Viet Nam Business

Hue Festival an experience of heritage amid change

2010-05-17T02:01:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - This year’s Hue Festival (June 5-13) looks to highlight traditional Vietnamese values that have withstood the country’s rapid and historical changes over the last several decades.

The sketch of the underwater stage at Tinh Tam Lake.

Themed “Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development,” the event will highlight the unique cultural identities of Vietnamese people and the city of Hue in particular next month, with delegations from 31 countries slated to take part in performances and cultural exhibitions.

The festival will be linked with the Thang Long – Hanoi 1,000th anniversary celebrations, taking place across the country all year long.

The event also celebrates the 375th anniversary of Hue’s establishment as the capital of the southern region and the 50th anniversary of the Hanoi-Hue-Saigon relations as the main three representative cities (north, central, south) of a reunified Vietnam.

In addition to the traditional art displays such as the ao dai festival, the Royal Palace Night music program, the legend of Huong River gala concert, and Dan Nam Giao rituals (held to pray to mother earth), this year’s festival also features new shows like Oriental Night, and the Hanoi-Hue-Saigon music show.

One of the festivals most unique performances will be the “The Breath of Water,” which will take place on a 1,500 square-meter floating stage on Tinh Tam Lake.

The play tells a romantic love story about the separation and reunion of boys and girls in the dynastic era. Young talents like Linh Nga, Quynh Lien and Xuan Chien will play the leading roles.

The 75-minute “The Breath of Water” will showcase traditional musical arts that are recognized by UNESCO as world intangible cultural heritages – nha nhac (Hue royal court music), ca tru (ceremonial music) and quan ho Bac Ninh (Bac Ninh love duets).

According to deputy chairman of provincial People’s Committee and head of the Organization Board Ngo Hoa, the 31 other nations involved in the event are scheduled to perform circus acts, song and dance routines, puppetry plays and they will also screen movies.

Activities will take palace around Tinh Tam Lake, An Dinh Palace, Ngo Mon (Noon Gate) square, the southern bank of the Perfume River and the districts of A Luoi, Nam Dong, Phu Loc, Huong Thuy and Phong Dien.

The festival will be a meeting place for representatives of ancient capital cities and cities with world cultural heritage sites and traditions throughout the world, said Hoa.

Starting in 2000, the biennial Hue Festival has so far reaped considerable successes. In 2008, the festival attracted nearly 2,000 domestic and foreign artists and 180,000 visitors, including 30,000 international tourists.

Source: Saigon Giai Phong

Ice and snow paints Sapa pure white

2009-11-23T14:04:00.000-08:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The temperature in Sapa fell to 1.5 degrees Celcius on November 21. The town’s O Quy Ho pass, over 2000 meters above sea level, turned white with ice and snow.

Many visitors headed to Sapa to see the winter wonderland. Photos of ice and snow in Sapa on November 21:

VietNamNet/Dan Tri

Getting close to online casinos

2009-11-23T14:02:00.000-08:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Previously, to gamble online, players had to contact agencies in Vietnam and pay fees to “bosses” – but now it is much simpler.

A gambling website.

“You only need to go online to directly make contact with the bankers through e-transaction, dubbed ‘magic wands’ by gamblers,” said former “boss” LTT, who worked as agency for many gambling websites.

However, LTT suggested a site for Tuoi Tre’s reporter to visit.

Seeking magic wand

According to LTT, this site quickly offers “magic wand” or “e banking card”. With this card, players can gamble easily and don’t have to pay commission to agencies. With only one USD, you can bet against the banker.

Following LTT’s guidance, Tuoi Tre’s reporter opened an account with an ATM card at the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank). Some bankers only accept debit cards from this bank (Visa Debit).

After getting the card, LTT instructed the reporter to register for the bank’s e-banking service. He hen helped set up an account at the online gambling site.

To be accepted players have to show a scan of their ID cards, a document proving they can transfer money from their Vietcombank account to a web account and the front of their Vietcombank card.

Two hours after making a transaction to transfer $50 from the Vietcombank card to the online account, the reporter was informed by email that he was now able to log into the site to gamble.

With many Vietnamese gamblers, this site has five languages, including Vietnamese. The website offers various kinds of betting, from football to basketball, badminton, tennis and also stock indexes of the world.

LTT is the “captain” of Club DLTCL, the name of a group of online betters. This group hired a guest house and an Internet line to gamble. Their account always has over 100 million dong and they earn their living by online betting and commissions from new gamblers.

Spending a whole night with this group to see how they bet online, a Tuoi Tre’s reporter witnessed them losing nearly 50 million dong.

Tuoi Tre asked an official of the Vietcombank why banks transfer money to overseas betting accounts, Trinh Thuong Thuc, chief of the credit card service department, said that only if the government bans people from using bank cards for online payment, can the bank can stop transferring money to online accounts.

He said that whenever its clients use e-banking services, Vietcombank has to pay at client’s request. The payment system works automatically. The bank doesn’t have the right to refuse transactions.

Another option, E-purse is now offered at almost all banks in Vietnam. From this “purse”, clients can use Visa Debit cards to transfer money to any betting accounts in the world.

Dinh The Hien, director of the Institute for IT and Application Economics, said that online betting and gambling is very popular but it is impossible to prevent it. To control online betting, e-banking services must be controlled and this will affect people’s banking transaction in general.

According to AFP, there are around 15,000 sports betting websites, including over 13,000 illegal sites. Their turnover is up to 15 billion euros a year ($23.6 billion). Most of the sites are based in Euro.

A research by an IT security consulting firm named ISSC recently warned that behind many illegal betting sites are criminal gangs.

Other tricks

As the number of online gambling sites rise – so do their victims.

Besides online casinos for Vietnamese professional gamblers, internet users can take part in online games on many websites – a fact confirmed by online gambler H.

With just a few clicks, H became a member of one Vietnamese website. This web supplies new members with virtual coins called gold. To get higher level in the game, players have to try to earn 100,000 gold, 1 million gold or even 100 million gold to become a big player. If they lose the free gold, they will have to exchange real money for virtual gold to continue the game. 10 million gold is equivalent to 50,000 Vietnam dong.

T, an online gambler said that every form of gamble is available on the internet, even popular online games in Vietnam as MU, Sword man, Thien Long Bat Bo, etc. are associated with betting.

He explained that in online games, players can only gamble with virtual money and can only exchange real money into virtual coins. In FPT’s MU game, players can make football bets.

In online games, there are two kinds of ratings: rating in terms of level and in terms of wealth, both associated with betting or gamble.

To serve online gamblers, there are a whole host of service websites attracting visitors with slogans like “How to make much money”, “The most accurate lottery forecast system”, “Football matches that will surely make you win in betting”, etc.

If one clicks to these slogans, he will see “To know the most accurate prediction of tonight’s lottery result, please send message to 6xxx” or “Secret information from lottery spinning room, type SOI and send to 6xxxx”.

