finance & business news 31 october 2017 - hkbav.org power market to resume operation on november...

31 October 2017

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reference exchange rate down 6 dong 1Cautiousness needed in monetary policy loosening 2Will OMO interest rate tool be used? 3VAMC increases interest rate applicable to acquired bad

debts to 9.9pct 3Agribank, VAMC sign contract to resolve bad debts 4Vietnam attends meetings of International Association of

Deposit Insurers 4Intense competition seen in retail insurance segment 5Is PGBank still performing well in spite of not merging into

Vietinbank? 6Nam A Bank allowed to provide foreign exchange service 6FPT University intends to accept bitcoin despite SBV's ban 7Industrial production index on growth track in ten months 7HCM City: October's CPI up 0.63pct 8HCM City's FDI attraction doubles in Jan-Oct 8Import-export revenue hit nearly 38 billion USD in October 9Aquatic exports estimated at 6.73 billion USD 9Vietnam earns nearly 210 million USD in October fruit, vegetable

exports 9Australia seen becoming huge market for Vietnam exporters 10Rice farmers rue missing out on price rise 10Vietnam seeks to raise cashew output 11Cashew industry faces volatile weather, pests 12MoNRE looks to cut business conditions 13Taxation authorities propose delaying e-invoices till July 2019 14HCM City mulls higher tax on speculative property trading 15Agro-forestry SOEs to be audited in 2019: deputy PM 15Firms sprouting up nationwide 17SoEs struggle to attract investors in equitisation 18Local telecom market saturated 18

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Business Briefs 31 October, 2017 19VN stocks rise further on energy 20Only HNX-Index loses ground 21Brokerages concerned about trade volume 21

Banks, energy firms extend the market's gains 22Many real estate firms record profit surge 22Masan Group postpones VND3 trillion bond issue plan 24IPO for Vietnamese property developer Becamex IDC aims to raise

$425 million 24Omni-channel vital for retailers' survival 25Competitive power market to resume operation on November 1 25How much is 'Vietnamese content' in 'Vietnamese goods'? 25SCIC under divestment pressure in Q4 26Property developers join hands with foreign management 27Vietnamese accelerator helps launch 11 startups 28French consultant hired to give 'objective view' of Saigon's

airport expansion plan 29International tourist arrivals hit 10.5m in 10 months 29HCM City launches dental-service tours 30Phu Quoc moves towards smart city status 31More pork traders adhere to city's traceability programme 31Nutritionists express concerns about over-consumption of pork 32Young scientists seek ways to boost firms' competitiveness 33Cooperative gets $19k to label mangoes 33RADCC project brings clean water to 6,500 Ben Tre households 33Vietnamese search engine Coc Coc attracts 23 million users 34VNPT enters into joint venture with Burma firm 34Wiping the floor 35Navigos introduces first application for IT job seekers 36Hoa Sen opens largest plant in central region 36Ministry proposes to consider Uber, Grab as transport firms 37Japan's Miniso to expand in Vietnam 37Telcos complain about unreasonable telecom charges 38Mitsubishi Vietnam recalls more than 2,500 Pajero units 39Vinamilk tops list of prestigious food beverage firms in 2017 39Viettel wins clutch of International Business Awards 39Smokeless charcoal wins agricultural start-up competition 40Conference aims to strengthen women's role in digital economy 41HCM City to host farm produce fair 41HCM City Vietnam Sales & Marketing Camp set for Nov 42

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FINANCEReference exchange rate down 6 dong

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| TIN TUC

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) set its reference dong/US dollar exchange rate at 22,471 dong/US dollar on October 31, down six dong from the previous day.With the current +/- 3 percent dong/US dollar trading band, the ceiling exchange rate is 23,138 dong per US dollar and the floor rate is 21,790 dong per US dollar.The exchange rate at major commercial banks was relatively stable in the morning.Vietcombank set 22,685 dong (buying) and 22,755 dong (selling), per US dollar, up five dong in both prices from yesterday afternoon.Similarly, BIDV also listed at 22,685-22,755 dong/US dollar, up five dong in both prices from the afternoon of the previous day.Meanwhile, Vietinbank purchased and sold US dollar at 22,670 dong and 22,770 dong per US dollar, unchanged from October 30.

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Vietnam finance & business 31 October 2017

Cautiousness needed in monetary policy loosening

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DIEN DAN DOANH NGHIEP

The pressure on implementation of loosening monetary policy to support growth will still be a key task of the State Bank in Q4/2017. However, the regulator needs to have certain cautiousness with the newly injected capital, especially in the context that in-flation tends to increase quickly again.In the government's regular meeting in August 2017, the prime minister asked the State Bank to strive to reduce lending rates by 0.5 percent while loosening the credit growth to 21 percent instead of 18 percent as originally planned. The increase in credit ceiling in each specific bank will be different depending on the State Bank's assessment about operational scale, credit scale and credit safety ratio.As of September 20, 2017, credit just grew 11.02 percenta rather low figure if consider-ing the correlation with the expectations and targets for this entire year. As such, to complete the growth target of 21 percent, in the last three months of the year, credit must grow 10 percent (or an average of 3.3 percent per month), equal to the fact that about 552 trillion dong will flow into the economy.In order to have such a large amount of capital, the State Bank must calculate to have a reasonable money supply so as not to cause the banking sector to face difficulties in liquidity, even to ensure the system's liquidity abundance to create favourable condi-tions for banks to reduce lending rates by 0.5 percent as directed by the prime minister.Facing those pressures, BVSC said the State Bank will continue implementing the loos-ening of money supply in Q4, possibly by injecting dong to purchase foreign currency (if the developments of FDI, FII and remittances are favourable).The issuance of T-bills will continue but the withdrawal amount may be lower than the amount of money pumped in order to achieve the target of creating abundant liquidity for banks as analysed above.In terms of interest rates, it is unlikely that lending rates will decrease on a large scale in Q4 as per the expectation of the government leader. The reason is in Q4, the capital demand increases, and liquidity is often affected by seasonal factor so banks will not risk lowering deposit rates. When deposit rates do not decrease, it is very difficult to expect lending rates to fall, except for some banks that are likely to cut administrative costs or have "lightened" their provision for bad debt.In another perspective, after plunging in Q2 due to the sharp fall in pork meat, infla-tion in Q3quickly rebounded with the monthly average of 0.54 percent (compared to -0.23 percent in Q2 and 0.3 percent in Q1).It is forecasted that in Q4, the CPI will continue to trend up due to some reasons such as the sharp increase in food prices resulted by calamities, the roadmap for adjustment of heath care service price for those who do not have insurance. Although the core in-flation index (excluding the price of food, petrol, commodities managed by the State) still remains low (1.32 percent), and the total inflation in 2017 is still within control (about 4-4.5 percent), early signals about the rebound of CPI needs to be closely man-aged by the State Bank to have reasonable decision about the degree of money supply loosening.In addition, after the unexpected sharp increase in Q3 (7.46 percent), the prospect of completing the government's GDP growth target at 6.7 percent has been much more feasible. The task to apply all measures to help the growth achieve the target at the cur-rent moment has been less severe at the end of Q2.Therefore, the State Bank does not necessarily have to accelerate the banking system to complete the credit growth target of 21 percent at any cost if there are early signals that inflation will be out of control, not just in Q4/2017 but in the entire year 2018.As per BVSC, instead of putting all the burden on monetary policy, if it still wants to boost GDP growth, the government needs to be more drastic in the monetary policy, i.e. accelerating the disbursement of public investment especially government bonds (attaining seven percent of the estimate as of the end of September). This will both help the economy to grow while avoiding the waste of mobilising the government bonds (not being able to be disbursed while the State budget still bears the burden of interest rate repayment).

Will OMO interest rate tool be used?

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY

In early March 2015, HSBC launched a fairly firm forecast that the State Bank of Viet-nam (SBV) may cut interest rates on the Open Market Operation (OMO) from 5 percent

Intellasia 31 October 2017 2 / 42

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to 4.5 percent per annum right in the week.However, over two years have passed, that forecast has not come true yet. The OMO interest rates have been a "super reserve tool" for monetary policy until now.At the time of HSBC's forecast, the operations of banks were in post-Lunar New Year period. In this period, cash flows often return to banks after the peak season for pay-ment.In the last two years, SBV has even resumed bill issuance to draw back money. In the context of abundant liquidity and available capital, interest rates are likely to cool down or at least become less stressful. The OMO interest rates, accordingly, have be-come a "reserve tool" which can be used when there is a need for intervention.Certainly, there are still requirements for balancing and reserves regarding inflation and exchange rate, but the above mentioned analysis may be the reason that SBV has not adjusted OMO interest rates. In addition to the value of intervening which has been temporarily frozen because there has been no new transactions in a long time, the value of signalling of OMO interest rates has also become stiff as the rates have been kept unchanged at 5 percent per annum throughout the years, although the market and the banking system have always been moving.However, the operator must have a reason. It can be thought that, when the market and banking system, in terms of liquidity and interest rates, are still well self-sustain-ing, such tool has not yet need to be used.In fact, in the recent two years, the periodical reports of SBV at different times showed that the capital source of the system has been abundant at a reasonable level. At the same time, interest rates in the past two years have gradually been lowered.On the other hand, in 2015 the year when HSBC launched the above forecast, the situ-ation was significantly different than now. The situation regarding inflation is fairly similar in which inflation is also controlled at low level. However, it is an opposite sit-uation regarding exchange rate factor. In 2015, the USD/VND exchange rate was stressful and SBV had to continuously sell foreign currency to intervene. In 2017, it is completely different, as SBV has continuously acquired large amount of foreign cur-rency, which means that a huge amount of dong has been injected.That is also one of the reasons helping to explain why the OMO interest rates remain stable for a long time.However, in the end of 2017, it is forecasted that there will be new moves. The pressure on interest rates may increase in this peak season, while the government still requires a further 0.5 percent reduction of lending interest rates.If the above assumptions are pushed to a stressful point, the OMO channel may be un-frozen and the OMO "super reserve interest rate tool" may be used to give stability sig-nal and to also directly support credit institutions in terms of mortgage lending, thereby minimising the pressure on interest rates.In fact, in July 2017, after deciding to cut operating interest rates (on July 10th), at the meeting with credit institutions in some provinces in the central region, SBV's Gover-nor Le Minh Hung pointed out that SBV lowered operating rates, even on the OMO market to support banks to continue offering loans at lower interest rates, in order to assist enterprises and people borrowing capital.

VAMC increases interest rate applicable to acquired bad debts to 9.9pct

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| NDH

The Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) has announced the reference in-terest rate for bad debts purchased by the company to be applied in Q4 (October 1 De-cember 31, 2017).Accordingly, the interest rate for bad debts in dong will increase from 9.7 percent to 9.9 percent. The interest rate of bad debts in US dollar also swelled 0.1 percentage point to 4.9 percent. Meanwhile, for bad debts in euro , the reference interest rate applicable is 4.4 percent.Compared to the previous quarters, the interest rate applied for bad debts is at the highest level.The reference interest rate is calculated on a quarterly basis and equal to the average


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12-month deposit rates of four state-owned commercial banks plus an interest margin that is defined as the average between normal 12-month short-term lending rates of four state-owned commercial banks and the 12-month average deposit rates.Under Article No.28 of Circular 19/2013-NHNN on interest rate adjustment of bad debts acquired by VAMC, VAMC will consider adjusting the applicable interest rates for acquired bad debts to the reasonable level, meeting borrowers' debt repayment ca-pability, interest rate in the market in each period and agreements in credit agreement, loan agreement, entrustment contract, corporate bond purchase agreement, debt trad-ing agreement. VAMC is obliged to publicly announce reasonable interest rates on a quarterly basis.

Agribank, VAMC sign contract to resolve bad debts

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS

The Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank) and the Vi-etnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) late last week signed a cooperation agreement to resolve non-performing loans.Under the agreement, the two sides will cooperate to settle non-performing loans (NPLs) of Agribank that were sold to VAMC in accordance with legal regulations stat-ed in National Assembly's Resolution No. 42/2017/QH14, which came into effect on August 15 this year and is designed to quickly and definitely settle NPLs and collater-als.Agribank and VAMC will collaborate closely in the development of a roadmap for bad debt settlement for every single year in the 2017-22 period.For NPLs that VAMC bought by special bonds, the two sides will evaluate and classify the debts to propose the most appropriate and effective solutions.The State Bank of Vietnam has selected six credit institutions -- Sacombank, ACB, BIDV and Vietcombank, as well as VietinBank and Agribank -- to pioneer the imple-mentation of Resolution No. 42, aimed at speeding up bad debt settlement.VAMC bought more than VND25.53 trillion (US$1.12 billion) of NPLs from 14 credit institutions in the first nine months of this year.Since its establishment in 2013 until the end of September this year, the company has bought a NPLs worth a total or more than VND301 trillion from 42 credit institutions at VND270.92 trillion.http://bizhub.vn/banking/agribank-vamc-sign-contract-to-resolve-bad-debts_289805.html

Vietnam attends meetings of International Association of Deposit Insurers

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA

The Deposit Insurance of Vietnam (DIV) group attended the 16th annual meeting of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) and an annual conference hosted by the IADI and the Autorite des marches financiers in Quebec, Canada, in ear-ly October.The conference was themed "Deposit Insurance for All Adapting the Core Principles to Different Structures, Mandates and Types of Institutions."Speakers from deposit insurance organisations and financial service agencies of the UK, Canada, Germany, Jamaica and the World Bank discussed the functions, tasks and structures of deposit insurance organisations, and the alignment of these bodies' oper-ations with international practices.Participants underscored the importance of financial inclusion in developing a finan-cial system serving all people and providing services at reasonable prices, thus con-tributing to sustainable development.They also stressed the role of deposit insurance organisations in helping the finance-banking sector obtain financial inclusion targets.At the IADI's 16th meeting, the DIV and other participants approved administrative documents and were updated on the IADI's activities. They also elected the IADI Pres-ident, the Chair of the IADI Executive Council, the finance director and members of the executive council.-https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-attends-meetings-of-intl-association-of-deposit-


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insurers/120276.vnp

Intense competition seen in retail insurance segment

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DTCK

The insurance market is about to welcome another foreign life insurer at the end of 2017. Like other non-life foreign insurers when entering Vietnam, the retail sale seg-ment is the target in building brand as well as conquering the market.Data from Vietnam Insurance Association show that between 2011 and 2016, the rev-enue proportion for motor vehicle and health insurance the two key retail professions out of the total revenue of the entire non-life insurance market increased from 46 per-cent to 60 percent.This shows that the trend of promoting retail sales is taking place strongly in non-life insurance businesses. Besides, the participation of 29 insurers and one foreign insur-ance branch in Vietnam in this segment also caused the competition to be more intense.Retail products that are often promoted by insurers are motor insurance, health insur-ance, tourism insurance and some other products in the niche market with very small revenue.A few years ago, motor insurance used to be the centre of the competition to gain retail market share, increase revenue of most non-life insurers, then now the human health segment is forecasted to be the new "hot issue".Statistics of Vietnam Insurance Association show that in the first six months of 2017, the revenue of non-life insurance market reached nearly 20 trillion dong, up 12 per-cent, in which, motor vehicle insurance alone attained the revenue of nearly seven tril-lion dong, accounting for 33 percent of the total market revenue, up 13 percent year-on-year.In fact, the motor vehicle growth in the first six months of 2017 was not equal to the previous years because some insurers adjusted development plan in this segment to-wards quality, in order to reduce compensation rate.Another important retail product was health care insurance with the revenue in the first six months of the year to reach more than five trillion dong, accounting for 27 per-cent of the total revenue and growing 24 percent from the same period last year.To create competitive advantage, insurers are investing to bring focus products to niche markets, which is specific for each customer's requirement. For example, PTI has just launched Car 3 and Car 5 insurance products, with the premiums equal to only 50 percent to 70 percent of normal insurance premium.This product is aimed at customers having had driving experience and wanting to save time when filing claims. Or in 2016, Bao Viet introduced K-care insurance product, fo-cusing on protecting customers against the risks of cancer.Besides, products were packaged or tailored to customers' characteristics of each dis-tribution channel. With the same product line, if being sold via bancassurance, there will have different rights, fees and conditions compared to online and direct sales channels.Although revenue via online channel has not accounted for high proportion, to catch up with the currently fast growing online shopping trend, insurers are launching a se-ries of attractive promotion programmes for customers.Competition creates excitement for the market and brings about many more choices to customers. However, if the non-technical competition (reduction of fees, expansion of terms and conditions, etc.) took place, consumers will suffer from negative impacts due to market turbulence.For example, customers benefit from the low fee or incentives when insurers strength-en revenue, but may be difficult to renew or have to renew with high fees while insur-ers restructure after a period of hot growth.As for health insurance, some diseases have waiting time of more than one year, and if this year a customer purchases insurance but does not renew in the following year, he/she will suffer from disadvantages if unfortunately facing risks.This is what insurers need to look at thoroughly because the price war often did not bring about benefits to anyone. Businesses need to focus on improving service quality,


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paying attention to distribution system, sales process, etc. thereby bringing about the best products to customers.

