Viet Nam News

Da Lat flower festival 2009 rescheduled

2009-07-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The government of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has stated it will change the time for the third Da Lat Flower Festival from mid December 2009 to January 2010.

According to the chief of the Lam Dong People’s Committee Office, Vo Ngoc Hiep, the event is being postponed until January 1-4 2001 to become a cultural activity to celebrate the 1000^th Thang Long – Hanoi anniversary.

The number of days for the third festival will be shortened from five to four days, with a total cost of 15 billion dong, including 5 billion dong from the state budget.

The Da Lat Flower Festival 2010 will have the theme “Da Lat – City of Flowers”. The event will include the following activities: the launching of a flower planting campaign, building a road of flowers, a tower of flowers, an island of flowers, a flower fair, an ancient street of flowers, flower and ornamental tree exhibition, a wine festival night, an international mountaineering contest, a cycling contest, a flower-arranging contest, a seminar on flowers and a stage show entitled “Da Lat flowers, the colours of cold land”.

This will be the third festival of its kind. The first festival was organised in 2005.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre

World heritages in Vietnam need closer cooperation

2009-07-21T21:01:00.002-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has seven natural and cultural world heritages recognised by UNESCO. Preservation and improvement of these heritages is necessary to advertise Vietnam’s image to the world. However, local governments haven’t effectively cooperated to connect these heritages.

The Hoi An ancient town.

The seven world heritages in Vietnam are Hue ancient capital, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An ancient town, My Son sanctuary, Phong Nha – Ke Bang cave, Hue royal court music and Central Highlands gongs.

The ancient capital of Hue was recognised as the first world cultural heritage of Vietnam 15 years ago. After recognition, all world heritage sites have developed well, said Dr. Dang Van Bai, vice chairman of the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association.

“Firstly, the central and local governments pay more attention to preserving heritages,” Bai analysed. “Secondly, thanks to the recognition, these sites have become attractive destinations, bringing in large quantities of income, which have been re-invested in preserving the values of heritages. The Prime Minister has also approved plans to preserve the sites.”

Professor, Doctor To Ngoc Thanh, chairman of the Vietnam Folk Art Association, said after the recognition, research of Nha nhac or Hue royal court music’s value was conducted more systematically.

Hue royal court music.

Central Highlands provinces have implemented many activities to honour and promote the value of the Central Highlands gong.

Two years ago, Dak Lak province held the Central Highlands Gong Festival, attracting visitors from home and abroad. This November, Gia Lai province will host the first international gong festival.

However, experts say that the best way to maximally promote heritages is through the creation of a network of provinces and cities which host heritages.

Central provinces have joined hands to create the “Heritage Road of the Central Region” in the past five years. Quang Nam province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s deputy director Ho Tuan cuong said that thanks to this programme, the number of visitors to heritages in the central region rises annually.

Central Highlands gong.

However, director of Quang Binh province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Hung Phi said that this programme is not highly effective because of the lack of close connection between local governments. They only cooperate to advertise heritages.

Quang Nam’s Ho Tuan Cuong said that it is necessary to have cooperation between central provinces and Central Highlands provinces and it would be even better with additional connections to Hanoi and Quang Ninh. Most importantly, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism should play the role of a “general director” to help provinces and cities that have heritages come together.

“We support the viewpoint of associating localities which have world heritages in Vietnam, and even with those in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand to bring into full play the potentials of Vietnam’s heritages,” said director of Quang Ninh province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Toan.

VietNamNet/TNVN

Vietnam gets 7th mobile network

2009-07-21T21:01:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - Gtel Mobile, a Vietnamese – Russian joint venture, launched Vietnam’s seventh mobile network, Beeline, on July 20.

Gtel Mobile general director, Alexey Blyumin, said VimpelCom - the Russian partner – has pledged to invest US$1.8 billion in Vietnam over the next five years.

It has so far pumped in $267 million into Beeline.

The new service is initially available in 40 cities and provinces, including all major cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang, with a population of around 41 million.

It is expected to be available in all 63 cities and one year later.

Beeline has announced a package called “Big Zero” in which users do not have to pay for the second minute of any call to another Beeline number.

Calls to other networks will cost VND1,199 a minute and international calls will cost VND3,600. International SMS messages will be VND2,500.

Vietnam’s Global Telecom Corporation holds a 60 percent stake in GTel Mobile with VimpelCom holding the remainder.

Beeline is the brand name used in Russia by VimpelCom, the second largest cell phone operator in the former Soviet Union. It has 62.7 million subscribers in Russia and Eastern Europe.

VietNamNet/SGGP

First int’l Salsa festival in Vietnam

2009-07-21T20:59:00.002-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Salsa dancers from many countries and Vietnamese salsa fans will group up at the first Salsa Holidays from July 30 to August 1 at Sheraton Hotel, Hanoi.

Three special guests of Salsa Holidays: (from the left) Reyno, Sharon Parkir and Gupson Pierre.

Salsa entered Vietnam several years ago and has quickly developed. In the first international Salsa festival in Vietnam, fans will see the presence of three special foreign guests, who will perform with international and Vietnamese dancers.

The first is Gupson Pierre from Canada, Chairman of Attitude Dance Studio. This is a leading dancer in the world and a talented trainer who has won many prizes at highly-reputed dance competitions in the world.

The second is Sharon Parkir from Australia, a lecturer of the Salsa Melbourne Institute, who has taught Salsa in many famous dance centres worldwide.

And the third is Reyno from Indonesia, who is the founder of the Salsa Fresca and the champion of the Salsa Indonesia Championship.

Besides enjoying impressive shows by international and Vietnamese Salsa dancers, Salsa Holidays will be a chance for young people to register for Salsa courses taught by famous foreign dancers.

VietNamNet/VNE

Vietnamese researcher produces chipset tester

2009-07-21T20:59:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – A chipset which has not been tested is priced at $0.15. It is $350 after being tested successfully. Intel has said it will buy into the chipset tester designed by a researcher from the Sai Gon Technology University.

Le Phuoc Lam introduces the chip tester.

Le Phuoc Lam’s project named “Manufacturing chip testing equipment used in chip technology training” has been checked and taken over by the HCM City Department of Science and Technology.

Lam’s equipment includes hardware to receive orders from computers and perform the test, the wafer, the box to connect tested chipsets and the software to run it on computers.

Lam said that testing the chipset is one of the most important steps in producing chipsets, affecting the production costs of chipsets.

A chip that is not tested is priced $0.15. The price is $350/chipset after it is tested. In the world, there are chip testers serving the chipset manufacturing industry, priced at around $2 million, not chip testers for training. To hire a chip tester, the charge is $125,000 to 175,000 per hour.

Sai Gon Technology University’s vice director Le Hiep Tuyen said that they will invest more in this project to improve some functions and then manufacture the testers to serve chip technology training in Vietnam.

Intel Vietnam is willing to combine with the Sai Gon Technology University to develop this equipment. The firm will also buy testers to provide for some Vietnamese universities for training activities.

VietNamNet/Dat Viet

Australian Trade Minister to visit Vietnam

2009-07-21T20:58:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - Australian Minister for Trade Simon Crean (photo) will visit Vietnam on July 23-26 to enhance trade and economic ties, the Australian Embassy announced on July 20.

In Hanoi, Crean will co-chair the 8th Joint Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee (JTECC) with the Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc on July 24. The meeting will discuss key sectors in the two countries’ bilateral relationship: education and training, infrastructure and environmental management, financial services, energy, oil and gas, and agribusiness.

“As we progress towards implementation of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, I look forward to discussing its practical contribution to the bilateral trade and investment relationship with Vietnam,” Crean said.

The Australian Trade Minister will be accompanied to Vietnam by a business delegation, and will also visit Ho Chi Minh City on July 25-26. He is scheduled to visit two companies in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, which is next to the city.

The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), which was signed in February this year in Thailand, is the largest FTA Australia has concluded, according to Mr. Graeme Swift, Australian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City.

By the time the agreement was signed, Australia had recognized Vietnam’s market economy status. The decision to grant this status was made in the context of the AANZFTA negotiations. The recognition means that, in any future anti-dumping investigations by Australia in relation to imports from Vietnam, Vietnam will be subject to the same assessment process as other WTO members.

It is expected that AANZFTA will enter into force no later than January 2010, once a number of AANZFTA parties have completed their national ratification processes. Vietnam has not ratified it yet.

Once in force, the FTA will reduce or eliminate tariffs across a region that is home to 600 million people, with an estimated GDP of US$2.7 trillion.

Australia and Vietnam stand to gain from the agreement across many sectors, including exports of agricultural products, industrial goods and services.

Under the agreement, almost 90 per cent of tariff lines covering 96 percent of Australia’s trade with Vietnam will be tariff-free by 2020.

Two-way trade between Australia and Vietnam grew an average of 22 per cent a year over the last five years, reaching A$8 billion in 2007-08, according to the Australian Consulate General. Two-way trade services in 2007-08 totaled A$1.05 billion.

VietNamNet/SGGP

Vietnam ranks 6th in Asia in mobile phone users

2009-07-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – With 73.2 million mobile phone subscribers by March 2009, Vietnam holds sixth position for the number of mobile phone users in Asia.

China and India secure the first and the second positions, with 644.8 and 391.6 million subscribers. The two countries account for 1.04 billion subscribers of the world’s total number of 4.15 billion.

The third largest mobile market in Asia is Indonesia, with around 144.6 million, followed by Japan.

In fifth position is Pakistan, followed by Vietnam with around 73.2 million users by late March 2009.

The seventh is the Philippines with 71.7 million, followed by Thailand 62.7 million, Bangladesh 46.3 million and South Korea 46.2 million.

The top ten countries for mobile users in Asia have 3.48 billion people and 1.68 billion mobile users.

VietNamNet/ICTNews

Century’s longest solar eclipse to come on July 22

2009-07-21T02:26:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century will take place early on July 22. People watching In northern Vietnam will see the sun 2/3 to 3/4 covered, but in the far south, only a quarter of the sun will be obscured.

The Vietnam Astronomy and Space Association’s Nguyen Duc Phuong said that the total eclipse will be witnessed within a 258km-wide strip running nearly half-way around the globe.

The phenomenon will first be observed in India, then Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, China and far out in the Pacific. A partial eclipse will be observed in a larger strip, including most of East Asia and the Pacific. In most of Vietnam, people will only be able to see a partial eclipse at around 8.11am.

The best location for observing the phenomenon in Vietnam is the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang, with the maximum coverage of 75.8 percent, at 8.11am and then Hanoi with 67.5% at 8.11.50am. The maximum coverage is smaller in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, with 25.5% at 8.11.40am and HCM City 27.4 percent at 8.13.04am.

The best site to observe the phenomenon in the world is in the Pacific Ocean, with the maximum time of 6.39 minutes, at 9.35am, Hanoi time. This will be the longest total solar eclipse in the 21^st century.

Phuong said that there are 2-5 solar eclipses a year but a total eclipse is rare. Some years don’t see total eclipses but some have as many as two. Total eclipses often take place within a very short time, rarely exceeding 7.31 minutes. There are only around 10 total eclipses of over 7 minutes every 1,000 years. The latest eclipse of 7.3 minutes was recorded on June 30, 1973.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially obscured. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth, with between zero and two of them being total eclipses.

A total eclipse occurs when the Sun is completely obscured by the Moon. The intensely bright disk of the Sun is replaced by the dark silhouette of the Moon, and the much fainter corona is visible. During any one eclipse, totality is visible only from at most a narrow track on the surface of the Earth.

Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon’s umbra.

A total solar eclipse is a spectacular natural phenomenon and many people travel to remote locations to observe one. The 1999 total eclipse in Europe helped to increase public awareness of the phenomenon, as illustrated by the number of journeys made specifically to witness the 2005 annular eclipse and the 2006 total eclipse. The most recent solar eclipse occurred on January 26, 2009, and was an annular eclipse.

In ancient times, and in some cultures today, solar eclipses have been attributed to supernatural causes. Total solar eclipses can be frightening for people who are unaware of their astronomical explanation, as the Sun seems to disappear in the middle of the day and the sky darkens in a matter of minutes.

A day in the heart of Central Highlands

2009-07-21T02:23:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – In the Central Highlands province of Daklak, one may have various places to see and to enrich their knowledge in a locality widely known as the land of epics. There are magnificent waterfalls, an ocean-like lake, old-fashioned structures, and thrilling terrains you name it. Having only one day for going places, I randomly opted for Bao Dai palace out of curiosity about one vestige of the recent dynasty, only to find myself richly rewarded with a new, sudden discovery: the Ko Nia tree.

A visitor contemplates a couple of gongs at the Bao Dai palace.

Many people in Vietnam know well a song titled The Shadow of Ko Nia Tree by veteran Vietnamese composer Phan Huynh Dieu. The song is about an ethnic wife missing her husband who went into the battle during the Vietnam War. Every adult can sing the song by heart because of its very beautiful lyrics, which show how the young wife through the shade of the giant tree is saddened by her husband’s faraway whereabouts.

However, few people know what a Ko Nia tree is, and I am no exception.

The chance comes up quite suddenly.

Upon arriving in Buon Me Thuot city, the provincial capital of Daklak, I dropped by the home of an old friend for a visit. Soon after, my friend took me to Bao Dai palace where Vietnam’s last emperor used to stay as a retreat.

While approaching the palace from Y Ngong street, we came across two giant trees, and I was told they are the Ko Nia. I ran into rupture at the mere mention of the name, and was aware that my effort to cover the long distance of 350km from HCMC was worth it. I have been quite curious about the tree, for long.

The trees made a searing impression on my mind with their huge leaf canopy and long branches and heights of nearly 100 meters. The trunks were so thick it took at least nine people to encircle one by joining hands. No wonder the tree takes a significant place in the highlands’ poetry, as seen in the poem The Shadow of Ko Nia Tree by writer Ngoc Anh, which was later made into a famous song by composer Phan Huynh Dieu as mentioned earlier.

Amazingly, the trees have a shape like long roof houses, which are very popular in the region. Long houses are usually venues for tribal groups to gather together during important events of the community.

We then left the trees for Bao Dai Palace, only to find out an interesting feature about the structure of the house used by last King of the Nguyen Dynasty, who passed away in 1997.

The palace stands lonely under many green trees. Looking at the front of the house, what we immediately perceived was that it looks like a long house, while from the rear, it looks European in style with the surrounding trees standing guard like soldiers.

In fact, the house was rebuilt in 1940, remodeled after the Highland architecture pattern combined with modern features. The roof and floor of the house are wood and there is also a basement. Vietnam’s last Emperor, Bao Dai of the Nguyen Dynasty, used it for quarters and receptions when he was in the region.

After the victory of the August Revolution in 1945, Daklak ethnic minority unification festivals were often held in the house, including a public display of their works, in a united and solemn atmosphere.

The palace has been recognized as a historical-cultural vestige by the Ministry Culture, Sports and Tourism and has become a museum for displaying historical cultural objects of Daklak ethnic groups. Thus, visitors will see gongs, drums, and wooden artifacts that describe daily activities and a colorful culture of tribespeople there.

Of course one day is too short for anyone wanting to explore Daklak in its cultural entirely. But to me, the day was really exciting. In visiting the Bao Dai palace, I had a great chance to learn more how the long house tradition has a twist on structure, and even on nature, as seen in the shape of the Ko Nia trees I accidentally came across.

VietNamNet/SGT

Bau Da wine village

2009-07-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Bau Da wine is a famous specialty of Bau Da village in the central province of Binh Dinh.

The name of Bau Da originated from Cu Lam village’s Bau Da in An Nhon district’s Nhon Loc commune, 22km from Quy Nhon city.

This wine is entirely made by hand.

It is said that Bau Da wine makes drinkers have sensations of fire and ice. As a matter of fact, get a drop of wine on your skin, and you will get a chilly feeling.

Pour this wine from a height to hear the marvelous sound of wine splashing. Then let the glass of wine spread it fragrance through the atmosphere for a moment before sipping it and feeling it foam around mouth.

Locals say that northern and southern tourists treated to Bau Da wine have said it is better than Johnny Walker brandy.

It is made of newly-harvested rice grains and special water, which make it transparent, and then distilled with straw and husk-fired heat.

However, the most attractive aspect of Bau Da wine is that intimate friends prefer to sit cross-legged on the floor on a moonlit night to both enjoy wine and recitals.

Some photos featuring Bau Da village:

The gate of Bau Da village.

The village is surrounded by green fields.

The village's temple.

The rice that makes the famous wine of Bau Da.

An old villager is talking about how to produce Bau Da wine.

Boiling wine.

The finished product.

VietNamNet/VNE/Binh Dinh newspaper

Vietnam’s entrant hastens preparations for Miss Universe

2009-07-07T00:12:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Miss Universe Vietnam’s first runner-up Vo Hoang Yen is about to go to the Bahamas for the Miss Universe 2009 pageant. She is very busy at this moment preparing for the event.

From the left: Universe Company's representative, Hoang Yen and a representative of the John Robert Powers school.

To improve the inherent weakness of Vietnamese contestants, timidity, Hoang Yen is improving her communicative and presentation skills with foreign experts at the HCM City-based John Robert Powers school.

Hoang Yen studies English at a reputed English teaching centre in HCM City and does physical exercise under the guidance of a leading expert at the California Wow Experience Centre.

Hoang Yen and Al Morgan, Asia’s top nutrition and fitness expert.

Al Morgan, Asia’s top nutrition and fitness expert, designs Hoang Yen’s daily exercises and is managing her nutritional supplements to help her get the best shape in the shortest time.

The Vietnamese representative is also undergoing skin treatments at spas.

Hoang Yen at a spa.

