250717Intellasia Finance Vietnam · The outstanding loans of Vietnam consumer finance soared from...

25 July 2017

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reference exchange rate stays flat 1Central bank firm on bad-debt resolution 2Consumer credit grows rapidly as retailers thrive 2Prime minister approves scheme on banking sector restructuring 3Banks go slow on stock listing 4More cooperation opportunities between foreign and local

investment banks 6Vietnamese Fintechs targeting at $35b pie 7GoBear to launch unsecured loan awareness page 8Sacombank achieves $19 million pre-tax profit in H1 9IMF: Vietnam's dynamic economy continues to do well 10Government targets 6.4-6.8pct growth in 2018 10DOC ends anti-dumping investigation against VN polyester fibre 11Amended decision on anti-dumping measures against

imported steel 12Ministry seeks support for car industry 12Selling price of social housing may rise 12Green tax hike on petrol 13HN: 179 electricity grid works operated in H1 14Firms fret over wage hike, social insurance 14Transport ministry reconsiders ride-sharing service ban 15State's red tape-cutting yields business growth 16US property purchases on shaky legal grounds 17M&A market poised for a turnaround 18Influx of local travellers feeds vital hotel market 21Foreign investors pouring more money into petrol market 22Sweets industry still pulling in investors 23Experts concern about increasing cash inflows into real estate 23Japanese investors keen on real estate 24Vietnam, RoK enjoy thriving trade 25Vietnam, Laos work closely to promote trade 25HCM City: retail sales, services revenue up 10.2pct in H1 26Ha Giang seeks to woo tourism investors 26

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Business Briefs July 25, 2017 27Stocks end lower on large-cap firms 27

Vietnam stocks fall for third straight day 28Brokerages: Market outlook turns negative 28EVN to sell stake in its finance subsidiary 29Investors can apply for outbound tour operating licenses online 29Freight exchange platforms on the rise 30Just one inspection/year at hotels 30Deposit agreements need to be properly managed 31Hybrid corn seeds dominate fields in Vietnam 3188,560 smuggling cases detected in H1 32Opinion: Why Vietnam needs to expand visa exemption policy 32Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway behind schedule over

financial constraints 34QTSC spurs smart city model 34Siemens lights the way to Industry 4.0 35PVN exports 355 million tonnes of crude oil in 30 years 37TAC announces 34pct rise in profits in Q2 37Viettel makes bank from international markets 37Blue HK invests in Beta Media 39Saigon Plant Protection company opens branch in Burma 39Vietnam's first ultra-clear float glass factory built 40Bosch to pump extra $47m in Dong Nai 40Da Lat weasel coffee opens 3rd HCM City shop 40Mai Linh confident in competition with Grab and Uber 41Formosa should consider environmental issue as crucial to

its survival: PM 42$3.2 billion Vung Ro Refinery and Petrochemical project

warned over 42Vinafis objects to discharge of dredged sediments into sea 43Mandarin Garden 2 flats to be handed over to buyers

at year's end 44Lap An Lagoon, where sea and mountain meet 44Bridgestone Vietnam sponsors 50 smart bins in Da Nang 46Vietnam aquatic, Tra fish festival scheduled for October 46Workshop promotes sustainable rubber planting 47HCM City to host Export Forum 47Vietnamese Goods Week in Thailand delays till August 48

FINANCE

Intellasia Tel: +844 2213 2244

FINANCEReference exchange rate stays flat

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA

The State Bank of Vietnam kept the daily reference exchange rate for VND/USD on July 25 unchanged from the previous day at 22,429 VND.With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied for commercial banks during the day is 23,102 VND and the floor rate 21,756 VND per USD.The opening hour rates at commercial banks saw slight changes.Vietcombank cut both rates by 5 VND to 22,695 VND (buying) and 22,765 VND (selling).Meanwhile, BIDV maintained the rates at the same level as on July 24, at 22,700 VND (buying) and 22,770 VND (selling).Techcombank listed the buying rate at 22,685 VND, down 5 VND, and selling rate at 22,770 VND, down 10 VND.

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

Fax: +844 3759 2034Email: [email protected]

Websites: www.Intellasia.Net www.TriTueAChau.com

FIN

AN

CE

Vietnam finance & business 25 July 2017

Central bank firm on bad-debt resolution

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is working hard towards settling bad debts and re-structuring the banking system by 2020, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reports.The SBV last Friday held a teleconference on the National Assembly's Resolution No. 42/2017/QH14 on settlement of non-performing loans (NPLs) on a trial basis, and the prime minister's decision on the restructuring of credit institutions in 2016-2020.Resolution No. 42 is aimed at removing legal barriers to banks' settlement of bad debts and assets used as collateral for loans by creating a synchronous and effective mecha-nism for the prompt handling of bad debts, said SBV governor Le Minh Hung.According to the central bank, the bad debts sold to the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) accounted for a mere 5.81 percent of total outstanding loans as of late last year. If the debts which have been restructured are taken into account, NPLs would make up 10.08 percent of the total.The central bank's target is to bring down the ratio of NPLs, including those sold to VAMC and being classified, to less than 3 percent of total outstanding loans by 2020, excluding bad debts of loss-making commercial banks.Trinh Ngoc Khanh, board chair of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Devel-opment (Agribank), said at the teleconference that his bank would write off the penal-ties on those failing to pay interest on time, and adjust down interest rates for all NPLs prior to August 15.Agribank is expected to reduce overdue interest payments by around VND30 trillion for those debts settled by the bank or sold to VAMC. It plans interest rate reductions, even by 100%, to encourage its debtors to pay debts. If its debtors respond positively to this plan, the bank could collect about VND40 trillion, said Khanh.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55167/Central-bank-firm-on-bad-debt-resolu-tion.html

Consumer credit grows rapidly as retailers thrive

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

The appearance of big foreign retail chains like CircleK, Shop&Go, FamilyMart and Aeon and the strong rise of Vietnamese chains Vinamart, Co-op and The Gioi Di Dong have fostered the development of consumer credit in Vietnam, according to the State Bank of Vietnam.StoxPlus' 2016 report on Vietnam's consumer credit showed that the credit market has seen amazing leaps in recent years.The outstanding loans of Vietnam consumer finance soared from $7.3 billion in 2012 to $26.55 billion in 2016. Though it still accounts for a small proportion (9.8 percent by the end of 2016), consumer finance has been growing very quickly.Nguyen Tu Anh, deputy director of SBV's Monetary Policy Department, confirmed that consumer credit has been developing strongly thanks to many favourable condi-tions.Vietnam has 92 million people with 70 percent of the population aged 15-64, while its GDP growth rate has been stable at over 6 percent in recent years.Anh cited research by economist Nguyen Thi Hien and her co-workers that shows the consumer credit market's rapid development since 2011. The growth rate was 30 per-cent per annum in 2011-2014 and 59 percent in 2015.The total outstanding consumer loans granted to customers in 2015 was VND583 tril-lion, equivalent to 20.5 percent of the consumption value of individuals and house-holds.If not counting housing loans as per international practice, consumer outstanding loans in 2015 would total VND272.241 trillion (equivalent to 6.62 percent of GDP). The figure is higher than that of China (6 percent) and Japan, but much lower than other developed countries, including the US (17 percent), Europe (14 percent), and Korea over (20 percent).The constant increase of consumption has led to higher demand for consumer loans. Meanwhile, the stable and high economic growth rate helps consolidate people's belief in their income in the future, thus encouraging them to borrow money.Vietnam is in a so-called golden population period with a high percentage of young consumers.As the growth rate of lending to fund production and business has slowed down for several reasons, banks tend to increase consumer credit to offset the slowdown.FE Credit is leading the consumer finance market with $1.4 billion worth of loans pro-vided in 2016, accounting for 48 percent of market share.

Intellasia 25 July 2017 2 / 47

FIN

AN

CE


Its rivals, Home Credit, HD Saison and Prudential, hold 15.7 percent, 12.2 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, according to StoxPlus.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/182419/consumer-credit-grows-rapidly-as-retailers-thrive.html

Prime minister approves scheme on banking sector restructuring

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY

The prime minister has issued Decision No.1058/QD-TTg approving the scheme on "Restructuring the system of credit institutions associated with bad debt settlement in the 2016-2020 period".The main content of the scheme is to continue restructuring the system of credit insti-tutions with the focus on dealing basically and thoroughly with bad debt and ailing credit institutions in accordance with the market mechanism and the principle of pru-dence, ensuring the interest of depositors and maintaining the system's stability and security; reducing the number of ailing credit institutions so as to have appropriate, scalable and reputable credit institutions operating in a healthy manner and ensuring liquidity.*Orientations for restructuring credit institutionsThe scheme provides guidelines and solutions for the restructuring of commercial banks with more than 50 percent of charter capital held by the State (excluding com-pulsorily purchased commercial banks).Accordingly, commercial banks whose the State holds more than 50 percent of charter capital play the key role in terms of scale, market share and market regulation; lead in the application of modern banking technology, advanced management capacity, high business efficiency, operational safety, active international integration; actively partic-ipate in the restructuring of ailing credit institutions under the direction of the State Bank; do business in accordance with the market mechanism and comply with the law's regulations.Besides, there continues to consolidate and re-arrange joint-stock commercial banks, financial companies and financial leasing companies in order to healthilise and im-prove their financial capacity in terms of scale, quality, effectiveness; ensure system safety, business operation following market mechanism, transparency and full satis-faction with the standards of banking management and safety in banking operation in accordance with the law and international practices.To enhance the role and responsibility of cooperative banks in regulating capital, su-pervising the use of loan capital and repayment capability of customers; To provide guidance, training in banking operations, information technology, and support to banking activities for member people's credit funds; To participate in the handling of member people's credit funds facing difficulties or having signs of unsafeness in their operations.To continue consolidating and raising the level of safety and efficiency of the existing people's credit funds in parallel with the firm expansion of the new people's credit funds in rural areas. The main scope of activities of people's credit funds is to mobilise capital and provide loans to members in the area, especially in rural areas in order to mobilise local resources to contribute to local economic development, eradicate hun-ger, reduce poverty and push back usury; ensure that people's credit funds operate un-der the principle of voluntariness, autonomy and self-responsibility for their performance with the main target of mutual assistance among members.* Solutions to deal with bad debtRegarding the bad debt settlement solution, the State Bank, ministries, branches, peo-ple's committees of provinces and cities under central authority, credit institutions, the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) and related organisations and indi-viduals continuously, drastically and synchronously carry out the solutions.Specifically is to continue implementing bad debt settlement solutions in accordance with the prime minister's Decision No.843/QD-TTg dated May 31, 2013, of which cred-it institutions re-evaluate the quality and possibility of recovering the debts to take ap-propriate measures; enhance the provisioning and use of risk provisions to deal with


FIN

AN

CE


bad debts; continue restructuring debts, support capital for customers to overcome dif-ficulties and recover; supplement and complete legal documents on collaterals; collect debt and dispose collaterals; strictly control and reduce operating costs; minimise bad debts arising in the future.Borrowers must self-consolidate, streamline their operations, improve their financial capacity, administer, enhance technology adoption and competitiveness; actively co-operate with credit institutions to develop and carry out plans to restructure debts, re-move difficulties in production and business; actively develop the market for goods consumption and export promotion; actively participate in programmes and solutions to support businesses run by the government, ministries, branches and localities.The State Bank, ministries, branches and localities continue implementing monetary, credit and banking mechanisms and policies while removing difficulties for produc-tion and business, supporting the market, reducing inventory, promoting consump-tion of goods, stimulating investment and consumption in the country; developing real estate market, stock market.The State Bank enhances the inspection and supervision of credit institutions in their implementation of regulations on credit granting, operational safety, debt classifica-tion and risk provisioning; the State Bank and other ministries and sectors continue to perfect the legal framework and accelerate the management, inspection and supervi-sion of the monetary sector, banking, securities, insurance and SOEs.VAMC focuses on reviewing, classifying and re-evaluating borrowers, collaterals and purchased debts to determine debt recovery capacity and have appropriate solutions for settlement; carrying out vigorously and synchronously solutions to purchase, sell and treat non-performing loans under market mechanism; intensifying the close coor-dination with credit institutions in the recovery, restructuring, sale and handling of debts and security assets for purchased bad debts; providing financial support for bor-rowers to restore production and business, completing unfinished projects; strength-ening the asset valuation and assessment capabilities; regularly and promptly publicising the purchase, sale and disposal of bad debts; coordinating with concerned units to continue studying and perfecting organisational and operational models.Besides are the solutions on legal framework, policy mechanism on settlement of bad debt, collaterals; development of debt trading market; bad debt trading following mar-ket value and improvement of VAMC's financial capacity; bad debt settlement related to construction arrears originated from the central budget, local budget and bad debts of SOEs, bad debts of loans under the government's programmes and projects, or un-der the appointment by the government, the prime minister, and the government guaranteed debts.

Banks go slow on stock listing

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| NGUOI LAO DONG

The Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VPBank) has made announce-ment to shareholders about the last date to close the list of shareholders serving the registration, depository, and listing on the Hochiminh city Stock Exchange (HoSE). The deadline is on July 28th.This announcement shows that VPBank is making concrete steps to fulfil the bank's prom-ise to get listed at the fastest in the third quarter of 2017 as mention in its shareholders meet-ings. VPBank's charter capital is currently 14 trillion dong. The bank's share price on the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market is 35,000 dong per share. With 1.33 billion shares to be listed, VPBank's capitalisation is expected at 46.7 trillion dong.VPBank is probably the first bank to be listed on the official stock market this year. Previ-ously, 300 million shares of Kien Long Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Kienlongbank, KLB) were traded on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) for the first time on June 29th at reference price of 10,000 dong per share. Prior to that, on January 9th, more than 564 million shares of the Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) were listed on the UPCoM, with reference price on the first trading day of 17,000 dong per share. VIB's board of management said that according to the planned approved by the shareholders committee in 2016, VIB shares are planned to be listed on HoSE in 2018.


FIN

AN

CE


On the UPCoM system, Lien Viet Post Commercial Joint Stock Bank (LienVietPost-Bank) is the latest bank to announce to finalise the shareholder list on July 17th to carry out procedures to register its shares at the Vietnam Securities Depository and register to be traded on UPCoM for entire 646.6 million shares. Other banks such as Techcom-bank, OCB, NamABank, MaritimeBank, VietABank, and TPBank, etc. all have plans to list on the stock market, but the completion time is unclear.Until now, only 11 out of 35 banks have listed their shares on the stock exchanges, in-cluding Vietcombank, BIDV, VietinBank, Eximbank, MBBank, and Sacombank of which shares are listed on HoSE; ACB, SHB, NCB of which shares are listed on Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX); and VIB and Kienlongbank of which shares are listed on the UPCoM.According to requirement, the progress of listing on the stock exchange of banks re-mains very slow. As stipulated in Circular 180/2015 of the Ministry of Finance, by the end of 2016, banks must register shares on the UPCoM if they are not listed on the stock exchanges after being equitised.Banks' delay of listing is due to many reasons. Some banks have to postpone the plan as they are under restructuring, while many other banks do not want to list their shares on the stock market yet, because the time is not ripe, according to shareholders or the leaders of the banks.For Techcombank, at its 2017 AGM, over 90 percent of the shareholders approved the listing plan, but only 3 percent of MaritimeBank's shareholders agreed to the bank's plan to list on the UPCoM.Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc, vice Chair of Vietnam Banking Legislation Club (Vietnam Bank Association) said that at this time, although the market is favourable, sharehold-ers, especially major ones are still cautious with the listing plans of banks because share prices of banks are fairly low. "Shareholders often want shares to be traded on the stock market, even when the market is not positive. However, for major sharehold-ers, when share price is low, they do not want to list the shares on the market due to concern that the shares will be hoarded by other investors, and the bank may have a new boss. When the share price is high, the possibility of being acquired is less as in-vestors can hardly gross a huge volume of shares due to the high costs. The real bosses of banks must consider this issue in order to protect their business", Duc analysed.In fact, the state management authorities have used many administrative procedures to urge banks to carry out listing on the stock market in order to enhance information transparency and liquidity, etc., but the result is not positive. Lawyer Duc acknowl-edged that except banks which are under special control, other banks are all public companies with large scale capital and methodical management and it is not difficult for them to get listed. However, the deadline of the listing should not be set, because banks must meet all the conditions in order to conduct the listing. Moreover, as the list-ing must also be approved by shareholders and bring practical benefits to sharehold-ers, the management authorities can hardly force banks to list by using administrative measures. On the other hand, there is a need to resolve the root problem which is the ownership of bank owners.Listing, however, is an inevitable path necessary for the development of the banking system, especially in the context when transparency is required, cross-ownership needs to be reduced and capital must be raised.

More cooperation opportunities between foreign and local investment banks

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| BAO DAU TU

As Vietnam accelerates equitisation, divestment, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), local enterprises, foreign and domestic banks have more and more opportuni-ties to cooperate in consulting or underwriting deals.Trend to hire foreign bank for consulting servicesUnlike commercial banks, investment banks are often financial intermediaries specialising in providing services related to the issuance of securities, M&A or capital raising for both the enterprises and investors. Investment banks are usually cool agents who act as consult-ants, brokers or underwriters to help the deals go smoothly for both buyers and sellers.