Is PGBank still performing well in spite of not merging into Vietinbank?

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY

So far, the plan to merge Petrolimex Group Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PGBank) into Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Commerce (VietinBank) still has not been announced while the infeasibility has already been mentioned.Meanwhile, in PGBank, independent activity is still having new movements, and seems to be working well.Information released last week showed that in January-September 2017, PGBank at-tained nearly 136 billion dong pre-tax profit, doubling the same period of 2016. The to-tal assets as of September 30, 2017 reached 26.5 trillion dong, up 6.8 percent from the beginning of the year.Major activities grew significantly; loans to customers hit 19.5 trillion dong, up 11 per-cent. And an indicator of customers' confidence still shows good growth: deposits touched 20.8 trillion dong, up 14 percent.Another new development was noted: on October 17, PGBank's management board had a resolution on dividend payment plan to increase chartered capital at 5.5 percent in shares, and the chartered capital is expected to increase from three trillion dong to 3.165 trillion dong.The aforementioned dividend payment plan will be a new certificate for PGBank, after restructuring information with the merger plan on Vietinbank was put forward three years ago because under the current mechanism, in order for dividend to be paid, there must go through the strict approval of the State Bank with the requirement of ensuring healthy finance, putting for sufficient risk, and controlling bad debt at less than three percent.In January-September 2017, PGBank's bad debt tends to increase, from 2.45 percent at the beginning of the year to 2.67 percent but is still below the threshold of three per-cent.PGBank's aforementioned dividend payment plan is also a new point, which indirect-ly reflects the infeasibility in merger prospect with Vietinbank because merger plans, when implementing, often go along with the requirement on maintenance of the status quo.Earlier, at the annual general meeting in April 2017, Vietinbank said the merger with PGBank has not been completed though related documents had been submitted to the State Bank. After considering, the authority asked Vietinbank to review and update the result of PGBank share evaluation results while calculating and negotiating the share swap ratio between the two banks.The share swap ratio between these two banks used to be announced at 1:0.9, equal to one PGBank share for 0.9 Vietinbank share. This ratio used to generate many argu-ments in related analyses and comments.At the recent press conference at Vietnam M&A Forum 2017, Bui Huy Tho, Head of the Department for Management and Licensing of credit organisations and banking activity under the State Bank's Inspection and Supervision Agency said the plan to merge PGBank with VietinBank still have many barriers in the price negotiation proc-ess, and noticeably, the bank is likely to propose to stop the merger in the near future.

Nam A Bank allowed to provide foreign exchange service


Nam A Bank has just been licensed by the State Bank to supplement its business activ-ity i.e. providing foreign exchange service.Accordingly, Nam A Bank is allowed to conduct "business activity and provide for-eign exchange service in the domestic and international markets within the scope pre-scribed by the State Bank".This decision takes effect from the date of signing and is an integral part of the bank's operating license No.0026/NH-GP dated August 22, 1992.The State Bank's approval of additional foreign exchange operation is to ensure the


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compliance with the regulation in Circular No. 21/2014/TT-NHNN dated August 14 by the State Bank Governor guiding the foreign currency's scope of operation, conditions, order, procedures for approval of foreign exchange activity of credit organisations, foreign bank branches and Circular No. 28/2016/TT-NHNN dated October 5, 2016 on amendment and supplementation of some articles of Circular No. 21/2014/TT-NHNN.At the same time, this is also the opportunity for Nam A Bank to improve its compet-itive advantage in the current financial and banking market.

FPT University intends to accept bitcoin despite SBV's ban

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

FPT University has hinted at a plan to allow students to pay tuition fees by bitcoin al-though this virtual currency has not been recognised as legal in Vietnam.Le Truong Tung, president of FPT University, announced on his personal Facebook page on October 26 that FPT will accept tuition payment in bitcoin.According to Tung, the use of bitcoin for tuition payment will be imminently available for foreign students who have difficulty with cross-country money transfer due to strict currency management policies in their countries. There are currently 100 foreign students studying at the university, accounting for 1 percent of the total.FPT University also wants to use the cryptocurrency as a tool for research purposes.Tung said the university considers accepting bitcoin as a transaction method of the fourth industrial revolution. As a university that provides technology training, FPT University wants to be the pioneer in Vietnam in researching new technologies, and applying them in real life.According to the university's plan, foreign students would change bitcoin into legal currencies to pay tuition fees. Or they can send the virtual money to an account created by the university, which will be changed into legal currencies as a source of funding for scholarships.However, the plan cannot be transferred in reality at the moment as bitcoin is still not recognised as legal currency in Vietnam.According to the State Bank of Vietnam, the use of bitcoin as a means of payment is not recognised and protected by law, and credit institutions are not allowed to accept bit-coin payments.The central bank reiterated its stance on Saturday in a release sent to local media, say-ing the use and supply of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are illegal, and will result in a financial penalty of up to VND200 million.The government has approved a plan to complete legal frameworks to manage virtual currencies, including bitcoin, but such a plan has not been ready, according to the cen-tral bank.In fact, several businesses in Vietnam have bought Bitcoin ATMs to exchange bitcoin into cash or vice versa. Besides, many individuals and organisations have traded in bit-coin on the black market.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56804/FPT-University-intends-to-accept-bitcoin-de-spite-SBV percente2 percent80 percent99s-ban.html

Industrial production index on growth track in ten months


The industrial production index rose by 17 percent year-on-year in October, pushing the ten-month increase by 8.7 percent, higher than a 7.3 percent rise from the same pe-riod last year and 7.9 percent growth recorded in nine months.According to the general Department of Statistics, manufacturing and processing sec-tor grew by 13.6 percent while electricity production and distribution expanded 9.3 percent, water supply and wastewater treatment went up 7.5 percent. Only mining sector was down 7.4 percent.In January October, manufacturing of several industrial products grew higher than the same period last year, including television (30 percent), iron and crude steel (28 per-cent), rolled steel (19 percent) and urea fertiliser (15 percent).Localities recording high index include Bac Ninh (up 32 percent), Hai Phong (20 per-cent), Thai Nguyen (17 percent), Hai Duong (10 percent), Binh Duong (9.7 percent), Da


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Nang (9 percent), Dong Nai (8.5 percent), HCM City (7.8 percent), Can Tho (7 percent), Hanoi (6.9 percent), and Vinh Phuc (6.9 percent).As of October 1, inventory index in manufacturing and processing sector hiked 8.8 per-cent year-on-year, higher than apparel (6.3 percent), food production and processing (4.7 percent), and transport vehicles (2.3 percent). Meanwhile, cigarettes and pharma-ceuticals saw respective decreases of 3.2 percent and 17.9 percent in this index.Sectors recording inventory index higher than the average include beverages (up 48.5 percent), motorised vehicles (45.2 percent), electronic and optical products and com-puters (20.9 percent), and electrical equipment (14.9 percent).The number of workers in industrial firms increased by 5.1 percent as of October 1, of whom, those in State enterprises dropped 0.5 percent while those in non-State and for-eign-invested businesses went up 3 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.Workers in localities with large-scale industry also saw growth, such as Bac Ninh (up 19.3 percent), Da Nang (17.3 percent), Hai Duong (9 percent), Vinh Phuc (7.9 percent), Hai Phong (5.3 percent), Thai Nguyen (5.3 percent), Hanoi (3.8 percent), Can Tho (2.2 percent) and HCM City (0.9 percent).https://en.vietnamplus.vn/industrial-production-index-on-growth-track-in-ten-months/120302.vnp

HCM City: October's CPI up 0.63pct


HCM City's consumer price index (CPI) in October increased 0.63 percent compared to that of September and 4.13 percent year-on-year.According to the municipal Statistics Office, eight out of the 11 commodity groups en-joyed rises, with the highest growth of 12.04 percent seen in medicines and health care services.It was followed by culture, entertainment and tourism (0.66 percent), transport (0.64 percent), housing and construction materials (0.44 percent), food and catering services (0.18 percent), equipment and home appliances (0.16 percent), goods and other servic-es (0.1 percent), and garment, headwear and footwear (0.06 percent).In the contrary, the price of beverage and tobacco dropped by 0.01 percent.Meanwhile, the prices of telecommunications and education remained unchanged.In October, the gold price fell by 0.03 percent, while that of US dollar down 0.01 per-cent month-on-month.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/ho-chi-minh-city-octobers-cpi-up-063-percent/120289.vnp

HCM City's FDI attraction doubles in Jan-Oct


HCM City, the southern economic hub, attracted 5.04 billion USD in foreign direct in-vestment (FDI) in the first 10 months of 2017, a two-fold increase year-on-year.According to the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, in the period, there were 681 newly-registered projects totalling 1.89 billion USD, while 703.4 million USD was added to 184 existing projects.About 1840 foreign investors were licensed to pour 2.43 billion USD into buying stakes and contributing charter capital to existing companies.Among sectors, real estate attracted the most FDI with 1.01 billion USD, three times higher than that of the same period last year. It was followed by the manufacturing and processing sector with over 473 million USD or a year-on-year 5.7-fold rise.The Republic of Korea remained the biggest investor in HCM City with 1.03 billion USD, followed by the US (255 million USD), Singapore (137 million USD) and Japan (121 million USD).During January-October, the city had 33,839 newly-established enterprises with a total registered capital of over 457 trillion VND (20.1 billion USD), up 13.2 percent in number and 88.7 percent in capital compared with the same period last year.The city has made efforts to encourage business households to turn into businesses. To date, 1,629 business households have switched to enterprises.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hcm-citys-fdi-attraction-doubles-in-janoct/120290.vnp


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Import-export revenue hit nearly 38 billion USD in October


Vietnam's total import-export revenue is expected to reach 37.9 billion USD in October, a rise of 0.8 percent from the previous month, reported the general Department of Vi-etnam Customs.Of the total, Vietnam's exports hit 19.4 billion USD, up 0.3 percent, while imports were 18.5 billion USD, an increase of 1.4 percent.The results raised the country's total trade so far this year to 346.22 billion USD, a surge of 21.3 percent over the same period in 2016, with exports reaching 173.72 billion USD and imports of 172.49 billion USD, up 20.7 percent and 22 percent respectively.In October, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 900 million USD, pushing the total sur-plus in the first 10 months to 1.23 billion USD.At the same time, State budget collection as of October 25 was 232.785 trillion VND (1.02 billion USD), 81.7 percent of total estimate and a 10.36 percent rise over 2016.Based on the results, total income of the country in hit 23 trillion VND (100 million USD) in October and 237 trillion VND (1.04 billion USD) in the January-October peri-od.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/importexport-revenue-hit-nearly-38 billion-usd-in-Oct/120277.vnp

Aquatic exports estimated at 6.73 billion USD


Aquatic product exports in the past ten months rose 17.6 percent to 6.73 billion USD, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the US were largest importers, occupying 55.3 percent of total export value. Strong growth in export revenue was seen in China (65.8 percent), the Netherlands (42.9 percent) and the UK (29.7 percent).In the ten-month period, the country splashed out 1.14 billion USD on aquatic imports, up 29.8 percent from the same time last year.The European Commission (EC)'s recent decision to issue a "yellow card" warning to Vietnam after the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progress in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing had certain impacts on Vietnamese aquatic shipments.Increasing inspections on Vietnamese products will result in a surge in inspecting and storage costs for Vietnamese exporters, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said.The "yellow card" issuance also raised concerns among other foreign importers, espe-cially those purchasing Vietnamese materials for re-exports to the EU, the US or coun-tries with strict measures against IUU fishing.Regarding the domestic market, price of material tra fish increased up to 1,500 VND to 28,000 VND per kilogramme due to limited supply.Enterprises are on strong demands for shrimp to serve exports in the end of the year, also leading to price hikes.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/aquatic-exports-estimated-at-673 billion-usd/120303.vnp

Vietnam earns nearly 210 million USD in October fruit, vegetable exports


Exports of fruits and vegetables in October are estimated to reach 209 million USD, raising total export value of the products to 2.84 billion USD in the first 10 months of this year, up 41.2 percent over the same period of 2016.According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), China, Ja-pan, the US and the Republic of Korea were the leading markets of Vietnam. Mean-while, the highest growth was seen in the Japanese market with 66.1 percent, the UAE was second at 58 percent and growth in China hit 53.1 percent.The ministry also reported that imports of the products were 96 million USD in Octo-ber and 1.25 billion USD in the first 10 months of 2017, surging 70.8 percent year-on-year.The ministry said that the fluctuation in vegetable and fruit market was due to compli-cated weather developments that changed both supply and demand.


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Notably, heavy rains in the month destroyed a lot of crops, almost doubling vegetable prices.Cooler weather in central and northern regions also lowered fresh coconut prices in Ben Tre province from 80,000 VND per dozen to under 60,000 VND per dozen.A shortage in fruits in the north also led to high prices of longan and dragon fruit, add-ed the MARD.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-earns-nearly-210 million-usd-in-october-fruit-vegetable-exports/120269.vnp

Australia seen becoming huge market for Vietnam exporters


Australia will be a huge market for Vietnamese exporters in the years to come though shipments from Vietnam to this country remain limited, said Le Thanh Tung, general director of Tien Thinh International Migration and Investment Consulting Company, at a seminar in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho last Friday."Australia ranks 15th among Vietnam's important trading partners. This is a market full of great potential in years to come, so Vietnamese companies should prop up their exports to the country," he told the seminar on investment and trade promotion be-tween the two countries.He cited data of the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, saying that Vietnam exported goods worth around $480 million to this market in 2016, mostly farm produce. Tung said Vietnam's agro-forestry-fisheries exports to Australia reached an estimated $450 million a year between 2011 and 2016, a year-on-year rise of 8.3 percent.However, products which posted strong growth lately included cameras and accesso-ries (up a staggering 315.3 percent), iron and steel products (127.1 percent), material for textile, garment, leather and footwear (up 89.9 percent), computers, electronic products and their components (up 59.4 percent), and non-wood furniture products (up 47.1 percent).He stressed the Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement opens up op-portunities for Vietnamese enterprises that want to make business deals with their Australian partners.Tien Thinh International Migration and Investment Consulting Company has organ-ised many seminars in Hanoi and HCM City, and has facilitated many companies and local governments to survey the Australian market.He told the Daily that the company is willing to serve as a bridge between Australia's state governments and Vietnamese companies who have achieved quality and reputa-tion in production and business activities."I am optimistic about the consulting work to Vietnamese small and medium enter-prises that have capability and prestige to help them become successful businesses in Australia," he said.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56795/Australia-seen-becoming-huge-market-for-Vietnam-exporters.html

Rice farmers rue missing out on price rise


Many farmers in the Mekong Delta are regretting that they did not stockpile any rice as prices rise continuously and supply remains limited.Rice farmers rue missing out on price rise, vietnam economy, business news, vn news, vietnamnet bridge, english news, Vietnam news, news Vietnam, vietnamnet news, vn news, Vietnam net news, Vietnam latest news, Vietnam breaking newsRice traders, meanwhile, are also finding it difficult to get enough of the grain for ex-ports.The 2017 crop year is coming to an end. In provinces with large production areas and high yields, such as Kien Giang, An Giang or Dong Thap, the amount of rice yet to be harvested is small, while there is no inventory as farmers have been selling their pro-duce soon after harvesting it.Nguyen Minh Thien of Kien Giang Province's Tan Hiep District told the Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper that his family finished harvesting three weeks ago.