Hoang Yen is proud to have all of her preparation activities reported by the local media. Compared to previous Vietnamese entrants in international beauty contests, Yen is said to be the one who has most carefully worked on her image.

Yen said that at this moment she is ready for the pageant on Paradise Island, the Bahamas from August 2-23.

Hoang Yen's working schedule is full and she travels a lot.

VietNamNet/DT

Cars unsalable in the world, but selling well in Vietnam

2009-07-07T00:10:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – While the car sales have plummeted in the world market, in Vietnam, there are still not enough Toyota or Honda cars to satisfy demand. In such a market, ‘fixers’ thrive.

Car models all in short supply

Vietnam is really a lucrative market for automobile manufacturers: cars still sell well here despite the economic downturn.

All the models offered by Toyota Vietnam are reportedly in short supply, especially Vios, Altis and Camry. Customers have been told that if they place orders right now, they will get delivery in November and December.

A business officer of Toyota urges customers to place orders right now, or you will have to wait a long time to get deliveries,” he said. “Even for the Innova van, customers have to wait till October, and longer for the smaller models which are now the top choices of customers”.

However, it is not easy to place orders now. Toyota My Dinh has rejected orders for ‘hot’ models since May. A salesman of the agent said that it will only have cars by October to deliver to the customers who have signed contracts. Therefore, it has decided to stop signing new contracts to avoid risks.

Honda’s models are also reportedly in short supply. Customers who want to purchase a Honda Civic, will have to wait until August to get delivery. If they want Honda CRV, will have to wait until October. And if they want a silver-gray Civic or CRV, they’ll have to wait even longer.

GM Daewoo (Vidamco) reports satisfactory sales of its Lacetti and Gentra small sedans. A Vidamco manager said that the firm can’t promise its customers deliveries until August. Red Gentras are in especially high demand.

“I visited different car sales agents looking for a Vios and I was told to place orders, pay a deposit and wait,” said one weary customer.

Profitable opportunities for ‘fixers’

“If you place your order for an Altis right now, normally you won’t get delivery until December. But you if want delivery sooner, you just need to pay me 40 million dong to install some additional equipment for the car. I will try to arrange a car for you in August,” a salesman of Toyota LH told a VTC journalist that he thought was a prospective customer.

Toyota LH is the sales agent that announced during the ‘SUV/MPV fever’ in April, before higher taxes on those vehicles went into effect, that it would only sell cars to customers who agreed to pay 20 million dong to ‘install more equipment.’ It seems that the sales have been going so well that the sum of money has been doubled.

The short supply brings golden opportunity for ‘fixers’ (called ‘storks’ in Vietnamese slang) to ‘do business’. It is impossible now to purchase cars at the manufacturers’ suggested retail prices (MSRP). The only way to get car deliveries soon is to pay additional money to sales agents.

In insider explained how this is done. Salesmen’s relatives sign contracts to buy cars. Then, a salesman will contact customers to resell the contracts signed with the manufacturers under the salesmen’s relatives’ names. A lot of customers agree to pay additional money to get deliveries soon, rather than waiting many months to get cars. On some auto forums, the required premiums are $1,000-1,500.

A customer named Long complained that the official sales agents say cars have run out, but if customers agree to pay more money, they still have cars to sell. “Customers are the biggest sufferers. They have to clench their teeth while their pockets are picked,” he said.

In the rest of the world, as the global crisis has deepened, cars have been almost unsalable. In the huge North American market, Toyota’s small car sales in June were 32 percent below the same period of the last year. To pump up sales, Hyundai and Suzuki have been offering ‘low cost petrol’ to those who purchase their cars.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, there are not enough cars to sell. A question has been raised that if it is true that automobile joint ventures are short of cars to sell, or this is just the art of marketing?

VietNamNet/VTC

PM restricts use of Government cars

2009-07-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Each State agency, public non-business unit or State-owned enterprise is now allowed to buy only one car worth a maximum of VND800 million (US$44,400).

The newest regulation strictly prohibits the utilisation of public cars for personal purposes and details clearly the rules relating to car type, value and usage.

The new decision was made by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to replace a previous decision made by the Prime Minister in April 2008.

In an attempt to help curb inflation, in the 2008 decision the Prime Minister had mandated a freeze on the purchase of Government cars to halt the excessive amounts of public funds going towards the purchasing of Government vehicles, said Pham Dinh Cuong, director of the Public Assets Management Department under MoF.

Old quota

Originally, there was a regulation promulgated in May 2007, which had already set criteria, quotas, management and use of means of transport in State agencies, public non-business units and State-owned enterprises. If this had been properly implemented, the State could have saved up to VND2 trillion (US$111 million) every year, MoF had estimated.

The newest regulation strictly prohibits the utilisation of public cars for personal purposes and details clearly the rules relating to car type, value and usage. This applies to all government officials from district leaders up, chairmen of management boards, general directors of State-owned corporations and other entities appointed by the Prime Minister.

According to Cuong, the policy for the use of Government cars will become stricter.

"Besides the policy of reducing the number of government cars, we will popularise self transport," Cuong said.

"In the past, a Government car was considered a symbol of power but at present, no one cares. In fact, using taxis and private cars is nicer," he said.

Time to punish

However, as reported by the State Treasury, since the original regulation was promulgated two years ago, 73 cars were still purchased for a cost to the public of VND32 billion ($1.7 million).

The Treasury also requested MoF punish those in possession of more cars than allowed by regulation, with the biggest culprits being the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and then the Ministry of Transport.

Economist Pham Chi Lan said it was pressing to prevent misuse of the public's money for transport, but wonders how the regulation will be implemented.

"I understand all decisions are to save money for the State's budget," Lan said, "So everyone should leave their own benefit behind and think about common benefit".

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Foreign banks to give domestic firms a run for their money

2009-07-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Dr Nguyen Minh Phong at the Ha Noi Socio-Economic Development and Research Institute spoke to Thoi Bao Ngan Hang (Banking Times) about competition between local and foreign banks.

What do you think about increasing operations of wholly foreign-invested banks in Viet Nam?

Local banks should also associate with foreign banks to increase their strengths.

Under the WTO commitments on banking, effective since April 1, 2007, foreign banks are allowed to operate in Viet Nam. They can be representative offices, affiliates of foreign banks, joint-venture banks or wholly foreign-invested banks.

Wholly foreign-invested banks have many advantages, and it is therefore not unusual to see a wave of wholly foreign-invested banks stepping up operations recently.

Viet Nam is also an attractive destination for foreign investors. The global economic crisis is increasingly singling Viet Nam out as a country with comparative advantages, particularly in political stability and economic development potential.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is one indicator. Viet Nam is among the top ten countries and territories attracting FDI in the world.

The participation of foreign banks has helped improve Viet Nam’s financial market, giving people and the business community opportunities to enjoy financial services of international quality.

But this is also putting more pressure on the financial market.

I think the recent speeding up of foreign bank operations is merely an initial step. The competition will only start by the end of this year, when mother banks abroad gradually recover from the financial crisis.

It seems that foreign banks have more advantages, while the only advantage for local banks is being on "home turf". What do you think about this?

It’s true. Foreign banks can gain the upper hand over local ones in terms of history, experience, financial potential, technology, human resources, understanding partners and international business rules.

These advantages will allow them to provide competitive products. Moreover, by employing Vietnamese bankers, foreign banks will become experts in the local market.

However, local banks also possess some advantages. Firstly, they have outstretched branches that can offer cheap services to customers, especially small- and medium-sized ones. This is also a tool to create joint ventures with foreign banks to mutually allocate services.

Another advantage is that Vietnamese customers find it easier to do business with Vietnamese banks.

And local banks are better at finding information about domestic enterprises and getting a better hold on the psychology and business traits of Vietnamese people than foreign banks. With such advantages, they can introduce appropriate products.

Which parts of the market will be the most competitive?

Each bank has its own strategy, and it also depends on the market and their familiar customers.

Yet, by and large, foreign banks will focus on such areas as the following: international payments, worldwide money transfers and modern banking services, targeting foreign investors and those customers in the middle and high classes.

Foreign banks will speed up joint ventures with other businesses to consume products and services. They can lend money to customers to buy cars and houses by joining with auto companies and housing investors.

What do local banks have to do to fend off the competition?

They should know their capacities. First, by concentrating on products and parts of market that they are good at, and second, by expanding and developing more new, modern products that suit their capacities. They must improve the quality of their products and services, especially in procedures and attitudes towards customers.

Local banks should take initiative in associating with other banks and partners to develop and supplement their shortcomings to each other.

It’s essential to work out a strategy to restructure and raise management ability and technologies in an attempt to raise competitiveness.

Local banks should also associate with foreign banks to increase their strengths.

For the part of the State, it must have common guidelines on orientation, supervision and support for local banks during this process of restructuring and raising competitiveness.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Vietnam may export more than 5 million tonnes of rice

2009-07-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam previously planned to export 4.5-5 million tonnes of rice this year. However, the volume of rice enterprises have registered to export so far this year exceeds five million tonnes. 3.46 million tonnes have already been delivered.

Farmers in the Mekong River Delta have finished harvesting the winter-spring crop and they are harvesting the early summer-autumn crop. The price of young rice is hovering between 4,200 and 4,300 dong per kilogramme, while the price of first-class unprocessed rice is 5,600-5,670 dong per kilogramme and second-class rice is 5,200-5,300 dong per kilgramme. Meanwhile, five percent broken finished product is selling at 6,950-7,000 dong per kilogramme, 15 percent broken rice at 6,450-6,500 dong per kilogramme and 25 percent broken rice at 5,700-5,800 dong per kilogramme.

The Institute for Policies and Strategies on Agriculture and Rural Development Area has forecast that Vietnam’s rice exports this year may reach 5.5 million tonnes, an increase of 0.5 million tonnes over last year.

According to the Vietnam Food Association (Vinafood), Vietnam’s total rice export volume may reach six millions tonnes this year. Huynh Minh Hue, acting Secretary General of Vinafood, said that in the last six months of the year, Vietnam will mainly export summer-autumn and autumn-winter rice.

In the context of the global financial crisis and economic downturn, it is expected that countries in the world will import rice in volumes equal to their consumption demands, while they will not import rice to store up like they did in 2008. Analysts said that the demand will come late, while transactions and deliveries will take place within short periods. Therefore, rice exports and consumption of merchandise rice will depend on the market’s performance. With the current signing of export contracts, farmers will absolutely be able to consume all the merchandise rice of the 2009 summer-autumn crop.

“The domestic rice prices have been inching up, while more export contracts have been signed. If the current situation continues, the export of six million tonnes of rice proves to be within reach,” Hue affirmed.

However, VFA has also expressed concerns that the volume of high-quality rice in the 2009 summer-autumn crop may be lower, since most farmers are growing low-quality seed rice, including IR50404.

However, the Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that IR50404 rice just accounts for 18.2 percent of the total growing area, just 3.2 percent higher than the recommended level.

Prof Dr Bui Chi Buu, Head of the Southern Institute for Agriculture Sciences, also said that it is absolutely possible for Vietnam to export 5.5-6 millon tonnes of rice this year because of the high rice output.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, in 2009, the demand for rice is estimated at 32 million tonnes, up by 2 million tonnes in comparison with 2008.

VietNamNet/TBKTVN

Cycling to explore the Mekong Delta

2009-07-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Cycling through orchards and along rivers, visiting pagodas to discover culture and history and indulging in stunning landscapes are wonderful experiences.

Tourists on a bicycle tour in the Mekong Delta.

We start in the Mekong Delta province of Long An’s Tan An commune and follow Bao Dinh Canal toward My Tho city. Full of strength and curiosity, we are all keen to explore the land on our iron horses.

The road is surrounded by colorful fruit orchards, elegant pagodas, poetic rivers and peaceful canals.

Reaching Tien Giang province, we stop by Thoi Son Islet in My Tho city to row a boat on zigzagging canals, sit in the garden house and sip tea with honey and enjoy the singing of folk songs. Then we visit Vinh Trang Pagoda which was built in the nineteenth century and is famous for its ancient architecture and design and its 60 precious wood statues.

The next day, we continue on to Ben Tre province, our eyes satisfied by the green of endless coconut farms. We talk with some residents about the life of farmers.

The next day is a tour of Vinh Long province’s Cai Mon district which is nationally famous for its fruit. We do not worry about being tired after long hours on our bicycles but have fun fishing, cooking and joining entertainment areas. At night, we have an outdoor party with fresh fish and local cuisine accompanied by cai luong (southern classical music).

We saddle our bikes and move on to Can Tho city to see floating markets such as Cai Rang and Phong Dien to buy indigenous specialties and to sense the hardships of the sellers. Markets wake when the sun is still below the horizon as sellers gather to prepare for a new day.

Finally, we conquer 20 kilometers on bicycle to visit Bang Lang Stork Garden, a 1.3 hectare stork sanctuary popular with tourists who come to see thousands of storks. Visitors can see these birds returning home from hunting food in the late afternoon. The image of thousands of storks gathering in the Garden is exotic to visitors.

Organized bicycle tours of the Mekong Delta are available from Saigontourist Travel Service Company. Visitors will be accompanied by a tour guide, a doctor and medical equipment.

Saigontourist is located at 49 Le Thanh Ton street, distríct 1, HCMC, tel: 3827 9279, email: info@saigontourist.net, website: www.saigontourist.net.

VietNamNet/SGT

Solution for “disguised” golf courses: collecting tax arrears

2009-07-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – As many as 166 golf courses covering 52,000 hectares of land serve around 5000 golfers in Vietnam. Each golfer has over 10 hectares of land for entertainment. Meanwhile, each person in the northern delta has only 360 sq.m of land for planting rice on average.

The National Assembly’s Committee for Science, Technology and Environment vice chairman Nguyen Dang Vang has suggested various solutions, including collecting tax arrears.

Under the rules of market, supply and demand of a product or a service must be in balance, otherwise that market will become distorted. The market of golf in our country is very absurd, the chairman says. There are around 5000 players but there are 166 golf courses. The average number of golf courses of 192 countries and territories, including developed countries, is 14.

Most golf course projects are real estate ones. How can we deal with this problem?

Most golf courses incur losses, even the senior Da Lat golf course (in Da Lat city, Lam Dong province). This golf course is located in a very nice area, which has many tourists, but last year it still lost money. However, people flock to invest in golf courses. Minister (of Planning and Investment) Vo Hong Phuc said that this is a masquerade. We can see it if we look at the area of golf courses. It is estimated that a golf course needs around 100 hectares of land but golf courses in Vietnam have an average area of over 300 hectares.

Therefore, golf developers use two-thirds of the land for real estate business. In my opinion, golf courses must be considered real estate projects. It is very regrettable that a golf course which asks for 300 hectares of agricultural land is licenced.

Plains are favourable for transport and agriculture so they must be used for production. Golf courses can create a small number of jobs on a hectare of land so I think some golf courses in the Red River Delta should not be licenced.

You mean that golf course projects on plains should be revoked?

It depends on local governments. Investors were licenced and they invested their money in these projects. If local governments revoke golf projects, they have to compensate them.

But I think that if there are more effective projects than golf courses, local government should compensate golf developers and revoke land to implement the other projects.

How should we solve the “inflation” of golf courses? Should we ban the construction of real estate works on golf courses for sale?

That’s right! I think the Ministry of Planning and Investment considered this. When the ministry stipulates that a golf course must be less than 110 hectares, investors cannot build villas for sale. We can also ban golf developers from selling real estate projects on golf courses.

In my opinion, we should reconsider taxation methods. Land for building golf courses is sold at 90,000 dong per square metre because it is agricultural land. If houses are built on that land, the price will be millions of dong per square metre. The government should collect arrears of taxes and land fees from golf courses that have houses for sale.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment plans to revoke 50 golf course projects. Is that number small?

It is small but it shows the ministry’s intentions concerning golf courses. However, it would be very difficult to withdraw licences of projects that have completed formalities. But I emphasise that we can use taxes as an effective method. Golf courses are for rich people, account for vast areas of land, cause pollution and affect food security, so taxes should be very high.

If taxes are suitable to the fact, these disguised golf courses will disappear.

New criteria for golf courses: We don’t have a plan for golf courses nor an agency managing golf courses. As it is a new form of business so we deal with each project individually. Since local governments have been able to licence golf course projects, some investors, mainly local investors, have built houses on golf courses for sale. A typical case is the southern province of Long An.

The government assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to check and compile a plan for golf courses as of August 2008. Local governments have granted licences to 145 projects and 145 projects are allocated with land. It will be very complicated to deal with these projects but we will try to save land for rice.

Under the new criteria, a golf course must not use over 10 hectares of rice land. A standardised golf course will be allocated up to 110 hectares of land.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment plans to “cut” 50 golf courses. The licence of golf courses in the future will be tightened.

Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc

VietNamNet/TT

Moc Bai border gate EZ: supermarkets closed

2009-07-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – People arriving at Moc Bai border gate economic zone (EZ) these days might be very surprised when seeing supermarkets and shops with their doors closed. The EZ, which welcomed 10,000 visitors a day previously, is now deserted with no visitors or buyers.

Supermarkets’ doors shut

The first days of July 2009 prove were the quietest days of the Moc Bai EZ since it put duty-free shops into operation. The roads to the supermarkets were empty, while the parking lot in front of the trade centre was deserted.

Only several taxi motorbike drivers were seen standing there, asking people if they wanted to go to Cambodia. There were several security guards standing at the entrance to supermarkets, who had the duty of announcing the halt of operation of the supermarkets. The vehicles, which once were used to carry passengers, are now sitting idle in the storehouse. It was dark inside the supermarkets with closed stalls and no souls in sight.

Forty-six of 48 enterprises operating in the area have stopped operating, while two shops are still operating but at the point of death because they are only allowed to sell goods to Cambodian visitors. Meanwhile, only one delegation of 15 Cambodian people was seen visiting the Hiep Thanh Trade Centre on July 4.

Only one stall is now open at Hiep Thanh Centre. The owner of the stall said that he has seen very few visitors since July 1. “The number of customers has dropped by 99.9 percent. Only small groups of Cambodian visitors have dropped into the stall in the last few days, but they bought next to nothing,” he said.

Not tax-free anymore

Le Van Tuong, Deputy Head of the Moc Bai Border Gate EZ, told Tuoi tre newspaper that some trade establishments have temporarily shut doors for stock taking, while others have closed doors to adjust software for calculating taxes. Tuong said that most establishments have shut down because of the new regulations on selling duty-free goods. The new regulations stipulate that as of July 1, domestic visitors and tourists are not allowed to purchase goods duty-free in Moc Bai.

“Enterprises have been living on trading duty-free goods. With the new regulations, they fear that the profit will not be high enough to cover expenses,” Tuong said.

According to the director of an enterprise in Moc Bai, the prices of goods in Moc Bai will be much higher than the prices in HCM City with import tax, VAT, luxury tax and the transport fee for carrying goods from Saigon port to Moc Bai. Therefore, Moc Bai will not attract visitors anymore.

A Viet Kieu from Canada, who has a stall at Hiep Thanh Trade Centre, related that he injected $12 million to trade in the area. However, his business is getting more and more difficult as Government policies have become tightened. At first, every visitor was allowed to purchase 500,000 dong per person per day worth of duty-free goods. The figure was then lowered to 500,000 dong per person per week, and now the purchase of duty-free goods is prohibited.

“If the situation cannot be improved, I will have to close my business here,” he said.

According to Tuong, the Tay Ninh provincial people’s committee has sent a dispatch to the Government, proposing it reconsider some policies and the finance mechanism for Moc Bai EZ.

New policies affecting investment attraction

Like at the Moc Bai EZ, trade activities at Tinh Bien border gate non-tariff area in An Giang province have also become quiet these days. Very few people visit the area these days.

Traders here complain that they are on the verge of bankruptcy. “We only made investment in the remote area because we thought we would enjoy the tax exemption,” a businessman said.

“Only tax incentives can encourage investors to open duty-free shops and make investment in infrastructure items here. Now with the new regulations, the investment projects in the border gate economic zone will be cancelled,” said Le Huu Trang, Deputy Head of the An Giang Border Gate EZ’s management board.

VietNamNet/TT

Ha Long tops new 7 wonders

2009-07-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

Tourists go on a cruise aroung Ha Long Bay (Photo: Hanoi Tourist)

VietNamNet Bridge - Ha Long Bay, one of Vietnam’s two UNESCO natural world heritage sites, take the list of 11 candidates of Group G in the second phase of campaign voting for seven new world wonders of nature.

According to a recent announcement released by the NewOpenWorld, the campaign is now entering the end of the second phase, where 21 sites with the most votes will be selected for the final round.

The organizing committee will announce the list of 21 finalists on July 21. There after, the campaign will continue to vote for New 7 Wonders of Nature, which will be unveiled in 2011.

During the first phase of the campaign, which took place between July 2007 and December 2008, three of Vietnam’s famous tourist attractions were nominated, including Halong Bay, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park - another UNESCO Natural World Heritage, and Mount Fansipan.

The campaign takes place on www.new7wonders.com.

VNN/SGGP

Fanciful Champa towers

2009-07-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The central province of Binh Dinh is home to eight groups of Champa towers, located in Phu Cat, Tuy Phuoc, An Nhon, Tay Son and Quy Nhon.

In the city of Quy Nhon, visitors can see Thap Doi (Twin tower) on the bank of Thi Nai lagoon.

Around 30km from Quy Nhon is Banh It tower complex in Tuy Phuoc district, which comprises four small towers located on a mountain next to the Kon River.

Heading to the north, visitors will see Phu Loc and Canh Tien towers on high hills. Canh Tien tower is inside the ancient Champa citadel of Do Ban. Some history books say the tower was the gift of Cambodian King Che Man to his Vietnamese wife, princess Huyen Tran.

Other towers are Binh Lam in Tuy Phuoc district, an unnamed tower on Ba Mountain in Phu Cat district, Thu Thien and Duong Long on the two sides of the Kon River.

Duong Long tower

Thap Doi (Twin) tower.

Taking wedding-photo at a Champa tower.

VietNamNet/VNE

Contemporary Vietnamese music abundant but in disorder

2009-07-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

American researcher Jason Gibbs.

VietNamNet Bridge – Jason Gibbs, an American independent researcher, has worked with Vietnamese music for decades and has been to Vietnam several times to learn about Vietnam’s music genres. After a talk with a Vietnamese audience at the Goethe Institute in Hanoi on June 25, he talked with Tuoi Tre Cuoi Tuan about modern Vietnamese music.

Foreign researchers often study traditional Vietnamese music, how about you?

Jason Gibbs was born in 1960 and is now working in the field of music at the San Francisco Public Library, California. He has published research on Vietnamese music in magazines such as Van Hoa Nghe Thuat (Culture and Arts) and Xua va Nay (Past and Now).

Most music researchers do their research under the names of organisations. Because they are sponsored by these organisations, they have to choose topics that are suitable to the sponsors’ requirements.

As an independent researcher, I can choose other topics. I like Vietnam’s pre-war music very much. I also like Vietnamese modern music, which is abundant but in disorder.

Are you afraid that your research themes are the same as local researchers’ topics?

I think research of modern music in Vietnam is wanting. Everyone knows that this country has a young population so the young are highly influential in society. Vietnam is changing thanks to the young. But I read only disparagements of modern music in the local newspapers, meaning disparagements over the tastes of music of the young.

I think that passion is very important in doing a job well. I recently saw a show of students in Hai Phong. There was a rock song. They also danced hip-hop. Of course they aped foreigners but they performed passionately and I was moved. I think we should respect the young’s way. The more people participate in the music life, the better music is.

You mean we should not intervene in the youth’s choice?

Ngu Cung rock band at Rock Storm 2009.

It is the same in Vietnam as in the US. When a young person is ordered “You have to learn singing cheo”, they will resist and do conversely. The young are interested in what’s fashionable and singing cheo is not.

But if they reach a certain level of culture and music, I think their ears will open widely to receive different genres of music and then they will wish to learn about the music of their nation. It is difficult for teens to study traditional music but those of over 20 years old, who have basic understanding of music, I think they will return to traditional music. So if we have to do something, I think we should help the youth have more knowledge and understanding about music.

Do you plan to do that?

I indulge myself in music and love to listen to different music genres in the world. I work in San Francisco so I have opportunities to work with the community of Vietnamese there. I came to Vietnam for travel but now I’m the husband of a Vietnamese woman (smile).

The next topic that I wish to study is the role of music in Vietnamese society today. I want to know about the spiritual lives of workers who move from rural to urban areas to work in industrial zones. I want to know their taste and needs in music.

VietNamNet/TTCT

Vietnam among happiest countries

2009-07-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has been found to be one of the five happiest countries in the world due to its long average lifespan, Vietnamese people’s satisfaction with their lives and low environmental impact level.

A summer day of Vietnamese kids.

The UK-based New Economics Foundation (NEF) announced the Happy Planet Index (HPI) on July 4 for 143 countries in the world.

On the list, Costa Rica is the greenest and happiest country in the world. South American countries take nine of the top ten positions, the sole exception being Vietnam, which checks in at fifth.

Western countries didn’t get high positions on the list, with the UK at the 74^th and the US at the 114^th, because these countries have high costs of living and they consume a lot of natural resources.

Zimbabwe is at the bottom of the list, 143^rd.

According to the report, Costa Rica has an average lifespan of 78.5 and 85 percent of its population are satisfied with their lives. Up to 99 percent of the country’s energy comes from recycled sources.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has an average lifespan of 73.7 and 65 percent of its population are satisfied with their lives.

The Happy Planet Index is an index of human well-being and environmental impact that was introduced by the New Economics Foundation in July 2006.

The index is designed to challenge well-established indices of countries’ development, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI), which are seen as not taking sustainability into account.

In particular, GDP is seen as inappropriate, as the usual ultimate aim of most people is not to be rich, but to be happy and healthy. Furthermore, it is believed that the notion of sustainable development requires that we have a measure of the environmental costs of pursuing those goals.

The top ten happy countries:

1. Costa Rica
2. The Dominican Republic
3. Jamaica
4. Guatemala
5. Vietnam
6. Colombia
7. Cuba
8. El Salvador
9. Brazil
10. Honduras

VietNamNet/VNE

Thailand, VN to join forces on rice exports

2009-07-06T01:28:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - Thai and Vietnamese rice exporters have agreed to co-operate to beef up their bargaining power in global markets.

An agreement was signed between Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, and Huynh Minh Hue, secretary-general of the Viet Nam Food Association, at the 6th rice trade co-operation meeting in Phuket last week.

Under a memorandum of understanding they agreed to seek to standardise sales contracts to provide a fairer deal to rice exporters.

"Now, importers have a greater say in sales contracts, which contain some conditions that are not fair to us," the Bangkok Post quoted Chookiat as saying.

For instance, he said, they demand contracts that include a 5 per cent "plus-or-minus" clause which means exporters are required to ship up to 10,500 tonnes for an order of 10,000 tonnes, while importers can choose to take just 9,500 tonnes.

Vietnamese traders shoulder an even higher burden of 10 per cent plus or minus, according to the Bangkok Post.

The 6th meeting in Phuket last week aims at strengthening the two countries’ export competitiveness through closer co-operation. A working group has been formed to work on details.

Chookiat said Thailand plans to sell around 8 million tonnes of rice this year, compared to 10 million tonnes last year.

His country turns out 20 million tonnes of milled rice annually, half of which is meant for domestic consumption.

VNN/VNS

A bay to shelter from economic woes

2009-07-06T01:28:00.000-07:00

Halong Bay’s charms have landed it many global admirers.

VietNamNet Bridge - Home to world natural heritage site Halong Bay and the key economic hub of northern Vietnam, Quang Ninh province is offering investors lots of investment opportunities.

While Vietnam is emerging as one of the most attractive investment destination, Quang Ninh is also on the radar screen of many international investors looking to invest in Asia.

In recent years, Middle East investors have started to eye Vietnam as a good investment destination with coastal Quang Ninh province, about 180 kilometres northeast of Hanoi, a great site for investment projects.

United Arab Emirates-based Tamouh Investment LLC, in August 2008, signed a memorandum of understanding with Quang Ninh People’s Committee for studying investment projects in the province.

According to Quang Ninh People’s Committee, Tamouh will draw-up plans for investing in a seaport and oil refinery project, a highway project connecting Halong city and Mong Cai town and a university to provide skilled workers for the United Arab Emirates.

Early this year, Limitless LLC, a business unit of Dubai World, announced it had raised the investment capital for its Halong Star Hotel project, which was started to be built in 2007, from $220 million to $550 million.

Philip Atkinson, regional director for Limitless in South East Asia, said Quang Ninh had great land for investment, adding that the company would further expand its investment in the province to tap that potential.

During the visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the United Arab Emirates in February this year, Limitless signed a memorandum of understanding with Quang Ninh authorities to invest in the Mac Dynasty Lagoon project. In its plans, Limitless would develop the project as a multi-functional industrial park, urban and entertainment complex.

Nguyen Van Thanh, director of Quang Ninh Planning and Investment Department, said the province’s leaders were aware that the province had huge potentials for investment projects and it was widely opening doors for investors, especially foreign businesses.

Bordering with Lang Son, Bac Giang, Haiphong and Hai Duong provinces and Chinese Guangxi province, Quang Ninh is now the third economic hub of northern Vietnam, after Hanoi and Haiphong. The province also owns the largest coal deposits in the country.

Vietnamese government saw Quang Ninh as a part of the pivotal economic development triangle of Hanoi-Haiphong-Quang Ninh in northern Vietnam, that would drive northern economic development.

Due to its favourable geographic condition and giant coal mines, Thanh said, Quang Ninh was a good place for developing seaports, shipbuilding and heavy industrial projects.

He said that not only Middle East investors studying investment opportunities in Quang Ninh, many other domestic and foreign investors also came for developing investment projects.

Currently, US-based AES Corporation is preparing documents to build a $1.4 billion Mong Duong thermoelectricity plant in Quang Ninh. Meanwhile, another US company, SSA Marine, joined hands with Vietnam National Shipping Lines to invest in Cai Lan international container port.

Quang Ninh Planning and Investment Department revealed that Chinese Fosun Group was planning to build a steel manufacturing plant with total annual capacity of about five million tonnes in the province Thanh said in the future, the province would continue encouraging investors to invest in the industrial areas like shipbuilding, energy, steel manufacturing and cement.

“With the advantage of position and seaports, investors could save a lot of transport costs when they manufacture products in Quang Ninh and export them to international markets,” said Thanh. Recognising that many investors are eyeing investment potential in Quang Ninh, the province’s leaders announced they were pushing infrastructure development so as to meet investors’ requirements.

In next few years, a series of transport systems would be upgraded or newly built. For example, the province will upgrade Mong Duong-Mong Cai road, which links Quang Ninh to China’s Guangxi province. Van Gia seaport will also be built while the province is seeking approval from the government for developing the international Van Don airport.

Furthermore, transportation from Hanoi to Quang Ninh will be more convenient as the government is planning to build a highway linking Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport and Quang Ninh’s Halong city, expected to be operational in 2015. As the province is trying to improve its transport infrastructure system, some investors have built industrial infrastructure.

Two years ago a domestic joint venture including Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group, Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam broke ground of the large Hai Ha seaport and industry complex.

The province and the joint venture announced that the $18 billion complex would offer good infrastructure for investors embracing shipbuilding and ship-repairing, steel manufacturing, oil refineries and urban development. Furthermore, Cai Lan, Hai Yen, Viet Hung and Dong Mai industrial parks offer good infrastructure conditions for investors.

But Quang Ninh is not only favourable to investors in industry sector. Home to Halong Bay, one of the nicest bays in the world which have been recognised as a world heritage, Quang Ninh is also an ideal destination for investors to develop tourism projects.

Halong Bay covers an area of 1,553 square kilometres including 1,969 islands. There are many soil islands, caves, grottoes, beaches, beautiful landscapes enabling the development of attractive tourist sites of various types.

According to Quang Ninh Planning and Investment Department, about 4.4 million tourists visited Quang Ninh in 2008. In the first quarter of this year, the number of tourists was 678,000, a 23 per cent increase against the same period last year. The department estimates number of tourists visiting Quang Ninh could be around 4.8 million people this year despite the economic downturn impacting Vietnam’s tourism sector.

“That proves the attractiveness of Quang Ninh tourism potential,” Thanh said, adding that many tourism investment opportunities had not been explored in Quang Ninh.

In May this year, Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development Joint stock Company broke ground of its Song Da Ngoc Vung eco-tourism project in Quang Ninh.

Like United Arab Emirates’ Tamouh and Limitless, American Rockingham Group is planning to invest in a tourism project at Halong Bay, including villas, a five-star hotel and a golf course. It also proposes to build a casino.

Besides that, Quang Ninh is calling investment for developing an entertainment complex in the province’s Van Don Economic Zone, covering an area of about 300 hectares.

VNN/VIR

PetroVietnam holds exploration talks

2009-07-06T01:27:00.000-07:00

Bach Ho oilfield, the main source of crude oil for Dung Quat Oil Refinery.

VietNamNet Bridge - The National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has entered negotiations with Chevron Co regarding product shares and prices for a US$4 billion oil, gas exploration and exploitation project at the B48/95 and B52/97 Blocks, off southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

The group’s new general director Phung Dinh Thuc said, in an on-line press conference on July 3, that he hoped the two partners would reach an agreement in July.

There are expectations that Chevron will hold 43 per cent of the shares and contribute nearly $2 billion in investment capital, and also co-ordinate with Japanese Mitsui and Thai PTT.

PetroVietnam will put four new oilfields into operation in the second quarter of this year. Two of the oilfields will be located in Viet Nam, in Nam Rong - Doi Moi and Peal; the two others will be abroad in D30 and Dana in Malaysia.

The small fields are expected to generate a total output of 430,000 tonnes by the end of this year, he said.

Also yesterday, the group reported VND120.4 trillion ($6.68 billion) in revenue for the first half of this year, 16.6 per cent lower than the same period last year, attributed mostly to lower global oil prices.

The group earned about $3.5 billion from 8.1 million tonnes of crude oil exports during the period, falling 39 per cent against the corresponding time last year.

PetroVietnam attributed the low income to average global crude oil prices at $50 per barrel, nearly half in comparison to last year’s average peak price of $106.

"As a result, the group only contributed VND42.9 trillion (nearly $2.4 billion) to the State Budget in the first six months, 20 per cent less than a year earlier," Thuc said.

The group also contributed about VND23.6 trillion ($1.3 billion) to a number of ongoing major projects, including the Dung Quat Oil Refinery; a fertiliser plant in Ca Mau; the Nghi Son oil refinery complex; Long Son refinery and Nhon Trach power plants No 1 and 2; an ethanol plant in northern Phu Tho province; and a polyester fibre plant in Dinh Vu(Hai Phong).

"The country’s first oil refinery in Dung Quat was expected to see its products on the market by the end of June. Although the products were churned out on June 25, due to ongoing negotiations with distributors the products have yet to hit the market," said Vu Thi Bich Ngoc, chief of PetroVietnam Marketing Development Department.