After sending a text message by phone to this number, one receives the following message: “Thank you for using our service. We don’t have the latest forecast yet. We will send it to you immediately when we get it” while he pays 3,000-5,000 dong in his phone account.

Victims of online gambles

T is a member of hoancanh.com, a group of addicted online gamblers. This man and his group opened an account for football betting in central Thanh Hoa province. T owed over 500 million dong (over $30,000) and he had to flee to Saigon.

In T’s group was K, who was an excellent student of HCM City-based Ton Duc Thang University and V, a former student of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences. At the beginning, both of them just tried online gaming. Gradually, they have become gambling addicts and they quit university to devote more time to the online world.

To have money for online gambles, K started selling druges – later he became an addict himself. He currently lives at the foot of Saigon Bridge.

“My parents abandoned me two years ago. I want to give up everything to make a new life but it is so difficult because I’m stopped by debts and drugs,” K said.

V is no longer a student but he lies to his parents that he is in order to receive money for online gambling. “I’ve asked my parents to give me 10 million dong for my master course,” he said. V said that he had tried to give up online gambling several times but has so far failed.

Another group of online gamblers – DLTCL club – in District 10 is another example. The group’s leader is an engineer, who had to change jobs several times because of being fired as a result of spending too much time spent playing online games.

All members of this group lost assets like mobile phones, motorbikes and even houses to online gambling. Some have convictions relating to robbery or burglary.

In June 2008, a man in Tan Phu district, HCM City committed suicide after failed online sport bet.

A family in Tan Binh district recently had to ask for police’s protection because a family member lost an online bet worth 200 million. He couldn’t pay the bet and his family were threatened by a gang.

Recently, two men who were born in 1987 in District 11 jumped into the river because they couldn’t pay for an online bet.

Senior Lieutenant Vo Duy Thang from the HCM City Police Agency said that online gambling is a hi-tech crime, which develops in big cities like Hanoi, HCM City and Hai Phong. It is very difficult for police to combat it as evidence is also “virtual”.

However, police have discovered many online gambling gangs.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre

Coffee tasting in HCM City

2009-10-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – While many foreigners can’t drink Vietnamese coffee, which is made by coffee filters because it’s very strong, the former general manager of the five-star hotel Renaissance Riverside Saigon, Albert Kaindlbauer, likes the special kind of coffee.

Foreigners at a coffee shop in HCMC's District 1.

“At first, my head was dizzy but I liked it then because it was strong and tasty. You will be interested when you see coffee-drops falling into the cup and have more time to think about everything,” the businessman once explained about one of his pleasures in HCMC.

Kaindlbauer also likes to have coffee at cafés in the city and said there were too many coffee shops. The businessman has seen it is one of the different things of HCMC.

Many foreigners share the same view with Kaindlbauer. Coffee shops are located on most streets in HCMC, especially downtown. More and more shops have unique designs, impressive interior decorations, larger areas, and are more crowded.

Visitors have more choices of coffee tasting. It’s not only Vietnamese coffee but visitors also find many kinds of coffee from around the world as well as many kinds of cocktails and fruit juices.

Many people even see the shops, especially shops in the heart of the city, as their second office because they can do their office work there thanks to services such as free wifi, free newspapers and magazines and breakfast, lunch and dinner menus.

The city tourism department sees coffee shops as one of the interesting things of the city which can be promoted to foreigners.

The department has collected ideas and comments from tour operators and experts to select a list of 15 good coffee shops for foreign visitors and has called for people to vote for ten of them.

People can find detailed information about the shops and vote online at:www.hcmc100e.info.

VietNamNet/SGT

Vietnam continues to protest EU penalty tax on shoe imports

2009-10-20T00:59:00.003-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) has once again raised its voice to protest the European Union (EU)’s anti-dumping taxes on shoe imports from Vietnam.

MIT Deputy Minister Le Danh Vinh in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on Oct. 16 said the European Commission’s report on term-end review, which was made public on Oct. 13, did not objectively reflect the reality of Vietnam’s shoe-making industry.

He said the proposal to extend the penalty taxes for 15 months is “unfair and unreasonable”.

According to the official, the EC in October 2006 decided to levy penalty taxes on leather-capped shoes imported from Vietnam for two years regardless of opposition from many EU member countries.

In October 2008, when the deadline came, the EC, instead of removing the penalties, decided to conduct a term-end check in accordance with the European shoe makers’ proposals.

Notably, the check was made in the context of opposition from a majority of EU member countries, Vinh said.

According to him, EU taxes on Vietnam’s leather-capped shoes have negatively impacted the country’s industry. “We must say that the industry is suffering a double hit as the EC has recently stricken the country’s footwear from the list of those benefiting from the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).”

The reality also showed, Vinh said, that the imposition of the penalty over the past three years has not protected the interests of the small number of less competitive EU shoe makers it was intended to help, but has caused harm to the legitimate interests of EU investors in Vietnam’s shoe industry, as well as importers, distributors and retailers in the EU markets, and EU consumers.

In addition, the anti-dumping case also ran counter to the EU community’s policy to support trade liberalisation and prevent the return of the protectionism, particularly the abuse of trade obstacles such as anti-dumping measures, and to continue assistance programmes to under-developed and developing countries, including Vietnam.

In conclusion, Vinh said, his ministry requested that the EC reconsider the report and remove the anti-dumping taxes when the term-end check is finished.

The Vietnamese government wishes to solicit further support from EU member countries in urging the EC to put an end to the anti-dumping tax.

VietNamNet/VNA

New fuel-pricing policy grants sellers more leniency

2009-10-20T00:59:00.001-07:00

Fuel traders will not have to ask for permission to increase retail prices if the government-calculated base price rises 7 percent or less, according to a new decree effective December 15 this year.

Under the new pricing mechanism, oil products companies will be allowed to raise retail prices correspondingly if the base price rises by no more than 7 percent, the government said on its website Friday. But they will also be required to keep two hikes at least 10 days apart.

The government will calculate the base price by adding the CIF price (cost, insurance, freight) to business overheads, taxes, other fees and payments and a profit margin. Currently, traders must get state permission for any and all price changes.

If the price gap is from 7 percent to 12 percent, traders can increase their prices by 7 percent and then raise 60 percent of the gap between 7 and 12 percent.

The remaining 40 percent will be offset by the government, using a price stabilization fund supported by collecting a portion of retail sales revenues.

The government set up the fund early this year to stabilize retail prices of fuel products in case global prices rise dramatically.

If the average base price is more than 12 percent higher than the retail price, the government will step in to stabilize prices by taking one or a series of measures, including cutting taxes and fund contributions.

On the contrary, if the base price drops lower than the current retail price, traders must cut their prices by the corresponding rate. If the price gap is larger than 12 percent, the government will impose additional measures including higher taxes and fund collections.