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"At that time, freshly harvested OM 5451 rice was selling at VND5,100 (US$0.25) per kilogram. Now, it has since risen by VND500 per kilogram but there is no rice left. We should have stocked dried rice to get the additional VND10 million ($440) with our 18 tonnes of rice," he said.Le Van Manh, head of Tan Hiep District Department of Agriculture and Rural Devel-opment (DoARD), said that local farmers had planted 34,158ha of rice with approxi-mate productivity of 5.5 tonnes per ha."Most of the crop was harvested when the rice price was at average levels. Only about 10,000ha of rice were gathered when the prices rose. Since farmers no longer stock dried rice, they are disappointed about the missed chance," said Manh.An Giang Province started its harvest season late. Local farmers here say that it is rare to have rice prices rising from VND300 to 600 per kilogram in such a short time.T Khanh Nhn of Chau Phu District's Thanh M Tay Commune is harvesting his crop. He said the farmers worked very hard to save rice fields from flooding by strengthen-ing local dykes. Their work has paid off.Over the last two weeks, traders have deposited VND500,000 ($25) for every 0.1 ha and bought rice at VND5,500 to 5,800 per kilogram, an increase of VND450 to 600 per kil-ogram compared to the previous crop. With a productivity of 850kg, his family can earn about VND2 million ($88) for every 0.1 ha.According to the Vinh Long People's Committee, because of salinisation, the rice pro-duction area has been reducing steadily. In 2017 it was 168,805ha, a drop of 7,624 ha over 2016. But productivity has been high.Tough to getMeanwhile, traders and enterprises are facing difficulties in collecting rice due to lim-ited supply.Nguyen Thanh Nha, a trader in Can Tho City's Thoi Lai District, said that he had to go to Kien Giang and An Giang provinces for two to three days to buy just 30 tonnes of fresh rice."For this crop, export companies order large quantities of rice at higher prices. How-ever, it is hard to get enough rice at this time. We have to deposit money 15 to 20 days in advance, otherwise, farmers will sell the rice to other traders," he said.Nguyen Th Kiu, deputy director of Can Tho City Agriculture Department, affirmed that rice prices were increasing because of limited supply. Simultaneously, in 2017, be-sides traditional markets like China, the province has signed several rice export con-tracts with news markets including Bangladesh and the Philippines.Tran Ngc Toan, another trader in Vinh Long Province, said: "A month ago, the price was at VND5,000 per kilogram, now, it is VND5,400 to 5,600. So many farmers are waiting for higher prices. Three days ago, I bought about 200 ha of rice at VND5,600 per kilogram, but I could not collect anything yesterday."Nguyen Trung Tin, director of the Phan Minh Agricultural Company in Kien Giang Province, said he was worried about the current situation."We are being challenged by the supply shortage. However, there is also a dilemma, since input prices and processing costs are rising higher than the rice prices," he said.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/189251/rice-farmers-rue-missing-out-on-price-rise.html

Vietnam seeks to raise cashew output


Vietnam is seeking solutions to raise cashew output so as to reduce reliance on cashew imports, heard a conference held in HCM City on October 28 by the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.According to the department, the country's cashew output in the year to date has dropped by 15-20 percent due to pests and diseases, while the demand for cashew nuts has been still on the rise. Therefore, many local cashew exporters have had to boost im-port of raw cashew.Vietnam's cashew-growing area had dropped from 400,000 hectares in 2007 to 293,000 hectares in 2016 as many farmers replaced cashew with other crops of higher value,


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while cashew exports kept increasing steadily.Data of the agriculture ministry shows that the country has exported 289,000 tonnes of processed cashew nuts worth $2.87 billion this year to date, down 0.4 percent in vol-ume but up 23 percent in value compared to the same period last year.To secure export orders, Vietnam has imported 1.16 million tonnes of raw cashew in January-October, up 29 percent year-on-year.Vietnam is the largest cashew nut exporter in the world, but its reliance on imported raw cashew will affect the sustainable development of the industry. Therefore, the country is seeking solutions to raise cashew productivity.A representative of a company said at the conference that cashew farmers should shift to organic farming, and it is working with experts from New Zealand to support farm-ers to this effect.The Department of Crop Production suggested farmers use high-quality seedlings provided by the Vietnam Cashew Association and intercrop cocoa and cashew which would help them increase income by 1.5-2 times.Those localities that have intercropped cocoa and cashew have achieved positive re-sults, including Dong Nai and Binh Phuoc provinces.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56810/Vietnam-seeks-to-raise-cashew-output.html

Cashew industry faces volatile weather, pests


The cashew industry has achieved impressive growth in the past years with increasing exports, but unfavourable weather due to the impact of climate change and an increase of diseases and pests threaten its continued development, delegates told a seminar in HCM City last Saturday.Le Van Duc, deputy director of the Crop Production Department, said Vietnam's av-erage cashew output last year was 10.8 quintals per hectare, a reduction of 16.67 per cent from 2015 due to lower rainfall than the previous year, which caused severe drought at the blossom period of cashew trees.This year, average output reduced further to only 7.55 quintals per ha, mainly due to unseasonal rains occurring at the blossom period of the trees, he said."Unseasonal rains had seriously affected the pollination of the trees and at the same time created ideal conditions for diseases, such as colletotrichum gloeosporioides and pests such as helopeltis theivora, to develop on young buds and fruits, affecting the trees' productivity and quality," he said.In Binh Phuoc Province, the country's largest cashew cultivation area, its productivity in 82,893 ha out of a total of 173,920 ha under cashew cultivation fell this year mainly due to insects.Le Thi Anh Tuyet, director of the Agriculture Extension Centre of Binh Phuoc Prov-ince, said since last month the province has established technical teams to help farm-ers, especially the poor and ethnic minority, in the six main cashew cultivation districts to control pests, as well as instruct them to identify diseases and pests on cashew."The move aims to limit a further productivity drop in the next crop, but if it continues raining, it will be hard to combat the insects," she said.Similarly, Nguyen Thi Tuyet from the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Ru-ral Development said the province has 29,688 ha under cashew cultivation, with aver-age productivity at only 2.8 quintals per ha this year compared to 8.8 quintals per ha last year.Tuyet said 90 per cent of the province's cashew cultivation area was affected by insects, while 27,834 ha was infected by colletotrichum gloeosporioides disease, causing the province's total productivity to fall by 62.8 per cent from last year.The diseases have gotten under control now and the trees are in the process of recov-ery, she said.At the seminar, representatives from other provinces, including Dong Nai and Binh Thuan, also reported the current situation of cashew farming in their localities as well as suggested measures to recover disease-infected cashew farms.Duc said aged cashew trees and a lack of investment in nurturing new trees were


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among other reasons that led to low productivity, and the local cashew industry planned to replant 45,000 ha and transplant 15,000 ha of cashew farms in Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Gia Lai and Binh Dinh by 2020.The sector also plans to enhance intensive farming in the coming years since "reality proved that applying intensive farming techniques will push up cashew productivity by 24-63 per cent, and at the same time, help cashew farms adapt to climate change as well as limit the impact of unseasonal rains."Tuyet of Lam Dong Province said the province has set a target to replant or transplant 8,880 ha of cashew trees by 2020 in an effort to raise the province's average cashew pro-ductivity to 12 quintals per ha by then.She, as well as other delegates, suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development direct research institutes and centres to develop new seedlings that have high productivity and quality and are resistant to diseases and adaptive to climate changes.The agricultural sector needed to re-evaluate the efficiency of cashew transplanting models to make a suitable recommendation for localities (expanding the model or tem-porarily stopping it to shift the focus to replanting new trees), she said.Localities also suggested the Crop Production Department come up with a cashew farming technique package that is suitable to the current situation of climate change.Many cashew farmers also shared their farming experiences that helped them secure productivity amid unfavourable weather and diseases.At the seminar, 89 cashew farmers in Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Lam Dong, Binh Thuan and Ba Ria-Vung Tau were awarded certificates of merits for their outstanding achievement in cashew production by the Vietnam Cashew Association.Vietnam has 301,738 ha under cashew cultivation this year, yielding 241,363 tonnes, a reduction of 94,906 tonnes over last year.http://bizhub.vn/news/cashew-industry-faces-volatile-weather-pests_289816.html

MoNRE looks to cut business conditions


The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) has proposed the gov-ernment to shift one conditional business line, eliminate 36 business investment con-ditions and amend 15 conditions required for individuals in enterprises, accounting for 44.78 per cent of business conditions under the management of this ministry.Following the government's guidance on simplifying administrative procedures and business investment conditions, MoNRE has submitted a proposal to the government Office and the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) on reviewing and reducing business conditions.Currently, MoNRE has 18 conditional business lines within the Ministry's State man-agement scope with 163 business investment conditions.The Ministry has proposed to shift the conditional business lines to transport of dan-gerous goods, including hazardous substances and contaminated substances under management of MoNRE with 22 business conditions.According to MoNRE, currently, the transport of dangerous goods involves the State management of many ministries and departments, for example, chemical manage-ment, fire and explosion prevention and environment. To avoid overlapping manage-ment functions and to reduce administrative expenses for organisations and individuals when they are carrying out administrative procedures for dealing with dangerous goods, they shall only have to carry them out at a specialised management ministry in charge of granting permits for the transport of dangerous goods.The specialised regulators only regulate the standards and will participate in the li-censing process of the ministry which is responsible for the licensing of transporting dangerous goods.In addition, MoNRE proposed to cut 36 business investment conditions, including sev-en conditions of land, six environmental conditions, six conditions of geological and mineral issues, 15 conditions on water resources, one mapping condition and one con-dition in the field of hydro-meteorology.


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The Ministry also asked for the modification of 15 conditions required for individuals and enterprises must ensure the conditions of experiences and working time in the di-rection of creating favourable conditions for enterprises to select different ways to prove their eligibility for experience and professionalism.Specifically, the land field with two conditions, the geological and mineral field has one condition, the water resources sector has 11 conditions and one condition of hy-dro-meteorology.These modifications focuses on abolishing the business conditions such as conditions requiring individuals working for organisations or enterprises to have insurance, la-bour contracts, labour protection, possession of specialised equipment, machinery and equipment; or the organisation must have headquarters within a specific area, owning the minimum number of qualified people to undertake the work, especially eliminat-ing conditions related to permits, such as hazardous waste treatment certificates.According to the MoNRE, with these changes, individuals and enterprises will be fa-cilitated to carry out procedures related to the natural resources and environment sec-tor.http://bizhub.vn/news/monre-looks-to-cut-business-conditions_289818.html

Taxation authorities propose delaying e-invoices till July 2019


The general Department of Taxation (GDT) is considering asking the Ministry of Fi-nance to postpone the compulsory application of e-invoices until July 2019, instead of early next year.Nguyen Dai Tri, GDT deputy general director, announced this at a press conference on e-tax services, held in Hanoi late last week.Specifically, except firms that are already using e-bills and are small or micro-scale, GDT proposes that all other companies will have to use e-invoices from July 1, 2019, instead of January 1, 2018, as stated under the Ministry of Finance's draft.Previously, the Ministry of Finance announced that it was drafting regulations on e-invoices and would ask the government to set a deadline of January 1, 2018, for busi-nesses to switch over from paper, which is the current method.While admitting huge benefits of e-invoices, many enterprises said they were finding it difficult to meet the proposed deadline.The government is seeking to promote e-invoices because GDT's statistics showed that while paper invoices cost a total of VND4 trillion (US$177.8 million) per year, univer-sal e-invoice use would cost only VND1 trillion. E-invoices also make it more difficult for businesses to evade taxes while ensuring they receive the tax refunds to which they are entitled."The application of e-invoices could create transparency for all transactions. When the use of e-invoice becomes popular, transactions of even less than VND200,000 will re-sult in a tax refund. This could bring huge profits to companies," Dau Anh Tuan, di-rector of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Legal Department, said.The number of businesses using e-invoices has increased steadily. By the end of June, there were some 2,700 firms using roughly 400 million e-invoices, up from 800 firms at the end of last year. Nearly 2,400 businesses used e-invoices verified by tax agencies during the pilot implementation in 2014.However, Tuan expressed doubt about the implementation timeline proposed, as the department has received many complaints from firms about the short duration in which they are required to replace paper bills.http://bizhub.vn/news/taxation-authorities-propose-delaying-e-invoices-till-july-2019_289787.html

HCM City mulls higher tax on speculative property trading


The HCM City government has proposed the Ministry of Construction increase the property tax on owners of the second home and land lot that change hands within a year, an apparent move which is aimed at warding off real estate speculation.According to the office of the HCM City People's Committee, the city government also


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wants to collect a higher tax from properties that benefit from State-funded infrastruc-ture development to ensure the fairness among local people.As for housing policies, HCM City suggested the Ministry of Construction efficiently allocate the budget so that the State Bank of Vietnam can carry out social housing pol-icies in accordance with the 2014 Housing Law.Social housing is sold at concessional prices owing to partial subsidy by the State to support policy beneficiaries.The city government also wants the ministry to ask the Vietnam Bank for Social Poli-cies to offer preferential loans as stated in Article 13 of Decree100/2015/ND-CP to raise more capital for social housing programmes.In its proposal, the city government calls for building a legal system to pilot home sav-ings funds and real estate credit funds to diversify investment sources in the property market.Previously, the proposal of taxing the owners of the second home has been opposed by local people and enterprises. However, the tax may be applied in the future, said a representative of the Ministry of Finance.City annually earns VND8 trillion from real estateIn a related development, the property sector in HCM City annually contributes nearly VND8 trillion (US$352.5 million) to the city's budget, according to a report sent to the Ministry of Construction by the city government last week.The contribution of real estate projects to the city's budget ranged from 3 percent to 8 percent over the past years. However, the city can increase revenue from the real estate sector by developing a more transparent business environment to ensure proper and sufficient tax collection.In 2006, HCM City construction and property sector's gross domestic product (GDP) reached VND22.67 trillion, and the figure surged to VND88 trillion in 2015, accounting for 9.2 percent of the city's total GDP.The report also showed that the sector generated more than VND100 trillion for the State coffer in the 2006-2015 period.In its report, the city government also noted that there are currently 29 large housing projects being executed with a total investment of VND158 trillion.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56803/HCM City-mulls-higher-tax-on-speculative-property-trading.html

Agro-forestry SOEs to be audited in 2019: deputy PM


A thorough audit of all State-owned agricultural amd forestry businesses will be car-ried out in 2019 following next year's concentrated restructuring efforts, so as to iden-tify underperforming firms and other issues facing the sector.The findings will be reported to the National Assembly, deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue said at a conference last weekend.The conference aimed to review the progress of restructuring, renewing, and improv-ing the operational effectiveness of State-owned agribusinesses in the 2015-2017 peri-od.Ha Cong Tuan, deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), said that 40 out of 41 restructuring plans for the agriculture sector in cities, provinces, and enterprises had been approved by the prime minister.Hanoi's agriculture restructuring plan was still being reviewed and adjusted by the municipal People's Committee following feedback from the assessment council, he said.Leaders of provinces including Lao Cai in the north, and Khanh Hoa and Binh Dinh on the south-central coast reported positive outcomes such as the streamlining of staff following new business plans directed by the prime minister.More encouragingly, post-equitisation, previously 100 per cent state-owned compa-nies have seen increased revenues and profits.For example, annual revenues of the Binh Duong Province Rubber Co Ltd have jumped nearly three-fold post-equitisation, from VND49 billion (US$2.16 million) to


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VND133 billion ($5.86 million). Many forestry companies under the Vietnam Forest Corporation (Vinafor) or the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) also reported better earn-ings.However, it was also pointed out the overall progress over the last three years in im-plementing government's 2014 Decree No. 118 on restructuring agro-forestry busi-nesses had not been satisfactory.For example, in HCM City, only 20 of 102 State-owned agriculture businesses have been equitised, and 28 companies that were supposed to be dissolved still remain op-erational.Provincial agriculture officials mentioned many obstacles and challenges that they face.Lo Minh Hung, vice chair of the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai,, said transforming SOEs into two-member limited liability companies was a totally new concept with many implementation bottlenecks."The 'second member' of the company is supposed to be a private entity, which poses very difficult questions about capital ownership, investment direction and land man-agement. The land these companies are currently managing are really favourable to agriculture. When a private company comes into the picture, the repurposing of land could be a problem in our province," he said.Hung urged the Steering Committee on Renovation and Development of Enterprises (under the Ministry of Finance) to issue guidance on implementing this particular company model to avoid losses and enable better management of capital and land re-sources.Other provinces also reported that many farms and forestry units which have convert-ed to totally State-owned companies or companies with majority State-ownership are facing difficulties in sourcing capital, delays in granting charter capital additions and lack of assets to use as collateral for bank loans.A lot of companies undergoing restructuring are also struggling with issues like land measurement and mapping, brand valuation or resolving its bad debts, the conference heard.For instance, the Vietnam National Coffee Corporation is having trouble collecting VND 380 billion ($16.76 billion) of outstanding debt from coffee-planting households as there's no clear authority to handle this.On the issue of land measurement and mapping related to all restructuring agricultur-al enterprises, which could end up costing VND 1,100 billion ($48.44 million), deputy Finance minister Tran Van Hieu said the problem was not the cost, as the government will shoulder 70 per cent of it, but that local governments need to take stock of existing land through field trips, not just gathering figures from books.Complex issuesDeputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue said there were several reasons for the slow progress in restructuring.Objectively speaking, this is a complex matter as it involves financial problems and land issues lasting decades, but the main cause remains a lack of commitment from some local governments, according to Hue.Other provinces that want to finish the restructuring quickly lack practical plans, even-tually slowing the whole process because it takes time to adjust the plans.Hue stressed that the case of agricultural enterprises was different from the general re-structuring effort because it involved the livelihoods of millions of people, with social order and security implications in many localities.Underscoring that 2018 will be "the year of restructuring," he directed that all restruc-turing plans must be completed and approved by the government in the final quarter of this year.The finance ministry was tasked with issuing guidelines encouraging private busi-nesses to join the two-member limited liability company model; and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources was asked to quickly update its land and forest database.