PetroVietnam also worked with the Viet Nam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex) - the nation’s largest petrol distributor - to sell Dung Quat’s products.

Under their agreement, Petrolimex will distribute 20,000 tonnes of petrol, 30,000 tonnes of diesel and 2,500 tonnes of kerosene this month, she added.

While crude oil resources from Bach Ho Oil-field is running out, Dung Quat mapped out plans to import crude oil from British supplier BP. It is anticipated that the first shipments of crude oil from overseas will be in November and December, she said.

Besides BP, PetroVietnam negotiated with other foreign crude oil providers for Dung Quat, including Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia.

VNN/VNS

Transport firms bemoan new toll placement

2009-07-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

The Hanoi Highway tollbooth in northeast Ho Chi Minh City.

VietNamNet Bridge - A plan to move a tollbooth on Ho Chi Minh City’s Hanoi Highway has drawn the ire of transportation companies who say it will force them to pay fees for infrastructure they don’t use.

The HCMC Goods Transportation Association has submitted its complaints to the Ministry of Transport, the municipal People’s Committee and other relevant agencies.

The association said the current toll, nearly two kilometers from Saigon Bridge, which connects Binh Thanh District and District 2, was supposed to remain in place until 2012. The toll represents the city’s main northeast entrance and exit.

The toll has been in operation since 2001, collecting funds to pay for the widening of Nguyen Huu Canh and Dien Bien Phu streets, which lead to the Saigon Bridge.

But the new toll will pay for the new Rach Chiec Bridge project and the widening of Road 25B, which connects the Highway to Cat Lai Port in District 2.

Duong Quang Chau, vice investment and trade director of the HCMC Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company (CII), said on Tuesday that the new toll booth, located two kilometers northeast of the current toll, would open in September.

Chau said the new toll was necessary as the current booth stands in the way of a planned metro project.

The new toll will continue paying for the Nguyen Huu Canh and Dien Bien Phu investments through 2013, after which point the collections will go toward the new Rach Chiec Bridge.

The placement of the new toll means that anyone traveling in or out of the city on Hanoi Highway will have to pay the toll fee. The previous placement allowed travelers on Road 25B to skip the toll.

The association says that many transportation companies use Hanoi Highway directly from Road 25B without ever traveling on Nguyen Huu Canh or Dien Bien Phu. Therefore, the association’s logic goes, those companies shouldn’t have to pay tolls that go toward those two roads.

VNN/TN

Sai Gon Railway Station denies ticket speculation

2009-07-06T01:25:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – A top railway executive has rejected local media allegations that her company was involved in ticket speculation, causing a shortage of rail tickets on the market.

"Any violations discovered by registered ticket agencies at the Sai Gon Railway Station will result in strong measures against them, and ultimate termination of any contractual agreement".

Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong, director of Sai Gon Railway Station, said on Friday that no cases of ticket speculation had been discovered at any of the station's registered train ticket agencies.

Sai Gon Railway Station had only contracted with 16 agencies since May 2008 after careful consideration and background checks, added Phuong. These agencies are subject to tight control and monitoring by station authorities.

Phuong added that there were ample seats available on Sai Gon Railway Station trains and that passengers were able to buy their tickets at anytime.

However, she cautioned that this was not peak train travel season.

Plans have been prepared for peak seasons, such as the Tet holidays, in which the station will put a limit on the number of tickets sold to agencies, according to the director. This should reduce ticket speculation so that travellers can get their hands on tickets.

Other alternatives to prevent ticket speculation are being mapped out by the Sai Gon Railway Station.

"Any violations discovered by registered ticket agencies at the Sai Gon Railway Station will result in strong measures against them, and ultimate termination of any contractual agreement," said Phuong.

Ha Noi Railway Station has suspended the operation of TSC agency, one of its 11 ticket agencies, after discovering that the agency violated its contractual agreement by charging customers additional service fees.

Phung Thi Ly Ha, Deputy Director of Ha Noi Railway Station, said the station was conducting an investigation of TSC agency before delivering a final decision.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Japanese rice changes farmers’ lives in An Giang

2009-07-06T01:24:00.000-07:00

Farmers havest rice in the Mekong Delta’s An Giang Province, where the grain imported from Japan is becoming popular.

VietNamNet Bridge - One of the most popular strains of rice cultivated in certain parts of the Mekong Delta, where the grain reigns supreme, is not indigenous to Viet Nam but is imported from Japan.

For his last harvest, Tran Van Tho, 51, a rice farmer in An Giang Province, earned VND90 million (US$5,000) on an area of 39,000sq.m, nearly double his income from a previous harvest of local rice.

Here in the Mekong Delta’s largest province and the country’s biggest granary, Tho’s success story is not rare, and lua Nhat (Japanese rice), as the rice is known, has won over the hearts of the area’s farmers in recent years.

Pham Van Huong, a farmer in Cho Moi District, said the rice was rich in protein, fragrant and glutinous."We sell out all our harvests of lua Nhat, and don’t have any left. We don’t have to worry about the price."

The lua Nhat’s round rice grain requires less care than locally grown long-grained strains because it is disease-proof, while the biggest risk comes from harmful insects.

"We spray biological insecticides only," Huong said. Intensive care is needed in the first 10 days when it grows very slowly, and after that it picks up pace significantly.

Nguyen Van Vo, a farmer in the province’s capital Long Xuyen, said farmers "don’t have to work harder but we earn twice as much as compared to our previous crops."

The price ranges from VND6,200 to 8,100 a kilogramme, while the long-grained counterpart sells for slightly more than VND4,000 a kilogramme.

"The cultivation techniques are no big deal," said Vo. "They are not that different from what we’ve practised for years."

Vo said drying was the most difficult part of the job. "We have to find out a precise degree of dryness, while not breaking too many grains."

Vo said he was one of many farmers who submitted applications at the local Farmers’ Association to grow the rice.

The association is responsible for selecting farmers based on experience and knowledge, who are then recommended to Angimex-Kitoku, the company that runs the Japanese rice project in An Giang Province.

"Then you enter into a contract with the company and are given seeds to grow," he said.

Contract farming

The idea for growing such a strain began in 1992, when An Giang Import-Export Company (Angimex) teamed up with Japan’s leading food company, Kitoku, to form a joint-venture, said Tran Minh Son, head of the company’s department in charge of developing lua Nhat.

"We spent the first three years testing around eight to 10 strains on local soil," recalled Son, adding that it was not until 1995 that the company started to grow lua Nhat on the first 50ha in Long Xuyen City.

That eventually grew to reach more than 900ha last year, before jumping to almost 2,000ha this year.

Cultivation has expanded to the districts of Chau Thanh, Chau Phu, Thoai Son, Phu Tan, and to a trial project in Tri Ton and Cho Moi Districts.

Of the original strains, only four, including Hana, Kinu, Akita and Koshi, are now being used.

The seeds, which are imported every year from Japan, are bred into first and second generation seeds before being given to farmers.

Apart from seeds, the farmers receive toxic-free insecticides and technical instructions, and Angimex-Kitoku’s contracts with wholesale suppliers to ensure that farmers can turn out farming commodities at the lowest prices possible.

"For their part, the farmers will pay all their own expenses, and above all, they are supposed to abide by technicians’ instructions and not sell their harvests to anyone else," Son said of the contract terms.

Difficulties have occurred, however, as farmers "relied too much on experience passed down from generations to be convinced of our instructions," he said.

Up to 40 per cent of the last harvest was not up to standard since the proportion of broken grains exceeded the benchmark 4 per cent.

"They did not understand the characteristics of lua Nhat," he noted.

He said the company had marked up the buying price from VND7,500 to VND8,100 a kilogramme for rice in line with the requirements, and that if farmers strictly followed instructions they could turn out high-quality rice and earn more money.

Sometimes farmers cannot wait for their turn to sell rice at the end of harvest so they work with traders who approach them directly.

"In that way, they can save on expenses that cover carrying the rice to our storehouses," he added, noting that the local government now closely monitors any trading boats at the end of the harvest to ensure there are no illegal sales.

No price worries

The biggest advantage for the farmer is that Agimex-Kitoku is committed to buying prices it pledged at the beginning of the crop planting, despite market ups and downs.

"Farmers are relieved of their constant concern about rice prices, which have dealt a blow to crops in the Delta in recent years," Son said.

At first, the farmers were wary about pledged prices because they had heard similar promises that had not materialised after the market tanked, said Le Tuong Trung, 27, one of 22 agronomists who work directly with farmers on the fields, from seed treatment through to harvest.

Each agronomist is assigned an area, usually a commune, with around 100ha and 50 farmers each.

"We take time to visit them in turns, making sure that we’ve met at least five farmers a day," said Trung, who is in charge of Thoai Son District’s Hoi Giang Commune.

"They plant two or three crops before they become proficient," he added, noting that Japanese strains were immune from many local diseases like rice blast that recently plagued a large area of long-grained rice crops.

"However, inclement weather can harm it," Trung said.

So far, the strains have adapted to local soil and weather, said Chau Van Ly, vice chairman of the province’s Farmers’ Association.

They can be harvested in just three months, half the time it takes in Japan, partly due to Viet Nam’s warmer climate. Three crops are produced each year.

"The province’s People’s Committee is enormously in favour of the project. They have held meetings with the company, farmers’ associations and farmers to promote it," Ly said, adding that the association has organised farmers into groups which help each other and share experiences.

Son said Angimex-Kitoku planned to expand lua Nhat cultivation to 3,000ha next year and to 10,000ha by 2015.

But the company is taking precautions not to expand the cultivation too quickly, as it could exceed its manpower and storage capacity, which would affect the quality of rice.

"Our top priority is quality, and after that comes productivity, because it’s quality that enhances exports," he said, adding that apart from Japan, the rice is also exported to the UK, France, Canada and several Asian countries.

Lua Nhat has been grown on a trial basis in other Delta provinces such as Kien Giang and Dong Thap, and the outcome "has been amazing", Son said.

"Farmers in those provinces are so fond of lua Nhat that they asked us to move the crops there if An Giang farmers were not interested anymore," he said, laughing.

Since Angimex’s planned expansion of 10,000ha within six years is only a drop in the ocean and An Giang has 280,000ha of rice fields that could still be cultivated and the company has no plans to move into new territory. The lucky farmers in An Giang can only be too pleased.

VNN/VNS

In HCM City, traffic jams have become a way of life

2009-07-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Traffic jams in Vietnam’s biggest city are daily getting worse. They not only hinder the city’s development but also roil the lives of its residents. Outwitting the tie-ups has become an obsession of HCM City’s people whenever they leave their home.

Traffic jam in HCM City.

Facing the fact that city authorities have run out of remedies for ‘traffic jam disease,’ the people of Ho Chi Minh City have no option but to learn how to coexist with this natural calamity, just as the Mekong Delta’s residents are resigned to ‘living with floods.’

Too few streets, too many vehicles = gridlock

HCM City has about 3300 kilometers of roads and streets, equivalent to 26 square kilometers of pavement. The city’s total area is 2095 square kilometers, so the ratio of road to total area is about 1.5 kilometers per square kilometer, or about one-tenth the world standard for cities. Viewed another way, roads and streets take up 1.36 percent of HCMC’s total area, compared to a world standard of 20 to 25 percent.

And the number of vehicles is soaring. The city has around 4 million vehicles, including 3.8 million motorbikes. Every day, another 500,000 motorbikes and 60,000 cars carrying commuters from adjacent provinces.

Municipal Department of Transport’s director Tran Quang Phuong is fond of saying that “if all these vehicles were on the road, the total road area is not enough for any of them to move.”

Dr. Pham Xuan Mai of the HCM City University of Technology calculates that motorbikes alone require from 12 to 48 square kilometers of pavement.

The surface of the narrow streets is further narrowed because of construction works, which the local people call ‘blockhouses.’ The more than 250 projects being implemented on hundreds of roads make traffic jams worse.

Key arteries into the city centre like Truong Chinh – Cach Mang Thang Tam, Le Van Sy, Nguyen Van Troi, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Vo Thi Sau have plenty of ‘blockhouses’ these days.

The city government has requested that traffic police be assigned to project sites to guide traffic, but the police officers only work at some sites.

Truong Chinh Street, which becomes Cach Mang Thang Tam Street, is altogether seven kilometers long. Along its route are some 14 construction sites, each narrowing the road by more than half. If traffic police are not present, this street is always tied up in traffic jam after traffic jam, a sea of vehicles.

The situation is no better on Le Van Sy, Vo Thi Sau, Hai Ba Trung and Nguyen Van Troi streets. The average speed of vehicles on these roads is just two or three kilometers per hour and sometimes approaches zero.

If there’s a construction site, there’s a traffic jam.

Traffic jams even at night

“The ratio of traffic jams exceeds the permitted level by 11 to 23 times. Economic losses caused by traffic jams are estimated at 14.3 trillion dong ($841 million) per year, 5.1 percent of the city’s gross domestic product,” said Dr. Mai.

Though the city’s residents can hardly bear the situation now, they’ve learned that the Department of Transport will continue construction projects on nearly 100 kilometers of road this year.

Oppressed by terrible traffic jams that are as regular as one’s daily bowls of rice, and the helplessness of the transportation authorities, the online community is passing around a sarcastic ‘advertisement’ that spoofs the HCM City Department of Transportation. According to the ‘ad,’ “a new movie will soon be released entitled Traffic Jams on Every Millimeter, a rivetingly tragi-comic drama. The movie allegedly features more than 8 million actors and hundreds of kilometers. The actors shuffle along roads littered by blockhouses, barriers, sewage, rainy water and dust. The film will air from 6am to 7pm every day, and continuously when it rains.”

Adapting to the unavoidable

Temporary solutions such as re-structuring traffic flows and increasing the number of bus trips cannot solve the problem. It may take the city ten years or more to solve traffic jams by building more roads and an urban light rail system while restricting personal vehicles.

For now, the city’s people have no alternative to peaceful coexistance with traffic jams.

For the past three months, Nguyen Huu Tuyen, a staff of a company based on Truong Dinh Road, has changed his schedule to accommodate the traffic jams. Previously, Tuyen got up at 5.30am to exercise until 6am. He and his son left their house at 6.15 and, after breakfast, Tuyen dropped the child at school at 6.45. In the evening, Tuyen left his office at 5pm to pick up his son.

However, after many blockhouses sprang up on Truong Chinh – Cach Mang Thang Tam road, Tuyen had to change his schedule to live in peace with traffic jams.

“To avoid traffic jams, I and my son have to leave home at 5.45am. At that time my boy is still half-asleep. I cannot pick him up at 5pm any more so I’ve arranged for a xe ôm (motorbile taxi) driver to pick him every afternoon. That costs me 450,000 dong per month,” Tuyen complained.

Tuyen doesn’t exercise at home in the morning any longer. Instead, after work, he works out at Tao Dan park, near his office, before returning home. Tuyen’s adjustment to the certainty of traffic jams is fairly typical in HCM City.

Some government agencies have recently issued tips on how to live in peace with traffic jams. The pioneer is the People’s Committee of District 10, which has erected traffic flow billboards. Along impacted streets like To Hien Thanh, Ly Thuong Kiet, Thanh Thai and Su Van Hanh, the red boards with white or yellow letters show drivers how to escape from traffic jams on main roads during peak hours by using alleys.

District 10 Deputy Police Chief Le Van Doan said District 10 has set up nearly 100 boards of this kind..

The City Department of Transportation has also devised a road map that points out the positions of ‘blockhouses’ in HCM City. The map is updated on a weekly basis on the department’s website (sgtvt.hochiminhcity.gov.vn) and for the local media.

The department is also working with some IT firms to establish a traffic-jam warning program and show the shortest ways to avoid traffic jams through mobile phone messages (SMS).

VietNamNet/LD

Experts discuss China’s detention of Vietnamese fishermen

2009-07-06T01:20:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Some experts share their opinions about China’s arrest of Vietnamese fishing boats and fishermen.

Doctor of law Tran Cong Truc, former chief of the government’s Border Committee: This case is causing great spiritual and material losses for fishermen and difficulties for the relationship between Vietnam and China. Government agencies must join to make clear the case and protect legitimate interests of the people.

It is very clear where the incident occurred. According to staff of border post 328 and fishermen, the fishing grounds are 12 nautical miles from the nearest island (belonging to the Hoang Sa or Paracel islands) and it is within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. Hoang Sa is an archipelago, not an island country. Without mentioning China’s illegal occupation of Hoang Sa since 1974, with this act, China has deliberately widened the above area to assert its sovereignty over the sea area of Vietnam, violating the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea. This cannot be accepted unacceptable!

If fishermen pay fines, they naturally acknowledge China’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa. Moreover, fishermen are very poor while the fine is huge. If they don’t pay fine, they and their boats will be held further.

I highly appreciate fishermen’s determination to not pay the fine. This shows their awareness of Vietnam’s maritime sovereignty.

Vietnamese fishermen signed on China’s report, which stated that Vietnamese fishermen “seriously violated the Fishery Law of the People’s Republic of China”, because they were forced to sign. However, their signatures are worthless because the document would only be valid when the government agencies of two countries sign on it.

I condemn their towing the Vietnamese fishing boats far from the site to make their report. It is an unacceptable trick.

Government agencies, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Defence need to work as a team to solve this case.

Chu Tien Vinh, head of the Agency for Aquatic Resource Management and Protection (part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development): Since 1995, China has announced annual bans on fishing in some areas, including areas under Vietnam’s sovereignty. The bans aim to protect aquatic resources. The banning period is often two months in a year and Chinese fishermen obey the ban strictly.

This year, the ban covers even the sea area of Vietnam and is during the normal fishing season. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) immediately informed local departments about the ban, but from the standpoint that Vietnamese fishermen would still work in the sea area of Vietnam.

