160118Intellasia Finance Vietnam - HKBAV · 2018-01-16 · Of the banks ranked by the Asian Banker,...

16 January 2018

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Reference exchange rate revised down by 10 VND 1SBV lowers lending rates on OMO after nearly 5 years 2Vietnam's banking sector regains strength 2Foreign ownership limit drives investors from Vietnamese banks 3Consumer credit considered as growth opportunity for banks 4Many banks expand transaction network right from the

beginning of 2018 5Upgrading to emerging market a catalyst for growth 6Consumers are over-borrowing 7IFC plans to ramp up banking loans 8HSBC lands top honours in Euromoney Trade Finance Survey 2018 9Japan bank eyes more Eximbank shares 9Vietinbank named second-largest bank by profit 10Vietcombank to sell shares to foreign investors 10Hua Thi Phan to be prosecuted in phase 2 of notorious

VNCB case 11PM urges MPI to turn Vietnam into 'new tiger' of Asia 11Vietnam's economy is recovering: East Asia Forum 12Moody's: Sweeping corruption crackdown may create

perceptions of risk 13Industrial production motive for industrial growth 14Social insurance debts amount to VND5.7 trillion 14Whitebook on IUU in Vietnam released 15Export a bright spot of economic panorama 15Rosy outlook for Vietnam's garment trade 16Indonesia to import rice from Vietnam 17Indonesia issues anti-dumping investigation report on

Vietnam steel 17Vietnam's cashew industry turns to Cambodia 18Customs clearance cost lowered 18Experts advise no VAT increase for now 19Tax on imported sugar to remain at 5pct 20State Auditor asked to improve organisation for better

performance 20Ministry builds mechanism for land agglomeration,

large-scale farming 21HCM City says commercial apartments should be at least

45 square meters 21Survey helps HCM City plan policy 22Deposit requirement unchanged for travel firms 23Vietnam an ideal destination for foreign startups 23Clearing hurdles is a must for business operations 24Incentives needed for SMEs to join green growth projects 25The 'bottlenecks' in Vietnam's tourism 25

Seafood sector continues to thrive 26VN wants footwear, bags to yield $20b 27Vietnam's logistics sector too expensive to compete with

foreign rivals: experts 27Kien Giang calls for investment 28Japanese firms sound out business prospects in Vietnam 29Asian investors pour capital into VN real estate projects 29

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Business Briefs 16 January, 2018 30Main indexes gain ground 31VN stocks up on investor confidence 31Expert: Stock market cap to rise to $200 billion 32MoF wants hike in tax on capital/securities trade income 33Binh Son Refinery stake sale attracts huge attention 34Vietjet co-founder in race for PV Oil strategic stake 34Office rental cost in HCM City highest in the region 35Land price in many regions in Hanoi increases 10pct 36Small-scale coffee farmers get helping hand 37Real estate sector short of skilled personnel 38Binh Thuan set to grow 9,800 ha of VietGAP dragon fruits in 2018 39Mekong dried-fish villages prepare for Tet 39Thaco has no immediate plan to assemble BMW cars in Vietnam 40PV Oil remains fuel export monopoly after equitisation 41Unilever: Sustainable development at the heart of business

model 42Viglacera's profit hits VND1 trillion for first time 43Grab says its operation is compliant with laws 44Sabeco remains market leader in beer production 44Mitsubishi Motors to build second plant in Vietnam 45Vietnam Airlines debuts premium economy seats for

Japanese routes 45Viettel Post moves up in business ranking 45Japanese escalator manufacturer makes foray into

Vietnamese market 46Starbucks continues to promote Vietnam Da Lat coffee 46Kim Long Nam officially 'debuts' in real estate market 47Amway Home products get Safer Choice certification 48Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi in Conde Nast Traveler

Gold List 2018 49Michael Kelly elected chair of AmCham Hanoi 49Procuracy finds group benefits in Dinh La Thang case 50Phu Yen to host business promotion conference 513 agricultural shows to be held in HCM City 51

FINANCE
FINANCEReference exchange rate revised down by 10 VND
16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNA

The State Bank of Vietnam adjusted its reference VND/USD exchange rate down by 10 VND to 22,386 VND/USD on the morning of January 16.

Intellasia No. 21, lane 173/63/17, Ngoc Ha Ward, Ba Dinh Dist, Hanoi © All Rights Reserved

Tel: +844 2213 2244Fax: +844 3759 2034

Email: [email protected]: www.Intellasia.Net www.TriTueAChau.com

FIN

AN

CE

Vietnam finance & business 16 January 2018

With the current/- 3 percent VND/USD trading band, the ceiling exchange rate is 23,055 VND per USD and the floor rate is 21,719 VND per USD.Major commercial banks kept their rates stable.Vietcombank and Vietinbank offered 22,675 VND (buying) and 22,745 VND (selling), per USD, unchanged from the day earlier.Meanwhile, BIDV posted 22,680 VND (buying) and 22,750 VND (selling), per USD, up by 5 VND from the morning of January 15.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-revised-down-by-10-vnd/124911.vnp

SBV lowers lending rates on OMO after nearly 5 years

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY

At the end of last week, the State Bank officially lowered lending rates on the Open Market Operation (OMO) slightly.This was the first time since March 2014 that the monetary policy regulator adjusted this interest rate.Specifically, on March 18, 2014, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) simultaneously re-duced policy interest rates in which OMO interest rate fell from 5.5 percent/annum to 5 percent/annum.The aforementioned five percent/annum has maintained over the last nearly five years though many market conditions have changed largely, even after the reduction in pol-icy interest rates in July 2017.At the end of last week, the market has noted the State Bank's reduction of the afore-mentioned interest rate but just from five percent per annum to 4.75 percent per an-num.This was the step to concretise the message of Governor Le Minh Hung given at the conference on implementation of the entire system's tasks in order to support credit or-ganisations reducing lending rates.The adjustment of interest rates on OMO also took place on the eve of the peak season of payment at the end of the year and close to the Lunar New Year.In the immediate future, the aforementioned small reduction does not have much sig-nificance to the market because since May 2017, lending through OMO has been taking place with small sessions, with the offering scale of one trillion dong only and most of them did not have winning volume (the session on December 29 alone saw the bid of-fering volume of five trillion dong).However, this was the signal from the regulator, and the adjustment has direct impact on lending costs of members accessing OMO channel when the capital demand for the peak season of payment is coming close.As such, since July 2017, the State Bank has gradually adjusted important interest rates. These adjustments are mostly indicative and show cautiousness with small adjust-ments.

Vietnam's banking sector regains strength

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

International institutions have given positive comments about the operation of the Vi-etnamese banking sector.The Asian Banker said that Vietnamese banks have improved thanks to the govern-ment's efforts to carry out reform and a strong economy. The assessment was made based on the analysis of the operation and ranking of nearly 20 Vietnamese banks.Local newspapers reported that 15 Vietnamese banks were named in The Asian Bank-ers' AB500 ranking and survey of Asia Pacific's strongest banks.They include Vietcombank, BIDV, VietinBank and Techcombank, Military Bank (MB), LienVietPostBank, ACB and VPBank, HDBank, TP Bank, SHB, VIB, SeABank, Sacom-bank and PVcomBank.The journal emphasized the impressive net profit of 37.4 percent gained by domestic banks.Other indexes also show good business performance and promising prospects in the future. The mobilised capital has increased by 1.5 times, while credit growth rate is sta-ble at 18 percent. The revenue from services has increased to around 20 percent at some banks.

Intellasia 16 January 2018 2 / 51

FIN

AN

CE


The Asian Banker praised the efforts to settle bad debts with sub-prime debts having fallen to 2.5 percent by the end of 2016, the lowest level in recent years.Vietnamese banks have shown strong determination in improving risk management by strictly observing the new regulations set by the State Bank and Basel II standards.Of the banks ranked by the Asian Banker, Vietcombank ranks 48th in the region's 500 banks in terms of Strength Rank, while Techcombank is at the 101st position and Viet-inBank 124th.In September, S&P gave 'national credit rating ceiling' to Vietcombank and Techcom-bank, the highest ranking that a bank in Vietnam can obtain.According to S&P, Techcombank has been doing well in balancing profit increase and risk management. The bank has wrapped up the purchase of all bad debts from VAMC and has begun applying risk management in accordance with Basel II standards.Commenting about the purchasing of bad debts, Pham The Anh from Hanoi National University said there are two noteworthy actions. First, the financial capability of banks is good which has allowed them to buy bad debts back. Second, the asset quality of the debts has improved.A number of banks have predicted high profits for 2017. Nguyen Dinh Tung, CEO of OCB, said the bank had VND960 billion in pre-tax profit in the first 11 months, and the figure will exceed the VND1 trillion threshold by the end of the year.Meanwhile, LienViet Post Bank reported pre-tax profit of 1.7 trillion in the first 11 months.http://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnams-banking-sector-regains-strength-366673.vov

Foreign ownership limit drives investors from Vietnamese banks

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIR

Over the past three years, numerous foreign investors made noteworthy divestments at Vietnam-based commercial banks due to the inconsiderable ownership.In early January, BNP Paribas, a strategic partner of Orient Commercial Bank (OTC: OCB), was reported to withdraw its entire investment capital from the Vietnam-based bank. To date, there has been no further details of the over 74 million shares the French banking group divested.Andy Ho, managing director and CEO of VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited, asserted, "The low foreign ownership limit at 20 per cent seemingly discour-aged the majority of foreign investors from continuing to inject capital into Vietnam-based commercial banks due to limited ownership and the little say in the banks' de-cision making process. As a result, increasing the foreign ownership limit in Vietnam-based commercial banks would be of great importance."In October 2017, Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcom-bank) announced a zero per cent foreign ownership followed by London-based HS-BC's capital divestment in July, as well as the request of the bank's stakeholders to freeze foreign ownership at a temporary zero per cent in late August. Earlier, in mid-August, the British banking and financial firm was reported to divest a total of 172 mil-lion shares from Techcombank, according to newswire Vietnam News.Le Anh Tuan, deputy CIO and head of research at Dragon Capital, highlighted, "For-eign shareholding limited at 20-30 per cent, requiring hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign investors, were one of the causes that drove foreign investors away from the country's financial institutions. As long as this cap remains shy of 50 per cent, for-eign investors will not be able to sway the decision making process or the banks' boards of directors and they will not be capable of gaining any substantial investment benefits from a strategic partnership."In early 2015, Singapore's Fullerton Financial Holding (FFH), a former strategic part-ner of Mekong Development Bank (OTC: MDB), sold all of its shares in the bank, equalling 20 per cent of its charter capital, before the merger with Maritime Bank (MSB) on March 31.It was reported that the limited ownership as well as the partnership with a commercial bank vastly contributed to the firm's decision of quitting the investment deal. To date, the Singapore-headquartered investment firm has not returned to Vietnamese banks.


FIN

AN

CE


On November 22, 2013, Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), a former stra-tegic partner of Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank), was reported to sell its entire stake at the Hanoi-based bank. Specifically, the Singapore-based banking firm sold a total of 85.83 million VPBank shares to Vietnamese investors. To add, the share transaction representing 14.88 per cent of VPBank's shareholding left zero foreign ownership in the bank.http://www.vir.com.vn/foreign-ownership-limit-drives-investors-from-vietnamese-banks.html

Consumer credit considered as growth opportunity for banks

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| ENTERNEWS.VN

Viet Dragon Securities Company (VDSC) assesses that consumer credit growth is the door to credit growth. In the short term, room for growth in this sector remains wide open when the scale of consumer credit was only about 19 percent GDP in 2017.According to VDSC, in the context that the capital absorption of businesses still faces many difficulties, the shift of credit flow to households is like a suitable solution in the medium-term for the problem of maintaining economic growth. It is estimated that consumer credit increased more than 60 percent year-on-year in 2017 and is forecasted to grow at an average of 30 percent in the next three years. As of the end of 2017, the consumer credit scale/GDP was about 19 percent.In comparison with other regional countries, the aforementioned development was the inevitable trend in order to exploit the country's internal resources. Most noticea-bly was the lesson from the neighbour country China. In the context that the country's outstanding loans and bad debt focused mainly in state-owned businesses, part of the credit flow was regulated to households. So far, China's share of household debt in 2017 was more than 2.4 times higher than 10 previous years.According to Nielsen's survey results, the consumer confidence index in Q2/2017 reached 117 points, the highest level in five recent years, helping Vietnam become the fifth leading country in the world in terms of positiveness. Noticeably, Vietnam is a longer the most savings country in the world and consumers are willing to spend a large amount on tourism, shopping, health insureance, etc. after making payment for essential living costs.Statistics also showed that consumer credit mainly came from the banking system with $23.27 billion, equal to 87.6 percent in 2016. Currently, large joint stock commercial banks such as VPBank, Techcombank, HDBank, etc. target at developing retail seg-ment and have their own financial companies. The involvement of finance companies has flourished over the last period, providing 12.4 percent of total consumer loans."The develoment of consumer finance market is the growth opportunity for finance or-ganisations", said VDSC. For the banking sector alone, over the last period, the profit margin generally decreased and maintained at less than three percent, much lower than regional countries such as Thailand (3.07 percent), Indonesia (5.82 percent) and the Phillipines (3.58 percent). In that context, more and more banks and finance com-panies are making effort to strengthen consumer loans, retail, etc. in order to offset profits.In terms of development room, if excluding the loan for home purchase and repair, the proportion of consumer credit (under international practice) only reckoned for about nine percent of GDP. Besides, consumer credit only served about 30 percent of the total number of customers having demand.In classifying consumer credit by purpose, the consumer credit flow from the banking system look to large loans such as home purchase and repair (54.3 percent) and trans-port vehicles (9.4 percent). In the context that the State is controling lending policies for real estate sector, the aforementioned developments are expected to boost the mar-ket from demand side, especially the mid-end segment.In another perspective, in spite of directing at sub-prime loans at smaller value, role and positions of finance companies are still very high with the purpose of promoting Vietnam's retail market.Durable consumer goods such as television, refrigerators, etc. acccounted for 28 per-


FIN

AN

CE


cent of the total lending value of finance companies. Meanwhile, with more open spending psychology, the people are willing to access loan services, in order to meet demands for learning, tourism and medical treatment.

Many banks expand transaction network right from the beginning of 2018

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| TRI THUC TRE

Right at the beginning of 2018, many banks were accepted by the State Bank to open more branches and transaction offices nationwide.Specifically, on January 12, 2018, HDBank was approved by the State Bank to open five more branches in provinces including Dak Nong, Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen and Vinh Phuc. These branches are mostly located in central areas of the provinces such as towns and cities. Besides, HDBank will also establish 39 more transaction of-fices in 26 provinces and cities nationwide.According to the listing prospectus at the end of December, HDBank said the bank had 238 branches and transaction offices. As such, with the establishment of five more branches and 39 new transaction offices, HDBank's transaction network has expanded to 282 branches and transaction offices, of which, HCM City, Hanoi, Dong Nai are provinces having the largest number of branches and transaction offices.Over the last period, HDBank was one of the most noticeable names in the banking sector with very successful listing plan. A total of 981 million HDB shares were listed on January 5 at 33,000 dong per share.HDBank had the capitalisation of more than $1.4 billion, entering the top 20 shares with the largest capitalisation value on Hochiminh City Stock Exchange (STC). Report-edly, the bank's business results in 2017 were very good with 2.420 trillion dong pre-tax profit, doubling the year 2016. HDBank said it plans to achieve annual profit growth rate of about 37 percent from now till 2021.Not only HDBank, in the near future, a series of banks such as MBBank, Ban Viet, SCB, Bac A Bank, etc. decided to open more transaction points.At the beginning of 2018, MBBank was granted with license to establish five more branches and 12 transaction offices nationwide, extending its transaction network to 96 branches and 188 transaction offices. The five branches include two in Hanoi, one in HCM City, one in Vinh Long and the rest in Tra Vinh. MBBank was also one of the banks that announced its business results in 2017 at the soonest. The profit of the par-ent bank reached 5.355 trillion dong, up 44 percent from 2016.Right at the beginning of the year, another bank, i.e. Ban Viet Bank, was approved by the State Bank of Vietnam to expand transaction network. Accordingly, the bank will open one more branch in Nghe An and seven transaction offices in the South, raising the number of transaction points from 46 to 54.Earlier, SCB opens an additional branch in Thanh Hoa, and Bac A Bank opens one more branch in Binh Duong.The year 2017 was a very successful year for commercial banks when the profit of the entire system increased 44.5 percent compared to the previous year, and bad debt was settled more quickly thanks to Resolution No. 42. Many banks surpassed the yearly profit plan early, reporting trillions of dong profit such as MBBank, BIDV, HDBank, TPBank, etc. while some banks, including Vietcombank, even earned more than 11 tril-lion dong profit.Not only banks that have outstanding business results as mentioned above, banks that have problems with bad debt, restructuring for several years now such as Dong A Bank, Sacombank, etc. also said they have settled many of the backlogs in the past, and business results are also much better. For example, in 2017, Sacombank handled a huge amount of bad debt i.e. 19 trillion dong.With such a good growth momentum, it is expected that in 2018, many banks will open more branches and transaction offices to develop more customers, especially in other cities and provinces apart from HCM City and Hanoi.


FIN

AN

CE


Upgrading to emerging market a catalyst for growth

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| NDH

Vietnam becoming an emerging market in 2020 will be a catalyst for the stock market. According to the earliest scenario, the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) will consider upgrading markets in June 2019 and Vietnam's market may be upgraded in June 2020.The stock market of Vietnam is likely to grow by 30-40 percent in the period of 2019-2020, after the MSCI officially announces the upgrading of Vietnam's rating to emerg-ing market as what happened to the markets of the US, Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Pa-kistan.Although the MSCI has noted that Vietnam is on the right track in some aspects to meet the standards, some factors should be taken into account, while other markets such as Argentina and Saudi Arabia are closer to be upgraded to emerging markets.Currently, market liquidity is no longer a major problem for Vietnam. In addition, the ownership limit of foreign investors in enterprises has gradually been loosened. This may be the last bottleneck for the upgrade of Vietnam's market.According to VNDirect, the gradual elimination of foreign ownership limit in Viet-nam, especially in hot sectors such as banking, retail and pharma, will be a good point for the market in general and that will surely improve the prospect of the market up-grade.VNDirect's report pointed out that one of the barriers to the upgrade is the access to information in English. According to HSX, in 2016, only 59.8 percent of enterprises had websites in English and only 35.4 percent of enterprises used English documents. Al-though this is not mandatory, VNDirect believed that providing information in Eng-lish will bring benefits to the market in general and enterprises in particular.Regarding liquidity factor, the current trading volume of Vietnam's stock market is constantly increasing, which is the main factor that gives Vietnam the opportunity to upgrade the market. The daily trading of stocks in Vietnam has surpassed Pakistan's the market which is now under consideration for being upgraded. The major Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) such as Vincom Retail and divestment of state capital have strongly pushed up Vietnam's market liquidity.Currently, the stock market of Vietnam has surpassed the requirements of liquidity. Although this is only one of the considerations for upgrading, it will create the chances for Vietnam to have higher weighting compared to the group of emerging markets of MSCI after being included in the list.The market capitalisation of Vietnam's stock market has currently surpassed small emerging markets such as Peru and some Asian markets which are about to become emerging market.Peru is one of the largest members of MSCI Frontier Markets, which accounted for 11.6 percent of the basket in late 2015 before being upgraded. VNDirect sees that Vietnam is in a more favourable condition thanks to the diversification of listed shares and the large stocks which are expected to be listed in 2018. VNDirect believed that Vietnam is ready to leave the group of MSCI Frontier Markets as a giant and join the MSCI Emerg-ing Markets at a high position. The weight of Vietnam in MSCI's Frontier Markets has risen from 3.4 percent in late 2015 to the current level of 13.5 percent.Nevertheless, VNDirect's analyst team said that although upgrading to emerging mar-ket may be a catalyst for the growth of stocks, there are reasons and benefits if post-poning this for a few years. If a small market is upgraded to an emerging market, such as Pakistani market, the proportion of this market in the MSCI Emerging Markets will be very low at just 0.13 percent, and this will reduce the attractiveness of the market to funds. On the other hand, this also implies a risk when a small market is in a group of large and strong markets.Therefore, VNDirect believed that the slow upgrade of Vietnam may be better for the market. In the best scenario, Vietnam may not be able to upgrade its rating until 202, and this will help the market strengthen its top 3 position in the group of MSCI Fron-tier Markets.Upgrading the market is not always a good thing as a market moves from its high po-


FIN

AN

CE


sition in the group of Frontier markets to hold a small proportion in the group of MSCI Emerging Markets (as in the case of Pakistan).Although upgrading Vietnam's market to an emerging market is a needed catalyst to further support higher valuation, delaying this upgrade for some years may be better, in order to continue the elimination and further increase the number of free float stocks.Annualised Traded Value Ratio (AVTR) is a bigger barrier for Vietnam, because Viet-nam currently has 25 stocks with capitalisation of over one billion USD. In addition, with the 1.27 billion USD capitalisation of MSCI, the value of free float stocks must be over 635 million USD and ATVR must be more than 15 percent. Vietnam should take steps to meet these requirements.Vietnam's market proportion has increased to 13.5 in the group of MSCI's Frontier Markets. This is probably a better move in the short run for Vietnam, in opposition to being urged to join the group of emerging markets too early.The market in the recent years has become much prosperous. Moreover, the character-istics of Vietnam's frontier markets are unreasonable valuations of some stocks due to market manipulation, and the low number of free float stocks. These issues should be solved in order to become a reliable MSCI market in the future with reasonable prices. This will also slightly reduce the risks of Vietnam being upgraded with a low propor-tion in MSCI's emerging market group.Vietnam's investment story remains attractive, but the complexity is surely increasing. Vietnam's emerging market may be seen in the short term, with the key motivation for growth coming from the continuously successful state capital sales, attractive IPOs, further openness to foreign investors, and the potential for accelerating economic growth due to FDI and export growth. The story has recently become clearer than ever.