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http://bizhub.vn/news/agro-forestry-soes-to-be-audited-in-2019-deputy-pm_289786.html

Firms sprouting up nationwide


Over 105,000 new enterprises were set up nationwide in the first 10 months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 14.6 per cent.The figure was nearly equivalent to the record high of 2016 at more than 110,000.The new firms have total registered capital of over VND1 quadrillion (US$44 billion), up 43.8 per cent from the same time last year, statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment revealed.At the same time, over VND1.41 quadrillion was injected into 29,525 operating busi-nesses, raising total capital pumped into the economy to VND2.43 quadrillion, the re-port noted.With the positive momentum, the number of new companies in the country is likely to reach 120,000 or even higher by the end of the year, representatives from the ministry's Business Registration Agency told baodauthau.vn.During the reviewed period, average registered capital of each firm was VND9.7 bil-lion, a rise of 26 per cent over the same period last year.The retail and automobile and motorbike maintenance and repair industries saw sev-eral newly-established companies with nearly 37,820 firms, accounting for 36 per cent of the total. It was followed by the processing and manufacturing sector with 13,450 firms, or 13 per cent, and the construction sector with 13,340 firms, or 12.7 per cent.In October alone, nearly 11,160 new enterprises were established with total registered capital of nearly VND119.24 trillion ($5.24 billion), up 30 per cent in number of new firms and 48 per cent in registered capital.Average capital for a business in October rose 14.2 per cent over the previous month to reach VND10.7 billion. The number of labourers working at the newly-established companies in the month also saw a significant month-on-month increase of 41 per cent to some 90,000.On the other hand, only 1,330 enterprises resumed operation in the month, down 32 per cent month-on-month, according to the data.Industrial production increasesVietnam's industrial production rose 8.7 per cent in the January-October period against the same period last year, largely supported by a significant increase in pro-duction of the processing and manufacturing industry.Latest updates from the General Statistical Office revealed that in October alone, the index of industrial production (IIP) rose 17 per cent against October 2016.The increasing rate of 8.7 per cent in the 10-month period was higher than last year's, which was at 7.3 per cent, statistics showed.GSO said the processing and manufacturing sector, which accounted for more than 80 per cent of the entire industrial production, jumped by 13.6 per cent in the January-Oc-tober period and contributed 9.6 percentage points to the overall increase.This made up for the decline of 7.4 per cent in production of the mining sector.Sectors posting a significant increase in industrial production included smartphones, components, metal, rubber and plastic production.However, some products saw declines such as coal (down 0.4 per cent) crude oil (down 11 per cent), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (down 10.2 per cent), natural gas (down eight per cent) and automobiles (down by 8.3 per cent).Northern Bac Ninh Province was among the provinces and cities with the high in-crease in IIP. The province's IIP rose by 32 per cent over the same period last year thanks to an increase in production at Samsung's plant. Hai Phong's IIP increased by 20 per cent, Thai Nguyen's by 17.9 per cent, Hai Duong's by 10.1 per cent, Binh Duong by 9.7 per cent and Da Nang by 9.1 per cent.http://bizhub.vn/news/firms-sprouting-up-nationwide_289817.html


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SoEs struggle to attract investors in equitisation


The Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) released a report on Monday on the actuality of strategic shareholders' involvement in State-owned enterprises' (SoEs) equitisation process, which they concluded to be below expectations.The CIEM reported that since 1992, Vietnam has equitised over 4,500 enterprises, though the process has yet to meet the economy's growth rate, with some targets missed, including subpar sales of shares to investors.The number of strategic investors participating in SOEs' equitisation has been lower than expected, and attracting strategic shareholders is crucial in accelerating SOEs' re-structuring process, said Pham Duc Trung, Head of CIEM's Corporate Development and Reform Department.Trung also commented that the National Assembly set 2017's goal for SoE equitisation and divestment at the VND60 trillion (US$2.67 million) mark.In the first nine months of 2017, estimated total equitised and divested value was about VND12 trillion ($534,000), with roughly half coming from equitisation.In summation, most State level corporations and State-owned enterprises have not been successful in attracting strategic shareholders.As reported by the CIEM and the State Securities Commission, results from SoEs' sale of shares have not achieved the estimated goal of reducing the level of state budget in SoEs' charter capital and attracting private investment instead.The State still holds 81 per cent of total shares across SoEs, leaving the level of private investors' involvement at only 9.5 per cent, as compared to the desired 16.7 per cent, with strategic investors' participation at an even lower level of 7.3 per cent, not even half the designated level of 15.8 per cent.Reports from 46 corporations' approved equitisation process for the period from 2011 to 2016 shows that total charter capital of these 46 corporations reached VND171.2 tril-lion ($7.6 billion), of which the total charter capital held by the State accounted for 73 per cent, while strategic shareholders only held 16.57 per cent of total charter capital.Furthermore, the percentage of SoE's shares sold to foreign investors was just 8.7 per cent across these 46 enterprises.According to Trung, there are five reasons why strategic shareholders are not interest-ed in the equitisation of Vietnamese SoEs, causing difficulties for SoEs to find strategic shareholders and slowing down the equitisation process.The biggest obstacle named by the CIEM is the State's tight control over the ownership ratio of foreign strategic shareholders, thus reducing investment incentives for share-holders as they do not guarantee the right to these corporations' business manage-ment.Other reasons include unreasonable evaluation of enterprises and prices of their stocks, lack of attractiveness towards strategic shareholders, lack of openness, trans-parency of information, and a complex, rigid selling method.According to Adam Sitkoff, Managing director of the American Chamber of Com-merce (Amcham) in Hanoi, foreign investors want to participate in equitisation in Vi-etnam but have been deterred by unresolved issues in the matters listed above.Nguyen Dinh Cung, director of CIEM, said that for SoEs to attract strategic sharehold-ers, it is necessary to change their thinking towards the perspective of investors instead of administrative authority. VNShttp://bizhub.vn/markets/soes-struggle-to-attract-investors-in-equitisation_289813.html

Local telecom market saturated


Vietnam's telecommunications market has reached a saturation point and will find it hard to attract new subscribers. This could result in increasingly fierce competition among telecom providers for their revenue and market share.Nguyen Thanh Hung, deputy minister of Information and Communications (MIC) told an international conference on tariffs and competition management, held in Hanoi on Monday, that competition has been mostly seen in terms of prices and promotional


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SVietnam finance & business 31 October 2017

programmes. In addition, local telecom providers increasingly face competition from social networks."The country's telecoms market has developed broadly and rapidly over the last dec-ade. The market now has 70 operating telecoms companies. Of which, 37 firms were granted licences to establish network infrastructure while the remainder provide tele-communications services," Hung said.By the end of June 2017, subscriber density reached 124 subscribers per 100 people, that of mobile broadband was 50 subscribers per 100 people and fixed broadband was 11 subscribers per 100 households.Over the past 10 years, telecom services have improved. The revenue of local telecom businesses has seen stable growth thanks to an increasing number of new subscribers despite continuously decreasing tariffs.The total revenue in the country's telecom sector in 2016 rose 7.5 per cent over the pre-vious year."However if competition through reducing tariffs and promotions continues in the tel-ecoms sector, the market could collapse, which would have a big impact on the oper-ations of other economic and social industries," he said, adding that telecoms companies should change to better meet customers' diversified demands.He said the ministry has always supported firms in their production, trade and the cre-ation of applications and advanced technologies for the sector's development and the economy as a whole.Ashish Narayan, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Asia Pacific re-gion's representative said the competition among telecoms companies has no longer issues over tariffs but others such as transmission lines and creativity of services to at-tract customers.He added that experiences from Europe and South Korea have been applied for better competition.The State management agencies should adjust regulations and management mecha-nisms to facilitate the development of telecoms businesses and the market.Cory Brader Leuchten from the US Department of Justice said in terms of competition, the anti-monopoly factor should be given top priority to create healthy development for the market and ensure benefits to customers.In the US, laws on competitions and monopolies have followed trends in the sector, be-ing updated with new articles to follow rapid developments in the telecoms market.http://bizhub.vn/tech/local-telecom-market-saturated_289815.html

BUSINESSZ NEWSBusiness Briefs 31 October, 2017

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA |

* Vincom Retail Company (VRE) will float more than 1.9 billion shares on the Hochim-inh Stock Exchange on November 6 at the reference price of D33,800 each. According to Viet Capital Securities Company, VRE is currently the largest developer, owner and operator of retail malls in Vietnam. As of August, the company boasted a portfolio of 41 shopping malls in 22 cities and provinces, with over 1.1 million square meters in gross floor area. In 20l3. a consortium led by Warburg Pincus invested $200 million in Vincom Retail via convertible preferred shares and convertible loans. This was fol-lowed by an invesnnent ofUS$100 million in 2015, which raised the consortium's total investment in Vincom Retail to $300 million.* The Ministry of 'ational Defense has registered to sell 6.78 million shares ofHa Do Group (HDG) from nowto November 28. In September, the ministry sought to sell 7.55 million shares of HDG but only 77l,000 shares were bought.* Viet jet Aviation Company (VJC) said its air transport revenue reached VND6.1 tril-lion in the third quarter, up 34.4 percent compared to the same period of2016.* Le Phuoc Vu, chair of Hoa Sen Group (HSG), will buy one million HSG shares from November 1 to 30 to raise his ownership to 10.7 percent; or 37.4 million shares.* Sekisui Chemical Co Ltd has bought 4.37 million shares of Tien Phong Plastic Com-pany (NTP) to spur its holding to 15 percent. Earlier this month, the Japanese investor became a major shareholder ofNTP for acquiring over nine million shares, or a 10.1


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percent stake. * Viettel Construction Company (CTR) will tomorrow trade over 47 mil-lion shares on the market for unlisted public enterprises, or UPCoM, at the reference price ofVND26,OOO each. Owned by the State-run militarytelecom group Viettel, CTR has built 50,000 base transceiver stations and 140,000 kilometers of fiber cable. It has nine subsidiaries active in overseas markets.* Individual investor Ph am Hung Uoc has bought 800,000 shares of Viet Nhat Invest-ment Company (VNH) to secure a '9.97 percent stake in the enterprise. Uoc is the now the third biggest shareholder at VNH after Chair Nguyen Thanh Son with 19.6 percent and individual investor Nguyen Thi Bich Lien with 10.5 percent.

VN stocks rise further on energy


Shares ended on a positive note for a second day on the HCM Stock Exchange on Mon-day as energy firms and some construction companies continued to perform well.The benchmark VN Index added 0.57 per cent to close at 845.20 points. The southern market index has gained total 1.8 per cent over the last two sessions.More than 197 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND4.5 tril-lion (US$200.5 million).Trading figures posted an increase of 37.6 per cent in volume and 31.6 per cent in value compared to Friday.The market breadth was negative as the number of declining stocks doubled that of gaining ones by 187 to 93, while 39 other stocks ended flat.The VN30 Index that tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capital-isation and trading liquidity edged up 0.31 per cent to 837.52 points.FLC Faros Construction Corp (ROS) was the stock that pushed the whole market up, hitting its daily increase limit of 7 per cent.Other large-cap stocks that also made gains included PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), food and beverage producer Ma-san (MSN) and brewer Sabeco (SAB).Brewer Sabeco has reported roughly VND2.1 trillion in profit for the third quarter, raising its combined profit for the first three quarters to VND3.54 trillion.Sabeco saw its third-quarter profit up 11 per cent year-on-year, however, its nine-month profit was almost flat compared to the same period last year.Shares of Sabeco rose 2.3 per cent to VND287,000 per share on Monday.PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and other energy stocks also recorded good gains on Mon-day after crude prices remained positive on Monday. Brent crude added 0.23 per cent to trade at $60.58 a barrel, extending its growth since October 19.The cash flow continued to focus mostly on large-cap stocks and shares of listed com-panies that had good third-quarter earnings reports and it was the main force driving the VN Index up despite the market trading condition continued to be dominated by declining stocks, Sai Gon-Hanoi Securities Co (SHS) said in its daily report.In addition, net foreign buy value on the HCM Stock Exchange also helped boost the market's overall morale, SHS said. Foreign investors on Monday posted a net buy val-ue of VND205 billion compared to Friday's net sell value of VND9.3 billion.Such trading conditions suggested the benchmark index could fall back to the range of 840-843 points as investors would take their cautious stance to wait for better oppor-tunities, the company added.On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index fell 0.45 per cent to end at 105.98 points. It gained 0.13 per cent on Friday.More than 42.3 million shares were exchanged on the northern market, worth VND585.6 billion.http://bizhub.vn/markets/vn-stocks-rise-further-on-energy_289811.html

Only HNX-Index loses ground

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMIC TIMES

Other main indexes gain ground on October 30.The HNX-Index was the only main index on Vietnam's stock market to close lower on October 30.