However, in border areas, fishermen should be very careful. They have to immediately inform competent agencies in any case.

MARD assigned a Deputy Minister to be in charge of guiding fishermen to do their job. All offshore fishing boats are provided with maps, which clearly shows the temporary border line between Vietnam and China and the radio frequencies of competent agencies.

We always urge fishermen to not violate the territorial waters of other countries. Hoang Sa belongs to Vietnam but in this situation, fishing boats should work in groups of five to seven boats to support each other.

Prior to 2006, fishery management forces patrolled Vietnamese territorial waters but since the Law on Inspection was issued, this force no longer patrols the sea. We are proposing to amend this law. We also don’t have big ships to support fishermen who catch fish far from the mainland.

I think Vietnam should have semi-military ships to protect our marine resources and to deal with violations by foreign ships of our marine territories.

My agency organizes monthly meetings with representatives from the Ministry of Defence, the oil and gas sector, navy, and coast guard forces. The government also has issued many dispatches asking the Ministry of Defence to strengthen naval patrols to protect fishermen. However, our fleet is limited due to the shortage of funding.

If Vietnam’s fishing boats are seized, we have to bring them home safely at any cost and not let fishermen pay fines. If our boats trespass on other countries’ waters, fishermen must be fined according to international law and the payment must be transferred through the State Bank of Vietnam.

For the three fishing boats arrested on June 21, I confirm that Chinese patrol forces acted illegally. The three boats were catching fish at the sea area of the Hoang Sa Islands of Vietnam. The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry has sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi and delivered its official statement about this case.

Doctor of Law Dinh Ngoc Vuong, vice head of the Institute of Lexicography and Encyclopedia of Vietnam: Vietnamese fishermen were forced to sign on the so-called fine report of Chinese patrol forces. These documents are invalid because they were made abnormally. Nobody can cite them to injure Vietnam’s sovereignty.

We have to pay attention to these acts. They may assert that documents like these are evidence in the conflict of sovereignty with Vietnam. However, according to international laws, such documents cannot be seen as evidence.

I agree we should not pay absurd fines to China but struggle through diplomatic means to have our fishermen and their boats released. We cannot let this become a precedent that hinders our fishermen from catching fish in Vietnam’s waters.

VietNamNet/TP/VNE

Thai PM to visit Vietnam this week

2009-07-06T01:17:00.000-07:00

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva

VietNamNet Bridge - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva plans to pay an official visit to Vietnam on July 10, according to his office.

During his stay, Vejjajiva is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and pay courtesy visits to President Nguyen Minh Triet and Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

A spokesperson for Vejjajiva’s office, Panithan Vathanazacon, said the visit aims to promote cooperation between the two countries, especially in trade, tourism, transport and rice exports.

Thailand and Vietnam are both leading rice exporters. Thailand wants to cooperate with Vietnam in building a regional rice depot and increasing the rice growing acreage. It also wants to add more railway and road links connecting China to Vietnam and Cambodia, the Thai PM office said.

VNN/TN

Vietnam to probe flood of float glass import

2009-07-06T01:14:00.000-07:00

A worker checking a plate of glass on the production line at the Saint-Gobain Chantereine glass factory in France, in 2007.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Industry and Trade has decided to launch an investigation into float glass imports, which three local manufacturers say are rapidly increasing and hurting their business.

Float glass is a type of glass typically used in windows, and is made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten tin.

The probe, the first of its kind after Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2007, is set to inspect imports from throughout Asia, Europe, the US and Australia.

The petitioners – Viglacera Float Glass Company, Vietnam Float Glass Company and Vietnam Float Glass Industry, which account for all domestic production – proposed that the government impose an absolute duty rate of US$0.60 per square meter on all types of imported float glass for a period of four years.

They also sought an immediate temporary measure to raise import tariffs to 40 percent on imports from other Southeast Asian nations for 200 days, according to their request sent to the government. The current tariff is 5 percent. The ministry is considering the measures and has agreed to begin inspections soon.

Imports of float glass from outside Southeast Asia currently pay duties of 40 percent or 60 percent depending on the trade agreement with the importing country.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, general director of the Construction Glass and Ceramic Corporation, which holds stakes in Viglacera Float Glass Company, said float glass imports sharply increased in recent years, causing difficulties for local producers.

Tuan, who also signed the application, said 13 million square meters of two-millimeter-thick equivalent float glass were imported into Vietnam in 2007, 25 million square meters last year and 7 million square meters in the first quarter this year.

Big losses

Tuan said the booming imports, not to mention a large volume of smuggled float glass, have forced local producers to halve production. Inventory in stock across the country accounts for 30 percent of annual production capacity.

Local products are unable to compete as the imports are priced 12- 34 percent cheaper, according to the companies’ official complaints.

Local producers have had to break a large amount of finished products and feed them back into the furnace to lower inventory. But the move has raised production costs.

Viglacera Float Glass Company, a joint venture between the Japanese NSG Group and Toyota Tsusho Corporation and Vietnam Glass and Ceramics for Construction Corporation, said it had to cancel a $15 million plan to increase its capacity from 350 tons to 400 tons per day as imported glass was pushing supply past domestic demand.

Domestic production was 48-51 million square meters in 2005 and 2007 but decreased to 44 million square meters last year, according to the three local producers.

They said their sales from the domestic market were reduced to 18.22 percent in 2008 from 36.08 percent in 2007 while the companies have had to let go 6.36 and 10.6 percent of their staff in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

VNN/TN

Former shipping chief urges Van Phong Port developers to ‘think big’

2009-06-30T17:54:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Construction of Van Phong Port is set to begin in northern Khanh Hoa province in the near future. Dr. Chu Quang Thu, former head of the Vietnam Maritime Bureau (Vinamarine), warned that the developers are aiming too low. He says the site has the potential to become another Singapore.

Known up until now principally as a scuba diving paradise, Van Phong Bay, some 100 kilometers to the north of Nhatrang City on Vietnam’s central coast, is slated for development as a deepwater port.

According to Nguyen Trong Hoa, Head of the Management Board of Van Phong Economic Zone, site clearance for Van Phong port project has been completed, a road to the port site has been built and electricity is ready to be provided.

Thu told Tuoi Tre newspaper that “the worldwide trend is toward bigger container ships. They are more economical. It would be a big waste if at Van Phong we only build a harbor to handle ships in the 6000 to 9000 TEU range. [A TEU is a ‘twenty foot equivalent unit,’ that is, a standard shipping container]. The natural water depth is 16.5 metres in the bay’s Dam Mon area. Vietnam will not see Van Phong develop into a big international transit port if it cannot receive the biggest ships, 15,000 to 18,000 TEU.”

People still don’t understand why we should build big harbors for big ships, while Vietnam’s ships are just in the 200... TEU range?

Dr. Chu Quang Thu, former head of the Vietnam Maritime Bureau (Vinamarine)

Singapore and Hong Kong have become rich partially because they have international transit ports. Countries like Vietnam, which export to the US and Europe, must carry containers to Singapore, where they are classified and put into larger ships in order to save on costs.

Up till 2009, Vietnamese could not receive 4,000 TEU and bigger container ships. Typically, 2000 TEU ships carry goods from HCM City and Hai Phong to Singapore and Hong Kong for consolidation and transshipment.

Transshipping costs Vietnamese exporters an additional cost of $400 per every TEU. My former office, Vinamarine, has found that Vietnam ‘loses’ nearly $1.5 billion every year because big container ships cannot enter Vietnam’s ports.

If we develop an international transit port at Van Phong Bay, it will be able to earn big sums of money. 80 billion dong will fall into the pocket of Khanh Hoa province every time an oil tanker docks at the port. World-scale ports serve dozens or even several hundred ships every day. Van Phong will help the surrounding region prosper. It is nearer to [several] shipping routes than Singapore.

If we only build a harbor for 6,000-9000 TEU ships, we’ll exclude the most popular class of ships, the 12,000 TEU size. Unlike Hai Phong and Saigon ports, Van Phong is far from industrial zones. Its natural advantage is as a transhipment point, but if big foreign ships do not dock the port to load transit commodities, the port will sit idle. We must learn a lesson from Cai Lan port [near Ha Long Bay, northeast of Haiphong], which has been receiving few ships.

Some say we should only build small harbors because our financial resources are limited . . . .

We should not think that way. I do not think that we will lack capital for investment. Investors are ready to provide money if they think that the Government is heading the right way. The competition among international ports is now very stiff. If we aim too low because we don’t have funds in hand, and so the ships don’t use Van Phong, it will be a real loss.

We should build one pier for 15,000 TEU ships instead of two piers for 6000-9000 TEU ships, even though the cost will double.

How do you imagine Van Phong port should operate?

Vietnam should follow international practice. I think that we should design Van Phong port area as a bonded transit area.

If Vietnam still insists on unloading commodities for inspection and ignores international practice, foreign ships will stay away. If we really want to get into the global ‘game,’ however, we should waive the docking fee for five to ten years in order to attract foreign ships. Vietnam will still be able to earn a billion dollars a year from charges for transit services.

Without a world-class transit port, we and our grandchildren will have to keep carrying our goods to Singapore. The people there will earn the money we should be earning. We need to take sensible actions to awaken the potential of Van Phong Port.

VietNamNet/TT

Formaldehyde in China-made clothes confirmed, but no decision made

2009-06-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The Hanoi Market Control Sub-agency has affirmed that China-made clothes contain formaldehyde, a substance which is harmful to human skin, with the content ratio of less than 2 percent. No official conclusion has been released because no regulation covers this issue.

Trinh Ba Quang, Senior Official from the Hanoi Market Control Sub-agency, said that the sub-agency joined forces with the Standard Measurement and Quality Department (STAMEQ) to take clothes samples from markets for testing and found that all the samples contained formaldehyde.

Quang said that all the samples were taken from Hoan Kiem street, a wholesale centre from which clothes are sent to many places.

However, no official conclusion has been issued.

“There are no concrete regulations about the safety level of products and the allowed levels of substances, including formaldehyde, which has created difficulties for government management agencies,” Quang said.

“We are still awaiting instructions from a higher level. If there were clearly stipulated standards for product quality, clothes that did not meet the required standards would be seized and demolished,” Quang added.

Meanwhile, when talking to local newspaper VnExpress, Tran Van Vinh, Deputy General Director of STAMEQ, said that as Vietnam is now a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Vietnam will consider the quality standards set by the countries from which it imports products.

In this case, the clothes are imported from China, so Vietnam will refer to Chinese standards to reach a conclusion about the safety line for consumers.

The information about the toxic China-made clothes was spread in Vietnam on May 28 after Chinese press agencies reported that 1/3 of the products for children’s use made in Guangdong, China contained substances harmful to human skin. The information immediately shocked Vietnamese consumers because the majority of clothes available in Vietnam’s market are from China.

VietNamNet/VNE

Hanoians like products with well-known brand names

2009-06-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – An interesting absurdity has been revealed: Though Hanoians are thought to be thrifty, they are easily attracted to products like mobile phones and cosmetics with famous brand names.

According to a survey conducted by A.C. Nielsen in Hanoi and HCM City in April and May 2009, Hanoians are more influenced by others in making their consumption decisions than Saigonese.

The Personal Finance Monitor survey conducted by A.C. Nielsen in 2008 showed that consumers in HCM City borrow money from banks and financial institutions for their consumption needs, while 57 percent of Hanoians said they will not borrow money from any banks or financial institutions. This proves to coincide with the stereotype of Hanoians: They always care about how they appear in other people’s eyes. Financial reliance on others is looked down upon.

However, though commonly considered thrifty, Hanoians very much like high-grade products. 71 percent of polled people said they like products with well-known brand names. 52 percent of polled people said that they were ready to pay for high-grade products, while 79 percent said that purchasing high-quality products helped them save money.

On the contrary, consumers in HCM City pursue a ‘quick consumption’ tendency. They buy things they need and immediately when they need them. Saigonese still love high-grade products, but 48 percent of polled people said that luxury items are just suitable for those who like to show off and get other people’s attention. The city’s consumers say that they will only spend money on those things they need rather than on things to show off.

The survey by A.C. Nielsen also showed that Vietnamese consumers have good understanding about the economic downturn. Northern consumers, though they are more optimistic than southern consumers, still think that they have been significantly affected by economic crisis.

The omnibus survey by A.C. Nielsen conducted in May 2009 showed that Hanoians are interested more in food price increases, stable jobs, bills they have to pay, petroleum prices and their children’s futures. Meanwhile, in HCM City, people are interested in health, bills they have to pay, stable jobs and a balance between job and life and debts.

Both Hanoians and Saigonese are becoming increasingly concerned about the future. They all said they have cut spending on luxurious items, eating out.

Consumers in Hanoi said they will cut spending, but they will still use products of the same brand names, while consumers in HCM City said they will keep the same level of spending, but will purchase cheaper products with less well-known brand names.

Nielsen has advised Vietnamese enterprises to diversify business strategies and products for consumers in the two cities, because a single strategy will not be enough to attract all Vietnamese consumers.

VietNamNet/VNE

43 provinces register information to export fruit to China

2009-06-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The National Agro-forestry and Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad) has sent an official letter to the Chinese side, providing a list of fruit-growing areas, fruit-packaging establishments and exporters of five types of fruit to China.

The official letter was sent on June 29 by Nafiqad to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China.

According to Nafiqad Deputy Director Nguyen Nhu Tiep, there are two ways of collecting and exporting fruit (litchis, longan, bananas, dragon fruit and watermelon) to China.

Merchants either collect fruit per order of Chinese clients and then export it in bulk to be packaged later, or collect fruit and then package it for direct export or sale to establishments that export to China.

Therefore, the lists the Vietnamese side sent to China include 1/ a list of fruit-growing areas 2/ list of establishments that collect fruit and export fruit in bulk and 3/ list of establishments that package fruit for direct export or sale to establishments that export to China.

The lists will be updated and sent to Chinese concerned agencies whenever there are changes or new information comes up.

Watermelon proves to be the type of fruit that has been registered the most, by 43 provinces. Fourteen provinces have registered to export litchis, including big litchi-growing areas in Hai Duong, Bac Giang, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen and Vinh Phuc. Twenty eight provinces have registered as longan-growing areas, 30 provinces have registered to export bananas and three to export dragon fruit.

The list of the establishments that collect and export fruit in bulk includes one enterprise and 56 establishments for litchi export, nine enterprises and 137 establishments for longan, one enterprise and five establishments for banana export, one enterprise and 19 establishments for watermelon export. There are also 44 enterprises and 14 establishments that have registered to export dragon fruit in bulk.

Currently, there are five establishments that package fruit for sale to establishments specialising in exporting fruit to China. All of them are in Binh Thuan province.

In the official letter, Nafiqad asked Chinese concerned agencies to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese establishments to maintain the existing ways of collecting and exporting fruit.

The agency has asked the Chinese side to provide a list of orchards and fruit-packaging workshops in China which export fruit to Vietnam prior to July 1 as agreed upon by the two sides at a meeting on January 9, 2009.

Ha Yen

Is petrol price in Vietnam high or low?

2009-06-30T17:51:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – One year ago, when the world’s oil price peaked at $147 per barrel, the domestic petrol price was 19,000 dong per litre. Nowadays, the world’s oil price has fallen by 50 percent to around $70 per barrel, but the domestic petrol price is 13,500 dong per litre.

Importers claim losses

Since the beginning of April, the domestic petrol price has increased four times by 2,500 dong per litre in total, or 22 percent. At the same time, the petrol import tax has been slashed from 40 percent to 20 percent currently. The Ministry of Finance has been trying to help ease the burden on petrol importers by allowing importers not to make contributions to the petrol stabilisation fund and not to pay debts to the state budget now.

However, petroleum importers still complain they are incurring losses.

Vuong Thai Dung, Deputy General Director of Petrolimex, which holds 60 percent of the market share, said that though the petrol price has been raised by 1,000 dong per litre since June 10, his company is still incurring heavy losses of 1,800-1,900 dong per litre of petrol sold, 1,500 dong per litre of diesel and 1,000 dong per litre of FO.

The same is said by other petroleum importers. Representative from Military Petroleum Company said that it is incurring the loss of 1,000 dong per litre of petrol, while Dong Thap Petroleum Company has reported the loss of 1,500 dong per litre of petrol.

“In fact, the previous petrol price increases just helped enterprises break even for several days. After that several days, the world’s oil price moved up again and the companies began losing money again,” said a representative from Petec.

Petrol distributors all say that the domestic petrol price was curbed at a low level for a long period. Therefore, the modest price increase of 1,000 dong per litre each time has done nothing to offset their losses.

They believe that the petrol price should be 15,500 dong per litre, which they say would allow them to break even.

Domestic price under pressure

If following the formula that the world’s oil price has dropped by 50 percent from the peak and the domestic price ought to drop by 50 percent as well, the domestic petrol price should be some 9,000 dong per litre only, or 4,500 dong per litre lower than the current price level.

Vuong Thai Dung of Petrolimex acknowledged that the domestic petrol price has not decreased in accordance with the world’s oil price decrease.

Dung has attributed this to the changed petrol pricing scheme. He said that at the time when the petrol price reached its peak, the State subsidised the petrol price, while the mechanism has stopped and now in Vietnam, the petrol pricing is following the market rules.

Petrol importers now have to pay higher taxes and fees than they did at the time of the world’s peak price. In July 2008, when the world’s crude oil price climbed to $147 per barrel, the import tax was 0 percent, while the petrol fee was just 500 dong per litre.

Dung said that the 19,000 dong per litre of petrol at that time was just a ‘virtual’ price, which did not reflect the actual production cost. The retail petrol price should have been 24-25,000 dong per litre at that moment. At that time, the 19,000 dong per litre was set because the state compensated importers for losses and accepted losses from petrol import taxes.