FIN

AN

CE


Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Credit Suisse or JP Morgan Chase are well-known investment banks in the world with up to a hundred of years in operation. In Vietnam, where the capital market remains young, these above-mentioned activities are often carried out by local securities firms.It can be seen that in the last few years, Vietnam has been a potential market for invest-ment banks, thanks to the large number of equitised state-owned businesses. The gov-ernment has stepped up the divestment and many private businesses have chosen to get listed on the stock market. The notable point is that Vietnamese businesses current-ly tend to hire international investment banking team to realise their purpose of calling for foreign capital.For example, it the recent private placement of Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company, four investment banks, including Viet Capital Securities Company (VCSC), Deutsche Bank (Germany), JP Morgan (US), and BNP Paribas (French) jointly advised Vietnam on its private placement and IPO in early 2017. As a result, this cooperation attracted the participation of 30 organisations to Vietjet's private placement, with nearly 1.9 tril-lion dong called for Vietjet. Shares of this airlines were also sold out in the IPO.Taking advantage of each other's strengths"With the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of over 6 percent and strong equitisation and listing of businesses, many European and Asian investors are eyeing Vietnamese enterprises which are large in scale and have good development potential. These are good opportunities for foreign banks like us", said Werner Steinmueller, Asia director of Deutsche Bank.Talking to reporter of Bao Dau tu, Steinmueller shared that the cooperation between foreign and Vietnamese investment banks aim to take advantage of the strengths of both sides. While the foreign consultant is experienced in cross-border consulting and have relationships with global investment funds, domestic banks are well aware of Vi-etnamese law and how to carry out the deals in the domestic.From now until 2020, at least 137 state-owned enterprises are about to be equitised, in-cluding big names like PV Oil, PV Power, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Com-pany, Saigon Trading Group (SATRA), o Saigon Jewellery Company (SJC). The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has also sent message about the divestment in FPT Group, Bao Minh Insurance, and the Vietnam Dairy Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk).According to Richard Fitton, Senior Management, Investment Banking Division of VCSC, these equitisations will create a great supply source for the coming M&A in Vi-etnam. Investment banks do not only expect to collect fees for consulting and under-writing, but also brokerage fees in the future.VCSC used to be the advisory unit for Fraser & Neave in their divestment worth 830 million USD of SCIC in Vinamilk. Vinamilk's consulting team included Saigon Securi-ties Company, Vina Capital, and Morgan Stanley Asia."Not only VCSC, investment banks in general are very excited about the upcoming deals in Vietnam. We are optimistic about the increasing interest of foreign investors in Vietnam and the more abundant commodities on the market", shared Fitton. Ac-cording to him, in the near future, if having opportunities, VCSC will still cooperate with foreign investment banks to help Vietnamese businesses call for foreign capital.

Vietnamese Fintechs targeting at $35b pie

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| BAO DAU TU

It takes less than five seconds to select a drink, scan the card, push the button from the automatic vending machine to have a cool drink. The QR code-based vending ma-chine, which is integrated into Zalo Pay mobile payment service, attracted thousands of visitors at ICT Comm Vietnam exhibition.The ground floor of The Flemington Tower (182 Le Dai Hanh, Ward 15, District 11, HCM City) where VNGthe "father" of two applications Finax Zalo Pay and 123Pay lo-cates its headquarterthe QR code payment machines Zalo Pay is also surrounded by young users.However, machines using QR code like this in HCM City in general and Vietnam in


FIN

AN

CE


particular are not many while thousands of ATM card machines still flourish all over the streets in the country.Meanwhile, in India, people go to the market to buy vegetables and make payment by phone via Paytm wallet or in Sweden, homeless people who sell newspapers can now receive money by scanning credit card, or receiving SMS.Even in China, many beggars receive money via QP Code and in the neighbouring country Cambodia, people can pay taxes to the State through more than 5,000 agents of fintech wing service. Nearly $53 billion has been spent on Fintech companies, and there are more than 3,500 Fintechs in the world now, according to the Boston Consult-ing Group.Vietnam Fintech market is on the threshold of a very potential land. As per Zion Co., Ltd (an intermediary payment unit with products of 123Pay and Zalo Pay e-wallet), Vietnam currently has 40 million smartphones, and this number will increase to 60 million in 2018. More than 500,000 business accounts on Facebook have not yet met payment demand but currently only less than five percent of Mobile users use banking applications. Zion also said that up to 50 million ATM cards are being used in Vietnam, including eight million international Visa cards (up to 95 percent are used for cash withdrawal, only five percent are used for POS). The ratio of cash payment in Vietnam amounts to 90%.Apart from VNG which has just "entered" this market, other technology groups, start-ups have also entered the market vigorously such as VNPT's Momo e-wallet and VNPT EPay, VTC's VTC Pay, Viettel's BankPlus, VietUnion and NTT Data (Japan)'s Payoo, Alibaba's AliPay, etc. which have created an exciting "wave" in sharing the "sweet cake" in electronic payment.Nguyen Hoa Binh, Founder and Chair of NextTech Group of Technopreneurs (the de-veloper of many payment applications such as Nganluong.vn, mPOS.vn, Vimo.vn, etc.) said a large number of consumers, which account for 70-80 percent of the popula-tion in newly developing countries like Vietnam, are staying outside the coverage of banks. This is an opportunity for many Fintech companies to fill the gap or replace banks to serve these objects.Truong Cam Thanh, director of Zion, said that Vietnam's new Fintech market is quite potential. In fact, the ratio of people using electronic payment is still very low due to many reasons such as habits of using cash; people do not really trust the security and safety of electronic transactions; the registration of non-cash payment services is not convenient; many concepts are confusing for users and e-commerce service providers still maintain the payment form of COD."The ratio of people using electronic payment is currently still very low, but I believe that when customers use it as a payment habit, electronic payment services will devel-op very quickly", said Thanh.As per reports by the United Nations and Banknet, the Vietnamese market has as much as $35 billion with small transfers of less than five million dong a year, and this is really Fintech's fertile land. That is the reason why 123Pay payment gateway has been selected by more than 200 companies with diversified business lines such as retail (Lazada, Mobile World, Nguyen Kim Electronics Supermarket, etc.); tourism (Vietrav-el, BenThanh Tourist, etc.), entertainment (Galaxy Cinema, BHD, 123Phim, etc.) to be partners.And, revenue through 123Pay payment gateway in 2015, before receiving the paper to provide intermediary payment services, electronic payment, collection and payment services, e-wallet service only reached 850 billion dong then in 2016, it grew 60 percent compared to 2015 and reached nearly two trillion dong.Zalo Pay, after the impressive show at ICT Comm Vietnam 2017 exhibition and suc-cessful pilot in HCM City, has received many invitations to cooperate from many busi-ness partners in supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurant chains, parking lots, toll booths, hospitals, schools, etc. interested in the widespread implementation of this technology. It is expected to be carried out this year in HCM City, Hanoi and Da Nang.


FIN

AN

CE


Zalo Pay, by integrating 70 million Zalo chat users and targeting at 20 million digital content customers will really be a formidable rival for 30 Fintech companies in Viet-nam, two thirds of which offer mobile payment services.VNG also said it is focusing on developing Zalo Pay products and sets the target that after five more years, Zalo Pay can completely replace cash in every transaction in ma-jor cities in Vietnam.Currently, Fintech in Vietnam is being facilitated to develop. Most recently, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) established the Steering Committee on Financial Technology to advise and propose to the Governor measures to improve the ecology, including the improvement of legal framework to facilitate the development of Fintech businesses in Vietnam, in accordance with the guidelines and directions of the government.Earlier, grasping the trend of the industrial revolution 4.0 in the field of non-cash pay-ment, the SBV also advised and the prime minister issued the Decision No.2545/QD-TTg on "Development of non-cash payment in Vietnam in the period of 20162020". Of which, the scheme focuses on the development of electronic payment and targets that by the end of 2020, the proportion of cash out of the total money supply will be less than 10%.The above mentioned moves show that the intermediary payment activity (electronic payment gateway, collection and payment support, electronic money transfer sup-port, electronic wallet) is being facilitated to develop and it is very likely that in the near future, technology giants will launch a series of fintech products to compete in the $35 billion market.A survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) in 2016 showed that 83 percent of traditional financial businesses said that part of the business operation was at risk of falling into Fintech's hands, especially in the banking sector. Money transfer and payment companies in the next five years may lose 28 percent of market share to Fin-tech compared to 24 percent in banks; 22 percent in the asset management sector and 21 percent in the insurance sector if there is no change to catch up with competitive trend.

GoBear to launch unsecured loan awareness page

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| VIR

GoBear Vietnam is to launch unsecured loan awareness page on website gobear.com/vn/campaign/vaytienmat.The new awareness page from GoBear Vietnam provides users with a tool to quickly search for unsecured loan offers from professional finance companies in Vietnam, with simple procedures and rapid disbursement time. This tool is designed mainly to help unbanked users, who account for 70 per cent of Vietnam's population, to save time and efforts when searching for unsecured loan offers that best fit their needs.Tran Nhat Khanh, GoBear Vietnam country director, said: "Unsecured loan is a feasi-ble financial product for most Vietnamese users, especially those who are unbanked or being cash salaried. They cannot access traditional banking products that require proof of income. By launching unsecured loan awareness page with a tool to search for unsecured loan offers from professional finance companies for these underprivileged users, we are trying to provide them a quick, convenient, unbiased search solution so that they can independently select the products that benefit their own needs."It is also a fact that GoBear is one of the first webpage in Vietnam that offers users a free, personalised and unbiased tool to search for unsecured loans offers from profes-sional finance companies, thus helping underprivileged users to find the best trust loan offer that best fit their needs fast and easy.Since it officially went live in Vietnam in early December 2016, with three products comparison of credit cards, personal loans and travel insurances, GoBear Vietnam was able to land over 500,000 comparison hits on the website gobear.com/vn and became a trusted provider of search and compare services for financial products in Vietnam.The unsecured loan awareness page launched at this stage is part of GoBear's strategy to diversify services and adding more benefits to users over time.GoBear is Asia's first and only metasearch engine in insurance and banking products.


FIN

AN

CE


It was founded based on the simple premise that a consumer should find freedom and ease when making financial decisions related to insurance, credit cards and loans.Headquartered in Singapore since early 2015, GoBear is also in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Just over two years into its operation, more than 11 million users have put their trust in GoBear to make comparison of financial prod-ucts in a fast and personalised way.As one of the fastest growing fintech startups in Asia, GoBear is leading the way in de-mocratising financial shopping experience with its unbiased and personalised com-parison process.GoBear's user-oriented platform neither aggregate nor sell products. GoBear simply offers consumers a free and transparent comparison process based on their financial needs. The result is a user-friendly and informed experience that saves consumers both time and money.http://www.vir.com.vn/gobear-to-launch-unsecured-loan-awareness-page.html

Sacombank achieves $19 million pre-tax profit in H1

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS

Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) reported pre-tax profit of VND428 billion (US$18.9 million) in the first half of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 70.4 per cent.Total assets of Sacombank reached some VND352.7 trillion, up 7.1 per cent compared with the beginning of the year.Consumer loans and capital mobilised from economic organisations and individuals reached nearly VND212.5 trillion and VND317.5 trillion, up 10.1 per cent and 9.7 per cent, respectively, from the beginning of the year.In addition, other activities also resulted in positive business performance of the bank. In particular, services revenue showed outstanding growth of VND727 billion, a year-on-year increase of 27.3 per cent, accounting for 23.4 per cent of total revenue. In the first six months of this year, Sacombank handled bad debts worth VND845 billion.Sacombank will focus on restructuring and is committed to handle VND20 trillion of bad debts until the end of 2017, Duong Cong Minh, chair of Sacombank's board of di-rectors, said.Minh also shared the bank's orientation in the implementation of the restructuring, in-cluding organisational and labour force restructuring with stability as the main aim; focusing on business development on the basis of promoting Sacombank's strengths in network, people, brands, products and business strategies; and rearranging the oper-ation of the transaction network and subsidiaries.At the end of June, Sacombank held its annual shareholder meeting, during which Duong Cong Minh was appointed new chair and Nguyen Duc Thach Diem was made acting general director afterwards.http://bizhub.vn/banking/sacombank-achieves-19 million-pre-tax-profit-in-h1_287795.html

IMF: Vietnam's dynamic economy continues to do well

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

"Strong manufacturing and FDI, an improving construction sector, and robust domes-tic demand continue to underpin activity [in Vietnam]," Ranil Salgado, Assistant di-rector, Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), told the recent launch of its World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update in Kuala Lumpur, Malay-sia.He added that the country's headline inflation reached 5 per cent year-on-year in late 2016early 2017, reflecting rises in health and education cost, and had fallen close to the 4 per cent target by June this year.The IMF forecasts that Vietnam's growth will be 6.3 per cent in 2017 and the same in 2018.Higher long-term growth would require more forceful reforms to create a level playing field for the private sector, upgrade the country's institutions, and reorient its growth mod-el, to be led by the private sector, before rapid aging sets in, according to the IMF.


FIN

AN

CE


IMF directors recently welcomed ongoing structural reforms and underscored that Vi-etnam will need to build a sustainable, modern economy before the demographic tail-winds fade. For this, more extensive policy action is needed to reform institutions and raise potential growth. Reforms of State-owned enterprises and improved outcomes from vocational and tertiary education will also be critical. directors commended au-thorities for ratifying the Paris Agreement and for putting climate change and the im-plementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at the core of their policy agenda. They stressed that higher environmental taxes and better pricing of externalities in the energy sector can help promote a green, more resilient economy.According to the WEO Update, the pickup in global growth anticipated in the April WEO remains on track, with global output projected to grow 3.5 per cent in 2017 and 3.6 per cent in 2018. "The unchanged global growth projections mask somewhat differ-ent contributions at the country level. US growth projections are lower than in April, primarily reflecting the assumption that fiscal policy will be less expansionary going forward than previously anticipated," said Maurice Obstfeld, Economic Counsellor and director of Research, IMF.Growth has been revised up for Japan and especially the euro area, where positive sur-prises in activity in late 2016 and early 2017 point to solid momentum. China's growth projections have also been revised upwards, reflecting a strong first quarter of 2017 and expectations of continued fiscal support. Inflation in advanced economies remains subdued and generally below targets and has also been declining in several emerging economies, such as Brazil, India, and Russia.While risks around the global growth forecast appear broadly balanced in the near term, they remain skewed to the downside over the medium term. On the upside, the cyclical rebound could be stronger and more sustained in Europe, where political risk has diminished. On the downside, rich market valuations and very low volatility in an environment of high policy uncertainty raise the likelihood of a market correction, which could dampen growth and confidence. The more supportive policy tilt in China, especially strong credit growth, comes with rising downside risks to medium-term growth. Monetary policy normalisation in some advanced economies, notably the US, could trigger a faster-than-anticipated tightening in global financial conditions. And other risks discussed in the April 2017 WEO, including a turn towards inward looking policies and geopolitical risks, remain salient.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/018/52003/-imf--vietnam-s-dynamic-economy-continues-to-do-well.html

Government targets 6.4-6.8pct growth in 2018


The Ministry of Planning and Investment is targeting an economic growth rate of 6.4 per cent to 6.8 per cent for Vietnam in 2018, according to a document sent to ministries and local authorities with guidelines to develop the socio-economic plan for 2018.The ministry said that the economic growth in 2018 would continue to improve, fuelled by increases in manufacturing, construction, trade, banking and tourism sec-tors.The global economic and trade growths were also expected to be higher in 2018 than 2017, creating favourable conditions that would boost the economic growth, especially exports, the ministry said.In addition to this, the improving business environment, rapid international economic integration, increasing foreign direct investment and private investment, coupled with the government's determination to remove difficulties for firms will support produc-tion and trade, it said.The ministry said that the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors were anticipated to have good prospects with increasing prices in the global market.Accordingly, the ministry has planned the gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 6.4 per cent to 6.8 per cent in 2018, total export revenue to increase by 9 per cent to 10 per cent, trade deficit ratio to be below 3 per cent of the total export revenue and the total invest-ments for social development to be at 33.5 per cent to 35 per cent of the GDP.


FIN

AN

CE


Vietnamese economy grew at 5.73 per cent in the first half of this year. To fulfil the growth rate target set at 6.7 per cent for the full year, the country must achieve 7.42 per cent growth rate in the second half, which is considered to be an ambitious goal.ForecastsHSBC in a report released on Wednesday lowered its GDP forecast for Vietnam to 6 per cent this year, down from its previous forecast of 6.4 per cent.This was largely due to the disappointing growth in the first quarter of this year, which hit a three-year low of 5.2 per cent.However, the bank said that tourism would be a major driver for growth in the second half of this year. In addition to this, growth would also gain momentum from pick-ups in foreign investment and agricultural production in the second half."Overall, we believe Vietnam's growth prospects remain promising, despite recent hic-cups, and can be sustained with a positive external environment and continuing eco-nomic reforms," the bank said.The government of Vietnam is taking bold measures to achieve the ambitious growth target for this year.The central bank earlier this month cut several lending interest rates for the first time in three years to aid growth.Besides this, the government has planned to exploit more crude oil to boost growth.Recently, the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for Vietnamese eco-nomic growth to 6.3 per cent from an estimate of 6.5 per cent published in May.The World Bank has projected the Vietnamese economy to grow at 6.3 per cent this year.The Asian Development Bank maintained its growth forecast for Vietnamese economy at 6.5 per cent in 2017 and 6.7 per cent in 2018.http://bizhub.vn/news/government-targets-64-68-growth-in-2018_287777.html

DOC ends anti-dumping investigation against VN polyester fibre


The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced the termination of the anti-dumping investigation on polyester fibre imported from Vietnam.Earlier, on June 20, DOC officially initiated the investigation on polyester fibre import-ed from Vietnam, China, India, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China), based on petitions filed by DAK Americas LLC, Nan Ya Plastics Corporation and Augira Poly-mers.The plaintiffs alleged that polyester staple fibre products were being shipped to the United States at prices lower than their normal value. In addition, the dumping had caused significant damage to the domestic industry due to price depression.The scope of the investigation covers fine denier polyester staple fibre, not carded or combed, measuring less than 3.3 decitex in diameter, coded HS: 5503.20.0025.The withdrawal of the lawsuit was requested only for Vietnam, and the investigation into products from China, India, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China) continues.According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam exported some 13,000 tonnes of fine denier polyester staple fibre worth an estimated $12.4 million to the United States in 2016, ranking third behind China ($79.4 million) and India ($14.7 mil-lion).http://bizhub.vn/news/doc-ends-anti-dumping-investigation-against-vn-polyester-fibre_287797.html

Amended decision on anti-dumping measures against imported steel


The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) issued Decision No.2574/QD-BCT on amending Decision No.3584/QD-BCT dated September 1, 2016 and Decision No.1105/QD-BCT dated March 30, 2017 on taking anti-dumping measures against imported plated steel.According to the new decision, Vietnam will exclude Hong Kong from the list of coun-tries and territories subject to anti-dumping measures against plated steel imported to Vietnam.