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On HSX, the VN Index increased 4.83 points (0.57 per cent) and the VN30-Index 2.61 points (0.31 per cent).On HNX, the HNX-Index lost 0.47 points (0.45 per cent) while the HNX30-Index rose 0.02 points (0.01 per cent) and the UPCoM-Index 0.07 points (0.14 per cent).Liquidity on HSX reached VND3.6 trillion ($156.5 million), 25.6 per cent higher than last Friday, and on HNX was VND585.6 billion ($25.4 million), 41.6 per cent higher.The VN Index opened at 842.92 points and increased to 846.14 points before ending the morning at 846.77 points. It then closed the day at 845.20 points.In food and beverages, TAC gained 1.6 per cent while BBC lost 3.5 per cent, TLG 1.1 per cent, and VNM 0.3 per cent. KDC and VCF closed at their opening price.In banking, BID increased 3.1 per cent, MSN 2.6 per cent, and VPB 0.6 per cent. BVH lost 2.5 per cent, EIB 2.2 per cent, MBB 1.7 per cent, SSI 1.5 per cent, STB 0.9 per cent, CTG 0.8 per cent, VCI 0.6 per cent, and VCB 0.2 per cent.In energy, GAS rose 5.2 per cent and PVD 0.3 per cent as NT2 lost 3.4 per cent, PPC 2.1 per cent, PLX 1 per cent, and PVT 0.3 per cent. PGD closed at its opening price.In construction and real estate, ROS gained 7 per cent, CTD 4.2 per cent, VIC 1.8 per cent, and ITA 0.3 per cent. DXG lost 6.5 per cent, FLC 2.9 per cent, HT1 2.1 per cent, and REE 1.6 per cent, as NVL closed at its opening price.The Top 5 shares bought by foreign investors were VJC (VND54.2 billion ($2.3 mil-lion)), VNM (VND39.4 billion ($1.7 million)), GAS (VND36.3 billion ($1.57 million)), VCB (VND32.7 billion ($1.4 million)), and MSN (VND24.5 billion ($1 million)).On HSX, HSG was the largest net sold share, with VND34.8 billion ($1.5 million), fol-lowed by HPG (VND27.7 billion ($1.2 million)), CTD (VND11.2 billion ($439,130)), BVH (VND8.9 billion ($386,956)), and HBC (VND6.1 billion ($265,217)).PVS was the largest net sold share on HNX, with VND5.8 billion ($252,173), followed by CSC (VND319.1 million ($13,873)), DHT (VND223 million ($9,695)), LHC (VND215.5 million ($9,369)), and PVC (VND184.9 million ($8,039)).On UPCoM, foreign investors bought 347,479 shares worth VND7.25 billion ($315,217).They net bought on HSX by VND294.99 billion ($12.8 million) and on HNX by VND5.04 billion ($219,130).http://vneconomictimes.com/article/banking-finance/only-hnx-index-loses-ground

Brokerages concerned about trade volume


Securities firms are still concerned about poor turnover on the HCM City exchange, saying the VN Index may not sustain its growth momentum due to weak cash flow.Closing last week, the VN Index rose 1.64 percent at 840.37 points while the HNX-In-dex of the Hanoi exchange lost 1.56 percent at 106.54. Turnover plummeted on both markets as matching volume declined 8.2 percent and 5.7 percent versus a session ear-lier at 149.4 million shares and 44.4 million shares per session on the HCM City and Hanoi market respectively.Bao Viet Securities Company said large caps will continue underpinning the market this week while the danger of deep correction is not in sight. However, the market may not make a strong surge if the trade volume remains low.According to BIDV Securities Company, the market saw unexpected developments last Friday. The VN Index broke through the resistance level of 840 points, which was far beyond expectation of most investors.However, the strong increase last Friday was vulnerable as the market saw low match-ing volume. Like previous winning streaks, the market may undergo a correction after stock prices have jumped to new highs.FPT Securities Company, meanwhile, predicted the main index to test the supporting range of between 830 and 835 points this week.Last Friday's session may fuel the sentiment of cash holders this week. However, cau-tious trading is recommended to avoid losses due to a possible correction, the broker-age said in a report.Viet Capital Securities Company still predicted the market would rise further this year.


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The VN Index and VN30 Index, however, may see strong volatility driven by large caps.During last week, ROS was the top contributor to the index rally as the construction firm jumped a hefty 38.7 percent, followed by bookstore operator PNC with 27.2 per-cent and real estate enterprise VRC with 12.3 percent. Earlier, both PNC and VRC had gone through a long losing streak.In contrast, brokerage firm CTS fell 14.7 percent because of gloomy business results in the third quarter. CTS reported VND54 billion in revenue, falling 17 percent versus the same period last year, while its after-tax profit slumped 72 percent at VND5.8 billion.Mining firm FCM also lost 18.7 percent due to the same reason. The enterprise ob-tained VND154.8 billion in revenue and VND3.4 billion in net profit in the third quar-ter, down 16.7 percent and 80 percent year-on-year respectively.Foreigners net sold over VND163 billion on the southern bourse while net buying over VND26 billion on the northern exchange.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56798/Brokerages-concerned-about-trade-vol-ume.html

Banks, energy firms extend the market's gains


Shares rose on the two local exchanges on Monday morning, driven by banks and en-ergy firms.The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.76 per cent to close at 846.77 points. It rose 1.24 per cent on Friday.The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange added 0.42 per cent to end at 106.90 points after increasing by 0.13 per cent on Friday.More than 125 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth VND2.51 tril-lion (roughly $111.9 million).Bank stocks and oil and gas shares played the main role to drive up the market on Monday morning.The energy sector benefited from recent gains of global crude prices.US crude WTI gained 5.1 per cent since October 19, while Brent crude increased by 5.6 per cent during the same period.Shares of leading energy firms like PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) advanced.Meanwhile, the banking sector was pulled up by half of the 10 bank stocks that ad-vanced, the largest ones in the industry.The gainers were Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), VPBank (VPB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vietinbank (CTG).The afternoon trade session starts at 1pm.http://bizhub.vn/markets/banks-energy-firms-extend-the-markets-gains_289788.html

Many real estate firms record profit surge


The notable point in the ongoing season for launching the third quarter (Q3) financial statements is the sharp profit increase of many real estate firms compared to the same period of 2016. Will real estate sector hit the profit's point of fall expected by many in-vestors?Profit surgeLDG Investment Joint Stock Company (LDG) has released its Q3 financial statement with revenue of 102 billion dong, doubled the same period of 2016; and after-tax profit of 50.3 billion dong, while it suffered a loss of 20.7 billion dong in the same period of 2016.Talking to Dau tu Chung khoan newspaper, LDG's Chair of the Board of directors (BOD) Nguyen Khanh Hung said that in Q3 2017, the company recorded another prof-it of 46.3 billion dong, mainly including the liquidation of long-term investments. In the first nine months of the year, the after-tax profit of LDG reached 186 billion dong, up by 174 percent compared to the same period of 2016.According to Hung, with the current progress of the ongoing projects, LDG is likely to


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exceed its business plan in 2017. As forecasted, LDG's profit will be better in Q4 2017 as well as in 2018, when the company account revenue from the sale of projects.Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company (HAG) has also published its Q3 business re-sults in 2017 with consolidated revenue of 1.505 trillion dong, up by 20 percent; and pre-tax profit of 166 billion dong, while it suffered a loss of 69.5 billion dong in the same period of 2016.In the first three quarters of the year, HAG generated a consolidated revenue of 3.982 trillion dong, down by 19 percent compared to the same period of 2016, completing 63 percent of the annual plan; and attained a pre-tax profit of 1.188 trillion dong, doubled the plan. In Q4 2017, HAG aims to achieve a consolidated revenue of 1.770 trillion dong and consolidated pre-tax profit of 180 billion dong.In the first nine months of 2017, Dat Xanh Real Estate Service and Construction Joint Stock Company (DXG) recorded a 459.5 billion dong profit, up by 219 percent com-pared to the same period of 2016. Particularly, in Q3 alone, DXG achieved 256.6 billion dong of profit, while it suffered a loss of 4.9 billion dong in Q3 2016. Explaining about the surge in profit results, DXG said that the company's profit mainly comes from serv-ices, investment and affiliated companies.According to DXG, since the real estate continues to be prosperous, the company is having fairly stable revenues from the distribution of real estate projects. DXG fore-casted that the prosperity of the real estate market will last for long, at least until 2018.The Dream House Investment Joint Stock Company (DRH) posted profit in the first three quarters of the year at 53.3 billion dong, up by nearly 200 percent compared to the 17.8 billion dong attained in the same period of 2016, mainly thanks to the financial activities.For Asia Pacific Investment Joint Stock Company (API), the Q3 financial statement showed that the company's revenue reached 37.8 billion dong, seven times higher than the same period of last year, and its after-tax profit was 11.8 billion dong, while it was a loss of 1.3 billion dong in the same period of 2016. In the first three quarters of the year, API obtained 128.7 billion dong revenue, up by 189 percent; and nearly 35.3 bil-lion dong of profit, 175 times higher than the same period of 2016. The main contribu-tor to this positive business results of API is the land leasing with 103.3 billion dong of revenue. In late September 2017, API eliminated its accumulated loss and recorded un-distributed after-tax profit of 5.4 billion dong.Hoang Thach Lan, Head of Customer Retail analysis at Viet Dragon Securities Com-pany said that comparing the profit figures of this period with the same period of the previous year is very meaningful in assessing the growth of the companies.Regarding the sharp profit increase of many real estate firms, Lan said that in addition to the vibrant market, favourable transactions, and more abundant cash flows, firms have accelerated construction profit and recorded the profit's point of fall in Q3 (the handover time). However, many firms recorded high profit growth as they experi-enced low results in the same period of 2016.Will the wave last long?The sudden increase of profit in Q3 is the factor that pulls up the prices of many stocks. Some commented that Q3 was the profit's point of fall for some real estate firms, but some may experience this point in Q4, or are likely to continue record high profit. Therefore, the group of real estate stocks in general is likely to see price increase from now until the end of the year.However, not all real estate firms have benefited from the positive developments of the market. Investors should consider the volatility of inventory and payable items of the firms in the latest three quarters to assess its business performance.Currently, the group of active-trading real estate stocks include SCR, DXG, PDR, FLC, and HAG, etc. In which, HAG shareholders received not very positive information when the company's Chair of BOD Doan Nguyen Duc registered to sell 23 million shares. However, with the good Q3 business results and the lower outstanding debts, HAG shares have increase slightly in the recent time.Nguyen The Minh, deputy director cum Head of Capital Market Analysis Group for


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Individual customers at Saigon Securities Joint Stock Company said that the fourth quarter is often the profit's point of fall of real estate stocks.However, the possibility that real estate stocks would create a wave in Q4 largely de-pends on the overall cash flows on the market, especially when real estate sector has undergone a strong uptrend from the beginning of 2017. Recently, some stocks have maintained this uptrend, such as VIC, VCG, and SJS, and some other stocks are draw-ing attention of the market, such as DXG and LDG, etc.On the scale of the whole market or of each sector, differentiation has become increas-ingly stronger, not only for real estate stocks. Experts recommended that investors should assess the intrinsic value of each firm to find the outstanding stocks in the in-dustry.

Masan Group postpones VND3 trillion bond issue plan


Private equity firm Masan Group Corporation (MSN) has announced it will postpone the issue of VND3 trillion (US$132.2 million) nonconvertible bonds, which was initial-ly scheduled for this quarter.Masan Group had planned to seek shareholders' approval for its plan to issue up to 30 million bonds at the face value of VND100,000 apiece this month. The warrant-linked bonds are unsecured and non convertible with maturity of 24 months and fixed cou-pon rate of 10 per cent per year.The bond issue plan aimed to raise capital to scale up the company's operation and re-structure its debts.However, in its latest filing to the HCM Stock Exchange, Masan Group said it is con-centrating on the treasury buyback scheme, and due to market volatility, it has decided to cease the collection of shareholders' opinion in writing in connection with this plan.Masan Group plans to buy back up to 114.8 million shares, equivalent of 10 per cent of the total outstanding shares, as its treasury stock. The purpose of the buyback is to re-duce the number of outstanding shares in the market.The trade is expected to be implemented between October 16 and November 14 through order matching or put-through transactions on the HCM Stock Exchange.The company's most recent buyback was the purchase of more than 9.2 million shares in October 2016.Shares of Masan Group have lost nearly 10 per cent this year, and were being traded at VND58,500 ($2.58) per share on Monday.http://bizhub.vn/markets/masan-group-postpones-vnd3 trillion-bond-issue-plan_289804.html

IPO for Vietnamese property developer Becamex IDC aims to raise $425 million

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS

A number of Becamex subsidiaries are already listed.Vietnam's state-owned Becamex IDC Corp, one of the country's largest real estate and infrastructure developers, will launch its initial public offering on December 1, aiming to raise roughly $425 million, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange said.The company plans to sell 311.2 million shares or 23.6 percent of the firm to institution-al and retail investors for 31,000 dong per share, in a deal that would value the compa-ny at around 40.8 trillion dong ($1.8 billion).The government also plans to sell 329.25 million additional shares to a strategic inves-tor or investors, while the state will keep a 51 percent stake.An official at Becamex IDC declined comment on the timeline for a listing.In Vietnam, a stock exchange listing and initial public offering are separate processes and a listing may come months after an IPO.A number of Becamex subsidiaries, including Becamex Infrastructure Development Joint Stock Company and Becamex Ashphalt and Concrete, are already listed.Vietnam has been trying to accelerate its drive to privatise its state-owned enterprises, many of which have low profitability. But progress has been slow given the small stakes on offer, sizable state control and concerns about vested interests.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/finance/ipo-for-vietnamese-property-develop-


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er-becamex-idc-aims-to-raise-425 million-3663297.html

Omni-channel vital for retailers' survival


An omni-channel or multi-channel sales approach that provides customers with an in-tegrated shopping experience is now vital for the survival of retail businesses, said re-tail expert Tran Tinh Minh Triet at a talk show last week.According to Triet, retailers will go out of business if they continue relying on a single retail channel and ignoring an omni-channel approach.Triet noted that 20 years ago, the most important thing for a retailer is to have good locations, but five years ago, it evolved to require a good chain, and omni-channel at the moment.Triet cited surveys showing that 70 percent of consumers know about certain brands through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and words of mouth.Besides, 67 percent of consumers search for products on the Internet and read reviews about the products before placing an order.A quarter of consumers like to place an order online and then visit the store to collect the products instead of buying the products directly at the store.The figures show that modern shoppers prefer multi-channel shopping, which has much more advantages and conveniences than traditional shopping methods.To adapt to the changes in consumers' shopping behaviors, retailers must invest in omni-channel retail technology. By delivering the products directly from factories or stores to customers, retailers will not only save time and transport costs, but also en-sure immediate shipping and increase customer satisfaction.According to Triet, retailers need to reduce inventories to minimise storage costs, and develop a complete integrated retail system, from marketing to sale, account and sup-ply chain.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56794/Omni-channel-vital-for-retailers percente2 percent80 percent99-survival.html

Competitive power market to resume operation on November 1


The Ministry of Industry and Trade has decided to resume the operation of the com-petitive electricity generation market (CGM) on November 1 after a one-month sus-pension.The move was made after the ministry carefully considered the operation of the elec-tricity system in October and the plans to run the electricity system and the CGM in November.The CGM was launched in July 2012 to diversify power sources, reduce the country's dependence on hydropower plants and make the power market more competitive.However, from October 1, the operation of the market was suspended temporarily in order to maximise the consumption of gas-based power production.According to the ministry, the country produced and imported a total of 17.038 billion kWh of electricity in October, up 7.77 percent year-on-year. The electricity output met people's power demand for production and daily activities in the month.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/competitive-power-market-to-resume-operation-on-no-vember-1/120296.vnp

How much is 'Vietnamese content' in 'Vietnamese goods'?