Meanwhile, Dung said, 30 percent of the production cost of every litre of petrol is being paid to the state budget, including the 20 percent import tax and the petrol fee which has been doubled to 1,000 dong per litre. Meanwhile, the VND/US$ exchange rate has increased by 200-300 dong per dollar.

In December 2008, when the crude oil price fell to the record low at $42 per barrel, down by 3.5 times from the peak price, the domestic petrol price decreased by 42 percent only to 11,000 dong per litre from the highest peak level of 19,000 dong per litre.

The modest petrol price decrease has been explained by the fact that the petrol import tax at that time was at a record high of 40 percent.

In the last two months, the crude oil price has increased by 71 percent from $42 per barrel to $72, while the price once hit the $79 per barrel threshold. If the crude oil price continues moving up, petrol importers may seek permission for another price increase.

Pham Huyen

BUSINESS IN BRIEF 30/6

2009-06-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Largest commercial complex under construction

The Hanoi Savico Joint-stock Company expects its plaza project covering 60,000 sq.m. would be put into operation by late 2011, becoming the largest of its kind so far in Vietnam.

The Savico Plaza Hanoi, construction of which started on June 26 in Hanoi ’s Long Bien district, has been designed to consist of a hypermarket, European and Asian food restaurants, fast food courts, cafes, entertainment spaces and cinemas.

More eight projects in Ninh Binh province licensed

Eight projects with a total capital of VND 700 billion have been licensed to invest in the industrial zones in Ninh Binh province in the past six months, announced Ninh Binh’s Department of Planning and Investment.

Out of these investments, the foreign direct investment (FDI) accounts for US$30 million. The amount is invested in such fields as: technology, cement, metal, footwears, textiles and others. These projects are being deployed so as to have them put into operation soon.

Contract for providing gas compressor module signed

The signing ceremony on providing gas compressor module to the project of collecting gas from the Mo Rong and Doi Moi oil fields was opened at the headquarters of Vietsovpetro in Vung Tau city, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province on June 29.

The project, with a total investment capital of US$42.4 million, is under the contract between the Vietnam-Russia Oil and Gas Joint Venture (Vietsovpetro) and Global Process Systems Company (Singarpore).

The gas collection project is one of the most important projects of Vietsovpetro and scheduled to be executed in 14 months. The project will help to collect gas during the oil exploitation process as well as avoid letting gas flare away in order to protect the ecological environment.

Gas worth thousands of US dollars has flared away. So, the urgent deployment on the gas collection project is a matter of great importance especially when the volume of exploited gas has been declining.

Bumper crop of winter-spring rice

The country has finished harvesting the 2009 winter-spring rice with an output of 18.6 million tonnes, up 312,000 tonnes compared to the last crop, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The average yield was also increased by 0.1 quintal a hectare to 60.9 quintals a hectare.

In the northern provinces, thanks to the favourable weather conditions, the natural water source is enough for the cultivation of 1.15 million hectares of winter-spring rice. The output is estimated to reach 6.8 million hectares, up 120,000 tonnes over the previous crop.

In the southern provinces, farmers also has a bumper rice crop due to the favourable climatic conditions along with many effective measures on controlling diseases and expanding cultivated areas. Because of the increasing cultivated area, the output of the Cuu Long river delta also went up by 23,000 tonnes to 9.8 million tonnes against the previous crop.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also asked the southern provinces to sow rice seeds for the summer and autumn-winter rice crop in combination with encouraging farmers to expand cultivated area and increase the number of crops per year.

Japan-Vietnam alliance to advise high-speed railway project

An alliance between a Japanese and a Vietnamese consultancy firm has been chosen to study the feasibility of a high-speed railway project to link Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

State-run Vietnam Railways, the investor, has tasked Japan’s Tonichi Engineering Consultants Inc. and Hanoi-based Railway Construction and Investment Consultant JSC consulting firms to assess the US$33 billion railway plan in one month.

The 1,630-kilometer high-speed railway will be built with aid from Japan.

A section of the route between Hanoi and Vinh, a town in the central province of Nghe An, as well as a section between HCMC and Nha Trang in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, are expected to become operational in 2020. The whole line is scheduled for completion in 2035.

After analyzing three of the world’s most advanced high-speed railways – Japan’s Shinkansen, France’s TGV and Germany’s ICE – the project manager Vietnam-Japan Consulting Joint Venture suggested the use of the Shinkansen “bullet-train” model.

The track, with a wider gauge of 1.45 meters, will reduce the train journey between Hanoi and HCMC to less than 10 hours from more than 30 hours now with speeds of up to 360 kilometers per hour.

The country's north-south trains now travel 1,726 kilometers between the two cities on a single track with a narrow 1m gauge.

VietNamNet/VNA, TN, ND

Japan endorses historic Vietnam trade deal

2009-06-30T01:45:00.000-07:00

Vietnam Government Website

Japan has endorsed a historic trade deal with Vietnam to reduce import taxes on the majority of goods traded between the two nations.

The Japanese parliament approved the Vietnam Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) on June 24, allowing the pact to take immediate effect.

The agreement sets a schedule for import tariff reductions over the next 10 years that will apply to a range of sectors, including as agriculture, industry, trade, investment, human resource development, tourism, environment and transport.

Vietnam’s National Assembly endorsed the agreement in May, after officials from the two nations concluded their negotiations on the terms of the trade deal last year.

Under VJPEPA, 92 percent of goods traded between Japan and Vietnam will not attract any import taxes.

Tariffs on as much as 86 percent of aquatic, agricultural and forest products and 97 percent of industrial items Vietnam exports to Japan will also fall.

Japan will slash the tax on cuttlefish and shrimp imported from Vietnam to 1 to 3 percent, while Vietnam’s mineral exports will be levied at zero percent tax.

The trade pact with Vietnam contains the biggest tariff reductions Japan has ever committed to with an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) country.

In return, Vietnam agreed to reduce import tariffs on nearly 88 percent of goods imported from Japan within 10 years.

Import taxes on spare parts for flat screen TVs and DVDs will fall to 3 percent, while the import taxes on digital cameras, color TVs and automobile spare parts will drop to between 10 and 20 percent.

VJEPA is the first bilateral trade deal Vietnam has committed to with another nation since being admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007.

Vietnam-Japan trade turnover reached more than US$15.5 billion last year, with Vietnam’s exports to Japan reaching $8 billion and Vietnam importing $7.5 billion of goods and services from Japan.

The two nations have agreed to lift two-way trade to US$17 billion by 2010.

Vietcombank shares jump on debut, index down

2009-06-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

Reuters

Shares in Vietcombank, Vietnam's largest partly private lender, jumped by the maximum 20 percent allowed on their domestic debut on Tuesday, but the small size of its listing limited the impact on the main index, which ended lower.

The stock closed at VND60,000 in a partial listing of the Hanoi-based bank on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, at the top of a range of investors' bids that started at VND59,000, Reuters data showed.

"Vietcombank's listing had no influence on the market at all because the bank only listed part of the IPO shares so its market capitalisation is very small," said Bui Hai Nguyen, a trader at Hanoi-based Bao Viet Securities.

The exchange's VN Index closed down 2.63 percent at 448.29 points as domestic investors took profits. The market has risen 42 percent this year.

Vietcombank, the first state-run bank in Vietnam to have an initial public offering, raised US$652 million from its IPO in December 2007.

The lender, also known as the Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, is now valued at around $4 billion, based on its share close.

Stock market regulators have said foreign investors could buy all 112.3 million shares now listed, which represent 9.2 percent of the total shares of the lender, below the government's foreign ownership cap of 30 percent of a Vietnamese bank.

Vietcombank's listing after the June 25 debut by Vietnam's top insurer, Bao Viet Holdings, and ahead of VietInbank scheduled for July 16 could give the market a fillip after a slump last year.

But dealers said Vietcombank shares, along with those in Bao Viet Holdings, could face selling pressure.

"Vietcombank's starting price is high and after the first few 'market welcoming' sessions, it will pull down the index in the longer term," Nguyen said.

Most financial shares lost ground on Tuesday after the central bank announced it would keep its base rate steady in July at 7 percent.

Bao Viet Holdings closed up 4.95 percent at VND53,000, but Saigon Securities dropped 4.47 percent to VND64,000 and Sacombank fell 2.78 percent to VND34,900.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, Asia Commercial Bank, Vietnam's largest listed firm by capitalisation, eased 1.2 percent to close at VND49,000.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Vietnam's local currency sovereign rating to BB-minus from BB on Tuesday, citing sustained fiscal decline and structural economic weaknesses.

Finance Ministry expert says price increases are ‘no surprise’

2009-06-30T01:40:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Three straight months of consumer price increases (0.35%, 0.44% and 0.55%) have raised public apprehension that another inflationary period is beginning. However, Dr. Vu Dinh Anh, Deputy Head of the Market and Price Research Institute at the Ministry of Finance is not worried. “The CPI increases are not a surprise at all,” he says, and predicts that they will not exceed 10 percent for all of 2009.

Vu Dinh Anh: “The CPI increases are not a surprise at all”

Anh told the online journal VnEconomy that “we can say for sure that the consumer price performance in the first six months of the year was according to economic laws. It followed exactly the same path that prices did in the first six months of 2007. The price went up in the first two months of the year (the Tet holiday – ed.), went down in March and then went up again for the next three months at an increasing rate.

However, the price increase every month so far this year was lower than that of 2007. For example, in May, the CPI increased by 0.44 percent, compared to 0.77 percent in May 2007. This month (June), the CPI will rise by 0.55 percent, while it was 0.85 percent in June 2007.

The CPI increases are not a surprise at all. We should be glad because the increases are relatively low.

Why is the CPI performance in the first six months of the year is similar to that in 2007?

Let’s recall the economic situation of 2007. That year, we strived to obtain a high economic growth rate of 8.5 percent. We loosened monetary policy, and finished the year with 8.48% growth.

The situation seems to be similar in 2009. We are striving to obtain a “not too low growth rate” instead of striving to obtain a “high growth rate.” I mean we still strive for economic growth, and similar policies have been applied.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has announced that the total money supply (M2) has increased by 16 percent and the outstanding loans have increased by 17 percent compared to the end of 2008. How have these factors affected prices in the first half of the year?

The four percent interest rate subsidy program has caused a large amount of cash to be put into circulation. But that was a one time stimulus. If the increase in the money supply is held to 25 percent from now to the end of the year, there will be no possibility of inflation.

In general, an increase in the money supply will push up prices six months later. Thus the money supply increase of 2007 led to considerable inflation in 2008.

Do you mean that we will face high inflation in 2010 if we put a lot of money into circulation in 2009?

Money supply is just one factor that can cause high inflation. We still have to consider the spending of the state. The state budget deficit has been set at eight percent. If the state’s investments are effective, this will not cause high inflation.

Let’s me explain this. If the State spends money on building a road, it seems at first that this will cause inflation because the state puts money into circulation. However, if the state’s investment brings an economic benefit that stimulates additional production, this will not cause inflation.

In the first three months of the year, some 70 tons of gold were exported, which brought in $2.3 billion in cash. Do you think that the influx of cash will affect the CPI?

As far as I know, the $2.3 billion has gone to gold trading companies and banks and has been staying there.

Bank interest rates have been going up. Will this lead to interest rate increases by making capital costs higher and goods prices higher?

Think this way. When the interest rates go up, this will help reduce inflation because it will help lessen the supply of money in circulation.

Businesses will think twice before deciding whether to borrow money, and, if they borrow less, their production is likely to be less too.

Some experts have warned that high inflation is going to return. Do you agree?

It’s not worth worrying about, in my opinion.

We have implemented demand stimulus packages and we have hit our target for increased consumption (the total retail turnover of goods and services in the first six months of the year increased by 20 percent over the same period of the last year). This is a good thing. If we were to think that prices go up because of higher consumption and try to reduce consumption, of course that would undercut the objective of stimulating demand.

How high will be the inflation for 2009, then?

I think that the inflation will be held to below 10 percent.

VietNamNet/TBKTVN

Fertiliser industry needs strategy

2009-06-30T01:39:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam was importing up to 100 per cent of its fertiliser requirements, the Information Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agroinfo) said.

Domestic fertiliser prices depend on fluctuations in world price, which often sit at high levels.

About 90 per cent of the urea used, 70 per cent of the potassium diammonium phosphate (DAP) and all the sulphate ammonia (SA), as well as potassium fertiliser, is imported to satisfy domestic demand.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has estimated the demand for fertilisers for the coming summer-autumn rice crop of about 1.84 million tonnes will include 400,000 tonnes of urea, 170,000 tonnes of SA, 200,000 tonnes of potassium, 160,000 tonnes of DAP and 910,000 tonnes of NPK.

Domestic fertiliser prices depend on fluctuations in world price, which often sit at high levels. Fertilisers often accounts for 30 to 40 per cent of agricultural product prices.

Retail fertiliser prices in some regions have risen VND100-500 per kilogram. Urea price in the Southern provinces of Kien Giang and Dong Thap rose VND240 to VND6,540 (US$0.37) while that of potassium is between VND12,800-13,000 after rising VND200-500.

Demand for the summer-autumn rice crop is increasing sharply, which will have a negative influence on farmers' incomes.

Agroinfo manager Pham Quang Dieu said the industry would continue to operate without long-term growth strategies and management while policies remained passive.

Agroinfo's database on fertiliser industry shows Viet Nam has since 1999 had about 60 legal documents regulating the industry. All are continuously replaced and have limited use.

"To minimise dependence on imports, the ministry is boosting research on advanced fertiliser production technologies while encouraging farmers to use bio-fertilisers to reduce production costs," said the head of MARD's Cultivation Department, Nguyen Tri Ngoc.

Demand for fertiliser is expected to increase throughout the world and especially in many developing countries during the coming decades.

"Prominent fertiliser corporations worldwide will pour significant capital into developing countries and Viet Nam needs a long-term growth strategy for the industry," Ngoc said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Beer sales surge as mercury rises

2009-06-30T01:39:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese have been spending up large on beer and soft drinks during the summer, much to the delight of distributors.

Since the end of last month, sales of beverages and beer have increased sharply, as have prices in many areas.

"I could sell 25 to 35 cases of soft drinks a day," said a store owner from the central city of Da Nang. A retailer in Hai Chau district said his shop had its orders trebled compared to previous summers.

"Every summer, we ordered beer and soft drink delivers once a week. Now, we have to order every two days," he said.

Demand for beer also surged in Ha Noi; to meet demand, alcohol and beer companies have increased capacity, said Nguyen Van Hung, general secretary of the Viet Nam Alcohol Beer and Beverage Association.

The Ha Noi Alcohol, Beer and Beverage Company increased daily capacity from 160,000 litre of draught beer to 180,000. Some days, productivity was more than 200,000, Hung said.

Along with beer, demand for soft drinks and fresh beverage like sugar cane juice and coconut juice increased significantly.

"It is the season for soft drink sales, but this year the demand has strongly increased," said Le Duc Truong, an official of Sen Le Company, a soft drink distributor in Da Nang city.

"Every day, we supply about 1,200 cases to Hai Chau district. All of us had to run to meet demand," he said. Despite the efforts to hold prices, beer and soft drink prices have increased nationwide.

At a Ha Noi market, the cost of a case of 24 Ha Noi beer bottles has risen from VND125,000 (US$7) to VND240,000 ($13), while in central regions bottle prices are up about VND14,000 ($0.70).

Sugar cane juice

Nguyen Duc Phu, deputy director of the Ha Noi Alcohol, Beer and Beverage Company, said distributors increased prices, which affected the company's prestige and trademark.

Like beer, bottle prices for soft drinks have increased about VND2,000.

During some sweltering days in Ha Noi, the price of some cups of ice tea trebled to VND3,000 while cups of sugar cane juice doubled.

Ice producers can't match demand, so prices increased. That's why we have to increase the price of sugar cane juice, said Hoa, a seller in Ha Noi.

The association has demanded companies stabilise prices and has asked them to manage their systems so distributors can't raise prices by themselves.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Time-share vacation apartments and villas multiply on central coast

2009-06-30T01:38:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Wealthy Vietnamese are buying villas and apartments in coastal resort projects and using them to serve both their vacation and investment needs.

Purchasing apartments and villas both to stay in and to earn money

In years past, rich people in big cities would buy land in the countryside or at the beach and build villas where they would stay just a few days a year on holiday. However, these days, they choose to purchase apartments and villas at tourism complexes and then assign management to the project developers who arrange to rent the properties to other vacationers for short periods. With these investments, the owners can have a a place to stay during holidays, while their property still can earn money when they are in the cities.

Doan Duc Hoa, Deputy General Director of Thu Thiem Investment Company said that investment in resort real estate is taking shape in Vietnam and it will flourish in time to come.

Hoa said that having realized the high demand, his company is building a 21 hectare eco-tourism resort in Mo Cay district of Ben Tre province. The project is capitalized at 250 billion dong. The company will build apartments and villas for sale and lease. If the clients purchase villas and apartments but only plan to stay for just a few days a year, the company can manage the apartments and villas on the owners’ behalf. The profit from the leasing will be divided equally.

Indochina Land recently offered 150 apartments and 30 two story villas at the Hyatt Regency Da Nang Resort & Spa at $180,000 for each apartment and $1.3 million for each seaside villa. Within a month, more than half of the apartments and villas in the ‘time-share’ project have been sold.

Micheal Piro, an Indochina Land executive, says the buyers of the apartments and villas can stay in them at no cost for one to three months a year. The apartments and villas will be managed by the company in the remaining time and leased to visitors. In this case, investors act as ‘shareholders’ of the resort projects, while they do not have to spend tens of millions of dollars to build the whole resort.

