Business in brief 17th August 2011
Vietnam’s exports to Mexico in June hit more than VND80 million, up nearly 15% from a year earlier, according to the trade office of the Vietnamese embassy in Mexico. In the first six months of the year, Vietnam’s exports to Mexico reached more than US$453 million, up nearly 30% against the same period last year. Hoang Anh Dung, trade counselor of the Vietnamese embassy in Mexico affirmed that Vietnam’s exports to the second biggest economy in the Latin America has maintained high growth thanks to bulk orders for traditional goods such as footwear, garment and textile, seafood, printers, electrical machines, rubber, coffee and wood products. Mexico’s central bank announced that the Mexican economy will continue to recover rapidly from its increasing import-export growth.
The Vietnam Anti-Corruption Initiative (VACI) 2011 was launched on August 16 by the Government Inspectorate and the World Bank (WB) in Hanoi. VACI 2011 aims to encourage creative ideas at local levels and in the community for combating corruption and promoting transparency in order to make a better life for everyone. The program gives the participants a chance to exchange information and establish links with those who share the same views on preventing and controlling corruption. WB Director in Vietnam, Victoria Kwakwa, said VACI 2011 affirms the efforts of the Vietnamese Government Inspectorate and will give fresh impetus to its fight against corruption. The program will continue on August 17 with round-table discussions on combating corruption in the community, a legal consultancy seminar on improving people’s capacity to monitor local government agencies involved in community-based projects, and the announcement of the VACI 2011 award winners.
Vietnam National Petroleum Corp., the state-owned company known as Petrolimex, plans to begin commercial operations at its 505,000 cubic-meter Van Phong bonded oil terminal next year. The facility will be commissioned in April, Henry Yau Win Onn, project manager at unit Petrolimex Singapore Ltd., said by telephone today. The 29-tank Van Phong terminal in southern Khanh Hoa province will be capable of storing 230,000 cubic meters of gasoil and 125,000 cubic meters of gasoline, Petrolimex Singapore said in an e-mailed statement today. The facility, which will have four jetties and be able to accommodate vessels with displacement of as much as 150,000 metric tons, will also have a capacity to store 150,000 cubic meters of fuel oil, the company said in the statement. Petrolimex is Vietnam’s biggest gasoline and diesel supplier.
Vietnam recorded a $1.1 billion trade surplus in July, customs data showed on Tuesday, the first surplus in more than two years for the Southeast Asian country. Exports totaled $9.32 billion while imports came in at $8.22 billion, the data showed. Late last month, the government’s General Statistics Office estimated a trade deficit in July of $200 million.
The domestic pepper price hit a 15-year high this morning as high demand and low supply on the world market forced up the price. The per ton price reached VND124 million (US$5,900) today, an increase of VND4 million ($190) per ton on the previous week’s price. Last Saturday, the price stood at VND120 million ($5,700) but jumped to VND122 million ($5,800) on Sunday. Last month, the country exported more than 13,000 tons of pepper, worth a total value of $78.5 million.
Viettel Telecom has reached an agreement with MISA Corp to include a digital signature application in their MISA SME.NET accounting software. The software will provide a comprehensive full package from tax accounting to tools for electronic tax returns. In June 2010, the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority licensed Viettel to promote its digital signature services in the market.
Ha Noi will build nine industrial zones between now and 2015 and plans to build an additional 15 of the zones in the next 15 years. At the moment, the city has only eight industrial zones that account for 10 per cent of the city’s industrial production value, 45 per cent of its export revenues and 20 per cent of its GDP. These zones also employ about 110,000 workers. According to the Management Board of Ha Noi Industrial and Export Processing Zones, up to June 2011, Ha Noi’s industrial zones had attracted 537 projects, including 253 foreign direct investment projects with a total investment of US$3.63 billion.
PetroVietnam is to be one of the nation’s leading groups, both inside and outside the country, with sharpened competitive edges and growth of up to 20 per cent a year, according to a five-year plan approved by the Prime Minister. The group aims to increase oil and gas reserves and petroleum exploration output by 35-40 million tons and 23-34 million tons of oil equivalent per year respectively. By 2015, PetroVietnam would be able to produce about 16-17 million tons of refined oil, meeting 50-60 per cent of domestic petrol demand and 60-70 per cent of nitrogenous fertilizer demand. By 2015, around 50-60 per cent of materials demand for petrochemical and petrochemical products would be satisfied. At the same time, the group would put three bio-fuel plants into operation while developing bio-fuel production and distribution systems nationwide. Petroleum services would be encouraged to grow at an average rate of 20 per cent per year, the plan says.