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) says 70-90 percent of goods available at supermarkets are 'Vietnamese'. But consumers say it is very difficult to find 'Vietnam-ese goods' at supermarkets.Deputy director of MOIT's Domestic Market Department Le Viet Nga said at a recent workshop that the proportion of Vietnamese goods at supermarkets has reached 70 percent. At big supermarkets such as Co-op Mart and Big C, the figure is 90 percent.Pham Phuong Thuy from Linh Dam residential quarter said she was surprised about the figures released by MOIT."I went to a supermarket this morning to buy some kitchenware items. But I could not


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find any 'Vietnamese goods' there," she said."You can find Vietnamese goods if you want vegetables, fruits, pork or fish sauce. And toilet paper as well. That's all. There is nothing more 'Vietnamese'," she said."I looked for clothes-hangers and I found two products from two private Vietnamese workshops. There were tens of products sourced from China," she said.Unlike Thuy, Le Minh Ngoc, an office worker, said she understands why MOIT says 70-90 percent of goods displayed at supermarkets are Vietnamese."The ministry counts on products made by joint ventures. However, I don't think the products can be listed as Vietnamese because there is very low 'Vietnamese content' in them," she said.When asked to name 'non-food pure Vietnamese' products, Ngoc cited Thorakao, a brand of cosmetics made of medicinal herbs."Thorakao's products are displayed on the bottom shelf at the cosmetics counter. Only the buyers with keen eyes can find them," she said.Vu Vinh Phu, former deputy director of the Hanoi Trade Department, said a product can be listed as 'Vietnamese' only if there is at least 50 percent of 'Vietnamese content'.Meanwhile, MOIT has been insisting on the view that all the products made in Viet-namese territory are 'Vietnamese'."It's obvious that foreign products are dominating the domestic market. I am sure that 70 percent of home appliance products are from Thailand. As for fruits, many are im-ports," Phu said.The expert cited an example to prove the misconception about 'Vietnamese goods'. Most of the products bearing K brand are imported from China.However, at supermarkets, they are advertised as 'Vietnamese high-quality goods'. The products bear the bar code with prefix '893' showing Vietnamese origin.Opinions also vary about whether Samsung's products are called 'Vietnamese'. If re-ferring to MOIT's definition, Samsung's products made in Vietnam would be called 'Vietnamese'.However, Vo Thanh Thu, an economist, pointed out that they cannot be 'Vietnamese' because 80 percent of the product content is not Vietnamese.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/188946/how-much-is--vietnamese-con-tent--in--vietnamese-goods--.html

SCIC under divestment pressure in Q4


The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) is under pressure to complete its di-vestment scheme towards the end of this year with many large companies still in its portfolio.Characterised as the sovereign wealth fund in Vietnam, SCIC has planned to divest capital from 85 State-owned enterprises this year, of which it has completed proceed-ings for 20 companies.In a seminar with potential investors at the Gateway to Vietnam 2017 held by Saigon Securities Inc last Friday, the State capital corporation said it would strive to accom-plish the plan on schedule with information of its future divestment plans being re-leased by the end of November or early December.According to market observers, SCIC is under high pressure as many in its portfolio are big companies including Vinamilk (VNM), Binh Minh Plastics JSC (BMP), Tien Phong Plastics JSC (NTP), IT giant FPT Corp (FPT), Vietnam Construction and Import-Export JSC (VCG), Domesco Medical Import Export JSC (DMC) and Sa Giang Import Export Corp (SGC).SSI's current portfolio includes 132 companies with total market capitalisation of around $4.7 billion, of which its holding in Vinamilk is the most valuable at $3.82 bil-lion, based on Vinamilk's share price on the HCM Stock Exchange on October 30.In mid-October, the sovereign fund announced it will auction a 3.33 per cent stake in Vinamilk on November 10. The initial selling price has yet to be decided but SCIC chair Nguyen Duc Chi said it would be close to the market price.Vinamilk's shares are being traded at around VND152,000 ($6.70) per share, and its


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price has increased about 21 per cent this year.Meanwhile, SCIC's divestment plan in FPT Corp and two big pharmaceutical compa-nies, Traphaco and DHG, has yet to be announced.Besides Vinamilk, Vietnam Construction and Import-Export JSC is likely to be SCIC's next major divestment in the context that it previously planned to offload the entire holding of 22 per cent stake in this company.Simplify proceduresSCIC wants to promote the competitive bidding process (instead of selling a majority stake to strategic investors) to enhance transparency in the divestment process.This process usually involves hiring consultants, organising road shows (in both do-mestic and international markets), setting initial selling prices and launching auctions on the stock exchange.Its efforts to simplify procedures for investors to participate in auctions have been demonstrated in the next share sale of Vinamilk in November. Foreign investors can make deposits in the US dollar while the State Securities Commission allows extend-ing time for registering transaction codes for investors.Listed companies shall also be exempt from making a public bid but must send interest of purchase to the auction board seven days before the auction.In addition, SCIC is considering asking for the government's approval to sell a whole lot of shares for a better price.SCIC, established in 2006, operates with two main functions: representing the govern-ment's capital interests in State-owned enterprises and investing in State capital in key sectors and essential industries. About 1,000 enterprises have been transferred to SCIC since then, in which the government has completely withdrawn capital from 876 en-terprises.http://bizhub.vn/markets/scic-under-divestment-pressure-in-q4_289812.html

Property developers join hands with foreign management

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

Many Vietnamese real estate developers are hiring foreign managers who have con-nections to potential customers.Nguyen Viet Thung, general director of TMS Group, revealed that he has chosen Wel-ham as the management unit for his TMS Luxury Hotel Da Nang Beach.Thung said the investor chose an international management firm because he believes the firm's prestige, experience and large global network will help lure foreign clients with a high spending level to the project.He also believes that foreign management units know how to manage the resort in the best way at the most reasonable costs."In general, foreign corporations are very strict in maintaining consistent quality of fa-cilities and services globally. The resort will always be maintained in the best condi-tions," he said.CEO Group has chosen Accor and Best Western for its huge project on Phu Quoc Is-land. Vogue Resort in Nha Trang City has chosen AccorHotels, one of the world's lead-ing hotel management firms, and MBLand selected Pacific for Pan Pacific DanangHoi An Resort project.The representative of a real estate firm in Hanoi said that managing large real estate projects requires technologies and skills that Vietnamese firms don't have.The biggest benefit is that foreign management firms will bring customers. In fact, the hotels with medium standards can be managed by Vietnamese firms.Meanwhile, luxury hotels need to be managed by foreign firms if they want to attract international guests.AccorHotels is one of the world's largest hotel management conglomerates which now manages 3,800 hotels in 92 countries under different brands such as Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel and MGallery.Welham is the manager of Lotus Residences, Son Kim EXS Capital, VSP Vietnam, Sher-aton Hotel, The Costa Nha Trang and Sai Gon Tower."The world hotel brands have hundreds of year experience, so they have many fre-


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quent customers. Therefore, hiring international management firms will ensure sus-tainable revenue," he commented.Knight Frank and Graham Associates said that the cooperation with international brands will help investors get high benefits from leasing and increase capital value.The projects with international management brands can be transferred at 20-30 percent prices higher than other projects. The income from leasing is always higher thanks to the high occupancy rate.However, analysts said it is not easy to find international management firms for coop-eration. CEO's president said prestigious management firms are always very choosy when selecting partners. Therefore, project developers need to have powerful capabil-ity and satisfy strict requirements on design, construction quality, interior decoration and services.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/188945/property-developers-join-hands-with-foreign-management.html

Vietnamese accelerator helps launch 11 startups


VIISA has invested $30,000 into each company and provided technical resources, of-fice space and access to world class mentors and investors.The second batch of startups from the Vietnam Innovative Startup Accelerator (VIISA) graduated on October 25 after three months of mentorship under prominent venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from the region.The graduation ceremony for 11 startups was held at the Hard Rock Cafe in HCM City, and attended by more than 100 investors, corporate partners and mentors.Over the last three months, the startups have worked hard to create products that fit market demands and prove that they have scalable, repeatable business models. The teams got to work closely with investors such as Spiral Ventures (Japan), and join of-fice hours mentorship with the Startup Ecosystem team from Amazon Web Services and the CFO of Microsoft Vietnam, among others.Dr Le Hoang Anh, chair of VIISA and managing partner of Dragon Capital, said that VIISA had become surprisingly well-known in the region in a short space of time.He said the launch of the different startups was a "testament" to the hard work and support from VIISA, government officials and corporate partners. "I am excited for the journey ahead."The 11 startups range from sales and advertisement platforms, food and delivery serv-ices to training a platform for jobseekers and an AI tool that reads emotions to convert texts into stickers. The teams are from Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea and Ukraine.Sangyeop KANG, investment officer at Hanwha Investment, said the diversity of the new startups means the foreign teams have been able to expand their businesses in Vi-etnam while offering global insight to the Vietnamese companies.VIISA has invested $30,000 into each company and provided technical resources, of-fice accommodation and access to more than 100 world class mentors and investors. Promising teams also get up to $200,000 in follow-up funding.Two startups from batch 1 secured funding on the same day. Wisepass raised $400,000 in seed funding led by Expara Ventures, followed by $100,000 from VIISA, while Wefit raised a round of $150,000 from ESP Capital and VIISA.Tran Huu Duc, CEO of VIISA, and Head of FPT Ventures, said that the second batch of startups has continued the momentum started by founding partners FPT, Dragon Capital and Hanwha, and batch three is highly anticipated.Batch three will start their mentorship in January 2018 and interested entrepreneurs can start applying now.VIISA will invest up to $6 million into building global startups from Vietnam. It is a partnership of Dragon Capital, Hanoi-based telecommunications firm FPT and Hanwha Investment, together with commercial partners Asia Counsel, BIDV, Tam An Tax and CirCo Co-working Space.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/companies/vietnamese-accelerator-helps-launch-11-startups-3662979.html


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French consultant hired to give 'objective view' of Saigon's airport expansion plan


The government appears to be looking for a second opinion on a plan drawn up by a local firm.Vietnam's transport ministry has hired a French consulting firm to work on a project to enlarge Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City following instructions from the government.The aim is to raise Tan Son Nhat's capacity to 43-45 million passengers per year over the next decade to ease overloading at the country's biggest airport.The ministry, which has already submitted an expansion plan drawn up by a local firm to the government, said: "We cannot not tell if the plan is feasible or not, so we believe hiring a foreign consultant will give a more objective view of the project."French firm ADPI is expected to submit its proposals by the end of this year.ADPI is a French company that specialises in airport architecture and engineering and is a fully owned subsidiary of Aeroports de Paris Group. It has previously worked on airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Dubai.Under the plan, HCM City has been asked to work with the ministries of transport, na-tional defense and natural resources and environment to increase the confined airport by 21 hectares (52 acres) to the east, taking over land now controlled by the defense ministry.Runways and parking space will be built on the additional land, which is currently re-served for military cargo planes and helicopters.Two terminals capable of handling a combined 20 million passengers a year will be built by 2018, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam.The entire project will cost an estimated VND19.7 trillion ($864 million).The government has also asked the transport ministry to look into the possibility of ex-panding the airport to the north and south, raising its capacity to 45-50 million passen-gers per year.Tan Son Nhat currently has two terminals that serve 32 million passengers annually, well over its design capacity of 25 million.It also only has two runways that are sometimes closed due to flooding or lightning strikes. The airport has space for 57 aircraft at a time, but sometimes it has to handle more than 70.Vietnam's airline market is the third fastest growing in Asia-Pacific, and the country is grappling with a severe lack of airport capacity.Aviation authorities estimate that the number of passengers on domestic flights will soar 35 percent to 28 million this year, accounting for more than half of the total air travel in the country.Vietnam is also planning to build a massive new airport in the southern province of Dong Nai, which neighbours HCM City.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/french-consultant-hired-to-give-objective-view-of-saigon-s-airport-expansion-plan-3662930.html

International tourist arrivals hit 10.5m in 10 months


The number of international visitors to Vietnam in the first ten months of 2017 was es-timated at 10.47 million.This translated to a year-on-year surge of 28.1 per cent, according to the General Sta-tistical Office of Vietnam.While arrivals by air touched 8.8 million passengers, an increase of 32.8 per cent against the same period last year, nearly 1.4 million visitors arrived by road (up 18 per cent), and over 200,000 people arrived by sea (down 8.1 per cent).In ten months, visitors from Asia reached 7.9 million, up 32.8 per cent over the same period last year, of which arrivals from most major markets increased significantly. In particular, the number of visitors from China increased by 45.6 per cent, those from the Republic of Korea rose by 53.9 per cent, from Japan increased by 7.7 per cent and those from Malaysia increased by 17.2 per cent. While visitors from Thailand increased by


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12.7 per cent, those from Singapore increased 7.8 per cent.Visitors from Europe in the past ten months surged to around 1.5 million people, up 18.1 per cent against the same period last year, of which the highest increase was from Russian visitors (up 38.3 per cent). Visitors from the West European countries who do not need a visa to Vietnam, including Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy also increased, with the highest increase from Spain, up 20.6 per cent.The number of visitors from the American continent also surged, with 671,000 passen-gers, a year-on-year increase of 10.4 per cent.In October alone, international tourist arrivals reached 1.02 million, up 5 per cent and 24.7 per cent, as compared to the previous month and the same period last year, re-spectively. This is also the seventh month from the beginning of 2017 that the number of international visitors to Vietnam reached over one million people, per month.In 2016, the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam set new records, crossing 10 million visitors, up 26 per cent year-on-year. The total tourism revenue in 2016 was VND400 trillion (US$17.6 billion), accounting for 6.8 per cent of the country's GDP.Vietnam's Political Bureau has issued an important resolution on the country's tourism development till 2035. Tourism has been identified as a leading economic sector that can drive socio-economic development.The country is expected to see 17-20 million international visitors and 82 million do-mestic visitors, and tourism is expected to account for 10 per cent of the GDP, by 2020. The tourism revenue is forecast to touch $35 billion by that time.Vietnam has also set a target to become one of Southeast Asia's leading travel destina-tions by 2030.http://bizhub.vn/news/international-tourist-arrivals-hit-105m-in-10-months_289802.html

HCM City launches dental-service tours


The tourism and dentistry sectors in HCM City last Friday jointly introduced dental-service tours allowing visitors to combine dental care with travel in the city and some other localities such as Mui Ne and Hanoi.At the launching ceremony jointly organised by the Vietnam Dental Tourism Organi-sation and the HCM City Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology, three service packages were introduced with cost from a mere VND1 million to VND70 million, providing visitors with general dental check-up, X-ray, teeth cleaning and whitening, and apply-ing porcelain veneers to teeth.There is also a high-quality permanent porcelain veneer service costing VND200 mil-lion."At first, we will focus on services which take less time, about 30 minutes, and will of-fer hi-tech services later," said Vo Van Nhan, director of Nhan Tam Dental Clinic.Clinics in HCM City can carry out complicated operations such as gum and bone graft, and teeth implantation, Nhan added.The Vietnam Dental Tourism Organisation has 14 dental clinics attracting 250,000 pa-tients a year with 25 percent of them being foreigners and Vietnamese living overseas. The organisation's membership will increase to 50 clinics able to serve 850,000 patients next year and 56 clinics with 3.5 million visitors in 2020.In addition, the tourism sector has launched a dental tour combining teeth cleaning service and a visit to HCM City, another tour which offers the foresaid services and a visit to Tien Giang Province, and a tour including teeth cleaning service and sightsee-ing in HCM City, Mui Ne, Hanoi or Sapa.Travel companies also want dental clinics to provide cost- and time-saving teeth clean-ing services to tourists, especially those from Europe, who have much free time while waiting for hotel check-in.Phan Kim Ngoc, head of the HCM City office of AMICA Travel Company, said the company has offered massage and nail services at no charge to their customers and ex-pects to cooperate with clinics to provide low-cost dental services.Dental tourism has been identified as one of HCM City's main medical tourism prod-


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ucts which the city is keen to develop to attract more tourists.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56793/HCM City-launches-dental-service-tours.html

Phu Quoc moves towards smart city status


The first phase of a project to build a digital network infrastructure that will help Phu Quoc Island become a smart city has been completed, the Vietnam Post and Telecom-munications Corporation (VNPT) has announced.VNPT general director Pham Duc Long said the corporation has completed a project upgrading e-government software, installing cameras at designated points to manage security.It has also finished installing wireless broadcasting equipment in tourist sites under the Smart Wifi project, deploying an accommodation management software for hotels and guest houses.The e-government system has linked administrations from the commune to the pro-vincial level, helping people and enterprises in the district complete administrative procedures online to get licences or register their businesses."Soon, each resident have a unique electronic account to deal with governments at all levels," Long said.Four air monitoring stations and one water source observation station have been de-ployed in the island district. The environment monitoring system will collect, process, analyse and deliver real-time data to alert users on air and water contamination, and provide recommendations on how to respond.The VNPT also has built a safe city solution with many mobile applications that will help people report incidents (accidents, theft, acts of violating urban security) to man-agement agencies and also help the latter respond quickly.To manage and operate the above-mentioned systems, Phu Quoc has built a central-ised operation centre tasked with receiving complaints from citizens, visitors and or-ganisations; improving traffic safety, co-ordinating emergency responses and performing other important functions."I am confident that the operation of centralised centre will make an important contri-bution to enhancing the district's management efficiency as well as the quality of serv-ice provided to people and businesses. This, in turn, will contribute to delivering convenience, comfort and safety to visitors who come to Phu Quoc," Long told the Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) newspaper.Applauding VNPT's efforts in helping building a smart city, Mai Van Huynh, deputy chair of the Kien Giang People's Committee, called for concerted efforts to ensure that the project is completed in time.The corporation has announced that in the project's second phase, it would carry out highly sophisticated platform systems like the Internet of Things.The VND67 billion (US$2.9 million) project to make Phu Quoc a smart city by 2020 was approved by the Kien Giang Province People's Committee in April this year.Phu Quoc is Vietnam's largest island, covering an area of nearly 600 square kilometers with a population of over 100,000 people.http://www.vir.com.vn/phu-quoc-moves-towards-smart-city-status.html

More pork traders adhere to city's traceability programme


Pork traders at Hoc Mon and Binh Dien wholesale markets in HCM City have fully complied with traceability rules of the city government after being given a few more days.Le Van Tien, deputy director of the Hoc Mon Market Management and Trade Compa-ny in Hoc Mon District, said a delegation of the HCM City Food Safety Board and the market management board have inspected and found that 99-100 percent of traceabil-ity tags on pigs sold at the market have as sufficient information as required.There are 5,000-5,700 pigs brought into Hoc Mon Market a day including 3,100-3,200 pigs from Long An, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh and Binh Duong provinces, and 1,900 others from slaughterhouses in Cu Chi and Binh Tan districts of HCM City.


