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Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – The HCM City Department of Planning and Investment has asked for approval from the city’s People’s Committee to build a waste-to-power plant using thermal plasma technology from Trisun Green Energy Company, according to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. The 520 million USD project, covering an area of 13ha and equipped with plasma torches to achieve temperatures of 3,000 degrees Celsius to incinerate waste, is expected to treat 2,000 tonnes of domestic waste daily. The investor estimates that waste treatment by thermal plasma technology will cost 32 USD per tonne. The facility would charge 31.88 USD a tonne if it treats 1,000 tonnes a day and…

Quang Nam (VNA) – The Tuan Chau Group will build an entertainment, tourism and real estate complex with total investment capital of 3 trillion VND (133 million USD) in Dien Ban town in the central province of Quang Nam later this year. The project would boost investment flow among domestic and foreign investors in the east region of the province, Doan Ngoc Minh, head of investment and co-operation office under the provincial department of planning and investment, confirmed to Vietnam News newspaper. He said Tuan Chau Group completed its land clearance to begin the first stage of the project this year on 35 hectares. He said the project will be…

Hanoi (VNA) – The Prime Minister has decided to allocate 1.072 trillion VND (about 46 million USD) from the central budget reserves in 2015 to the Ministry of Transport (MoT) and localities to carry out urgent projects. The beneficiary projects are those related to dyke and embankment building, natural calamity consequence overcoming, and national security and defence. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is responsible for accurate information and data on the use of the central budget in accordance with regulations. The Ministry of Transport and provincial and municipal People’s Committees are asked to manage and use the funding as regulated to ensure the effectiveness of the projects.-VNA (http://en.vietnamplus.vn/46-million-usd-allocated-for-urgent-projects/87226.vnp)

Thua Thien – Hue (VNA) – The Phuoc Tuong – Phu Gia road tunnel on the National Road 1A that is crossing Phu Loc district, the central province of Thua Thien – Hue has been put into use. The construction of the tunnel started in May, 2013 under the build– operate– transfer (BOT) model at a total cost of 1.74 trillion VND (77.8 million USD). The Phuoc Tuong-Phu Gia tunnel allows a speed limit of 80km per hour. It is expected to facilitate the smooth traffic flow and contribute to reducing traffic accidents, which often occurred in the Phuoc Tuong-Phu Gia pass, said Phan Bao Trung, head of the local…

Hanoi (VNA) – Work on the Hung Ha bridge spanning the Hong (Red) River and road connecting to Hanoi–Hai Phong and Cau Gie–Ninh Binh highways will start on December 27, said Nguyen Xuan Lam, deputy general director of Project Management Unit No. 1 under the Ministry of Transport. The 2km bridge is part of the 6km transport project, which links northern Hung Yen and Ha Nam provinces. The four-lane bridge is designed for vehicles to travel at 80 kilometres per hour. The project has a total investment of 2.87 trillion VND (135.7 million USD), including 117million USD loaned from the Republic of Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF). The project…

Hanoi (VNA) – The local beer market is set to face tough competition due to a rising number of foreign brewers moving into the market after Vietnam joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), experts said. Under the TPP agreement, Vietnam’s imported beer tax from member countries will be reduced from 35 percent to 0 percent. As a result, imported beer will flood Vietnam. Both international and local players are expected to step up marketing activities, new product developments as well as expanding distribution networks. Sabeco is the biggest Vietnamese beer maker, with a 46-percent market share. The Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage Joint Stock Corporation (Habeco) accounts for 17.3 percent of…

HCM City (VNA) – Twenty years after coming to Vietnam, Visa has announced it has crossed the five million card mark in the country. “Vietnam is one of the fastest growing markets for Visa across the globe. We’ve made some fantastic progress in growing electronic payments here in the past 20 years, but there’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Sean Preston, the company’s country manager for Vietnam. This year the company achieved strong growth in Vietnam despite a downturn in global economic conditions, with the total payment volume through Visa cards growing by 44 percent. Preston said his company would continue to expand in Vietnam in…

