Category: Affairs

The Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long is soliciting investment in large projects that use modern and environment-friendly technologies and bring high added value.

It is calling for investment of over 24.37 trillion VND (1.06 billion USD) in 10 projects in all three main sectors of the economy.

Le Minh Tan, director of its investment promotion and enterprise support centre, said the province is inviting investment in key projects, including the 2.9 trillion VND (126.1 million USD) Binh Tan Industrial Zone (IZ) in Tan Quoi town with an area of 400ha.

In the agricultural sector, it is soliciting investment of around 250 billion VND (10.87 million USD) in a 50-100ha high-tech agricultural project in Vinh Long city.

It is also promoting an agricultural production and processing project in Binh Minh town on an area of 10.6ha and costing 400 billion VND (17.4 million USD).

In the housing sector, the province is looking for investment of 8.05 trillion VND (350 million USD) in the 500ha My Hoa new urban project in Binh Minh and My Hoa communes and Binh Minh town.

There is also an urban and administrative project worth 7.5 trillion VND (326.1 million USD).

The province is mobilising resources to promote tourism with the aim of turning it into a key economic sector by 2030.

Its tourist and tourism revenues are increasing by 11.6 per cent and 25.7 percent a year on average.

The province has also begun to attract investment in supporting industries such as the production of automobile parts.

This conforms with its desire to foster industrial production.

To improve the quality and effectiveness of foreign investment, it is working to attract strategic investors from markets such as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China), Singapore, and the EU, Tan said.

South Korea now has 18 investment projects worth nearly 90 million USD in the province, while Japan and Taiwan have invested 102.5 million USD and 239.2 million USD respectively.

The province also targets major projects and those with high-added value and using advanced and environment-friendly technologies, especially in agri-industry, human resources training and agricultural-based tourism, he said.

Local authorities would create optimal conditions for investors to know about key projects and incentives, and help them resolve investment obstacles, he added.

They have been announcing support and incentives to encourage investment in tourism, building infrastructure, tweaking planning for tourist areas to attract more investments, and developing unique tourism products.

Vinh Long last year issued investment certificates for 26 projects with a total investment of 4.35 trillion VND and over 104 million USD, including six foreign-invested ones./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has flexibly operated monetary policy tools to maintain liquidity for the banking system, contributing to stabilising and recovering credit growth in the context of unpredictable impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The information was announced by the SBV at a press conference on June 21 to review the banking sector’s activities in the first half of 2021.

According to SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu, thanks to synchronous management solutions, as of June 15, total credit in the economy expanded 5.1 percent from the end of 2020. The credit growth rate in the same period last year was only 2.26 percent

Attention has been paid to strictly controlling credit for areas with potentially high risks, and taking measures to remove difficulties facing enterprises and people in accessing bank credit, he said.

Total M2 payment vehicle – one of the tools to measure the level of “pumping money” into the economy from the banking system – in the period increased by 3.96 percent compared to the end of 2020 and surged 14.27 percent over the same period last year. The credit institution system maintains smooth liquidity.

The sector has continued to manage interest rates in line with the macro-economic balance, inflation, market movements and the objectives of the monetary policy, contributing to cutting capital costs for people, businesses and the national economy.

A series of measures have been implemented to support borrowers amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them restructure cash flows, and revive production and business activities.

As of May 31, credit institutions have rescheduled debt repayments for 257,602 borrowers with total outstanding loans of over 336.6 trillion VND (14.61 billion USD), exempted or reduced interests for 676,690 customers with total outstanding loans of over 1.2 quadrillion VND, provided new loans with low interest rates totaling over 3.5 quadrillion VND for nearly 481,000 borrowers.

Regarding the form of payment and transaction, Director of the SBV’s Payment Department Pham Tien Dung said non-cash payment activities have been expanded in the last six months.

Payment transactions via Internet channels surged by 65.9 percent in volume and 31.2 percent in value, while payment transactions via smart phone jumped by 86.3 percent in volume, and 123.1 percent in value.

Payments via QR Code increased by 95.7 percent in volume, and 181.5 percent in value, Dung added.

The SBV said it will continue to keep close watch on the macro-economic and monetary situation, as well as local and global developments of the pandemic, thus giving appropriate orientations in credit management and structure, towards promoting sustainable economic growth and development.

Notably, the banking sector will tighten control of credit in potentially risky areas such as real estate, build-operation-transfer (BOT) and build- transfer (BT) projects, and securities, Tu said.

He asked credit institutions to intensify management of credit quality, and implementing measures to curb bad debts./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, competition between coffee chains in Vietnam has become increasingly fierce with more giants trying to grab a slice of the lucrative market.