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The company has taken measures to encourage vendors to participate in the pork traceability programme. The remaining traders said provincial veterinary agencies have not worked with them to supply sufficient product information.A representative of the Binh Dien Market Management and Trade Company in District 8, which consumes 3,000 pigs a day, also agreed that traders have implemented the programme more seriously after being given more time. The percentage of pigs wear-ing approved traceability tags increased from 36 percent on October 21 to 99.7 percent last Thursday.The market management board also imposed stricter rules on pig traders. From Octo-ber 21 to 25, traders had to wait for 30 minutes to two hours to enter the market if their pigs did not wear eligible traceability tags, and since last Thursday, traders have not been allowed to sell products without clear origin.On October 15 and 16 at Binh Dien Market, more than 2,900 pigs were detected not wearing the approved traceability tags and only 22 percent of 5,000 pigs brought into Hoc Mon Market had sufficient data. The management of the two wholesale markets then gave ultimatums to traders, giving them a few more days to comply or have their businesses suspended.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56809/More-pork-traders-adhere-to-city percente2 percent80 percent99s-traceability-programme.html

Nutritionists express concerns about over-consumption of pork

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Many health experts have expressed the concern that eating too much pork may be un-healthy. They also expressed doubts about the quality of pork in Vietnam.Pork prices dropped drastically low in April, causing a huge loss to the local farmers. Promotional programmes have been organised to encourage people to buy as much pork as possible.A local in HCM City said when his university called for support for farmers, his family ate pork daily. Three weeks later, he gained 3kg and felt sick just by looking at pork. Another local in HCM City said most of her family members did not like eating vege-tables so she bought pork or beef daily.The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported that Vietnam will con-sume more than four million tonnes of meat in 2019, 65 percent of which is pork.A survey on cholesterol level in adults conducted by the National Institute of Nutrition showed that 44.3 percent of urban dwellers have high cholesterol level while the rate in rural and mountainous areas was only 29 percent. Regular pork eaters are at more risk of high blood pressure or atherosclerosis. It is only discovered via blood tests or when their health worsens.HCM City Nutrition Centre also conducted a survey on obesity and high blood pres-sure with 11,072 random pupils from 30 schools in the city. 41.4 percent were over-weight and 19 percent obese. It also revealed that consumption of pork is related to obesity and high blood pressure.Moreover, the quality of pork is being questioned after various unhygienic food cases. It was recently discovered that 3,750 pigs in HCM City were sedated before being killed and there were concerns such drugs could be passed down the food chain. There were also concerns about overly-high levels of antibiotics in pork.Dr Lam Vinh Nien at the University Medical Centre HCM City confirmed that pork provided protein and many vitamins, however, eating too much pork could lead to co-lon cancer. Nutritionists also advised eating more beans to prevent cancer and high cholesterol level and that people need at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables each day.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/024/53536/nutritionists-express-concerns-about-over-con-sumption-of-pork.html

Young scientists seek ways to boost firms' competitiveness


Domestic and international young researchers gathered at a conference in the central city of Da Nang on October 30 to discuss policies to help Vietnamese enterprises en-


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hance their competitiveness.The Conference for Young Researchers in Economics and Business (ICYREB 2017), themed "Vietnamese enterprises with the fourth industrial revolution," offered domes-tic and international researchers, aged below 40, an opportunity to share their experi-ence and studies in economics, management and business administration.Participants presented 130 reports focusing on economics, finance, banking, account-ing, business administration, marketing, tourism, human resources management, trade, international business and law.Among them are Eric D. Ramstetter from the Asia Development Institute, Editor-in-chief of the Asian Economic Journal; Professor Nguyen Duc Khuong, deputy director of the France-based IPAG Business School; and Dr Sushil Sharma from the US-based Ball State University, Editor-in-chief of the International Journal Of E-Adoption.ICYREB 2017 was jointly organised by ten economic and business universities nation-wide.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/young-scientists-seek-ways-to-boost-firms-competitive-ness/120299.vnp

Cooperative gets $19k to label mangoes


The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap's government last Sunday granted VND432 million (US$18,939) to help My Xuong Cooperative in Cao Lanh District label and is-sue codes for mangoes.The province's People's Committee will give the cooperative a machine to print logos and codes for the mangoes.The cooperative will also receive guidance on promoting local mangoes and teaching consumers how to identify authentic goods with clear origin.The cooperative in the district's My Xuong Commue grows Cat Chu mangoes and Cao Lanh mangoes, recognised by the Intellectual Property Rights Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology as a cooperative brand name since 2012.Cat Chu mangoes weigh an average of 350-450 grammes each, and Cao Lanh mangoes about 400-500 grammes each. They have a tapered shape, fragrant smell and sweet taste.Cao Lanh District has nearly 4,000ha of mango cultivation, producing about 30,000 tonnes of mangoes a year.The use of advanced farming techniques have improved quality and quantity, and in-creased the value of the products.Mangoes are grown following Global and Vietnamese GAP (Good Agricultural Prac-tices) standards.After building their brand name and creating better linkages among farmers and busi-nesses, local farmers have been able to expand markets for mango exports.The district's mangoes are exported to Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan.http://bizhub.vn/news/cooperative-gets-19k-to-label-mangoes_289808.html

RADCC project brings clean water to 6,500 Ben Tre households


The project "Building response capacity, recovery and adaptation to disaster risks and climate for men and women" (RADCC) has helped 6,500 poor households in the Me-kong Delta province of Ben Tre get access to clean water over five years of implemen-tation. According to a statement of Oxfam Vietnam sent to the Daily last Friday when a conference on the implementation of RADCC project was being held in Ben Tre Prov-ince, the project has been carried out since 2013 in 15 communes in Binh Dai, Ba Tri and Thanh Phu districts.Thanks to the project, waterborne diseases have decreased from 15 percent to 5 per-cent.Nguyen Van Buoi, deputy director of the Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Ru-ral Development, said over 3,000 goats and 6,000 water tanks have been handed over to poor households. Thousands of vulnerable people have been equipped with knowl-edge and skills of disaster mitigation and climate change adaption.


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The project also helps women participate in making important decisions with 60 per-cent of women attending workshops at their communes. Their roles in livelihood ac-tivities have been integrated into socio-economic development plans.Income of 11,000 poor workers with 60 percent of them being women has increased thanks to livelihood models adapting to climate change. Especially, the number of poor households receiving support from the project has reduced by 14 percent.Nguyen Thi Le Hoa, deputy director of Oxfam in Vietnam, said she was delighted at benefits of the project. The support of the provincial authorities and the enthusiastic participation of local people in the project will help more people benefit from the project, thus contributing to the sustainable development of the province.According to Oxfam Vietnam, the project, jointly implemented by Oxfam and the Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, has been funded NZD4.5 mil-lion (US$3.07 million) by the New Zealand government.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56796/RADCC-project-brings-clean-water-to-6500-Ben-Tre-households.html

Vietnamese search engine Coc Coc attracts 23 million users


Coc Coc, or "Knock Knock" in English a Vietnam-based search engine has become one of the most popular browsers in Vietnam, with around 23 million users as of August.Le Van Thanh, co-founder of Coc Coc, said that in the local market, the browser has made strong leaps, just behind Google's Chrome and has surpassed all other browsers of foreign brands like Firefox.Data from internet-monitoring firm StatCounter shows Chrome has taken the lead with 58.7 percent of users, followed by Coc Coc (26.6 percent) and Firefox (7.5 percent).Thanh ascribed the strong growth to the integration of many features such as search, automatic punctuations, correct spelling suggestions, dictionaries, Facebook access, download and shopping suggestions among others.The Vietnamese search engine, behind Google and Facebook, has made up around 20 percent of the online advertising market. The number of Coc Coc users has helped the company take the second place, accounting for 26.6 percent.Not many countries worldwide develop their own Internet browser, according to Thanh.Set up in 2010, Coc Coc launched the Coc Coc Internet browser in 2013. Germany's me-dia platform Hubert Burda Media injected $14 million into the Vietnamese enterprise in 2015.Peter Kennedy, chair of Hubert Burda, said Coc Coc had respective growth rates of 100 percent in 2015 and 80 percent in 2016. The figure is estimated at 50 percent this year.He said the company is very pleased with this investment. Vietnam is an attractive place to invest in, as online services are growing fast compared to other places, and the online community is very strong.Thanh revealed Coc Coc reached the break-even point in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, Kennedy added the current value of Coc Coc may be four or five times higher than the initial investment, but he could not determine its market value.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56807/Vietnamese-search-engine-Coc-Coc-attracts-23 million-users.html

VNPT enters into joint venture with Burma firm


StreamNet, a joint venture between Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and Myanmar's Elite Telecom Public Co., Ltd, was launched in Yangon on Oc-tober 27 in the presence of minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan.According to Chair of VNPT's Member Council Tran Manh Hung, the group opened a representative office in Myanmar in 2014, aiming to help the group invest in the country.VNPT and Elite Telecom Public became partners in 2015, and established the 15 mil-lion-USD joint venture last September, in which VNPT accounts for 67 percent of


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shares.Telecom operator StreamNet will offer services including FTTs, Leased Line VPNs, IP transit, satellites, domain names, web hosting and more.In his remarks at the launch ceremony, minister Tuan said the establishment of StreamNet to develop telecom infrastructure and provide broadband services in My-anmar between firms from the two countries reflects the success of the Vietnam-My-anmar comprehensive partnership.He said he believes StreamNet will help achieve the Myanmar government's goals of developing the local telecoms market.

Wiping the floor 31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Mamamy, the only Vietnamese brand in the baby wipes market, has overtaken foreign names and become the leading brand in the country.Poor quality products in the baby wipes market sparked a degree of fear among par-ents over recent years and made it harder for producers and retailers to secure custom-er trust. Mamamy, however, the only 100-per-cent owned Vietnamese brand, has done better at this task than its competitors.Mamamy led in market share in terms of revenue and volume from April 2016 to March 2017 in the six major cities of HCM City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Can Tho, and Nha Trang. According to the latest report from Nielsen, it has outpaced foreign brands to become Number 1, with a 33.8 per cent market share. It also has a distribu-tion system the envy of others, which has struck a nice balance between traditional and modern channels and between rural and urban areas. "We continue to boost modern channels and rural areas, as these have potential," said Bui Minh Tuan, director of the Dong Hiep Trading and Investment Co. (DHTI), the owner of Mamamy and which has specialised in different types of wipes since 1999.Mamamy was launched ten years ago, at about the same time as other baby wipes brands such as Hoa Lan, Kin Kin, Luck-Lady and Dot. Being ranked the leading brand in the industry is no surprise for the company. "We have spent nearly 20 years devel-oping our products and human resources, and will continue to do so," Tuan said.Its slogan, "The best and better", has proven true. Its mission has been to create the most complete products with the highest product quality, to provide satisfaction to lo-cal consumers. The company invested in a modern production line and conducted ex-tensive research to ensure product quality and functionality and, especially, safety. "We use natural extracts in our products to protect children's skin, which no other products use because of the cost," Tuan said. "We also researched the habit of drawing wipes from bags and found a useful solutiondrawing wipes with one handfor which we secured a US patent."In taking care in each product, the company aims to create practical values for the com-munity. "We don't invest much in advertising and promotional campaigns," Tuan said. "Our focus is on product quality and value for consumers and society."According to Lai Tien Manh, Managing director of MibrandBrand Finance, when it comes to branding, focusing on product quality to satisfy customers is key. "It was the right decision for Mamamy to understand this and make it a goal," he said. After in-vesting in its products, he added, it's now time to reap the benefits.While Mamamy is positioned in the high-end segment, its price puts it in the mid-end segment. "We prefer to create value for the community to earn a profit," Tuan said. There is a determination to rearrange the market, Manh noted. "Only strong brands can decide to break out in this way," he said.The brand had indeed been successful with its community activities, such as The Cu-rious Land programme for families in the summer. Its philosophy of "The best and bet-ter" in production and business has been conscientious and meticulous, according to Vu Trung Hiep, CEO of Linkstar Communications. "It expresses the desire of the brand to provide true quality," he said. "Creating a philosophy is simple, but acting consistently isn't."The company plans to move into new categories in the mother and baby sector, build-ing a new cosmetic plant specialising in producing natural products for kids under six


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years of age with the Mamamy Baby Good Goods line. "Our ambition is to become an international brand in the future," Tuan said.Possessing advantages in finance, production and distribution, and brand orientation, its goals are perfectly feasible, according to Manh.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/wiping-the-floor

Navigos introduces first application for IT job seekers


TopITworks provides fast job searches and information on career orientation to users.topITworks, an online IT recruitment website of the Navigos Group, has just launched the first job search application in Vietnam for the IT community, available on both An-droid and iOS platforms.The application integrates convenient job search features and at the same time in-cludes information on career orientation for IT job seekers.Up to 60 per cent of users use mobile devices to access the website, according to topIT-Works' latest survey. In order to provide the best experience to users, topITworks of-ficially launched an online job search application on Android and iOS platforms, the first mobile application for the IT community. topITworks has over 1,500 jobs in the IT industry.The new application integrates a search engine and filter based on programming lan-guage and salary range. Job alerts are emailed to users based on the "job skills" candi-dates wish to search for. It has a simplified application interface with a mobile-friendly design, and a jobs bulletin feature appears after accessing the application.In particular, the mobile application is applying "learning machine" technology for the search and filter system. The application not only suggests jobs based on keywords but also studies users' behaviors based on search history, suggesting the most appropriate jobs and making job searches faster and more convenient.According to the Navigos Group, Vietnamese IT candidates are considered by recruit-ers to be hard working, smart, and quick learners. But there are also areas in need of improvement, such as a lack of clear career orientation, frequent job hopping, a lack of passion for their job and a lack of engagement with the company, and high require-ments compared to capacity. They also tend to lack soft skills such as communication skills, problem solving skills, and English skills etc., which will affect promotions.In order to solve these problems, topITworks is not just an IT job search portal but also develops "knowledge" that covers the experience of IT specialists, career orientation, and advice for IT candidates in interviews, etc. With new articles every day, topIT-works is also a place for sharing information among those who wish to learn more about the industry.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/navigos-introduces-first-application-for-it-job-seekers

Hoa Sen opens largest plant in central region


Hoa Sen Group commenced the second phase of Hoa Sen Nhon Hoi Factory, located in Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in the central province of Binh Dinh's Quy Nhon city on October 29.The Hoa Sen Nhon Hoi Factory is the group's 11th plant and largest one in the central region, which was built on an area of 21.3ha with a total investment of 2 trillion VND.The second phase of the plant includes five production lines, namely, a galvanising line with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year; a cold rolling line, having a capacity of 350,000 tonnes per year; a pickling line with 800,000 tonnes per year; colour-coated line with 150,000 tonnes per year; and an acid recycling line of 5,000 litres per hour.It is expected that the second phase will be completed by the end of 2018, which will create jobs for 1,000 workers.On the same day, the Hoa Sen Group also inaugurated the first phase of the factory, which has been completed with three main lines galvanising line with a capacity of 180,000 tonnes per year, colour-coating line with a capacity of 45,000 tonnes per year, and a slitting line with a designed capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year.