FIN

AN

CE


Plated steel of Hong Kong origin that was already exported to Vietnam will receive anti-dumping tax refund.According to the MoIT's Vietnam Competition Authority, plated steel imported from China (including Hong Kong) and the Republic of Korea were subject to anti-dumping measures under Decisions No.3584 and No.1105.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/amended-decision-on-antidumping-measures-against-im-ported-steel/115313.vnp

Ministry seeks support for car industry


The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed to lower import duties for spare parts to support the car manufacturing industry after Asean trade pacts.The Ministry of Industry and Trade suggested letting the Ministry of Finance revise the import taxes and preferential taxes on auto parts. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will also adjust excise tax policy and Law on Value Added Tax.Due to the country's weak support industries, local manufacturers still have to import most car parts at an import tax rate of 15-18%. That is why production costs in Vietnam are much higher than in Thailand or Indonesia.When various trade agreements take effect from 2018, the whole-car import tax from many Asean countries will be exempted and local car industry will face even tougher competition. Many manufacturers have asked the government to help reduce produc-tion costs.Bui Quang Vien, chair of Vietnam Engine and Agriculture Machinery Corporation, one of the key manufacturers and spare part suppliers in Vietnam, said it would be a huge help if the government lower import duties on the parts and can be locally made to boost local competitiveness.Lower production cost also means can have more financial means to localise more ve-hicle parts, he said.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/018/51997/ministry-seeks-support-for-car-industry.html

Selling price of social housing may rise


Social housing is expected to get more expensive soon as investors have not received preferential interest rates for loans, experts have said.The Ministry of Construction has allowed investors to factor in the normal interest rate of loans into selling prices, which may cause prices to exceed those of commercial housing projects, reported Tien phong (Vanguard) newspaper.According to regulations on social housing policies issued in 2011, enterprises that de-velop social housing projects are exempt from land use tax and enjoy preferential in-terest rates for loans for the projects.Then in 2013, the State provided a credit package of VND30 trillion (US$1.32 billion) to loan 70 per cent of credit for apartment buyers and 30 per cent for investors of the projects at low interest rates, the moves which stimulated the social housing market..With those policies, social housing projects were sold at VND10 million per sq.m.After the package ended on June 30, 2016, the government announced a policy of pref-erential interest rates for investors of social housing projects.Under this policy, enterprises can take State loans from the Social Policy Bank or credit organisations designated by the State. However, this policy has yet to be implemented.Therefore, Binh Tan Consumer Goods Production Co, Ltd has asked the Ministry of Construction for support as the company has borrowed capital from banks at interest rates of 6.9 per cent for the first year and 9-10 per cent per year from the second year to complete its social housing projects after the VND30 trillion package ended.With the high interest rate, the company could not continue developing the project and sell apartments at low prices.However, the ministry replied that investors who used commercial loans could factor the high interest rate into the selling and rental price of apartments.Thus, apartments in social housing projects can now be sold at commercial prices, leading to prices in projects like Tam Trinh and Rice City Song Hong in Hanoi to in-


FIN

AN

CE


crease to more than VND15 million per sq.m.Nguyen Chi Dung, deputy director of Hanoi Construction Department, said there is no ceiling price for social housing apartments, though legally investor's profits from a social housing project can not exceed 10 per cent of total investment in the project.However, social housing projects have enjoyed many incentives so the selling price has often been lower than in commercial housing projects with similar levels of invest-ment, Dung said.Investors of social housing projects have proposed ceiling prices for the projects and are waiting on approval from city authorities, he said.Tran Ngoc Hung, chair of the Vietnam Construction Association, said the State should encourage enterprises to build cheap, small apartments without tax incentives, and in-stead convert tax revenue paid by investors in the projects to a fund for poor buyers. The State can then offer loans from the fund at low interest rates, even zero interest in the first year and 1-2 per cent from the second year.The State should let enterprises compete according to market rules, Hung said. All tax revenue paid by investors' projects should be converted into loans for buyers that need social housing instead of being used to support firms that build the houses.According to a Ministry of Construction report, the Ministry of Planning and Invest-ment is building a plan to allocate funds from the Bank for Social Policies to provide loans for buying social houses.Meanwhile, the Construction Ministry has asked the bank to create favourable condi-tions for low-income people and labourers in industrial zones to take loans as soon as possible.http://bizhub.vn/property/selling-price-of-social-housing-may-rise_287778.html

Green tax hike on petrol


The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is going ahead with its plan to increase environmental protection tax on petroleum from the current VND1,000-4,000 to VND3,000-8,000 per litre, despite objections from other ministries and the public.In its second draft of the Law on Environmental Protection Taxes announced last week, the ministry proposed a tax hike on fuel consumption of VND3,000-6,000 per li-tre for aviation fuel, VND1,500-4,000 per litre for diesel, VND300-2,000 per litre for ker-osene, and VND900-4,000 per kilogram for fuel oil (FO).If the new tax rate is applied, the price of gasoline at the pumps will rise to around VND22,000 (roughly $1) per litre from the average price at the pump of around VND16,000 to VND17,000 for petrol and VND10,000 to VND11,000 for diesel and fuel oil (FO), respectively, analysts said.The Ministry of Transport (MoT) told the Ministry of Finance (MoF) that Vietnam would apply two petroleum quality standards based on the euro 2 and euro 4 emission standards, suggesting that the MoF set a lower environmental protection tax for euro 4, which cleans emissions from diesel cars, to encourage the production of more eco-friendly petroleum.The Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) said the calculation of environ-mental protection tax on fuel should encourage E5 bio-fuel consumption.The Vietnam Petroleum Association (VINPA) has supported the MoF's tax proposal, though it has pointed out that the maximum tax of VND8,000 per litre is too high.The VINPA has suggested that the MoF hike environmental protection tax from the current VND3,000 to VND5,000 per litre for petrol; from VND1,500 to VND3,000 per litre for diesel; from VND3,000 to VND5,000 per litre for aviation fuel; and from VND900 to VND3,000 per kilogram for fuel oil (FO).Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the MoF should carefully consider its tax hike proposal as local businesses, which are already paying many kinds of taxes and fees, will be further hit. It asked the MoF to do an assessment on the impact of the tax hike on the economy and people's lives.The draft law is scheduled to be submitted to the Finance-State Budget Committee of the National Assembly (NA) for consideration this month. It will be submitted to the


FIN

AN

CE


NA Standing Committee in August, and to NA deputies in September. The NA will review the draft law for approval in October.MoF's deputy minister Tran Xuan Ha said the tax hike is one of the measures to better manage petroleum products while limiting smuggling. Its impact on businesses, peo-ple and inflation will be calculated, he added.Last year, around VND42.3 trillion ($1.9 billion) was collected in environmental pro-tection tax, of which petroleum raked in VND40.2 trillion.http://bizhub.vn/news/green-tax-hike-on-petrol_287776.html

HN: 179 electricity grid works operated in H1


Hanoi Power Corporation (EVN Hanoi) put into operation 179 medium and low volt-age grid works in the first six months of the year, contributing to providing electricity for production and daily living of residents.The volume of operated materials and equipment included 326km of transmission lines, 178km of underground cables, 559 power transformers with capacity of 268.8 MVA and 549km of low voltage lines.The corporation also concentrated on providing customer care services through SMS during the reviewed period. So far, more than 1.5 million customers registered to re-ceive SMSs from the electricity provider.In addition, EVN Hanoi worked with 17 banks and financial intermediaries, which signed cooperation agreements. Banks offered online payment option via internet and mobile banking or customers could pay directly at 892 transaction counters of banks and 1,862 money collecting points via the payment intermediaries.In the last six months of the year, the corporation plans to continue implementing op-erational technique management solutions to ensure sufficient supply of electricity for economic, political, cultural, social activities and daily activities of households.Besides this, EVN Hanoi will operate the pilot competitive electricity wholesale mar-ket under the direction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Vietnam Electric-ity Group, expand communication channels, improve customer services and diversify the form of payment for new electricity supply according to the convenience of cus-tomers.The firm will also focus on spreading awareness of the telephone number of the Centre for Customer Care (19001288) to receive comments and resolve customer complaints.http://bizhub.vn/news/hn-179-electricity-grid-works-operated-in-h1_287799.html

Firms fret over wage hike, social insurance


Employers have expressed their concerns over the rising minimum wage and the so-cial insurance policy.The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs held two dialogues with Vietnam-ese enterprises and the Korea Chamber of Business in Vietnam (Korcham) on labour policy last Friday.Than Duc Viet, deputy director general of Garco 10 Corporation, said his company has 1,200 employees, so it is under huge pressure from wage and social insurance pay-ments. Therefore, he proposed the ministry not increase the minimum wage and delay social insurance payment based on actual incomes that will take effect next year.The rise spike in the minimum wage is reasonable as it will improve living conditions for workers. However, enterprises may not afford to pay their staff, given annual min-imum wage increases, he said.He stressed enterprises may lose appetite for expanding their investments, as high wages for workers will hurt their competitiveness with other regional players. A wage hike is unlikely to enhance the productivity of their employees.Vu Thi Ha, who is in charge of salary and labour policies at Drilling Mud Corporation, said raising the minimum wages also entails increasing the salary fund and social in-surance payments for labourers. This may make companies, especially those facing fi-nancial difficulties, unable to pay their staff. Besides, their staff may suffer negative effects like higher living expenses and social insurance payments.


FIN

AN

CE


As of June 2017, South Korea had injected $54.5 billion into Vietnam, thereby becoming the largest investor. Korean enterprises have created jobs for more than one million lo-cal residents, partly boosting the South East Asian nation's export turnover, according to Korcham president Ryu Hang Ha.Besides, Korean firms are having difficulty with the uncertain prospect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, and rising payrolls. Notably, foreign workers are obliged to contribute social insurance in Vietnam early next year.They wondered why Korean workers who have paid their social insurance in South Korea must make other payments in Vietnam despite inadequate healthcare infra-structure and skills.Doan Mau Diep, deputy minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said some as-sociations suggested not increasing the minimum wage next year, but the Vietnam general Confederation of Labour pushed for a wage hike to meet basic needs of work-ers.The National Wage Council will consider whether to delay the minimum wage hike or not. However, improving minimum living standards for employees, and ensuring wage payment abilities of employers are taken into careful account to be in line with labour productivity and consumer price index hikes, said deputy minister Diep.In regard to compulsory social insurance payments for foreign workers, he explained the Constitution requires all employees to enjoy social security benefits, and the gov-ernment does not discriminate between domestic and foreign workers.Besides, this is regarded as a viable solution to protect domestic workers. "The cost of recruiting local workers will be higher than foreign counterparts if they are compelled to pay social insurance," he noted.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55165/Firms-fret-over-wage-hike-social-insur-ance.html

Transport ministry reconsiders ride-sharing service ban


The Ministry of Transport has sought opinions from ministries, localities and transpor-tation associations on its recently imposed ban on app-based taxi ride-sharing service.The ministry recently sent a document to the ministries of police, justice, finance, in-dustry and trade, information and communications; authorities of Hanoi, HCM City, Danang, Quang Ninh and Khanh Hoa and the Vietnam auto transport association and Hanoi and HCM City taxi associations.In the document, the Ministry of Transport admitted that earlier the ministry request-ed Grab to stop its ride-sharing service called GrabShare. However, now, the ministry needed to gather the opinion after receiving Grab's reports on advantages of the Grab-Share. Grab has asked for the ministry's permission for the firm to continue the service.The Ministry of Transport noted that the ministry wants to get the opinion about Grab's proposal and also needs recommendations about fines for the violation in this service.Both Grab and Uber launched GrabShare and UberPool respectively in May this year. The services allow drivers to add additional passengers to their journey in addition to the person who makes the original booking. The service can help save customers around 30 percent compared to the original booking.But traditional taxi companies strongly oppose the service, saying that it is illegal and unfair competition.In June this year, the Ministry of Transport requested the ban on the ride-sharing serv-ice, explaining that under the ministry's Circular 63, transport firms are only allowed to sign one contract per trip. If a GrabCar driver carries two passengers that agree to share their ride with each other, it means they are fulfilling two separate contracts, and therefore in breach of regulations, the ministry explained.The ministry spuriously claimed that sharing a car with a stranger may result in pos-sible risks for passengers, although such practices are very common among traditional taxi companies at airports.


FIN

AN

CE


State's red tape-cutting yields business growth


The government's perpetual efforts to improve the local business climate, remove hur-dles, and reduce business costs have brought vitality to newly-established firms.Bui Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Business Registration Management Agency, told VIR's Khanh Linh about the progress made, as well as the issues that still remain.The first half of 2017 saw a jump in newly-established businesses, but the rate of firms going out of business also remains high. What do you think about this?Looking on the whole period from 2013 to 2017, newly-established firms are maintain-ing forward growth momentum. In the first six months of this year, the number of newly-established firms rose 150 per cent, and reached nearly 300 per cent growth in registered investment capital compared to the corresponding period in 2013, while av-erage capital size rose by a multiple of 1.8.From a macro perspective, the rate of firms going out of business is less than the rate of those entering the market.Firms exiting the market numbered 72.9 per cent of firms entering the market in 2014. This figure fell to 61.2 per cent in 2015, 57.5 per cent in 2016, and 56.6 per cent in 2017, which is positive compared to other countries that top the Market Facilitation Index.For instance Hong Kong, which ranked fourth in the 'doing business' category for 2017, had 144,883 new business startups last year, with 92,843 businesses exiting the market. So for every 64 firms that went out of business, 100 new ones came into exist-ence. New Zealand, which topped the list for 'doing business' in 2017, had 57,870 new enterprises starting up and 55,629 going out of business in 2015, a ratio of nearly 1:1.But the number of firms entering and exiting a market is not an objective measure of a well-functioning economy. Weak firms with low competitiveness will be ousted by new firms with better business approaches.To some extent, businesses going bust will help to improve the business climate and create a driving force to push growth, paving the way for more efficient and effective businesses.Market barriers, including inappropriate business conditions, were said to be among the factors forcing firms to halt their operations. Is this really the case?There are many factors that can cause a firm to go out of business. Insufficient capital, missed or misaligned opportunities, or unforeseen events can all cause a business to go under.But the reasons behind more than 90 per cent of exits made by small-sized businesses firms with less than VND10 billion ($454,000) each in market capitalisation are market hardships and business plans that don't materialise. These factors can be found in any market economy.How are new businesses doing?Based on data from the national database on business registration during 2015-2016, we can see that businesses are faring well.For example, of the 110,100 new business startups in 2016, 87.05 per cent [95,842 busi-nesses] are still in operation. Only 8.4 per cent have gone out of business.According to figures from tax agencies, as of May 2017, of the businesses started in 2015, nearly 74 per cent have generated taxable revenue. Similarly, of the new busi-nesses started in 2016, 60.5 per cent have reported taxable revenue. Such rates are fairly high compared to other regional nations.Some of the businesses that have yet to generate taxable income are operating in the processing and manufacturing sector. After registration, it takes time for such firms to build workshops and install machinery before production begins, and products or services can be delivered to the market. These firms, however, have also contributed to national development through their investment and procurement activities.Apparently, the government's efforts to improve the investment and business climate and eliminate inappropriate business conditions have brought about positive benefits and helped materialise new business opportunities.http://www.vir.com.vn/states-red-tape-cutting-yields-business-growth.html


FIN

AN

CE


US property purchases on shaky legal grounds


According to experts, the estimated $3 billion spent by Vietnamese people to purchase US residential property could have been transferred largely through illegitimate ways.The "Profile of International Activity in US Residential Real Estate" report by the US National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed that between April 2016 and March 2017, Vietnamese people spent up to $3 billion buying residential property in the US.Currently, money for buying real estate cannot be transferred through normal banking channels, which begs the question: how did these Vietnamese buyers transfer money abroad to buy real estate?According to Vietnam's Law on Foreign Exchange Management of 2005 (amended in 2013), Vietnamese people can only transfer money overseas under prescribed circum-stances, such as carrying a maximum of $5,000 or equivalent when going through bor-der checkpoints. Additionally, Vietnamese people can transfer money overseas through banking, to pay for tuition or medical expenses, though the amount is usually quite small.Nguyen Hung, CEO of TPBank, was quoted as saying on vnexpress.net that money transferred overseas to purchase property may go through illegitimate channels, as banks only accept legal transactions and the amount is not so large usual-ly."Maybe they transferred money through other means and not through banks. The State Bank of Vietnam will surely make moves to control outgoing flows of foreign currency," said Hung.From a financial perspective, Dr Nguyen Tri Hieu commented that there are many il-legitimate ways Vietnamese could have transferred money overseas to buy property, such as through friends and families, but this is unlikely, since the Law on Foreign Ex-change Management only allows carrying up to $5,000 when travelling abroad.Alternatively, they can disguise it as legal transactions, like tuition or medical expens-es, but the transferrable amount is not much and it might take years to collect enough money to pay for a house. As such, this method also seems unlikely.Surprised by the amount of money Vietnamese people have spent on real estate in the US, the director of a real estate firm in Hanoi said that $3 billion is a considerable amount which would greatly benefit the economy if used in business. When using this amount on US properties, not only does it not benefit the economy, but it also causes losses of foreign currency in the country."I was quite concerned when I heard that Vietnam is one of the top residential property buyers in the US," he said.The US real estate market is on the rise, but whatever method Vietnamese people are using to buy US residential property, they still face a considerable amount of risks, ac-cording to experts. These include legal, ownership, and market risks."Even if the money is not delivered in the US, Vietnamese people cannot be sure, re-gardless of whether or not a contract was involved. Since this is considered money laundering, the buyer or investor does not have grounds to sue," Dr Hieu warned.http://www.vir.com.vn/us-property-purchases-on-shaky-legal-grounds.html

M&A market poised for a turnaround


Despite a slowdown dating from the second half of 2016, the pace of the merger-and-acquisition market is expected to pick up in the months to come with many potential deals ahead. Bich Thuy reports.The Japan-invested Daiwa-SSI Fund is on the way to acquire a 20 per cent stake in Ha-noi-based CVI Cosmetic & Pharmaceutical Co. for an undisclosed sum."We are working on necessary procedures to complete the acquisition by the end of Ju-ly. The Japanese investment will enable us to develop a factory in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park," Phan Van Hieu, chair of CVI, told VIR.Daiwa-SSI's bid is among the new potential deals for the second half of 2017, while many others are being negotiated.At last week's press conference on the M&A Vietnam Forum 2017 organised by Viet-nam Investment Review and AVM Vietnam, experts said pharma and healthcare will