Masan, owned by billionaire Nguyen Dang Quang, Novaland of Bui Thanh Nhon and Tran Kim Thanh’s Kido have all heated up the billion-dollar market by entering recently.

In May, The Sherpa, a company owned by Masan, purchased 20 percent of Phuc Long Joint Stock Company, which owns the Phuc Long brand, one of the country’s most famous tea and coffee chains. As the firm spent US$15 million on the deal, the Phuc Long chain was valued at 75 million USD, a number that surprised many people, according to some insiders.

Set up in Bao Loc city, Lam Dong province in 1968, Phuc Long expanded into the retail beverage business in 2012 from its three traditional stores in Ho Chi Minh City in the 1980s. Currently, the firm has 60 stores in HCM city and seven in other localities.

After the deal, VinCommerce, another Masan member company, will set up a kiosk serving Phuc Long’s products at its chain VinMart , which has more than 2,200 stores across the country.

Earlier, realty firm Novaland Group launched a new ecosystem of Nova Consumer to develop the food, beverage and nutrition segment with a closed food production chain from farm to fork. The group has invested more than 200 million USD to bring together many famous consumer brands in its ecosystem, including PhinDeli coffee.

Last year, Vietnamese people spent about 53 trillion VND (2.28 billion USD) on tea and coffee, a growth rate of about 10 percent annually, an extremely attractive number for chains.

Local brand The Coffee House opened 24 stores in the first quarter of this year and plans to open at least another 50 this year to increase its total nationwide to nearly 230 at year-end and 1,000 by 2025.

Dinh Anh Huan, chairman of The Coffee House, told Viet Nam News: “Creating delicious coffee products to serve the local Vietnamese is key to developing the business.”

Huan said maintaining customer relationships was extremely important for the firm so it focused on developing the customer experience. With savvy, young customers, the firm has built and worked with delivery apps to offer convenient services.

He added during the fourth outbreak of COVID-19, though it had to limit and then stop serving customers in-store, online platforms had enjoyed a lot of use.

Besides its ‘Legend’ brand, Trung Nguyen Coffee is trying to expand its E-Coffee franchise chain, a small coffee stall targeted at takeaway customers, and plans to open 16 more stores nationwide.

Most recently, confectionery firm Kido said it was also about to enter the coffee market. Though Kido did not reveal which coffee segment it would join, the firm announced it would start offering coffee products this year.

Foreign firms have also shown interest in the local market.

Previously the largest local brand with about 340 coffee shops across the country alongside the most revenue and profit, Highlands Coffee is now owned by Jollibee Group, a Filipino giant in the chain restaurant business.

Other foreign names in the local market include Starbucks, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Thailand’s Café Amazon.

With a plan to expand its stores in Vietnam, Café Amazon told local media that Vietnam was one of 10 markets outside Thailand where the parent company was expected to spend up to 2.5 billion USD to expand in the next five years.

Among the chains, Highlands Coffee led the market in term of sales with 2 trillion VND in 2019, followed by The Coffee House with 863 billion VND, then Starbucks with 783 billion VND, Phuc Long with 779 billion VND and Trung Nguyen with 409 billion VND.

Due to the growing middle class in Vietnam, Euromonitor Worldwide valued the local coffee and tea retail market at more than 1 billion USD. The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association reported the rapid increase in the number of coffee chains has boosted their consumption to more than 10 percent of the country’s coffee output.

As the per capita coffee consumption in Vietnam is only a third of the global average, the association sees the market as very attractive for both domestic and foreign businesses./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Export revenue of the garment and textile sector surged 21.2 percent year on year in the first five months of 2021 to about 15.2 billion USD, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS).

The association reported that fibre and yarn exports during January-May soared by 60.1 percent year-on-year to 2.1 billion USD, while that of fabrics also increased 26.4 percent to 947 million USD.

In the period, Vietnam spent more than 10.2 billion USD on importing materials for the garment and textile industry, representing a 33.4 percent increase over the same period in 2020.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade attributed the growth to positive signals from the country’s major export markets as well as domestic businesses’ effective utilisation of opportunities from free trade agreements (FTAs) which have been signed and put in place.

The United States remained the largest importer of Vietnam’s garment and textile products with a value of 6.02 billion USD, up 24.4 percent from the same period in 2020 and accounting for 49.2 percent of the sector’s total revenue.

Japan was the second largest customer with 1.31 billion USD (down 6.3 percent), followed by the European Union with 1.21 billion USD (up 14.7 percent) and the Republic of Korea at 1.07 billion USD (up 4.2 percent).