The Ministry of Finance has announced the basic petrol price, calculated under Government Decree 84. The decree permits businesses to adjust petrol prices by up to 7 per cent when the world petrol price fluctuates by at least that amount in 30 consecutive days. When the global oil price was rising and falling between 7-12 per cent, enterprises were allowed to raise prices by 60 per cent of the increase, with the remaining 40 per cent offset by import tax adjustments and the fuel stabilization fund. Accordingly, the basic petrol price would be based on the average price over the previous 30 days. Consequently, the inter-ministries of finance, industry and trade decided the petrol price would remain unchanged.
Hai Phong-based Chien Thang Auto Co., Ltd. on Monday exported its first vehicles to the Malaysian market. The company shipped two four-wheel drive dump trucks labeled Chien Thang and weighing 2 tons and 4.5 tons. These are the company’s first exported products to Malaysia at the order from its partner Boon Koon Vehicles Industries SDN, BHD. Last week, leaders of Boon Koon Group carried out an inspection of specialized trucks manufactured and assembled by Chien Thang Company before packing the goods to transfer them to Malaysia. Currently, the localization rate of the company has reached around 60%. Chien Thang Company is a local unit which supplies four-wheel drive trucks for wide consumption in the local market via 100 agencies in 63 cities and provinces.
PetroVietnam Gas has received the government’s approval to construct a port with storehouse for gas import in the south central province of Binh Thuan. Do Khang Ninh, general director of the company which is known briefly as PV Gas, said main sectors of the project include a port, a store and a recycling area. The company by the end of this year will finish setting up the plan, which will then be submitted to concerned agencies for approval, Ninh said, adding that the project is expected to be carry out within next year. He said the project, with estimated investment of more than US$1 billion, will be able to import around two to three million tons of gas every year. According to the director, Vietnam’s current gas demand is nearly 10 billion cubic meters every year while domestic sources can only supply around 8.5 billion cubic meters.
Quang Ninh Province authorities have decided to withdraw the licenses issued for five projects due to unseemly delays, violations, and requests from investors. Quang Hai Venture Co has sought cancelation of its US$1.1-million rubber processing and export project as has Hoang Que 1 of its ceramic factory. VIT Hung Thang Ltd Co lost the license for its $10 million international hotel project while VIT Co To Ltd Co lost its $5 million due to violation of license terms.
The HCM City Stock Exchange plans to extend its trading time, starting in February of next year. The opening and closing time will be 9am and 2.30pm instead of 8.30am and 11am. Matching orders and negotiations will be conducted from the opening minutes until 11.30am. The market will then be off for one hour and a half, when securities firms are not allowed to make transactions. It will enter a period of continuous order-matching until 4pm. The next 15 minutes will be for call auction, while negotiations will take place for the rest of the time.
PetroVietnam Construction Co (PVX) has announced it intends to buy a 30 per cent stake in PetroVietnam – Nghe An Construction Co (PVA), according to its restructuring plan for its affiliates. This will be conducted in the third quarter through the purchase of shares on the stock exchange or between shareholders, or by increasing PVX’s capital in PVA. PVX sold the entire stake it held in PVA last year.
The Vietnam Ocean Shipping Co (VOS) offered more than 3 million buying options of Maritime Bank’s shares at a starting price of VND100 per option. Maritime Bank is issuing additional shares to increase its capital from VND5 trillion (US$242.7 million) to VND7 trillion ($339.8 million). With each option, investors will be able to buy one share worth VND12,000. They can register a minimum amount of 100 options, while the maximum cannot exceed the number of offered options. The deadline for payment is August 29.
The Prime Minister has assigned the Vietnam Post Corporation (VN Post) to control the public postal network. Under the PM’s decision, VN Post will be responsible for providing postal services both domestically and internationally. VN Post will also participate in organizing the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the Asia-Pacific Postal Union (APP).
The Vietnam Machinery Erection Corporation (Lilama) and its affiliate, the Lilama 45.1 JSC, plan to install a 1,000 ton pre-stressed arch frame at a wide-body aircraft maintenance workshop. The arch frame is a plane steel structure, 105m in width, 150m in length and 30m in height. Lilama will undertake all processes of the project including design, manufacturing and installation. Covering an area of 13,800 sq.m at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City, the hanger will be the most modern aircraft maintenance establishment in Vietnam.
The PetroVietnam Urban Development JSC (PVC) has completed construction on the roof of the 18-storey Bac Lieu Tower in downtown Bac Lieu City. The building covers an area of 17,000 sq.m and is set to be the tallest tower in the Cuu Long Delta, with a total investment of more than VND319 billion ($15.6 million). The project is planned to reach completion by September 2, 2011.