VietNamNet/TN

Vietnam boosts pepper exports to the Netherlands

2009-10-20T00:58:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – A delegation of more than 20 businesses made a working trip to the Netherlands from October 15-16 to seek business opportunities and promote bilateral trade in pepper.

The delegation was led by Deputy Chairwoman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), Truong Thi Thong. Their working trip was part of the major national trade promotion programme of Vietnam.

During the visit, they had working sessions with the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) under the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and met with a number of Dutch businesses involving in pepper processing and distribution.

The visit helped Vietnamese businesses get a better grasp of the measures to increase pepper export turnover to Europe, as well as the criteria and procedures for Vietnamese exporters to join capacity building support projects.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam fetched 18.5 million USD from pepper export to the Netherlands, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent.

In the first seven months of this year, the country’s pepper exports to the country reached nearly 12 million USD.

VietNamNet/VNA

Fruit market ruled by China, supermarkets

2009-10-20T00:57:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Farmers complain that consumers seek imported fruits and that they also cannot “access” supermarkets because of strict barriers. Instead, China boasts high fruit sales and profits, leaving Vietnamese fruits in the dust.

Statistics show that China is still leading in farm produce exports toVietnam with an export revenue of $17.01 million in August 2009, an increase of $10 million over April.

Previously, foreign-sourced fruits appeared only at supermarkets and big shops, but now they are available at every fruit stall and traditional markets.

100 percent of foreign fruits at markets sourced from China

Inexpensive imitations

Small merchants have reported that there are many kinds of imported fruits.China’s green grapes, which look like Vietnam’s Binh Thuan grapes, are priced at 16,000-22,000 dong per kilo and are selling very well.

A merchant at Tan Dinh Market added that China also produces black grapes, which sell for 45,000 dong per kilo, that resemble US grapes.

Vietnamese consumers also mistake China’s persimmon for Vietnam’s, she noted. China’s persimmon is bigger than Vietnam’s and sells very well at 11,000-12,000 dong per kilo. Many people think that this fruit, available at most supermarkets, is a product of Dalat.

Nguyen Thanh Ha, Deputy Director of Tam Binh Wholesale Market in HCMCity, explained that it is now the persimmon season in China, therefore, a large amount has been imported and sells much better than Vietnam’s persimmons.

Ha said that some 2,700 tons of fruit are brought to the market every day, of which 20 percent are from China.

Farmers knock on supermarket doors

Supermarkets in Vietnam now sell 15-20 kinds of fruits, with Metro leading in fruit diversification. Besides familiar fruits, many new products have appeared like mulberries, kiwis and cherries.

Vietnamese fruits, however, still cannot find their way into the supermarkets.

Lo Ren Vinh Kim star apples, a well-known brand name with a certificate on food hygiene, are still sold through merchants. Company Chairman Nguyen Van Ngan reported that he tried to contact supermarkets many times, but his apples are still not found in the produce sections.

Other fruit producers complained that supermarkets have set up strict requirements on the quality of fruits, and yet they do not offer fair prices.

Than Van Tanh, Deputy Chairman of Chau Nghe Mango Cooperative, revealed that he only sells a small amount to supermarkets. He can only “introduce” the mangos at supermarkets because the company receives prices that are even lower than those at outdoor markets.

Producers and supermarkets also cannot agree on payment methods. Supermarkets pay once every 10 days via bank accounts. The Chairman of Tan Phong Rambutan Cooperative observed, however, that their company must pay cash on delivery to farmers. He complained that he has not gotten used to the bank payments and he also does not want to wait 10 days to be compensated.

Currently, all fruits available at Co-op Mart are those with well-known brand names, including Hoa Loc mangos, Tan Trieu pomelos and Nam Roi pomelos.

Deputy Director of Saigon Co-op Bui Hanh Thu said that their customers choose only well-established products. Fruits without a good brand name will not find a space in supermarkets, even if they are of high quality.

VietNamNet/TT

Stable basic interest rate predicted

2009-10-20T00:56:00.002-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Lao Dong reports that economic experts predict that the basic interest rate is not likely to be raised prior to the third quarter of 2010.

Economic analysts believe that the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will not raise the basic interest rate is that the central banks worldwide are maintaining low interest rates.

Low rates globally

Australia’s central bank has raised its prime interest rate to 3.25 percent from three percent, but most other banks, including those in the US and EU, are maintaining low interest rate policies.

The Chairman of the EU Central Bank has confirmed that it will maintain a one percent interest rate to stimulate economic development at least until the third quarter of 2010. Prior to that, the US FED also affirmed that it would retain its 0-0.25 percent interest rate.

HSBC Holding Plc, in its latest report, argued that Vietnam might raise interest rates like other Asian countries due to the higher deficit, higher inflation and weaker currency. It predicted that the State Bank of Vietnamwould raise the basic interest rate to 11 percent by the end of 2010.

However, Lao Dong reported that the interest rate increase may not be seen prior to the third quarter of 2010.

Interest rates are set after considering many factors, including the trade deficit and inflation. Vietnam’s interest rates will depend on how the economic stimulus package performs, and especially on the achievements of the interest rate subsidy program.

It remains unclear if Vietnam will launch a second interest rate subsidy program. The matter has not yet been settled and requires further discussion; however, economic analysts say the basic interest rate will not be raised even if the second demand stimulus package is launched.

Balancing Acts

Businesses would be shocked if loan interest rates increase too sharply. Currently, they pay 6.5 percent per annum maximum and can enjoy the four percent interest rate subsidy.

High interest rates will lead to reductions in production, as businesses have just revived from economic difficulties. They have still not entered a strong development period, as domestic and international demand remain weak.

If the central bank does not raise the basic interest rate, banks in capital mobilization and liquidity will encounter more obstacles. Banks have already been facing problems with capital mobilization in the first ten months of 2009. The monthly outstanding loan increase has been lower than the capital mobilization increase by 6-8 percent.

The problem has become more serious in the fourth quarter of 2009, as banks have been hard pressed to mobilize public capital even though the deposit interest rate has risen to nearly 10.5 percent per annum.

People now prefer to put their money in other investments like stocks, gold and the real estate market, which they believe can bring higher profits than bank deposits.

VietNamNet/LD

Viettel launches 3G network in Laos

2009-10-20T00:56:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s Military Telecommunications Company (Viettel) and Lao Asia Telecom opened their joint mobile network named Unitel and their 3G services in Laos on October 16.

A base receiver station.

Unitel is operated by the Star Telecom, a joint venture between Viettel and Lao Asia Star, established in April 2008.

Star Telecom planned to develop the 3G network in all Laotian provinces and cities by the end of 2009, with around 200 base receiver stations that can serve around 250,000 subscribers.

Before cooperating with Viettel, Lao Asia Telecom was the smallest mobile network in Laos, but Viettel has promised to turn Unitel into the largest mobile network in Laos.

