Vietnam Industrial Parks InfoGate ! Industrial Zones ! Export Processing Zones ! Business in brief 18 Nov 2011

Japanese Zeon Group plans to invest in Vietnam in its effort to reduce costs and investment risks. In the initial period, Zeon will build a plant to make special casks, each with a cargo capacity of 1.3 tons of rubber as from April 2012. The plant will be built on an area of 94,000sq.m in Haiphong with a total cost of 2-3 billion yen (US$26-39 million). On completion in April 2013 it is expected to produce around 120,000 casks per year. Later the plant can be used to produce some kinds of medical equipment. Previously, Zeon asked its Chinese partner to produce casks. However, thanks to cheap labor in Vietnam, Zeon has decided to build its own plan in the country. Zeon specializes in rubber, chemicals, machinery, electronics and food, and it is famous for tyres and automobile spare parts.

A delegation of the Netherlands Limburg Chamber of Commerce is currently on a four-day visit to HCM City. It includes representatives of Dutch companies in the field of finance and investment, business management consultancy, real estate and construction development and management, food and animal feed processing, education, power generation and fashion. They are seeking opportunities to cooperate with local partners.

Swiss businesses have expressed their wish to help Ho Chi Minh City promote its economic development, especially infrastructure development. During a meeting with the Municipal People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan on November 17, Swiss Economic Minister Marie Gabrielle Ineichen Fleish said Vietnam is of great importance to Switzerland, in a list of priorities for development cooperation. Representatives of the Swiss company ABB said it can provide experts, solutions and equipment for HCMC to address its difficulties in the fields of traffic, power, and environment. Meanwhile, Zurich international airport wants to cooperate with HCMC in modernizing the latter’s airport system to ease traffic overload and develop the local economy.

The Philippines is likely to buy about 800,000 tons of husked rice, mostly from Vietnam to support its stocks ahead of lean months next year. Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said on November 17 that the government may invite bidders next month after the National Food Authority (NFA) Council meets in late November to identify the volume and process of importing rice. The bidding will start in December, said the Secretary. Every year the Philippines is faced with powerful typhoons which destroy its farmlands, resulting in lean months starting in July. The Philippines is the largest rice importer in the world. This year, it has imported 860,000 tons of rice, mostly from Vietnam.

Vietnamese and Sri Lankan businesses gathered in Hanoi on November 17 to discuss ways to further boost economic ties between the two countries. The event also aims to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to export goods and technologies to Sri Lanka. The President of the Sri Lankan Chamber of Industry and Commerce (SCIC), Asoka Hettigoda, expressed his wish to seek opportunities to import goods from Vietnam and cooperate with Vietnamese businesses in such fields as medical equipment manufacturing, construction of hospitals and hotels, pharmacy, garment making, coconut, tea and rubber processing and jewelry making. Mr Asoka Hettigoda also emphasized that Sri Lanka has great advantages in exporting tea, pepper and spices. SCIC is the leading trade promotion agency in Sri Lanka, and is committed to supporting businesses of both nations in increasing two-way trade turnover.

Raw material shortage and high cost of quality tests are the biggest obstacles facing seafood exporters recently, Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, deputy chairwoman of Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) said in a meeting on Nov 15. Hundreds of seafood processing plants along the central coast were forced to close on shortage of raw materials, some even had to import raw materials to keep moderate production over the last two years, Sac said, adding that Chinese traders were key competitors who had bought most of raw materials. Material shortage would remain a tough problem for Vietnam seafood industry without government’s intervention, Sac said. Vietnam’s seafood exporters also face difficulty of high cost quality tests. A test for a 40 feet container of sushi shrimp costs about VND5.8 million ($278) and the testing fees are expected to continue increasing by the end of this year.

Suoi Tien Cultural Amusement Park in Ho Chi Minh City has been listed as one of the 12 most popular parks around the world by The Traveler Zone. The list includes the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World in the US; Islands of Adventure in Florida, the US; Cedar Point in Ohio, the US; Epcot in Orlando, the US; Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Lancashire, the UK; Port Aventura in Spain; Europa Park in Germany; Tivoli Gardens in Denmark; Tokyo Disneyland; Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park in China; Ocean Park in Hong Kong; and Suoi Tien Cultural Amusement Park in Vietnam. The Traveler Zone reported that the beautiful park consists of everything like rides, water parks, parades and go-carts. Built in 1992 on two hectares of forest farm, Suoi Tien opened on September 2, 1995 and it welcomes thousands of visitors every day, especially on holidays.

TTA Composite Joint Stock Co. has commissioned a US$20-million factory to produce composite gas containers that are said to be safer for consumers owing to the advanced technology being applied. Miss Gas, as the container is named, is the first product attached with an electronic chip to fight copycats, said Nguyen Xuan Phu, general director of TTA Composite. Phu told the Daily that his company had bought the copyright from the Swedish Composite Scandinavia group to manufacture the containers at home. Unlike traditional steel gas containers, high-class composite Miss Gas of TAA Composite is safe for users due to non-conducting character. Every product is equipped with an automatic gas shut-off valve, which helps users minimize risks, stressed Phu. Even when being exposed to extreme heat, the gas container will not explode instantly as the composite will melt and releasing gas gradually.

A domestic bank is willing to buy back the debt of Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group at 35 percent of its face value, or $210 million, compared with the original $600 million, and will pay immediately, Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon online newspaper reported today, citing the chairman of the unidentified bank. The offer came as Vinashin, as the state-owned shipbuilder is known, gave foreign creditors two options -- either accept 35 percent of monies owed now, or agree to new repayment terms and conditions of the loan in the future, the newspaper said, without saying where it got the information. Vietnam’s government has spent the last year wrestling with the near-bankruptcy of Vinashin, whose default on foreign- currency borrowings at the end of 2010 raised doubts about asset quality at the country’s banks, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Air Australia Airways is looking to add Vietnam to its international network. Australia’s newest airline has applied to the International Air Services Commission (IASC) for an allocation of four flights a week to Vietnam, from Melbourne, including Avalon, Brisbane, Sydney or Perth. Air Australia was also seeking "unlimited capacity" between points in Australia other than Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to Vietnam. Air Australia said the allocation of capacity would be fully utilized by February 28, 2013. Vietnam Airlines and Qantas Airways’ low-cost offshoot Jetstar were the only two airlines to offer flights between Australia and Vietnam. Air Australia, formerly known as Strategic Airlines, was due to begin services to Honolulu next month from Brisbane and Melbourne, and already operated to Bali and Phuket.