46 million tonnes, surpassing the plan by 22.6 per cent).PetroVietnam will focus on synchronously implementing necessary measures to en-sure domestic crude oil production in 2017, in accordance with the plan assigned by the government for the end of the year months.In addition, the group will work actively and closely with relevant agencies in deploy-ing its business production and investment activities, contributing to affirming Viet-nam's sovereignty.http://bizhub.vn/news/petrovietnams-9-month-results-exceed-assigned-plans_289326.html

Leading Thai logistics group JWD to expand into Indonesia, Vietnam


Thailand's JWD Infologistics Pcl expects to make acquisitions in Indonesia and Viet-nam, part of plans to expand in the region to tap growing demand and boost growth, its chief executive said on Wednesday.The company expects to buy one third of a cold storage company in Indonesia later this year, and a majority stake in a Vietnamese freight forwarding company early next year, CEO Charvanin Bunditkitsada told reporters. He did not name the companies.Both deals are worth a combined about 400 million baht ($12 million), he said.Logistics and fractured supply chains remain a challenge for businesses in the $2 tril-lion regional economy. Scattered urban centers, archipelagos, and poor infrastructure development present an opportunity for companies that can offer solutions.Burgeoning industries in Southeast Asia like e-commerce that rely on efficient logistics also increases demand for providers.JWD, which has operations in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, joins others in expand-ing into the region. Last month, DHL Supply Chain said it was investing 70 million eu-ros in Southeast Asia.JWD has about 5 billion-6 billion baht in loans, bonds and asset sales to support future expansion, he said, without elaborating.The company expects double-digit revenue growth next year after completing domes-tic and foreign acquisitions, Charvanin said. The company expects 12-15 percent of revenue to be generated abroad next year, up from the current 10 percent.http://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20171005/leading-thai-logistics-group-jwd-to-expand-into-indonesia-vietnam/41908.html

Exhibition on printing-packaging runs in HCM City


The 17th Vietnam International Printing, Packaging and Food Processing Industry Ex-hibition began at the Saigon Exhibition & Conference Centre in HCM City on October 5.The 4-day event features 480 stalls operated by 300 firms from 11 countries and terri-tories, including Canada, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.A wide range of printing and packaging machines, technologies and materials are on display at the fair.Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nguyen Van Dong, head of the Vietnam Printing Association, said thanks to higher demand in domestic production and export, the printing and packaging industry in Vietnam has recorded upbeat growth in recent years, at an annual average of 15-20 percent.According to him, printing-packaging serving the food processing industry will grow about 38 percent between 2015 and 2020.Pham Xuan Da, head of the southern office of the Ministry of Science and Technology, stressed that the exhibition is an opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to learn from and form partnerships with their foreign peers.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/exhibition-on-printingpackaging-runs-in-hcm-city/119035.vnp


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HCM City set for biennial international woodwork fair


Riding on its successful performance two years ago as Asia's leading exhibition of wood processing solutions for the furniture sector, the biennial Vietnam International Woodworking Industry Fair (VietnamWood) will return to HCM City with a greater momentum from October 18-21.VietnamWood has managed to gather world-class suppliers to provide the optimal manufacturing solutions needed to bolster the growth of the woodworking industry and market in Vietnam.Seven international pavilions at the exhibition set up by the US, France, China, Germa-ny, Sweden, Taiwan and Canada will bring in a large diversity of woodworking ma-chines and components.Many suppliers of high-performance woodworking machinery and equipment from Europe, the US, Oceania and Asia will gather under one roof to constitute a one-stop business trading platform for woodworking players looking to upgrade their opera-tions.Organised by the Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company and Yorkers Trade and Marketing Service Company, it will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hcm-city-set-for-biennial-international-woodwork-fair/119058.vnp End
