Finance & Business News

finance & business news 28 February 2017

FINANCE ...... 1 Khanh Hoa calls for increased economic cooperation with SBV announces compulsory M&A for weak banks 1 US, Russia 30 Credit grows strongly in Jan 3 Low-cost apartment developers face big challenges 30 Banks eye higher credit growth, profits 3 BIZ NEWS ...... 31 Vietnamese banks overly dependent on credit growth 3 Business Briefs February 28, 2017 31 Anti-dollarisation efforts face challenges 4 Shares up on investor confidence 32 Dividends: should shareholders sympathise with banks? 5 Shares inch up on blue chips 32 Financial leasing companies hard-pressed for foreign capital 6 All indexes close up 33 Voluntary social insurance attracts little interest 7 VietJet stock jumps 20 pct on debut - exchange 33 Non-life insurers cautiously set 2017 growth target 8 PENM IV Germany to buy HPG shares 34 Vietnam bank tycoon, former executives face trial over $66 HSX puts 21.6mn PVB shares on warning list 34 million losses 9 First local realty investment trust debuts on bourse 34 VNPT to sell stake at Maritime Bank 10 Market correction seen continuing into this week 35 Credit and land policies for agriculture should be loosened 10 Japanese prefecture seeks opportunity in Vietnam 36 Collecting taxes from online stores possible -- experts 11 Vegetable, fruit exports to struggle 36 Big credit contract secured for Cam Ranh airport's terminal Agro-forestry-fishery export value increases 37 project 12 Deputy PM pushes for VNPT's divestment 38 Reference exchange rate revised up 4 dong 12 Vietnam attends India-CLMV business forum 38 Apec committees, working groups finish 10th day of SOM 1 12 Deputy PM demands review of fee at ports 39 Apec 2017 offers opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises 13 Vietnam to adopt higher quality petrol standards 39 VN posts trade deficit of $1.2b in February 13 HCM City and Hanoi lead e-business index 40 Foreign investment in HCM City soars in two months 14 Fertiliser imports fair, says regulator 40 VN join mutual cooperation conference 14 Vietnam refinery predicts profit dips 41 FDI capital in real estate posts year-on-year twelvefold increase 15 Buyers rush to purchase first Japanese apartments in Vietnam, Asian neighbours hold trade pack talks amid TPP Phu My Hung 41 hiccup - report 15 Japan's leading sports company enters Vietnam 42 Vietnam, Brunei target $500m two-way trade by 2025 16 Central city to start solar power project 43 City officials seek tax on sales via Facebook 17 VN's chicken industry takes flight 43 Vietnam-US double taxation avoidance agreement approved 18 Vinalines' port activity surges 44 Long An moves to lure FDI 18 Mekong organic farming initiative receives US grant 45 Quang Ninh: cross-border trade flourishes 19 Vietnam's Jan-February rice export volume dips, value Vietnam's sole operating oil refinery sets surprisingly low profit slides faster 45 target 19 Japanese firm to set up medical device factory 45 Ministries to focus on improving business environment 20 Britain regards Vietnam as key trading partner 46 Ministry explains giant losses at Ninh Binh Fertiliser Plant 21 Agriculture ministry backs cooperatives to build material M&A again become hot issue in banks' annual shareholders zones 46 meeting season 22 February sees international visitor arrivals soaring 42.2pct y-o-y 47 M&A in pharmaceutical industry almost inevitable 24 HCM City mulls setting up public transit authority 47 Huge competition seen in the investment race in mid-range First high-tech farming project begins in Thai Binh 48 apartments 25 Panasonic expands in Binh Duong 49 In Vietnam, Uber drivers whine about firm's unfair division of Korean firm builds electronic component plant at Phu Ha IP 49 revenue 26 Cau Tre to build food processing facility in Hiep Phuoc IP 49 Japanese automakers threaten to leave Vietnam again 27 Beverages lead FMCG sales 50 Vietnam-Lithuania business potential needs stimulation 28 Lotte to build second shopping mall in Hanoi 50 Foreign owners of indebted steel firm flee Vietnam 29 Telephone exports to RoK soar 51

FINANCE

Intellasia Tel: +844 2213 2244 No. 21, lane 173/63/17, Ngoc Ha Ward, Ba Dinh Dist, Hanoi Fax: +844 3759 2034 © All Rights Reserved Email: [email protected] Websites: www.Intellasia.Net www.TriTueAChau.com Vietnam finance & business 28 February 2017 FINANCE SBV announces 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VIR compulsory M&A for The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) currently encourages mergers and acquisitions weak banks (M&A) for weak credit institutions based on voluntary spirit and the assurance of relevant rights for both parties. However, this will turn into a compulsory activity if these institutions do not volunteer. SBV's plan The SBV is finalising the draft plan on restructuring the system of credit institutions combined with solving bad debts during 2016-2020 under the government's directions, to submit to the Politburo. On the basis of approval and instructions from the Politburo and the government, the SBV will be armed with these solutions in 2017. SBV Governor Le Minh Hung said that in the near future not only weak commercial banks, but weak financial institutions, financial leasing companies, and people's credit unions will also be forced mergers or acquisitions if necessary. The SBV has identified ailing financial institutions and their main weaknesses so that it can consult the appro- priate solutions. In particular, SBV has pointed out five weak commercial banks, including three "zero VND" banks Global Petro Commercial Joint Stock Bank (GP Bank), OceanBank, and FINANCE Vietnam Construction Bank (CBank), and has outlined suitable solutions to be used right after getting approval from the prime minister. The restructuring project of five weak banks, including the three "zero VND" banks mentioned above, as well as DongA Bank and Sacombank after acquiring Southern- Bank, have been submitted and approved by the Politburo. SBV has made a detailed plan for restructuring these banks and will carry out it in the near future. Beside small financial firms, financial leasing companies and people's credit unions have also been noted. In Directive No 02/CT-NHNN on strengthening the safety of the banking system through the restructuring of credit organisations, bad debt management, and monitoring and maintaining bad debts at a safe level, the governor of the SBV has emphasized the facilitation of the merger of weak credit institutions. Eligible investors are encouraged to join these restructuring initiatives to diminish the number of weak firms and enhance their competitive capacity. M&A is the way forward In fact, without M&A, it would be difficult for small and weak banks to survive and compete in a financial market unrecovered from crisis. Notably, when the chartered capital of these ailing banks is around VND3 trillion ($131 million), amidst poor administration and declining profits, voluntary M&A is the best option. Over the last three years, raising the chartered capital of some small banks was very hard, even when they issued preferred stocks. SaigonBank and DongABank are prime examples, with their difficulties in raising funds for numerous consecutive years. Four years ago, Saigonbank planned to increase its chartered capital from VND3 to 4 trillion ($131.4 to 175 million), but its capital was unchanged in 2016. Because existing shareholders are not willing to contribute more capital due to pessi- mism over growth potential, Saigonbank was proposed to merge into Vietcombank. Although the majority of shareholders in Saigonbank disagreed and vowed to restructure, the bank's performance showed little results. Low chartered capital affects a wide range of indexes, such as total assets and the ability to lend. When Basel II is going to be applied (it is currently being tested in 10 banks), many small banks will be unable to meet capital requirements. However, raising capital is not easy for small banks at the moment when the stock market is past its peak. Existing domestic and foreign investors are no longer willing to buy stocks. Director of VinaCapital Andy Ho believed that it is necessary to loosen policies for foreign investors in the banking sector, allowing them to own more than 30 per cent. Since the end of 2011, SBV has dealt with nine weak banks. Some names have disappeared from the financial market by means of M&A, such as HabuBank (merged with SHB), Western Bank (merged with PVFC), Tin Nghia Bank and FicomBank (merged with Sai Gon Commercial Bank-SCB), and DaiABank (merged withHDBank). http://www.vir.com.vn/sbv-announces-compulsory-ma-for-weak-banks.html