Consumers are over-borrowing

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| INFONET

The recent analysis report of Viet Dragon Securities Company (VDSC) stated that con-sumers are overly optimistic about their future earnings and are willing to borrow more for their current spending. Specifically, the report pointed out that Vietnam's consumer credit growth increased sharply by nearly 60 percent in 2017, and is forecast-ed to develop by up to 29-30 percent in the next three years. Meanwhile, by 2016, the average growth of this sector was only 29 percent of GGP, fairly low in comparison with other countries in the region.In addition, according to Nielsen's survey, the Consumer Confidence Index in the sec-ond quarter of 2017 reached 117 points, the highest level in the past five years, helping Vietnam become the fifth country in the world in the level of optimism. Notably, Viet-nam is no longer the world's most economical country and consumers are willing to spend large amount on travelling, shopping, and health insurance, etc., after paying for their necessarily living expenses.Based on the analysis of consumer behaviour, VDSC found out that consumers are overly optimistic about their future income and are willing to borrow more for their spending. This raises concerns about people's ability to repay. Moreover, analysis showed that if the increase of consumer spending is not attached to economic growth, the health of the economy will certainly weaken in the long term.Furthermore, VDSC believed that the consumer credit in Vietnam currently has poten-tial risks as this capital flow is partly flowing into speculative assets, and the risks of overestimation of borrowers' credibility by banks due to the rise of asset prices.The prices of housing and office space have improved obviously in the last five years. The housing price index in Hochiminh city by the end of the second quarter of 2017 reached 93 points, up by 5.1 percent compared to the bottom level of 89 points in 2014, up by 23.1 percent compared to early 2013. Credit flow is one of the highlights in this picture. In addition to real estate market, the flow of capital in speculative assets is in-creasing along with the movements of the stock market.Consumer credit will be one of the factors driving the asset prices on the real estate market and stock market in the near future. However, this capital flow has many po-


FIN

AN

CE


tential risks and must strictly be controlled by the lawmaker, VDSC recommended.

IFC plans to ramp up banking loans


The financial sector is ranked first in priority of investment in Vietnam for the World Bank Group's private investment arm IFC in 2018, according to Kyle Kelhofer, IFC country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos."At IFC, we're keen to do more here. This is a priority country for us and it's a priority because we think the outlook is good. So we'd like to achieve $800-900 million this fis-cal year, [and it] could be a record year for investment in Vietnam for IFC," said Kel-hofer in an interview in Hanoi last week.As far as the international financial institution is concerned, a well-functioning finan-cial sector is crucial to a growing market. After repeated analysis of the capital needed, including the equity capital needed in the banking sector, IFC believes that it has room to fit in as one of the largest, if not the largest, emerging market investors around the world."We're keen on doing more in the financial sector. This includes targeting specific as-pects such as gender finance promoting access to finance for woman entrepreneurs, which we believe is a priority market around the world and has been well received in Vietnam financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and green fi-nance," he added.In the past years, IFC has provided local banks such as An Binh Bank (ABBank), Viet-nam International Bank (VIB), VPBank, and TPBank with various financing packages. This is part of an attempt to address the key development challenges in the country, including the financing gap faced by micro-enterprises and SMEs and the lack of af-fordable housing in big cities.Late last year, IFC joined Goldman Sachs' '10,000 Women' project to provide ABBank with a syndicated senior loan worth $110 million, ultimately aimed at helping the lender triple its SME portfolio and increase the extent of its lending to women-owned SMEs over the course of five years. The amount is said to be the first phase of a total $150 million financing package that IFC is arranging for the lender, $40 million of which comes out of IFC's own budget, while the remainder is committed by other in-ternational lenders.VIB also received $185 million in a syndicated loan from IFC last year, while VPBank was provided with a $57 million convertible loan, both targeted at helping the lenders further expand their lending to SMEs. In late 2016, IFC also invested $18.35 million in TPBank in exchange for almost 5 per cent of the bank's stakes.According to the IFC country head, Vietnam ended 2017 on a high note, with economic growth reaching over 6.8 per cent and foreign exchange strengthened and stabilised with FX reserves reaching some $53 billion. Additionally, rates are coming down, evi-denced by the T-Bond rates, the dollar- and local currency-denominated rates, and the 108-point dip in credit default swaps."Vietnam is de-risked, which is great, because that means the ability for an investor to mobilise capital comes at a lower cost, which means entrepreneurs can now go further in Vietnam with the same amount of money," noted Kelhofer.IFC's investment decision is also backed by the country's decision makers focusing on stability for growth and the fact that Vietnam is a well-diversified economy, which does not rely on one commodity or one export market, according to Kelhofer."When [you see] record-high foreign direct investment (FDI) in one year, you would think that job creation will probably go up in the next year. If it's coming down, you would think it should be easier to invest in things going forward. Overall, the trade market is largely okay. I don't see any large dark clouds on the horizon, and this is why you see the record number of FDI and rates coming down in Vietnam. It's not just the IFC thinking this, it's the opinion of investors around the world," he added.http://www.vir.com.vn/ifc-plans-to-ramp-up-banking-loans.html


FIN

AN

CE


HSBC lands top honours in Euromoney Trade Finance Survey 2018

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| HSBC

HSBC has been recognised as the top trade finance bank in Vietnam and as the world's top global trade finance bank, according to the 2018 Euromoney Trade Finance Survey.The Euromoney annual poll, which is highly regarded across the banking industry, recognises leadership in trade finance by asking businesses engaged in international trade worldwide to indicate which international banks they currently use for trade fi-nance and how they rate that bank's various trade finance services and products."I am delighted that we have been recognised by our clients in Vietnam as the coun-try's number one trade finance bank," said Winfield Wong, Country Head of Whole-sale Banking, HSBC Bank (Vietnam) Ltd (HSBC Vietnam)."Historically, HSBC was established to facilitate the growing trade between countries and continents in the 19th century, and we're extremely proud that today HSBC is playing its part to ensure the bank remains at the forefront of the global trade indus-try."As with other countries where HSBC operates, HSBC Vietnam offers a full suite of trade solutions ranging from traditional documentation services to highly sophisticat-ed tailor-made solutions to enterprises, both MNCs and local corporates all of which is proposed by a local team of experts that are always willing to go the extra mile for their clients.The bank's current wide range of trade products is accommodating customers' five areas of needs (Working Capital Optimisation, International Trade Growth, Trade Risk Management, Supplier Finance Management and Sale Finance Management) from pre-shipment financing (e.g. to support raw material purchase in preparation for manufacturing and delivery) to post-shipment financing (e.g. negotiation or factoring services). HSBC has also continued to introduce industry-leading measures to prevent Financial Crimes and Sanction Risks while facilitating global trade."By leveraging our global reach in more than 60 countries, and by sharing our in depth knowledge of markets, we connect buyers and suppliers, helping our clients manage risk and liquidity costs more effectively that has always been HSBC's core strength," said Winfield."Trade is forever evolving and so, our role as the industry leader is not just to adapt to change but also to anticipate what our clients will need tomorrow so we can continu-ally provide them with the best in class capital solutions. That's why we always put our clients at the heart of everything we do"In the annual survey, which this year compiled votes from more than 7,000 businesses engaged in international trade, HSBC was also named as the leading bank for trade fi-nance in the UK, the US, and multiple countries across Latin America and the Middle East as well as Asia.Recently HSBC Vietnam has also been named Best Domestic Cash manager by Eurom-oney Cash Management Survey 2017, making HSBC the best transactional banking franchise in the market.

Japan bank eyes more Eximbank shares

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) of Japan is considering hiking its own-ership at Vietnam Export Import Bank (Eximbank) if the restructuring of Eximbank is successful, said Yutaka Moriwaki, an Eximbank board member.Yutaka Moriwaki told the Daily that SMBC which holds 15 percent of Eximbank's chartered capital is supporting Eximbank's restructuring.Eximbank has also established a new sales division in charge of large customers and foreign direct investment enterprises, reduced the number of deputy general directors and hired consulting firms to improve lending practices and the well-being of staff.In addition, SMBC has sent seven experts to Vietnam to help Eximbank with its re-structuring. SMBC has no plans to divest from Eximbank but will even acquire more shares of Eximbank, even exceeding the foreign ownership limit if SMBC gets the State Bank of Vietnam's permission, said Yutaka Moriwaki.Despite some positive results, SMBC will make a decision hiking its ownership at Ex-


FIN

AN

CE


imbank when the restructuring of Eximbank brings positive results.In a related development, Eximbank general director Le Van Quyet last week said the bank would divest from Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) this month. Eximbank currently holds nearly 50 million shares of Sacombank compared to 165 million shares or 8.75 percent in 2012 and has fetched VND400 billion from the di-vestment.Eximbank obtained pre-tax profit of over VND1 trillion last year, 2.5 times higher than in 2016 and 169 percent higher than targeted. The Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) would remove the EIB stock of Eximbank from its watchlist soon as the bank has cut its accumulated losses over the past two years, said Quyet.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58012/Japan-bank-eyes-more-Eximbank-shares-.html

Vietinbank named second-largest bank by profit

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNS

The Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) earned a total profit of VND9.2 trillion (US$404 million) in 2017, equivalent to 105 per cent of its annual target.The total assets of the bank notched a year-on-year surge of 15.3 per cent to reach more than VND1.1 trillion, making it one of Vietnam's three largest banks in terms of assets and the country's second-largest bank in terms of profit, after the Joint Stock Commer-cial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank).Return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) of the bank also improved, touch-ing roughly 12 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.Its outstanding loans reached VND839 trillion, up 18 per cent year-on-year. Mean-while, total capital was estimated at over VND1 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 16 per cent, fulfilling 102 per cent of the year's target.Investment is still Vietinbank's strength compared to competitors in the banking mar-ket. In 2017, the bank developed modern investment products and continued to main-tain its role as a market maker with total investment capital of VND243 trillion.Vietinbank's total fees earned from services reached nearly VND4 trillion, up 20 per cent against 2016.Operations of Vietinbank's affiliates and foreign subsidiaries grew sharply with their pre-tax profit totalling VND560 billion, up 39 per cent year-on-year.In 2018, Vietinbank aims to increase total assets by 15 to 17 per cent, capital mobilisa-tion by 18 to 20 per cent and credit by 16 to 17 per cent. It also plans to keep bad debt under 2 per cent.http://bizhub.vn/banking/vietinbank-named-second-largest-bank-by-profit_291443.html

Vietcombank to sell shares to foreign investors


The State Bank of Vietnam has given the Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet-nam (Vietcombank) the green light to sell shares to foreign investors, according to Vi-etcombank chair Nghiem Xuan Thanh."This will be a positive sign for the market," said Thanh at a conference on the bank's 2018 business conference last week.According to the bank's restructuring plan until 2020 approved by the central bank's governor Le Minh Hung, he said his bank is striving to make the list of top 100 banks in Asia, and become one of the world's top 300 financial corporations.The 2017 business results of the bank showed that total deposits at the bank amounted to VND889.7 trillion (US$39.1 billion) last year, rising by 38.7 percent year-on-year and beating its target by 18 percent.Besides, its outstanding loans reached more than VND553 trillion, a year-on-year in-crease of 17.2 percent, which is below the cap set by the central bank.Though Vietcombank set low interest rates last year, its capital growth was much high-er than other banks', said the chair, noting the amounts raised at low rates accounted for roughly 50 percent of its total capital, enabling the bank to offer the lowest interest rates on the credit market.


FIN

AN

CE


He added the ratio of non-performing loans was 1.1 percent last year, a year-on-year decline of 0.35 percentage points. "This level may be the lowest among credit institu-tions in Vietnam," he noted.Notably, Vietcombank reported a record pre-tax profit of over VND11 trillion last year, up a staggering 32.9 percent from a year earlier.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58002/Vietcombank-to-sell-shares-to-foreign-inves-tors.html

Hua Thi Phan to be prosecuted in phase 2 of notorious VNCB case


Related to the notorious VNCB case, the investigation agency under the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) proposed to prosecute Hua Thi Phan, former senior advisor of the Board of Management of Trust Bank and former chairwoman of the Board of Man-agement of Phu My Investment and Development JSC.On January 12, 2018, the investigation agency proposed to prosecute Hua Thi Phan and 27 suspects for "intentionally violating state regulations on economic management and causing serious consequences," "abusing trust to appropriate property," and "vio-lating regulations on credit institutions' lending activities" at Trust Bank (now Vietnam Construction BankVNCB).Specifically, the agency proposed to prosecute Ngo Kim Hue (former deputy general director of Trust Bank and director of Phu My Co., Ltd), Bui Thi Kim Loan (accountant of Phu My Co., Ltd) for "abusing trust to appropriate property" and "intentionally vi-olating state regulations." Lam Kim Dung, former director of Lam Giang Co., Ltd is proposed to be prosecuted for "abusing trust to appropriate property." The 24 other suspects are proposed to be prosecuted for "intentionally violating state regulations."According to the investigation conclusion, in June 2010, Hua Thi Phan and Phu My In-vestment and Development JSC and 14 other people bought over 254 million shares of Trust Bank for over VND2.5 trillion ($110 million).Phan abused her holding of nearly 85 per cent of the bank's charter capital to take over the management of all Trust Bank activities, taking over the entire board of manage-ment, executive board, and staff. She took over all investment, credit activities, as well as abused trust to appropriate and misuse more than VND12 trillion (nearly $530 mil-lion).Phan increased the value of the house at 5 Pham Ngoc Thach Street (District 3, HCM City) to sell to Trust Bank to cause financial damage of over VND1.1 trillion ($48.5 mil-lion).Bui Thi Kim Loan helped Phan to account and embezzle a total amount of VND5,256 billion ($231.6 million).Through 29 loans of Phu My, Phan embezzled over VND3.581 trillion ($158 million). She also asked Trust Bank to illegally invest into four other real estate projects to em-bezzle over VND1.037 trillion ($$45.7 million) and raised the value of other 25 proper-ties sold to Trust Bank to embezzle over VND1 trillion ($44 million).The agency has concluded that the violations of Hua Thi Phan and others caused seri-ous financial damage to Trust Bank, totalling at VND6.362 trillion ($280.3 million), ex-cluding the VND5.643 trillion in damages in three other violations which will be investigated in the second phase of the case.http://www.vir.com.vn/hua-thi-phan-to-be-prosecuted-in-phase-2-of-notorious-vncb-case.html

PM urges MPI to turn Vietnam into 'new tiger' of Asia


Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to offer the government solutions to boost economic development and turn Vietnam into a "new tiger" of Asia.Phuc, speaking on Monday at the ministry's conference to carry out 2018 tasks, urged the ministry to closely watch socio-economic developments to raise measures to meet growth targets this year.Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that the socio-economic


FIN

AN

CE


development in 2017 would create the impetus for the country to enter a new period of growth, one more efficient, sustainable and inclusive."The way towards innovation and development is still long, ahead with difficulties and challenges which require great effort to overcome," Dung said.The ministry was striving to enhance public management and improve the investment climate to promote production and efficiently attract private and direct foreign invest-ment resources, he added.In 2018, the ministry would focus on the compilation of laws to submit to the National Assembly, such as the Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units, the amended laws on public investment and enterprise as well as the law on investment under pub-lic-private partnership practice, deputy minister Nguyen Van Trung said.This year, the Vietnamese economy was expected to face a lot of difficulties from the uncertainty in the global economy, the return of protectionism, climate change, inter-national integration and the fourth industrial revolution, Trung said.However, opportunities abound, given the government's efforts to promote innova-tion associated with the industry 4.0 and enhance productivity and national competi-tiveness, he added."The core is maintaining macroecnomic stability and taking advantage of every oppor-tunity to create breakthroughs," he stressed.Trung said that the ministry would focus on studying policies to effectively raise every resource for development investment as well as solutions to hasten economic restruc-turing in line with renovating the growth model and enhancing growth quality.Nguyen Dinh Cung, director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said that Vietnam was a developing country and it was pressing to narrow the gap with de-veloped economies in the region and in the world. To achieve this goal, Vietnam must achieve an annual GDP growth rate of at least 8-10 per cent.Cung also said that the ministry must do more in its role as the economy's conductor.In 2017, Vietnam fulfilled targets set for all 13 socio-economic indicators and achieved a gross domestic product growth rate of 6.81 per cent, higher than the target of 6.7 per cent. The country also saw a record of 127 new firms in 2017.Measure the underground economySpeaking at the conference, director of Vietnam General Statistical Office Nguyen Bich Lam said that a statistical project of measuring the non-observed economy would be proposed to the prime minister for approval this year.The project aims to collect information on economic activities that affect the scale of the economy but are not measured in GDP, causing economic indicators to be underesti-mated.Lam said that the non-observed economy included production activities that were il-legal, underground, informal, or otherwise missed by the statistical system, according to the definition of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.http://bizhub.vn/news/pm-urges-mpi-to-turn-viet-nam-into-new-tiger-of-asia_291446.html

Vietnam's economy is recovering: East Asia Forum


Vietnam has recorded upbeat growth despite disadvantages brought about by the withdrawal of the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, according a recent article published on the East Asia Forum.In his article for the Forum's special feature series on 2017, Suiwah Leung, Honorary Associate Professor of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy, the Austral-ian National University, highlighted that the global economy's broad recovery throughout 2017 has assisted Vietnam's development.In the article named "Vietnam's economy stays its course despite external headwinds", Leung noted that Vietnam's GDP growth recovered to nearly 6.8 percent last year, driven mainly by growth in domestic demand, manufacturing and exports.He mentioned moderate inflation at 3 percent, hence the State Bank of Vietnam cutting its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent. The bank also raised its


FIN

AN

CE


annual credit growth target to 2021 percent, and actual credit growth remained high at 18.5 percent.The article said continued strong growth in goods and service exports resulted in a small current account surplus and international reserves rising to just below 3 percent of imports. The nominal exchange rate has remained relatively stable with a small de-valuation of about 1.4 percent. This helped stem the continued appreciation of the real exchange rate and improve competitiveness for the domestic sector.The article also pointed to challenges facing Vietnam, with budget deficits exceeding 6 percent of GDP in the past five years. Public sector debt has resultantly come close to the 65 percent of GDP limit set by the National Assembly.The author suggested that the government continue to pursue structural reforms in or-der to raise productivity growth.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnams-economy-is-recovering-east-asia-forum/124891.vnp

Moody's: Sweeping corruption crackdown may create perceptions of risk

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Vietnam's anti-graft efforts is credit positive, Moody's Investor Service stated in its lat-est report.Last week saw the trial of 22 executives, including a former Politburo member, begin over corruption and economic mismanagement at the State-owned oil company Petro-Vietnam and at Ocean Bank. The trial expresses the government's increasing focus on addressing broad-based corruption among State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and fol-lows a number of trials of officials last year.Such efforts are credit positive because they will strengthen the management of Viet-namese corporations and improve the country's relatively weak institutional frame-work through enhanced accountability and transparency. Sustained over time, investment flows and the economy have the potential to grow further.An improving operating environment has driven a steady increase in investment flows since 2009. Net foreign direct investment (FDI) increased to 6.5 per cent of GDP in January-September 2017 from an average of 5.2 per cent between 2014 and 2016. FDI flows are a chief driver of headline GDP growth and a key credit support.However, corruption remains a key challenge for investors. The World Economic Fo-rum's Global Competitiveness Index cites corruption as the third most problematic factor in doing business in Vietnam. Transparency International ranks Vietnam 113th out of 176 countries in corruption perception, while Worldwide Governance Indica-tors show that Vietnam's control of corruption rankings has consistently remained be-low those of similarly rated countries.Improved governance and control of corruption would contribute to preserving Viet-nam's competitiveness as a market-based economy and help sustain foreign investor interest, even in a scenario of shocks to global demand.Efforts to reduce corruption are also tied to the equitisation agenda. Partly in an effort to contain fiscal deficits and rein in a high debt burden, the government has been par-ticularly focused on the equitisation of SOEs.Owing to various factors, including their large size, the process of equitisation has been gradual, although the number of wholly government-owned SOEs fell to 506 in 2016 from more than 1,300 in 2011. Strengthening SOEs' governance practices and transparency and disclosures, and subjecting them to broader public scrutiny, would contribute to faster equitisation.Vietnam's top prosecution body on January 11 called for a notorious fugitive oil exec-utive to be sentenced to life in prison and a former Politburo member, HCM City Party Chief, and PetroVietnam Chair to receive 14-15 years in prison for their involvement in a massive corruption scandal at the oil giant.The Supreme People's Procuracy has accused Dinh La Thang, former Chair of the State-owned PetroVietnam, of "deliberately acting against State regulations on eco-nomic management, causing serious consequences", and the runaway Trinh Xuan Thanh of the same charge plus embezzling property.