Developers promise high profits

Also according to Indochina Land, the apartments will rent for $300-400 per night, and a villa will rent for $500. If an apartment is rented for 70 days a year, the apartment buyer will be able to recover his capital within seven years. And during that time, the buyers will be able to use the apartment for up to three months each year.

Thien Thai Hotel and Tourism Company is developing another Danang beach project, Ariyana. It has committed to rent the villas on behalf of buyers at some $1,000 per month.

Real estate developers said that if the resorts have good business and can attract a lot of vacationers, the owners of the apartments and villas will have high profits at the same time the value of the apartments and villas will increase. If so, they can easily resell the apartments and villas to other wealthy people who also like beach vacations.

Another real estate developer, CBRE, judges that investors can profit from time-share developments in Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Da Nang and Hoi An, well known vacation destinations with ideal natural conditions. However, CBRE doubts that beaches like Do Son (near Hai Phong City) will support the same sort of investments, because Do Son mostly serves middle class vacationers who can’t afford luxury rental charges.

VietNamNet/DV

Stocks tread water as trading volumes slow

2009-06-30T01:37:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The VN-Index closed off a hair yesterday, June 29, to 460.02, a loss of just 0.21 per cent, as trading volumes on the HCM City Stock Exchange slowed to 27 million shares, worth a combined VND1.1 trillion (US$61.8 million).

Last week, capital began flowing away from real estate shares, and there were signs that it was being poured into the banking and finance areas.

Foreign investors finished the day as net buyers of 532,000 shares, with a net value of VND52 billion ($2.9 million) and an overall volume of 8 million trades.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also dropped by 1.25 per cent to end the day at 153.80. The value of the day's trades on the northern bourse was VND505.5 billion ($28.4 million) on a volume of 14.3 million shares. Foreign investors there accounted for more than 3 million of this total, worth a combined VND140.3 billion ($7.9 million).

Banking shares continued to lead both markets, with Sacombank (STB) generating orders for 4.7 million shares, or 17 per cent of the total volume on the southern exchange, and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) a volume of 2.1 million shares, 15 per cent of the trades on the northern bourse.

Last week, capital began flowing away from real estate shares, and there were signs that it was being poured into the banking and finance areas, said Sai Gon-Ha Noi Fund Management Co analyst Ngo Van Minh.

Meanwhile, domestic stock indices were still in a downward cycle of adjustments that began in mid-June, Minh said. Market moves were now "complicated and hard to predict [as] market psychology is a mix of hesitation, caution and hope".

All eyes have turned to the listing of shares by Vietcombank. Many investors expected the listing would support market growth, but "there are many opinions expressing concern that market increases will be opportunities for major organisations and funds to unload their holdings," Minh said.

He noted that Dragon Capital and PetroVietnam Finance had dumped large quantities of shares from their portfolios recently.

The spike in the price of Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) immediately after the shares were listed - with Vietcombank likely to turn in a similar performance - was "not very likely to be good for the market at this time," he added. Immediately before and after the BVH listing, he noticed, shares were gradually withdrawn from other insurance shares including Bao Minh Insurance (BMI), PetroVietnam Insurance (PVI) and Viet Nam National Reinsurance (VNR).

Minh predicted the market would play out the week with mixed developments and on overall downward trend. "Weakened demand during last week is truly hindering market increases," he said.

But Viet Capital Securities Co analysts wrote in a report that if capital flows remained stable this week with an average trading value of VND1.5 trillion per day, they could sustain the market. Below that level, he said, "the market would likely experience a phase of adjustments before second-quarter business results are announced."

The fledgling unlisted public companies market (UPCoM) continued to struggle, following another 6.89 per cent yesterday to 81.83. Only Phong Phu Pharmaceuticals (PPP), up 1.2 per cent, and cable producer Truong Phu Co (TGP), up 1.2 per cent, managed gains on the day.

Market value on UPCoM fell 20 per cent from the previous trading session to VND4 billion ($224,700) on a volume of nearly 278,000 shares. Market leader SME Securities (SME) accounted for 60 per cent of the volume, but with only about 170,800 shares traded.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Positive signs for VN’s textile, garment sector

2009-06-30T01:35:00.000-07:00

Wokers have jobs when textile and garment companies have orders. (Photo: SGGP)

VietNamNet Bridge - Due to the world economic downturn, businesses in the textile and garment sector faced a decline in exports and a lack of orders in the first few months of the year. However, there are clear signs of recovery, with the number of orders improving.

Increasing orders

At the end of this year’s second quarter, the number of orders at textile and garment businesses in Ho Chi Minh City have increased by 15-20 percent compared to the first few months of the year.

Most businesses have orders from foreign partners, which will keep them busy until the third of quarter.

According to Phung Dinh Ngo, director of Binh Hoa Garment Company, the company has had recent orders, with exports to the EU showing satisfactory results in the second half of the year.

Pham Xuan Hong, chairman of Sai Gon 3 Garment Joint Stock Company, said his company has earned US$25 million from garment exports this year. Exports to Japan accounted for 65 percent, with orders from America and the EU stabilizing.

Vietnam has achieved remarkable growth in garment and textile exports to Japan at a time when exports to its major markets, like the US and the EU, plunged.

According to textile and garment companies, many importers stopped orders or hastily cut orders during the economic downturn. When the world market began to improve, traders did not have enough goods to sell, leading to the recent increase in orders.

The quick recovery of Vietnam’s textile and garment industry has shown its particular advantages compared to other countries.

Chairman of The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) Le Quoc An said Japanese importers are switching their orders from other countries to Vietnam, as they appreciate the consistency in the quality of Vietnamese made clothes and the skill of its workers.

Vietnam’s textile and garment exports in the first six months of this year totaled more than $4 billion, a decrease of 1.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

The decrease is much lower than the forecast of 15 percent and was relatively lower than other countries.

Textile and Garment exports still achieved growth rates in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Norway.

The highest growth was for Japan at 25 percent.

The recent signing of the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement is expected to help further increase Vietnamese clothing exports to Japan.

Under the treaty, from July 1 Japan will eliminate import tariffs on Vietnamese textiles and garments that use raw materials of Vietnamese, Japanese or ASEAN origin.

Taxes are currently five to ten percent.

Pham Xuan Hong, deputy chairman of Vietnam Textile and Garment Association, said exports increased to Japan due to Vietnam’s quality orders and reasonable prices.

Increasing orders, decreasing workforce

Orders and workers are two the most difficult aspects at the current time for the textile and garment sector.

With the positive signs from the market and stable long term contracts, businesses do not have enough workers.

Many companies have had to outsource to fulfill contracts.

The serious shortage of workers has forced many garment companies to recruit untrained workers and offer attractive salaries. This compares to the number of job losses in the clothing industry worldwide.

At some businesses, there has been a 50 percent drop in the work force since the end of 2008.

Pham Xuan Hong, a member of the association, said some companies laid-off workers when they had no orders, but when they have orders they face difficulties in recruiting workers.

In the first few months of the year, many companies cut down on workers when they had no orders. This resulted in many of the trained workforce returning to their hometowns. Companies do not know where to find them in order to resume normal production.

Ho Chi Minh City based textile and garment companies, on average, are 10 -15 percent short in employees.

Many companies have offered more than VND2 million per month and ensured rewards for Tet, but are still struggling to recruit enough workers.

With the problems in hiring enough staff, the industry expects to make $9.1 billion compared with the initial target of $9.5 billion this year.

VietNamNet/SGGP

Car importers accused of bringing used cars by air

2009-06-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – More and more luxury cars are coming to Vietnam by air instead of by sea. However, automobile dealers believe that many car importers are ‘dodging the law’ as used cars are not allowed to be brought to Vietnam by air.

The Vantage Roadster, which arrived in Noi Bai airport on June 24

A lot of luxury cars of different brand names, including Porsche, Cadillac, Rolls Royce Phantom and Bentley, have been flown to Vietnam. Analysts say that it costs some $4000 to 10,000 to bring a car to Vietnam by air, a ‘reasonable level’ compared to the cost of being brought by sea, while it is faster and safer.

However, in fact, car importers and owners do not have a choice on whether they can bring cars to Vietnam by air or by sea. Current laws stipulate that only brand new cars can be brought to Vietnam by air, while used cars must be shipped by sea.

A car with the mileage of 10,000 kilometres is considered a used car.

Meanwhile, a well-known car importer in HCM City is claiming that many luxury cars which have been imported recently by air are used cars. “I’m afraid that if this is not stopped, it will create a bad precedent,” he said.

Deputy General Director of Department of Customs Nguyen Van Can said that he had not heard about shipments of used cars by air. However, he has promised to check and clarify the issue.

According to Can, used cars only can enter Vietnam through Hai Phong port, Cai Lan port in Quang Ninh province, HCM City and Da Nang.

Customs procedures must be followed by importers right at the local border gates where importers register for customs clearance. Used imports only get cleared after their quality is assessed by the Vietnam Registration Administration (VRA) and importers pay tax.

VietNamNet, VNE, TT

Dollar price to climb to $18,500/US$ this year?

2009-06-29T17:19:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – While US$ interbank interest rates have been decreasing, the VND/US$ exchange rate keeps rising.

US$ interest rates decreasing slightly

According to the State Bank of Vietnam, VND lending interest rates last week were more stable than the previous week. The lending rates applied by state-owned banks last week were between 8.5-10 percent per annum for short-term loans and 10-10.5 percent for medium- and long-term loans.

Meanwhile, the VND lending interest rates offered by joint-stock banks hovered around 10-10.5 percent per annum. Those clients who can borrow money under the 4 percent interest rate subsidy programme only had to pay 4.5-6 percent per annum.

The average VND overnight interest rate was 5.44 percent per annum, a decrease of 0.1 percent over the previous week, while the rates of other terms of loans were between 6.3-8.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the US$ lending interest rate decreased by another 0.3-0.5 percent last week to 4-6 percent per annum. The interbank US$ interest rates also decreased last week from previous weeks.

Deputy Director of a joint-stock bank said that commercial banks had to slash US$ interest rates further in order to push up loans in the context of profuse US$ capital. However, he said that the interbank’s US$ slight decreases would not have big impacts on US$ loans. He said that this is a factor for which commercial banks may consider slashing deposit interest rates further in the time to come, though the current US$ deposit interest rates are considered relatively low.

The expected exchange rate at VND18,500/US$1

Commenting about the VND/US$ exchange rate’s performance recently, Dr Nguyen Dai Lai, senior analyst from the State Bank of Vietnam, said that the exchange rate was stable in the first six months of the year.

Considering import and export turnover decreased sharply in the last few months, one would think that the exchange rate would go down. However, in fact, the VND/US$ exchange rate was stable and sometimes heated up in early May and late June.

In the market, commercial banks have quoted exchange rates at the ceiling allowed, even since the exchange rate trading band was raised from +/-3 percent to +/-5 percent. The fact that commercial banks quote a single level for both purchasing and selling prices and quote at the ceiling levels show that the market is expecting the VND to devaluate more than 5 percent, the ‘quota’ which the State Bank granted for the exchange rate in 2009.

Currently, the VND/US$ exchange rate applied by commercial banks is always at the ceiling level round 17,800-17,802 dong per dollar. The cautious and hesitant exchange rate loosening by the State Bank in the last two weeks brings hopes that the exchange rate may be loosened more towards the year’s end.

According to Dr Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM), people expect the VND/US$ exchange rate to climb to 18,500 dong per dollar.

VietNamNet/VnMedia, LD

Securities companies to raise profit targets on recovered market

2009-06-29T17:19:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Many securities companies are considering adjusting their profit targets for 2009, expecting this year’s profit to be higher than the goals they made earlier this year.

The recent ‘strong waves’ in the market have made securities companies more self-confident

The stock market has witnessed ‘strong waves’ in the second quarter. In the last three months, the VN Index and HNX Index have increased by over 100 percent with many records in trading volume and value set. Though indexes have been decreasing for a few trading sessions, analysts still believe that these are just momentary decreases and that the market will prosper in the time to come.

Securities companies, emboldened by the warming of the stock market, have decided to increase profit targets.

When setting business targets, a lot of securities companies were in bad condition due to the continued decline of stock indexes. Many of them just set moderate targets for this year, while others just dreamed of breaking even.

However, the recent ‘strong waves’ in the market have made securities companies more self-confident.

Trang An Securities Company, for example, earlier this year said it would just strive to balance the accounts in 2009, a year that economists warned would be very difficult for all businesses. However, General Director of Trang An Le Ho Khoi has said that if the VN Index returns to around 400-450 points, the company will earn 7-9 billion dong in profit this year. He has even predicted a higher profit level if the stock market prospers even further.

Nguyen Tho Phung, Deputy Director of Vietinbank Securities Company, has predicted that the company will have obtained 50 billion dong in profit by the end of June, or 83 percent of its yearly profit plan, while profit in the second half of the year will be the same at least.

Nguyen Van Dung, General Director of Tan Viet Securities Company, said that if the market keeps rising, the company’s profit will be double the planned level.

“The brokerage service of Tan Viet has been doing very well. We foresee that the yearly plan will be fulfilled in the first six months of the year,” he said.

Not only securities companies, enterprises in other business fields have also obtained impressive profit figures. The Da Nang Rubber Company, for example, earned 122 billion dong in profit in the first five months of the year, fulfilling 305 percent of its yearly plan. Bao Viet insurance group earned 842 billion dong in profit during the same period, fulfilling 108.6 percent of its yearly plan.

As such, it is expected that enterprises in different business fields will heighten their profit targets after considering the better signs of the national economy.

Le Thi Mai Linh, Deputy Chairwoman of SeaBank Securities Company, said that as securities companies greatly depend on the market’s performance, they always have to set business strategies suitable to different moments. Linh said that it is now the right time for companies to reconsider their business plans as they have the business results for the first half of the year.

VietNamNet/DTCK

The bond ‘test’ finishes

2009-06-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – There has been a sudden shift in the bond market: After a series of unsuccessful bond bids, the latest bond issuance succeeded thanks to reasonable interest rates.

On June 24, 1,500 billion dong out of 2,000 billion dong worth of two-year bonds issued by the Bank of Social Policies were sold in the bond bidding. The two institutions which joined the bids purchased the bonds at the rate of interest at 9 percent per annum.

In the last four months, 13 Government bond bids in VND failed or were not as successful as expected with limited volumes of bonds sold. The interest rates of the bonds being lower than the interest rates on the secondary market made institutions turn their backs.

“The last four months tested the patience of issuing institutions. The test has finished with the fact that issuance institutions have accepted raising the bidding rates of interest,” said director of a state-owned commercial bank.

This was the first time in many months that the rate of interest on 2-year bonds was raised to the 9 percent per annum threshold (it was 8.7 percent per annum at maximum previously). The 9 percent per annum level is now equal to the rates at which Government bonds are being traded on the secondary market. A question has been raised about why the institutions joined the bids if they could purchase the same bonds on the secondary market at the same price.

The answer is that on the secondary market, where investors trade issued bonds, it is not easy to purchase big lots of bonds worth several hundred billion dong. If institutions want to purchase bonds in big quantity, this may have big impacts on the market and push bond prices up, which means that bond yield will decrease. Meanwhile, by joining bids, institutions can purchase bonds in big lots while they do not bear the risks of price fluctuations.

It is clear that raising the interest rates of bonds is the only way to attract institutions to Government bonds. It seems that the task of issuing 55 trillion dong worth of bonds in 2009 has caused pressure, forcing issuers to accept higher rates of interest.

The Vietnam Development Bank (VDB) is expected to issue 500 billion dong worth of 2-year bonds and 500 billion dong worth of 10-year bonds in some days. Sources say that VDB will offer reasonable rates of interest to ensure the success of the issuance.

With 1,500 billion dong worth of bonds sold on June 24, the total volume of issued bonds has reached 7,500 billion dong so far. However, the volume proves to be small compared to the targeted volume of 55 trillion dong.

However, analysts believe that if issuers set reasonable interest rates, the Government will still be able to fulfill the bond issuance target. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) earlier this year predicted that the Government of Vietnam would issue bonds on the international market this year.

Prior to that, the Ministry of Finance announced that it will have to reconsider the plan on bond issuance after a series of failed bond bids recently.

Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Van Hieu said that the ministry will take necessary measures to fulfill the bond issuance plan set for 2009.

VietNamNet/DTCK

Ministries anticipate price increases of some kinds of goods

2009-06-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade have forecast that the prices of dairy products, petroleum, rice and animal feed will increase towards the year’s end, but affirm that they will be controllable.

An official from the Price Control Agency under the Ministry of Finance said that the agency believes dairy products will increase by another 6-8 percent by the end of the third quarter or early fourth quarter in comparison with the first quarter of the year. Meanwhile, the price of fresh milk, which is an input material for dairy products, is expected to increase by 3-4 percent.

Dairy product prices are expected to increase because of the higher animal feed prices and the dollar price increases, which may push imported dairy product prices up. The Ministry of Finance is now proposing putting dairy products onto the list of products the prices of which can be stablised by the state.

According to the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Finance, the rice price is also expected to increase because of higher demand from rice-importing countries.

Director of Tien Giang Food Company Nguyen Ngoc Nam said on June 28 that the paddy price in the Mekong Delta has been increasing sharply these days, especially scented rice. The rice price has increased by 200-300 dong per kilogramme over the last one week on average, while the scented rice price has increased by 800 dong per kilogramme in comparison with early June 2009. The price of low-quality IR50404 has also increased, having exceeded the threshold of 4,000 dong per kilogramme, though sales have been going slowly.