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Credit grows strongly 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY in Jan Banks have said credit in the banking system expanded 2.18 percent in January, much higher than in the same month of previous years. In January last year, credit declined 0.2 percent compared to December 2015. Credit at the end of the first quarter last year grew 1.54 percent against late 2015. The credit growth target for this year is about 18 percent, the same as in 2016. Of total outstanding loans, the amount in dong rose by 2.07 percent, while growth in foreign currency loans was stronger, 3.4 percent. This year the central bank has yet to release data on credit growth. But banks said the banking system is rapidly pumping huge amounts of money into the economy. Deposits fell 0.38 percent in January. In particular, deposits in dong and foreign currency edged down 0.41 percent and 0.06 percent respectively. As a rule, the period before and after the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet), savings at banks slow down as the demand for cash tends to surge. Post-Tet cash flow into banks

FINANCE will return to normal when the needs for end of the year payments are no longer strong. Thus, it is normal that capital mobilisation in the banking system is down in January, but improves in February and March. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52543/Credit-grows-strongly-in-Januaryhtml

Banks eye higher 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA credit growth, profits Vietcombank has set itself a target of 18 percent credit growth this year and pre-tax profit of VND9.2 trillion (over $405 million). Agribank hopes to achieve 14-18 percent credit growth and at least 10 percent profit. Private banks too expect credit growth to be higher this year than last year, thus boosting profits. For instance, ACB targets 18 percent expansion. This was because for a long time banks' profits have relied mainly on credit, particularly in the case of small banks. In fact, for many small banks, 80-90 percent of profits come from credit-related activities. Many economic sectors are forecast to recover strongly this year, possibly giving banks' lending plans a boost. But analysts are unsure, saying stepping up lending is not an easy task. A central bank official said this year bank lending would be closely controlled, especially long- and medium-term loans to high-risk customers, including those involved in property and in build-operate-transfer and build-transfer transport projects. The central bank will also focus on improving credit quality and lending to businesses in priority sectors, meaning banks will not have many opportunities for high credit growth. A member of the Advisory Council on National Financial and Monetary Policies also said achieving high credit growth this year would be a challenge. To expand credit, it is necessary to further cut interest rates, particularly on medium- and long-medium loans, but it is not an easy task because costs continue to rise due to high deposit interest rates, he said. http://english.vov.vn/trade/banks-eye-higher-credit-growth-profits-344409.vov

Vietnamese banks 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VIR overly dependent on Many banks complain that the cost of capital increases and they cannot increase lend- credit growth ing rates, so interest margins are quickly narrowing, which affects profit. Therefore, they have to depend on credit growth to earn profit. The difference between loan rates and deposit rates in commercial banks contracted significantly in the last three years because banks have to increase deposit rates in order to be able to compete and attract depositors. This leaves banks unable to increase loan rates to attract borrowers too. To improve this situation, many banks said they have to increase revenues from serv-

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ices. However, not every bank is capable of doing so, especially small banks because of low market share and credit growth. For that reason, many banks expect credit this year to continue growing. Income from lending makes up between 70-80 per cent of banks' revenue. There are even banks whose net interest income (NII) contributes 91 per cent to their revenue. For instance, according to VietinBank's consolidated financial statement for the fourth quarter of 2016, the bank's pre-tax profit reached $374 million, a 16 per cent increase on-year, and took the lead in the finance sector. NII went up to $228 million, 20 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of 2015, raising the accumulated NII of the whole year to $984 million, 19 per cent more than last year, and correspondently contributed 90 per cent to the total income of 2016. In 2016, Vietcombank generated more than $818 million in NII, 19.8 per cent higher than in 2015, making up 70 per cent of the total. Vietcombank is considered to have had the highest increase in services revenue in the banking system last year. ACB's NII rose by 17 per cent on-year to $302 million, and its pre-tax profit increased FINANCE significantly by 26.8 per cent, reaching $73 million. VPBank had a consolidated pre-tax profit of $215 million in 2016, while that of the parent bank was only $149 million. The larger part of the total income of 2016 also came from NII, which reached $663 million, a $197 billion increase since last year. VPBank's credit grew by 17.5 per cent. Meanwhile, Eximbank achieved only $17 million in pre-tax profit in 2016. According to an evaluation of Ho Chi Minh Securities Corporation (HSC), Eximbank profit during the year was comparatively low given its current size and competence. The driving factor for this was the low increase in lending and depositing activities, which reduced NII and the profit margin as well, even though non-interest income rose and provisions for loans and losses (PLL) dropped. HSC reported that in 2016, Eximbank credit rose only 2.51 per cent, by $3.8 billion, and lending only grew in the last quarter of 2016. In detail, short-term loans increased by 7.58 per cent, reaching $1.4 billion, while medium to long-term loans fell by 0.5 per cent, to $2.3 billion. According to HSC, the increase in short-term loans and decrease in medium to long- term loans affected Eximbank's profit margin. This index reduced to 2.76 per cent (0.13 per cent lower than in 2015) due to a 0.51 percentage point increase in cost of mobilis- ing capital (from 4.29 to 4.80 per cent), which leads to a 9.29 per cent drop on-year in NII, to $135 million. HSC forecasted that in 2017, despite an estimated pre-tax profit of $32 million, the bank will not be able to accelerate profit growth due to the burden of PLL. At present, the deposit interest rate fluctuates around 6-7.8 per cent. Meanwhile, to attract borrowers, the bank accepts losses from its competitive interest rates of 6-6.5 per cent per year and even less for VIP customers. Dr Nguyen Van Thuan, dean of the Faculty of Finance and Banking of Ho Chi Minh Open University, said that banks, especially small ones, currently rely on credit as a source of income. On the other hand, the income from consumer lending still contributes significantly to the total income, which encourages banks to promote consumer lending. http://www.vir.com.vn/vietnamese-banks-overly-dependent-on-credit-growth.html