FIN

AN

CE


The PetroVietnam trial opened on January 8 and is expected to last two weeks, taking place at the same time as a separate trial in HCM City where a $400 million fraud case involving the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB) and Sacombank is being heard.dtinews.vn/en/news/017004/54761/-moody-s--sweeping-corruption-crackdown-may-create-perceptions-of-risk.html

Industrial production motive for industrial growth


Strong growth in industrial production was the main motive for industrial expansion in 2017, minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said at a conference in Hanoi on January 15.The index of industrial production grew 9.4 percent in 2017, well above the growth of 7.4 percent in the previous year, driven by steady expansion in manufacturing-processing (14.5 percent), he noted.Consumption of the manufacturing-processing sector continued to enjoy a upward trend with an increase of 13.6 percent as of November, 2017, higher than the 8.5-per-cent rise in 2016, the minister highlighted, saying that the two-digit growth was seen in the consumption of beverage, garment and textiles, production of leather and leath-er products and production of medicine and pharmaceuticals, which contributed to boosting domestic production.He noticed that the inventory index witnessed a year-on-year surge of 8 percent, lower than the 8.3 percent year-on-year increase in 2016. Also, he said that the engineering sector worked to master design and manufacturing of structural steel to increase the local content rate.However, the support industry should be paid more attention so that local industrial production can join in the global production and value chain, he underlined.Production of the manufacturing-processing sector is forecast to continue to be on track in 2018 thanks to numerous operational investment projects.The Ministry is working on the restructuring of state-owned enterprises to better off business efficiency in key industrial segments of the country as part of efforts to realise the sector's goal of 9 percent growth in 2018.The move aims to slash management costs, improve business operation and ensure sustainable economic growth in the coming years, minister Anh said.The Ministry will prioritise networking events to connect and support local firms so that they can participate in supply chain while focus on foreign-invested projects to take advantages of economic integration.Under the support industry development programme, the ministry has carried out an array of projects to back automobile industry, electronics industry, garment and tex-tiles and leather shoes.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/industrial-production-motive-for-industrial-growth-minis-ter/124888.vnp

Social insurance debts amount to VND5.7 trillion


Companies across the country still owe about VND5.7 trillion (US$250.9 million) in so-cial insurance premiums, accounting for 3.3 percent of all receivables, Tien Phong newspaper quoted the Vietnam general Confederation of Labour (VGCL) as saying.At a conference on the sector's performance last year and plan for this year, VGCL vice president Tran Thanh Hai said unpaid wages for workers totalled more than VND321 billion.As for employment, Vietnam last year saw 126,900 enterprises established, creating jobs for more than 1.1 million people. However, over 72,700 firms filed for bankruptcy or suspended their operations.In addition, females aged over 35 working for enterprises in industrial parks and ex-port processing zones might easily lose their jobs.Workers' average monthly wage was VND5.2 million last year, up 7.2 percent over 2016, thanks to a minimum wage increase and bonuses on Tet holiday. Many workers had to work overtime to earn more money.


FIN

AN

CE


Living standards of workers in industrial parks have improved but many problems re-main unsolved such as the management of kindergartens for workers' children, Hai noted.Besides, worker strikes tend to increase and become more complicated. Last year saw 314 worker strikes in 36 cities and provinces, up by 28 cases over the previous year and equivalent to 2015 when the law on social insurance was amended, affecting workers' legitimate rights and benefits.In addition, the new pension calculation method stated in the 2014 Law on Social In-surance applicable from this year puts female workers at a disadvantage as they have to contribute social insurance for five more years, meaning 30 years, to enjoy the high-est pension rate of 75 percent. Retired females this year will be subject to pensions which are 4-10 percent lower than those retiring last year.Hai proposed more policies to improve workers' living standards.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58011/Social-insurance-debts-amount-to-VND57 trillion.html

Whitebook on IUU in Vietnam released


The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) on Sunday in-troduced the Whitebook on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) in Viet-nam.According to deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam, the book is an active communication programme by the VASEP, not only for fishermen, but also all seafood industry stakeholders.He said he hoped there will be improvements in general perceptions and behaviour towards unified undertakings in the IUU Action Programme, as a result.Furthermore, Tam said he wished that the European Commission will trust and ac-knowledge Vietnam's effort, and soon withdraw the yellow cards placed on Vietnam-ese fisheries.According to Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, VASEP's vice Chairwoman and Chief Executive Of-ficer of the IUU Steering Committee, the book, consisting of five chapters in Vietnam-ese and English, is a collection of basic information on IUU fishing.VASEP dedicated a chapter to expressing its views and messages on behalf of the Vi-etnamese seafood business community in opposing IUU fishing.The seafood sector is willing to support and join with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other stakeholders to carry out long-term national action against IUU exploitation.This publication provides an overview of Vietnam's fisheries sector, applied regula-tions and practices, the impact of recent yellow cards given by the European Union (UN) and the government of Vietnam's long-term action plan to combat IUU exploita-tion, including recommendations for stakeholders in the Vietnamese seafood value chain."We hope this publication will be a useful document in conveying basic information about IUU, contributing to raising awareness in the Vietnamese fishing sector and the global community, especially the EU market, about Vietnam's determination to fight against IUU exploitation, in the immediate and long-term," said Sac.The Whitebook was unveiled at a celebration in HCM City, on the occasion of Viet-nam's seafood exported value reaching the $8 billion mark in 2017.http://bizhub.vn/news/whitebook-on-iuu-in-viet-nam-released_291413.html

Export a bright spot of economic panorama


Vietnam's export-import exceeded 420 billion USD for the first time in 2017, of which export recorded the highest growth of 21.1 percent over the past seven years with 29 commodities joining the one billion USD club.Addressing a conference of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in Hanoi on January 15, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hailed the sector for its excellent per-formance in 2017.


FIN

AN

CE


In addition to the record export growth, as one of the top 10 events of the sector in 2017, the MoIT endeavoured to reduce and simplify 675 investment and business condi-tions, accounting for 55.5 percent of the total.Divestment at State-owned enterprises was one of the most notable achievements of the ministry last year with the successful auction of the shares of the Saigon Beer Al-cohol Beverage Corp (Sabeco), collecting nearly 110 trillion VND for the State, he said.This demonstrated the confidence of investors in the local market, the government and macro economy, he noted.PM Phuc hailed the efforts of State groups and companies under the management of the ministry, particularly Sabeco, and recognised significant and positive changes in the industrial growth model based on processing and manufacturing industries, and reduced imports.The MoIT worked to ensure goods supply-demand and create nearly 2.7 billion USD in trade surplus.The PM praised the ministry for pioneering in simplification and reduction of admin-istrative procedures, contributing to increasing national competitiveness. It seriously implemented the Party and government's directions on restructuring the apparatus and actively handling loss-making projects.He also pointed to shortcomings in the field and asked the ministry to quickly address them in 2018, including some policies hindering development, weak supply-demand forecast, and loose connectivity between production and market to reduce risks. Ex-ports remain in the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector, while the country still de-pends on imported materials.There are some restrictions in domestic market management and prevention of trade frauds. The reform of State firms is still at the snail speed and ineffective, he noted.The PM urged the MoIT to push ahead with processing and manufacturing industries in service of agriculture.The sector should prioritise investment attraction in hi-tech, competitive and environ-mentally friendly projects in 2018 and the following years as well as promote produc-tion towards exports, secure the domestic market, and seek goods distribution channels to increase added value in processing industry in Vietnam, he recommended.He underlined specific targets set by the government for the MoIT in 2018 such as in-dustry and construction striving to make up 7.7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and export turnover to expand by 8-10 percent against 2017.Localities must closely direct trade development and market management in their ar-eas, PM Phuc said.He hailed the ministry's initiative of organising dialogues with businesses to promote exports in 2018.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/export-a-bright-spot-of-economic-panorama/124889.vnp

Rosy outlook for Vietnam's garment trade


2018 is looking rosy for Vietnam's garment-textile industry, with exports forecasted to fetch 33.5- 34 billion USD, up 10 percent year-on-year.Chair of Hung Yen Garment Company (HUGACO) said he believes the achievements recorded in 2017, thorough preparations of businesses, and the government's plan on support industry development will support the industry to achieve robust growth.According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VTAA), at the beginning of 2017, the sector overcome a range of challenges caused by the pending Comprehen-sive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the de-creasing global demand for apparels.The industry reversed that trend from the second quarter of the year and ultimately raked in an export turnover of 31 billion USD, representing a rise of 10.23 percent from 2016.In the year, Vietnam's garment-textile exports to major markets like the US, the EU, Ja-pan, the Republic of Korea and Russia increased by 7.2 percent, 9.23 percent, 6.1 per-cent, 11.8 percent and 56 percent, respectively.


FIN

AN

CE


The growth of the Vietnamese garment-textile sector is rated the highest as compared with that of other garment-textile exporters like China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey and Indonesia.Duong said garment firms are expected to get more orders in 2018 but suffer pressures caused by dropping garment prices in many markets.Truong Van Cam, VTAA vice Chair, noted that the domestic garment enterprises will have compete with their rivals from Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh in terms of insurance, land, tax, transportation and customs procedure costs.Le Tien Truong, general director of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), suggested local garment-textile businesses focus on technological applications, invest-ment attraction and the building of connectivity chains of the VTTA.Apart from pouring more investments into design, original design manufacturing (ODM) should be increased to 10 percent in order to raise added values of products.To achieve the two-digit growth target in 2018, VTAA suggested businesses adapt to market changes, expand the domestic market and diversify products, while forming production chains.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/rosy-outlook-for-vietnams-garment-trade/124869.vnp

Indonesia to import rice from Vietnam


Indonesia will import 500,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam and Thailand to contain rice price hikes and declining supply in the local market.The imported rice will be of premium quality, not grown in Indonesia; so it will not affect local farmers and rice production, said Indonesian minister of Trade Enggartias-to Lukita. The country's current rice stocks were estimated at some 950,000 tonnes, most of which is low-grade rice to be distributed as aid for low-income people.Meanwhile, rice stocks for commercial purposes were only 11,000 tonnes. Previously, Indonesia's vice President Jusuf Kalla had called on the National Logistics Agency (Bu-log) to consider importing rice to bring down domestic prices.According to the National Strategic Food Prices Information Centre (PIHPSN), medi-um-quality rice is currently fetched at 14,100 IDR or $1 per kilogram.Rice prices vary among regions. West Papua reported the highest price of 14,250 IDR per kilogram, while the lowest price of over 9,700 IDR per kilogram was found in West Nusa Tanggara.http://bizhub.vn/news/indonesia-to-import-rice-from-viet-nam_291431.html

Indonesia issues anti-dumping investigation report on Vietnam steel


The Indonesian Anti-Dumping Committee (KADI) recently announced a statement of essential facts on the anti-dumping investigation of colour-coated steel sheets import-ed from Vietnam and China, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.Accordingly, relevant sides should give comments on the statement in document (both soft and hard copies) no later than January 22, 2018 to the KADI.The Indonesian committee will organise a hearing on the case on January 26 at the Ministry of Trade, JI.M.I Ridwan Rais No.5 Central Jakarta.Comments and registration list must be sent to the KADI before January 22.Earlier, KADI initiated the investigation on December 23, 2016 following complaints by PT NS BlueScope Indonesia alleging that repeated illegal trade practices devastated production and employment as well as caused irreparable harm to the Indonesian steel industry.The colour-coated steel investigated had the HS codes of 7210.70.70.00, 7212.40.10.00 and 7212.40.20.00.KADI said that from July 2015 to June 2016, Indonesia imported 224,120 tonnes of col-our-coated steel, of which imports from Vietnam and China were 196,191 tonnes, ac-counting for 87.5 percent of the country's total steel imports.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/indonesia-issues-antidumping-report-on-vietnam-china-steel/124862.vnp


FIN

AN

CE


Vietnam's cashew industry turns to Cambodia

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS

Vietnam is the world's leading cashew nut exporter, but the industry relies heavily on imported raw materialsVietnam's cashew industry has invested in 500,000 hectares of plantations in Cambo-dia with the vision of turning its southwestern neighbour into a major supplier.The Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) has pledged to provide technical support to Cambodian farm owners to reach a yearly yield of one million metric tonnes of raw cashew nuts by the end of 2028.According to Vinacas, as of 2017 Vietnam was the world's No.1 processor and exporter of cashew nuts, a position it has held for the last 12 consecutive years.Last year, the country exported over $3.5 billion worth of cashew, a 20-percent surge on 2016.However, local cashew nut processors rely heavily on raw materials imported from African countries, which have demanded a high price.Ho Ngoc Cam, director of a HCM City-based agricultural exporter, said the price of imported raw cashew nuts from Africa had risen from $1,000 per tonne to $2,200-2,300 per tonne over the past three or four years."Some Vietnamese businesses have remained in operation only to provide job security for their workers, as they make little to no profit based on the current price of raw im-ported cashews," Cam said.Shipments from Africa can also take up to 40 days to reach Vietnam, at a cost of $70-80 per tonne, further increasing costs of local cashew processors.Shipments from Cambodia will cost a little more than $10 per tonne, according to Vi-etnamese businesses.Vinacas president Nguyen Duc Thanh forecasts Vietnam's cashew processing capacity to reach two million tonnes per year, with domestic production accounting for less than a fifth of that demand, at 300,000-350,000 tonnes a year.Vietnam is currently ranked fourth globally in terms of cashew production, behind In-dia, Ivory Coast and Brazil.Cooperation with Cambodian producers to supply raw materials to Vietnamese processing companies is a profitable business model for both sides, Thanh asserted.Vietnam's long-term goal would be to turn Cambodia into its top supplier of the nut rather than Africa, he added.At a meeting with Vinacas last December, Hean Vann Horn, head of Cambodia's gen-eral Department of Agriculture, expressed his confidence that the country was more than capable of growing over 500,000 hectares of cashew.Prior to 2014, only 30 percent of Cambodia's raw cashew nuts were exported to Viet-nam, the Cambodian official said, but that figure had grown to 98 percent as of today.Thanh dismissed the idea that Cambodia could one day surpass Vietnam as a major cashew exporter, citing the Vietnamese businesses' use of modern technology to pro-duce top-quality products."Our competitors are China and India. Cambodia and African countries are our part-ners," he asserted.In 2017, Vietnamese businesses spent over $2.5 billion importing more than 1.3 million tonnes of raw cashew nuts for processing.To realise the goal of developing 500,000 hectares of cashew plantations in Cambodia, Vinacas has provided their Cambodian partners with monetary support of VND1.5 billion ($66,000) to grow one million cashew trees from now until 2022.https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20180115/vietnams-cashew-industry-turns-to-cambodia/43607.html

Customs clearance cost lowered


The export and import customs clearance cost has decreased by $19 per shipment thanks to the national one-door mechanism, according to the National Steering Com-mittee for the Asean Single Window.Therefore, enterprises in the country can save an estimated $205 million for around


FIN

AN

CE


10.8 million customs declarations, 15 million hours for storage of export goods, and 33 million hours for storage of import cargo.Deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue said at a 2017 review meeting of the commit-tee in Hanoi City that the result represented a mere 20 percent of the full-year target, so it could not be seen as a major reform achievement.Deputy minister of Finance Nguyen Thi Mai said eight out of 22 total procedures have been established through the Vietnam National Single Window. Other procedures may follow after the first quarter of this year.The number of items subject to specialised inspections account for a high proportion among import and export shipments. However, the inspection performance is still low, and a lot of legal documents should be amended. Besides, inspections frequently overlap among ministries and agencies.Nguyen Van Can, head of the general Department of Vietnam Customs, said half of 100 specialised inspection items are not yet standardised, and that the proportion of inspections in which violations are detected is a slight 0.14 percent.He added the specialised inspections that had made life more difficult for businesses are mainly from the Ministries of Industry-Trade, Heath, and Agriculture-Rural De-velopment.A representative of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said a survey found that 25 percent of respondents said it was difficult to comply with spe-cialised inspection procedures while only 8 percent said it was easy to comply.Deputy PM Hue proposed the VCCI finish its report as soon as possible so that the government could take a look at it.Creating favourable conditions for enterprises and fighting trade fraud should be done at the same time, Hue said. However, ministries and agencies must not take ad-vantage of trade fraud prevention and domestic production protection to hold on to their powers and thus impede business activity, he added.He told ministries and agencies to carry out all the 130 new procedures this year as reg-istered in the master plan for implementing the Vietnam National Single Window and the Asean Single Window for the 2016-2020 period.They should reduce the proportion of goods shipments subject to specialised inspec-tions in the customs clearance process from the current 30-35 percent to 15 percent in a bid to facilitate business activity, he said.He urged the elimination of overlapping regulations in specialised inspections and management activities, and the issuance of a list of commodities subject to specialised inspections.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58013/Customs-clearance-cost-lowered.html

Experts advise no VAT increase for now


Despite the Ministry of Finance's resheduling of a road map to increase value added tax (VAT), experts have called for the VAT hike to be shelved, according to a Thanh Nien newspaper report.According to the ministry's latest draft, VAT is raised from 10 percent to 11 percent as from 2019 and 12 percent as from 2020, compared to the previously planned rises of 12-14 percent from 10 percent.Le Hoang Chau, chair of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said the current VAT of 10 percent should be maintained until 2020 as inflation has stayed at below 4 percent in recent years and is expected to be low this year.As inflation has been put under control, a higher tax may prompt a return to high in-flation. Consumers are those directly affected by the VAT hike as they will have to pay more for commodities and services.Tax expert Nguyen Thai Son also urged a second thought on the tax rise. According to Son, Vietnam's 10 percent VAT is already higher than that of Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, whereas these countries have higher per capita income. Vietnam, instead of revising up VAT, should find ways to increase revenue from e-commerce and fight transfer pricing.


