A group of Spanish businessmen will attend the Spain-Vietnam Business Forum to be held in Ho Chi Minh City from April 16-17. According to the Madrid Chamber of Commerce, the Spanish businesses are involved in agriculture, garments, electronics, renewable energy and infrastructure. The Chamber affirmed that Vietnam is an open economy with a high growth rate, thanks to developing foreign trade. It also highlighted favorable conditions for Spanish enterprises in the Vietnamese market, including agreements between the two sides in transport infrastructure and the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the EU, which is expected to be signed soon. The chamber said that two-way trade reached 1.51 billion EUR in 11 months of 2011, in comparison with 1.23 billion EUR for the whole of 2010. Earlier, in 2008 and 2010, the Madrid Chamber of Commerce organized tours for Spanish enterprises to visit Vietnam to seek business partners.
The Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) will ask for the Government’s support in providing loans of over VND29.5 trillion to buy cashew material for processing activities and export. If it secures the Government’s backing, the association will buy raw cashews from farmers at VND35,000 per kilogram, VND7,000-8,000 kilogram higher than the current price. In a petition which will be sent to the Government, Vinacas expects loans from the central bank to be raised to 90% of the total cashew value as collateral from the current rate of 70%. The association suggests that the loans carry a softer interest rate, at 11-12% per year compared to the current commercial rate of around 20%. The total domestic cashew volume is estimated to reach 380,000 tons, or 30,000 tons higher than the previous season, as there will be no big weather changes. Cashew firms have to depend on banks’ credit supply to buy enough materials.
Industrial Production Index of Hanoi capital in January 2012 fell by 14% and 1% on month and on year, respectively, the General Statistics Office (GSO) of Hanoi said. Of which, mining industry recorded a fall of 5.2% and 9.8% on month and on year, respectively. The processing industry posted 15% and 2.7% on month and on year decrease, respectively, the GSO said, adding that the capital’s production value plunged sharply due to long Lunar New Year holiday which fell on January and many businesses operated perfunctorily. The beer sector recorded the lowest rise in production index with 45.718 million litters in January, down 25.6% from Dec 2011 and 38.1% from Jan 2011. Other products such as clothes, hosiery, paper and paperboard; drug pipes of all kinds and sanitary faience… also were estimated to significantly reduced.
Vietnam is estimated to collect VND191 trillion from retail and services sector in Jan 2012, up 3.2% from December 2011 and up 22% on year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said. Buying demand for the Lunar New Year holiday this year is low compared with the same period previous years, the MoIT said, adding that the difficult economic situation in 2011 affected the peoples’ income, spending and purchasing. Many businesses boosted promotion and discount programs before the Tet holiday to release their inventory and collect capital while the buying demand was not high as the previous years. However, the price level was already high compared with Tet holiday last year, prices of many commodities have increased by 10-20%. Prices of some particular products such as fresh foods, vegetables, fresh flowers rose by 20-50% during the Lunar New Year holiday time.
Vietnam shipped 184,558 tons of rice to overseas markets in the first 20 days of January, earning US$103.308 million. The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) predicted that the total export volume of rice will reach 6.5-7 million tons by the end of this year. After the Lunar New Year Festival (Tet), many foreign traders flocked to the Mekong Delta region to place orders for rice. Truong Thanh Phong, VFA Chairman, said that Vietnam has exported nearly 40,000 tons of rice to Hong Kong and it is very keen on this promising market. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the country’s total rice output in 2012 is expected to hit 42 million tons, including 7-8 million tons for export. However, the VFA suggested shipping only 6.5-7 million tons abroad to ensure national food security.
The southern Tien Giang Province welcomed around 140,000-150,000 tourist arrivals which were mainly international visitors for tours during the Tet Holiday, said Nguyen Ngoc Minh, director of the province’s Culture, Sport and Tourism Department. Thoi Son island and other islands in the Tien River have been the most attractive destinations in the tours. The province has explored new tours in Cai Be, Cai Lay, Tan Thanh and Den Do areas in Go Cong District. Minh said the province aimed to receive more than 1.14 million tourists this year, which would be a 9 per cent increase over last year.