Anti-dollarisation 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA efforts face challenges The State Bank of Vietnam's anti-dollarisation efforts have managed to keep the dong- dollar exchange rate fairly steady for a long time, thus helping stabilise the monetary market. But the fight against dollarisation is expected to face challenges after the dollar began to strengthen against the dong on both the official and unofficial markets after the US presidential election results were announced last November and the Federal Reserve recently unveiled a roadmap to raise the interest rate on US dollar. On February 23, the central bank of Vietnam had to hike the reference VND/USD ex-

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change rate to a record high of 22,231 VND. Following this, some banks raised their dollar selling and buying rates by 5 VND. State giant Vietinbank hiked its buying rate to 22,795 VND per dollar and selling rate to 22,790 VND. The highest selling prices of between 22,870 VND and 22,880 VND were at ACB, Tech- combank and DongABank. The volatility in the greenback and new policies announced by the new US government are expected to affect the volume of the dollar pouring into Vietnam starting this year. Analysts said the higher value of the dollar encourages individuals and institutions including banks to deposit their dollar holdings abroad to enjoy higher interest rates since the deposit interest rate in Vietnam is still zero. Meanwhile, the protectionism US government will have to apply high tariffs on imports, including of Vietnamese goods. This means exports to the US are likely to drop and affect the country's foreign ex- FINANCE change reserves. Vietnam's foreign exchange reserves could also be affected by falling remittances by Vietnamese-Americans due to the US's policy of tightening its immigration laws, which is likely to worry the ethnic Vietnamese living there and cause them to hoard their money. Meanwhile, dollar demand remains high in the domestic market to pay import bills. This high demand is seen from the fact that though the central bank has for a long time been planning to stop banks from lending in foreign currencies to exporters, it has not been able to achieve this. In its Circular 31, the central bank has allowed exporters to borrow in foreign currencies until the end of this year. In the event, many experts have suggested that the central bank should remove the zero interest rate policy to be able to further mobilise the greenback. But the problem with this is that it could again cause people to hoard dollar http://english.vov.vn/trade/antidollarisation-efforts-face-challenges-344407.vov

Dividends: should 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | DAU TU CHUNG KHOAN shareholders In the talk with Dau Tu Chung Khoan newspaper about the dividend payment issue sympathise with of the annual shareholders meeting this year, economic expert Dr Nguyen Tri Hieu banks? said that making dividends is not possible for banks because in fact, the rate of profit- ability of banks in Vietnam is too low to pay dividends, and some banks are even suf- fering losses. According to Dr Hieu, the interests of shareholders in the issue of dividend payment is understandable as they have contributed capital into banks. However, the matter is that banks need to be profitable to be able to distribute dividends. Currently, the profits of the banking system in Vietnam is low. According to statistics of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), by the end of the third quarter of 2016, the Return on Assets (ROA) ratio of the entire system was only 0.45 percent and the Return on Equity (ROE) ratio was 5.66 percent, relatively low compared to the usual standards in the world, which respectively are one percent and 10 percent. Thus, paying dividends to shareholders is a conundrum for banks. Usually, banks use half of the annual profit to make dividend payment, and the other half is used to supplement equity. Nevertheless, if the profit is low and paying dividend needs all the amount of profit, there will be no profit left. In reverse, if using the limited profit amount to supplement equity, banks certainly have to say no to dividend payment. The second case is seen fairly often. Commenting about the impact of SBV's control over banks' dividend payment rate on shareholders, Dr Hieu said that it is undeniable that the books of Vietnamese enterprises in general are not transparent, and it is thus very difficult to identify the exact amout of their profit. In the banking sector, although all banks are audited independ- ently, the trust level remains very relative. The management boards of some banks

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even do not know the actual profit number of their banks, due to the incorrect accounting of bad debts, interest receivables from the bad loans and off-balance-sheet expenses. Hence, as being the management body and most correctly keeping track of operation as well as profit numbers of banks, it is reasonable if SBV vetos a dividend payment plan of a bank if finding that the bank is operating ineffectively. This aims to force the bank to use the capital for paying dividends to increase equity in order to support lending growth and prevent risks. When SBV does not approve dividend payment, shareholders should understand that their capital contribution is not lost, it is just used to strengthen the financial power of the bank. In the following years, if the bank is operating well, share value will increase and shareholders, at that time, will be first to be benefited. In these cases, bank may not pay dividends in cash but in shares. This also means that the value of the contributed capital of shareholders increases in value, and it is profitable for them. In Dr Hieu's point of view, SBV in the current context should provide orientation and FINANCE guidance on the issues of paying salaries and bonuses, and dividends on the basis of banks' annual profits. Specifically, SBV may allow banks to distribute dividends if their financial indicators such as ROA, ROE and bad debt ratio, etc. meet the minimum limits. In addition, the dividend rate may also be calculated on the level scale of these financial indicators. In countries with developed banking systems such as the US, Germany, the UK, and France, etc., their central banks often do not apply strict regulations on dividend payment and let banks have the right to self-determine their dividends. However, since the banking system of Vietnam is still young and shareholders have less experience in monitoring the safety of capital as well as banks' operation, the intervention of SBV in dividend payment at some banks in the current situation is needed to ensure the safety and stability.