Viettel also offers mobile services and holds a large market share in Cambodia.

In Vietnam, Viettel planned to provice 3G service for 30 million subscribers by December 2009. It is slated to invest 12 trillion dong to build 3G facilities with 10,000 base transceiver stations.

VietNamNet/VNE

Sapa – making money, losing innocence

2009-10-14T23:07:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Tourism development has enriched Sapa, but at what cost?

At the height of around 1,500m over the sea level, the town of Sapa is situated in the magnificent Hoang Lien Son mountains. This community in Lao Cai province has become a tourist haven because it offers an exquisite natural setting and a fascinating cultural mosaic in the surrounding villages.

Tourism has brought major changes to Sapa town, especially to the lives of its residents. H’Mong and Dao people are becoming familiar with the lifestyle of ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh). Young men from the minority cultures puff at cigarettes instead of using a traditional pipe.

Yet there is a price. Sapa is losing its natural charm and values. It is no longer a place for those who want to return to nature and enjoy the simple life.

Cau May street – the center of Sapa –looks like a street in Hanoi.

Not far from Cau May, local people level mountains to offer land for sale.

Many restaurants and bars have appeared on Cau May street to serve foreign visitors but local young people also try these services.

Ethnic minority girls speak English more easily than Vietnamese.

The bathroom of an ethnic minority family in Ho village, where homestay services are developing rapidly.

Ethnic minority kids wander the whole day on the street to sell small souvenirs. They return home, several kilometers from Sapa town, very late.

Red Dao people are very well-experienced in doing business. They follow foreign tourists closely and in groups, urging them to buy souvenirs.

Some H’Mong girls become tour guides. This job changes them. The traditional clothes they wear is just a way to attract tourists.

Dao girls in Sapa in clothes of Kinh people.

Women are busy with their work, selling things to tourists.

Men are lukewarm to the modern life-rhythm brought to Sapa by tourism.

This ethnic minority woman looks a fish out of water in her own land.

Modern Sapa town.

VietNamNet/Dan Tri

Big developments boost Vietnam by billons

2009-10-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The total foreign direct investment (FDI) may reach $20 billion in October, which means that the FDI attraction plan target is met two months early.

The worry about the possible failure of attracting FDI in 2009 due to the impact of the global economic crisis has been lifted after local newspapers reported investment commitments in big multi-billion dollar projects.

Dragon Beach Resort projects in the central province of Quang Nam by Tano Capital LLC and Global C&D Inc has just received approval from the Quang Nam People’s Committee. The project has the total investment capital of $4.15 billion.

In the southern province of Dong Nai, the Nhon Trach project - a new urban area by Malaysian Berjaya Group has received an investment license with the registered capital of two billion dollar.

This is the biggest ever real estate project in Dong Nai province. Located in the area of 600 hectares, Nhon Trach new urban area will become a satellite city near Long Thanh international airport, which, in the near future, will be the biggest airport in Vietnam.

The two big investment projects alone would be enough to raise the total registered FDI capital to $18.65 billion. Meanwhile, the figure announced by the Ministry of Planning and Investment on September 20 was $12.541 billion.

Meanwhile, the Phu Yen People’s Committee has promised to grant investment license to the US Galileo Investment Group’s Nam Tuy HoaCreative City which has the investment capital of $1.68 billion in the first phase.

Chairman of Phu Yen province Pham Ngoc Chi has affirmed that all procedures have been completed and that the project will be licensed on October 24, 2009.

Recently the f $1.7 billion Vung Ro oil refinery (a joint venture of UK’s Technostar Management Ltd and Russian Telloil Group) revealed plans to increase capital and speed up investment.

Representative said investors plan to ‘go faster’ with the investment project, i.e they will try to implement all targets of the projects immediately instead of implementing gradually in three phases. It seems that the capital arrangement for the project has been going more smoothly than previously expected, and that investors want to churn out products ready for the post-crisis period.

Regarding Nam Tuy Hoa Creative City, which is expected to get a license on October 24, the project investor has committed that the project will commence just two weeks after the licensing.

Elswhere Galileo Investment Group has proposed a huge project with a total investment capital of $11.4 billion. However, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has decided that the licensing for the rest of project will be considered only when the first phase shows success.

VietNamNet/DT

Foreign banks forced to focus on wholesale, are now eying retail

2009-10-14T23:02:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Foreign banks are expanding their network to try to penetrate Vietnamese markets.

In the latest report by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Vietnam has 51 credit institutions, including five 100 percent foreign owned banks, 38 foreign bank branches, four finance companies and four finance leasing companies belonging to foreign banks. In addition there are five joint venture banks with 19 branches.

The foreign-owned finance institutions are holding 10.9 percent of total assets and 11.8 percent of stockholder equity. The capital mobilized by the institutions accounts for 9.3 percent of total outstanding loans of the whole banking system and 34.5 percent of pretax profit of all commercial banks.

To date, wholesale remains the main business of foreign institutions, since foreign banks, due to the limitation on the number of retail branches they can set up, still cannot compete with domestic banks in retail banking. The main clients of the foreign banks are foreign invested projects and Vietnamese enterprises, which need capital in foreign currencies to import equipment and materials for domestic production.

With modern corporate governance technology, foreign banks are considered as having “high operation quality”. Their bad debt ratio is also at a comparatively low level. In 2008, the bad debt ratio of foreign banks was just 0.53 percent of total outstanding loans, while the ratio was 2.92 percent of the whole banking system.

Though foreign banks have been focusing on wholesale, they have also been paying attention to developing retail banking. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), Standard Chartered and then ANZ have announced retail banking services so far this year.

The current individual clients who use services of foreign banks are mostly those with high incomes. However, foreign bankers say that in the time to come, they will also target clients with medium income and small and medium businesses.

Foreign banks are not only trying to expand credit – they have also been raising capital investment in Vietnam by making capital contributions to Vietnamese finance institutions.

HSBC now holds a 20 percent of stakes of Techcombank. Standard Chartered Bank has increased its ownership ratio in Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) from 8.84 percent to 15 percent.

May Bank purchased An Binh bank’s stakes in August. Also in the same month, French Societe Generale S.A purchased 15 percent of stakes of SeABank.

Meanwhile, ANZ group has become a big shareholder of the Saigon Securities Incorporated (SSI).

In related news, Citibank on October 13 became the first American financial institution to open a retail operation in Vietnam. The branch in HCM City will provide deposit services to individual customers and remittance services

VietNamNet/LD

$1.2 billion in loans needed for metro

2009-10-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Tuoi Tre

Ho Chi Minh City is planning to borrow US$1.2 billion from international development banks for the construction of one of its six suburban underground rail routes.

The government approved Thursday the plan to borrow from the Asian Development Bank, Germany’s KfW, and the European Investment Bank.

The 19km-long rail route, from An Suong Crossroad in district 12 to District 2’s Thu Thiem Peninsula, is estimated to cost $1.247 billion.