FIN

AN

CE


be among sectors that hold the biggest appeal for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2017 and 2018, driven by the increasing population and growing middle class."Increasingly deep global integration, through the signing of free trade agreements and the establishment of the Asean Economic Community, has contributed to making Vietnam more attractive to international groups and M&A is an effective investment channel," said Tran Thanh Tam, director of KPMG's Markets Group.One of the most notable M&A deals in the healthcare sector recently is Quadria Capi-tal, Asia's leading private healthcare investor, acquiring a stake in French-Vietnam Hospital in mid July.Future M&A trends in potential sectorsM&A Vietnam Forum 2017 experts expect there will be big M&A deals in the sectors of agriculture, banking and finance, infrastructure and energy, IT and telecom, educa-tion, and pharmaceutical and healthcare in the near future.In the past few years, many leading private firms of Vietnam have shifted their invest-ments to agriculture. It is forecast that share issuance for their partners and transfer of stake among investors will become more popular.One of the latest M&A deals in the agriculture sector is Thanh Thanh Cong Tay Ninh Sugar JSC (TTCS) fully acquiring Bien Hoa Sugar Joint Stock Company (JSC) to be-come the biggest sugar producer in Vietnam.The banking and finance sector is also expected to have many M&A deals on the back of the sector's restructuring.A driving force for this sector is the National Assembly's recent adoption of Resolution 42, on piloting the settlement of bad debts of credit institutions. This resolution's focus is the resettlement of guaranteed assets, thus helping better settle bad debt."Foreign investors who are interested in the acquisition of nationalised banks are very concerned about bad debt settlement prospects. So Resolution 42 will create an incen-tive for foreign banks to join Vietnam's banking restructuring," said Bui Huy Tho, di-rector of Management and Licensing for Credit and Banking Activities Department, under the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).Nationalised banks here mean very weak banks that were taken over by the SBV for zero dong."Domestic and international investors are very keen on buying into Ocean Bank, GP Bank, Vietnam Construction Bank. The SBV has given them the green light to learn more about these banks before taking further steps," he added.The latest M&A in the banking sector, between Hanoi-based Vietnam International Bank (VIB) and the HCM City branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), happened in early July. In April this year, ANZ Vietnam also parted with its retail arm, selling to South Korea-based Shinhan Vietnam.HSBC Holdings Plc. and Standard Chartered Plc. are also planning to divest their stake at Vietnamese banksHSBC's 19.41 per cent in Techcombank and Standard Chartered's 15.69 per cent in ABC, respectivelyafter over a decade of being strategic investors with these banks.With the policy to attract private investment in infrastructure development, there has been a change in rights for operating certain infrastructure projects, especially airports and seaports.France's Vinci Group is working with state-owned Vietnam Expressway Corporation, the country's largest expressway developer, on the transfer of the operation right for the Cau Gie-Ninh Binh and HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressways.In early June, two Japanese expressway companies, East Nippon Expressway Compa-ny (NEXCO) and Expressway International Company Ltd (JEXWAY), signed a coop-eration agreement with Vietnam's Foundation Engineering and Underground Construction JSC (FECON), to buy a 20 per cent stake in Fecon's build-operate-transfer project, which includes a bypass road on National Highway No 1 at Phu Ly and rein-forcement work along the road in the northern province of Ha Nam.The other sectors that have potential for M&A activities in the near future include ed-ucation, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare, thanks to Vietnam's increasing population


FIN

AN

CE


and disposable income.In the pharmaceutical market, buyers are looking ahead to the scrapping of foreign ownership limits (FOL) in the country's biggest drug makers, Domesco (DMC), Hau Giang Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG), and Traphaco (TRA).DHG has announced that one of the issues it will raise at the extraordinary annual gen-eral meeting this month is the opening of the FOL to 100 per cent, while TRA is also interested in scrapping its FOL, amid growing interest from multinational corpora-tions.Foreign pharma groups see the FOL removal as a positive signal. A clear path in con-verting partnerships into majority ownership would provide companies with much stronger arguments to convince their global headquarters to invest in Vietnam.Back in September 2016, when DMC removed its FOL, US-based Abbott Laboratories increased its stake in the firm to 51.7 per cent, boosting its footprint in the local phar-maceutical market.For DHG, if the FOL removal is approved, it will facilitate Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings, one of the five biggest drug firms in Japan, to increase its stake in DHG from the current 24.5 per cent.In the aviation sector, the Ministry of Transport (MoT) will seek the government's per-mission to continue selling stake in state-owned Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) the country's largest airport operator to strategic investors. Europe's leading airport group Aeroports de Paris (ADP) is ACV's foreign strategic partner.Big potential deals longing for big pushesAt present, a series of M&A deals are still frozen, waiting for accelerated equitisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and investment divestments. If the process gears up, the M&A pace will pick up.According to statistics from the M&A Forum (MAF), Vietnam equitised just 52 SOEs in 2016, or 25 per cent of the 2015 number. In the first half of 2017, the number was 20 SOEs, equal to 76 per cent of the same period last year."Together with strong competition from regional countries and a small number of big-scale enterprises, slow equitisation has caused stagnancy in the M&A market since the second half of 2016," said Dang Xuan Minh, general director of AVM Vietnam, vice head of the forum's organising board.In the period, the value of each M&A deal averaged a lightweight $3-4 million."Vietnam's total M&A value in 2017 cannot surpass the $5.8 billion of 2016 if there are not big pushes from SOEs and government policies," he added.Foreign investors are waiting for the government's decision to buy state stakes in state-owned Sabeco, the largest brewer with 46 per cent market share, and Habeco, the third biggest brewer. The state now holds an 89.59 per cent interest in Sabeco and 82 per cent in Habeco."As expected, Habeco and Sabeco will submit to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) their divestment plans in July. If approved, the stake sales will be completed within 2017," said Bui Truong Thang, vice head of the ministry's Light Industry De-partment.Heineken, AB InBev, SABMiller, Asahi, Kirin Holdings, Singha, Thai Beverage, and Shingha are queuing up to buy into Sabeco, while Carlsberg is waiting to buy into Habeco.In addition, the long awaited equitisations of MobiFone and Vietnam National Ship-ping Lines (Vinalines), as well as the divestment of Petrolimex, attract special interest from international groups and investment funds.There is also room for foreign investors to buy into Vietnam's biggest dairy company, Vinamilk.The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), Vietnam's sovereign fund, has sub-mitted two options for divesting its stake in Vinamilk, in which it still holds 39 per cent.Vinamilk is among the more than 130 companies that SCIC has to divest from during the 2017-2020 period, according to a government decision signed on July 10. Vinamilk


FIN

AN

CE


is a subject of particular interest, as the local government has asked SCIC to fully exit the $9.8 billion firm.Consumer goods, retail, and real estate remain top attractionsIn the period from 2014-2018, the M&A market entered its second wave with a total predicted value of $20 billion, driven by strong commitments to SOE equitisation, the rise of the private sector, the country's deepening global integration, and strong for-eign investor interest.In 2016, the total value of M&As hit an all-time high of $5.8 billion, rising 11.92 per cent from 2015. Consumer goods, retail, and real estate were the most attractive to buyers. Among the sectors, M&A deals in retail accounted for 38.46 per cent of the total M&A value.Between 2016 and the first half of 2017, retail made up 20.33 per cent of the total M&A value, followed by consumer goods with 22.52 per cent, and real estate at 9.63 per cent."The majority of M&A deals during the period focused on the market approach and expansions to cash in on the country's young population and rising middle class," said AVM's Minh.Typical examples for this trend were deals made by Thai groups, including Central Group's $1.05 billion acquisition of Big C, and the $800 million Metro Cash & Carry Vi-etnam deal carried out by TCC Holdings.Beside retail and consumer goods, real estate continued to be on the radar of interna-tional groups from South Korea, Japan, and Singapore after a recovery in 2014.Experts forecast that these sectors will remain the most attractive in the near future, thanks to strong local purchasing power.Asian investors have the upper handThe majority of M&A deals in the $20-100 million range involved foreign investors, making up 77 per cent of the total M&A value in Vietnam. Asian buyers, especially those from Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan, remained the most active participants."M&A deals in Vietnam mostly attracted buyers from Asia, especially Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. The market is yet to appeal strongly enough to EU and US investors, due to the smaller scale of Vietnamese firms," said Nguyen Quy Lam from the Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank Securities Co., LtdTam from KPMG said the firm is providing advisory services for many M&A deals, and most of the buyers are from Asia.Japan investors focused on aviation, petroleum, and pharmaceuticals; Singaporeans targeted real estate; the Thai concentrated on retail;and South Koreans invested in food, banking, and finance.With the biggest players expected to remain unchanged, and interest among Japanese and South Korean investors continuing to focus on retail and consumer goods, the ma-jority of M&A deals should concentrate on these sectors in the future.http://www.vir.com.vn/ma-market-poised-for-a-turnaround.html

Influx of local travellers feeds vital hotel market


Vietnam's hotel segment continues to attract a great deal of capital to serve the boom-ing tourism sector.General manager of Pullman Saigon Central Tony Chisholm said that Accor Hotels has plans to increase its current footprint of 26 hotels to 40-45 hotels by the end of 2019, half of which will be situated in resort locations."We are changing our strategy to attract middle-income Vietnamese into our hotels. With rising disposable incomes, Vietnamese are increasingly choosing upscale hotels to experience international service and quality. Local tourists are now our third-rank-ing market segment, something we never thought would be possible 10 years ago," Chisholm said.Tao Quang Nghe, chair of Odyssea Hospitality, said that there is a growing trend among domestic guests to stay at upscale local and international hotels. For example, Muong Thanh Group has attracted many Vietnamese guests to their premium hotels.


FIN

AN

CE


In addition, Vietnam is striving to turn the tourism sector into an economic spearhead by attracting an estimated 20 million international tourists by 2020. More international hotel operators are expanding their presence in Vietnam, which is a positive sign for the development of tourism in the country.Last year, the Vietnamese tourism industry rode an all-time high wave, with a 26 per-cent year-on-year increase in total foreign visitor arrivals and an 18.4 percent rise in to-tal revenue.Localities nationwide welcomed 72 million domestic and international visitors, higher than the target of 68.5 million visitors set by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.To accommodate the increasing number of arrivals, new hotels have been popping up across the country. Over 8,700 rooms from 41 new three- to five-star hotels came into operation in 2016, increasing the total number of rooms to over 420,000-much higher than the number of rooms in neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Laos, and Cambo-dia, according to Grant Thornton Vietnam's Hotel Survey 2017.The executive chair of Grant Thornton Vietnam, Keneth Atkinson, said that merger and acquisition activity is buzzing in the hotel sector, with deals such as Van Thinh Phat's acquisition of the Duxton Hotel Saigon-now the Saigon Prince Hotel.There are also many more potential transactions in Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Cam Ranh and Danang. Grant Thornton is currently advising three groups on potential acquisi-tions.Atkinson added that most of the new brands planning to enter Vietnam will choose glamour cities. Their favourite properties are four- and five-star hotels in Hanoi and HCM City."In the time to come, we expect to see more deals, as firms often underestimate the amount of capital needed to develop and run a profitable international standard ho-tel."Echoing this view, the general manager of Caravelle Saigon, John Gardner, said that foreign investors are looking for good hotels in prime locations, especially three- to five-star hotels. They are also looking for owners and managers who understand the hotel industry."In fact, there were a lot of problems between owners and operators in the past due to the lack of understanding of international business standards. Vietnamese hoteliers are getting more experienced when they integrate into the international market, which becomes one of the most important criteria apart from location," he said.According to real estate consultancy firm JLL, hotel investors are keen to capitalise on the Vietnamese market. 2016 saw the record levels of hotel transactions, with the dollar value of deals completed during the year representing 83 percent of that of the deals completed in Thailand, a market which is often perceived to be significantly larger and more liquid.Frank Sorgiovanni, head of Research Asia Pacific at JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group, said, "Opportunities to acquire hotels in many gateway Asian destinations is limited, and investors continue to seek alternative investment in emerging markets such as Vi-etnam or Cambodia, where arrivals growth is strongly supported by Chinese tourism.""We remain particularly bullish about Vietnam's growing tourism and thriving econ-omy, which has foreign investors from across the region attracted to its hotel and re-sort market over the past 18 months.The country has become one of the most talked-about markets in Asia Pacific," he add-ed.http://english.vov.vn/economy/influx-of-local-travellers-feeds-vital-hotel-market-355207.vov

Foreign investors pouring more money into petrol market


The Vietnamese petroleum market is attracting more foreign investors. An MOIT (Ministry of Industry & Trade ) report shows there are 29 petrol distribution chains in Vietnam and the number has been increasing rapidly in the last year with at least five


FIN

AN

CE


distributors set up this year.Petrolimex (PLX) has recently announced a plan to pay 2016 dividends to its share-holders, under which VND3.736 trillion would be paid for the 1.16 billion shares in cir-culation.In 2016, the corporation obtained turnover of VND123.097 trillion and pre-tax profit of VND6.3 trillion, an increase of 68 percent over 2015.The State, the biggest shareholder at Petrolimex, which holds a 75.9 percent stake, would receive VND3.16 trillion in dividends. JX Nippon Oil & Energy, with 103,528,476 shares, would receive VND333.7 billion, or $14.8 million.The Japanese oil & gas group in 2016 spent 20 billion yen, or $183 million, to acquire an 8 percent stake in Petrolimex.Within the framework of WTO and 11 FTAs, Vietnam has not committed to open the petrol market. Foreign investors are not allowed to set up petrol distribution networks in Vietnam, except up oil refineries, and need to have their own networks to sell their products.In April 2016, Idemitsu Kosan from Kosan decided to invest in Nghi Son Oil Refinery in Thanh Hoa province. It will have the right to join the distribution market once Nghi Son becomes operational, slated for 2017.To distribute petrol products, Idemitsu Kosan and Kuwait Petroleum International have set up a legal entity in Vietnam.Prior to that, Petrolimex signed an MOU with JX Nippon Oil & Energy on the two sides' strategic cooperation and said they were following necessary procedures to make the Japanese investor Petrolimex's strategic partner.JX Nippon Oil and Energy will team up with Petrolimex to establish a joint venture to develop the Nam Van Phong oil refinery project.At present, Petrolimex, PV Oil and Saigon Petro are dominating the petrol distribution market with 75 percent market share.At Petrolimex, since the maximum foreign ownership ratio is 20 percent, analysts be-lieve there are not many opportunities for foreign investors. However, the opportuni-ties to join the Vietnamese petroleum distribution market are open in other companies.PV Oil is one. Holding 22 percent of market share, PV Oil still doesn't have strategic investors and any commitment with a partner. The door to the Vietnamese petroleum market is open to investors who can buy PV Oil shares.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/182420/foreign-investors-pouring-more-money-into-petrol-market.html

Sweets industry still pulling in investors


Though the growth of the sweets market has slowed down, it is still attracting inves-tors.After Kinh Do Group sold its sweets manufacturing division to Mondelez and indus-try growth slowed, some analysts commented that the sweets market was no longer attractive.However, they may have to rethink the market prospects as Vinataba recently made a fat profit after divesting its 51 percent stake in Hai Ha and Huu Nghi Confectionary Companies.The deal has brought hundreds of billions of dong to Vinataba, while Huu Nghi's and Hai Ha's shares have been hunted by investors. Bibica and Quang Ngai Sugar Compa-ny, the owner of Biscafund sweets brand, have also seen the prices of their shares in-creasing.By the end of April, Bibica share price had climbed to VND100,000 per share, 3-4 times higher than Hai Ha and Huu Nghi share prices.Securities analysts believe that the shares of sweets companies can go for good prices because there are few sweets shares listed on the bourse.A representative of Vinataba confirmed that the divestment from Huu Nghi and Hai Ha is a part of the corporation's plan to withdraw capital from non-core business fields. He denied that Vinataba divested Huu Nghi and Hai Ha shares because of the


FIN

AN

CE


two companies' bad business performance.Phap Luat cited its sources as reporting that Huu Nghi has annual turnover of over VND1 trillion and output of 20,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, Hai Ha reported a 5-7 percent growth rate in the first six months of the year.According to Lam Ngoc Tham, CEO of Topcake, the sweets joint venture had stable growth rate of 15-20 percent.Among soft cake manufacturers, in 2015, Pham Nguyen Food Processing and Confec-tionary reported turnover of $30 million (VND682 billion). In 2016, it had turnover of VND739 billion which meant the 15 percent annual growth rate.Meanwhile, Orion reported huge revenue of VND4 trillion in 2016, an increase of 24 percent over the same period of the year before.Not only high domestic demand, but satisfactory exports are also why investors are pouring money into the sweets industry.With its products exported to more than 10 markets, Hai Ha reported export turnover of $3.2 million in 2016, while the figure is expected to increase to $3.3 million this year.Tham of Topcake said the company exports tens of containers of products to Cambo-dia, Japan, Thailand and Myanmar, and it is planning to export products to the US.Some domestic sweets manufacturers said that sweets exports maintain two-digit growth rates in some markets such as China, the US, Cambodia, Japan and South Ko-rea.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/182319/sweets-industry-still-pulling-in-in-vestors.html

Experts concern about increasing cash inflows into real estate

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| PLO

Cash is flowing strongly into real estate. This sector is very attractive in the market but also causes many concerns.Specifically, as per Vietnam Real Estate Association, the number of newly registered businesses in recent years have grown dramatically. Only in the first five months of this year, the country has had more than 1,859 businesses established in the real estate sector, up 72.8 percent year-on-year. Newly registered capital of businesses operating in this field also increased 43.8 percent over the same period.HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA) also said that only in the first four months of this year, outstanding real estate loans reached 18.275 trillion dong, accounting for 15.9 percent of the total outstanding loans in the area, including outstanding loans for individuals to build, repair and purchase houses for living with the source of repay-ment coming from salary. "If not being managed closely, borrowers may turn to risky real estate investments", HoREA said.Also concerning about the credit inflows into the real estate sector, Do Van Sinh, per-manent member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, told the press that "There needs to analyse the ability to absorb capital of production and manufacturing businesses. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the risk control in real estate lending, especially the premium segment to minimise the risk of bubbles as previous-ly".Similarly, according to economist Dinh The Hien, increased credit into real estate is good news for business owners but in this period, it is necessary to promote the growth of production and business, create jobs, stimulate domestic consumption, but not to focus on property because real estate consumption is long-term investment which creates less job, less production and business."If banks continue to allow consumer credit growth into real estate, sub-prime inves-tors who, instead of relying on their capital to invest in long-term real estate, count on bank loansthereby, generating hot growth. So, the level of risks and treatment will be even worse. The strong investment in property consumption not only makes it diffi-cult for the banking system to escape from bad debt but also leads to the risk of freez-ing this market"- Hien warned.