Financial leasing 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VIR companies hard- Up to two thirds of domestic financial leasing companies operate at a loss and are rid- pressed for foreign dled with inefficiencies. capital BIDV breaks path for new trend The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) have issued a document approving a transition of BIDV Financial Leasing Company. More specifically, it transferred from a subsidiary of Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam to a joint venture company named BIDV- SuMi TRUST Leasing Limited Company with 49 per cent charter capital held by Sumitomo Mitsui (Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank - SMTB) and 1 per cent capital held by Sun Group. Being one of the four largest leasing companies in the market but BIDV Leasing Com- pany's performance has not been positive recently. Therefore, the participation of SMTB -- the largest trust bank -- is expected to turn the company up-side down in terms of capital, customer base, experience, and business operation. The parties signed a cooperation agreement in financial leasing in 2016. According to this agreement, BIDV will transfer 49 per cent of the chartered capital of BIDV Finan- cial Leasing Company to SMTB, renaming it BIDV-SuMi TRUST Leasing Limited Company. At the same time, the company's chartered capital will increase from VND448 to 896 billion ($19.6 to 39 million). This will turn BIDV Financial Leasing Company into the second largest financial leasing company in the market. After the successful capital transfer, BIDV-SuMi TRUST Leasing Limited Company will be the first joint venture company between a domestic commercial bank and a foreign financial institution. There is a chance that other financial leasing companies would follow BIDV-SuMi TRUST Leasing Limited Company's model to increase their capital and restructure themselves. This trend has been used by some financial companies with relative success. Banking specialists believed that with tight capital and limited operations, cooperation

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with foreign institutions would be the best way for these companies to recover. Dr Dang Thanh Dan from Ho Chi Minh University of Banking stated that cooperation will help financial companies strengthen their financial capacity, as well as help them gather experience and competitive advantages. Transform or go bankrupt Financial companies and financial leasing companies have been in the focus of restructuring efforts at the State Bank of Vietnam in recent years. Nguyen Van Hung, deputy chief inspector, said that the SBV will classify them to propose restructuring plans for each specific type. According to SBV statistics, there are 11 financial leasing companies, including three ones wholly-owned by foreign institutions, seven wholly-owned subsidiaries of domestic commercial banks, and Vinashin Financial Company. Two thirds of financial leasing companies are operating with deficit, shouldering a high proportion of bad debts and low capital adequacy rate. One of financial leasing companies is on the verge of bankruptcy. VietinBank Leasing is one of the few financial leasing companies which operate effectively. FINANCE Pham Ngoc Long, general director of VietinBank Leasing, said that the company's 2016 pre-tax profit was more than VND107.6 billion ($4.7 million), while its total assets and liabilities reached VND1.930 trillion ($84.5 million), increasing by 15 per cent on-year. Bad debts were only 1.87 per cent. One of the factors blamed for the inefficient operation of financial leasing companies is their small scale. Eight out of 11 financial leasing companies on the market have a chartered capital from VND200 to 300 billion ($8.7-13 million). The three companies with chartered capital above VND500 billion ($21.9 million) are Chailease (VND580 billion, $25.4 million), Vietcombank Leasing (VND500 billion, $21.9 million), and Viet- inbank Leasing (VND1 trillion, $43.8 million). After the capital assignment for SMTB, BIDV will be in the second position with approximately VND900 billion ($39.4 million). In addition to their small scale, financial leasing companies are confronted by a lack of capital due to high interest rates and low credit limit to lend to customers. As a result, banking specialists believe that SBV should encourage capital assignments with foreign institutions and issue suitable legislation for these companies. The development of this model will allocate and utilise capital more effectively as well as support small and medium-size enterprises better. There are three 100 per cent foreign-owned financial leasing companies, including Kexim, Chailease, and Vietnam Financial Leasing International Company. Additionally, there are eight domestic financial leasing companies, including Vinashin Finance Leasing Company Limited and seven owned by commercial banks Viet- inBank, BIDV, Vietcombank, ACB, Sacombank, and Agribank. http://www.vir.com.vn/financial-leasing-companies-hard-pressed-for-foreign-capital.html

Voluntary social 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY insurance attracts little The number of voluntary social insurance buyers has remained woefully low though interest numerous measures have been taken by authorities to encourage people, especially self-employed and workers without an employment contract, to voluntarily get social insurance. Most of them are people who have had participated in compulsory social insurance while self-employed labourers account for a small fraction. At a conference on voluntary social insurance last week, Tran Hai Nam, deputy head of the Department of Social Insurance at the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the 2014 Law on Social Insurance, which went into force in 2016, contains favourable provisions for the voluntary socially insured. The minimum social insurance payment is down from 22 percent of the monthly base salary of VND1.21 million to 22 percent of the rural poverty line of VND700,000 per month. This means people can pay at least VND154,000 monthly, instead of VND266,000.

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In case the rural poverty line stays unchanged and is not inflation-adjusted, a female employee would receive a monthly pension of 60 percent of her income at the age of 55 after 20 years of voluntary social insurance. "An employee who pays VND154,000 in monthly social insurance in a period of 20 years will get a monthly pension of VND420,000. On average, Vietnamese women who retire at 55 will die before they reach 79-1/2. This shows voluntary social insurance is beneficial," Nam said. The 2014 Law on Social Insurance provides different insurance premium payment methods. In case one has big extra incomes, they can choose to make a one-off payment for many years as a saving. If retirees have paid social insurance for less than 10 years, they can pay premiums for all the remaining years as required by law to get a full pension. But the number of voluntary social insurance policy holders in Vietnam by the end of 2016 was just more than 200,000, down 7 percent compared to 2015. Only 0.4 percent of the nation's workforce has bought social insurance policies on a voluntary basis. FINANCE Moreover, most of them have participated in compulsory social insurance policies and purchased voluntary social insurance policies just to fulfill the pension requirements. The problem is this kind of insurance just covers retirement and death, not illnesses, maternity leave, work accidents and occupational diseases. In addition, the duration of 20 years required for voluntary social insured people to get a pension is too long. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52545/Voluntary-social-insurance-attracts-little-interest.html