It is usually called the second rail route, with the first under construction to connect downtown’s Ben Thanh Market with Suoi Tien Park in District 9.

Four other routes of the city’s underground rail network include the National Highway 13 – Western Bus Station – Tan Kien Commune in Binh Chan District, Ben Cat – Nguyen Van Linh, Saigon Bridge – Can Giuoc Bus Station, and Ba Queo – Phu Lam Crossroad.

The six routes, slated for completion in 2020 will connect HCMC to the three neighboring provinces of Binh Duong in the north, Dong Nai in the northeast, and Long An in the south.

VinaPhone prepares 3G service debut

2009-10-13T21:04:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – VinaPhone will become the country's first mobile operator to provide third-generation (3G) technology based services from today, October 12, it has announced.

The firm said that it had successfully tested 3G-based services, including video calls, mobile TV and broadband internet services via mobile phone.

VinaPhone's deputy director Ho Duc Thang said that the company had finalised the installation of thousands of 3G transceiver base stations and the connection between its current 2G and 3G networks.

Thang said that VinaPhone would announce 3G service charges on the launch day, promising that they would be affordable to most Vietnamese subscribers.

Officially launched in June 1996, Vinaphone has become one of the top three mobile operators in Viet Nam with nearly 13 million subscribers.

To prepare for the launch, just a month after being licensed by the ministry, Vinaphone signed contracts with Motorola and Ericsson to provide 3G technology and equipment.

Besides VinaPhone, the ministry in mid-August also granted licences to another three companies Viettel, MoteiFone and the joint venture between EVN Telecom and Hanoi Telecom to provide 3G services in the country.

The four firms plan to invest VND33 trillion (US$1.85 billion) in the next three years to develop 3G mobile telecom systems, including 30,000 transmission stations.

Viettel, MobiFone and EVN Telecom-Hanoi Telecom are also testing their networks and will offer new services as soon as possible. If they don't meet the deadline for supplying 3G services, which is nine months after the day they received the licence, they will be fined.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Vietnamese anti-virus software to enter US market

2009-10-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

BkavPro 2009 Internet Security.

VietNamNet Bridge – BkavPro 2009 Internet Security, anti-virus software made by a Vietnamese company, will be sold on the US market within the next two months, Nguyen Tu Quang, general director of Bach Khoa Internetwork Security (Bkis), said October 7.

The product has eight new features, including: personal firewall, reputation-based detection and parental control.

It will cost around US$40 a year.

Bkis also opened a customer care center in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh district on October 7 to support its customers in southern provinces.

VietNamNet/SGGP

EU Commission wants to keep dumping penalties on Chinese, Vietnamese shoes

2009-10-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge — The European Commission has proposed to extend penalty taxes on Chinese and Vietnamese shoe imports by another 15 months, according to Agence France Press.

The French newswire reported on 12 October that an internal EC document recommends renewal of anti-dumping duties, essentially fines for exporting goods below production cost, on footware from China and Vietnam. The penalties were first applied in October 2006 and have so far cost manufacturers with operations in those countries hundreds of millions of euros.

The provisions were set to expire at the end of the year but according to the document the Commission will recommend that they are renewed, saying that the European footwear industry would suffer "in the short and medium term" if the tariffs were scrapped immediately.

The proposed 15 month extension still needs the approval of the EU's 27 member states before it can come into effect and the measures have regularly been a source of conflict between them. The main vote faultline, says AFP, has run between Europe's economically liberal north, hostile in principle to anti-dumping measures, and the more protectionist south, sympathetic to fears that cheap Chinese imports could undermine EU producers.

Bigger manufacturers that make their shoes in Asia, such as Diesel, Adidas or Puma, are also fighting against the renewal of the shoe tariffs. EU anti-dumping measures levy import duties of 16.5 percent on Chinese shoes with leather uppers and 10 percent on the same kind of shoes fromVietnam.

EC data shows that Chinese and Vietnamese shoes make up 30 percent of the EU footwear market.

AFP/VietNamNet

“If Vietnamese business people believe in their products so will consumers”

2009-10-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – On October 13^th Vietnamese Entrepreneurs’ Day is celebrated with the aim of promoting Made in Vietnam goods. Tuoi tre asked two business people their thoughts on Vietnamese goods and on the campaign itself.

Tran Thanh Sang, managing director of Viet Fashion Company:

Tuoi tre: Do you, as a consumer, use Vietnamese goods in your daily life?

Tran Thanh Sang: I don’t care if the shirt I wear has foreign brand name or it is made domestically. The only thing I care is that if it fits me and suits my taste.

However, today I am wearing made in Vietnam clothes and I also wear the clothes made by our company when I appear at important events and I feel comfortable and self-confident. My clothes are mostly made in Vietnam, and I only buy foreign made clothes when I cannot find suitable Vietnamese made ones.

TT: What do you think Vietnam needs to do to encourage consumers to buy Vietnamese goods?

Sang: Patriotism is a part of every Vietnamese person. However, businesses should ask themselves what are they doing to persuade consumers their products are worth using. Consumers nowadays are very smart and they will not spend much on low quality products. Products have to offer value for money.

TT: Do you think it’s illogical if two shirts of the same quality and similar design are selling at quite different price levels just because one of them is a foreign, while the other is made in Vietnam?

No, I don’t. Consumers purchase the expensive internationally-made shirt because they are choosing the more well known brand name. A Nike pair of shoes made in Vietnamcosts a little over $10, but they are selling at over $100 in the US and when they return to Vietnam. That is down to the fame of Nike. The brand name is expensive because its owners have invested many years working hard to promte it.

TT: Do you think that Vietnamese businesses can have ever have such strong brand names?

Sang: A foreign friend of mine told me that Vietnam is unlikely to have companies with international stature. He has believes that in Vietnam, good experts do not share their skills or work for the same company. Instead they all want to set up a business of their own. A company that wants to compete internationally needs many good staff.

TT: The media has recently reported cases of businesses importing low-quality products to sell domestically. Is this a moral issue?

Sang: Business people should imagine they are providing products for their own families’ use and therefore they need to provide the best products they can.

My family and friends are using products made by my own company and I hear a lot of feedback from them. We have recognised that we still cannot always control quality absolutely.

Bui Dinh Thang, deputy general director of Nhon Hoa Trade and Production Company

Tuoi tre: What do you think Vietnamese businesses need to do to build up consumers confidence in Vietnamese goods?

Bui Dinh Thang: In order to persuade consumers to purchase Vietnamese goods instead of foreign goods, businesses have to offer good products, reasonable prices and have to protect their image.

Businesses need to listen to consumers so they can meet their demands.

After the campaign on buying Vietnamese goods was launched, we have taken goods to rural areas to sell. We are aware, however, that rural residents often do not have as much money, therefore, we set the prices at 3-7 percent lower than in cities.

