Vietnam Industrial Parks InfoGate ! Industrial Zones ! Export Processing Zones ! Business in brief 28 Feb 2012

The Ministry of Construction has proposed the State Bank of Vietnam to study an idea by the Vietnam Real Estate Association to set up a construction bank. Deputy Minister Nguyen Tran Nam is of the view that such a bank would facilitate Vietnam’s housing development programs such as homes for the poor, students, low-income people in urban areas, and even building materials production programs. This bank would benefit other programs in the construction sector, according to him. In addition, it would serve as an effective channel to mobilize capital for the real estate market. In related news, Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha, chief of the House and Real Estate Administration Division, said the Ministry of Construction would submit to the Government a scheme to establish a savings fund for housing development.

Vietnam is estimated to have spent a total of $142 million to import 142,000 tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Jan-Feb, making a year-on-year rise of 203.6% in quantity and 216.5% in value, the General Statistics Office said on Feb 27. In February alone, the country spent $75 million to import 70,000 tons of LNG. The domestic gas prices were increased by VND70,000/12kg cylinder in the first 2 months of this year, mainly due to high world gas prices. The current world gas prices are above $1,000/ton, higher than LNG imported prices in January ($921/ton) those of $802/ton in Dec 2011.

HCM City continued a trade surplus of $10 million in February, lifting the total trade surplus in Jan-February to $60 million, according to the information from the press conference between HCM City People’s Committee and departments on February 24. In details, the city reaped $2 billion from exports in February, a month on month increase of 7.2 percent. Totally, in Jan-Feb, the city fetched $3.87 billion from exports, rising 5.6 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, the city spent $1.99 billion on imports in February, bringing the total figure in Jan-February to $3.81 billion. According to the information from the press conference, HCM City’s total retail sale and services in February is estimated to have reached 40.703 trillion dong, down 6.3 percent from the previous month. The accumulated figure in Jan-February was estimated to have reached 84.123 trillion dong, a year-on-year increase of 18.2 percent.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) businesses in Vietnam earned an average profit equal to 25 per cent of their invested capital in 2011. According to the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) released by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, FDI businesses posted impressive profits in 2011. The index reveals that 1,970 FDI businesses, from 45 countries and territories, operate in 61 Vietnamese cities and provinces and recorded an average turnover of $1.3 million, up $300,000 over the previous year.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has assigned the Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade to arrange funds for the Ha Noi Train Station – Nhon urban metro rail project. According to the SBV, Vietinbank will arrange a total of 783 million euros towards the city’s first metro line (line 3), connecting Ha Noi Railway Station to the suburb town of Nhon. Financing includes 293 million euros ($381 million) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), 250 million euros ($325 million) in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the French Government, 110 million euros ($143 million) in ODA from the French Development Agency (AFD), 73 million euros ($94.9 million) in ODA from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 130 million euros ($169 million) from the Ha Noi City budget. Expected to become operational in 2015, the line will carry 150,000 passengers per day, to increase to 500,000 by 2030.

Vietnam imported 2,300 complete built unit (CBU) automobiles worth $46 million in February, up $4 million over January, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). On average, each imported CBU car is worth $20,000, up $5,000 (25 per cent) compared to last month. In total, 5,100 CBU cars with a total value of US$88 million have been imported in the first two months of 2012. The GSO also said Vietnam earned $8.2 billion from exports in February while it imported $9 billion in goods, resulting in a trade deficit of $800 million. Vietnam obtained an export surplus of $170 million in January.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s governor on February 22 and 23 issued Decisions No 333 and 336/QD-NHNN approving the closure of representative office of First Commercial Bank in Hanoi and National Bank of Kuwait Sak in HCM City basing on proposals of these banks. These newly-issued decisions took effect as from the signing date.

The World Bank (WB) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development jointly organized a conference on February 27 to assess a project on animal husbandry and food safety and hygiene. The US$79 million WB funded project, which will benefit 12 provinces and cities nationwide, has been piloted in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Thai Binh and Dong Nai provinces. It aims to improve the efficiency of household-scale breeders, minimize the impact of processing cattle and fowl on the environment, and raise the standard of food hygiene and safety in the supply chain of animal products. The project has so far established 45 breeding areas under the good husbandry practices involving nearly 6,000 households. Under the project, nearly 500 trial biogas tanks and sterilizing pits have been built and 48 slaughterhouses have been constructed.

Representatives from ten French businesses will come to Hanoi and HCM City from February 28 to March 2 seeking investment opportunities in plastics and packaging. They aim to learn more about the Vietnamese market through meetings with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and trade associations specializing in plastics, packaging and rubber. The French businessmen will have opportunities to hold exchanges with their Vietnamese counterparts in 50 meetings introducing available technology and services to establish partnerships between the two sides. Two exhibitions, “Plastics & Rubber Vietnam 2012” and “Propak Vietnam 2012”, featuring 200 stalls promoting businesses and services in these fields, are also scheduled to take place during this time. The French business trip is being organized by the French Trade Commission Ubifrance Vietnam.

The 8^th International Saigon Autotech & Accessories Show 2012 will take place at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in HCM City from May 31 to June 3. The event is organized by the Asia Trade Fair and Business Promotion (Holdings) (ATFA) in co-ordination with Chanchao International Co., Ltd. The event will display automobiles, motorbikes and support industries, said Tao Linh, President of the ATFA, on behalf of the organizing board. Among famous trade names on show are Subaru, Luxgen, Vinamotor, Veam, Samco, Harley Davidson and Rebel. In addition, support industries will be showcased at 150 stalls by businesses coming from Thailand and Taiwan (China).

The target was set in the capital city’s strategy for socio-economic development until 2030 with a vision for 2050, which has been approved by the Prime Minister. Accordingly, by 2030, Hanoi will take the lead in many fields and become the engine of national economic development. Its GDP per capita will reach US$7,500 by 2020 and up to US$17,000 by 2030. The city’s electricity and water supply networks, educational system, and medical services will be strikingly modern like those in other countries in the region. To this end, Hanoi is pushing through administrative reform putting in place its special mechanisms and policies and making the best of both domestic and foreign investments as well as human resources.

Japan’s Tokyu Corporation and Vietnam’s Becamex IDC Corp. are scheduled to break ground on Tokyu Binh Duong urban area project in the southern province of Binh Duong on March 2. The US$1.2 billion project will consist of trade, service, entertainment and housing buildings, covering 714,524 square meters. Tokyu Corporation is involved in such fields as tramcar service, urban construction, transportation, supermarket retail, hotel industry, culture and education. Becamex IDC Corp focuses on infrastructure construction for industrial zones and urban areas, banking and finance, real estate, business, telecommunications, information technology, building materials, pharmaceuticals, health care and education.

An International Exhibition of Construction Technology (Vietconstech) will be held in Hanoi in late June as annual event by the Ministry of Construction. The event will focus on such fields as construction, consultancy, quality control, production and provision of construction materials, technology equipment, and software, etc. Under the Ministry’s instruction, the State Authority for Construction Quality Inspection (SACQI) will be responsible for coordinating with the Construction Information Center and Construction Newspaper. Many big domestic and foreign groups and corporations have registered to take part in the event, such as the Russian-Vietnamese oil and gas joint venture Vietsovpetro, Sumitomo (Japan), Bureau Veritas (France), Bauer (Germany), Pure Projects (Australia). The exhibition is expected to have 200 stalls put up by about 150 businesses. Two seminars will be held to introduce new construction technologies and advanced technical solutions to improve the efficiency of investment in the construction sector.