Non-life insurers 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | DAU TU CHUNG KHOAN cautiously set 2017 In spite of being supported by new policies of the State in insurance (such as public growth target property insurance, disaster insurance, etc.), creating positive factor boosting the development of insurance market, life insurers still appear to be rather cautious when developing growth objectives because of fearing that the market continue having difficulties. At the recently held meeting to sum up 2016 and carry out 2017 business plan, Tran Hoai An, CEO of BIC said in spite of not meeting the expected target, BIC's business result in 2016 still showed positiveness. Specifically, the total premium income touched 1.671 trillion dong, up 13 percent from 2015. Of which, written premium revenue arrived at 1.476 trillion dong, up 15 percent (higher than the average growth of the entire market, estimated at about 12.5 percent). The pre-tax profit of the mother company BIC hit 137.8 billion dong, up 19 percent. The ratio of premium debt was the lowest ever i.e. 3.1 percent out of the total written premium revenue. Sharing about 2017 business plan, Tran Hoai An said BIC determines to focus on measures to grow efficiently, safely, sustainably, increasing its market share and position on Vietnam's non-life insurance market. BIC aims to achieve the total premium income in 2017 at 1.9 trillion dong and 186 billion dong consolidated pre-tax profit, focusing on developing measures to increase the efficiency of business operations, management quality as well as improving the service quality before, during and after the sale. Another insurance company i.e. PTI is also quite wary when setting the growth target for this year, estimated at about 10 percent of the written premium revenue (equal to 3.320 trillion dong). Of which, the insurance of motor vehicles targets to achieve two trillion dong, reckoning for 60 percent of the total revenue; personal insurance is 626 billion dong, equal to 19 percent; the pre-tax profit is 191 billion dong and the dividend payment ratio continues to maintain at 12 percent. This insurance company is expected to continue increasing the revenue proportion from sales channels that PTI is having advantages such as Vnpost, bancassurance and telesales. Besides maintaining the position as the second leading business in motor vehicle insurance, in 2017, PTI will develop insurance products of people, designing and pack-

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aging products following each customer segment and determining to reduce time for solving application for compensation in order to increase satisfaction about the service quality of customers. Ending 2016, PVI once again confirmed the position as the No.1 business in Vietnam's non-life insurance market. This insurer admitted the outstanding success in 2016 is the continued expansion of the market, focusing on the investment in retail network, developing products, diversifying distribution channels and especially improving customer service. In addition, PVI also provided insurance service to many big projects and national key works. In 2017, this insurer still continues the strategy on expansion and development of retail system on the principles of efficiency, diversification of distribution channels, continued promotion of bancassurance channel, improvement of utilities for customers, en- hancement of compliance and transparent management of the entire system. To confirm the strategy on promotion of the penetration strategy into retail market, right from the beginning of the year, PVI launched PVI Cuu Long Insurance Company, FINANCE bringing the total number of affiliates to 31. According to industry experts, that non-life insurers are cautious in developing business targets in 2017 and continuing to look forward to developing retail channel is entirely reasonable. Statistics show that the growth rate of non-life insurance sector in 2016 are estimated at round 14 percent, much lower than the growth rate of more than 25 percent of the life insurance sector as well as the entire market. Besides, non-life insurers, when making business plan, also have to depend on many factors such as the overall growth rate of the economy, and forecast difficulties that they may encounter. In 2016, Vietnam economy had to face many difficulties such as drought, invasive mangrove in Mekong Delta, marine solution in the central region, fluctuation of oil price, not thoroughly settled bad debts, etc. These difficulties may still happen in 2017. "This is the time that non-life insures should focus on continuing to restructure, improving competitiveness, customer service, management and operation", said an industry expert.

Vietnam bank tycoon, 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNEXPRESS former executives face The 20-day trial will hear one of the biggest corruption cases in Vietnam, with former trial over $66 million bank executives among 48 defendants. losses Disgraced chair of Vietnam's private lender Ocean Bank and its 47 former executives were sent to a trial Monday on accusation of various lending violations linked to losses of VND1.5 trillion ($66 million). Ha Van Tham, the former chair, and other defendants have been charged of abuse with power and violations of lending regulations and state regulations on economic management. A police report released last October said Tham had "caused serious damage to the private bank and adverse effects to monetary policies." He was found to have approved a VND500 billion ($23.5 million) loan to a real estate firm without properly securing it with collateral in 2012. The HCM City-based company later defaulted on the loan. Police said Tham also offered deposit rates above government rules, leading to losses of nearly VND990 billion. The US-educated banker, who was the eighth richest man in 2013 based on stock holdings, had won several national awards for outstanding entrepreneurship. He was ar- rested in October 2014. Ocean Bank was founded in 1993 with a 20 percent stake from the conglomerate Ocean Group, which has also invested in hospitality, securities, media and retail. In April 2015, the central bank took over Ocean Bank and put major lender VietinBank in management. The bank's new chair had recently said Ocean Bank's operation has been "profitable" in the past two years, based on local media reports. Its deposits in 2015 increased 17 percent from the previous year, based on a VietinBank

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report. The OceanBank is one of six serious corruption and mismanagement cases that Viet- nam's government has decided to bring to trial by the end of this March. Last week a Hanoi court sentenced two former executives of state-owned shipping giant Vinashinlines to death and another to life imprisonment for misappropriating nearly $12 million from the company. Other cases involve violations at Agribank, Vietinbank, abuse of power at the Vietnam Waterway Construction Corporation under the Ministry of Transport, and mismanagement at a public development fund in the northern province of Bac Ninh. http://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-bank-tycoon-former-executives-face-trial- over-66 million-losses-3547698.html

VNPT to sell stake at 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY Maritime Bank Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) will put up for sale next month

FINANCE a 6.09 percent stake it owns at Maritime Bank with a starting price of VND11,900 per share on the Hanoi Stock Exchange. VNPT plans to auction its more than 71.5 million shares on the northern bourse on March 10. Maritime Bank now has total chartered capital of VND11.75 trillion (around $518 million). Audited consolidated financial statements showed Maritime Bank's accumulated after-tax profit had reached VND182.3 billion as of September 30 last year, up from VND116.3 billion in the previous year. The bank had sold bad debts worth some VND10 trillion to Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) by December 31, 2015, becoming one of the largest sellers of bad debts to the company. The debts Maritime Bank sold to VAMC increased by VND6 trillion in 2015, leading the bank's receivables to slide from VND11.5 trillion to VND4.4 trillion. With loans put at VND30 trillion and interest and fees at VND3 trillion, the bank's ratio of interest receivables to outstanding loans was up to 10 percent, higher than many other commercial banks. Maritime Bank was established in 1991 in the northern city of Hai Phong and relocated its head office to Hanoi in 2005. Currently, the bank has total assets of VND104 trillion and chartered capital of VND11.75 trillion, 6.09 percent of it held by VNPT, 6.52 percent by investment firm Phuc Tien and the rest by other shareholders. State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) started preparations for an auction to divest its stake at Maritime Bank in 2016. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52551/VNPT-to-sell-stake-at-Maritime-Bank.html