TT: High flyers often think that only using well known foreign brand names properly befits their stature. How can we change this attitude?

Thang: Vietnamese business people have a social responsibility. It should never be the case that a business person who produces fish sauce, does not use it himself and instead buys imported sauce.

Only when businessmen believe in their own products will they be able to persuade customers to believe in them too.

There are many good made-in-Vietnam products with reasonable prices and there are no good reasons not to use them. I wear Biti’s sandals, Asia sports shoes, I purchase food at Co-op Mart and wear Dong Xuan T-shirts.

VietNamNet/TT

Coal exports hit 13.5 million tonnes

2009-08-10T04:41:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam exported more than 13.5 million tonnes of coal in the first seven months of this year, equal to the same period last year.

Coal for both domestic consumption and export earned Vinacomin more than VND20 trillion.

Buyers were primarily China, Japan, Thailand, India, Malaysia, South Korea and Europe, said Tran Xuan Hoa, general director of the Viet Nam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin).

Local consumption was 10.98 million tonnes, also equal to the same period last year.

Coal for both domestic consumption and export earned Vinacomin more than VND20 trillion (US$1.1 billion), of which VND12 trillion ($667 million) was from exports, Hoa said.

Vinacomin plans to export 3 million tonnes of coal this year.

Despite its estimated 42 billion tonnes of coal reserves, the company is struggling to cater for steeply rising domestic energy demand of 17-20 per cent a year and plans to lower its export target.

Coal for China

Vinacomin was expected to export 10.5 million tonnes of coal to China for the second half of this year and the first quarter of next year, said Pham Minh Chau, head of Vinacomin's export department.

The coal utility would sell 2.5 million tonnes of fine anthracite coal to China through the Van Gia transhipment area in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh by directly signing contracts with Chinese companies. Coal could be exchanged for goods under these contracts, he said.

More than 336,000 tonnes of coal was sold through the Van Gia transhipment area from mid-May to mid-July at a price of $38 per tonne, representing 93.92 per cent of the volume signed with Chinese companies.

Of the figure, Hon Gai fine anthracite coal 11C accounted for 160,000 tonnes, the official added.

The Hon Gai fine anthracite coal 11A sold under contracts signed between the two governments was sold for $46 per tonne last June, Chau said.

Direct coal trading between Vietnamese and Chinese companies resumed last March after it was banned in May 2007 due to rampant coal smuggling in Quang Ninh.

Within a day in May 2007, 104 ships were seized in Van Gia for illegal coal transport because domestic prices were lower than international ones.

Chinese buyers were small companies in Guangxi province's Dongxing, the only port linking China and Viet Nam by both land and water, Chau said.

Now demand for coal is not as high as in early 2008 due to the global economic crisis, Chau said.

China, the world's largest coal producer and consumer, is expected to be a net coal importer for the first time in 20 years, as low prices in the international market and sluggish demand discourage exporters, according to analysts.

Several analysts have forecast that Chinese domestic coal prices, now hovering around $89 a tonne, could rise in the coming months on the back of summer demand and economic growth. China's power output rose on the year in June for the first time since last October, thanks to a pick-up in the economy and rising temperatures.

Supply has also been improving, as some of China's small coal mines are slowly returning to production, months after being shut down for strict safety inspections ordered by the central government.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Vietnam’s writers try to organize to deal with web giant Google

2009-08-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Confusion still reigns in publishing circles over Google’s offer to pay substantial copyright royalities in exchange for the right to digitize and sell electronic copies of over 4000 Vietnamese literary works. Meanwhile, the Vietnam Copyright Center is seeking writers’ proxies to n egotiate with Google.

Google is ‘digitizing’ printed books to build a giant electronic library. However, when it began quietly to carry out this project, it was sued by American writers publishers. This case has implications for authors worldwide because the books that have been or will be digitalized number several millions and they are in at least 70 languages.

Google responded to the move of US publishers and the American Writers’ Guild by proposing, in 2004, to pay royalties to publishers and authors -- $60 per each work digitized, plus 63 percent of income it earns from selling these works in the future. This became the basis of an agreement between the US writers and publishers, on one side, and Google, on the other.

An American court is scheduled to review the arrangement between Google and the American publishers and authors on October 7^th 2009. This hearing is named “The Trial of Equality”. But is it really fair?

Firstly, Google has digitalized thousands of books but it hasn’t announced the book titles. Google claimed that it acts like this to avoid fraud in declaration.

Secondly, Google seems to have very properly offered three options for publishers and authors: they can agree to the royalties of $60/work and 63% of future profit, or they can reject Google’s proposal and pursue the lawsuit, or they can ask Google to remove their works from its database.

It seems that publishers and writers are not coerced to cooperate with Google. However, if Vietnamese authors agree with Google, are they sure that they won’t suffer losses? Or, If they don’t agree, do they have to sue Google in the US? Currently, many developing countries like Vietnam have no means to find out if Google commits a fraud in the number of digitalized books or not.

Another question: once Vietnamese authors “sell” their works to Google, can local websites use these works?

Vietnam Literary Copyright Centre (VLCC) Director Doan Thi Lam Luyen said that Google doesn’t acquire exclusive rights. The VLCC proposes to represent Vietnamese writers in the negotiation with Google and it is calling on writers to authorize it to protect their interest in the case.

Luyen said Vietnamese authors may be still confused in this case but if they don’t unite and appoint a representative in this case, it is evident that their interests will be affected.

She thinks it will be very difficult for writers to negotiate individually with Google or begin a lawsuit against it. On the other hand, if they withdraw their works from Google’s database, they will lose a chance to advertise their works and Vietnamese literature in general to the world.

VLCC joined the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisation (IFRRO) in March 2009. The membership is useful for the VLCC in such cases, Luyen said.

Luyen also said that IFRRO’s member organizations and IFRRO are very prudent in the Google case. VLCC established an information sharing and legal consulting assistance network in early July 2009 with copyright protection agencies in many countries, such as Norcode, NFF from Norway, Cedro from Spain and VG Wort from Germany.

It is difficult to directly contact with Google at present because the October 7 hearing is pending. Members of IFRRO are working with Kinsella Novak, a consulting firm based in Washington, to promote media activities and see to legal formalities related to this case.

If Vietnamese writers agree with Google, Vietnam will have to send the list of literary works to Google by January 5^th 2010.

VLCC and the Vietnamese Writers’ Association last week organized a talk with writers about the Google case.

VLCC’s lawyer, Do Khac Chien, explained to writers that Google will not pay copyright royalities for all literatury works that it digitalized. Only works that were published and distributed as books after January 5, 2009 and are protected under Vietnamese law will receive compensation. Google don’t have the exclusive right for these works.

Chien advised Vietnamese authors to work collectively to protect their interests. He said that the European Union is organizing a meeting to discuss this matter on September 7^th.

