Vietnam Industrial Parks InfoGate ! Industrial Zones ! Export Processing Zones ! Business in brief 25 Feb 2013

Pepper exports rose sharply in January to 12,000 tons, earning US$79.5 million (up 330 percent compared to the same month of last year). According to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), Vietnam is the only supplier as it is harvest time in the country. Other countries will have to wait until July. However, the association predicts that this year’s pepper output will drop by 20-25 percent due to dry weather conditions. It has recommended that Vietnamese businesses and farmers have second thoughts before signing major or fixed-term contracts with importers.

Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and the EU in 2012 reached US$29.9 billion, 19.77 percent higher than 2011’s figure, according to the General Department of Customs. The EU has surpassed the United States to become Vietnam’s biggest export market with its 2012 turnover figure of US$20.31 billion, up 22.71 percent compared to 2011. Among key imports were garments, footwear, coffee, seafood, and computers. Vietnam’s export earnings from the EU rose 13.48 percent to US$8.79 billion. The volume of mobile handsets and spare parts exported to this market was worth over US$5.4 billion, accounting for 75 percent of the country’s total exports in 2012. Moderate export growth rates were maintained in other commodities such as plastic products, wood and wooden products, bags, suitcases, umbrellas, pepper and cashew nuts. Vietnam mostly imported machinery and equipment, pharmaceuticals, and dairy products from the EU.

Vietnam’s inflation eased in February as domestic consumption struggled to rebound after a credit crunch that slowed economic growth to a 13-year low. Consumer prices climbed 7.02% from a year earlier after rising 7.07% in January, the General Statistics Office in Hanoi said yesterday. “We expect more of this benign inflation trajectory,” said Edwin Gutierrez, a London-based portfolio manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, which holds Vietnamese bonds. “The economy is still fairly weak, which is the necessary byproduct of the credit slowdown.” Consumer prices gained 1.32% in February from the previous month, the Statistics Office said on Saturday. While prices in the category including healthcare and pharmaceuticals jumped 56.04% from a year earlier, the monthly rate was 0.58%, compared to 7.4% in January. Some provinces that didn’t adjust their healthcare costs in 2012 did so in January, fund manager Dragon Capital said in its latest monthly update.

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) on February 25 held a ground-breaking ceremony for a new Laos-Vietnam Bank (LVB) branch in Attapeu town of Southern Laos. The five-story building, covering a total area of more than 3,000sq.m, will be equipped with modern infrastructure facilities, including elevators, air conditioning, internet connection, and a CCTV system. The project also comprises a garage, a sports field, and a two-story house for public affairs. By kick-starting the third LVB office project in Laos, BIDV aims to attract more foreign investors, including those from Vietnam, to Laos. The ceremony was attended by Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavad Lengsavath and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Seafood processor Minh Phu (MPC) last year got a profit of VND91 billion ($4.3 million), or a decrease of 67 per cent from the previous year and only 12.7 per cent of the year’s target. Although net sales in the fourth quarter decreased only slightly, increasing costs caused the quarter’s gross profit to decline 23.6 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2011.

Saigon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) announced revised earnings for 2012 yesterday that were shift from a loss of VND95 billion (US$4.5 million) to a net profit of VND27 billion ($1.28 million). Most of the data issued Friday remained the same as previously published. However, the net profit from other operations in the fourth quarter was increased from VND630 billion ($30 million) to VND752 billion ($35.8 million). The previous figures were announced only on Tuesday. The sudden change in data without any accompanying explanation has raised a red flag among investors as to the transparency of the bank.

The State Capital Investment Corp has established a new subsidiary – the SCIC Investment Co Ltd – with an aim to limit the State’s exposure to investment risks. The company, capitalized at VND1 trillion (US$47.6 million), will take advantage of SCIC capital resources to invest in shares, bonds, acquisitions and investment projects.

The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap will host a conference on the purchase of paddy/rice from the current winter-spring crop for reserves. The conference, held at the office of Dong Thap People’s Committee on next Wednesday, will also discuss rice export prices. The conference, which is to be chaired by Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai, will focus on the co-operation and collaboration between farmers and exporters under the large-scale cultivation model; as well as the production and consumption of shrimp and tra fish in the country. The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) is scheduled to deliver a report on purchases of winter-spring paddy/rice and plans for this year’s rice export.

Nokia Lumia smartphones will be used by select sales forces of The Coca-Cola Company in Vietnam and Cambodia. The devices will be used by sales associates in those markets for order processing, equipment validation, and market execution improvement. The smartphones offer Coca-Cola employees full support for Microsoft Office on the Microsoft Windows Phone 8 platform. Business level security also comes as standard on Nokia Lumia.