HCM City (VNA) – The southern region has focused on growing five key fruit trees on hundreds of thousands of hectares, said an agricultural official. The region has grown dragon fruit trees on 37,000 hectares, mangoes on 22,700 hectares, durian on 10,500 hectares, longan on 25,600 hectares and rambutan on 7,800 hectares, according to Pham Van Du, Deputy Director of the Department of Cultivation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Over the past year fruit exports have increased, which has encouraged domestic fruit production, Du said. In the first 10 months this year, fruit exports earned 1.5 million USD, up 30 percent on the year. The improved rural…

CASRAD, the Research Center for Development and Agricultural System, has warned that Vietnamese rice exporters have been facing big problems in the last two years with exports down in both quantity and value. As the world market has become unstable and the competition is getting stiffer, Vietnam has been gradually losing its advantage in low export price. As Vietnamese farmers cannot enjoy large benefits in the value chain, they don’t want to continue growing rice. According to CASRAD director Dao The Anh, there are 200 medium and large enterprises joining the export network. However, the enterprises do not export rice under their private brands, because they depend heavily on contracts…

Hanoi (VNA) – The national label for Vietnamese handicrafts – Vietcraft Excellence – was released in Hanoi on November 17. According to Vietnam Handicraft Exporters Association Chairman Do Nhu Dinh, the brand originated from a green production project to create livelihoods for needy communities in rural areas. It promotes local products based their core values and encourages sustainability. To attain the accreditation, businesses need to fulfil 46 criteria for their production and consumption processes. The accredited firms see greater chances to access the European market, to which Vietnam exports more than 550 million EUR worth of handicrafts each year.-VNA http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietcraft-excellence-label-debuts/84899.vnp (151120)

ベトナムでは一人当たりインスタントラーメンを年間55.1パック消費し、インスタントラーメンの消費量で韓国に続く、世界第2位になったと、韓国の農業・食料・地域省が報告した。 報告された内容によると、ベトナム人はインスタントラーメンを年間55.1パックを食べており、韓国人は年間一人当たり76パック食べているという。インドネシアが3番目、タイが4番目に続いている。 韓国のインスタントラーメン市場は2014年に16.4億ドルに達した。 韓国のインスタントラーメンの増加は、韓国人の独身者の増加によって説明することができる。 昨年韓国は約81万6千トンのインスタントラーメンを消費したと見積もられている。韓国はまた、昨年約3億2千万ドル分のインスタントラーメンを輸出した。 過去3年間で成長率は鈍化しているものの、世界的なインスタントラーメン市場は2007年から年間3.1％成長している。 世界インスタントラーメン協会(WINA)による2014年報告書によると、ベトナムは年間約54億袋を購入しており、中国、インドネシア、インドに続く、世界第4位のインスタントラーメンの消費国だった。 しかし、一人当たりの消費量に基づくと、韓国とインドネシアに続く第3位になった。中国人は一人当たり36袋なのに対して、ベトナム人は一人当たり年間で平均56.2袋消費していた。 ベトナムのインスタントラーメンの消費量は一貫して二桁の速度で成長しており、需要は都市部と農村部の両方で上昇し続けている。 ベトナムでは、2008年から2012までの間に需要は24％近く上昇した。同期間で中国とインドネシアは3％、韓国と日本は5％の増加となっている。 産業貿易省の統計によると、ベトナムには約50社の国内及び外資系のインスタントラーメンの会社と工場がある。 ビナエースコック(Vina Acecook)やアジアフード(Asia Foods)などの主要な会社がベトナムのインスタントラーメン市場を支配している。 ビナエースコックは現在市場の50％を占めており、アジアフードが20％以上のシェア、マサン(Masan)が10％近くのシェアと続いている。中小企業が残りの20％を占める。 食品加工産業は春雨、ライスペーパー、お粥などを含むインスタント製品の広範囲で提供している。スーパーマーケットのインスタントラーメンの価格は一袋あたり2500ドンから10,000ドンに及ぶ。 ベトナムの食品加工産業は、アメリカ、オーストラリア、フランス、ドイツにインスタント製品を輸出している。カナダや、チェコ共和国、スロバキア、ハンガリーなどの東ヨーロッパにも、市場に製品を提供している。 http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/146341/vietnam-ranks-second-in-world-for-instant-noodle-consumption.html (15111

The Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade set a goal to get 30 percent of Vietnamese people shopping online by 2020. It also aims to bring annual e-commerce sales to an average of 350 USD per person . In order to boost online consumers’ and businesses’ confidence, VECITA is improving legal frameworks for e-payments and logistics services, as well as developing corresponding application solutions, said Tran Huu Linh, head of VECITA. Linh said current legal frameworks and infrastructure do not meet rising demand for e-commerce growth, adding that the revenue from the field is estimated to reach 4 billion USD in 2015.…

HCMC – The HCMC government has approved a one-year pilot scheme for using public buses in the city as a medium for advertising after many years of debate. Just a certain number of commuter buses can be used by advertisers to reach customers through their messages, thus generating a fresh stream of revenue and subsequently reducing the city’s huge subsidies for buses. Buses on the 10 subsidized routes have been chosen to carry out the scheme which is expected to generate total revenue of around VND9.8 billion according to a HCMC Department of Transport report sent to the Economic and Budgetary Committee of the People’s Council of the city in…

Thirteen years after it opened, the SaiGon Hi-tech Park (SHTP) has achieved total sales of 13.6 billion USD, including 13.5 billion USD in export value. Since the first company was licensed at the SHTP in September 2005, HCM City has issued licences to 101 additional companies with a combined investment of 4.9 billion USD, of which FDI accounted for over 4 billion USD. SHTP’s products now make up 94 percent of HCM City’s hi-tech products, according to Le Hoai Quoc, head of the SHTP Management Board. As of September 2015, 82 investment projects in the park remained valid, with total registered capital of 4.38 billion USD. These include 46 operational…

According to a report published by Credit Suisse in October, 14% of the 664 million adults in the world are in the middle class. This report is determined based on the total assets of people, not income. Accordingly, Vietnam has 3 million people classified as the middle class, accounting for 0.5% of the population and only a small fraction of the more than 63.6 million adults. Total assets of this group in 2015 is from $5,030 to $30,000. The average amount of assets of the middle class in Vietnam is about $18,074. With this figure, Vietnam was ranked 57th of 66 countries surveyed by Credit Suisse. This level is also…

The MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation has asked the Ministry of Information and Communications to have 4 million additional numbers with the prefixes “086”, “087”, “088” and “089” serving the domestic market. The proposal was made by Bui Son Nam, head of Mobifone’s Business Department, during the company’s Q3 business performance review meeting held in mid-October in Hanoi. At the meeting, Le Nam Tra, chairman of the Mobifone, said that by September this year, Mobifone accounted for a market share of 26.11 percent or a year-on year growth of 1.6 percent. The number of new subscribers reached 11 million with a year-on-year increase of 94.7 percent. In the first nine months, the…

The Government wants to raise the special consumption tax on vehicles with high engine displacement, according to a statement it delivered to the National Assembly recently. If the Government’s proposal is approved by the lawmakers this year, vehicles with an engine displacement of 3,000cu.m to 4,000cu.m; 4,000cu.m to 5,000cu.m; and 5,000cu.m to 6,000cu.m will see tax increases from 60 percent to 90 percent, 60 percent to 110 percent, and 60 percent to 130 percent, respectively. In particular, vehicles with engine displacement of more than 6,000cu.m will see the highest tax increase of up to 150 percent from its current tax rate of 60 percent. Meanwhile, the Government has proposed that…

Japanese businesses from the Kansai region have said they are interest in the Vietnamese market, and keen on expanding trade and investment connection with Vietnamese partners, especially in supporting industry, in the time ahead. They expressed their interest during workshops in the Japanese cities of Osaka and Kobe on October 6-7, which aimed to forge links between Japanese and Vietnamese businesses in the supporting industry. Japanese firms said they hope for further facilitation from the Vietnamese Government and local-level authorities, enabling them to do business smoothly in Vietnam. During the workshops, participants were updated on information of Vietnam’s recent economic development and business climate, and those related to the country’s…

Japan’s two leading property companies, the Daiwa House Group and Nomura Group, have revealed their intention to join hands with Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd to invest in Vietnam’s market. The three companies plan to pour 27 billion JPY (224.6 million USD) in a 1,000- luxury- apartment complex in Vietnam. The decision was prompted by increasing demands for luxurious condominiums in the Vietnamese property market spurred by loosened ownership regulations and stellar economic growth. The complex will be built on an area of 28,000 square metres in Phu My Hung urban area in Ho Chi Minh City, which is billed as one of the most modern urban centres in Vietnam and…

Although supply has recently surged, there is not likely to be a real estate bubble in Vietnam, said CBRE’s Operational Director Richard Leech at a press conference in Hanoi on September 29. According to Leech, speculation has been common in recent years but current purchases are being made largely by individuals for their own residential demand and, through support from newly secured legal frameworks, the real estate market is in stable conditions. Investors have thoroughly studied the market’s demand to determine market segments, leading to faster liquidity, he added. The macroeconomy has also stabilised in the last two years and actively contributed to the real estate market, helping it develop…

The Prime Minister has approved the construction of 25 bridges with the second transport sector loan for the national road network improvement project. The bridges’ total investment is about VND1.686 trillion ($75 million), funded by the Japan International Co-operation Agency ODA loans. The PM asked the transport ministry to complete the investment procedures and to submit projects for approval as per legal regulations, and to ensure that the total investment does not exceed the amount of JICA loans. The Nam Dinh People’s Committee has been requested to prepare a local budget for building the approach road from Tan Phong Bridge to National Road 21B, in accordance with the bridge construction process. The new bridges will be built…

As many as 68,000 new enterprises were established in the first nine months of this year with a total capital of 420 trillion VND (18.06 billion USD), a year-on-year rise of 28.5 percent and 31.4 percent, respectively, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). In September alone, 7,042 new firms were set up with 44.51 trillion VND (1.98 billion USD) in total investment. Rises in the number of companies were seen in all sectors compared to 2014. Together with an additional 608 trillion VND injected into existing enterprises, more than 1 quadrillion VND (44.5 billion USD) was invested in business and production from January-September, said the ministry. During…

The Vietnam Nittoku Limited Company of Japan inaugurated a paper material factory at the Thi Son industrial park in Kim Bang district, the northern province of Ha Nam on September 28. The factory covers nearly 40,000 square metres with a total investment of 17 million USD.  The factory, specialising in producing materials for napkin and toilet paper production, has a designed capacity of nearly 15,000 tonnes a year. Its products are mainly for export to Asian markets. Ha Nam has recently focused on policies creating favourable conditions for enterprises to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). The province is now in the list of the top 10 provinces attracting the most…

Credit in Hanoi has surged sharply, roughly doubling the average rate of the entire banking system. According to the municipal Statistics Office, total outstanding loans of the capital in the first nine months of the year is estimated to reach 1,195.9 trillion VND (53.15 billion USD), up 18.3 percent against December last year. Short-term loans were estimated to rise 16.8 percent while the increasing rate of medium- and long-term loans was 20.9 percent. Total capital mobilisation in the period rose 11 percent, reaching 1,321.8 trillion VND (58.74 billion USD). As the credit growth rate was much higher than that of capital mobilisation, commercial banks have to continuously increase deposit interest…