A VLCC representative said that at present, the centre only represents the authors of fictional works. Of over 4000 works written by over 3000 Vietnamese authors which Google has digitalized, only one third are fiction.

However, authors of non-fiction works who are not members of the Vietnamese Writers’ Association can also authorize VLCC to protect their interests.

VLCC is asking the Vietnam Writers’ Association for authority to represent its members to negotiate with Google. Members who don’t want to authorize VLCC can individually refuse permission.

VLCC said that it will ask that if Google uses images and information from literary works to introduce, attract or survey users, it pay a fee for that, too.

VLCC Director Lam Luyen told writers that the centre will not collect funds from writers to follow this case. Instead, whenever they receive royalities from Google, they will extract 20 percent for the centre.

“I’m afraid that actually, that’s not going to be enough for us to pay for our staff who are involved in this case. If writers do it on their own, I’m sure that they will have to pay a lot more,” Luyen said.

Non-fiction writers on July 29 applied to the Ministry of Information and Communications for permission to establish the ‘Association of Non-fiction Writers and Translators.’

VietNamNet/ANTG/TT&VH/TP

Banks look west towards land of Angkor

2009-08-04T23:06:00.002-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Following Agribank and Sacombank, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has just purchased a private Cambodian bank and opened a representative office in the country. Other Vietnamese banks are also eyeing the market.

The door is now open wide

The ceremony on announcing BIDV's and Vietnam Airlines' investment projects in Cambodia

By June 30, 2009, Cambodia had 25 commercial banks, including four foreign bank branches and 21 local banks (local banks also mean 100 percent foreign-owned banks), six specialised banks, two representative offices and micro-financial institutions and registered foreign exchange conversion offices.

According to Tran Bac Ha, Chairman of BIDV, in general, the banking system in Cambodia remains small. By early January 2009, the total assets of the commercial banks in the country reached 4,284.9 million, or just 28 percent of BIDV’s total assets. The four biggest banks in Cambodia hold 64 percent of total assets, 72 percent of total outstanding loans and 70 percent of the total deposits of the whole banking system.

Cambodia is now opening its doors wide to foreign investors, which explains why 2/3 of the banks here are foreign-owned banks, which hold 65 percent of the market share.

However, banking products remain very poor with deposit, lending and payment services the three most popular products. Meanwhile, card services remain limited, the interbank market has not developed, derivatives products and a bond market have not appeared yet.

According to Vietnam’s trade counsellor to Cambodia, the investment and trade relations between the two countries have been developing strongly. To date, Vietnam has 400 representative offices in the country, 28 investment projects totalling $228 million, or 28 percent of Vietnam’s outward investment.

Joint venture, representative office or definitive purchase?

The counsellor says that as Cambodia is now in the first stage of development, it offers easy conditions for joining the market, thus there are big opportunities for Vietnamese banks to conquer the market.

Before BIDV made its trade and representative presence in Cambodia, Vietnam had two representatives in Cambodia already, Agribank and Sacombank, which opened branches in June 2009.

But no one is sure which mode of investment Vietnamese banks should follow: gradually penetrate the market and expand market share by setting up joint ventures with Cambodia partners, open representative offices, set up branches or purchase Cambodian banks outright and then restructure them?

An official of a state-owned bank said that the last solution proves to be the best one as the technical barriers set by Cambodia remain relatively low, and there are private banks for Vietnamese banks to negotiate to purchase.

However, if Vietnamese banks choose the solution, they need to have high corporate governance and finance capabilities and good human resources. Moreover, they need to have good negotiation skills to purchase the banks at the best prices. After the deals are made, Vietnamese banks will have to spend years restructuring the Cambodian banks.

Regarding human resources, Vietnam Airlines once also met difficulties when it teamed up with a Cambodian partner to set up Cambodia Angkor Air. Vietnam Airlines had to recruit Khmer people who are living in the Mekong Delta for the joint-venture airline. However, these people were not able to begin work immediately. They had to undergo training courses before they could start.

Similarly, BIDV has decided to send the Director of LaoViet Bank from Vientiane to hold the post of Director of PIBank in Cambodia, and send key personnel from Vietnam to Cambodia.

The said official also mentioned the forming up of joint-venture banks, but he said that this is not really a good choice, since Vietnamese banks would not have a lot of power in the joint ventures. Meanwhile, it is not easy to find suitable partners for such ‘marriages’.

The official said that it would be better to open representative offices of bank branches.

Sacombank, one of the biggest banks of Vietnam, spent one year surveying the Cambodian market before it opened a branch there.

VietNamNet/TBKTVN

Three big conglomerates to control power sources

2009-08-04T23:06:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The Prime Minister has decided that three economic groups, namely the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin), will hold the controlling proportion in total power capacity.

The Government Office has released a document announcing the Prime Minister’s decision on the plan to restructure power generation and supply and develop the power market.

The plan was compiled by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and submitted to the Government in December 2008. This is an important preparation step for the forming up of the competitive power market in Vietnam in 2024.

The Prime Minister has issued concrete instructions on three main issues: power generation projects, electricity prices and the restructuring of Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

Regarding the restructuring of EVN, EVN will be split into five power corporations across the country. The Prime Minister has assigned EVN to build up a plan to reorganise the power generation units into independent generation companies and submit the plan to the Prime Minister in the first quarter of 2010.

EVN will also have to submit to the Prime Minister in the third quarter of the year a plan to establish power distribution corporations, including corporations in the north, south, central region, Hanoi and HCM City which will operate under the mode of holding corporations. The corporations will be set up on the basis of reorganising the existing power companies No 1, 2, 3 and the companies in Hanoi, HCM City and local companies which now belong to EVN.

Regarding power sources, the Prime Minister has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to check the implementation of the projects listed in the approved power development strategy (strategy 6). The projects whose investors are not capable of implementing them will be given to other investors. Those projects which still do not have investors need to find investors soon to stay on schedule. EVN, PetroVietnam and Vinacomin will be the priority investors.

Regarding the three groups, the Prime Minister said that the restructuring of power generation and supply needs to aim to gradually apply the market mechanism in the power sector. The electricity price needs to be reasonable to attract investment in the power sector. EVN, PetroVietnam and Vinacomin will still hold the controlling proportions in the total capacity of power sources.

As far as electricity prices, the Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to join forces with the Ministries of Finance and Planning and

Investment to build up a mechanism on electricity pricing. Electricity prices need to be high enough to ensure profit for investors. The electricity pricing will follow the market mechanism, while subsidisation will only be applied in special areas, including remote and mountainous areas, poor households and for some other special subjects.

In order to help fix the problems in electricity price negotiation between investors and EVN, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will set up a taskforce on electricity price negotiations.

Electricity prices will be negotiated based on investment costs for the technologies of power production, and will ensure reasonable profit and benefits for all involved parties.