Experts say scented rice prices have increased because exporters have signed contracts to export big volumes of rice to Africa, Hong Kong and Singapore.

A lot of economic institutions in the world have raised the forecast crude oil price to $85 a barrel by the end of the year. If the world’s oil price increases, this will lead to the sharp price increases of many other products including ingot steel and materials for industrial production. The petroleum price increases will lead to the increases of transport service fees.

According to the Ministry of Finance’s Price Control, the LPG price in July in the world may increase by $20-30 per tonne. The retail domestic LPG price will increase accordingly by 5,000-7,500 dong 12kg tank.

Market research agencies under the ministries still keep cautious when analysing the price tendency of many products, including cement, steel fertiliser and sugar.

According to the agencies, though the demand for cement, steel and construction materials is high, the profuse supply (some big factories plan to become operational in the time to come) will stabilise these products’ prices. Meanwhile, rains and storms in the upcoming months are believed will limit the demand for these products.

Food prices are not expected to see big changes in the time to come. Regarding medicine, state management agencies have forecast the price increases of some kinds of products, but have affirmed there will not be any sharp price hikes.

VietNamNet/VnMedia

Viet Nam drops on global retail index

2009-06-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

Customers shop at Thanh Do supermarket in the northern city of Lang Son. Inflation and slowed consumer spending caused Viet Nam to fall out of the top five in the latest survey of the world’s most attractive retail markets.

VietNamNet Bridge - Viet Nam has fallen out of the top five in the latest survey of the world’s most attractive retail markets, according to global management consulting firm ATKearney.

Viet Nam earned only 55 points on the 2009 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), 21 points fewer than it earned in 2008 and dropping from the first to the sixth position on the survey, behind India, Russia, mainland China, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

ATKearney attributed the decline to inflationary pressures in the latter half of 2008 and a significant slowing in consumer spending in a largely export-driven economy.

Nevertheless, the firm acknowledged that many global retailers were now well established in Viet Nam, including South Korea’s Lotte, Japan’s Seiyu, Malaysia’s Parkson, Hong Kong’s Dairy Farm and Germany’s Metro.

"Viet Nam has some short-term challenges, but our long-term outlook for the country remains positive as it continues to open its doors to international investors," said Hana Ben-Shabat, ATKearney partner and co-leader of the study.

"With economic conditions in developed markets improving so slowly, emerging markets are becoming much more important sources of growth for global retailers," said Ben-Shabat.

Conducted since 2001, the GRDI study is based on a set of 25 variables, including economic and political risk, retail market attractiveness, retail saturation levels, and differences between GDP growth and retail growth, according to ATKearney.

The GRDI also focused on opportunities for mass market and food retailers, which are typically bellweathers for modern retailing concepts in a country, the firm said.

Viet Nam Retailers Association general secretary Dinh Thi My Loan refused to comment on the survey results yesterday until speaking further to other association members.

VNN/VNS

Buyers advised rational behavior in real estate market

2009-06-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

Residential apartment complexes in District 4.

VietNamNet Bridge - As the real estate sector warms up and anxiety rises about inflationary prices, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam says buyers should rely on professional advice and not bank on market rumors.

“After a long freeze [over the past year], the number of property transactions and prices have edged up. It is inevitable,” Nam said.

He said the real estate market recovery is backed by high housing needs and signs that the economy has bottomed out.

“Demand for housing is strong and there is still a big gap between demand and supply,” Nam said. “In Vietnam, the per capita housing area is 12 square meters while it is 30 square meters in other countries.”

Markets of soft-price apartments and land for construction projects in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have been heating up in recent weeks.

Immediately after the Dat Xanh Real Estate Service and Construction Corporation launched the first phase of its Babylon Residence project in HCMC’s Thu Duc District with 100 apartments last Sunday, it sold 96 at VND14.5 million (US$816.2) per square meter.

Also last week, Tan Binh Construction Investment Company sold 100 apartments of its Tan Mai Building project in HCMC’s Binh Tan District at VND10-12 million per square meter.

In the first week this month, land prices at several projects in new District 7 development areas rose 4-6 percent compared to May.

“The residential market is improving because a large volume of mid-income people have found current prices much lower than the overheated prices of 2006-07,” Vietnam News quoted Pham Si Liem, vice chairman of Vietnam Federation of Civil Engineering Associations, as saying.

“Everyone is trying to manage credit to buy a piece of land or a house. They are worried about not be able to own if the market overheats again,” Liem said.

Questioned why Vietnam’s real estate market is not developing normally as it either freezes or becomes overheated, Nam said it was psychological buying that was driving the market.

“Vietnamese people are easily affected by rumors [about the market trends] and lack analysis, and not just in the property market,” he said.

Nam said though the real estate market could generate high profits, it was very dangerous if investors were to buy properties based on market rumors.

He said while the government is responsible for perfecting legal documents to prevent speculation and giving enough information on the market to direct home buyers, the buyers themselves should “adjust their behavior.”

If home buyers do not know enough about the property market, they should access consultants, he said.

“We are running on a trial basis (the calculating of) the real estate market’s indicators – such as indices of trading volumes and prices – to measure the temperature of the market so that individuals and entrepreneurs can use them for their trading or investment decisions,” Nam said.

He said the market freeze over the past year made such “measuring” a challenging task.

“As the market warms up, we will accelerate this work to release the indices soon,” he said.

Housing prices in Vietnam are very high compared with residents’ incomes, Nam noted.

He said while residents in foreign countries need 15 years of work to buy a house or apartment, Vietnamese people need 30-40 years.

Nam said the National Assembly has recently ratified amended construction-related laws which cut investment time and costs, helping lower housing prices.

The Deputy Minister of Construction also said the government is supporting the development of the low-income housing market to reduce the gap between demand and supply.

Earlier this month, the ministry reported 20 low-income housing projects nationwide will break ground in June, and several others in the third quarter of the year that are expected to be completed in late 2010.

Viet Kieu housing rules good for market

Nam said the newly approved legal amendments to grant greater home ownership rights to overseas Vietnamese would have “positive impacts” on the local real estate market.

The amendments would not only tighten relationships of overseas Vietnamese, known as Viet Kieu, with their home country, but would also “help the property market grow.”

From September 1, certain categories of Viet Kieu will be allowed to own an unlimited number of homes in the country under amendments to the Housing Law and Land Law passed last week by the National Assembly.

It includes those who still retain their Vietnamese citizenship, overseas Vietnamese investors, scientists, and others with special skills.

The Vietnamese diaspora is estimated at about three million people with many in the US, Canada, France and Australia. But during the three years since the Housing Law took effect in 2006, only 140 have bought houses in Vietnam.

“Many people have shown concern that the amendments would lead to speculation, but they shouldn’t worry,” Nam said.

“We have enough instruments to prevent any attempts to hoard real estate, like taxes. Meanwhile, as I have said, property prices in Vietnam are high now, so it’s not profitable to speculate on real estate.”

VietNamNet/TN

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam is forecast to post gross domestic product growth of 3.9 percent in the first half of this year, compared to that of 6.5 p

2009-06-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - Domestic and international experts worked together to improve the regulation and development of finances at the first-ever regulatory reform conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

Vietnam is a big rice exporter

The two-day conference was organised by the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, to enable experts in South and Southeast Asia to share experience on regulatory reforms.

IFC was supporting the Vietnamese Government’s implementation of national Project 30, a key step in administrative reform, said Charles Schneider, a senior official at the IFC.

Monique Bennema, senior official at the Netherlands Embassy, said "complicated administrative procedures are always a barrier for enterprises, preventing development."

Participants from South Korea, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, the Netherlands, Tonga, the US, Britain and Viet Nam agreed that keeping regulations up to date was essential for a better business environment and that the withdrawal or cut of unnecessary regulations was a must.

Nguyen Minh Man, director of the Department of the Administration and Civil Services, said: "Viet Nam is working hard for administrative reform, however, the result is still far from expectations."

According to Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa of the Ministry of Justice, many legal documents are impractical and ineffective. As a result, they conflict with the current legislative system and are not suitable with socio-economic development in Viet Nam.

The reason for this was lack of staff, finances and support from the local people, who often know nothing about the process of making the regulations, Thoa said.

Nguyen Minh Man, also deputy chairman of the Advisory Council of Project 30, expressed his hope for the project, which was kicked off last year to increase transparency and simplify administrative procedures (APs) in Viet Nam. The success of the project means Viet Nam can attract more investment and improve its integrity and access to information, he said.

Ngo Hai Phan, deputy director of the Prime Minister’s Special Task Force for Administrative Procedures Reform said the project, which has been successful in other countries, would benefit the 87 million Vietnamese citizens, as well as international investors working in Viet Nam, when it finishes next year.

There are more than 5,000 APs at the ministerial level and more than 52,000 others at the local level, said Phan, adding that unnecessary and complicated APs will be axed.

The project has been implemented in all ministries and provinces of Viet Nam, as well as the three central agencies of the State Bank of Viet Nam, Bao Viet Bank and Social Policies Bank, which often complained of complicated APs.

According to the official website of the project, it is being carried out in three steps: inventory, review, and implementation of simpler APs.

Responsible people and enterprises will be involved in the process of recommendation and inventory, said Man, adding that this will not only boost the transparency of the work, but ensure all amendments are correct.

Most of the interviewed citizens, especially businessmen, welcomed the project but questioned its effectiveness.

Nguyen Thi Luong, owner of an export weaving workshop in Ha Noi, said she had to wade through a lot of complicated tax and customs procedures before she could trade her products with foreign partners. As a result, her business is less competitive than her counterparts in Thailand.

Luong said that the project would improve her business by eliminating unnecessary and complicated APs.

Expert Nguyen Minh Man said that Viet Nam’s project "will be a success as it is not only emulating the success developed countries have had in cutting unnecessary APs, but taking into account others’ failures."

VietNamNet/VNS

GDP growth of 3.9 percent is good result: economist

2009-06-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam is forecast to post gross domestic product growth of 3.9 percent in the first half of this year, compared to that of 6.5 percent in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Workers assemble steel rods for concrete works on a construction site in Ho Chi Minh City.

Despite the slower pace, the GDP growth between January and June showed positive changes in business and production activities in the second quarter of this year, economist Nguyen Quang A told Thanh Nien Daily.

“In the context of global economic slowdown, 3.9-percent economic growth is a good result,” he said.

The economy had sputtered to its weakest first-quarter growth in a decade, only 3.1 percent, he said.

He was not optimistic about a quick economic recovery. “It will take Vietnam a long time to gain the full recovery of 9-percent GDP growth each year like it had some years ago, because of Vietnam’s heavy reliance on the world economy,” Quang A said.

The World Bank said June 23 that it expected Vietnam’s GDP growth to decrease to 3.5 percent this year, down from 6.2 percent last year and its March forecast of 5.5 percent.

Industrial production is set to increase 4.8 percent to VND324.2 trillion (US$19 billion) in the first six months of this year. However, the growth is much lower than that of 16.5 percent in the same period last year.

In June alone, industrial production went up by 8.2 percent. This is the fifth consecutive month of growth.

A representative from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said at a meeting held by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Hanoi Wednesday that it was a good result considering how Vietnam’s export sector has suffered.

Dropping exports, imports

June is Vietnam’s third consecutive month with a trade deficit. In June alone, it’s estimated to be $1 billion, raising the total trade deficit in the first half of this year to over $2.1 billion.

Bui Ha, head of the General Economic Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said at Wednesday’s meeting that plummeting prices and volumes of some key export items led to smaller total export turnovers in the first half.

Between January and June, the country earned $27.6 billion from shipments, down 10.1 percent over the same period last year. Prices of most exports decreased - crude oil went down 53 percent; rubber 44 percent; coffee 28.3 percent; rice 21.6 percent, and coal 7.5 percent.

Key export items, including textiles and garments, footwear, and seafood respectively saw decreases of 1.3 percent to over $4 billion, 8.7 percent to $2 billion, and 10.7 percent to $1.7 billion in the first six months.

Between January and June, the country spent $29.7 billion importing goods, down 34 percent over the corresponding period last year. Specifically, imports of steel and iron dropped 54.7 percent; timber and woodwork 40.3 percent; machines and equipment 19.2 percent, and petroleum products 3.6 percent.

CPI at 10.27 percent

Consumer price index (CPI) in the first six months was up 10.27 percent over the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.

Food prices have climbed by 14.81 percent, housing and construction materials by 2.91 percent and household appliances and utensils by 10.88 percent, the office said in a report released Wednesday.

Education services also cost 6.12 percent extra, while medical service increased by 8.31 percent.

Deputy head of the Central Institute of Economic Management Vo Tri Thanh said, “Inflation this year may increase 7-9 percent,” adding that effective control measures would be needed to combat it.

“We are at the end of a cycle of inflation slowing down,” Alain Cany, the Ho Chi Minh City-based chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, told Bloomberg. “I would expect inflation to begin to speed up sometime in the third quarter, but hopefully within a level that’s acceptable for Vietnam, like the upper single-digits.”

The National Assembly earlier this month agreed to lower this year’s economic growth target to around 5 percent from the previous 6.5 percent, acknowledging the impacts of the global recession.

In the resolution that adjusted economic targets for the year, CPI will be kept to below 10 percent, export growth will be scaled down to 3 percent and the budget deficit will have a maximum limit of 7 percent of the GDP.

VietNamNet/TN

Banks moving ahead with capital increase plans

2009-06-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – It is now a golden time for commercial banks to implement their plans to raise chartered capital to the required level of 3 trillion dong. The warming up of the stock market has helped make bank stocks more valuable.

Decree No 141 on the structure and operation of commercial banks from 2006 clearly stipulates that commercial banks must have the chartered capital of 3 trillion dong by 2010.

Many banks have drawn up plans to raise chartered capital to the required level, but the plans have been delayed because of the stock market’s falls. Now seems to be the ideal time for banks to restart the plans as the stock market has warmed up, promising success for banks’ plans to issue more shares.

The shareholders’ meeting of HD Bank has approved a plan to increase capital from 1,550 billion dong to 2,000 billion dong this year. However, if there are good market conditions, the bank will increase its chartered capital to 3,000 billion dong in 2009.

Techcombank has announced a plan on issuing stocks in the first phase in 2009 to increase chartered capital from 3,642 billion dong to 4,337 billion as per the resolution of the shareholders’ meeting.

Southern Bank has got permission from the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam to raise its chartered capital from 2,000 billion dong to 2,304 billion. The bank plans to raise its total assets to 34 trillion dong and obtain the pretax profit of 350 billion dong this year.

Small banks are getting ready to raise chartered capital in order to meet the stipulated requirement for capital, but bigger banks, namely Sacombank, Eximbank and ACB, are also trying to increase capital to become bigger and stronger.

Sacombank, for example, is going ahead with a capital increase plan approved by its shareholders’ meeting. As planned, the bank will increase its capital by 31 percent this year in comparison with 2008 to 6,700 billion dong. Sacombank plans to open 31 more retail branches in 2009, of which, a branch in Cambodia was opened on June 23.

The stock market’s performance seems to have given banks confidence. Securities investors are now trying to collect bank shares as they believe that the national economy is better off, and banking will be the first economic sector to benefit from the recovery.

Bank shares have become more valuable as banks reported high profit for the first five months of the year. ACB, for example, reported 900 billion dong worth of pretax profit, Sacombank 650 billion. Meanwhile, Eximbank expects to gain the profit of 800 billion dong by the end of June 2009.

VietNamNet/DTCK

Car imports down sharply because of tax hike

2009-06-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The number of cars imported in the first six months of the year is just 53 percent of that of the same period of last year. This has been attributed to the higher tax, resulting in lower demand.

The statistics released on June 25 by the General Statistics Office showed that the value of imported cars in June was 58 percent lower than in June last year.

Imports of cars with less than nine seats have reportedly dropped by 69 percent over the same period of last year. If considering the value of imports, both cars and car parts have seen the sharp fall of 70 percent.

Meanwhile, the sale of domestically-made cars saw the sharp decrease of 35 percent in the first five months of the year over the same period of 2008.

Pham Anh Tuan, Secretary of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, said that the economic downturn and tax hike are the two reasons that the sales of both import and domestically-made cars have decreased sharply.

“The domestic demand for cars remains very high. However, people have delayed their purchase plans as the high tax has made cars more expensive, while the economic downturn has prompted them to tighten their belts.”

According to Tuan, the number of cars sold in the first five months of the year was 38,000 cars, which made the turnover of 16 automobile manufacturers down by 35 percent.

Toyota, which had the best sales, sold 10,000 cars, followed by Ford with 3,500 cars sold. Other manufacturers saw low sales levels with numbers of cars sold down by 50-70 percent from last year.

However, according to Tuan, other countries in the world now have big stocks and offer good sale prices, attracting importers. Therefore, Tuan said, there is every reason to believe that the situation will change in some months.

“In April and May, the numbers of imported cars were higher by 3,000 cars a month, much higher than the imports in the first three months of the year (1,000 cars a month on average). The number of imports will increase soon because the demand for cars has never decreased.”

In related news, among the nine main import items, which make up 81 percent of total import turnover, besides automobiles, other items also saw sharp falls in import turnover in the first five months of the year, including music disks and mobile phones. Meanwhile, imports of household electronics products increased by 106 percent. This shows that Vietnamese consumers have shifted to use essential products instead of luxury ones.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment on June 24 announced the trade deficit in the first six months of the year at $2.1 billion and the trade deficit of nearly $1 billion in June alone. The $2.1 billion worth of trade deficit is considered a big figure in the context of economic downturn, when businesses do not plan production expansion.

The import turnover in the first six months of the year was $29.7 billion, while the export turnover was $27.6 billion.

Phan Hung