Credit and land 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY policies for agriculture Leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have asked the Nation- should be loosened al Assembly (NA) to relax credit and land policies for agriculture to guarantee its sustainable development. Speaking at a working session with a NA delegation led by vice chair Phung Quoc Hien last week, deputy minister Le Quoc Doanh said the sector remains highly vulner- able to climate change, small-scale production and heavy dependence on the unpredictable Chinese market. Vegetables, coffee, pepper, cashew and rubber have brought billions of US dollars in export revenue but State investment in infrastructure and irrigation systems for these products has not been as big as that in rice, Doanh said. Therefore, he proposed, this issue should be dealt with. Land should be allowed to be amassed to cultivate short-term and perennial crops of higher economic value, he said. Hoang Thanh Van, director of the ministry's Department of Animal Husbandry, said owners of livestock farms are more inclined to adopt small-scale production because it is difficult to secure as much land as needed and the duration of land use is short. This is a huge impediment to scientific and technological development in livestock farming, and improvement of product quality.

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He suggested extending the duration of land use, allowing investors to amass arable land for large-scale farming, and granting longer land leases. In recent years, a couple of major local companies have established their own research and development centers, such as dairy processor TH Group and feed producer Daba- co Group, but they have got little policy support, Van said, adding credit and tax policy incentives should be extended to them. Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong told the delegation that the NA should amend the 2013 Land Law in a way that facilitates land accumulation, large-scale farming, transfer of agricultural land, and conversion of land use purposes among rice, annual trees, livestock and aquaculture. Credit policy should be improved in a way that prioritises lending to high-tech agriculture and private sector investment. NA vice chair Phung Quoc Hien threw his support behind the idea of allowing investors to amassing land to develop large-scale farms, saying the Land Law should be revised to prop up large-scale farming. FINANCE He warned domestic agriculture is heavily dependent on China while Chinese trade policy is highly unpredictable. "Farm goods like pigs would take a big hit whenever China changes trade policy or Chinese traders resort to price manipulation tactics. A bumper crop is always accompanied by a price plunge or vice versa." Instead of only focusing on China, the sector should diversify its foreign markets, especially those requiring high standards, while paying due attention to the growing middle class in Vietnam as this group of consumers is ready to pay high prices for organic farm products, Hien noted. The sector, he stressed, has no other choice but to adopt advanced science and technology to turn out high-quality products for local and export sale. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52554/Credit-and-land-policies-for-agriculture- should-be-loosened.html

Collecting taxes from 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY online stores possible Experts believe there are legal grounds to collect taxes from those individuals and or- -- experts ganisations selling goods on Facebook but much work will need to be done to ensure proper and sufficient tax collection. Nguyen Hung Du, tax partner at Grant Thornton Vietnam, told the Daily that techni- cally, the tax authority may contact Facebook to gather data and track transactions of sellers to determine their taxable incomes. Lawyer Chau Huy Quang, managing partner at R&T LCT Lawyers, said the sharing of Facebook user data must comply with privacy protection rules. At the moment, Vietnam has no specific laws on privacy but this right has been recog- nised in a number of legal documents, such as Article 6 of the 2010 Law on Consumer Protection, Article 21 of the 2006 Law on Information Technology, and Article 17.1 (c) of the 2015 Law on Cyber Information Security. Thus, Facebook is obliged to protect the privacy of users, said Quang. However, this social networking site also has the right to provide information about its users at the request of competent authorities without being considered a violation. Yet, there is another issue. Private affairs of Facebook users are protected by US law since Facebook is a legal entity of America and has no commercial presence in Viet- nam. US law prohibits the disclosure of users' private information, thus preventing Fa- cebook from cooperating with Vietnamese tax authorities. Even when information about sellers on Facebook is provided, there would be still a lot of work to do to verify information such as name, address, product/service and online transaction before taxes are imposed, said lawyer Quang. To ensure full and accurate tax collections from individuals and organisations selling goods on Facebook via a personal account or a fanpage, there should be coordination between the parties concerned. Specifically, technical management measures and tools should be developed, such as an integrated information system for tax offices, verification, survey, inspection, pub-

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lic consultations with the tax advisory council, and tax records at tax offices. Banks should also cooperate to verify vendors' earnings. Buyers should be encouraged to pay for goods by card to make tax collections possible. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52555/Collecting-taxes-from-online-stores-possible-- -experts.html

Big credit contract 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA secured for Cam Ranh A credit contract worth over 2.98 trillion VND (131.12 million USD) was signed on Feb- airport's terminal ruary 27 for the project on building a new international terminal at the Cam Ranh air- project port in the central province of Khanh Hoa. The sum, which accounts for 80 percent of the project's total cost, will be equally shared between the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank). The construction of the two-storey terminal began in September last year and the first

FINANCE phase is expected to finish in the first quarter of 2018. Once entirely operational in 2030, the facility, which covers 50,000 square metres, will be capable of serving 8 million visitors annually, with a maximum throughput of 4,000 passengers in the rush hour. Cam Ranh airport was built by the US to serve its military missions during wartime and was converted into a civil airport in 2004. It was upgraded to an international airport in 2009. Previously, in March 2015, Khanh Hoa pumped over 1.9 trillion VND (87.12 million USD) into building a second taxiway at the airport, which is scheduled to be put into use in early 2018. The airport received one million passengers in the first two month of 2017. The figure is expected to hit 6 million by the end of the year. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/big-credit-contract-secured-for-cam-ranh-airports-terminal- project/107869.vnp