The restructuring of power generation and distribution needs to aim to provide high-quality electricity in accordance with demand and in a safe mode. The forming up and development of the competitive electricity market needs to go step by step and in a sustainable way.

The Prime Minister has also assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to promulgate a document on national power system management, which stipulates punishments for companies which do not obey regulations when joining the power market.

Phuoc Ha

More steel projects kicked off, despite warnings

2009-07-21T20:56:00.003-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – More and more steel projects have been licenced by local authorities though experts have given warnings about the potential consequences of excess steel production capacity.

On July 19, 2009, the 500,000 tonne Thai Trung laminating steel project was officially kicked off in Thai Nguyen after the EPC contract was signed with the contractor Danieli.

The noteworthy thing is that the project is not listed in the overall strategy on steel industry development. The project is also not on the list of the 32 unprogrammed steel projects that the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) reported to the Government in early 2009.

In January 2009, MOIT sent a report to the government after checking the implementation of the overall strategy on steel industry development for 2007-2015, showing 32 projects which were not listed in the strategy but were still licenced by local authorities.

Of these projects, there were three prominent ones: the one invested in by Formosa Group in Ha Tinh, the one invested in by Lions –Vinashin in Ninh Thuan and China Sumiki Vietnam approved by the Prime Minister. Moreover, there were five other projects which got the okay from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. As such, the other 24 projects are completely unprogrammed, while local authorities still licenced the projects, ignoring the overall strategy and related regulations.

Though experts have warned about the possible excess of steel production capacity, and though steel mills complained about big losses and production stagnation in 2008, the start of Thai Trung project shows that the steel industry is still attractive to investors. The Vietnam Steel Corporation, the state-owned corporation which is considered the backbone of Vietnam’s steel industry, is contributing 30 percent to the project.

Thai Trung is not the only such steel project. A lot of localities and enterprises have reportedly contacted the Ministry of Industry and Trade, requesting that the ministry add their projects to its steel industry development strategy.

Even Dac Nong province, which does not have any advantages in the development of steel projects, including seaport, iron ore or infrastructure, has also requested a 500,000 tonne steel project be added to the list of projects.

A joint-stock company in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, which is considered as ‘having suffered from indigestion’ with too many steel projects, has also asked concerned agencies to add a new 2 million tonne project to the list of projects.

After the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent a document to local authorities, asking them to declare the names of projects which were licenced but not named in the development strategy, a lot of new projects were mentioned.

One problem is that most of the new projects that localities have mentioned are just ones aiming to make construction steel based on imported ingot steel. Meanwhile, the construction steel capacity of operational steel mills and the mills to become operational in the time to come will reach 7 million tonnes by 2010. Meanwhile, the domestic demand is estimated at just 4 million tonnes, while the possibility of exporting products remains dim.

VietNamNet/DT

MOF considering calculating PIT based on time of payment

2009-07-21T20:56:00.001-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Of the two methods of implementing the collection of personal income tax (PIT), the Ministry of Finance is learning towards the method based on payment time instead of the origin of income.

The information was revealed by an official of the Ministry of Finance. Being one of the compilers of the tax, the official said that the tax should be imposed on all kind of earnings generated after a certain time without any discrimination as far as income sources.

A lot of businesses decided to give 2010 Tet bonuses to their staffs in June 2009 in an effort to help them avoid tax. If the method of calculating tax based on payment time is approved, the bonuses will be exempted from tax because the PIT will not begin to be imposed until July 1, 2009.

Some enterprises also paid July’s salary to their staffs in June in order to help them avoid taxes.

The Ministry of Finance has submitted the two methods of calculating tax to the Government, clearly stipulating that the ministry prefers the method that will exempt the tax for the first six months of the year, which the Government once agreed to.

Earlier this year, the Government announced it would delay collecting the tax for the first six months of the year as part of a group of measures to stimulate the national economy.

The National Assembly, in its session in May, approved the plan to exempt all personal income tax from January to the end of June 2009. However, it has been asked whether the tax would be assessed on sources of income or income received within a certain frame of time.

The said above official emphasised that all things for the personal income tax collection have been okayed and there will be no problem in the implementation.

“We have had working sessions with some businesses and we have been told that there will be no difficulties in calculating tax. The businesses will only have to make some changes with accountancy software,” he said.

VietNamNet/VTC

Garment industry optimistic about exports in 2009

2009-07-21T20:55:00.003-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – If businesses exert themselves, Vietnam could obtain the garment export turnover of $10 billion this year, $900 million more than in 2008, according to the minister of industry and trade.

According to Business Monitor International (BMI), a market surveyor, though Vietnam remains a medium-size garment producer, it has obtained satisfactory growth rates recently and is now 36^th in the world in the added value brought about by the industry. Meanwhile, Vietnam has seen positive signs from new export markets, especially from Japan.

Time to expand market

Also according to BMI, among the 17 categories of products worth over $10 million Vietnam exports to Japan, 11 of them have seen increases in turnover. T-shirts, for example, have witnessed the increase of 161 percent, while dresses by 58 percent and kimonos 43 percent. It is expected that the turnover of garments exported to Japan in 2009 will increase by 20 percent over 2008.

Moreover, Vietnam has new markets, including Egypt, Turkey and Eastern Europe. It has also got orders to export garment materials to China.

According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), there has recently been an important event for Vietnam’s garment and fashion industry: The Asian Fashion Association has accepted Vietnam as the 6^th member of the association. The official admission is expected to take place in November 2009.

Vietnam’s membership in the most prestigious fashion association in Asia will help Vietnam’s fashion industry get more advantages in promoting trade. In addition, the announcement that ASEAN’s three leading garment export countries, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, may set up an alliance by the end of the year, means that Vietnam may be able to boost exports in the region and cut production costs.

Orders enough to ensure jobs through year’s end

General Director of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) Vu Duc Giang said that garment export turnover was $4 billion in the first six months of the year, down by 4.7 percent from the same period of last year. However, when the world’s garment demand decreased by 15 percent, Vietnam’s export decrease of 5 percent proves to be a satisfactory result.

Vinatex, which is the biggest garment group in Vietnam, fulfilled 148 percent of its six-month business plan.

According to garment companies, unlike the first quarter of the year, when many companies had to narrow production due to decreases in the number of export orders, a lot of orders from the US and EU have come recently. Some big corporations have reported they have enough contracts to ensure jobs until the end of the year.

Representative from Viet Tien Garment Corporation said that the corporation now has to mobilise workers from different sources to implement export orders, which are 20 percent higher than those in recent months. Nam Dinh Garment Company has reported it has enough orders until the first quarter of 2010.

Viet Thang, Nha Be, Thang Loi and Phong Phu have also got a lot of orders, saying that loyal partners have come back to place orders after having gone absent for a period.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu said that despite the big difficulties, if businesses exert themselves, Vietnam will still be able to export $10 billion worth of garment products this year, $900 million more than in 2008.

VietNamNet/NLD