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Hoa Sen Group Chair Le Phuoc Vu said that Hoa Sen Nhon Hoi would meet the needs of the central and central highlands provinces, as well as export to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Europe and America.Chair of the provincial Binh Dinh People's Committee Ho Quoc Dung highly appreci-ated the process and the investment efficiency of the Hoa Sen Group in the province. This is the third project of this group in Binh Dinh.Dung said he hoped the province would receive more investment from the group in the future.The continuous expansion of the Hoa Sen Group's recent production system has ena-bled its products to be available in more than 70 countries and territories.In the fiscal year 2016-2017, Hoa Sen sold more than 1.66 million tonnes of products, of which 587,000 tonnes were exported, up 28 percent over the previous year.The total turnover was 26 trillion VND, of which the export revenue was over 420 mil-lion USD.For the 2017-2018 fiscal year, Hoa Sen is focusing on developing potential export mar-kets, such as Europe, America and India.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hoa-sen-opens-largest-plant-in-central-region/120268.vnp

Ministry proposes to consider Uber, Grab as transport firms

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| SGGP NEWS

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has sent a document to the government Office, proposing to change relevant regulations to consider software application supply firms such as Uber and Grab as transport firms, said the ministry yesterday.According to the document, regulations on science and technology application in pas-senger transport connectivity should be adjusted to create fair competition with tradi-tional transport firms.For a long time, Uber and Grab have been counted as software supply firms so they do not take responsibility for abiding by regulations to ensure safety for passengers and people on the road. Still they have collected transport service fee.In addition, they are not subject to regulations on transport business conditions, caus-ing unfair competition to traditional transport services such as taxi cabs and motorbike taxi.http://sggpnews.org.vn/business/ministry-proposes-to-consider-uber-grab-as-trans-port-firms-70816.html

Japan's Miniso to expand in Vietnam


Miniso, a Japanese lifestyle brand, has announced it is increasing the number of shops in Vietnam by 10 times through franchising, according to vtv.vn.Entering the Vietnamese market in September, Miniso currently has 28 shops in the country, mainly in Hanoi, HCM City and Nghe An.The brand planned to open 100 shops in Vietnam in 2017 and will launch its initial public offering (IPO) in 2018. It also announced that singer Son Tung M-TP has been chosen as the brand ambassador in VietnamMiniso was founded in Japan in September 2013 by Miyake Jyunya and his Chinese partner and president of the company Ye Guo Fu. The following month, they opened Miniso's China office in Guangzhou. Miniso sells household tools, electronic accesso-ries, beauty products, gifts and toys. Miniso's products are familiar, but with new shapes and functions.http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/japans-miniso-to-expand-in-viet-nam_289819.html

Telcos complain about unreasonable telecom charges


Enterprises providing telecommunications services and network infrastructure have complained about unreasonable financial obligations, saying they have to contribute to the public-utility telecom service fund plus an annual charge for the right to telecom operation.At a meeting of digital enterprises on September 22 and many other meetings of the Vietnam Private Sector Forum (VPSF), many companies proposed that they be exempt


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from contributions made to the public-utility telecom service fund, or make contribu-tions under other forms. They also proposed that the annual charge for the right to tel-ecom operation be removed.Enterprises said these financial obligations discouraged them from developing net-work infrastructure and digital services and cause their expenditures to surge.The two charges are regulated in the 2009 Telecommunications Law, which specifies that telecom businesses must perform public-utility telecom tasks assigned by the State and make financial contributions to the Vietnam Fund for Public-Utility Telecom Services managed by the Ministry of Information and Communications. The non-prof-it fund supports the implementation of State policies for provision of public-utility tel-ecom services.A decree guiding the implementation of the Telecom Law states that the prime minis-ter shall specify the list of telecom services subject to the fund contributions depending on each period, and the contribution rates will not be higher than 5 percent of service revenue. Enterprises holding telecom service licenses must contribute 1.5 percent of their service revenues, and contributions are counted as legitimate business expenses of enterprises.In addition, enterprises have to pay a charge for the telecom operation right. The charge is set at 1 percent of telecom service turnover but the State currently collects only 0.5 percent of service revenue.Nguyen Trung Chinh, general director of CMC Corporation, said a total charge of 2 percent is unreasonable as the State should support enterprises to develop public-util-ity telecom services. He proposed the government review the collection, and clarify the fund allocation.VPSF said funds for public-utility activities should be optional and contribution rates calculated based on revenues of enterprises are unreasonable as it may extend the time of capital recovery. Telecom companies already have to satisfy numerous business, technology and investment requirements of the Telecommunications Law to be al-lowed to operate.Last year, 26 telecom companies contributed VND1.85 trillion (US$81.1 million) to the Public-Utility Telecommunication Service Fund, excluding the contributions made by FPT Telecom and New Generation Telecom Corporation (NGT).The forum suggested publishing the fund information as stated in the Tax Law.However, the Ministry of Information and Communications has published only data about the fund from 2008 to 2014 updated to August 2014 on its website. The fund's expenditures are summarised briefly, saying it was allocated to help businesses main-tain and develop public-utility telecom services, increase mobile phone subscription and expand Internet coverage.Moreover, the fund revenue is always higher than its expenditures with VND1.6 tril-lion compared to VND1.2 trillion in 2009.Hoang Duc Trung, senior director of DFJ VinaCapital, said it is essential to make the fund transparent and establish a fund management council with the participation of telecom companies contributing to the fund. He also proposed the government allow enterprises to provide public-utility telecom services by themselves under the direc-tion of the government.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56805/Telcos-complain-about-unreasonable-tele-com-charges.html

Mitsubishi Vietnam recalls more than 2,500 Pajero units


Mitsubishi Vietnam has initiated a nationwide safety recall campaign to replace driver and passenger-side airbag inflators.More than 2,500 Pajero Mitsubishi units, which were imported from 2007 to 2016, will be recalled from November 1, 2017 to October 31, 2019.Mitsubishi Vietnam said in the case of some passenger and driver-side airbag inflators, the catalyst (ammonia nitrate) inside the airbag inflator may be subject to metamor-phism due to temperature change in wet weather conditions over long periods of use.


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Thus, the cover of the inflator may break when the airbag is activated.Estimated replacement time for the driver's airbag inflator is 30 minutes and passen-ger's airbag inflator is 108 minutes.According to recommendations of the Vietnam Register, Mitsubishi Pajero units under the recall campaign are of five different types, therefore car owners should immediate-ly visit the authorised dealer of Mitsubishi Vietnam to check and replace, if required, the front airbag inflators for safety reasons.http://bizhub.vn/wheels/mitsubishi-viet-nam-recalls-more-than-2500-pajero-units_289803.html

Vinamilk tops list of prestigious food beverage firms in 2017


The Vietnam Dairy Products Company (Vinamilk) tops the list of 10 Vietnam's food and beverage firms with best reputation in 2017, according to the Vietnam Report.This is the first time that the Vietnam Report has publicised the rankings of food bev-erage firms with best reputation in Vietnam. Those companies were evaluated under three main factors, including their financial abilities based on financial reports in the most recent year (accounts for 30 percent) and their media reputation, which was ac-cessed by the Media Coding method (30 percent).Online survey on customers' recognition and satisfaction and the others on experts' as-sessment of their position, capital, growth, profits and operation plans in 2017 account-ed for 40 percent.According to the Vietnam Report, Vinamilk was also chosen by questioned consumers and experts as the firm with the highest brand recognition, as well as biggest informa-tion coverage and media influence.From 2014 to 2016, Vinamilk's sales grew 14.8 percent, while its return on equity and earnings per share increased 34.5 and 82 percent respectively.In May 2017, the Kantar Worldpanel Brand Footprint Ranking listed the company as the most popular fast-moving consumer goods brand in Vietnam.Vinamilk was included in the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's biggest public com-panies. It also ranked eight among the best 300 companies in Asia selected by Nikkei.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vinamilk-tops-list-of-prestigious-food-beverage-firms-in-2017/120300.vnp

Viettel wins clutch of International Business Awards


Viettel has won one gold and four silver awards at the 2017 International Business AwardsStevie Awards in various categories and for its operations in various countries.The Gold Award went to Viettel's Youtube fee package (in Cambodia, Peru and Tan-zania) in the best EntertainmentCommunication Product of the Year category.Within six months of the package's launch it had garnered over one million customers in the three countries by helping achieve a breakthrough in the consumption of enter-tainment on smartphones and saving 40 80 per cent cost when using data.The four silver awards were for Fastest-Growing Company of the Year in Europe, Mid-dle East and Africa for Halotel (Tanzania); Most Effective Marketing Campaign of the Year for Bitel (Peru); Best Customer Care Service of the Year for My Viettel application (Vietnam); and Best Telecommunication Product of the Year for telecommunication secure solution (Vietnam)This is the first time that Halotel, Viettel's Tanzanian operation, has won an interna-tional award.Within three months of launching its mobile service in October 2015 Halotel had signed up one million subscribers, and after nine months doubled the figure, both records that no other international telecom service provider has ever achieved.Halotel remains one of the fastest growing telecom companies in Tanzania. As of Oc-tober 2017 it has over 3.5 million customers to rank fourth out of eight telecom compa-nies in the country after surpassing some that have been in the business for over 10 years.According to the Tanzanian Communication Regulatory Authority, the speed of


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growth of Halotel's subscriber numbers in July and August surprised authorities after it signed up a full 50 per cent of the 427,500 new mobile customers.When the country switched to a system of migrating between networks while retain-ing the mobile number in March 2017, Halotel attracted the highest proportion of cus-tomers wanting to switch, with around 1,000 from other networks joining it every month.The company has the country's largest telecom network with 2,500 base-transceiver stations and 18,000 km of optic-fibre cable and covering 90 per cent of the country. It was also the first to set up and provide mobile broadband connections to some 3,000 villages which had never enjoyed internet or mobile services until then.Tanzania is now Viettel's biggest overseas market with a population of 55 million and is also where it has made the biggest investment worth $800 million. Its investment in Tanzania was considered the best project in 2014 in Eastern, Western and Central Af-rica at the 2015 Global Investors Conference.The International Business Awards Stevie Awards is a leading global award given an-nually for achievements and contributions by enterprises and individuals that benefit the community, including in information technology and telecommunication.To win, candidates must persuade 200 examiners, all famous CEOs or entrepreneurs. The name "Stevie" comes from Stephen, which is Greek for "Crowned".http://bizhub.vn/tech/viettel-wins-clutch-of-international-business-awards_289810.html

Smokeless charcoal wins agricultural start-up competition


HCM City-based R2D Food Technology Science JSC has won the first prize of VND50 million (US$2,202) at the third Agricultural Start-up Competition with its smokeless charcoal.Produced from agricultural by-products such as coconut shells, the charcoal is smoke-less, odourless, completely without chemicals and does not explode when fired.Le Thi Hien, founder and director of the company, said it sells 50 tonnes of the charcoal every month in the domestic market and abroad.It is focused on boosting exports, especially to the US, EU and Japan, as well as devel-oping its brand in the domestic market, she added.The second prize worth VND20 million each was shared by Nguyen Van Tuan of Bac Can for his Thanh Ngan multi-functional agricultural machinery and Tran Phuc Hau of Ben Tre for a micro-biological product from sugarcane bagasse powder for intensive shrimp culture.Two third prizes worth VND15 million each were awarded to Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc (Thai Nguyen) for her organic tea and Lai Thi Bich (Gia Lai) for her five-coloured pep-per.Five others received consolation prizes for an agricultural and medicinal material val-ue chain; an anti-mosquito biological incense; a cajuput-flavoured honey; an eco-nurs-ery; and pre-mixed ingredients for Hue beef noodle soup.The winners also received scholarships for training in Thailand and studying the "One Tambon One Product" model.Organised by the Business Study and Assistance Centre; Innovation, Startup and En-trepreneurship Club (SKC); Trung Nguyen Group and others, the competition attract-ed 117 entries, with 30 entering the final round.According to the jury, the contest recognised innovations in production and trading.Often in Vietnam, innovators do not pay much attention to commercialising and mon-etising their products, something contests like this can help address, the judges added.http://bizhub.vn/tech/smokeless-charcoal-wins-agricultural-start-up-competition_289807.html


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Conference aims to strengthen women's role in digital economy


A conference on "Businesswomen in the digital economy" held in Hanoi on Friday highlighted the need for women-owned businesses to take advantage of opportunities created by the advancement of digital technology, e-commerce, and online marketing amidst the 4th industrial revolution.The conference intended to offer opportunities for female entrepreneurs to access in-formation and share their experiences in the digital economy.Vu Tien Loc, president of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), called on female entrepreneurs to improve their knowledge and skills to keep abreast of market changes, as the digital economy demands businesswomen's creativity and flexibility.Addressing the difficulties and challenges that female workers must overcome in the digital economy, Dao Hong Lan, deputy minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Af-fairs, said the Ministry was ready to strengthen cooperation with national and interna-tional agencies to enhance the participation of women in the digital economy, contributing to ensuring the goal of gender equality in Vietnam.Clair Deevy, head of Economic Growth Initiatives for Asia-Pacific at Facebook, intro-duced the programme #SheMeansBusiness, which launched in Vietnam in September. The initiative aims to equip women entrepreneurs with the knowledge, connections, skills and technology required to build and grow their business online through a series of workshops, training sessions and online resources.Forty per cent of pages on Facebook are women-owned, and new data indicated that women-owned pages have grown more than 60 per cent year-on-year. In Vietnam, the number of women-owned small business pages increased by a factor of 2.5 over the previous year, Deevy added.The conference highlighted the growing need to ensure women's economic empower-ment as means of achieving greater growth overall."There is international consensus on the fact that the full and equal participation of women in the economy is necessary to achieve economic growth, poverty reduction and the overall sustainable development of nations," Elisa Fernandez Saenz, head of office, UN Women Vietnam told Vietnam News. "Women entrepreneurs are an essen-tial talent pool that can bring great value added to Vietnam's economy. Reducing bar-riers for their participation, development of skills especially in STEM fields, and promoting their access to greater markets, especially in the digital economy, including through the use of social media for business and growth, must be promoted."The event was organised by VCCI, in accordance with VWEC and Facebook. It drew the participation of 200 women representatives and entrepreneurs from ministries, de-partments and associations.http://bizhub.vn/news/conference-aims-to-strengthen-womens-role-in-digital-economy_289780.html

HCM City to host farm produce fair


The Seventh Farm Produce Fair is scheduled to be held at the Go Vap Flower Village Park in Go Vap District from November 2-6.The fair will have 145 booths set up by more than 81 exhibitors from 15 cities and prov-inces, including 93 booths from HCM City and the rest from Ben Tre, Long An, Tien Giang, Vinh Long and Binh Thuan.It will have seven areas displaying works created from fruits, orchids, bonsai, proc-essed farm produce, handicrafts and products made in traditional villages. Coopera-tives' products and services, wooden products, and food courses will also be offered.A seminar on the role of farmers'associations in developing clean products and link-ages for consumption of products will be held on the sidelines of the fair.Organised by the HCM City Farmers Association and Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Department of Industry and Trade, the event offers farmers a chance to promote trade of their products.The fair is also a platform for farmers to exchange experiences, access new information


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and technologies in the agricultural sector, and develop linkages between farmers and distributors.This year is the first year that the fair is being held twice in one year, with the first fair held in June.http://bizhub.vn/events/hcm-city-to-host-farm-produce-fair_289809.html

HCM City Vietnam Sales & Marketing Camp set for Nov

31/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VOV

The Vietnam Chief of Sales & Marketing Officer Club (CSMO Vietnam) has revealed that the Vietnam Sales & Marketing Camp (VSMCamp) will take place from Novem-ber 17-18 at Him Lam Palace and Tan Son Nhat Golf Course, HCM City.The event draws the participation of more than 30 scholars and leading experts in the fields of sales, marketing, and communications.This year's theme focuses on digital transformation and its impact on modern sales and marketing. On November 17, the programme will attract 1,500 participants to in-teractively discuss useful information about related fields.A highlight of the event, the CSMO Summit programme on November 18, is designed for senior managers (C-Level) involved in sales, marketing, and communications.VSMCamp is the initiative of CSMO Vietnam, which aims to help people operating in the sales and marketing industry refresh their knowledge and broaden their network of relationships for future career development.This year's event is expected to welcome about 2,000 visitors.http://english.vov.vn/economy/hcm-city-vietnam-sales-marketing-camp-set-for-nov-361380.vov End


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