Business in brief 6 Aug 2011
Japanese firms Sojitz and Kyodo Shiryo recently confirmed a joint investment of 2 billion Japanese yen (US$26 million) into building an animal feed processing plant in the outskirts of HCM City. The plant is expected to be operational by April 2013 and have a total processing capacity of nearly 200,000 tons per year. By 2020, the joint-venture plans to control a 10 per cent market share in supplying cattle feed to Vietnam, based on revenues expected to have reached 80 billion yen ($1.04 billion) annually. According to the Japanese Nikkei newspaper, pork has accounted for a 70 per cent market share in Vietnam, the demand for it having increased.
From 8 to 11 September 182 foreign and domestic enterprises will exhibit their products at the Vietfood and Beverage 2011, to be held at the Tan Binh Exhibition Convention Centre in HCM City. The exhibition will see the participation of famous worldwide producers such as Niva (Ukraine), Vox Trading (Japan), domestic companies such as Sabeco, Vissan and Habeco as well as companies involved in processing, packaging and labeling. An additional Vietnamese beer and beverage festival is set to take place within the framework of the exhibition.
Housing Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank signed an agreement last week with the Honda Auto Cong Hoa Company to provide loans to its clients for buying automobiles. HDBank will lend at 1 percentage point less than the market rate. The Bank also promised to provide Honda Auto Cong Hoa, its partners, clients, and workers its products and services at the most competitive rates. It will also provide free online money transfer services and assistance in completing loan paperwork. Honda Auto Cong Hoa promised to use HDBank’s products and services and help the bank contact its partners and clients.
Vietnam’s exports to Japan reached US$5.4 billion in the January-July period, a year-on-year rise of more than 30 per cent. The figure accounts for 10.4 per cent of the country’s total exports turnover. Japan is the Southeast Asian nation’s second biggest importer, after the US, and it currently imports many key Vietnamese products, such as rubber, minerals, garments and textile, seafood, electric wires and cables, and footwear. Textiles and garments continued to generate the largest revenue in the period, with $859 million, up 47.2 per cent, thanks to the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement which took effect in October 2009, that gives Vietnam’s textiles and garments exports to Japan a zero per cent tariff rate. Crude oil comes second with an export value of nearly $716 million, almost six times over the same period last year.
In the first six months of this year, the total amount of inward remittance transferred to the country by Vietnamese workers abroad reached $1 billion, according to the Overseas Labor Management Department. In five years (2011-2015), the agency forecasts there would be about $10 billion of remittance to be sent to the country by these overseas laborers. According to the representative from this department, the total amount of remittances transferred in some countries by overseas workers is even higher than the FDI (foreign direct investment) capital, international aids and higher than the export turnover of some key items. However, the remittance of Vietnamese workers abroad has help significantly improve the poverty and promote investments. From early this year so far, Vietnam has sent 60,530 labors to work abroad with three main markets including Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia.
Vietnam will raise environment taxes on mining activities starting next year, with maximum levies on coal extraction nearly doubling to 10,000 dong ($0.48) per metric ton, Vietnam News reported, citing a government decree. Gold, lead, zinc and tin ore mining will be subject to the highest maximum environment tax rate of 270,000 dong ($12.96) per ton, a 12.5 percent increase, according to the newspaper. Environment tax rates on crude oil and natural gas extraction will be unchanged, the paper reported.
The Dung Quat Oil Refinery will again operate at full capacity on September 12 or 13, two days earlier than scheduled following maintenance. The refinery resumed operations at the end of last month and is currently running at a 70 per cent capacity. To date, this had been the first overall maintenance of the refinery, carried out over two months. Several technological problems had been successfully dealt with in the process, said the director of the Binh Son Refinery Company, Nguyen Hoai Giang. A second overall maintenance of the refinery is planned to be carried out in four years time. According to the deputy director of Petro Vietnam, Vu Quang Nam, the output of oil and gas during the first eight months of the year reached around 64 and 73 per cent of the planned yearly target, respectively, with an excess of 16 per cent in turnover.
The 2011 International trade fair, held in Phu Yen, saw 26 domestic and international enterprises sign five commercial contracts worth between US$21 million and VND55 billion ($2.46 million). The largest contract of the day, valued at $20 million and based on procurement and tuna exports, belonged to the Ba Hai Company and the Ocean Trading Co. Ltd (Japan). Additionally, 15 firms signed contracts related to pharmaceutical consumption with ThaiNakor Patana Vietnam (Thailand) and to the supply and sale of fertilizers with the Hoang Long Vina Ltd Company.
A budget of more than VND224 billion (US$10.75 million) has been granted towards the renovation of the Chuc Son section of National Highway 6, according to the Ha Noi People’s Committee. The section of the road, running through Chuc Son Town in Ha Noi’s outlying district of Chuong My, will be extended by 56m in width to allow a maximum speed of 80kph. The section’s infrastructure, including water drainage, lighting and pavements, will also be upgraded. National Highway 6 is one of the country’s major roads, linking Ha Noi to the northwest highlands.
Robusta coffee fell to a three-week low in London on speculation a record crop in Vietnam, the biggest grower, will add to stockpiles. Inventories of robusta beans in warehouses monitored by NYSE Liffe in London stood at 398,090 metric tons as of Aug. 22, up from 217,670 tons on Dec. 27, exchange figures showed. Vietnam, the world’s largest producer of the robusta variety, will produce a record 22 million bags in the season starting Oct. 1, according to Rabobank International. “Robusta seems to be falling due to the expectations of new season supply,” Keith Flury, an analyst at Rabobank in London, said in an e-mail today. Robusta coffee for November delivery declined $81, or 3.6 percent, to $2,194 a ton on NYSE Liffe, the lowest closing price since Aug. 10. Trading on ICE Futures U.S. in New York is closed for Labor Day.
China’s Guangdong Provincial Changda Highway Engineering Co Ltd on Sept 5 kicked off construction of a highway project to link the Vietnamese capital Hanoi and city Haiphong. The Hanoi-Haiphong highway project, which is designed with a total length of 105 km, two-way 6-lane, and top speed of 120 km, is a key infrastructure project in northern Vietnam. The Changda Highway Engineering Company tenders construction length of 15.3 km, the longest contract for the whole project, with the contract value of $180 million. The project, signed in January this year, is so far the largest project of Guangdong enterprises in ASEAN countries.