Reference exchange 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA rate revised up 4 dong The State Bank of Vietnam revised the daily reference exchange rate up by 4 VND to 22,232 VND per USD on February 28. With the current trading band of/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks on the day is 22,899 VND and the floor rate, 21,565 VND per USD. The opening hour rates listed at commercial banks saw strong drops from the day before. Vietcombank listed its buying/selling rates at 22,735 VND/22,805 VND per USD, respectively, both down 25 VND. The buying rate at BIDV was reduced by 70 VND to 22,700 VND and the selling rate was cut by 60 VND to 22,780 VND per USD. Techcombank cut both its rates by 40 VND to 22,710 VND (buying) and 22,819 VND (selling) per USD. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-revised-up-4-vnd/107907.vnp

Apec committees, 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA working groups finish Seven Apec committees and working groups held meetings on February 27 -- the 10th 10th day of SOM 1 day of the first Apec Senior Officials' Meetings (SOM 1) and related events in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province. At the first plenary session of the Economic Committee, participants discussed Apec cooperation in business facilitation, enterprise governance and law, administration reform, and state governance. It also evaluated the prospect of the regional economy with opinions from experts of the Asian Development Bank, the Apec Policy Support Unit, and Vietnam's Central Institute for Economic Management. The Apec Policy Support Unit forecast from now to 2019, the growth of Apec will slightly increase and become more and more stable despite a number of vagaries. The Apec economies posted an estimated growth rate of 3.3 percent in 2016, higher than

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the world's expansion of 3.1 percent. They also continued to take the global lead in FDI attraction. The Apec Budget and Management Committee organised a joint meeting with the SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation, focusing on management and budget-related aspects that can contribute to Apec's Capacity Building Policy through economic and technical cooperation. The Committee on Trade and Investment continued its meeting on February 27 with attention to measures for enhancing more extensive regional economic connectivity. Participants looked into such issues as the cooperation in and development of supply chains, the facilitation of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises' engagement in the global market, green growth, and environmental goods and services. Meanwhile, the Ad Hoc Steering Group on the Internet Economy commented on draft principles which look to build an Apec roadmap on the internet economy in 2017. On their last working day, the Apec Policy Partnership on Food Security and the Apec Oceans and Fisheries Working Group approved working plans for 2017 and mulled FINANCE over preparations for a high-ranking policy dialogue on food security and sustainable agriculture in response to climate change slated for this August in Can Tho city. They also convened a joint session on promoting the role of fisheries cooperation and sustainable fisheries development in the region's food security. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/apec-committees-working-groups-finish-10th-day-of-som- 1/107893.vnp

Apec 2017 offers 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA opportunities for The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (Apec) 2017 in Vietnam is a golden op- Vietnamese portunity for local enterprises to promote trade and investment, according to Hoang enterprises Van Dung, Chair of the Apec 2017 Business Advisory Council. Dung said Apec is a leading economic forum and drives growth, trade and investment in the region. The forum, which includes the world's economic largest economies like the US, Japan and China, contributes 50 percent of global GDP and 50 percent of global trade. For Vietnam, Apec member economies contribute up to 70 percent of investment and tourism growth with 20,000 enterprises registering a total capital of $300 billion, contributing 25 percent of GDP, 35 percent of industrial output and 70 percent of export value. They also provide one million direct and indirect jobs in Vietnam and are turning Vi- etnam from an agricultural economy into an export-oriented and manufacturing economy. Dung said at the forum, Vietnamese enterprises can contact leading enterprises in technology to seek technologies suitable for their development. Vietnamese enterprises can also participate, contribute and raise issues at the Apec Business Summit, the Apec Economic Leader's Meeting, the Apec Business Advisory Council, and public-private dialogues between Apec working groups and businesses. According to Dung, micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises must improve their capability by restructuring business and taking advantage of technology to boost productivity and competitiveness if they are to go global. http://english.vov.vn/economy/apec-2017-offers-opportunities-for-vietnamese-enterprises-344383.vov

VN posts trade deficit 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB of $1.2b in February Vietnam reported trade deficit of $1.2 billion in February, the General Statistical Office (GSO) announced on Sunday. The GSO's figures revealed that the country's total import-export turnover this month reached $27.2 billion, of which export turnover was $13 billion, increasing 15.4 per cent from the same period last year, while import turnover was $14.2 billion or a year-on- year rise of 19.6 per cent. However, in the first two months of the year, the country's total trade deficit was $40

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million as total export turnover was $27.34 billion while import turnover was $27.38 billion. The GSO said many exported products saw a sharp decrease in February against the same period last year in terms of value and quantity, respectively, such as pepper which declined 27 per centin value and 7.4 per cent in quantity and rice which declined 21.4 per cent and 18.4 per cent, respectively. In addition, some other exported products, such as cashew, cassava, germ and ceram- ics, also witnessed a significant decrease. Meanwhile, many items posted surge in exports. Coal rose by 1,104 per cent and 466 per cent in terms of value and quantity, respectively and rubber by 144 per cent and 34.7 per cent. Steel, phones, spare parts and machines also saw high export turnover. Import turnover of automobiles with less than nine seats rose nearly 100 per cent in value and 140 per cent in quantity, while transport vehicles rose by 38 per cent and rubber rose by 103.4 per cent in terms of value. Last month, Vietnam's trade deficit rose by $100 million after enjoying a trade surplus FINANCE of $2.68 billion in 2016. The country's total import-export turnover in January reduced by 13 per cent from last December, despite an increase against the same period last year. http://bizhub.vn/news/vn-posts-trade-deficit-of-12 billion-in-february_284425.html

Foreign investment in 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA HCM City soars in two The southern economic hub of HCM City lured 443.1 million USD in foreign direct in- months vestment (FDI) in the first two months of 2017, a year-on-year rise of 61.3 percent. The statistics were revealed at a meeting of the municipal People's Committee on Feb- ruary 27. Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Su Ngoc Anh said in February alone, the city licensed 96 new projects capitalised at 119.1 million USD, and allowed 24 existing ones to increase investment with a combined added capital of 59.7 million USD. FDI mainly went to such fields as information and communication (50.5 million USD); automobile and motorbike (31.92 million USD); and processing and manufacturing (10.34 million USD). Malaysia topped the list of investors with 44.24 million USD or 37.2 percent of total investment, followed by Japan (24.34 million USD), and the Netherlands (16 million USD). In January -- February, the city had 4,404 newly-established businesses with a total registered capital of over 57 trillion VND (2.6 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 11 percent in number and 100 percent in registered capital. The new firms are mainly operating in real estate, automobile and motorbike, and construction. To attract more investment, the municipal People's Committee will continue taking measures to support businesses and improve investment climate while holding meetings between local authorities and foreign-invested businesses. The city will also help enterprises to increase productivity and product quality as well as establish a startup ecosystem and expand overseas markets. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/foreign-investment-in-hcm-city-soars-in-two-months/ 107883.vnp