FIN

AN

CE


In the recent draft of the ministry, the personal income tax on capital transfers by for-eigners is 2 percent regardless of transfer locations, and the rate on transfer of listed shares is 0.1 percent. Capital transfers currently are charged 20 percent of profit, and foreigners are subject to a 0.1 percent rate of the amount they receive.It is not easy to control costs relating to capital transfers by individuals, according to the ministry. Therefore, the ministry has proposed a tax rate of 2 percent on foreigners' capital transfer in the new draft instead of 1 percent as in the previous draft.Thanh Nien newspaper quoted Nguyen Hoang Hai, vice chair of the Vietnam Associ-ation of Financial Investors, as saying that the rate differential of unlisted securities and listed shares is too big.A 1 percent rate on capital transfer would be appropriate as Vietnamese companies are in need of capital, especially startups, whereas a high rate would restrict venture cap-ital flows into such businesses. In addition, investing in unlisted companies, investors already take high risks due to unclear data of those companies in comparison to listed ones.Besides, there is no mention of VAT on land transfers in the recent draft. Chau said that the removal of VAT on land transfers is reasonable, or else there would be an overlap with the land use fee.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58015/Experts-advise-no-VAT-increase-for-now-.html

Tax on imported sugar to remain at 5pct


The tax on imported sugar, as stipulated by the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (AT-IGA), will be maintained at 5 per cent from the beginning of this year, instead of zero per cent as previously rumoured.This was announced in Decree 156/2017/ND-CP, stipulating Vietnam's special prefer-ential import taxes in ATIGA for the 2018-22 period.According to the Vietnam Sugar and Sugarcane Association (VSSA), this was a good sign for the local sugar industry, as they would face difficulties if the tax was lowered to zero per cent.The association said that the price of shares of some sugar companies in 2017 were con-tinuously falling, mainly because producers were afraid of competition from sugar im-porters if the zero per cent tax had been actually imposed on imported sugar.VSSA's figures indicated that the wholesale price of sugar last month was VND12,700-14,000 per kilo, a decline of VND200-300 per kilo over the previous month.By maintaining the 5 per cent import tax under ATIGA, together with abundant sugar supplies and lower selling prices, local businesses would not import sugar from other countries.By the end of last year, sugar inventories were some 240,000 tonnes.VSSA said the sugar supply would meet the country's demand in the first month of 2018, even with increased sales during the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) Holiday.Sugarcane is cultivated on more than 300,000ha across the country, employing 330,000 households, or 1.5 million farmers, and 350,000 workers.http://bizhub.vn/news/tax-on-imported-sugar-to-remain-at-5_291419.html

State Auditor asked to improve organisation for better performance


National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has asked the State Audit to finalise a plan to better its organisational apparatus by 2020 with a vision to 2030, while improving the quality and capacity of its staff to increase the agency's performance. Addressing a conference to launch the 2018 task of the State Audit in Hanoi on January 15, the top legislator urged the agency to review the Law on State Audit and submit a comprehensive assessment of the law to the NA for revision.The State Audit should also focus on strengthening the application of technology in line with administrative reform, while fostering international cooperation to host the 14th Assembly of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions in 2018, she said.Stressing that the country is entering a new development period, the NA leader ex-


FIN

AN

CE


pressed her belief that the State Audit will overcome all difficulties to successfully ful-filling all assigned tasks.General State Auditor Ho Duc Phoc affirmed that the State Audit will continue exert-ing efforts to complete its target for 2018.According to its 2017 report, the State Audit completed all 257 audits, approved 273 audit reports and issued 193 other reports.As of January 4, 2018, the organisation discovered financial violations of 43.66 trillion VND. It voided 96 legal documents to avoid losses and wastefulness, while discover-ing a redundancy of 57,175 public servants and employees.The State Audit also evaluated the value of six enterprises before their equitisation, and exploring additional 504.5 billion VND needed to be paid to the State budget.On the occasion, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan presented the Independ-ence Order, third class, to former Auditor general Nguyen Huu Van, and the Labour Order, second class, to Auditor general Ho Duc Phoc. A number of individuals and collectives were also honoured.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/state-auditor-asked-to-improve-organisation-for-better-performance/124894.vnp

Ministry builds mechanism for land agglomeration, large-scale farming


The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) will continue to work towards an institutional breakthrough for promoting the agglomeration of land for large-scale agricultural production.The ministry will submit to the National Assembly a draft law on adjusting and sup-plementing a number of articles of the Land Law for consideration.The ministry will also submit to the government a draft decree and a draft prime min-ister's decision on land agglomeration.According to the general Department of Land Management under the MoNRE, many localities are taking steps in this direction. The Red River delta province of Thai Binh has seen the accumulation of 3,220ha of land, on a scale of at least 10ha for each plot. The Mekong delta province of An Giang has developed large-scale fields of at least 50ha.At the same time, the MoNRE will also push ahead with reform of administrative pro-cedures for land use, construction and housing. It will pilot new policies on land re-covery, compensation and resettlement with the goal of speeding ground clearance for investment projects, while improving land access for both domestic and foreign-in-vested enterprises.The ministry will propose solutions to develop the market for land use right.The general Department of Land Management has completed the designing and eval-uation of land uses plans for all 63 centrally-run cities and provinces.The administrative reform in issuing land use right certificate has resulted in stream-lined procedures and efficient enforcement. Around 1.8 million first-time certificates have been issued during 2017, bringing the percentage of land area with legal land use right certificates to 96.6 percent.In addition, 237 out of 700 district-level administrative units across the country have started building their land database serving the operation of an e-government.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193994/ministry-builds-mechanism-for-land-agglomeration--large-scale-farming.html

HCM City says commercial apartments should be at least 45 square meters


The HCM City government has again proposed the Construction Ministry issue a set of national technical criteria for apartments, including the minimum area of commer-cial apartments at 45 square meters, Thanh Nien newspaper reports.The move is in response to an official letter of the ministry suggesting the city govern-ment allow for 20-25 percent of commercial apartments to measure 25 to 45 square me-ters each in residential projects in the downtown area where there is a high population density and insufficient technical infrastructure.


FIN

AN

CE


Housing projects on the outskirts of the city should be subject to a higher proportion of small apartments if there are a lot of factory workers there, according to the minis-try.However, the municipal government has repeatedly turned down the proposal, insist-ing that each commercial apartment should have a minimum area of 45 square meters in line with the National Standards TCVN 4451:2012 on basic principles for home de-signs.The number of migrants from other parts of the country has been rising fast, by around 2,000 people a year, according to the municipal government. Therefore, the city's actu-al population is around 13 million people.However, an amended master plan for developing the city until 2025 which has re-ceived approval from the prime minister sets its total population at 10 million.Rapid urbanisation and strong growth in population and private vehicle ownership have put huge pressure on the city's already-overstretched technical and social infra-structure.Developing commercial apartments of less than 45 square meters each may lure more people from other parts of the country to come and settle down in the city, thus making matters worse.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58003/HCM City-says-commercial-apartments-should-be-at-least-45-square-meters.html

Survey helps HCM City plan policy


The 2017 Economic Survey in HCM City has provided basic data about the number of enterprises, workers, the economic efficiency of companies and administrative units and proportion of information technology application, delegates heard at last Friday's meeting to review the survey."Such data will be a foundation for city authorities to build action plans and set up pol-icies for socio-economic development in an effort to encourage modern science and technology application in all economic industries and administrative units," Le Thanh Liem, vice chair of the municipal People's Committee and head of the Steering Com-mittee for 2017 Economic Survey said.According to the results of the survey, HCM City now has 633,637 economic, admin-istrative and religious units, an increase of 27 per cent in comparison with 2011.Of this amount, there are 173,000 enterprises, an increase of 62 per cent in comparison with 2011 and non-State enterprises make up 97.36 per cent, an increase of 65.35 per cent.Total capital at these non-State enterprises has increased 2.11 times to VND3.2 quad-rillion (US$142 billion) and this is also the group that has created the most new jobs for labourers.However, the survey also shows that despite the fact that the number of enterprises has rapidly grown, most of them are small or tiny.Only 38 per cent of enterprises, around 64,600, have profits while nearly 97,000 others 56.5 per cent suffer losses.Total number of workers is 4.1 million, an increase of 19 per cent in comparison with 2011."The survey's results have reflected a real picture about the socio-economic activities of the city and it is necessary to promote industrial production and business in order to ensure development and social welfare," Liem added.To complete the survey, the vice chair instructed the departments of Planning and In-vestment, Taxation and Statistics to cooperate in reviewing 300,000 registered enter-prises and 173,000 active enterprises.For enterprises, industries and districts which did not cooperate in the survey, Liem requested the Statistics Department mete out punishment based on the Statistics Law.This is one of three national statistics programmes, regulated by the prime minister. It is taken every five years and this is the fifth survey in Vietnam.http://bizhub.vn/news/survey-helps-hcm-city-plan-policy_291436.html


FIN

AN

CE


Deposit requirement unchanged for travel firms


Operators of local tours still have to place a VND100 million deposit while the deposit requirement for firms organising local, inbound and outbound tours is kept at VND500 million under the 2017 tourism law, which went into force this month.According to Nguyen Quy Phuong, head of the Travel Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the 2017 tourism law stipulates a VND100 million deposit for companies offering local tours, VND250 million for those offering inbound tours and VND500 million for those arranging outbound tours. However, since providers of outbound tours can offer local tours, companies with out-bound and inbound tours do not need to make additional deposits for local tours, or those with a VND500 million deposit can cover three travel segments."Beside the deposits, travel companies have to meet other requirements but the new law does not impose higher deposits," Phuong told a meeting on the law last Friday.Vietnam now has around 1,800 travel companies with outbound tour operating licens-es, 80 percent of them active in local, outbound and inbound travel services.As for companies licensed to offer international travel services before the 2017 tourism law came into force, they do not have to seek new licenses but they have to meet the new business requirements in 12 months.As explained by VNAT deputy director general Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, to obtain travel service licenses, investors were previously required to have three years' experi-ence. But now, they have to possess travel operating certificates and need 12 months to obtain them.Vietnam welcomed 12.9 million international tourists and 73.2 million local tourists last year. Tourism revenue was estimated at VND510.9 trillion, or $23 billion.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58000/Deposit-requirement-unchanged-for-travel-firms.html

Vietnam an ideal destination for foreign startups


Vietnam has become an ideal location to start a business, not only for young overseas Vietnamese people but also for expats thanks to the country's strong economic growth in recent years.Vietnam has had many programmes that have helped create a dynamic startup eco-system by facilitating a wide range of supporting activities, such as training, mentor-ship and business incubation and acceleration.Nguyen Xuan Bang, one of the founders of Gcalls in Singapore and has come back to Vietnam since 2016 to start the business here with an aim of developing the company's product in the Vietnamese market, said that startups get benefits from these pro-grammes."Startup Vietnam Foundation, for instance, helps Gcalls connect with mentors, inves-tors and customers. We also have been guided in how to develop our business," Bang said, adding that Gcalls has joined business incubators and startup centres under Vi-etnam National University-HCM to get more assistance from their experts.Gcalls develops infrastructure and software for a web-based call centre. The startup's software breaks down communication barriers between buyers and sellers. It allows anyone to buy on any e-commerce site regardless of connection speed. in December 2017, the company received a promised investment of $1 million from Vina Capital through Shark Tank Vietnam, a reality television show designed to help startups lo-cate funds.Loic Gautier, who works with Pierre-Antoine Brun from France to set up Leflair in 2015, a shopping destination for premium brands in Vietnam, said: "Over the past few years, Vietnam's government has been putting a lot of efforts into supporting start-ups.""I have seen a lot of communities gathering entrepreneurs and sharing practices on how to build a company, which reflects the strong entrepreneurship of the Vietnam-ese," Gautier said.Moreover, the country has had financing programmes to support the growth of new


FIN

AN

CE


companies. Vietnam's government is also committed to building a fair and competi-tive business environment.Gautier, Leflair's CEO, said that Vietnam's government has also made efforts to pro-mote online shopping."We chose Vietnam because e-commerce here was under the radar and only nascent. The demographics and internet penetration numbers were a perfect fit for fast adop-tion of a service like ours, and coupled with a large amount of consumers frustrated with the lack of shopping options and product offerings when it comes to brands, it looked like the perfect base on which to build Leflair," Gautier added.Following the flash-sales model that has proven to be successful in Europe and China, such as Vente-privee.com and Vip.com, Leflair provides its customers with limited-time only deals of premium brands discounted up to 70 per cent off the retail price.After two years in operation, the website now has over one million in monthly traffic, 700,000 members and partners with 1,100 local and international premium brands. To date, Leflair has successfully closed three rounds of funding and attracted top foreign investors, including Google's vice president for India and Southeast Asia Rajan Anan-dan.Most of them are first-time investors into Vietnam, he said, adding that more and more investors are eager to invest in Vietnamese startups.However, the legal and administrative environment, for example, lags behind the spe-cific needs of fast growing companies who often find themselves trying to move fast in a rigid system still dominated by slow procedures, Gautier said.A simplification and digitalisation of financial, tax, legal and administrative proce-dures, as in a country like Singapore, would be greatly beneficial to startup companies and entrepreneurs, he added.Moreover, "Our difficulties mostly revolve around attracting enough talent in a very scarce market. To build a large business, especially in a new field such as e-commerce, we need a large number of people with a level of technical knowledge and skills that are still relatively new in Vietnam," he added.Nguyen Xuan Phu, chair of Sunhouse Group's management board, which is an inves-tor in the Shark Tank Vietnam programme, said that as Vietnam develops, it should be easy for startups to earn profits. However, they should be careful.Due to economic cycles which are the natural fluctuations of the economy between pe-riods of expansion (growth) and contraction (recession), they may not have a lot of ex-perience and it be difficult to manage during a downturn.Phm Thanh Hng, vice chair at CEN Group, which is also one of the investors in the pro-grame of Shark Tank Vietnam, said that the foreign startups and those who study abroad and start up businesses overseas have many strengths, including more practi-cal ideas for business and the way to develop this idea into reality professionally.http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/421124/viet-nam-an-ideal-destination-for-foreign-startups.html

Clearing hurdles is a must for business operations

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV

Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to step up the process of lifting barriers for businesses to facilitate their opera-tions in the near future by reducing management costs, improving business efficiency, and ensuring sustainable growth.The government leader made the request at the Ministry's meeting in Hanoi on Janu-ary 15 to review the industry and trade sector's performance in 2017 and formulate tasks for 2018.In his speech, PM Phuc hailed the sector's overall achievements over the past year and highlighted its role in national economic development, noting that what have been achieved has showed its honour and responsibility for prosperity and the destiny of the nation.According to a report given by MoIT minister Tran Tuan Anh on achievements made in the sector in 2017, the sector fulfilled or even surpassed all targets set by the National


FIN

AN

CE


Assembly and the government providing a significant contribution to the country's so-cio-economic development.Notably, the industrial production index grew by 9.4 percent with the manufacturing and processing industry showing impressive growth of 14.5 percent, generating the impetus for the expansion of the whole industry in 2017.Last year saw Vietnam's exports rise 21 percent to cross the $200 billion mark for the first time, which was especially dramatic growth considering the slow growth in glo-bal trade while many markets were finding ways to enhance domestic protectionism and strict controls on imports.Markets with which Vietnam signed free trade agreements witnessed substantial gains as the opportunities presented by integration commitments were better exploited than in previous years.To reach and surpass this year's targets set for the sector by the National Assembly and government, the focus will be on nine key tasks, including effective implementation of the domestic trade development strategy through 2025, with a view ahead toward 2035 with the prime minister's approval to lay the foundations for stronger economic growth in the years to come.The Ministry will also accelerate equitisation, State capital disinvestment and restruc-turing of State-owned enterprises, while promoting the development of different eco-nomic sectors and forms of enterprise in line with the resolution adopted at the 12th Party Central Committee's on fine-tuning institutions on the socialist-oriented market economy.http://english.vov.vn/economy/clearing-hurdles-is-a-must-for-business-operations-366716.vov

Incentives needed for SMEs to join green growth projects


Incentives are needed to encourage small- and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) to join green growth projects, said Hoang Thi Hong, director of the SME Development Fund (SMEDF) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.According to Hong, while SMEs account for 98 percent out of over 500,000 operational enterprises, not many are interested in sustainable development because they think green projects have higher costs and thus require big investment, which is SMEs' weak point.However, with improved living condition and deep integration into the international economy, consumers have increasingly stricter requirements for products, Hong said, adding that implementing green growth projects will help SMEs save resources and shift to creativity.Meanwhile, Adam Ward, Country Representative of the Global Green Growth Insti-tute (GGGI) said Vietnam is slow at implementing the National Strategy for Green Growth. He attributed the delay to the lack of knowledge of sustainable growth among Vietnamese firms.He said the SMEDF is collaborating with the GGGI and relevant bodies to develop a handbook on green credit access for SMEs, which will guide them on conditions and procedures to receive credit support for green development from the fund.It will also help SMEs in developing their green and sustainable development projects.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/incentives-needed-for-smes-to-join-green-growth-projects/124866.vnp

The 'bottlenecks' in Vietnam's tourism


Tourism is emerging as one of the most promising business fields, but its development has been hindered by many inadequacies.In the WEF (World Economic Forum) report on 2017 tourism competitiveness index, Vietnam ranks 34th out of 136 countries in terms of tourism natural resources, 30th in cultural resources and 37th in human resources."These are pretty high rankings, but when combined with other factors, the overall competitive index for Vietnam is only the 67th position," said Luong Hoai Nam, who


FIN

AN

CE


has many years of experience in the aviation industry and is involved in Gotadi.com.In 2011-2016, the number of domestic travellers increased from 30 million to 62 million, exceeding the target set for 2025 (58 million travellers). The number of foreign travel-lers increased from 6 million to 10 million, equal to the figure set for 2020.During that time, the total revenue from travellers increased from VND130 trillion to VND400 trillion. The tourism revenue in 2016 increased by 26 times if compared with 2000. The tourism industry generated 2.8 million jobs (2015), accounting for 5.2 percent of total labour force.Nevertheless, according to Nam, with 10 million foreign travellers, Vietnam is still lag-ging far behind other regional countries. 32.6 million foreign travellers came to Thai-land in 2016, 26.8 million to Malaysia and 16.4 million to Singapore.Cambodia, a country with a population of 15 million, one-sixth of Vietnam's, received 5 million foreign travellers in 2016, half of the number of foreign travellers to Vietnam.The modest achievements are blamed on the 'bottlenecks' which have existed for many years in policies related to tourism development.The level of international openness in tourism (mainly visas) ranks 73rd; attention to tourism development ranks 101st; IT platform 80th; clean and safe environment 82nd; sustainable development 129th; business environment 68th; airport infrastructure 61st; ground traffic 71st; tourist service infrastructure 113rd; and safety and security for visitors 57th.Nam suggested applying a number of solutions to develop tourism as a key industry.One of his noteworthy ideas is the establishment of a ministry in charge of tourism de-velopment. Vietnam now has VNAT (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism), which is a department belonging to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.If this cannot be done, the VNAT should be put under the control of an economy-re-lated ministry, such as the ministry of industry and trade.Tourism has been chosen to be developed as a key industry. The targets which were previously set for 2030 have become the goals needed by 2020.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193625/the--bottlenecks--in-vietnam-s-tourism.html

Seafood sector continues to thrive


The seafood sector will strive to exceed this year's export target of $8.5 billion set by the government, the head of the industry's main business group has said.Ngo Van Ich, chair of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said besides surpassing the target this year, the sector was also on track to achieve exports of $10 billion by 2020.Speaking at a ceremony in HCM City on Sunday, he said exports had reached a record $8.3 billion last year.The ceremony was organised by VASEP and the Saigon Newport Corporation to mark the shipment of the year's first consignment of seafood at Cat Lai-Tan Cang Port.The consignment consisted of 20 tonnes of frozen shrimps sent to Canada, 20 tonnes of mahi-mahi to the US and 22 tonnes of frozen tra fish fillet to the European Union worth a total of more than $590,000.Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong hailed the ef-forts made by the seafood sector."This year we will encounter many challenges, but will also have opportunities."The challenges include getting a "yellow card" sticker on illegal, unreported and un-regulated (IUU) fishing by the European Commission and restructuring production and exploitation in a sustainable manner."We are in the process of implementing a new fisheries law and action programmes to lift the warning on Vietnamese seafood about IUU fishing."Cuong said the sector had a good foundation in terms of infrastructure, production methods and organisation and was likely to surpass the target set by the ministry of $8.5 billion, he said.In addition to traditional markets such as the United States and the European Union


FIN

AN

CE


that Vietnamese exporters have exploited well, he said the sector needed to penetrate promising markets such as Australia, Japan and South Korea."Indian, Chinese and Asean markets are also very good ones, but we have not exploit-ed them much. This year we must focus on ways to better exploit these markets."Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP general secretary, said the US, Japan, China and South Ko-rea were the top four markets for Vietnamese seafood products, accounting for more than 55 per cent of shipments.The strong growth markets last year were China (up 64.4 per cent), the Netherlands (up 48.6 per cent), Britain (up 36.4 per cent), South Korea (up 29.1 per cent), Canada (up 22.3 per cent) and Japan (up 20 per cent).VASEP said shrimps accounted for $3.8 billion of the exports last year.Tra fish exports were worth nearly $1.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4 per cent despite difficulties in many export markets, it said.http://bizhub.vn/news/seafood-sector-continues-to-thrive_291412.html

VN wants footwear, bags to yield $20b


Vietnam has set a goal of earning between $19.5 billion and $20 billion from footwear, bags and suitcases in 2018, up 10 per cent and 12 per cent from 2017.These targets may be not out of reach thanks to an encouraging export performance last year and a positive market forecast for 2018, said Nguyen Duc Thuan, chair of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso) at a conference in the capital city last week.Meanwhile, the association's vice president, Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, said positive signs in the world's economy and increasing consumption demand would create favourable conditions for domestic firms in exports and investment.According to Lefaso, the industry is expected to grow 5 per cent from last year, with the localisation rate reaching 55 per cent. Footwear will remain Vietnam's top four ex-ports and handbags will remain among the top 10 exports.To help Vietnamese exporters realise the targets, the association will participate in rel-evant policy making while luring foreign and domestic investment in support indus-tries, thus increasing the localisation rate and ensuring sustainable development.It will also host trade promotion events, workshops, and training classes to improve the management capability of enterprises.In 2017, the sector managed to earn $18 billion from exports, up 10.7 per cent year-on-year amid the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific- Partnership, Lefaso's statistics re-vealed.Of the total export value, footwear accounted for $14.67 billion, up 12.8 per cent year-on-year, while bags and suitcases made up $3.26 billion, up 2 per cent year-on-year.The United States, the European Union, China, Germany and Japan were the largest export markets for Vietnamese footwear, bags and suitcases in the reviewed period.Last year also saw an increase in the number of enterprises involved in making value-added products. That made a real contribution to accelerating the sector's export earn-ings, said Thuan.http://bizhub.vn/news/vn-wants-footwear-bags-to-yield-20b_291411.html

Vietnam's logistics sector too expensive to compete with foreign rivals: experts

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS

Local firms have to pay a variety of fees in Vietnam, explaining the high cost of their services.Vietnamese logistics companies are growing in number thanks to strong imports and exports, but that does not mean the services they provide are becoming more afforda-ble.In fact, they are still more expensive than services provided by foreign firms, making them less competitive, according to experts, Nhan Dan (People) newspaper reported.Data from the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA) shows that the country's logistics sector has been growing strongly at an annual rate of 15-16 percent.Around 1,300-1,500 logistics firms are performing well in Vietnam, accounting for 80


FIN

AN

CE


percent of the total companies in the sector.With the import-export industry developing positively, securing a total revenue of more than $400 billion in 2017, the highest since 2006, the logistics sector has consider-able room for expansion.In 2014, the World Bank ranked Vietnam's logistics performance index at 53rd out of 160 markets. Two years later, the country dropped to 64th and stood fourth in South-east Asia after Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.The cost of logistics services in Vietnam currently accounts for 25 percent of the coun-try's GDP, while the rate stands at only 9.5 percent in the US, 11 percent in Japan, 16 percent in South Korea, and 21.6 percent in China, said the Vietnam Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (VCCI).The cost of transporting a container from Hai Phong 120 kilometers (75 miles) to Hanoi using a local company is three times higher than what foreign firms charge to ship a container from China or South Korea to Vietnam, according to the VCCI.Le Duy Hiep, chair of the VLA, was quoted by Nhan Dan as saying that limited scale, capital, experience, management, high-tech application and staff are to blame for the high costs of Vietnamese logistics services.Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong, director of Minh Nhat Co Ltd, a logistics company in north-ern Vietnam, said local firms have to pay a variety of fees not applicable to foreign companies in Vietnam, explaining the higher costs of their services.The quality of staff in the domestic logistics sector is low, which makes it less attractive than foreign rivals, she said.To increase the competitiveness of Vietnam's logistics sector, she said the government should focus on staff training, increasing cooperation between different means of transportation and simplifying administrative procedures.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/vietnam-s-logistics-sector-too-expensive-to-compete-with-foreign-rivals-experts-3698868.html

Kien Giang calls for investment


The 2018 Kien Giang Province investment promotion forum held on Monday was seen as an affirmative undertaking to establish the province's potential, economic strengths and call for investment.Pham Vu Hong, Chair of the Kien Giang provincial People's Committee, affirmed at the forum that his local government is dedicated to creating the most favourable busi-ness conditions and the highest preferential policy mechanisms to ensure future sus-tainable socio-economic development.In giving an overview of the province's agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining and tourism sectors, he confirmed that local government puts great emphasis on imple-menting strategic breakthroughs, economic restructure, business growth model reno-vation, raising productivity, efficiency and competitiveness.Bearing in mind that sustainable economic strength means more business opportuni-ties, Kien Giang Province is committed to guaranteeing administrative consistency and transparency to ensure investors and enterprises enjoy the provisions of Vietnam-ese law, said Hong.Provincial administrative authorities spoke with investors and enterprises at the fo-rum on future investment key projects in the manufacturing industry and agriculture sector.Investors were particularly interested in India's ION Exchange Ltd's three major projects in the area, from the Cua Can Reservoir with $71.2 million in investment cap-ital, the Phu Quoc wastewater treatment plant with $119.7 million, to the Rach Gia wastewater treatment system with about $40 million.In response, provincial authorities reaffirmed their priority for investment projects in the fields of waste treatment and environmental protection, as a key indication of sus-tainable development, in addition to well-established areas of hi-tech agriculture, for-estry and aquaculture, manufacturing and tourism.As such, Kien Giang Province will carry out six more environment-related investment


FIN

AN

CE


projects worth about $199 million, while simultaneously working on nine industrial infrastructure projects at $280 million, 14 tourism projects at more than $185 million, six urban development projects at $77.9 million and eight agro-aquatic processing projects estimated at $40.9 million.According to Dao Van Ho, director of the Centre for Trade Promotion of Agriculture under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, total funding for Kien Giang Province's 2018 investment promotion activities would be around $515,000, of which State budget support would account for $35,000, leaving the rest to provincial budget and social mobilisation.According to the province's Department of Industry and Trade, the 2017 provincial ex-port turnover reached $470 million, focusing on agricultural and aquatic products, ex-ceeding 17.5 per cent of the annual target and up by 34 per cent from 2016's numbersThe forum's attendants included more than 120 investors and business representatives from home and abroad, together with delegates from the Indian and Italian general Consulates in HCM City and the Management Board of HCM City's Agricultural Hi-tech Park.http://bizhub.vn/news/kien-giang-calls-for-investment_291444.html

Japanese firms sound out business prospects in Vietnam


The Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) has organised a networking event for Vietnamese and Japanese businesses in Hanoi City in order to facilitate their coopera-tion, the Vietnam News Agency reports.The event was part of a JETRO project for nurturing new industries in Japan and Asean countries, including Vietnam, to promote cooperation in some fields such as informa-tion technology, digitalisation, and Internet of Things.More than 100 representatives of Vietnamese and Japanese enterprises took part in the event in Hanoi City last Friday.Hironobu Kitagawa, chief representative of JETRO in Hanoi, said Vietnam is the fifth country after Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia where the organisa-tion has held networking events as part of the project.The event is aimed at creating an opportunity for companies of the two countries to cooperate with each other, he said.Japanese startups develop various business ideas, and have the ability to assess market demand in Japan and other nations while Vietnamese counterparts have technical skills and creativity. Therefore, they will have good chances of becoming partners, he added.Le Thai Phong, a lecturer specialising in business administration at the Foreign Trade University, said various organisations from ministries, State agencies, universities, and embassies offer their support for startups. However, a representative agency for the Vietnamese startup ecosystem has yet to exist.Other participants also voiced their concerns over some disadvantages to the local startup ecosystem compared with its equivalents in other countries.For example, they said, local startups spend at least $50 and seven days registering to obtain business licenses. Meanwhile, those in other countries take around 30 minutes and pay no charge.Besides, State and private companies in the same business environment receive differ-ent treatments for administrative procedures.Phong stressed the government has offered policy incentives for startups, but local au-thorities have still made life difficult for these companies.english.thesaigontimes.vn/57999/Japanese-firms-sound-out-business-prospects-in-Vi-etnam.html

Asian investors pour capital into VN real estate projects


The strong capital flow from Asian investors has helped warm up the real estate mar-ket and revive projects which have been left idle for many years.Happyland, an entertainment complex in Ben Luc district of Long An province, has


BU

SIN

ES

SVietnam finance & business 16 January 2018

kicked off again after six years of interruption because of the investor's financial prob-lems.In the immediate time, Phu An Construction & Infrastructure Development, a subsid-iary of Khang Thong Group, will build a 5-star hotel (1,000 rooms), a resort, entertain-ment area and shopping mall.The $2 billion project was expected by Khang Thong to become a 'Disneyland in Viet-nam'.Khang Thong's president Phan Thi Phuong Thao said at the project re-launch ceremo-ny that the project was revived thanks to the strategic investor Vina Oscar Hotel Ltd from Hong Kong.A source from Khang Thong said an 88 percent stake of the project, worth $668 million, has been transferred to Vina Oscar Hotel.The source also said the deal will help the company fulfill the debt payment obligation and resume project implementation.Asked about the capital contribution by Vina Oscar Hotel into Happyland project, an official of the Long An provincial investment department said legally there has been no change in investors.However, the investor recently asked about the procedures for foreign investors to contribute capital to projects.An analyst said the Vietnamese real estate market has caught attention from foreign investors, especially those from Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Particularly, capi-tal flow from China has been increasing rapidly.Hong Kong Land is expected to become the strategic partner to team up with CII to develop houses in the Thu Thiem new urban area in HCM City.The real estate market has also become busy with commitments by investors who have been present in Vietnam for many years.Hong Kong-based Sunwah in October announced investment in Sunwah Pearl project in Binh Thanh district, expected to be the third large real estate project in Vietnam. The other two are Sunwah Tower and Saigon Pearl.Analysts said that M&As are a growing tendency because this allows foreign investors to save time following procedures. They can access a 'clean land fund' and won't have to spend time on site clearance.Than Thanh Vu from Sao Khue, a consultancy firm, said Japanese investors, who are cautious and demand transparency, tend to make investments through M&As.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193041/asian-investors-pour-capital-into-vn-real-estate-projects.html

BUSINESSZ NEWSBusiness Briefs 16 January, 2018

16/JAN/2017 INTELLASIA |

* Khang Dien House Trading and Investment Company (KDH) has approved a plan to merge with its subsidiary Binh Chanh Construction and Investment Company (BCI) at an extraordinary shareholder meeting last Friday. KDH currently owns 53 percent ofBCI and will issue 51.8 million new shares to acquire the remaining 47 percent of BCI (37 million shares). According to the plan, the swap ratio will be 1.4-for-1, meaning that 1.4 KDH shares will be exchanged for one BCI share and the swap should be con-ducted after the State Securities Commission gives approval this year. After the swap, BCI will delist from the Hochiminh Stock Exchange and become a limited liability company, 100 percent owned by KDH.* Mobile World Investment Group (MWG) has successfully purchased 23.6 million TAG shares, equivalent to a 95.2 percent stake. According to the Hanoi Stock Ex-change's trading data, the average transaction price was VND34,900 per share, said Viet Capital Securities Company. This is the same price MWG will pay to acquire the remaining 4.8 percent stake in TAG. This acquisition price puts TAG's total valuation at VND866 billion. For the 6.2 million MWG shares to be issued to sellers of the said 95.2 percent stake, MWG will have to spend an additional VND287 billion to secure 100 percent ownership of TAG.* Hanoi Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (BH ) targets pre-tax profit


BU

SIN

ES


ofVND955.4 billion in 2018, which is almost unchanged from the previous year. BHN's revenue may reach VND8.3 trillion this year, inching up 6.7 percent. BHN expects to contribute VND5.37 trillion to the state budget in 2018.* Sao Ta Foods Company (FMC) made VND122 billion in pre-tax profit in 2017, rising 30 percent against the previous year, while its net revenue climbed 7 percent to VND3.25 trillion. The shrimp exporter paid a cash dividend ofVND4,500 per share last year.* Vietnam Electrical Equipment Corporation (GEX) has received approval from the HCM City bourse to float 266.8 million shares on January 18. The shares will be traded at a starting price ofVND25,100 each. The bourse applies a trading band of 20 percent for debut listings.

Main indexes gain ground

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Positive day all round on January 15.All main indexes on Vietnam's stock market closed higher on January 15.On HSX, the VN Index increased 13.36 points (1.27 per cent) and the VN30-Index 13.25 points (1.26 per cent).On HNX, the HNX-Index gained 1.28 points (1.06 per cent), the HNX30-Index 3.93 points (1.66 per cent), and the UPCoM-Index 0.61 points (1.06 per cent).Liquidity on HSX reached VND1.062 trillion ($46.86 million) and on HNX was VND937.3 million ($41.36 million).One noteworthy point is that cash flow was very strong and spread across industries. Stocks with high market value such as securities (SSI, VND, HCM, SHS, and CTS) and real estate and construction (DXG, LDG, TDH, NVL, CTI, and PHC) fared well.VIC, VJC, PLX, and BVH were among the most prominent stocks, helping the market gain strength.The VN Index opened at 1050.11 points and increased all day, closing at 1063.47 points.In food and beverages, VCF rose 5 per cent, TLG 0.5 per cent, and KDC increased 0.3 per cent, while VNM fell 0.7 per cent and TAC closed at its opening price.In banking, VCB increased 3.4 per cent, MBB 2.9 per cent, CTG 1.9 per cent, and BID 0.4 per cent. STB lost 1 per cent and EIB closed at its opening price.In energy, PLX rose 4.4 per cent, PGD 3.7 per cent, and GAS 1.7 per cent, while PVT fell 2.1 per cent and PPC 1.1 per cent.In construction and real estate, DXG gained 6.8 per cent, NVL 3 per cent, and VIC 2.1 per cent as FLC shed 1.5 per cent and KBC 1.3 per cent. HBC remained unchanged.The Top 5 rising stock codes on HSX were SRG, TDH, TRC, DPR, and PIT, and ARM, HJS, HAD, SPP, and MDC on HNX.The Top 5 falling stock codes on HSX were KPF, MCP, PGI, TIX, and FUCTVGF1, and TV3, PCN, HVA, TJC, and VCR on HNX.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/banking-finance/vwkc8vqp-main-indexes-gain-ground

VN stocks up on investor confidence


Vietnamese shares advanced on Monday as large-cap firms were boosted by positive investor confidence that was looking for opportunities in the earnings season.The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 1.27 per cent to close at 1,063.47 points. It gained total 3.7 per cent last week.The minor HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange added 1.06 per cent to end at 122.03 points after posting a weekly growth of 1.5 per cent at the end of Friday.More than 359.8 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND8.66 trillion (US$385.2 million).These trading figures were down 11.3 per cent in volume and 6.5 per cent in value compared to the previous week's average daily numbers.Across the two local exchanges, there were 248 gaining stocks, 232 declining ones and 115 stocks ending flat.Large-cap stocks performed well as the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of


BU

SIN

ES


the 30 largest shares by market capitalisation, advanced 1.21 per cent to 1,508.60 points with two-thirds of the 30 stocks advancing.Gainers in the VN30 basket included insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vietcombank (VCB), property developer Novaland (NVL), and steel producers Hoa Sen (HSG) and Hoa Phat (HPG). Those stocks jumped at least 3 per cent each.Among other large-caps that recorded strong growth were petrol dealer Petrolimex (PLX) and budget carrier Vietjet (VJC) after the two stocks were about to be included into the VN30 basket by the HCM Stock Exchange from January 22 to July 20, 2018.The rubber industry also posted strong growth on Monday as the industry index surged 6.6 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed. The industry was led by Dong Phu Rubber JSC (DPR) and Phuoc Hoa Rubber JSC (PHR).According to analysts, the market sentiment will be still dominated by investors' ex-pectations for good quarterly and yearly corporate earnings reports as well as firms' forecasts for 2018.Ngo Quoc Hung, analyst at Vietinbank Securities Company told online newspaper VnEconomy that such expectations would keep driving the market up in the short-term.Corporate earnings reports for the past quarter and the whole year were forecast to be higher than expected, Hung said,,adding that earnings reports and business informa-tion were becoming more transparent to investors and investors had reacted positively to the market information.Among the companies mentioned above, Vietinbank has estimated its pre-tax profit in 2017 would reach VND9.2 trillion, while Dong Phu Rubber JSC has reported its com-bined profit for the first 11 months of 2017 reached VND244 billion, twice the 2016 number. However, Sai Gon-Hanoi Securities Company said in its market daily report that selling pressure may get stronger in the next few sessions as the market trading condition was not quite positive enough given that there were many stocks suffering on the two local exchanges.The brokerage firm forecast the VN Index would encounter strong profit-taking pres-sure when it approached the range of 1,060-1,070 points on Tuesday.http://bizhub.vn/markets/vn-stocks-up-on-investor-confidence_291442.html

Expert: Stock market cap to rise to $200 billion


Total capitalisation of Vietnam's stock market is predicted to reach U$200 billion this year, buoyed by many favourable macro conditions, said Hoang Cong Tuan, head of economic research at MB Securities Company.Local equities have made significant improvements in recent times. Large initial public offerings by leading enterprises have also drawn the attention of international organ-isations.Therefore, the market has seen its total capitalisation soaring to a new high of $140 bil-lion and the figure may rise to $200 billion in 2018, Tuan was quoted by vietstock.vn as saying.Vietnam is poised to become an emerging market. Meanwhile, as the global oil price is expected to bounce back to around $60-70 per barrel, investors may explore oppor-tunities to invest in the oil and gas, refining and petroleum service sectors.Besides, the securities firm has estimated the main index could leap to a new high of 1,280 points.Tran Hoang Son, head of the company's market strategy department, said the market has established a steady growth trajectory with the main index now standing in the middle of this cycle.Aside from macro-economic conditions, investors pay attention to companies going to list on the market, the State's divestment from enterprises and firms with good profit growth prospects. This year, up to 70 companies are expected to go public, including potential names such as PetroVietnam Oil Corporation, PetroVietnam Power Corpo-ration, Vietnam Rubber Industry Group and leading power generation firms.In the coming time, the banking sector may maintain credit growth of18-20 percent


BU

SIN

ES


while retail, consumer goods, plastic and property firms may also perform well, he said.The VN Index eked out a small gain of 0.19 percent last Friday to extend its winning streak to 14 of the last 15 trading days. For the week, the index advanced 3.7 percent, its best week since late November and has increased 18 of the last 21 weeks.Trading on the HCM City market was strong at VND9.6 trillion, well above the daily average of last year of VND4.3 trillion.Property firm VIC and its retail subsidiary VRE were the two top contributors to last Friday's gains. Meanwhile, investors flocked to take profit at banks after recent strong rallies.Electricity firm NT2 jumped to a record high, extending a 50 percent surge over the last four months. NT2's parent company, PetroVietnam Power Corporation, is planning an initial public offering for later this month.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58004/Expert-Stock-market-cap-to-rise-to-US$200 billion.html

MoF wants hike in tax on capital/securities trade income


The Ministry of Finance has proposed the government raise the individual income tax imposed on capital/securities transfer to 2 per cent for trades not registered to the Vi-etnam Securities Depository and not made on the securities market.The individual income tax imposed on each securities/capital transaction is calculated by the selling price minus the buying price and charges that help generate the income for the individual investor.According to Article 23 and 28 of the Law of Personal Income Tax issued in November 2011, both resident and non-resident individuals are taxed at 0.1 per cent for each se-curities transaction.Meanwhile, resident individual investors must pay a tax rate of 20 per cent for each capital transaction while non-resident individual investors only have to pay 0.1 per cent tax rate.According to the finance ministry, it had been difficult for market regulators to keep track of securities transactions, which were not registered to the VSD for trading on the securities market, and charges that were relevant to the transactions.In many cases, individual investors falsely declared the difference between selling and buying prices was zero, which led to tax arrears, the finance ministry said in its pro-posal.In other cases, some companies that had not registered their shares to the VSD for trad-ing on the securities market avoid paying corporate income taxes by transferring the securities to various individuals at the buying-selling price difference of zero, the min-istry said.Then the individual buyers only had to bear a 0.1 per cent tax rate for their income when selling the securities at higher prices, the ministry added.Thus, the ministry proposed the government increase the individual income tax rates on the selling price of the transfer of untraded and unregistered capital/securities to 2 per cent. The 0.1 per cent individual income tax rate would be imposed only on trans-fer of shares that are traded and registered to the stock exchanges.The proposal is a part of the ministry's overall proposal on developing a draft law to amend the laws of added value tax, special consumption tax, corporate income tax, personal income tax, natural resource and environment tax and import-export tax.Brokerage firms and market analysts were not available for comment.Rising questionsA number of brokerage firm representatives have raised concerns over the feasibility of the latest proposal. They argue that it would cost market regulators and tax agencies more time and effort to keep track on capital/securities transactions to collect tax, tin-nhanhchungkhoan.vn reported.The transfer of securities is a part of the transfer of capital as capital transfer is the trad-ing of ownership in limited liability companies, associated companies and economic


BU

SIN

ES


organisations.Meanwhile, securities transfer is the trading of ownership, shares, options, bonds, fund certificates and other securities products in joint stock companies, according to the laws of Securities and Enterprises.As the tax rate imposed on capital transfer is 20 times higher than the tax rate imposed on securities transfer, it would encourage unlisted and untraded companies to dodge the tax regulations.They could turn to the form of a joint-stock company from the form of limited liability company. This would cause more trouble for the tax agencies collecting taxes from their transactions if the regulators fail to keep track of the trading of securities and cap-ital.http://bizhub.vn/markets/mof-wants-hike-in-tax-on-capitalsecurities-trade-income_291440.html

Binh Son Refinery stake sale attracts huge attention


4,080 investors registered to buy 652 million shares in Binh Son Refining and Petrole-um Co., Ltd, the operator of Dung Quat Refinery. The registered share purchases make up 2.7 times the offered share volume.Notably, 3,958 domestic individuals registered to buy 248 million shares, and 48 for-eign organisations and 67 foreign investors registered 65 million and 338.6 million shares, respectively.According to the plan, on January 17, BSR will conduct its initial public offering (IPO) to sell 242 million shares, equalling 7.79 per cent of its charter capital, at the initial price of VND14,600 ($0.64) apiece.With this initial price, BSR expects to acquire at least VND3.5 trillion ($154.1 million) in proceeds.After the IPO, Vietnamese oil and gas group PetroVietnam will retain 43 per cent of BSR's charter capital, while a maximum of 49 per cent will be sold to strategic investors within three months after the IPO. About 0.21 per cent of the shares will be offered to the company's employees.The equitisation of BSR is considered an attractive deal in foreign investors' eyes be-cause BSR has numerous opportunities to develop sectors that have high potential but have yet to be exploited, including the petrochemical sector.On the other hand, investors may face numerous issueswhen they invest in BSR.Notably, there is expected to be large competition between BSR and Nghi Son Refin-ery, which is expected to meet 40 per cent of the petroleum demand of the Vietnamese market once it comes into operation.Besides, according to BSR's previous plans, the company will invest $1.8 billion to up-grade and expand Dung Quat Refinery's capacity from the current 6.5 million tonnes to 8.5 million tonnes per year by 2022, a plan investors need to consider before decid-ing to buy BSR's shares.Another issue is the exchange rate difference. Notably, the buying price of crude oil, which is the input material, and the selling prices of output products are valued based on the USD, while the business results of BSR are calculated based on the dong.Furthermore, investors need to take into account BSR's previous ineffective invest-ment projects, one of which is Central Biofuels JSC. BSR poured VND742 billion ($32.6 million) into the company but it is operating in a loss.http://www.vir.com.vn/binh-son-refinery-stake-sale-attracts-huge-attention.html

Vietjet co-founder in race for PV Oil strategic stake


Sovico Holding among those registering to pick up shares at January 25 auction.Eight investors, including a founding shareholder of Vietnam's private low-cost airline Vietjet Air, have registered to become strategic shareholders of the Vietnam Oil Cor-poration (PV Oil), PV Oil CEO Cao Hoai Duong confirmed on the sidelines of its road-show on January 12.The six foreign bidders are Shell, Idemitsu, Puma, Kuwait Petroleum International


BU

SIN

ES


(KPI), PTT, and SK, while the two Vietnamese contenders are the Sacom Investment Fund and Savico Holding, Duong said."We have received an application from a foreign investor who expressed a wish to buy 49 per cent of the PV Oil shares, the cap set for foreign investors," he added.As other foreign investors want to buy a stake between 25 and 35 per cent, the total shares investors have registered to buy exceed the number to be sold, the CEO added.PV Oil, a subsidiary of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and the country's sole crude oil exporter, plans to offer 20 per cent of its shares at an initial public offering (IPO) on January 25 on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange at an initial price of VND13,400 ($0.6) per share.With nearly 207 million shares on offer, the company hopes to raise at least $122 mil-lion.PV Oil would also offer up to an additional 44.72 per cent, or 462 million shares, to stra-tegic investors and another 0.18 per cent to employees. The government's ownership is expected to be reduced to 35.1 per cent after the equitisation is completed.Foreign ownership of PV Oil is capped at 49 per cent of charter capital, while foreign investors are also required to deposit an amount of money equivalent to 20 per cent of the stake they register before entering the auction.Investors seeking to become strategic investors at PV Oil must commit to long-term in-vestment by retaining their holding for at least ten years.Strategic investors must commit to prioritising buying petroleum products from Dung Quat Oil Refinery and realise commitments in terms of market, technology, and man-agement development.Every potential strategic investor must submit to PV Oil a proposal to develop the company if it becomes a strategic investor, Duong said.PV Oil expects that foreign oil and gas corporations will help develop businesses in the non-petroleum sector, such as convenience stores, fast food outlets, car wash services, and garages, along with the network of 540 PV Oil petrol stations.The company plans to float shares on a local stock exchange one year after its equitisa-tion. In Vietnam, the initial public offering (IPO) and the listing are two separate proc-esses.With some 52 per cent held by Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, the CEO of Vietjet Air, So-vico Holding, which is known for investing in a wide range of businesses, including real estate and aviation, increased its registered capital by 50 per cent late last year to VND3 trillion ($132.16 million).Sovico's keenness to join the fuel distribution industry comes as no surprise, as Vietjet Air has been growing rapidly and is poised to surpass national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines in leading in the domestic aviation market.According to the centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), Vietnam's domestic market was one of the fastest-growing in the world from 2012 to 2016. Growth slowed in 2017 but is expected to continue at a double-digit rate per annum over the next few years.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/vietjet-co-founder-in-race-for-pv-oil-strategic-stake

Office rental cost in HCM City highest in the region

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| NHIP CAU DAU TU

Contrary to expectations, the cost of renting offices in HCM City is the most expensive in Asean region, only after Singapore. Surveys of PwC show that the Grade A office rents in HCM City is ranging around $465/square metre/year and ranking the second in the region after Singapore ($628), and much higher than Jakarta ($270), Manila ($237), Bangkok ($226) while the office rents in Kualar Lumpur is just $126.In the Asia Pacific Region, Hongkong had the most expensive office rents with $1,925/square metre/year, followed by Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Singapore.This can be considered as a big disadvantage for businesses when having to rent offic-es at more expensive costs than competitors in the region, but on the contrary, it helped real estate commercial investors enjoy attractive profit margin.This reality can be explained by the fact that the number of office projects put into op-


BU

SIN

ES


eration in the central area in the last few years was very few, while the demand for rent still remained high as more and more multinational groups have opened representa-tive offices in Vietnam.However, it is opening up opportunities for investors to enter office-for-rent segment in the following years, which has been partly reflected in cult M&A deals last year.

Land price in many regions in Hanoi increases 10pct

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| BIZLIVE

The Vietnam Association of Real Estate Brokers has announced the Vietnam Real Es-tate Market Report 2017, which gives quite positive comments about Hanoi real estate market in the past year.According to this association, in 2017, Hanoi had 54 real estate projects offering prod-ucts, supplying the market 34,217 apartments, 950 villas and 999 townhouses.The majority of housing units offered for sale in the year were condominiums. This raised the proportion of condominiums out of the total new housing supply in Hanoi to over 90 percent of the total new housing.In the year, the apartment market in the city recorded a large supply of apartments with reasonable prices to market demand. Up to 60.1 percent of products had the pric-es below 25 million dong/m2 concentrated in the districts of Ha Dong, Hoang Mai, Dong Anh and Tu Liem.The mid-end segment ranged from 25 million dong/m2 to 35 million dong/m2, ac-counting for 26.7 percent, focusing mainly in Tu Liem, Nam Tu Liem and Thanh Xuan districts.High-end and super high-end segments priced at 35-45 million dong/m2 only account-ed for only 12.2 percent of the total supply, focusing mainly in Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay and Tay Ho districts.Particularly, the newly offered super high-end apartment segment in the last year with the selling price of more than 45 million dong/m2 in Hanoi only reckoned for a very small proportion.The total number of successful apartment transactions in Hanoi in 2017 reached 20,776 units.In general, from the beginning of 2017, the number of apartment transactions in Hanoi increased from 3,624 transactions in the first quarter to 5,417 transactions in the second quarter, 4,955 transactions in the third quarter and swelled relatively strongly to 6,780 transactions in the last quarter of 2017.The trading volume decreased slightly in the third quarter of 2017 due to the time of July lunar month and the time of travel and rest of many families.Remarkably, the products transacted were still mainly average apartments which rep-resented 52 percent, followed by middle-end condo apartments with the transaction volume accounting for 42 percent of the total volume of apartment transactions in Ha-noi in 2017.In the fourth quarter of 2017, the number of villas, adjoining houses and shophouses was 701 units. The projects were concentrated in suburban districts such as Ha Dong district and Hoai Duc district. For the whole year 2017, the total number of villas, ad-joining houses and shophouses in Hanoi reached 1,096 transactions.Regarding price fluctuations, the Association said that with the popular condominium segment, the price of this type does not increase much. According to calculations, the price increased by about five percent compared to the same period of 2016. The aver-age price for this type was 22 million dong/m2.The average price of mid-end apartment increased about six percent compared to 2016, and the average price was 29 million dong/square metre. Luxury and super high-end apartments (over 45/50 million dong per square meters) did not improve compared to 2016.For land projects, the Association said that most of the land value in projects in the re-gion fluctuated around 10 percent.Specifically, in Cau Giay district, the average price was about 180-200 million dong per square metre. In Tu Liem, Tay Ho districts, the average price was 120-150 million


BU

SIN

ES


dong/m2 compared to about 30-50 million dong/m2 in Long Bien and Gia Lam dis-tricts, and 30 million dong/m2 in Dong Anh district.

Small-scale coffee farmers get helping hand


Lo Thi Phong in Chieng Chung commune in Mai Son district in the mountain province of Son La, has cultivated coffee for more than 10 years on 5,000 square metres of land, but she still finds life difficult.A decade seems long enough to improve farming practices by trial-and-error, howev-er, according to the middle-aged Thai woman, "even now, we still cannot keep proper financial accounts".During discussions hosted by CARE International last week, stakeholders in the mountain coffee industry touched on deeper obstacles facing the industry.CARE has worked in Vietnam since 1989, concentrating on supporting rights and sus-tainable development among vulnerable groups, particularly remote ethnic communi-ties, poor women and girls and people vulnerable to climate change.Nguyen Vinh Duc, deputy director of the Son La branch of the Minh Tien Coffee Ex-port Joint Stock Company, spoke on the drawbacks of small production in the devel-opment of local coffee."Since coffee plantations in Son La are limited, farmers have not established coopera-tives like those in the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak and Lam Dong," he said."Moreover, different techniques used by farmers to process their own beans leads to variation in quality, making it challenging for export companies," he said.Duc said that specialisation during production stages was critical to enhance the qual-ity and increase the value of local coffee.Phong is a typical coffee farmer in Son La province. According to Lo Minh Hung, vice chair of the provincial People's Committee, there are about 12,000 ha of coffee belong-ing to about 400 households in the locality, small compared to the more than 180,000 ha in Dak Lak province.At present, the province is known for its hydro-electricity industry and has the largest power generating dam in the nation. But when all hydro-electric projects have been completed, authorities have marked agriculture, particularly fruit and coffee, as the key industry.The establishment of Son La Tea and Coffee company in 1987 introduced Arabica to the province. This is a strain of coffee more popular in the west than Robusta, the well known Vietnamese coffee. With more than 30 years of experiences and the advantage of good soil, farmers produce the special beans popular in Germany, Japan and the United States.Son La authorities aim to raise the coffee-growing area to 14,000 ha by 2020. However, current practices have led to soil degradation and a lowering of bean quality.Moreover, most ethnic farmers in the province are household units, not collectives. This leads to poor bargaining and limited access to inputs such as fertiliser, seeds and information on improving profits.Therefore, local authorities aim to develop a sustainable coffee-growing area by tight-ening the links among farmers, processers and traders.Hung said coffee farmers should form cooperatives to gain better technology transfer and an exchange of experiences.Duc said that farmers should accelerate good agricultural practices, tighten farm man-agement and protect the environment to acquire international certifications of sustain-able farming including UTZ and 4C. "They are a strong foundation for Son La coffee to enhance its quality and access international markets," he said.."As a trader, our company creates more favourable conditions for households planting UTZ or 4C certified coffee products. Also, we call for the participation of banks in of-fering preferential loans and keeping farmers informed about market price," Duc add-ed.In the past 10 years, Phong and her husband, like several other coffee-growing house-holds in Son La province, have struggled to find markets for their coffee so that they


BU

SIN

ES


can expand the farming area.Now, CARE International in cooperation with the Son La and Dien Bien Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, is implementing a project to support ethnic women in the coffee value chain. It is referred to as Technologically Enhanced Agricul-tural Livelihoods, or TEAL.With about 3 million USD funded by the Australian government, it is expected to pro-mote the potential of coffee products in Muong Ang district of Dien Bien province and Mai Son district of Son La province over the next three years."Son La province has identified Arabica coffee as one of the core commodities to re-duce and eradicate poverty and to lift living standards. The project supports farmers growing coffee sustainably and plays an important role in improving their lives," said Hung.At the same time, the role of women in making economic decision is expected to im-prove under the CARE programme.By making ethnic women the main stakeholders, CARE is helping support village sav-ings and loan associations. Simultaneously, a common platform for farmers, traders, consumers and relevant parties will be created to increase productivity and output and to attract further investment in the local coffee industry.Empowering women and improving coffee value are the two core factors under TEAL, an ambitious project to promote agricultural products."With our experiences in promoting gender equality via agricultural value chains, we believe in the project's ability to improve the living standards of ethnic households," said Le Kim Dung, country director of CARE International in Vietnam.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/smallscale-coffee-farmers-get-helping-hand/124899.vnp

Real estate sector short of skilled personnel


Vietnam's real estate sector lacks experienced and technically-skilled personnel able to carry out major projects, according to the latest report on recruitment demand for sen-ior and mid-level managers in Vietnam from Navigos Search, based on recruitment re-quests it received from clients in the fourth quarter of 2017.The real estate market in the eastern areas of HCM City is heating up, with the launch of a series of projects creating a need for skilled sales consultants at investors and trad-ing floors. The need for sales consultants and for technical personnel is expected to continue throughout 2018.Developing new products is vital for real estate companies, and they must therefore recruit experienced technical personnel. Vietnam's human resources market, however, has failed to meet demand, with a lack of senior staff in product development, techni-cal design, and urban planning and development.According to Navigos Search, Vietnamese professionals in the sector have expertise in projects of a few hectares or even dozens of hectares. But they don't have experience in planning and developing large projects of more than 1,000 ha, including the con-struction of residential areas and satellite cities near major hubs. When companies need to recruit senior positions in this field, they are generally forced to recruit expats, primarily from Singapore.Recruitment demand for middle and senior level positions among Navigos Search's clients in 2017 increased 28 per cent compared to 2016. In the fourth quarter, demand grew 11 per cent year-on-year. Sectors with the highest recruitment demand in this segment included Manufacturing, Consumer GoodsRetail, FinanceBanking, and ICT.In Manufacturing, demand for middle and high-level personnel comes mostly from Construction, ElectricalElectronics, and Automotive.The Consumer GoodsRetail sector followed, with the majority of recruitment requests coming from FoodBeverage and FashionAccessories.In FinanceBanking, most requests came from Banks, Consumer Finance Companies, and Insurance Companies.The highest recruitment demand in the IT sector was in Information Technology & Software Services.


BU

SIN

ES


Mergers and acquisitions continue to be seen in the Retail sector, especially involving large corporations from Japan and Thailand who are investing in Vietnamese busi-nesses that have already created well-known brands.Such deals open up new opportunities for Vietnamese employees to work in a profes-sional environment under international management and also creates employment opportunities for candidates with experience in business development. Candidates, however, may face certain difficulties in adapting to a new corporate culture and working style.A highlight of the report was that the fashion industry is seeing a great deal of staff movement with the arrival of foreign brands, who have attracted personnel from do-mestic fashion companies. Many local fashion companies have begun to follow the op-erational trend found at foreign labels and added a number positions such as Visual Merchandise manager, Fashion Design manager, and Brand manager.Navigos Search expects that many new positions will be filled at Fashion companies this year to meet the strong competition in the market.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193973/real-estate-sector-short-of-skilled-personnel.html

Binh Thuan set to grow 9,800 ha of VietGAP dragon fruits in 2018


The central province of Binh Thuan will strive to grow 9,800ha of dragon fruits up to Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practice (VietGAP) standards this year, as heard a local conference hosted by the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Develop-ment on January 15.Speaking at the event reviewing VietGAP dragon fruit farming, director of the provin-cial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Mai Kieu said Binh Thuan is now home to over 27,600ha of dragon fruits with a total capacity of around 553,000 tonnes per year, which has become a key currency earner of the province.As of the late 2017, Binh Thuan boasted more than 9,500ha of dragon fruits meeting VietGAP standards, accounting for 30 percent of the total with over 449 alliance teams and 9,600 farming households. Another 262ha of dragon fruits met GlobalGAP stand-ards. Pham Van Nam, deputy Chair of the provincial People's Committee, asked de-partments and agencies to partner with localities and units concerned to raise public awareness of the importance of safe agricultural production.A representative from the Dong Tam dragon fruit working group in Ham Thuan Bac district said authorities and localities need to foster connectivity between VietGAP manufacturing teams and link them with businesses to ensure stable and sustainable consumption.Further attention was called to restructuring dragon fruit cultivation acreage that is suitable for market demand and assisting farmers in accessing value chains.He suggested the provincial agricultural sector work with the industry and trade sec-tor and the provincial Dragon Fruits Association to encourage firms to buy VietGAP dragon fruits from farmers and give priority to them to join trade promotion confer-ences.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/binh-thuan-set-to-grow-9800-ha-of-vietgap-dragon-fruits-in-2018/124878.vnp

Mekong dried-fish villages prepare for Tet


Dried-fish processing villages in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta are busy making fried fish to meet demand for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday which falls on February 16 this year.Nguyen Van Chan, whose family has made dried fish for 20 years in Ca Mau prov-ince's Phu Tan district, said the production is now at its peak."My family has produced double what we made last year for the same period," he said.His family sells dried fish for 50,000 100,000 VND (2.2 4.4 USD) a kilo depending on fish species and size."Thanks to this traditional occupation, many families in the village have a stable and


BU

SIN

ES


good income," he said.Dried fish processing establishments in the village each are supplying an average of 2-3 tonnes of dried fish to the market a day.Cai Doi Vam dried fish village, one of the largest of its kind in Ca Mau province, pro-duces various kinds of dried fish, including dried anchovy, dried lizardfish, dried sil-ver croaker and dried creamfish.Dried creamfish is considered a specialty of Cai Doi Vam town. The town's dried creamfish was granted a collective brand by the National Office of Intellectual Proper-ty last year.The periods before and after Tet are also the main season for catching creamfish.The town has more than 100 companies and households that produce and sell dried creamfish.According to Tran Huu Nghi, deputy Chair of the Cai Doi Vam Town Farmers Asso-ciation, the village is famous for its dried fish, especially dried creamfish, which are sold to HCM City and nearby provinces.In Dong Thap province's Tam Nong district, 15 dried fish processing establishments in Phu Tho commune each have produced about 250 kilogram of dried snakehead fish and snakeskin gourami, up two times against the same period last year.Dried fish processing establishments in Phu Tho commune have from 10 to 15 labour-ers.Ho Thi Kim Hang, owner of the Kim Hang fried snakehead fish establishment in Phu Tho, said the stages of making dried fish include cleaning, removing bones, marina-tion and drying.Marination is an important stage that creates the special flavour of dried fish, she said.The price of dried snakehead fish is about 120,000 150,000 VND (5.2 6.6 USD) a kilo and is expected to rise near Tet, according to local dried fish producers.In Can Tho city's Binh Thuy district, the fried fish processing village along National Highway No. 91B began increasing production three months before Tet.Tran Kim Le, a dried fish seller on National Highway No. 91B, said a few years ago there were only a few households in the village making dried fish.The number has increased to more than 50 households.Le sells an average of 100 kilo of dried snakehead fish and 40 kilo of snakeskin gourami a week. About four kilos of fresh snakehead fish are needed to make one kilo of dried snakehead fish, she said.Dried fish processing villages in the delta also produce salty or less salty dried fish as well as various fried fish products.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/mekong-driedfish-villages-prepare-for-tet/124896.vnp

Thaco has no immediate plan to assemble BMW cars in Vietnam


Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco), the authorised importer of BMW, MINI and BMW Motorrad cars in Vietnam, will focus on developing the distribution, mainte-nance and after-sale services systems while leaving open the possibility of assembling these models in Vietnam, heard a press conference in HCM City on January 12 on BMW-Thaco cooperation.In September 2017, BMW Group Asia announced the signing of a letter of intent be-tween it and Thaco in which the Vietnamese auto firm was picked as the new importer and distributor of BMW and MINI cars in Vietnam, starting from January 1, 2018.There is a possibility that BMW cars would be assembled in Vietnam because in a visit to Germany by prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in July 2017, a representative of BMW said the company is weighing a plan to build an auto plant in the country.However, Tran Ba Duong, chair of Thaco, said at the press conference that in the early stage, Thaco and BMW will only focus on developing their showrooms, maintenance and after-sales services, and human resources.Thaco has plans to open 15 BMW showrooms, which will also offer maintenance serv-ices, in the country this year. This is considered a huge step in accelerating the distri-bution of BWM cars in Vietnam as there had been only five BMW showrooms in the


BU

SIN

ES


country as of late 2017.The showrooms will be put into service this year and early next year in Hanoi, HCM City, Danang, Hai Phong, Nha Trang, Can Tho and other localities. Thaco will also take over the current BMW showrooms, including BMW Phu My Hung in HCM City, BMW Long Bien in Hanoi, and MINI and BMW Motorrad showroom in HCM City's Phu Nhuan District.Thaco will maintain high quality maintenance and after-sale services for all existing BMW, MINI and BMW Motorrad car owners in Vietnam, and be responsible for car recalls, if any.Thaco has signed labour contracts with 172 employees of euro Automobiles Corp, the previous BMW distributor in Vietnam, who want to continue working for BMW and Thaco.Speaking at the press conference, Paul de Courtois, managing director of BMW Group Asia, said BMW considers Vietnam one of the key markets.According to de Courtois, many dealers showed interest in partnering with BMW. However, Thaco has an edge over others as the 100 percent locally-owned firm has many years of experience in the domestic market.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58010/Thaco-has-no-immediate-plan-to-assemble-BMW-cars-in-Vietnam-.html

PV Oil remains fuel export monopoly after equitisation


After an initial public offering (IPO) scheduled to be launched on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) on January 25, PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) will maintain the exclusive right to export crude oil extracted by Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN). At a ceremony on opportunities to invest in PV Oil held in Hanoi last Friday, PVN dep-uty general director Nguyen Sinh Khang confirmed the information.After the equitisation, PV Oil will continue to promote its retail business due to high and stable profit.PV Oil will offer 65 percent of its shares for investors, reducing State ownership to 35.1 percent. This means investors can participate in corporate management, so the equiti-sation of PV Oil will attract large investors.The corporation sets stricter conditions for strategic investors than other enterprises which have also launched the IPO. Investors will have to commit to full consumption of Dung Quat and Nghi Son fuels and not to selling the shares within 10 years.However, PV Oil leaders are confident that the stake would be easily sold to strategic investors as the corporation specialises in both wholesale and retail operations, of which the retail sector grows well and steadily. The corporation currently holds a mar-ket share of 22 percent and expects to increase it to 35 percent in the next five years.PV Oil general director Cao Hoai Duong said revenue from E5 bio-fuel sales is not low-er than RON 92 petrol.Moreover, after the equitisation, PV Oil will acquire and merge small enterprises. Vi-etnam now has 14,000 petrol stations including 3,000 stations of Vietnam National Pe-troleum Group (Petrolimex) and PV Oil and more than 10,000 others of small fuel traders. PV Oil has plans to acquire these 10,000 gas stations in five years.Petrolimex had earlier projected to invest over VND1 trillion (over $44 million) in merger and acquisition (M&A) deals and build new gas stations this year.PV Oil will promote its jet fuel sales, also known as Jet A1, as the country has only two Jet A1 suppliers under the management of Vietnam Airlines and Petrolimex.In addition, PV Oil has plans to open convenience stores, coffee shops and fast-food restaurants at petrol stations.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58017/PV-Oil-remains-fuel-export-monopoly-after-equiti-sation.html


BU

SIN

ES


Unilever: Sustainable development at the heart of business model


Unilever's mission is to make sustainable living commonplace with the vision to grow business, whilst decoupling environmental impact from growth and increasing posi-tive social impacts. Launched in 2010, the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is the com-pany's blueprint for sustainable growth. It is placed at the heart of the business model and guides everything that the company does. It shows how Unilever achieves ambi-tions for growth by embedding sustainability into every brand and market, and throughout value chain.Handwashing with soap for a healthier VietnamOn October 15th 2017 in Hanoi, over 2,000 people joined the flashmob of handwashing with soap. This is an activity in the big ceremony in response to the Global Handwash-ing Day, a part of a broader initiative "Handwashing with soap for a healthier Viet-nam" cooperated by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training and Unilever's Lifebuoy brand. The goal of the programme is simple and obvious: to encourage everybody to wash their hands with soap.Handwashing is thought to be very simple; but not many people practice this habit properly. According to a survey by the United Nations, eight out of 10 people didn't wash their hands after toilets or only washed their hands without soap. Poor hygienic habits may lead to diarrhea and pneumonia. These two communicable diseases are the causes of casualties of 1.7 million children under the age of five annually.Yet casualties caused by above diseases are largely preventable. Studies show that washing hands with soap is one of the most effectiveand inexpensive ways to reduce child mortality. Recognising this, governments around the world have committed to promoting handwashing with soap as part of the UN's Global Goal no. 6 clean water and sanitation.Since the first day of its operation in Vietnam in 1995, Unilever has shown strong com-mitment to investing in social and community programmes that aim to help improve the lives of Vietnamese people. For many years, Unilever Vietnam has partnered with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Wom-en Union to carry out programme "For a healthier Vietnam" with 3 components: Hand-washing with soap, Protect Vietnamese smiles, Germ-free toilet journey, with the goal to improve health, hygiene, sanitation for 25 million Vietnamese people by 2020.Doing well by doing goodThe above example is one of many programmes that Unilever is deploying in Vietnam, to be in line with its Sustainable Living Plan with three big goals in global: to help more than one billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, to halve the environmental footprint of the production and use of Unilever products, and to en-hance livelihoods of millions of people as the company grows business.Although sustainable development is not a new term among business community, Unilever is the first to attempt it at the greatest scale, putting it at the heart of the busi-ness model and embedding it into every brand and market, throughout its value chain. In the sixth year of progress on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), it has proved that there's indeed no trade-off between sustainability and profitable growth. USLP helps deliver consistent, profitable, competitive and responsible growth. It is building brands, reducing costs, reducing risks and helping the corporation to build trust and long-term value for multiple stakeholders. Meanwhile, it also helps Unilever to serve society and consumers, making lives better for billions of people and protect-ing the environment.Through the programme "For a healthier Vietnam," for example, by end of 2017, Uni-lever has helped 20.5 million people improve their health and well-being, among which 9.4 million people reached through hand-washing with soap education and free soap giving by Lifebuoy, 6.6 million people reached through oral care education and free dental check-up and treatment by P/S and 4.5 million people reached through san-itation education and newly built toilet by VIM. All the three brands above are defined as sustainable living brand by Unilever, a brand that has clear purpose that contributes to a social or environmental concern and additionally, the product of the brand itself


BU

SIN

ES


must also contribute to one or more of the targets set in the USLP. And the number plays it out: Unilever's sustainable living brands accounted for 60 percent of sales growth and expanding 50 percent faster than other products globally.Focusing on the goal of reducing environmental impact, Unilever's factories have used their resources more effectively, prioritising the use of renewable energy resources, cutting waste, hence reducing the cost, creating efficiencies, minimising the risk dur-ing the manufacturing process. In Vietnam, since 2012, Unilever's cumulative cost-sav-ing from energy efficient manufacturing and packaging management has exceeded 99.7 million euro. They have also reduced 99 percent of CO2 emission and 42 percent of water consumption per tonne of production compared to 2011.The numbers speak for themselves. By doing good, a corporation can really do well with more growth, more trust, less risks and lower cost.The results in Vietnam is a part of the bigger picture that Unilever is showing the world; that their commitment of doing good for the sake of the community and envi-ronment has helped them grow profitably, and Unilever will continue investing those profits in the enviroment and community-focused projects. It's how the sustainable business model runs.Although environmental experts and social activists said that it was very difficult for their dreams to come true, it is actually possible as long as there's decisive contribution and support from the business community with pioneering corporations like Unilever.In Vietnam, having the Sustainable Living Plan as the core of the business model, with the solid foundation of strategic long-term partnership with governmental agencies, NGOs and close engagement with customers, consumers, it is believed that Unilever will successfully deliver its strong commitments to sustainable development on their way to become the most favourite FDI company in Vietnam, committed to improve the lives of millions of Vietnamese people, just as the mission set by the company since day 1 in this country.Together we work to bring clean water to people in remote areasUNILEVER SUSTAINABLE LIVING PLAN IN VIETNAM 6 YEAR PROGRESS UP-DATE• Unilever has now improved health and hygiene for 20.5 million people through pro-grammes on handwashing, safe drinking water, oral health, sanitation and nutrition.• Comfort One Rinse has reached 33.6 million of households nationwide, helping them to save 636 million of cubic meters of water since 2011• The company has reduced 99 percent of CO2 emission and 42 percent of water con-sumption per tonne of production since 2011 and has committed to ensure 100 percent plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.• All Unilever manufacturing sites send zero waste to landfill.• Unilever has helped nearly 45,000 households access to the micro finance loans worth VND300 billion to start small businesses, increasing incomes & living condi-tions and provided training on capability building and nutrition for nearly 1.3 million women.• Unilever has been honored with the Top 10 Sustainable Business Award 2017 organ-ised by VCCI in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Vietnam general Labour Un-ion.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58009/Unilever-Sustainable-development-at-the-heart-of-business-model.html

Viglacera's profit hits VND1 trillion for first time


The Vietnam Glass and Ceramics for Construction Corporation (Viglacera) recorded a pre-tax profit of nearly VND1.02 trillion (US$44.83 million) in 2017.This number is equal to 112 per cent of the year's plan and an increase of VND144 bil-lion, as compared to 2016's results.This is the first time the corporation achieved a pre-tax profit of over VND1 trillion. The company's revenue in the year totalled nearly VND16.5 trillion, up 2 per cent


BU

SIN

ES


against the yearly plan, and 13 per cent higher than the previous year's figure.Viglacera's strong performance was buoyed by significant contributions of its mem-bers such as Viglacera Float Glass Company, Viglacera Ha Long Joint Stock Company, Viglacera Infrastructure Development and Investment Company, and Viglacera Real Estate Company.In 2017, Viglacera implemented a restructuring plan of the corporation and put up 120 million shares coded VGC for sale, increasing its chartered capital to VND4.27 trillion. By the end of 2017, Viglacera completed the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) programme, raising its chartered capital to more than VND4.48 trillion and reducing State ownership to 53.97 per cent.In 2018, the company is eyeing a 6 per cent growth in pre-tax profit and it plans to make a 9.5 per cent dividend payout.http://bizhub.vn/news/viglaceras-profit-hits-vnd1 trillion-for-first-time_291432.html

Grab says its operation is compliant with laws


Following a Ministry of Transport directive asking Grab Vietnam to stop providing car hailing services in certain provinces, the company said its services did not violate laws.Last week, the ministry asked Grab not to provide services, including taxi hailing serv-ices, in Thua Thien Hue, Ba RiaVung Tau and Lam Dong provinces, because they were not part of the approved pilot project for electronic passenger transport.The ministry has also asked the company to not expand its services to other provinces until there were new directives from the prime minister.Grab Vietnam's Communication manager Nguyen Thu An said GrabTaxi was one of the services in its app and registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade as an e-commerce platform, which was allowed nationwide and complied with government Decree 52/2013/ND-CP regarding e-commerce.GrabTaxi was an alternative to connect passengers and taxi drivers, An said, adding that this service did not interfere in the operation, management and fares of taxi com-panies.Regarding GrabCar service, An said that the company only partners with eligible ve-hicles, which had passenger transport licences and labels provided by the transport departments of provinces and cities within the pilot project.Tran Huu Huynh, former head of the Legal Department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was quoted by Dan Tri online newspaper as saying that there was no ground for banning platforms that connected passengers to taxi drivers.GrabTaxi service did not have an impact on competition between taxi companies but only provides an alternative option to book taxi services, he said.In another move, Grab Vietnam has temporarily halted from Saturday the increase in the share it received from the total fares until there is a new notification from the taxi management agencies.On January, the share was increased from 20 per cent to 23.6 per cent, as the company said that the increase of 3.6 per cent was to pay value-added taxes and individual in-come tax for its partner motorbike drivers.http://bizhub.vn/news/grab-says-its-operation-is-compliant-with-laws_291439.html

Sabeco remains market leader in beer production


The Saigon Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) produced nearly 1.73 bil-lion litres of beer in 2017, an increase of 7 per cent compared to the previous year and exceeding 5 per cent against the year target.The information was revealed in the company's conference to sum up the 2017's busi-ness results held last week in HCM City.With this output figure, Sabeco continues to lead the Vietnamese beverage market with a 40 per cent share, amidst increasing pressure from domestic and foreign com-petitors.In addition, Sabeco achieved after-tax profit of more than VND4.7 trillion (US$206.9 million), 3 per cent higher than the target.