FIN

AN

CE


Japanese investors keen on real estate

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

By cooperating with local businesses, the investment wave from Japanese enterprises into Vietnam's real estate market continues to grow strongly.According to the Foreign Investment Agency at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as at the end of 2016, Japanese investors had registered to invest in 53 projects with total capital of $1.91 billion; the most of any country.Shaking handsJapanese investors conducted many merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in Vietnam during the first half of this year, according to JLL.They were initially involved in investing in office blocks and hotels but are now step-ping into the residential sector. Different from other investors, however, Japanese en-terprises do not invest in projects. They choose instead to invest indirectly, purchasing shares from companies or joining a project that has already completed formalities with government agencies.The Nam Long Investment Co., has boosted its cooperation with Japanese enterprises. It recently reached agreement with two Japanese investorsHankyu Realty from Osaka and Nishi Nippon Railroad from Fukuokato launch the Mizuki Park project in District 7, HCM City with investment capital of VND8 trillion ($352 million).Other cooperative arrangements between Japanese and Vietnamese enterprises have also been seen, such as Daiwa House, Nomura, and Sumitomo cooperating with Phu My Hung and Sanyo Home with the Tien Phat Company to carry out the Ascent Lake-side project in District 7. Kajima has worked with Indochina Capital, Mitsubishi with the Bitexco Group, and Tokyu with Becamex, while the Creed Group has poured in-vestment capital into the Nam Bay Investment Corporation and An Gia, and the Lem-on Grass Master Fund has poured capital into Sonkim Land Corporation.Japan's Maeda Group and Vietnam's Thien Duc Company recently invested $30 mil-lion via their joint venture, Maeda Thien Duc, in the Waterina Suites high-end apart-ment project in District 2, HCM City.Upwards trendJapan is known for its high standards so Japanese-based projects often focus on quality and convenience and their presence is a factor in the prestige and attractiveness of projects.CEO of Maeda Thien Duc, Tetsuo Kida, said that Vietnam has many similarities with Japan and Thailand's real estate market. With 25 years of experience in management in Myanmar, India, Thailand, and Cambodia, Kida believes that Thailand will also take time to change, like Vietnam. Vietnam is therefore expected to develop in the time to come.According to CBRE Vietnam, the high-end segment has attracted interest from foreign investors in Singapore such as CaptitaLand, Kusto, and Keppel Land, and Japanese in-vestors are expected to boost their investment in Vietnam in the near future.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/182556/japanese-investors-keen-on-real-estate.html

Vietnam, RoK enjoy thriving trade


The Republic of Korea (RoK) surpassed the US to become the second largest trade part-ner of Vietnam, with two-way trade hitting 29.1 billion USD in the first six months of this year.The RoK also replaced China to post the largest trade surplus with Vietnam in the pe-riod, at 15.9 billion USD.Vietnam's export to the country increased by 29.1 percent, while imports surged 51.2 percent, bringing two-way trade value to 29.1 billion USD.Vietnam mainly exports telephone, textile and aquatic products, electrics and spare-part, wooden products, vegetables and fruit to the RoK, while importing automotive parts, fiber, fabric, equipment and consumer productsExperts attributed the increase to the enforcement of the Vietnam-RoK Free Trade Agreement.


FIN

AN

CE


Last year, the value of trade between Vietnam and the RoK stood at 43.1 billion USD, of which Vietnam's exports were valued at 11.5 billion USD, up 29 percent against 2015, led by industry and agriculture.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-rok-enjoy-thriving-trade/115299.vnp

Vietnam, Laos work closely to promote trade


Since Vietnam and Laos set up diplomatic relations in 1962, the relationship between the two countries has flourished thanks to efforts from both sides to make ties deeper and more effective, especially in economy, trade and investment.According to deputy minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, since a bilat-eral trade agreement was signed in March 3, 2015 and a border trade agreement was inked on June 26, 2015, trade ties between the two countries have developed.Launching the Vietnam-Lao trade website at www.vietlaotrade.com has also fostered connections and trade exchange between business communities of both sides.Deputy minister Khanh said the website aims to provide the business community timely and comprehensive information on economic, trade, industry regulations, mechanisms and policies as well as trade promotion activities, aiming to better serve enterprises of both countries and make information cheaper to access.Statistics of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) showed that as of March 2017, trade between the two countries reached 236 million USD, up 4.3 percent year-on-year, with Vietnam's exports at 135 million USD, a rise of 22.6 percent.Meanwhile, Vietnam imported 101 million USD worth of goods from Laos, down 13.1 percent over the same period last year, resulting in a trade surplus of 34 million USD for Vietnam.Vietnam mostly exported fuel, steel, iron, transportation vehicles and spare parts to Laos, while importing rubber, fertiliser, ore and minerals.To celebrate the 55th anniversary of Vietnam-Laos diplomatic relations and 40 years of the Vietnam-Laos Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, a trade fair was held from June 29-July 3 in Vientiane to encourage stronger economic, trade and investment coopera-tion between the two countries.Meanwhile, two-way trade between Vietnam and Laos dropped about 20 percent in 2016, mostly because the government of Laos stopped exporting woods and mini-mised imports of some products the country can supply itself such as cement, iron and steel. Trade competition in Laos has also become fiercer.Recently, minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh had a meeting with Lao min-ister of Industry and Commerce Khemmany Phonexena to discuss the fall in trade and seek measures to promote bilateral trade.The two sides have agreed to work closely in building a bilateral trade development plan for the next 10 years, and to strengthen communications on the bilateral trade and border trade agreements.To fulfil the target of 4 billion USD in two-way trade in 2020, the two sides will launch new cooperation projects in Laos and assist existing projects, while carrying out the agreement on border and border gate management and the protocol on borderline and national border markers.The MoIT will also review Vietnamese projects in Laos to seek measures to support in-vestors.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-laos-work-closely-to-promote-trade/115290.vnp

HCM City: retail sales, services revenue up 10.2pct in H1


HCM City's total retail sales and services revenue are expected to hit nearly 450 trillion VND (19.8 billion USD) in the first half of 2017, up 10.2 percent from the same period last year.According to Nguyen Phuong Dong, deputy head of the municipal Department of In-dustry and Trade, of the total, revenue from retail is estimated at 291 trillion VND (12.8 billion USD), 64.7 percent of the total and up 12.1 percent year-on-year.During January-June, the Department carried out measures to stabilise the market and


BU

SIN

ES

SVietnam finance & business 25 July 2017

connect businesses and banks, while implementing projects to establish an aromatic and chemical business centre, develop the logistics and support industry sector and help enterprises tackle difficulties.From now until the end of this year, the department will continue measures support-ing enterprises, hold a second meeting for municipal leaders and enterprises and com-plete industry and support industry data to help connect production businesses with distributors, Dong stated.The department will also speed up the implementation of the supply-demand linkage programme and the "Vietnamese people prioritise using made-in-Vietnam products" campaign, and intensify promotion activities inside and outside the country.The trading of counterfeit and low-quality products will also be punished strictly, he added.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/hcm-city-retail-sales-services-revenue-up-102-percent-in-h1/115296.vnp

Ha Giang seeks to woo tourism investors


Ha Giang Province will cooperate with the Vietnam Tourism Association to bring about 100 travel companies there next month to explore business prospects.This will be a major fact-finding tour for travel agencies, said the association. Earlier, Ha Giang's authorities signed cooperation deals in HCM City with the travel associa-tions of some localities like the city and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and 14 tourism firms in the south.Travel agency JTB-TNT Co. Ltd has plans to offer tours to the northern province, but no tour programmes have been carried out yet due to limited travel and transportation services there. Thanks to the signing ceremony, the firm will re-start the plan to bring tourists there, especially those from Japan, the major source market of the company, to the province, said Nguyen Van Tan, general director of the company.The firm believes Ha Giang has what it takes to become a destination for its customers, Tan told the Daily at the signing ceremony on Friday.Some of Ha Giang's key tourist products are Dong Van stone plateau, buckWheat flower festival, Khau Vai love market and Ma Pi Leng pass. In 2016, Ha Giang lured 853,000 tourists, up 11.9 percent year-on-year, including 176,000 international travel-lers. Its tourism revenue in 2016 reached VND795 billion, up 13 percent year-on-year. Some 30 percent of tourist arrivals to Ha Giang came from travel agencies.The province currently has two international travel and five domestic agencies. There are no four and five-star hotels but only one three-star, 18 two-star and 42 one-star ho-tels, 134 hostels and 21 other lodging facilities.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55170/Ha-Giang-seeks-to-woo-tourism-inves-tors.html

BUSINESSWSBusiness Briefs July 25, 2017

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA |

* Nam Kim Steel Corporation (NKG) will issue 30 million shares to strategic investors via a private placement at no lower than VND27,000 each.The board of directors will decide a selling price at the time of issuance. NKG plans to mobilise at least VND810 billion from the issue to supplement its working capital and invest in projects. After the share sale, the firm will raise its chartered capital to VND1.3 trillion. NGK will also seek shareholder approval to hike its foreign owner-ship limit from 49 percent to 100%. In the first half of20 17, NKG reported nearly VND5.5 trillion in revenue and VND350 billion in after-tax profit, up 38 percent and 14 percent year-on-year respectively.* PetroVietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 Company ( T2) has released business results in the second quarter of2017, in which its revenue increased 20.3 percent year-on-year to TD3.6 trillion. This was mainly due to a change in the gas pricing mechanism which resulted in a gas price increase of 31.2%. Despite sales volume declining 30.6 percent and a weak price on the competitive power generation market, its gross profit only de-creased 6.5 percent as T2 still benefited from contracted volume. The euro appreciation


BU

SIN

ES


of 8.7 percent versus the dong as of June 30 caused a loss ofVND165 billion in Ianuary-Iune. As a result, its after-tax profit fell 34.4 percent and 8.9 percent year-on-year re-spectively.* Imexpharm Corporation (IMP) made net profit ofVND59.8 billion in the first half of this year, soaring 47.2 percent versus the same period last year. Its revenue climbed 16.5 percent to over VND500 billion in the period, IMP said in its quarterly financial report. The six-month earnings per share were VND 1,452.In the second quarter, IMP posted net profit ofVND33.89 billion from revenue ofVND275.82 b~on, up 74.8 percent and 16.67 percent year-on-year respectively.* Vietnamese construction firm Lilama 69-2 Company (L62) will issue 1.28 million bo-nus shares at a 100:22.4 ratio. In addition, the company will issue 2.5 million shares in a private placement at the ratio of 100 to 43.54. The expected proceeds ofVND25 billion will be used to supplement L62's working capital, said Viet Capital Securities Compa-ny.

Stocks end lower on large-cap firms


Shares fell on both local markets on Monday morning as large-cap stocks continued to trade in negative territory.The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange was down 0.53 per cent to end at 757.80 points. It decreased by total 1.2 per cent in the previous two days.The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange fell 0.85 per cent to close at 97.12 points, extending its two-day decline of 0.9 per cent.More than 133 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth VND1.98 tril-lion (US$88 million).Market trading condition remained weak with decliners outnumbering gainers by 294 to 140.Large-cap stocks continued to trade downwards, pushing the stock market down.Among the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation, 13 stocks declined, includ-ing brewer Sabeco (SAB), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), property developer Vin-group (VIC) and fuel station operator Petrolimex (PLX).Other blue chips such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Vietcombank (VCB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) ended flat.The afternoon session starts at 1pm.

Vietnam stocks fall for third straight day


Vietnamese shares fell for a third session in both local markets on July 24, driven down by securities firms, energy companies and property developers.The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 0.28 percent to close at 759.74 points. It had fallen total 1.2 percent in the previous two sessions.The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange declined by 1.05 percent to end at 96.93 points, posting a total three-day loss of 1.9 percent.The two local indices lost over 2 percent and 2.5 percent for the whole previous trading week.More than 219.8 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth 3.53 trillion VND (157 million USD). The July 24 trading figures were also the lowest in the last three months.Foreign investors remained net buyers, posting a net buy value of 178.3 billion VND, an increase of 277 percent from July 21.Investor selling to gain profits in most of the penny and small-cap stocks was the major factor that pulled the market down, BIDV Securities wrote in its daily report.A part of the profits went back into bank stocks and blue chips, helping them advance, while most of the profits were kept as cash, proving that investors were taking a wait-and-see attitude, BSC added.The stock market was driven down by stocks in the property, energy and securities sectors. Those sector indices lost between 0.7 percent and 1.5 percent, according to vi-etstock.vn.


BU

SIN

ES


In those three sectors, companies that saw their share prices down included Tan Tao Investment and Industry (ITA), Sacomreal (SCR), FLC Group (FLC), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS), Viet Dragon Securities (VDS), Sai-gon Securities (SSI) and Saigon -Hanoi Securities (SHS).Other industries, such as pharmaceutical firms, rubber producers and insurance-fi-nance companies also performed badly. On the other hand, banks, food and beverage producers and plastic companies did well.In the banking sector, five of the nine listed bank stocks made gains. MBBank (MBB) posted the biggest growth rate of 2 percent and Eximbank (EIB) recorded the slightest at 0.4 percent.The food and beverage sector also performed well, led by dairy company Vinamilk (VNM), consumer goods producer Masan (MSN) and sugar firm Bien Hoa Sugar JSC (BHS).http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-stocks-fall-for-third-straight-day/115336.vnp

Brokerages: Market outlook turns negative


Multiple securities firms have forecast a negative outlook for the stock market this week as blue chips may come under increased selling pressure.Bao Viet Securities Company in a recent report said the poor performance of large caps, especially those in the banking sector, may drive the stock indexes down. There-fore, both markets may not make a turnaround this week but falling further or moving sideways.Investors are advised to keep a suitable ratio of shares and cash in their portfolios be-fore a recovery is in sight, it said.BIDV Securities Company said that the decline of banking and petroleum stocks and strong selling pressure from penny stocks last week showed investors became cau-tious. Many players decided to stay on the sidelines to accumulate cash and wait and see.The market may see a further correction this week but stocks would not decrease strongly. Given the current low turnover, the VN Index is forecast to hover above the supporting level of 760 points in the next few days, according to the brokerage.Viet Capital Securities Company said the VN Index, VN30 Index and HNX-Index still have negative outlooks in the short term. Currently, the VN Index and HNX-Index are approaching the medium term supporting levels of 758 and 97 points respectively while the VN30 Index dropped to below its level.From a technical perspective, the movements suggest that the stock indexes would fall further this week. Both indexes may stage a modest recovery when touching the sup-porting lines before returning to the downtrend.Viet Dragon Securities Company also advised bottom fishers to stay on the sidelines. The two markets closed at the intraday lows last Friday, suggesting that investor sen-timent is bad and selling pressure may stay strong this week.FPT Securities Company said that the sectors having strong demand such as pharma-ceutical and real estate have also faced risks after the strong drop last Friday. There-fore, investors should raise the ratio of cash while the VN Index is still going through a correction phase.The VN Index closed down 0.85 percent last Friday, capping its worst week since No-vember 2016 by sliding 2%.MGW had its largest one-day drop of the year. After the close of trading, the electron-ics retailer announced robust preliminary results of the first half of 2017, with revenue and after-tax profit surging 59 percent and 28 percent year-on-year respectively.Energy stocks GAS and GAS fell after the price of Brent crude oil slid on overnight trading. Bank stocks were sold off broadly, led by VCB, CTG, STB and BID, while only EIB bucked the trend.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55180/Brokerages-Market-outlook-turns-nega-tive.html


BU

SIN

ES


EVN to sell stake in its finance subsidiary


The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) has announced that the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) Group will auction 15 percent of its stake, equivalent to 37.5 million shares, in the EVN Finance Joint Stock Company.The shares will be sold at starting price of 14,133 VND (61 US cents). EVN can earn a minimum of 530 billion VND through the auction.EVN Finance currently has chartered capital of 2.5 trillion VND and owns the maxi-mum capital among operating financial firms.The time to register and receive deposits is from now until August 11, 2017, and time for submitting the auction participation slip is until August 16, 2017.The public auction will take place on August 18, 2017.Under the master plan on restructuring enterprises under EVN in the 2017-20 period, EVN will have to divest its capital in enterprises, including EVN Finance Joint Stock Company, Thu Duc Electro Mechanical Joint Stock Company, Dong Anh Electrical Equipment Corporation-Joint Stock Company and Thuan Binh Wind Power Joint Stock Company, as well as Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 3 and Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 4.According to the financial report of EVN Finance, in the first quarter of 2017, the total assets of the company were over 19 trillion VND but total debt was more than 16 tril-lion VND, accounting for 80 percent. This result is a negative sign of the company's fi-nancial imbalance.Currently, EVN Finance's chartered capital is divided among EVN with 15 percent, An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank 8.4 percent, Mechanics Electrical Refrigeration Joint Stock Company 1.8 percent and the remaining 74.8 percent belonging to other share-holders.In 2016, EVN planned to divest 15 percent of capital in EVN Finance but the plan failed.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/evn-to-sell-stake-in-its-finance-subsidiary/115285.vnp

Investors can apply for outbound tour operating licenses online


Businesses can get licenses online to organise outbound tours, according to the Viet-nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).Nguyen Quy Phuong, head of the Travel Department at VNAT, said VNAT is issuing and renewing licenses online for those operating outbound tours.The department will launch online licensing pretty soon, Phuong told the Daily on the sidelines of a meeting on the restructuring of the tourism sector last Friday.To operate inbound tours in accordance with the 2017 Law on Tourism, tour operators must be set up under the Enterprise Law and place deposits at banks, and their leaders must have intermediate-level certificates or diplomas on tourism. The same require-ments also apply to operators of outbound tours but their directors must hold college diplomas or above.There are now 1,500 entities nationwide offering outbound tours, according to data from VNAT.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55173/Investors-can-apply-for-outbound-tour-oper-ating-licenses-online.html

Freight exchange platforms on the rise


Transport companies have embraced freight exchange platforms as a new business model to obtain orders, Tuoi Tre newspaper reports.A company in HCM City said it just spent VND3.2 million rather than VND5 million transporting building materials from HCM City to Binh Phuoc Province thanks to the Vinatrucking Freight Exchange Platform.Vinatrucking general director Ta Cong Thuan said that the platform helps match those wanting to have goods delivered and trucking firms through its website.Goods owners can save costs as there are more service providers to choose from while trucking firms can maximise the efficiency of their truck operations, thus cutting the


BU

SIN

ES


number of trucks on the road.Many other freight exchange platforms such as Aleka and sanvanchuyen have been launched. Aleka CEO Le Minh Tu said the company also offers passenger transport services. Car owners are required to provide vehicle information and the platform will quote appropriate prices for each car so that customers can compare prices.However, transport exchange platforms have faced difficulties to attract customers. Lam Dai Vinh, director of Lam Vinh Transport Co Ltd, said the company has with-drawn from the Vinatrucking exchange platform.The platform focuses on long and two-way trips from the south to the north but ig-nores short routes such as between HCM City and Binh Duong Province.Thuan said more than 1,000 enterprises have put their names down to join in the first transport exchange. However, Vinatrucking has not been performing as well as ex-pected. In addition, it is still new. Cargo and truck owners have yet to have mutual trust.Bui Van Quan, chair of the HCM City Transport Association, said the exchange plat-form helped reduce vehicles on the road, save fuel costs and alleviate environmental pollution. Enterprises need time to adapt.Pham Sanh, a traffic expert, said opaque transport fees and the lack of enterprises with a good reputation have impeded operations of these transport exchange platforms.A traffic expert said 60-70 percent of trucks would return empty after they complete a single trip, so to compensate for that, trucking firms would charge higher fees. A freight exchange platform can help deal with that by making sure trucks will have car-go on both directions and this can cut transport costs by 30-40%.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55160/Freight-exchange-platforms-on-the-rise.html

Just one inspection/year at hotels


Authorities will carry out no more than one inspection into hotels across the country each year, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.The ministry asked city and provincial tourism departments to coordinate with city and provincial leaders to give guidance for implementation of the new regulation.The ministry assigned tourism departments to prepare plans to avoid carrying out overlapping inspections. Snap checks must be performed in line with the law and Di-rective 20 of the prime minister which bans authorities from inspecting enterprises more than once a year.Hotels are fed up with so many inspections which often overlap one another and are lengthy.At a conference on tourism development in HCM City early this year, the general man-ager of a five-star hotel said his hotel coped with 13 inspections last year. He said the number of inspections should be drastically slashed to help businesses save time and cost.According to data of the National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam has more than 20,000 hotels with 400,000 guest rooms. The average annual growth was 9 percent last year with four and five-star hotels posting respective growth of 14 percent and 16%.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55156/Just-one-inspection/year-at-hotels.html

Deposit agreements need to be properly managed


Agreements in which property developers use to sell their products should be proper-ly managed to guarantee the rights of the parties concerned: the investor, the home-buyer and the bank.Placing a deposit is a commitment to a deal between the investor and the customer de-spite a lack of necessary documents for sale of future housing.As investors meet regulatory conditions to put their housing products on sale, their customers will pay the agreed-on price when placing a deposit. Otherwise, the buyer will lose their deposit as some cases have occurred.Nguyen Tran Nam, chair of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, said this home sale method is intended to satisfy the needs of homebuyers who want to have their own


BU

SIN

ES


apartments as soon as possible.Nam said property developers can sell their products after they have completed pro-cedures, secured land ownership, paid land tax, and obtained construction and sale li-censes, among others. Such an agreement between the seller and the buyer is governed by the Civil Code.The customer has to place a deposit for a particular product on a first-come, first served basis in line with international practices. This deposit agreement is in line with prevailing laws as well. The bank that enters into such a contract must comply with the banking regulations, said Can Van Luc, deputy general director of the Bank for In-vestment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV).Financial expert Vu Dinh Anh said this kind of agreement is actually a real estate de-rivative which is not prohibited by law.Pham Thanh Hung, deputy chair of Cen Invest, said such agreement helps property developers assess the commercial viability of their projects.Deposited money is kept in escrow accounts, so property developers cannot use it for other purposes. This business practice helps developers actively map out business plans, make business projections, and build pricing strategies, Hung noted.Meanwhile, Nam said, the government should cap the size of a deposit at 10-20 per-cent of a home's value. The contract should be designed in a way that protects the rights of the homebuyer.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55155/Deposit-agreements-need-to-be-properly-managed.html

Hybrid corn seeds dominate fields in Vietnam


All corn fields in Vietnam use hybrid seeds, with the volume of seeds used for annual production amounting to about 20,000 tonnes, said the Plantation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.Since 2014, Vietnam has allowed the cultivation of GMO corn, with 16 types allowed to date.As of March 2017, Vietnam has imported 1,500 tonnes of GMO corn seeds, which can cover 100,000 hectares of land.In 2016, corn plantation areas covered 1.15 million hectares nationwide and yearly out-put exceeded 5.2 million tonnes in total. Most of the plants are grown in the northern midland and mountainous regions, accounting for 46 percent of the total area.Vietnam's average corn production is at 45.5 quintals per hectare, lower than the global and Asian averages.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/hybrid-corn-seeds-dominate-fields-in-vietnam/115315.vnp

88,560 smuggling cases detected in H1


In the first six months of 2017, authorities uncovered 88,560 cases of smuggling, pros-ecuting 1,100 cases involving 1,372 people.Authorities collected VND7.9 trillion (US$347.5 million) from administrative fines, selling off confiscated smuggled goods, and tax arrears, 40 per cent more than the pre-vious year's first half.According to National Steering Committee 389, the majority of smuggled goods fall into categories of essential consumer goods, heavily taxed goods, or goods banned for import, such as cocaine, explosives, tobacco, cosmetics, petrol and gas, elephant tusks or rhino horns, among others.Some notable cases include an interception of 7,800 foreign cigarette packs in the southern province of Long An, or confiscation of 26kg rhino horns and 6kg of elephant tusks in Hanoi, and apprehension of 20 ships illegally transporting 3.5 million litres of gas.The information was released last week at a steering committee meeting chaired by deputy prime minister Truong Hoa Binh.The steering committee noted that smuggling continues unabated despite heightened efforts to stem it, especially in border areas, where criminals take advantage of hard-


BU

SIN

ES


to-access locations and transporting the goods on hidden trails or along small streams sheltered by thick forest.On the maritime front, smuggling of petrol and gas has been on the rise, the committee said, since Vietnam's current gas price is higher than in some other countries in the re-gion. The criminals' favoured modus operandi is using foreign ships to transport oil and gas to Vietnam's maritime borders and then splitting the stock among different Vi-etnamese fishing boats.The deputy PM said strict legislation must be adopted to "remove or reassign leaders showing signs of aiding and abetting smuggling, counterfeit products and trade fraud."He added that anti-smuggling efforts are "an important and permanent political duty to be carried out by all levels of the government," and that there will be no "zero toler-ance" in this matter.The deputy PM also said that attention must be focused on transnational criminal groups to protect domestic production."Culprits order goods from China, bring them back into the country, slap 'Made in Vi-etnam' labels on them and sell them to unsuspecting customers," according to Le Hong Son, vice Chair of Hanoi People's Committee and member of the Steering Committee 389. He said previously, the counterfeit products were usually of luxury brands, how-ever the range is now increasingly diverse, from sweets and lightbulbs to clothes.

Opinion: Why Vietnam needs to expand visa exemption policy

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS

Nguyen Quoc Ky, CEO of local tour organiser Vietravel, believes Vietnam's current visa-free travel policy is insufficient and should be expanded to more countries. He ex-plained his view in this piece sent to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.Vietnam's international tourist arrivals have been growing steadily in recent years, av-eraging 11 percent growth per year. In 2016 alone, Vietnam received more than 10 mil-lion foreign visitors.This growth is positive only when considered in the context of Vietnam, but when compared to South Korea or Japan for instance, our growth is much slower. Where's the bottleneck?Giving gifts to those who don't really want themMany tourists complain that the visa rigmarole is one of the biggest obtacles to visiting a country.At present, Vietnam exempts visas for 22 countries and territories. However, many of these are nations that many Vietnamese have not heard of, and struggle to pronounce their names correctly.Additionally, not all ten countries with the biggest number of arrivals to Vietnam are eligible for visa-free travel.This means Vietnam is not exempting the markets that need the exemption the most.It's understandable that visa policy has a signification connection with diplomatic is-sues and any exemption must ensure national security and safety. And of course, rev-enue from visa fee collection must also be guaranteed.However, in order to boost tourism, we should be willing to offer a one-sided visa-free policy. Many countries have done the same.What policymakers should do is perform a cost-benefit analysis: what should we pri-oritise, more revenue from visa fees, or more visitors?Shortly after Vietnam began scrapping the need for visas for five European countries and allowed a 'free' stay of 15 days, the number of arrivals from these markets skyrock-eted.The growth was stable at more than 20 percent during the first five months of this year, even though the policy is only valid for one year and must be extended on an annual basis.The required annual extension is challenging for tourists, and there is another legal ob-stacle: once leaving Vietnam, visitors who arrive on the visa-free policy can only return 30 days after their exit.


BU

SIN

ES


We all see that the government is exerting effort to resolve visa-related problems, such as launching the online visa service for visitors from 40 countries and territories.Still, these are only superficial changes. It's time we considered visas a tool to compete with other countries in luring international visitors and extend the policy.Some good referencesIn the past, it was arduous for Vietnamese tourists to obtain a visa to South Korea or Japan, as there were numerous cases when the Vietnamese entered these countries on a tourist visa and tried to stay illegally.However, South Korea and Japan realised that, in order to give their tourism a boost, there must be laxer visa requirements.They did so by authorising travel agencies to complete visa applications, instead of re-lying on consulates general or embassies.If these travel agencies fail to appropriately oversee their customers, they will lose their authorisation.A short time after this new model began operating, the number of Vietnamese tourists staying illegally in these countries actually dropped significantly, while the number of Vietnamese arrivals to Japan and South Korea soared.Similarly, Taiwan has seen a more than 100 percent increase of Vietnamese tourist ar-rivals over the last year, even though they haven't exempted Vietnamese from having to obtain a visa.Instead, Taiwan recognises the visa other developed countries have granted to the Vi-etnamese.Looking at the bigger picture, we can see that many countries are trying to speed up their visa procedures to serve tourism.For Vietnam, we should lengthen the validity of our existing visa-free programmes to two or three years instead of only one year.Relevant agencies should also notify local travel agencies of any new policies or up-dates in advance, considering visas are a crucial factor in developing their long-term business strategies.When launching visa-free programmes, the beneficiaries should be the ten countries with the largest number of arrivals to Vietnam, or the top ten nations with the highest per capita income in the world.Once we are willing to scrap visa requirements, we should also allow tourists to stay longer in the country, from the current 15 days to 30 days. Only by doing these things will we encourage holidaymakers to stay longer and spend more in Vietnam.Local travel agencies hope for more robust growth if the government considers ex-tending the list of visa-free countries in June 2018.In early July, Vietnam's government gave a one-year extension to the visa waiver pro-gramme benefiting German, French, British, Italian, and Spanish citizens. The pro-gramme was introduced in 2015 and has since been extended twice.Under the extended programme, people arriving in Vietnam from these five countries will not have to apply for a visa for travel between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018.http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/42113/opinion-why-vietnam-needs-to-expand-its-visa-exemption-policy

Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway behind schedule over financial constraints


Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project is scheduled for test operation in October 2017 but a slower-than-expected pace of capital disbursement will make it impossible to meet the schedule, Dan Tri newspaper reports.The metro line with a total length of nearly 13 kilometers and 12 elevated stations is 94 percent complete and scheduled for official service in the second quarter of 2018.However, the project is now moving at a slow pace with important components like depots and stations still uncompleted.In February, the Chinese contractor transferred the first train car for the project and the train now sits at La Khe station. It was expected that the remaining 12 cars would be handed over to the Vietnamese side in June and July 2017. But until now, they have


BU

SIN

ES


been nowhere to be found.The project's main contractor, China Railway 6 Bureau Group Company Limited, said the reason for the slow construction pace is the lack of cash as disbursement by the Ex-port-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) has lagged.In mid-May, Vietnam's government and China Eximbank signed an agreement in which the bank would provide an extra $250.62 million for the project.The Ministry of Transport has asked the Ministries of Finance and Justice to work with China Eximbank to speed up disbursement but no progress has been made.A leader of the Ministry of Transport told Dan Tri that there is a high possibility the project will lag behind schedule.According to the original plan, the project would be finished in November 2013, or five years after the planned groundbreaking, with an investment of $552 million, mainly sourced from China's official development assistance (ODA). After long delays for many reasons, the project got off the ground in October 2011 with the cost adjusted up to over $868 million.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55181/Cat-Linh-Ha-Dong-urban-railway-behind-schedule-over-financial-constraints.html

QTSC spurs smart city model


HCM City-based Quang Trung Software City has recently launched a bike share scheme, one of various pilot models under its Smart City project.Accordingly, the bikes under the share scheme will be distributed at fixed spots across the park of Quang Trung Software City (QTSC). The users will use their customer cards (provided by QTSC) to pick up the bikes and then return the vehicles at spots placed around the park.According to plans, four stations will be placed around the QTSC area by the end of July 2017.Lam Nguyen Hai Long, general director of QTSC said, "After finishing the trial period, we will review the process and work on a detailed plan to submit to the city leaders with a view to replicate the model in many other areas in the city."Besides bike sharing, QTSC is deploying a raft of IT projects to boost management ef-ficiency, such as face search, car detector, helpdesk, smart building or operations man-agement systems (OMS).Long shared, "The extensive deployment of the applications will lay the groundwork to turning QTSC into a world-class software city in the not-so-distant future."QTSC is known as a pioneer software city model in Vietnam. Its scope, however, still remains modest when compared to Southeast Asia and Asia.To outline a well-conceived long-haul development strategy, earlier this year QTSC teamed up with KPMG, a world-leading professional services firm, to make a compre-hensive assessment of its operations as well as its position compared to other hi-tech parks in Asia.According to survey results, QTSC ranked the fourth in scale, operational efficiency of firms based in the software city, foreign direct investment attraction, business scope, and human resources qualification.Based on the survey and study results, KPMG has advised QTSC leaders to raise cap-ital from domestic and external sources under the public private partnership (PPP) model, as well as attract and support private firms to provide utility services, such as food and beverage, entertainment, and healthcare for workers in the park, and apply advanced IT solutions to build up QTSC as a smart city miniature.

Siemens lights the way to Industry 4.0


As Vietnam boosts its industrial capacity and modernises, a critical need for new dig-ital technology presents itself. Industry 4.0 will have a significant positive impact on local firms, and they can expect comprehensive, ongoing support from Siemens. Thanh Dat reports.Martin Hoppe, first counsellor of Economic Cooperation and Development at the Ger-


BU

SIN

ES


man Embassy in Vietnam, was pleased with the Siemens solutions showcased at the "Digital enterprise on the way to Industry 4.0" conference in Hanoi last week."I am happy that Siemens has presented us with their ideas of what Industry 4.0 can do. Trust me, I am very curious myself," Hoppe said.The event was organised by Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the German Embassy in Vietnam, Siemens, and German Industry and Commerce Viet-nam. Nearly 200 people attended the event, including senior government policy and decision-makers, business leaders, and industry specialists."Digital changes everything," Raimund Klein, executive vice president of Digital Fac-tory and Process Industry and Drive of Siemens Asia, said during his presentation.Digital can have a remarkable impact on life, travel, communication, and markets. In the long-term, enterprises will likely face woes if they fail to embrace digital. "That will present fierce competition," Klein said, referring to the rise of Industry 4.0.According to Hoppe, Industry 4.0 is another development that will have a profound effect on all people's lives.What is Industry 4.0?Nguyen Phu Cuong, head of the Science and Technology Department in the MoIT, notes that Industry 4.0 or "The Fourth Industrial Revolution" is becoming a popular buzzword around the globe.Together with rapid development and the high-level integration of science and mod-ern technology in the digitalisation, bio-technology, and physics sectors, Industry 4.0 is expected to change the face of manufacturing worldwide."The core of this revolution is smart manufacturing plants. This model will help enter-prises increase their productivity, flexibility, and efficiency, as well as shortening products' time to market. Overall, this will result in improved competitiveness," Cuong said. "Consumers can also benefit from higher quality products at more reason-able prices," he added.Germany is seen as a pioneer in initiating Industry 4.0. In 2011, Germany launched dis-cussions on Industry 4.0 and coined the term "Smart Factory".In 2012, Germany officially introduced Industry 4.0 in its national action plan on high-tech development, together with the implementation of many new projects. As a re-sult, the "smart factory" models were quickly developed in Germany.The Siemens' Amberg Electronic Plant in Germany was one the first facilities to adopt the digital factory model where machines and computers cover up to 75 per cent of the product value chain, and human input is limited to research and development.Following this success, Siemens developed a second digital factory the Siemens Elec-tronics Works in Chengdu, China, which was the first Siemens smart factory built abroad."In short, the success of the German government and its enterprises, including Sie-mens, will bring valuable experience to other countries and their business communi-ties," Cuong said.Opportunities for firmsAccording to the MoIT, Industry 4.0 is expected to bring opportunities for improving technology, enhancing productivity and competitiveness within the value chain, and creating substantial changes in business and service modalities.Industry 4.0 also provides more opportunities for startups by helping reduce transac-tional and delivery costs, creating attractive investment opportunities in digital tech-nology and the internet, and presenting major opportunities for industrial manufacturing with advanced scientific and technological achievements.According to Siemens, under Industry 4.0, billions of machines, systems, and sensors worldwide will communicate directly with each other and share information. Compa-nies, especially those in the manufacturing and processing industries, will benefit from increased productivity, flexibility, and shorter times to market, thereby increasing their competitiveness. Their customers will also benefit from more personalised high-quality products. End users will be able to order their very own merchandise, tailored to their needs.