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam has recorded continual growth in squid and octopus exports to China over the last three years, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Shipments of these commodities to China last year rose by nearly 61 percent from 2019 and by 21 percent year on year in the first four months of 2021 to more than 9.7 million USD.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic partly contained in China, this country has gradually eased restrictions, helping to recover demand for mollusc imports, VASEP said, noting that squid and octopus products remain one of Vietnam’s key aquatic exports to the neighbouring market.

Vietnam shipped almost 3.3 billion USD worth of aquatic products abroad in the first five months of 2021, up 14 percent year on year.

Up to 60 percent, or nearly 2 billion USD, of the revenue was contributed by the 13 Mekong Delta localities while six others in the southeastern region made up 18 percent, 602 million USD, VASEP reported.

Between January and May, overall agricultural exports to China posted impressive growth with shipments of some produce even matching or surpassing the corresponding figures for the entire 2020, according to the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In particular, Vietnam shipped over 468,000 tonnes of mango to this market, equivalent to 112 percent of last year’s figure; 348,000 tonnes of banana, 87 percent; 301,000 tonnes of jackfruit, 92 percent; and 1.1 million tonnes of dragon fruit, 63 percent.

Hoang Trung, Director of the Plant Protection Department, said China has long been the main importer of farm produce from Vietnam, and it will remain the largest buyer of Vietnamese agro-forestry-fishery products in the time to come./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Over 1.14 trillion VND (49.5 million USD) have been disbursed in the southern province of Long An since the beginning of this year, or 21.9 percent of the target, equivalent to 65.7 percent recorded in the same period last year, reported the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

Director of the department Huynh Van Son said the province allocated over 5.2 trillion VND to projects this year, more than 3.5 trillion VND of which are managed by the province and the remaining by districts.

The sum was used for major socio-economic development and breakthrough programmes, and key works.

The province also earmarked capital to deal with social welfare and national defence-security issues, as well as cope with climate change. Beneficiary projects must be in the list of mid-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period.

To improve the efficiency of public investment in remaining months of this year, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Ut asked district authorities stepping up online bidding and disbursement, ensuring openness, transparency, fairness and efficiency in line with the law.

The locality will also continue effectively dealing with difficulties in site clearance, compensation and offer support in resettlement, particularly in major projects, he said./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,148 VND per USD on June 18, up 34 VND from the previous day.

With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial bank during the day is 23,842 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,453 VND/USD.

The rates listed at commercial banks all went up.

At 8:20 am, the rates at Vietcombank stood at 22,830 VND/USD (buying) and 23,060 VND/USD (selling), both up 10 VND from June 17.

BIDV added 15 VND to both rates, listing the buying rate at 22,865 VND and the selling rate at 23,065 VND/USD.

Meanwhile, Vietinbank raised both rates by 25 VND to 22,850 (buying) and 23,070 VND/USD (selling).

During the week from June 14 to June 18, the daily reference exchange rate was adjusted down on Monday but then around to follow an upward trend until the end of the week. It ended the week up 49 VND compared to the rate on Monday./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) is drafting a decree to support the development of enterprises investing in agriculture and rural areas in a bid to draw investment into the sector.

According to the MPI, new policies are needed to encourage enterprises to invest in agriculture and rural areas and take advantage of new opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

The new decree, which will replace Decree 57/2018 on mechanisms and policies to encourage enterprises to invest in agriculture and rural areas, is also aimed to ensure compliance with recently issued laws like the Law on Public Investment in 2019, the Law on Investment in 2019 and the Enterprise Law in 2020.

In addition, the decree is expected to help respond to emerging problems in agricultural production, including a sharp increase in domestic pork prices (4-5 times higher than the pork price in the US) and serious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the draft, the MPI estimates the investment capital demand of the agricultural industry in 2021-25 is 107 trillion VND (4.6 billion USD), of which 8.6 trillion VND is slated to come from the State budget to implement roughly 800 projects. The investment capital from the State budget is expected to help attract about 9 trillion VND from enterprises investing in agriculture and rural areas as a domino effect.

The MPI expects the aid from the State budget to bring many economic, social and environmental effects. If 100 agricultural enterprises with an investment capital of about 100 billion VND each are set up yearly, at least 10,000 direct jobs and 30,000 indirect jobs will be generated, the ministry estimated.

The projects are expected to help build processing establishments for agricultural produce with waste treatment technologies in rural areas to protect the environment and create jobs and incomes for rural labourers, towards sustainable rural development.

Under the draft decree, the State aid will focus on farming and processing of agricultural products, forestry and fishery products; planting and protecting forests; making salt; producing plant seeds, livestock breeds and biotechnology products.

The incentive policies will also aim to expand the market for stable consumption of agricultural products, contributing to the speedier restructuring of the agricultural industry./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency