The food and beverage sectors have enormous potential for development with a stable annual growth rate of 7-8 percent, according to the Vietnam Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Association (VBA). With the population of more than 90 million, the food and beverage sectors are key industries and make significant contributions to the country’s economy, said Nguyen Van Viet, chairman of the association. Many domestic and foreign enterprises are seeking opportunities to invest in food and beverage sectors with potential market, Viet said at the opening ceremony of the 19th International Exhibition on Food & Beverage and Food Processing & Packaging Technology & Equipment that opened on September 9 in HCM City.…
Ministry proposes increase to special consumption tax
HA NOI (VNS) — The Ministry of Finance has proposed to increase special consumption tax on imported goods to ensure fair competition between locally manufactured products and imported ones. Under the current regulations, the special consumption tax on imported goods is calculated keeping in mind their cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) value plus current import tariff. However, the ministry said the import tax on automobiles and air-conditioners would be lowered to zero under the country’s commitment to international integration. The current special consumption tax on imported goods would not ensure fairness between local and imported items. It could become vulnerable for importers to take advantage of the tax cut for…
Private investment needed in infrastructure
Demand for transport infrastructure is increasing, so the Ministry of Transport must review transport system planning and seek private investment for transport projects, according to officials at a workshop. The meeting was held by the Vietnam Institute of Economics and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) on September 7. It focused on promoting investment in transport infrastructure. The demand for investment in transport infrastructure between 2016 and 2020 had grown to 1 quadrillion VND (45 billion USD), said Nguyen Danh Huy, Director of the Public-Private Partnership Department at the Ministry of Transport. The State budget is limited. It can provide about 28 percent. However, the Ministry of…
Da Nang leader holds dialogue with Japanese enterprises
Chairman of the central city of Da Nang’s People’s Committee Huynh Ngoc Tho held a dialogue with Japanese companies on September 9 to address any arising problems. At the dialogue, Japanese enterprises raised difficulties in investing in Da Nang, mainly in infrastructure, land, the environment, administrative procedures, enterprise assistance, worker policies and training human resources training. They also suggested building a competitive business environment in the city. Tho answered questions raised by Japanese investors and promised to create the most favourable conditions for them and resolve problems quickly. He said Da Nang defines Japan as one of its important partners, noting that the dialogue will help the city improve its…
Opportunities abound for agriculture startups
HCMC – Newly established businesses in the agricultural sector can have a lot of growth opportunities as demand for food is rising as a result of growing populations at home and abroad, according to experts at a forum in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho last week. Huynh Quang Vinh, deputy general director of An Giang Fruit-Vegetables & Foodstuff JSC, told a discussion at the Mekong Connect CEO Forum that the Mekong Delta is in dire need of solutions and equipment to preserve post-harvest farm produce. Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam, said in a video clip shown at the discussion that domestic business startups are mainly in…
Plan proposes increase in pension
HA NOI — A new proposal to increase pension for the elderly who are receiving less than VND2.5 million (US$111) a month, has been submitted to the government for its approval. The labour, invalids and social affairs ministry said the pension would be increased by VND250,000 ($11) per person per month for those who retired or were granted subsidy for occupational health loss prior to April 1993. The time-frame was set so that it was compatible with the national budget’s funding capacity, the ministry said. The proposal also said the pension amount a person would receive after the adjustment would not be more than VND2.5 million ($111) a month. It…
Viettel to pilot 4G technology in rural areas next month
Viettel Group is going to pilot 4G technology in October, said Do Minh Phuong, deputy general director of the Viettel Group. Plans call for Viettel to set up 12,000 4G base transceiver stations no later than in the first quarter of next year, he added. The 4G network will first offer services in communes, followed by districts, provinces and cities. However, Viettel users will have to change SIM cards if they use 4G services, though phone numbers will remain the same. Le Dang Dung, Viettel deputy head, sent a proposal to the Ministry of Information and Communications to grant a licence for 4G services for Viettel this year, which it…
Regional minimum wage to rise 12.4 percent next year
The regional minimum wage in 2016 will be raised by 12.4 percent as approved at the third meeting of the National Salary Council on September 3. The increase level for Region 1 is 400,000 VND (17.8 USD) while the respective figures for Region 2, 3 and 4 are 350,000 VND (15.6 USD), 300,000 VND (13.3 USD), and 250,000 VND (11.1 USD). The expected minimum wages will be 3.5 million VND (155.6 USD), 3.1 million VND (136.4 USD), 2.7 million VND (118.8 USD), and 2.4 million VND (105.6 USD), respectively. Regionally-based monthly minimum wages vary in four different regions based on four separate benchmarks determined by living standards in each area. …
Hoi An hosts cultural exchange with Japan
The 13th “Hoi An – Japan Cultural Exchange” took place in the ancient town of Hoi An in Quang Nam Province last week, featuring local and Japanese art troupes. Spectators had the opportunity to join a cosplay of Japanese anime characters, Yasakoi dancing, Japan kendo (a Japanese martial art), Kirigami (paper cutting), souvenir-photo taking sessions with Yukatacostume, Haiku poems exhibition, bonsai art, and sky admiring by an astronomical telescope. As part of the event, a wood crafting contest of Hoi An attracted 25 local artisans to create their artworks at the An Hoi Garden of Statues. The contest aimed to encourage and honor talented and creative artisans and to promote…
80,000 Vietnamese labourers work abroad within 8 months
HA NOI (VNS) — Nearly 80,000 Vietnamese labourers went to work abroad from January to August this year, marking an increase of 8.21 per cent, over the same period last year, statistics from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ Overseas Labour Management Department (OLMD) show. With this figure, the country met 83.98 per cent of the target for this year. It had planned to send 90,000 workers abroad this year. During just the month of August, the statistics from enterprises show that the total of labourers working abroad was 11,255, of which 3,590 were women. Taiwan still ranked as the largest market for Vietnamese labourers during the first eight…
Vietnam becomes fourth largest importer of RoK products
Vietnam has usurped Japan for the first time to become the fourth largest importer of products from the Republic of Korea (RoK), in the first seven months of this year. According to statistics from the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) published on August 30, the RoK’s exports to Vietnam reached 16.35 billion USD while the amount to Japan was worth 15.48 billion USD. The RoK’s shipments of wireless communication device components to Vietnam shot up by 29.9 percent from the same period last year. A RoK official said that exports to Japan plunged by 19.3 percent, spurred by Japanese yen devaluation and low…
Hanoi opens new waste treatment plant
The People’s Committee of Hanoi held a ceremony on August 27 to inaugurate and put the Phuong Dinh waste treatment plant into operation in Dan Phuong district. The factory, which will use Martin technology from Germany, is one of the pioneer facilities in Vietnam in combusting waste to produce electricity. It has a total investment capital of 270 billion VND (12.2 million USD) and a processing capacity of 300 tonnes of waste per day. The plant will help meet the demand for waste treatment in the Dan Phuong, Hoai Duc and Quoc Oai districts as well as industrial parks and craft villages in the localities, said Vu Hong Khanh, Deputy…
Hanoi, Fukuoka forge links in investment, trade, tourism
Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Le Hong Son has called on businesses from Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture to penetrate into the local market in order to fully tap each side’s advantages, reported Ha Noi Moi newspaper. Speaking at a conference in Fukuoka on August 26, which drew 65 Japanese and Vietnamese enterprises, Son pledged the best possible conditions for the two localities’ businesses to cooperate in investment, trade and tourism. The capital city aims to attract foreign investments towards up-to-date technologies and technology transfer in association with sustainable development, he said. Hanoi is striving to boost two-way trade with Fukuoka and rolling out strategies to lure more tourists from…
Minimum pay increase for 2016 yet to be fixed
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) fell short of fixing the minimum wage increase for 2016 during a meeting in Hanoi on August 25. The VGCL, representing employees, proposed a 16.8 percent pay hike while the VCCI – representative of employers, recommended a mere 10 percent, according to Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Minh Huan when briefing about the outcomes of the second meeting of the Vietnam National Wage Council. If the third meeting, slated for September 3, fails to reach a consensus, the Council will decide the final solution to submit to the Prime Minister…
Japanese investor speaks out
Poor logistics and transport infrastructure and customs hassles are the major reasons for Viet Nam’s inability to attract Japanese investment, a Japanese trade expert told a conference on investment promotion and logistics in Da Nang late last week. Yoshitaka Kurihara, senior advisor to the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) ‘s HCM City Office, said: “Logistics is actually a key factor in investment. The slow modernisation of logistics services in Viet Nam has been a main reason for the decrease in investment flows.” Japanese investment fell from US$58 billion in 2013 to just $23 billion last year. “Chaotic road traffic, slowness of rail traffic, shortage of warehouse space and poor condition…
Vietnam gov’t mulls legal framework for crowdfunding: report
The Vietnamese government is reportedly drawing up policies for crowdfunding in the country, where many young companies are still struggling to get sufficient funding despite an increased interest in local startups in recent years. Singapore-based financial news website DEALSTREETASIA said on Monday that the Ministry of Planning and Investment is currently taking feedback from local startups, before the policy framework is finalized. Currently, Malaysia is the only country in the Southeast Asia to set up legal framework for the activity, it said. Vu Anh, founder of crowdfunding platform Fundstart.vn, was quoted as saying that Vietnam’s startup ecosystem has a market gap as far as funding goes, which places local startups…
HCM City’s August CPI drops 0.12 percent monthly
The August consumer price index (CPI) in Ho Chi Minh City declined 0.12 percent from the previous month, contributing to an annual 0.66 percent rise in the southern economic hub’s average eight-month index. The municipal Statistics Office said on August 22 that as six out of the 11 main goods categories had their prices down, noting that transport prices saw the sharpest decrease month on month – 2.4 percent, which was driven by two petrol price cuts in August. Housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction material prices were down 0.66 percent – the same pace in the culture and entertainment category. Decreases were also seen in the price of household…
Hanoi’s population increases by 200,000 per year
VietNamNet Bridge – The Hanoi Department of Population and Family Planning has said that each year the city’s population increases by about 200,000 people, equivalent to the population of a large district. Of the new population, about 120,000 are newborn children and the rest are migrants. The department’s director, Mr. Ta Quang Huy, said the increase of population posed a difficult problem for the future social and economic development of the capital city. Hanoi’s population is the second largest in Vietnam, only behind HCM City. Notably, gender imbalance at birth and the number of families having the third child are on the rise. The number of women entering reproductive age…
Da Nang airport to have capacity improved
Da Nang International Airport, one of Vietnam’s three major airports, has asked the government for permission to upgrade its capacity to 20 million passengers a year by 2020 under a revised development blueprint. Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has assigned the Ministry of Transport to verify and approve the revised blueprint for the airport, which also aims to raise its cargo handling capacity to 200,000 tonnes each year. In addition, the airport will be expanded to cover about 855.57 hectares, accommodating a maximum of 41 planes. Da Nang airport caters to travel demand to and from the central Da Nang city and neighbouring areas. It also serves as a…
More investment projects land in Tien Giang province
The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has granted investmentcertificates to two new projects worth US$17 million in total at the provincial industrial parks since the outset of this year. The province has also allowed four existing projects to add US$30 million in investment. Tien Giang is currently home to 73 projects worth US$1.37 billion, 47 of which are foreign direct investment ones valued at US$182.7 million.The results have been spurred by improvements in policies as well as administrative procedures, contributing to promoting an industrialized economic structure.According to Nguyen Thanh Liem, Deputy Head of the local Industrial Zones Authority, enterprises operating in the province’s four industrial zones My Tho, Tan Huong, Long Giang and Soai Rap Petroleum…
List of banks providing property guarantees released
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has released a list of 33 commercial banks that are able to provide bank guarantees for future built property projects. There are 25 local commercial banks, including well-known names such as Vietcombank, VietinBank, BIDV, Agribank, Techcombank, SeABank, PVComBank, LienVietPostBank, NCB, and HDBank. They are joined by nine foreign banks: ANZ Vietnam, HSBC Vietnam, Hong Leong Vietnam, Shinhan Vietnam, Standard Chartered, Indovina Bank, VID Public Bank, Vietnam – Russia Bank, and Viet – Thai VinasiamBank. Sacombank, Eximbank, VIB, and OCB are surprisingly not on the list. The necessity to secure a guarantee from a financial institution for future built property projects comes under Circular No.…
60 plants join power market by August
As many as 60 power plants have joined the electricity market directly so far this year with a total capacity of 14,952 megawatts, accounting for 40 percent of the national power system, according to the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC). By the end of July, the centre was operating 107 power plants with an installed capacity of 37,594 megawatts and 750 transformer stations of 500/220/110 kilovolts with a total capacity of 99,914 mega-volt amperes. This year, power output is expected to reach 163.1 billion kilowatt hours, up 12.1 percent compared to 2014 http://en.vietnamplus.vn/60-plants-join-power-market-by-august/80168.vnp (150814)
Binh Duong attracts over 1.2 bln USD in FDI in seven months
The southern province of Binh Duong attracted over 1.2 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) from January-July, surpassing the yearly target of one billion USD. During the period, the locality welcomed 119 new investment projects and increased the allocated capital to 79 existing ventures, according to the provincial People’s Committee. In July alone, the province lured 631 million USD in FDI, including 33 newly-licensed projects worth 363 million USD and 20 operations adding more 268 million USD. Binh Duong is currently ranked second across the country in FDI attraction. Last year the event attracted 320 companies from 21 countries and territories and 22,000 visitors. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/binh-duong-attracts-over-12-bln-usd-in-fdi-in-seven-months/76030.vnp (150813)
