Business in brief 11/11/2008
Construction on a cement plant with designed capacity of 818,400 tonnes a year was kicked off in northern Thai Nguyen province on November 9.
The Quan Trieu Cement Plant, invested by the Viet Bac Mining Industry Company under the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group, has a total investment capital of over 1.3 trillion VND.
Once operational in 2010, the well-equipped plant, which will be built by a joint venture of two Chinese and three Vietnamese companies, will help raise the company’s annual capacity to 3 million tonnes.
Besides this project, the Viet Bac Mining Industry Company also owns the La Hien Cement Plant – one of the largest industrial facilities in Thai Nguyen province – and the Tan Quang Cement Plant in neighbouring Tuyen Quang province.
Japanese group to build car parts factory in Hanoi
Japan ’s Denso group has announced investment of 2.2 billion JPY (roughly 21.2 million USD) in building an auto part factory on the outskirts of Hanoi capital city.
The construction will start in February next year on an area of 50,000 sq.m. and be completed by June 2010. The factory will produce sensing transformers to control the air volume influx into car engines and electric valves to regulate the supply of gas-air mixture for the engines.
Sensing transformers will be sold in Vietnam and other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations while electric valves will be exported worldwide.
The Denso group has opened an affiliate in Vietnam named Hamaden-Vietnam capitalized at 1.3 billion JPY (roughly 12.6 million USD) to undertake the project.
The number of Japanese car part suppliers operational in Vietnam is on the rise, including Takanichi Vietnam , Yazaki FDS Vietnam and Harada Vietnam.
Vietinbank gets international recognition
The Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) has received the International Star Award for Quality (ISAQ) in Switzerland, becoming the first in Vietnam to have this honour.
The prize is held annually by the Business Initiative Directions (BID) for businesses of different industries the world over to promote their products and services.
Hoa Lac hi-tech park give licences to 31 projects
The Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park has granted investment licences to 31 projects with a total registered capital of almost 690 million USD.
These projects will occupy over 100 hectares in which half of land in the park which has a total area of 1,586 hectares under a master plan approved by the government in May this year .
The Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park is a joint venture between Japan and Viet Nam , with Japanese partners responsible for the project’s planning scheme and work on calling businesses to invest in the park. The agreement on the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park was in furtherance of the Viet Nam-Japan joint statement signed by the two Government leaders on Oct. 19, 2006.
When completed, the park, which will be divided into four zones: Research and Development, Hi-tech Industry, Software Park and Education and Training, is expected to house universities and many plants that produce high-tech equipment like electronic and semi-conducting products, telecommunication, digital technology, and bio-technology.
Vietnam becomes one of Cuba’s top trading partners
Vietnam has become Cuba’s six top trading partner, Cuban Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez said at an international trade fair on November 8.
Cuba now has trade ties with more than 170 countries, the Minister said at a forum on business opportunity with Cuba held on the sidelines of the 26th Havana trade fair (FIHAV 2008). The country’s main trading partners are Venezuela, China, Canada, Spain, Brazil and Vietnam, he added.
Vietnam is Cuba’s main rice supplier with 400,000 tonnes a year, he said.
Minister Nuez said that Cuba signed agreements worth 300 million USD to buy food from Vietnam, China, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina at the FIHAV 2008.
Cuba is expected to spend 2.5 million USD to import food, foodstuff in 2008, 800 million USD higher than last year.
Chinese company builds medicinal food factory in Hai Duong
China’s Tianshi Vietnam Co, Ltd, on November 9 kicked off construction of a medicinal food and cosmetics factory in northern Hai Duong province.
The 30,000 sq.m factory, which is China’s first FDI project implemented at the Dai An Industrial Park, will be built at a cost of 1.5 million USD.
Once completed in May 2009, the factory will turn out 582,000 packs of medicinal food and 24,000 packs of cosmetics annually, bringing in a monthly revenue of 3.6 million USD.
About 60 percent of its products will be provided for the local market while the remainder for export.
Hai Duong province is home to 187 FDI projects of 21 countries and territories with a total registered investment capital of nearly 2.2 billion USD. The 664-ha Dai An IP alone has attracted a total investment capital of 437 million USD with 250 million USD already disbursed.
The Northern Territory (Australia) has taken a step towards establishing a live cattle trade with Vietnam.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed in the Vietnamese city of Nha Trang between the NT Cattlemen’s Association and local industry groups. Primary Industries Minister Kon Vatskalis says the Territory is in a good position to supply cattle to Khanh Hoa province. He says the next step will be commercial negotiations between Vietnamese interests and Australian live export companies.
The Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park has granted investment licenses to 31 projects with a total registered capital of almost 690 million USD.
These projects will occupy over 100 hectares in which half of land in the park which has a total area of 1,586 hectares under a master plan approved by the government in May this year. The Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park is a joint venture between Japan and Vietnam, with Japanese partners responsible for the project’s planning scheme and work on calling businesses to invest in the park.
Vietnamese Finance Ministry has decided to raise the import taxes on petrol and kerosene by five percentage points to 20% as of Tuesday, local newspaper Labor reported on Monday. The import of diesel will be taxed at 15% from current 10%, according the ministry. The move was made in the context of the continuous decrease of the world oil prices, currently under 60 U.S. dollars a barrel, said the ministry. It is expected to offset losses of the state budget over the last year when Vietnam imposed zero percent import tax scheme on refined oil products, according to the ministry.
PXP Vietnam Asset Management, which oversees $225 million, plans to start a hedge fund by early next year as it seeks bargains in Asia’s second-worst-performing stock market, said co-founder Kevin Snowball. The PXP Vietnam Value Fund will raise as much as $200 million to invest in undervalued stocks, Snowball said today.
Sugar output from 2008-2009 sugarcane crop is expected to be 1.28 million tons, enough to meet domestic demand for next year, according to the Government. The country has 290,000ha under sugarcane now, 16,600ha less than the last crop, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said. With an estimated yield of 57 tons per ha, sugarcane output will be over 16.5 million tons. Following the 2008-2009 crop, Kien Giang and Tri An sugar plants will resume operations, increasing the total number of plants in the country to 40 and daily processing capacity to 105,750 tons of sugarcane.
Customers leasing apartments at Vincom Park Place can apply to receive loans with a 10% interest rate, a much lower interest rate than is typical, in an attempt to heat up the Vietnamese housing market. Le Khac Hiep, chairman of Vincom’s management board said the interest rate was solely for customers taking out loans from November 2008 to November 2009 to lease two or more flats. The remaining interest rate would be paid by the Vincom affiliate PFV Investment and Commerce. Under the contract, the loans would be capped at 70% of the total cost of flats in the building, and the loan terms cannot exceed 15 months.
The Hamanakodenso Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the Japanese Denso Corporation, established a new company last month to produce auto parts in Hung Yen Province. The new company, Hamaden Vietnam Co Ltd., is scheduled to begin operations in June 2010 with about US$12.6 million in capital. The company will initially invest around about $21.2 million to build a factory to produce automotive sensors and solenoid valves in Thang Long Industrial Park 2 in the northern province of Hung Yen. Construction of the factory is expected to begin in February 2009 and to be completed by September 2009.
