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

The Ho Chi Minh City Trade and Services Fair 2012 opened in Yangon, Myanmar, on June 15. At the opening ceremony, the Vice chairwoman of the HCM City municipal People’s Committee, Nguyen Thi Hong, stressed that Myanmar is a key market for Vietnamese businesses. Since 2010, HCM City has organized seven task forces to promote Vietnamese products in the Myanmar market, she said. The fair, the largest of its kind by Vietnam in Myanmar, features 144 stalls representing 70 food, household appliance and tourism businesses. The event will last through June 19. The two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Myanmar in 2011 reached US$150 million, up 51 percent compared to 2010. In the first quarter of this year, the figure was US$45 million, a 17.8 percent increase over the same period last year.

Vietnam and Morocco signed an agreement on investment promotion and protection in capital Rabat on June 15. Addressing the signing ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son affirmed Vietnam’s determination to strengthen cooperative relations with Morocco and engage in this country’s development efforts. Vietnam wants to explore the Moroccan market to boost its investment in the North African country, said Son. Moroccan Minister of Finance and Economy Nizar Baraka said the signed agreement will help increase two-way trade and investment. The two countries have signed a number of agreements, including those on trade, economic, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation, visa exemptions for diplomatic and official passport holders, and double tax avoidance. However, two-way trade remains modest, fetching US$6 million in 2003 and amounting to US$31 million in 2009. Vietnam mainly exports coffee, pepper, seafood, garments, electronic appliances and rubber tires to Morocco, and imports scrap steel, animal feed, plastic materials, and construction stone.

Vietnam, the world’s second-largest rice exporter in 2011, shipped 2.87 million metric tons from the beginning of the year to June 14, according to the Vietnam Food Association. Shipments were 329,803 tons from June 1 to June 14, the association said in a statement on its website today. Vietnam, which exported a record 7.11 million tons in 2011, according to the association, may ship 6.25 million tons this year, the agriculture ministry said on May 30.

Dung Quat oil refinery, the only running facility, may delay its restart to early July from late June after a six-to-seven-week shutdown, a senior executive said on Monday. The $2.2-billion Dung Quat refinery usually supplies around 30 percent of Vietnam’s domestic oil product demand. "We still aim to resume production on June 25-27, but there is the possibility of delaying to early July because of the pace of the equipment checks," said Nguyen Hoai Giang, chief executive of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co, which operates the refinery. The 130,500 barrels-per-day plant has been shut since May 16 for an equipment check before final acceptance from its builder, French oil services group Technip. The refinery’s operators had initially planned to resume production after three to four weeks.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has recently approved an urban development project along the corridor of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), worth US$147,2 million, of which US$130 million is sourced from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The project aims to expand roads, build waste-water treatment plants and river dyke systems, improve water supply systems, and enhance urban management capacity. It will hold support local socio-economic development and turn traffic corridors into real economic corridors. The project is scheduled to be implemented from 2013 to 2018.

The Dung Quat Economic Zone in the central province of Quang Ngai plans to attract US$13 billion in investment capital by 2015, of which US$8 billion will be disbursed. It also aims to handle 25 million tons of cargos through its port and generate approximately 20,000 jobs for local people. The zone has set a target to raise its industrial production value to 17-19 percent per annum in the next three years. The targets were unveiled in the Dung Quat IZ master plan for the 2012-2015 period approved by the Provincial People’s Committee. Quang Ngai will develop Dung Quat into a multi-sectoral economic zone, with a particular focus on developing petro-chemistry, chemicals, mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, metallurgy, the light industry, and the Dung Quat deep seaport.

Bac Lieu province is calling on domestic and foreign businesses to invest in key projects, especially in agricultural infrastructure. The province has planned to develop its rural transport, irrigation, electricity and communication systems to serve local production and people’s daily life. It will upgrade Ganh Hao port at a total cost of VND600 billion and build high-tech agricultural production zones valued at VND1,362 billion. Nguyen Quoc Nam, Vice Director of the provincial Trade, Investment and Tourism Promotion Centre, said the province has offered a number of incentives for investors, such as financial preferences, land rental and corporate income tax, reduction and/or exemptions and employee training support. It has timely dealt with their difficulties to create the best environment for investors.

As many as 465 enterprises are showcasing their products at an exhibition which opened in the central coastal province of Phu Yen on June 15. The event, co-organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Phu Yen provincial People’s Committee, aims to introduce the achievements of local industries in rural areas. In addition to 15 businesses from the central and central highland regions, the fair has attracted enterprises from 17 northern, southeastern and Mekong Delta regions seeking to advertise their trade names, expand their markets, search for investment opportunities and develop trade. A conference on industrial promotion, a seminar on e-commerce and job counseling services will also be held during the expo. The exhibition will end on June 20.

PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Joint Stock Co (PGD) said it had used VND69 billion (US$3.32 million) to invest in the Nhon Trach gas supply system and expected to spend VND30 billion ($1.44 million) on buying another gas system. The amounts, totaling VND99 billion ($4.76 million), were raised from an initial public offering in 2010 by which the company raised its equity from VND330 billion ($15.87 million) to VND429 billion ($20.63 million).

Vingroup (VIC) has increased its charter capital from VND5.49 trillion ($263.94 million) to over VND7 trillion ($336.54 million) through the issuance of additional common shares. The company’s management board has appointed Le Thi Thu Thuy, who used to be a vice chairwoman of Lehman Brothers in Japan and Thailand markets, as the general director of Vingroup. The company has been approved by the State Bank of Vietnam to issue $115 million worth of international bonds on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Duc Thanh Wood Processing Co (GDT) has reached a total export order value of about US$6.7 million so far this year, with nearly $1 million in contracts signed this month alone. In the first five months of this year, the company has earned a turnover of VND87.9 billion ($4.23 million), increasing 25.3 per cent over the same period last year. It is expected to advance dividends in July at a rate of 10 per cent.

Singaporean lifestyle and leisure conglomerate SULT Group of Companies has invested US$1 million to set up an entertainment center in HCM City shopping mall Diamond Plaza. SULT said it hoped to bring lifestyle choices to consumers in Vietnam, a growing economy with a large and young population with increasing spending power and desiring more lifestyle wants.

The Central Highland province of Gia Lai generated US$36 million from exports in May, bringing its export turnover over the first five months total up to $171.2 million in total, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade. This was a nine-per-cent decrease against the same time last year. Among exports recording significant turnover slump were latex (52 per cent) and wooden goods (15 per cent). During the period, the province also imported $24 million worth of goods such as cassava, timber and raw materials such as cashews.

The "National Selection Competitive and Famous Trademarks" prize has been presented to the country’s 50 top trademarks. Among the winners were HD Bank, PetroVietnam Urban Development Joint Stock Company (PVC Mekong), Khuong Duy Pharma Co, VPBank, and Traphaco.

The 9^th International Auto Exhibition (Vietnam AutoExpo 2012) will open its door next Thursday in Ha Noi. The four-day event, which is expected to attract 200 domestic and foreign carmakers, would be a good chance for enterprises to seek new business opportunities and establish new partnerships, they said.