HCM City prepares for travel expo in September
The 2015 International Travel Expo in Ho Chi Minh City will take place from September 10-12. Vietnam’s main international tourism event, with its motto of One Decade – One Mekong – One World this year, is expected to draw 25,000 visitors besides the foreign media. According to a release from the organisers, 22 Vietnamese provinces, 13 international tourism promotion organisations, and 25 tourism enterprises from 20 countries and territories have registered to take part in the event. It will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in District 7. Last year the event attracted 320 companies from 21 countries and territories and 22,000 visitors. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/hcm-city-prepares-for-travel-expo-in-september/75969.vnp (150811)
Automobile sales soar by 60 percent in July
As man as 20,349 automobiles were sold in July, an increase of 9 percent from June and 61 percent compared to the same period last year, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) revealed in its July sales report on August 6. The figure includes 11,647 passenger cars and 7,862 commercial vehicles, up by 19.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, since June, while only 840 special-purpose vehicles were sold last month, down by 22.4 percent. The volume of Complete Knock Down (CKD) vehicles rose by 4 percent monthly to 15,013 units in July and the volume of Complete Built Up (CBU) vehicles totalled 5,336 units, up by 26 percent. Among VAMA…
経済： オーストラリアは、ベトナムの鋼のダンピング防止の調査を終え
The Australian Anti-Dumping Commission (ADC) has concluded its investigation into of zinc-coated (galvanised) steel imported from India and Vietnam, the Vietnam Competition Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said on August 5. The ADC said Vietnamese galvanised steel shipped to Australia was not sold at dumping prices, therefore posing no threat to Australia’s domestic steel production. The ADC’s investigation was launched on July 11, 2014 http://en.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Australia-ends-antidumping-investigation-into-Vietnamese-steel/20158/69493.vnplus (150807)
Seven-month overspending estimated at 4.6 billion USD
Budget overspending reached an estimated 100.7 trillion VND (4.6 billion USD) in the first seven months of this year, equal to 44. 5 percent of the year’s budget estimates, the Ministry of Finance said on August 5. Total revenues in the first seven months were 544 trillion VND or 59.8 percent of the year’s estimates, up 6.6 percent against the same period. Of which 404 trillion VND came from domestic revenue and the rest from import-export activities. In the period, the country spent 645.3 trillion VND, or 56.3 percent of the year’s estimates, representing an 8.1 percent increase from last year. To compensate for the over-expenditure, 114.5 trillion VND worth…
Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan presents credentials
Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuong presented his credentials to Japanese Emperor Akihito in Tokyo on July 31. At the later meeting with the Emperor, Cuong promised to do his best to bolster the bilateral strategic partnership between the two countries. The ambassador also conveyed Vietnamese leaders’ greetings to the Emperor and the Queen, and asserted that the Vietnamese Party, State and people have always considered Japan as Vietnam’s leading development partner. In return, the Emperor lauded the fruitful cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in all areas, serving interests of both countries’ people. Emperor Akihito expressed his wish that, during his tenure, the diplomat would further promote the multi-faceted…
Can Tho among world’s 10 most beautiful canal cities
Can Tho has been ranked the 10th most beautiful canal city in the world in a list drawn up by the Mysterious World website. “Waterways have played a crucial role in transportation throughout the history,” the site says. “Until today cities like Venice, Birmingham and Giethoorn are globally known for their stunning canal system. “The large Vietnamese city of Can Tho is located in the Mekong Delta in the centre of a network of canals and rivers. The city’s total waterway length is 1,157km. The Hau River, the biggest branch of the Mekong River, runs along the north of the city.” It also mentions floating markets, the main attraction of…
Nearly 1.7 billion USD of FDI pours into real estate market
The country’s property market attracted 1.69 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) for 15 projects in the first seven months of 2015, according to the Foreign Investment Agency. This figure accounted for 19.3 percent of the total FDI capital of 6.92 billion USD. Figures from the agency showed that the real estate sector took second place in attracting FDI capital during the period. In HCM City alone, four real estate FDI projects received an investment licence, with total registered capital of 1.31 million USD. Experts forecast that FDI pouring into the property sector would see a surge by the year-end month thanks to the amended Law on Housing 2014…