BU

SIN

ES


Pham Thai Lai, Siemens Vietnam president and CEO, said Siemens calls its approach to Industry 4.0 'Digital Enterprise'. With Digital Enterprise, Siemens offers solutions to address the specific requirements of the manufacturing and processing industries. These solutions combine the world of planning and operation to create an integral plant management concept, covering the entire lifecycle of an industrial plant."The path to the Digital Enterprise is comprised of four core elements that logically build on one another. These four core elements are our software, our industrial com-munication networks, our security in automation, and our business-specific industrial services. Each of these core elements is comprised of a unique portfolio that prepares our customers for Industry 4.0," Lai said.For example, Siemens provides the Digital Enterprise Software Suite a comprehensive portfolio of software systems for discrete industries. Built up over more than 15 years, it is based on Teamcenter as a collaborative platform (data backbone), integrating PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), MES/MOM (Manufacturing Execution System/Man-ufacturing Operations Management), and TIA (Totally Integrated Automation)."Vietnamese customers are not alone on the way to Industry 4.0. They can count on Siemens," Lai stressed, adding that Siemens has been deploying digital solutions since the late 1990s, and has invested billions of dollars in developing their capabilities. "My specific advice for those Vietnamese enterprises that are determined to digitalise in the future is that digitalisation starts at the shop-floor. The path of change must be based on progressive evolution, commencing with small pilot projects that are implemented step-by-step in reasonable doses that can be coped with during plant operation," Lai said.According to Lai, the first step is to ensure production data transparency before going further on the journey of digitalisation. With Siemens' TIA platform, the firm's Viet-namese customers will be fully prepared for their next steps, and Siemens is offering a "gateway" to that next level.Truong Gia Binh, chair of local telco giant FPT, told the conference that he highly com-mends Siemens' digital solutions."We have signed with Siemens on projects focused on training courses related to Sie-mens' solutions like MindSphere," Binh said, revealing that the courses are expected to draw about 1,000 digital experts.MindSphere is the open, cloud-based Internet of Things operating system from Sie-mens that lets enterprises connect their machines and physical infrastructure to the digital world. It lets enterprises harness big data from billions of intelligent devices, enabling enterprises to uncover transformational insights across the entire business."Moreover, MindSphere provides customers and developers with the capability to de-velop applications and digital services, apply them, and then make them available to other users. In this way, totally new services and business models are possible," Lai said.Also highlighting Siemens as an exemplary model in digital solutions, Marko Walde, chief representative of AHK Vietnam and chair of GBA Vietnam, suggested that "to take advantage of Industry 4.0, Vietnam needs to motivate enterprises by creating fa-vourable conditions or legal frameworks so they are confident to join the revolution"."Networking and technology transfer should be the optimal methods for Vietnamese companies on the path to Industry 4.0," he said.In May 2017, the prime minister enacted Directive No. 16/CT-TTg on improving the ac-cessibility of Industry 4.0, which specified the solutions and tasks for ministries, de-partments, and local authorities to enable a supportive environment for Vietnamese enterprises to access this revolution.http://www.vir.com.vn/siemens-lights-the-way-to-industry-40.html

PVN exports 355 million tonnes of crude oil in 30 years


The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) has exported 355 million tonnes of crude oil, worth 145 billion USD, since the shipment of its first barrel from Bach Ho field in April 1987.


BU

SIN

ES


The PVN today not only ships crude oil abroad but also supplies oil for Dung Quat Re-finery in central Quang Ngai province.The firm has extracted 7.48 million tonnes of crude oil, both locally and overseas, in the first half of 2017, bringing home 3.17 billion USD.Of the amount, 3.04 million tonnes has been provided to Dung Quat Refinery, exceed-ing the plant's designed capacity.According to the state-run group, a barrel of crude oil earns Vietnam 54.4 USD on av-erage during the period, higher than the expected rate of 50 USD and global prices.Crude oil prices are projected to hover around 46 50 USD per barrel in the remaining months of this year, lowering the entire year's average to about 50 USD per barrel.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/pvn-exports-355 million-tonnes-of-crude-oil-in-30-years/115281.vnp

TAC announces 34pct rise in profits in Q2


Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Company has reported a 34.2 per cent year-on-year jump in profit before tax in the second quarter to VND63 billion (US$2.7 million).Net sales grew by 4.7 per cent. The gross profit margin increased from 9.1 per cent to 10.9 per cent.The company attributed the increase in profitability to a change in its product strategy to focus on higher margin products. It said it would be launching new oil products that are nutritious and healthy in the second half of 2017 to cater the ongoing increase in demand and consumers' expectations.The company also plans to introduce new packaged products this quarter as part of its larger strategy to increase utilisation of its distribution network.http://bizhub.vn/markets/tac-announces-34-rise-in-profits-in-q2_287781.html

Viettel makes bank from international markets

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| TALK VIETNAM

Thanks to strong growth of international markets, favourable exchange rate move-ments, and new services, as well as strategic project development, Viettel made a profit of VND1 trillion ($43.5 million) from investing abroad.Viettel Global's half-year report states that the company has achieved sales of up to VND14 trillion ($600 million) from its nine international markets. After tax, the profit was VND1 trillion, bringing Viettel Global back to the club of trillion profitable com-panies from overseas investment activities.The outstanding financial results are due to positive movements in traditional and new markets alike, as well as new strategic projects, strong shifts in new services, and favourable exchange rate movements.Movement in different marketsIn addition to Laos, Cambodia, and East Timor, which have been consistently fetching good net profits to Viettel Global, other companies in Peru, Burundi or Haiti are also making big contributions to the strong growth.In the first six months of the year, Viettel's sales in Peru and Burundi have exceeded East Timor. Sales in Peru and Burundi grew by 82 and 38 per cent respectively, while East Timor only reached 29 per cent. Even Haiti, the market is currently recovering from the 2016 typhoon, has achieved sales growth of 15 per cent over the same period last year.Peru and East Timor remained the two most prominent markets of Viettel in the past six months. Viettel's pre-tax profit in Peru has reached VND405 billion ($18 million), surpassing expectations by 132 per cent. Furthermore, Viettel's profit in this market has also reached VND2.5 trillion ($112 million), an 82 per cent increase over the same period last year and an increase of 3 per cent over the original plan.In East Timor, Viettel Timor Leste (Telemor) has earned VND340 billion ($15 million), an increase of 29 per cent over the same period last year, exceeding the target by 10 per cent. The number of customers increased by 42 per cent over the half-year plan. Fa-vourable exchange rate movementsA welcome change from 2016, Viettel is benefiting from exchange rates movements in


BU

SIN

ES


its new markets, primarily in Mozambique and Cameroon. The exchange rates of the Mozambican metical and the Central African CFA franc (used in Cameroon) have both leveled of against the US dollar, helping Viettel earn huge profits in these countries.For example, the governments' strict control over exchange rate slippage helped Viet-tel reach a 14 per cent profit in Mozambique and 7 per cent in Cameroon. Potential markets, such as Peru and Haiti, also benefited from this control by gaining 3 to 6 per cent increases in profit.According to general director of Viettel Global (VTG) Le Dang Dung, if the situation continues to be favourable till the end of the year, Viettel will report immense profit from these markets, especially in Mozambique and Cameroon, where the profit could reach $60-70 million.New services and strategic projectsDung said that by setting specific targets for each market separately, depending on the characteristics of GDP, scale, geographical situation, and issues related to finance and politics, Viettel has developed a unique plan for each brand abroad. Through scale de-velopment, subscriber growth, service enhancement to real APRU (average revenue growth per user), Viettel Global is ultimately aiming for the $250 million international profit in 2017.Viettel has also been gradually reshaping its image to bring in new young customers in its traditional markets. For example, after being framed as "the network of the eld-erly" in Cambodia for a long time, Viettel Global has taken steps to attract new, young-er groups of customers who are more likely to spend more.By changing the colour of the logo, organising events attractive to young customers, and changing customer care strategies, Metfone (Viettel's Cambodian arm), has reached the total of seven million subscribers during the first half of 2017.Viettel's brand in Laos, Unitel, has quickly reached four million subscribers, maintain-ing the No.1 position in the market. In East Timor, Viettel utilises new frequencies to bring in millions of dollars in profit and promotes new 4G data services in the country.In Peru, thanks to early investments in 4G networks, Bitel has become the largest 4G network operator in Peru, with 5,000 residential centres through 3,000 stations. Only in the first 6 months, the number of Bitel customers has increased five-fold, bringing the total number to over two million.In order to maintain its leading position in its international markets as well as create momentum for the next years, Viettel Global will focus on new business models, such as IT solutions, electronic wallets, population management systems, and tax solutions, among others.According to the 2017 plan, Viettel Global is focusing on reaching 50 million interna-tional subscribers, a 35 per cent increase from 2016.In addition, the company targets a total revenue from overseas markets of nearly VND32 trillion ($1.4 billion), an increase of 29 per cent in 2017.https://www.talkvietnam.com/2017/07/viettel-makes-bank-from-international-mar-kets/

Blue HK invests in Beta Media


Hong Kong financial group provides backing to local cinema startup.Startup Beta Media, which builds inexpensive cinemas in smaller cities and provinces in Vietnam, has signed an investment agreement with Blue HK, a financial group from Hong Kong.Beta Media is valued at VND600 billion ($27.5 million) under the agreement. It previ-ously received investment from Vietnam Investments Group (VIG), an investor in the Galaxy Cinema chain and Galaxy Studios as well as many food and beverage (F&B) brands.VIG still holds its stake in Beta Media and Bui Quang Minh, founder and CEO of Beta Media, still holds more than 50 per cent.Since 2015, with the launch of the Beta Cineplex in northern Thai Nguyen city, Beta Media has built and opened three other cinemas, in Bien Hoa city in southern Dong


BU

SIN

ES


Nai province and two in My Dinh and Thanh Xuan districts in Hanoi.It will open six cinema complexes this year, in northern Thanh Hoa and Bac Giang provinces, Dong Anh district in Hanoi, south-central Nha Trang city, HCM City, and Long Xuyen city in the Mekong Delta's An Giang province, bringing its total number of cinemas to ten.It has also officially entered into production and distribution of films. In its plan for 2017, it will produce five films and distribute 15 foreign films in the country.Beta Media also is planning to invest in F&B models together with its cinemas, such as Foodfair, Boba City, and Barista. Minh told local media that he decided to invest in the cinema business because Viet-nam's film market is growing and there is a lot of potential. Modern cinemas only focus on the high-end segment with high ticket prices compared to incomes in the country. "I have a great opportunity to create a new model that serves many types of customers, making going to the movies easier," he said.As at 2016, Vietnam's cinema market was dominated by five major players, which held a market share of 98 per cent: CJ-CGV with 43 per cent, Lotte with 30 per cent, Plati-num with 10 per cent, Galaxy with 9 per cent, and BHD with 6 per cent, according to report from KDB Daewoo, a South Korean securities company.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/blue-hk-invests-in-beta-media

Saigon Plant Protection company opens branch in Burma


The HCM City-based Saigon Plant Protection JSC (SPC) has recently opened a repre-sentative office in Myanmar, after obtaining a local licence earlier this year.Currently, 20 SPC products can be used on paddy fields, vegetables and fruit trees in Myanmar.In the past 15 years, the SPC has worked with Myanmar companies to introduce its products, including pesticides, farming equipment and rice and vegetable seeds, in the country.The company also worked with the Myanmar government to present new cultivation methods for dragon fruit, mango and longan.In 2005, the SPC established branches, then subsidiaries, in Cambodia and Laos.To date, its annual export revenue is estimated at $10 million.http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/saigon-plant-protection-company-opens-branch-in-myanmar_287798.html

Vietnam's first ultra-clear float glass factory built


The construction of an ultra-clear float glass factory, the first of its kind in Vietnam, kicked off at the Phu My 2 Industrial Park in Tan Thanh district, the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, on July 24.Phase I of the plant, owned by the Phu My Ultra Clear Float Glass Co. Ltd, will be car-ried out from now to 2018 and has total investment of 2.6 trillion VND (about 114.4 million USD). When operational, it is set to produce 600 tonnes of the product a day. Phase II will be built from 2019 to 2022, raising the factory's capacity to 900 tonnes per day.China's Kaisheng Science & Technology Group Co., one of the three founders of the Phu My company, pledged to purchase all ultra-clear float glass of the factory.With charter capital of 886 billion VND (39 million USD), the Phu My Ultra Clear Float Glass Co. Ltd was established by the Viglacera Corporation, the Vietnam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (IDICO), and the Kaisheng group.The factory in Ba Ria-Vung Tau is one of the two ultra-clear float glass plants expected to be constructed in Vietnam. The other is in northern Bac Ninh province. The prime minister approved in principle the construction of these plants in 2016.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnams-first-ultraclear-float-glass-factory-built/115317.vnp


BU

SIN

ES


Bosch to pump extra $47m in Dong Nai


Bosch Group will pump an extra $47 million into its manufacturing plant in the south-ern province of Dong Nai, adding to the capital already invested by the group over the past few years.In 2015 and 2016, Bosch poured $23 million and $22 million, respectively, into the plant. The increase in investment is aimed at meeting the demand for the automotive belt in the Southeast Asian and Asian markets, baodautu.vn reported.Bosch is one of the world's leading global suppliers of technology and services, head-quartered in Germany.Last year, Bosch Vietnam's domestic sales revenue stood at $98.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 40 per cent.Vo Quang Hue, managing director of Bosch Vietnam Company Ltd, said as Vietnam accelerates the industrialisation and urbanisation process, it is aiming for a smart econ-omy. These trends provide an opportunity for Bosch to diversify its products, especial-ly in connectivity solutions for a smart city and Industry 4.0, he added.http://bizhub.vn/news/bosch-to-pump-extra-47m-in-dong-nai_287796.html

Da Lat weasel coffee opens 3rd HCM City shop


The Trai Ham-Da Lat weasel coffee farm in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, which is the biggest one of its kind in the country, launched its third branch in HCM City on Saturday.About 30 minutes from the city centre, the new branch is located on Tong Huu Dinh Street in District 2's Thao Dien Ward.This branch is designed with a small garden with several orchids, birds and green trees.Customers can enjoy the special state of weasel coffee at the price of VND200,000 (US$9) a cup, opening from 8am to 10pm daily. Weasel coffee has a special flavour be-cause during the digestion process inside the weasels' stomach, the fermentation of en-zymes make changes in the taste of the coffee beans, according to experts.The Trai Ham-Da Lat weasel coffee farm was opened in Da Lat City in 2013, with a to-tal cost of VND42 billion ($1.85 million).At about 1,400 metres above sea level, the two-hectare weasel coffee farm is home to 120 weasels which help produce an average of about 500kg weasel coffee beans each year.http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/da-lat-weasel-coffee-opens-3rd-hcmc-shop_287782.html

Mai Linh confident in competition with Grab and Uber


In the face of the strong development of technical companies in the transportation business, Mai Linh Group is confident in taking the competition to Grab and Uber.Grab and Uber litigation secondaryAccording to Ho Huy, chair of Mai Linh, in reality, blaming technical companies like Uber and Grab only shows how traditional taxi brands are unable to renew them-selves. If these traditional taxi brands cannot find a solution, they will lose their brand's value and will be slowly drifting towards bankruptcy."Instead of harassing Grab and Uber, it is important for Mai Linh to review the com-pany's operation mechanism as well as to learn from the advantages of Grab and Uber. Mai Linh agrees with Vinasun's taking Uber and Grab to the court, however, it is not our major target. The group will focus on investing in technology as well as changing the management system," said Huy.However, Mai Linh will still join the lawsuit as Grab has committed copyright in-fringement at their expense. Notably, Grab violated Decree No.86/2014/ND-CP on the paint colour of cars, confusing passengers about their brands. Besides, Grab used Mai Linh's cars in some of its advertisements. Huy asked Grab to stop these violations, however, they have yet to receive a response.Regarding business culture, Huy said that with a fleet of 50,000 cars, Uber and Grab


BU

SIN

ES


have caused a loss of trillions of VND of tax each year.All enterprises operating in Vietnam must complete three responsibilitiesefficient op-erations and development, creating stability for employees, and contributing tax to the state budget.Determination to changeUber and Grab are not transportation business companies, they are only IT firms in-vesting and developing a technical infrastructure and a mobile application (app) to connect contracted drivers with passengers.Thanks to the app's convenience, it has created a competition between IT firms such as Uber and Grab, and traditional transportation business companies.Thus, Mai Linh has invested in technology to enhance its competitive capacity. Nota-bly, the firm applied a smart call centre to replace employees, reducing staff by 50 per cent.Mai Linh is also completing procedures to propose the Ministry of Information and Communications to to use the only call centre with the dial number of 1055, aiming to create convenience for passengers. In the next two months, Mai Linh will merge its call centers in the three regions into a single one. The merger is a part of its plan to list its shares on foreign stock exchanges.The firm is also piloting a programme of five electric buses on major streets in HCM City. If the pilot does not make a loss, Mai Linh will put one or two more electric buses in operation. This programme is expected to help protect the environment.Huy said that it is easier for Mai Linh to overcome the competition than it was dealing with its financial crisis in 2012 because, at the time, Mai Linh operated 10,000 taxi cabs and borne a loan interest of VND750 billion ($33.1 million), while at present, the taxi volume is 15,000 and the loan interest is VND200 billion ($8.83 million) only."Mai Linh aims to cover 63 cities and provinces across the country and looks to invest abroad. The firm may build Mai Linh University, specialising in transportation sector training," Huy said.http://www.vir.com.vn/mai-linh-confident-in-competition-with-grab-and-uber.html

Formosa should consider environmental issue as crucial to its survival: PM


Formosa should regard the environmental issue as crucial to its survival, said prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, during his July 24 working session with leaders of the Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co. Ltd (FHS), which was responsible for the se-vere sea environmental incident in four provinces across central Vietnam last year.Addressing the event in Ha Tinh province, the PM noted that despite being the largest foreign investment project in Vietnam, with capital of over $11 billion, Formosa Ha Tinh also caused the largest environmental disaster the country has ever witnessed. He recognised the efforts exerted by the relevant ministries, sectors and localities in overcoming the consequences of the Formosa-related incident, as well as in ensuring social security and order and the normal socio-economic development activities in the four affected provinces, in the central region.Evaluating the outcomes of Formosa's incident recovery work, the government leader said that the company has taken full responsibility and has seriously dealt with the af-termath, with 52 of its 53 basic environmental violations being addressed and a mod-ern environmental treatment system installed.These moves have demonstrated the investor's determination in their recovery work, whilst affirming the Vietnamese government's stance of providing favourable condi-tions for investors to conduct business successfully in the country, he added.The PM asked FHS to apply advanced technologies and modern equipment in its pro-duction line, in order to fully address its violations in terms of both machinery and so-cial responsibilities, whilst expressing his belief that the company would uphold their sense of responsibility and not repeat the same incident.He encouraged FHS to increase its capacity in combination with being well-prepared for environmental protection scenarios, regarding both water and air environments and the issue of waste.