BU

SIN

ES


This year, the corporation targets to produce 1.85 billion litres of beer. To achieve this goal, Sabeco's board of directors is applying synchronous measures to improve the quality of products.Sabeco currently owns 26 manufacturing plants, 10 trading subsidiaries and 37 branches nationwide. The company has also launched a premium beer titled Saigon Gold for serving Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday and export markets.http://bizhub.vn/markets/sabeco-remains-market-leader-in-beer-production_291438.html

Mitsubishi Motors to build second plant in Vietnam


Vietnam welcomes Mitsubishi Motors' plan to build its second plant in the country, said deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue while receiving the group's Executive vice President Kozo Shiraji in Hanoi on January 15.At the reception, Hue highlighted cooperation in auto and support industries as a pri-ority in Vietnam Japan ties. Mitsubishi Motors' expansion in Vietnam will contribute to the country's industrialisation strategy within the framework of the Vietnam Japan cooperation toward 2020, he said.Investing in Vietnam, the group will capitalise on local workforce and enjoy tariff in-centives, Hue added, saying that if Vietnam raises its rate of locally made products to 40 percent, its exports to other Asean member states will enjoy zero tariff.Vietnam will create favourable conditions for Mitsubishi Motors to carry out its projects in the country, the official said.Thanking assistance from the Vietnamese government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Kozo Shiraji said Vietnam is one of key production hubs of his company in Southeast Asia with a source of young and skilled labours.He said Mitsubishi Motors is looking for a location to set up its second factory in the country. The plant costs approximately 250 million USD, with a manufacturing capac-ity estimated to reach 30,000 50,000 cars on an annual basis.To ensure the factory's operation in 2020, developed industrial parks or economic zones near sea ports are more likely to be selected, Kozo Shiraji said.The project aims at contributing to the local socio-economic growth and forming more partnerships in eco-car production in the future.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/mitsubishi-motors-to-build-second-plant-in-vietnam/124908.vnp

Vietnam Airlines debuts premium economy seats for Japanese routes


The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has introduced its premium economy class for routes connecting Hanoi and HCM City to Tokyo of Japan.Premium economy seats have been installed on Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A350-900 planes, offering more convenient space and associated services compared to the econ-omy ones.The class comes with separate counters for boarding procedures, with its passengers prioritised during custom clearance process and having baggage allowances equaling to those on the business class.Vietnam Airlines and its subsidiaries, Jetstar Pacific and Vasco, operated approximate-ly 180,000 flights in 2017, carrying 26.5 million passengers and 343,000 tonnes of cargo, up 6.7 percent and 19 percent, respectively, from 2016.The company made up roughly 60 percent of the domestic market share and about 32.3 percent of the market share of international passengers flying to and from Vietnam.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-airlines-debuts-premium-economy-seats-for-japa-nese-routes/124906.vnp

Viettel Post moves up in business ranking


By the end of 2017, Viettel Post reached total turnover of 5.1 trillion VND (226 million USD) or 112.3 percent of its yearly target.With this achievement, Viettel Post has moved forward 80 positions in the list of 500


BU

SIN

ES


biggest enterprises in Vietnam and received the Labour Medal, Second Class.The company now has over 1,000 post-offices and 5,000 agencies even in remote areas and islands.Customers now can place their orders, find post-offices, pay bills, monitor the move-ment of their packages through smart phones.This is also the first mobile customer support system in Vietnam.Viettel Post entered into the logistics industry and launched its customer care service centre in 2017.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/viettel-post-moves-up-in-business-ranking/124882.vnp

Japanese escalator manufacturer makes foray into Vietnamese market

16/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV

Alpec joint venture company and Nidec, a Japanese business have stricken a strategic cooperation agreement to provide high-quality elevator installation, warranty and maintenance services in Vietnam.As the world leading hi-tech group operating in 45 countries across the globe, its turn-over rose to $30 billion last year. Since its operation in HCM City starting in 1998, Ni-dec has injected a total investment capital of nearly $800 million into a number of projects in the city.The bilateral cooperation promises the good supply of high quality and eco-friendly elevators and escalators in line with Vietnamese customers' aesthetic criteria and their economic conditions.Alpec is the first domestic manufacturer of gearless elevator motors as well as an in-staller of longest outdoor escalators in Vietnam.It specialises in manufacturing, installation and maintenance of elevators, escalators, car parking systems with various outstanding features, absolute safety, advanced technologies, unique design concept and especially affordability.http://english.vov.vn/investment/japanese-escalator-manufacturer-makes-foray-into-vietnamese-market-366704.vov

Starbucks continues to promote Vietnam Da Lat coffee


Global icon Starbucks has announced the return of Vietnam Da Lat coffee to its moth-erland, Vietnam. The limited-quantity coffee is now available at all Starbucks stores in the country."They will be sold very quickly," Patricia Marques, general manager of Starbucks Vi-etnam, believes. "We actually had to have a long conversation with the coffee depart-ment to get more, because the allocation was too little. I just received a large order for Tet boxes. Customers very much appreciate our products."Starbucks has been sourcing Vietnam Da Lat coffee since 2015 as part of the Starbucks Reserve portfolio. Starbucks Reserve coffee is the company's line of rare, small lot cof-feesavailable only in limited quantities. Each is a one-of-a-kind coffee from coffee-growing regions across Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.Starbucks Reserve Vietnam Da Lat whole-bean coffee was first introduced in early 2016 and was widely welcomed by customers and partners, as Starbucks refers to its staff. To mark the return, Starbucks Vietnam is also offeringa special giftset of Vietnam Da Lat coffee, including oneStarbucks Reserve(R) Vietnam Da Lat whole-bean pack (250grams) and one Logo Mug (16oz) for VND370,000 (about $16)."Vietnam DaLat is a widely popular coffee among partners and customers and is ver-satile in many brewing applications," Marques said. "Great as a brewed coffee in the morning or a delicious espresso option, we are excited by itsreturn."From the cool and mist-shrouded pine forests of Vietnam's central highlands comes a rare offeringonly the second Starbucks Reserve(R) coffee from Vietnam. Anchored by the city of Da Latnicknamed "The City of Eternal Spring"the serene environment of Lam Dong province offers an escape from the heat and is an ideal environment for the cultivation of high-quality Arabica beans. The fertile volcanic soil, constant cool tem-peratures, and seemingly ever-present mist culminate in a coffee every bit as distinc-tive as the land from which it came.


BU

SIN

ES


These one-of-a-kind beans deliver a vibrant acidity that highlights the notes of kola nuts,toffee,and vanilla.Although Vietnam today is one of the world's leading exporters of Robusta coffee, its specialty-grade Arabica coffee has thrived in its mountains for more than 150 years. Now, Starbucks is offering its first single-origin coffee from the country with Starbucks Reserve(R) Vietnam Da Lat.Marques remembered that in 2013 there were a couple of international brands in Viet-nam and on the domestic side, but nobody had Arabica because Robusta dominated. She now sees the potential of Arabica because she visits Da Lat every year. "I see how much more interest there is from farmers about turning to Arabica because there is de-mand, and I think it's a great opportunity to showcase Da Lat coffee to the world. It's so rewarding because our partners are so proud," she said.Starbucks now works with farmers in introducing the Da Lat brand. "After the first launch of Starbucks Reserve Vietnam Da Lat in 2016, we were very happy that custom-ers loved the coffee and it made the name of Cau Dat in Da Lat become popular," she said with evident pride. "We expect this year will be the same, because the coffee crop is even better."By purchasing coffee, Starbucks has also helped local farmers. "Da Lat has only one crop per year," she explained. "Now the quantity is fine, but we need double next year. That challenge will be interesting, because when we need double production and even better quality, farmers will need to improve their quality. Now when we go to Da Lat, the farmers are very interested in showing us the quality of their beans. They talk about how beautiful the cherries are. They are ready to talk and they are ready to pass the level of quality. They want to be in the business of consistently selling good quality coffee in larger quantities."In addition to coffee purchases, Starbucks has also invested in the coffee-growing com-munity in Da Lat by supporting education for the children of coffee farmers. Introduc-ing Da Lat coffee to the world is one of interesting features of Starbucks' journey in Vietnam.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193972/starbucks-continues-to-promote-vietnam-da-lat-coffee.html

Kim Long Nam officially 'debuts' in real estate market


Group signs two strategic partnerships that place it firmly within the country's prop-erty sector.The Kim Long Nam Group officially "debuted" in Vietnam's real estate market on Jan-uary 14, signing two strategic partnership with Singapore's Manhatton Hotel Group (MHG) and the SaigonHanoi Bank (SHB).Established in 2015 with charter capital of VND2 trillion ($88.6 million), the group has operated in the real estate sector since then but took the opportunity presented by the signing of the strategic partnerships to officially "debut" in the sector. It has five initial strategic brands: Kim Long City, which focuses on urban areas, Kim Long Season, in the condotel-hotel segment, Kim Long Ocean, in resorts, Kim Long Plaza, with com-mercial centers, and Kim Long Tower, in apartmentshometels.Positioning itself as a pure Vietnam enterprise with a pioneering spirit but at the same time harmonising its growth between rapid and sustainable development, CEO of Kim Long Nam Group Nguyen Hai Dang said the group hopes to create value for eve-ry customer, every employee, and every plot of land that the group sets foot in, helping to create a transparent real estate market in the country.During the 2017-2018 period, the group has been deploying three projects including the Kim Long City Lien Chieu, Kim Long Ocean Thuan Phuoc, and Kim Long Season My Khe, with total investment of more than VND3.2 trillion ($141.7 million). By occu-pying the remainder of rare coastal locations in Da Nang, together with detailed plan-ning and reasonable selling prices, the projects have captured great interest from the real estate community, with 94 per cent of products at Kim Long City Lien Chieu being booked for purchase on the first day of its launch.


BU

SIN

ES


Being one of the leading hotel corporations in Southeast Asia, with a network of more than 60 hotels and resorts ranging from three to five stars in more than 20 countries around the world, MHG, under the partnership agreement, would officially become the operator managing two of the five strategic projects of Kim Long Nam: Kim Long Season and Kim Long Ocean.MHG currently manages five hotel brands: Manhattan, Grand View, Manle, Park Regis, and Leisure Inn, serving many customer segments, ranging from tourists to businesspeople. It now has more than 10 million members worldwide, with annual membership growth of 20 per cent.With a long-term development strategy, MHG wishes to expand its operation to Viet-nam in 2018, where tourism and real estate resorts have been developing rapidly. Ac-cording to the cooperation agreement signed between the two parties, Kim Long Season My Khe Resort will be the first in Vietnam to be managed and operated under the Manhatton brand within the MHG system.Customers who own Kim Long My Khe's apartments will have the opportunity to ex-perience a holiday at MHG's 60 hotels in 20 countries around the world."We think that when entering a market, it is very important to choose the right partner to develop the first project, as it has a lot to do with the success of MHG in that market," said MHG CEO Davey Dang. "After thoroughly studying the business philosophy of the Kim Long Nam Group, evaluating the projects the group has been deploying, and reviewing every detail, we realise this is a serious and reliable partner."The ceremony also marked the beginning of comprehensive cooperation between Kim Long Nam and SHB. The agreement will confirm the transparency of projects imple-mented by Kim Long Nam, creating peace of mind for investors and contributing to the sustainable development of the real estate market."The participation of a prestigious financial partner like SHB also confirms the effec-tiveness and reliability of projects the Kim Long Nam Group is implementing," Kim Long Nam Group's Dang said.For its part, "the projects that have been implemented by Kim Long Nam are also high-ly appreciated by our financial experts for their liquidity and potential development," an SHB representative said. "Therefore, I believe this cooperation is ready to develop to new heights and bring success to both the Kim Long Nam Group and SHB."http://vneconomictimes.com/article/property/kim-long-nam-officially-debuts-in-real-estate-market

Amway Home products get Safer Choice certification


Amway Home is one among the first home care brands in Vietnam to get the Safer Choice label of the US Environmental Protection Agency for its products L.O.C multi-purpose cleaner, SA8 concentrated laundry detergent and Dish Drops dishwashing liquid, according to Amway Vietnam.To earn the Safer Choice label, which enables consumers to easily identify safe prod-ucts on the market, products of Amway Home underwent 80 strict tests of the EPA. Amway's BIOQUESTTM formula has been thoroughly tested by EPA experts to en-sure all ingredients are safe for human use and the environment.In addition, to become a Safer Choice partner of the EPA, Amway has to prove efficien-cy of its products with the liquid concentrate formula, which saves costs, minimises water and power use, and reduce wastes.At a recent conference in HCM City, Jim S. Pell, Amway's specialist in product devel-opment and technology transfer, said that safety to women's skin is always a crucial requirement of home cleaning products.Jim S. Pell told participants at the conference in mid-December that Amway has car-ried out experiments on skin with hundreds of women from different races and ob-tained positive results. Products of Amway Home have safe pH levels and are safe to sensitive skin.In recent years, products of natural origins and safe for human use are getting more popular. According to experts, green products are becoming a new consumption


BU

SIN

ES


trend, though such products are priced higher than products with industrial chemi-cals.A 2016 report on health and sensitivity to ingredients of Nielsen Vietnam showed that as many as 80 percent of Vietnamese consumers are willing to pay higher prices for safe and environmentally friendly products.The EPA's Safer Choice certification encourages enterprises to turn out products with safe ingredients.Among the five broad categories of the Safer Choice programme, Amway was ac-knowledged in the category of formulators/product manufacturers. Amway has now had 43 home care products qualified for the Safer Choice label.Products that meet safety requirements of the EPA are certified and get the Safer Choice label on their packaging. Consumers hence just need a few seconds to find Saf-er Choice products.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58019/Amway-Home-products-get-Safer-Choice-certification.html

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi in Conde Nast Traveler Gold List 2018


Hanoi icons finds a place on prestigious list.The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi has found a place on the list of the best hotels in the world for 2018 and been hailed as the No. 1 hotel in Hanoi by editors of the pres-tigious US travel publication, Conde Nast Traveler."This is simply amazing! Being able to keep ourselves remembered among prominent hotels in established destinations shows that the Metropole Hanoi is a trusted choice," said William J. Haandrikman, general manager of the Hanoi icon.Spanning six continents and 54 countries, the annual Conde Nast Traveler Gold List 2018 recognises hotels around the world that editors and contributors of the bestselling magazine visit time and time again and daydream about long after checking out."This year's Gold List is a love letter to those hotels, resorts, and cruises that stay with us long after we have returned home," wrote Editor-in-Chief of Conde Nast Traveler, Pilar Guzman. "We are interested in the way a place, in all of its ineffable complexity, beauty, and sometimes darkness, tugs at us and calls us back, much like human rela-tionships do."The 2018 Gold List Awards were announced in the January 2018 issue of Conde Nast Traveler and published on its official website.In October, the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi emerged from voting of over 300,000 Conde Nast Traveler readers as the 21st best hotel in Asia in its Readers' Choice Awards (RCA).The magazine hailed the hotel for its "spacious and richly appointed" rooms, as a "peaceful refuge", and for service that goes "above and beyond".The magazine's Gold Awards are more selective than the RCA. While eight hotels and resorts in Vietnam were recognised in the RCAs, only two hotels in Vietnam found a place on the Gold List.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/biz-traveler/sofitel-legend-metropole-hanoi-in-conde-nast-traveler-gold-list-2018

Michael Kelly elected chair of AmCham Hanoi


The board of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Hanoi) elected Michael Kelly as its new chair for 2018. He succeeds Citibank's Natasha Ansell who held the post in 2017.Kelly said that he looks forward to working with AmCham members to further foster and deepen economic, social, and business ties between Vietnam and the US.He added, "It is with great humility that I take on this position to strengthen AmCham as the voice of American business in Vietnam in order to create a competitive and sus-tainable business climate for US companies and investors here. I look forward to work-ing with my AmCham colleagues to ensure the organisation's on-going success."Kelly is the executive chair, CEO, and general director of ACDL and the Ho Tram


BU

SIN

ES


Project Company, which owns and operates The Grand Ho Tram Stripthe largest for-eign-invested tourism project in Vietnam.Kelly has approximately 30 years of experience in the hospitality/casino industry in both the private and public sectors and has served as the CEO, COO, and/or CFO of some of the largest hospitality companies in the US. Prior to relocating fulltime to Vi-etnam in 2015, he owned and operated two integrated resorts in North America.At the meeting of the AmCham Board of Governors, the board also selected Natasha Ansell (Citibank) as vice chair, Gaurav Sharma (BIDV-MetLife) as vice chair, Peter Ry-der (Indochina Capital) as secretary, and Virginia Foote (Bay Global Strategies) as treasurer. Kelly will also serve as national chair for AmCham Vietnam this year and looks forward to working closely with colleagues in the HCM City chapter.Founded in 1994, AmCham Hanoi is a non-profit organisation whose primary mission is to increase trade and investment between the US and Vietnam. AmCham supports the success of its members by promoting a healthy business environment in Vietnam, strengthening commercial ties, and providing high-quality business information and resources.In 2018, AmCham will continue to play a helpful and constructive role, and to be a strong advocate for a better business environment in Vietnam. AmCham believes in Vietnam's strategic goal to industrialise, modernise, and globalise, and its members are committed to working with partners in the government to create a more attractive, transparent, and stable business environment.http://www.vir.com.vn/michael-kelly-elected-chair-of-amcham-hanoi.html

Procuracy finds group benefits in Dinh La Thang case


The People's Procuracy of Hanoi has held that Dinh La Thang appointed a bidding for PVC (PetroVietnam Construction JSC) due to "group benefits" at the $1.7 billion Thai Binh 2 thermal power plant project.Choosing a qualified contractorAt the court session on January 15, 2018, Dinh La Thang declared that the bidding ap-pointment of the project was based on PetroVietnam's development strategy by 2025, the promotion of Vietnamese goods among Vietnamese enterprises and people, and the planned development of the oil and gas sector by 2025. However, Conclusion No.41 of the Politburo did not choose PVC as Thang claimed.On the question of whether PetroVietnam implemented the bid in line with the direc-tions of the government, the prosecutor said: "Responding to the PetroVietnam's doc-ument signed by Dinh La Thang on appointing PVC as the project contractor, the prime minister assigned PetroVietnam to hold a bidding for the company meeting all requirements and regulations, but PVC was not named in particular."As for PVC's capacity, the representative of the procuracy emphasized that the evalu-ation of a company's general capacity goes beyond the profit and expenditure figures. Based on the financial and debt reports of PVC and PetroVietnam, he demonstrated that PVC faced many difficulties at the time and cannot deploy the project.At the court session, Dinh La Thang and Trinh Xuan Thanh said that PVC's capacity was not as good as Lilama at the moment, leading to double the time it took to carry out the project and additional costs of over VND155 billion per year ($6.83 million).Group benefitsThe representative of the procuracy said that Trinh Xuan Thanh and Vu Duc Thuan were appointed to high positions in PVC by Dinh La Thang. Then, based on their per-sonal relationship, Thang appointed PVC by circumventing legal regulations and or-dered the advance payment of over $6.6 million and VND1.3 trillion ($57.3 million)."This showed group benefits very clearly," concluded the prosecutor.At the court session, Thang said he did not know about EPC Contract No.33 and that any violation of state regulations were unintentional. However, the procuracy said that as PetroVietnam is a state-owned group, all assets of the group which were as-signed for Thang to manage belong to the state.Thang violated state regulations and damaged state assets by taking advantage of his


BU

SIN

ES


role to appoint PVC as contractor.Earlier, Vu Duc Thuan, former PVC general director and other people had clearly in-dicated that PVC does not have the requisite experience to execute the project and should not be picked.http://www.vir.com.vn/procuracy-finds-group-benefits-in-dinh-la-thang-case.html

Phu Yen to host business promotion conference


The central coastal province of Phu Yen will hold a conference to promote investment in the locality for 2018 on January 19.At a press conference held on January 15, which released the information, representa-tives of local authorities said more than 500 delegates, including those from 260 do-mestic and international enterprises, are expected to attend the conference.Phan Dinh Phung, vice Chair of the provincial People's Committee, noted the event aims at introducing investors to preferential policies designated for them and a list of projects on agriculture, processing industry, mining, renewable energy, and tourism.Le Tan Ho, director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, said Phu Yen houses five concentrated industrial parks covering a total area of 498 hectares.The province is investing in infrastructure at the Nam Phu Yen economic zone and building a hi-tech agricultural park.The upcoming conference is expected to see the granting of licences to investments to-talling nearly 12.4 trillion VND (558 million USD).https://en.vietnamplus.vn/phu-yen-to-host-business-promotion-conference/124890.vnp

3 agricultural shows to be held in HCM City


Agriculture Hub Vietnam, the country's largest exhibition in the agricultural sector and comprising three separate international exhibitions on livestock breeding, cultiva-tion, and agricultural machinery and equipment, will be held in HCM City in March.The three exhibitions are HortEx Vietnam (the first exhibition and conference on hor-ticultural and floricultural production and processing technology), Agri Machinery & Tech Vietnam Expo (the first international show on agricultural machinery, equipment and technologies), and ILDEX Vietnam (the seventh international exhibition on live-stock, dairy, meat processing and aquaculture).They are expected to attract around 420 exhibitors from 35 countries and territories, in-cluding Vietnam, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the US, Japan, Canada, South Korea, China, and India.Speaking at a press briefing for the event last week, Nguyen Ba Vinh, director of Minh Vi Exhibition and Advertisement Service Co Ltd (VEAS), one of the organisers, said: "Many foreign exhibitors will come for the first time to Vietnam. And they want to con-nect with Vietnamese companies."They will showcase the latest services and technologies related to livestock breeding, cultivation and agricultural machinery and equipment. The event will also feature conferences and seminars to provide visitors with up-to-date information about the sectors, he said.Co-organised along with partners from Thailand, the Netherlands and China, Agricul-ture Hub Vietnam will offer domestic businesses a good chance to seek partners for market expansion and acquire state-of-art technologies from leading countries.The event, to be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre from March 14 to 16, is expected to attract more than 15,000 trade visitors.http://bizhub.vn/events/3-agricultural-shows-to-be-held-in-hcmc_291437.html End


160118Intellasia Finance Vietnam - HKBAV · 2018-01-16 · Of the banks ranked by the Asian Banker,...

Documents

Transcript of 160118Intellasia Finance Vietnam - HKBAV · 2018-01-16 · Of the banks ranked by the Asian Banker,...