BU

SIN

ES


The leader assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to take re-sponsibility before the government and the PM with regards to the installation of mon-itoring and supervision devices in order to ensure environmental indicators.Concerning the incident recovery and compensation work, PM Phuc noted that the government will continue allocating resources in a timely fashion, in order to facilitate post-incident production recovery in line with the law.Vietnam is striving to be among the countries with the most favourable investment en-vironment in the region, he said, asking authorities across all-levels to facilitate inves-tors' business activities in the country.Earlier on the same day, PM Phuc inspected FHS's waste water treatment area and pro-duction line at the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh province, in addition to the company's Son Duong deep-water port, which features 11 wharves and allow ships with a deadweight of up to 200,000 tonnes.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/021/52001/formosa-should-consider-environmental-issue-as-crucial-to-its-survival--pm.html

$3.2 billion Vung Ro Refinery and Petrochemical project warned over


The Phu Yen People's Committee issued a warning to stop the project on Vung Ro Re-finery and Petrochemical complex if the developer does not resume implementation.On July 19, 2017, Chair of the Phu Yen People's Committee Hoang Van Tra sent a doc-ument to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment to urge the imple-mentation of big projects in the province. Accordingly, the project on Vung Ro complex was put under a warning status.In particular, at the end of May 2017, the committee had a meeting with Vung Ro Pe-troleum Company Limited, the developer of the Vung Ro project. The developer com-mitted that by July 7, 2017, it would publicise an official report about the project as required by the local authorities, including its restructuring plans of human resources, sources of funding and financial plan for the project, the project's detailed plan and schedule for construction, as well as its legal commitment to sticking to the plans and penalties for failure to follow commitments.However, when Tra sent the document to urge the implementation of big projects in the province, Vung Ro's investor has not released its report. Thus, in the document, the chair required the Phu Yen Department of Planning and Investment to urge it to do good on its commitments before July 31, 2017."If the developer fails to release its official report on time or refuse to deal with the Phu Yen People's Committee about project implementation as it had committed, the com-mittee will report to related agencies to stop the project," the document said.The Vung Ro project was granted an investment certificate in 2008, with a total invest-ment capital sum of nearly $3.2 billion and annual capacity of eight million tonnes of crude oil.The refinery is going to be constructed on an area of 538 hectares. Of the total, 404ha will be used for the construction of the refinery, and 134ha, excluding the areas of sea encroachment, will be used for the construction of Bai Goc Seaport. Besides, this project is allowed to use 500-1,300ha of sea surface area.However, after nearly ten years, Vung Ro has not been implemented. In 2014, Vung Ro Petroleum held the ground-breaking ceremony for the refinery, but up till now it has not started construction.After ten years and a ceremony to start construction, the project has been lying idle. One of the reasons identified by experts is difficult site clearance. Another reason is the weakening Russian rouble, which increased the costs of implementing the project.Technostar Management Limited, which set up Vung Ro Petroleum to carry out the re-finery project, is headquartered in the UK, but is owned by a group of Russian inves-tors.The local authorities have put high expectations on the Vung Ro project. The complex was slated to start commercial operations by 2016 and will produce a wide range of products, including gasoline, polypropylene, benzene, toluene, xylene, and diesel. The


BU

SIN

ES


products will be distributed domestically and exported to foreign markets.Vung Ro has been known as the biggest foreign invested project thus far in Phu Yen. The investor claimed that once operational, the refinery would contribute more than $110 million per year to the local budget and create more than 1,300 jobs.According to newswire Vietnamnet, at the end of 2016, the Can Tho Department of Planning and Investment issued Decision No.199/QD- SKHDT on terminating the op-eration of the Can Tho Oil Refinery project. The reason is that the project investor failed to carry out the project as promised.Previously, n July 2016, the central province of Binh Dinh announced the termination of the in-principle approval for the mammoth Nhon Hoi Oil Refinery and Petrochem-ical project, with the registered investment capital of $22 billion. Explaining the deci-sion, the local authorities said the investorPTT Group from Thailanddelayed the project and made claims which could not be satisfied by the Vietnamese government.http://www.vir.com.vn/32 billion-vung-ro-refinery-and-petrochemical-project-warned-over-long-delay.html

Vinafis objects to discharge of dredged sediments into sea


The Vietnam Fisheries Society (Vinafis) has requested the Ministry of Natural Resourc-es and Environment to urgently nullify a license for Vinh Tan 1 Power Company Ltd to discharge nearly one million cubic meters of dredged sediments into the waters off Binh Thuan Province.In Official Dispatch No. 79/HNC-PTBV signed by chair of VINAFIS Nguyen Viet Thang, VINAFIS proposed License No. 1517/GP-BTNMT issued on June 23 be retract-ed and the ministry establish an independent inspection team to survey and assess en-vironmental impacts of sediments including mud, sand and shells on the sea and review the objectivity and integrity of those issuing License No. 1517/GP-BTNMT.VINAFIS said the coastal fishing grounds off Binh Thuan Province are home to scarce marine species such as lobsters, crustaceans and mollusks. Hon Cau Marine Protected Area, which is eight kilometers from the area where Vinh Tan 1 Power Company will dump sediments, is home to coral reefs, seaweed and marine creatures.Together with Binh Dinh Province, Binh Thuan Province owns one-third of the na-tion's shrimp farms nationwide and is a large supplier of breeder shrimps for other lo-calities, creating thousands of jobs.VINAFIS's official dispatch pointed out six reasons for not dumping waste into the sea and asked the ministry to verify contents of License No. 1517/GP-BTNMT.Firstly, beside mud and sand, waste from dredging the seabed to develop a turning ba-sin near the special-use port for the Vinh Tan 1 Thermal Power Plant also contains toxic substances.Sand and pebble can sink onto the seabed within several days, but mud might be car-ried away by currents, waves, tides and storms towards Hon Cau Marine Protected Area.Moreover, there are five thermal power plants in Binh ThuanProvince and the dumping of waste of Vinh Tan 1 project into the sea can set a bad precedent.Dredging activity near estuaries can also cause landslides.The Law of the Sea allows the dumping of waste into the sea but requires environmen-tal impact assessment reports. Besides, waste must be dumped offshore instead of coastal waters.VINAFIS said environmental impact assessment reports must be passed around for public comment. However, according to VINAFIS, the issue had been kept in the dark until the license was issued.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55171/Vinafis-objects-to-discharge-of-dredged-sedi-ments-into-sea.html


BU

SIN

ES


Mandarin Garden 2 flats to be handed over to buyers at year's end


Hoa Phat Group (HPG) expects to hand over apartments of the Mandarin Garden 2 to buyers at the end of this year.Mandarin Garden 2 covers an area of nearly 13,000 sq.m with four buildings of be-tween 17 and 30 storeys. The 1.5 trillion VND (66 million USD) project has 640 apart-ments.In the first half of this year, HPG earned more than 21 trillion VND (924 million USD) and posted after-tax profit of 1.53 trillion VND (67.3 million USD), up 36 percent and 14 percent year-on-year, respectively.The group's performance during the reviewed period was mainly driven by construc-tion steel and steel pipes.It produced more than 1 million tonnes of construction steel, representing a year-on-year rise of 33 percent against the same period last year, completing more than half of the yearly target.Since the beginning of this year, HPG exported about 90,000 tonnes of construction steel to such markets as the US, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.Between January-June, the group delivered 273,000 tonnes of steel pipes to the market, raising its market share to 26.57 percent. It is striving to produce 1 million tonnes of steel pipes by 2020.Apart from its stable growth in interior, refrigeration sector and spare parts, HPG reaped achievements in cattle feed production, pig and cow farming, which contribut-ed about 1 trillion VND to the group's turnover in the first half.At the same time, the group is accelerating the implementation of the Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Complex which is designed to have an annual capacity of 4 million tonnes.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/mandarin-garden-2-flats-to-be-handed-over-to-buyers-at-the-end-of-this-year/115319.vnp

Lap An Lagoon, where sea and mountain meet


Hue City has long allured travellers with its poetic Huong River, juicy street food, proud imperial city and untouched Lang Co Beach. Yet without Lap An Lagoon, a trip there is incomplete.My friend and I traveled to Da Nang City in late June, and included Lap An Lagoon on our check list of things to do. We didn't expect it would be such a highlight of the trip.We rented a motorbike and drove north from Da Nang. The route leading to the lagoon is easy to find and the road is not crowded.The route running through the Hai Van Tunnel is only about 30km. Yet I would rec-ommend driving along the Hai Van Pass, which makes the route about 10km longer.We left the hotel at 7am, having breakfasted on mi Quang (a signature noodle dish of Quang Nam Province), filling up on petrol before hitting the road.From central Da Nang City we drove along Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, which took us along the seemingly endless beach and blue waters beyond, dotted with tiny boats.Leaving the road and making a few turns brought us to Hai Van Pass (loosely trans-lated it means pass "of the Ocean Mist"), with its breathtaking scenery. The route, which runs for about 20 kilometres, bends along the densely forested Bach Ma Moun-tain, showing glimpses of Lang Co Beach. The green of the trees, the blue of the sea and the lightly clouded sky is a welcome respite from the concrete jungle of the city.With the availability of a tunnel running through the mountain, completed in 2005, most of the transport now uses the tunnel, leaving Hai Van Pass to mostly motorbike and occasional truck traffic.Hai Van Pass, a passage of major strategic importance in Vietnam's history, represent-ed a major barrier to any land army that attempted to move between the northern and central regions of the country. Nowadays, it's a perfect motorbike ride, with the road climbing to the peak at 500 metres.Travelling by motorbike does not only open up horizons, it provides a sense of free-


BU

SIN

ES


dom compared with a car or bus window. Everything looks surreal. The horizon, which sepearates the sky from the beach, seems to be diminishing. The sky seems to melt into the blue of the water.My friend, a daring traveler who has driven through many passes in the northern mountainous areas of Vietnam, says this is a different experience for her. "In northern mountainous areas, I am overwhelmed by the grandeur, the roughness of the moun-tain landscape. Here I can also feel the smooth, delicate, soft blend of mountain and beach," she said.After existing Hai Van Pass, we turned onto a local road and headed for the quiet, peaceful lagoon.A road separates the lagoon from the local houses. On one side is the familiar, charac-teristic sight of rural life old, modest houses surrounded by dense plants and fruit trees. On the other side is the untouched, landscape of mountain and water twinkling under the bright sun.Lap An Lagoon, located near Phu Gia Bridge of Lang Co Town, is 800ha large and one of the most scenic brackish water lagoons of Hue City to its north.The water is clear affording a view of a variety of creatures, including fish, sea cucum-ber and oysters.My friend and I sat for a while under the trees, contemplating the sight, and when we drove further, we realised it is just the beginning of this majestic journey.We happened to find a sand dune stretching from the bank of the lagoon almost to its middle. Though excited by the discovery of this "road", we were unsure whether it was safe to walk on. A local tour guide, speaking in a heavy Hue dialect, assured us and even offered to take a photo of the two of us before we moved on.In his heavy dialect, charming to the ear of a northerner like myself, the tour guide spoke proudly of his hometown's attraction. He said the lagoon was not only a tourist attraction, but a place where households grow oyster.Every afternoon, when the tide ebbs leaving behind little snails in beautiful shapes and various size, locals go there to collect oyster and sea cucumber.The lagoon is the most romantic when sunset falls, he said. That was sad news for us since we had to be back in Da Nang in the afternoon.When we arrived at the lagoon, it was almost empty. The tour guide, along with his two French tourists, were the first visitors we met. We walked for a while on the sand dune road, seeing a few more tourists posing for photos with the lagoon and spectac-ular Bach Ma Mountain range an ideal backdrop.We then drove around the lagoon before travelling to nearby Lang Co beach, enjoying some seafood, and winding up a perfect trip that far exceeded our expectations.http://www.vir.com.vn/lap-an-lagoon-where-sea-and-mountain-meet.html

Bridgestone Vietnam sponsors 50 smart bins in Da Nang


Smart bins now on streets in central city to protect the environment and raise aware-ness.A total of 50 smart dust bins have been put into use in Da Nang for the first time, under Japanese tire producer Bridgestone Vietnam's smart dust bin project.The bins are designed to keep organic and inorganic waste separate and are made from molded composite material that is more durable in the harsh climate of the central re-gion. Some have a water filter system with a capacity of 100 litres, to provide water for trees. Others are equipped with a solar power pallet, providing energy to recharging mobile phones. After five hours in the sun, each of these bins can charge four or five mobile phones.The bins are located in central streets in Hai Chau district, such as Bach Dang, Tran Phu, Le Duan, and Nguyen Van Linh, which are convenient for local people and tour-ists to find and use.Through producing these smart and multi-tasking bins, Bridgestone Vietnam wants to cooperate with local authorities to raise awareness among people about together keep-ing the country clean and green, according to Hiroyuki Saito, general director of


BU

SIN

ES


Bridgestone Vietnam. The project is also a part of the city's preparations to improve its image as host of the 2017 Apec Summit in November.Earlier, Bridgestone Vietnam sponsored 100 similar smart bins in HCM City under a project also aimed at raising awareness about environmental protection. Bridgestone Vietnam said it will also donate more smart bins to northern cities and provinces.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/society/bridgestone-vietnam-sponsors-50-smart-bins-in-da-nang

Vietnam aquatic, Tra fish festival scheduled for October


A Vietnamese aquatic products and Tra fish festival will run October 6-8 at the Viet-nam Trade Promotion Centre for Agriculture on Hoang Quoc Viet Street, Cau Giay District, Hanoi.Aiming to promote Tra fish in northern Vietnam and foreign markets, especially Chi-na, the event, held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, will show-case Tra fish, Tra fish-based products and other Vietnamese aquatic goods at 100 booths.It is hoped to offer businesses opportunities to broaden their networks with producers, supermarkets, domestic and overseas customers while helping Tra fish become a high value product.The event will also include workshops on Tra fish production and consumption and Tra fish-based dishes.In the first half of this year, Vietnam's fishery output reached 1.6 million tonnes, up 4.8 percent against the same period last year and fulfilling 54.8 percent of the yearly target.Tra fish output hit 583,503 tonnes, equivalent to the number recorded in the same pe-riod last year and 50.7 percent of the target set for the whole year.During the reviewed time, aquatic products worth 3.5 billion USD have been shipped abroad since the beginning of this year, predominantly to the US, Japan, China and the RoK, marking a 14.1 percent rise.Particularly, in Japan, Vietnam's tra fish sold at Aeon supermarkets is listed among "TopValu" products which are goods with leading quality.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-aquatic-tra-fish-festival-scheduled-for-Oct/115283.vnp

Workshop promotes sustainable rubber planting


A workshop to promote sustainable rubber forests was jointly organised by the Viet-nam Rubber Association (VRA) and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) in HCM City on July 24.Vo Hoang An, VRA vice President, highlighted the fast development of the rubber sec-tor, with rubber forests covering the biggest area among long-term industrial plants in Vietnam, hitting about over 976,000 hectares in 2016.In 2016, rubber wood made up 22.1 percent of the country's total wood export values, and 31.7 percent of the sector's export value.He underlined the increasing trend of using forest-based products with legal origin or sustainable forest management certification in the context that countries are making every effort to cope with global climate change.Forest certification is considered a tool for sustainable forest management, thus ensur-ing socio-economic development and environment protection goals.According to Le Thien Duc from WWF Vietnam, around 230,000 hectares of forests have been granted with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, accounting for 42 percent of the target set for 2020.Vietnam has yet to submit the FSC its national standards on sustainable forests man-agement, Duc said.Meanwhile, Truong Minh Trung, deputy director general of the Vietnam Rubber Group, said Vietnam has no rubber forests granted with FSC certificate.Wood products with FSC certification have higher prices than normal ones, Truong said, adding that his group will step up FSC-met forests planting in its member units.


BU

SIN

ES


According to the WWF, in order to develop rubber forests sustainably, the rubber for-ests must follow Vietnamese and international law, gaining local support and respect while minimising their impacts on the environment.-http://en.vietnamplus.vn/workshop-promotes-sustainable-rubber-planting/115316.vnp

HCM City to host Export Forum


Opportunities and challenges in the US and Japanese markets for Vietnamese busi-nesses participating in the global value chains after the US withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact will be the main topics of the Export Forum 2017.The forum will be held by the Trade and Investment Promotion centre of HCM City (ITPC) on August 8 with theme "Market Identification and Risk Management in Ex-port of Vietnamese Enterprises."According to the organiser, organisations and corporations having experiences in mar-ket research and risk control will share business information and market orientations with local exporters.John Rockhold, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in HCM City, will give assessments on global and regional markets after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the TPP. Rockhold will also give updates on the US regu-lations which will take effect this November, especially those on farm produce.Yasuo Nishitohge, general director of Aeon Vietnam, will point out opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese enterprises when participating in the global value chains, while general director of TopValu Yuichiro Shiotani will share his opinions on ways to improve quality and competitiveness for Vietnamese products.Harry Loh, director of United Overseas Bank (UOB), and local enterprises will discuss obstacles, risks and risk control techniques when promoting export activities.The event will feature about 400 enterprises and experts, including representatives of the Department of Southern Affairs, Office of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency and Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, consuls general, trade counsellors of foreign countries, foreign trade and investment promo-tion organisations in HCM City and southern provinces and cities, local producers of export goods, export logistics enterprises, banks and foreign corporations and buyers.According to the organiser, the forum will provide updated information about export markets and methods to improve competitiveness for local enterprises, and help them improve product quality, meet technical requirements and cope with trade barriers when exporting goods to other countries, especially key markets such as Japan and the UShttp://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55166/HCM City-to-host-Export-Forum.html

Vietnamese Goods Week in Thailand delays till August

25/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| SGGP NEWS

Vietnamese Goods Week in Thailand 2017 will be organised at Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok, Thailand from August 17-21 instead of from July 27-August 2 as scheduled before, announced the Ministry of Industry and Trade.The second Vietnamese Goods Week in Thailand will advertise Vietnamese goods to Thai consumers.About 40 Vietnamese businesses are expected to attend the event and showcase their goods comprising confectionary, jam, beverage, coffee, packaged food, spices, fresh fruits and garment and textile items.Vietnam and Thailand are now coordinating to carry out many trade promotion pro-grammes to increase bilateral turnover to $20 billion by 2020.http://sggpnews.org.vn/business/vietnamese-goods-week-in-thailand-delays-till-au-gust-68005.html End


250717Intellasia Finance Vietnam · The outstanding loans of Vietnam consumer finance soared from...

Documents

Transcript of 250717Intellasia Finance Vietnam · The outstanding loans of Vietnam consumer finance soared from...