VN join mutual 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | SGGP cooperation At an invitation of Indian government and Confederation of India Industry (CII), lead- conference ers of Binh Phuoc, Ninh Thuan, Gia Lai, Tien Giang and HCM City have participated in the fourth cooperation conference between Indian- Cambodian- Laotian- Myanmar and Vietnamese enterprises in India from February 27- 28, according to the Vietnam- ese Embassy to India. Four meetings related to boosting production for small- medium enterprises in the fields of agriculture, energy preservation and recreation are scheduled to be organised

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within the cooperation conference. http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2017/2/123308/

FDI capital in real 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | SGGP estate posts year-on- Foreign investors have poured $345.5 million into Vietnam's real estate field as of Feb- year twelvefold ruary 20 this year, accounting for 10.1 percent of total FDI capital and increasing increase twelvefold over the same period last year when it hit $29.07 million, reported the For- eign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. During the period, 11 new projects were licensed with the registered capital of $309 million, two projects increased investment and 14 projects received capital contribution via share purchase with the value nearing $59 million. The real estate sector has lured a total of $52.4 billion FDI capital accounting for 17.6 percent of the country's total by the end of February. Notably, HCM City is considered as a hot market with positive signs in popular and middle segments providing apart-

FINANCE ments for sales and office buildings. Stephen Wyatt, director general of Jones Lang Lasalle Vietnam, forecast 2017 will see a record high in trading and merger activities in the real estate market of Vietnam. In related news, the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Agency under the Ministry of Construction reported that property inventory value approximates VND29,573 billion ($1.3 billion) nationwide now. The inventory mainly concentrates in Hanoi and HCM City in the segment of housing land projects far from the centre of the cities and with incomplete infrastructures. Compared to December last year, the inventory level reduced by VND1,450 billion equivalent to 4.67 percent. Hanoi decreased to VND5,538 billion. HCM City saw a reduction of VND283 billion to VND5,518, a strong fall compared to the ministry's reported number last April of VND7,730 billion which was the country's highest level. After four years of inventory peak in the first quarter 2013, the real estate market has resolved over three forth of properties in stock.

Vietnam, Asian 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNEXPRESS neighbours hold trade China, which is not part of the Trump-rejected TPP, is playing the leading role in the pack talks amid TPP Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. hiccup - report Representatives from 16 Asian countries including China are meeting in Kobe this week to discuss a regional free trade pact which can be seen as a rival to the Trans-Pa- cific Partnership rejected by US President Donald Trump, AP reported. Talks of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will run from Monday through Friday, the report said. RCEP, with China playing the leading role, launched talks in 2013 but members have been facing hurdles in reaching consensus over tariffs, trade in services and restric- tions on investments in key industries. The members are Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, My- anmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the region's influential markets China and Japan. The markets together accounted for nearly a fifth of US goods imports in 2016. Trump took office last month and quickly withdrew from the TPP, leaving the trade pack with 11 member states Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. He has said he prefers bilateral deals and pledged to put "America first." He also pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and to impose a border tax to force manufacturers to move more production back to the US from overseas, AP reported. The protectionism policy has unnerved Asian economies, including the export-driven Vietnam. Vietnam's exports to the US market in 2016 increased 15 percent from the previous year to $38.5 billion, making the US its biggest importer, based on statistics by Viet- nam's customs.

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Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Asean Business Summit last December has called for deeper economic ties between the bloc members to deal with tighter trade controls in the US, Bloomberg has reported. Vietnam, Brunei target 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA $500m two-way trade Vietnam and Brunei committed to lifting two-way trade to 500 million USD by 2025 at by 2025 the first meeting of their Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in Hanoi on Feb- ruary 27. The meeting was co-chaired by deputy prime minister and Foreign minister Pham Binh Minh and Brunei's minister at the prime minister's Office and Second minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Lim Jock Seng. Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the development of Vietnam-Brunei friendship and comprehensive cooperation since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties 25 years ago (February 29) and spoke highly of the outcomes of President Tran Dai Quang's visit to Brunei last August.

FINANCE They agreed to continue facilitating all-level visits and people-to-people exchange to raise mutual understanding and trust. Lim informed Minh that the Sultan of Brunei will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Co- operation (Apec) Summit to be held in the central city of Da Nang this year. The two sides proposed measures to enhance partnership across the fields of economy-trade-investment, national defence-security, oil and gas, agro-fisheries, culture- tourism, education-training, and labour. They concurred with promoting experience sharing via seminars, investment, trade connectivity as well as extend joint work to survey, exploit, process and distribute oil and gas. Minh asked the Brunei side to assist Vietnam in training and recognise Halal certifica- tion agencies in Vietnam. On defence-security, the two countries will continue extensively implementing existing agreements and mechanisms while expanding ties among armed forces, especially between the navy and coast guards and broadening collaboration in search and rescue at sea, training, and the fight against terrorism and drug. Both sides pledged to consider signing agreements on fighting trans-national crimes, judicial assistance in criminal matters, extradition and transfer of sentenced persons. Minh highly valued Brunei's settlement of fishermen issue over the past time. The Bru- nei minister thanked Vietnamese experts for helping Brunei with rice cultivation and agro-fisheries and vowed to direct concerned agencies to discuss how to enhance bilateral labour cooperation. The two ministers debated the organisation of seminars, exchange of delegations, culture and arts and people-to-people exchange to introduce respective traditional culture and people on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties. They promised to continue mutual support at regional and global forums, especially in Asean and the United Nations, maintaining Asean's central role in the regional security architecture as well as intensifying Asean ties with dialogue countries, including Asean-China ties. They committed to the maintenance and promotion of peace, security, stability, maritime and aviation safety and freedom in the East Sea, urging parties concerned to ex- ercise restraint and refrain from the threat of force or use of force, fully respect diplomatic and legal process, settle disputes by peaceful means in line with basic principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Both sides reaffirmed their support to the full and effective implementation of the Dec- laration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the early formulation of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). Brunei supports Vietnam's successful organisation of the Apec Summit 2017, Lim affirmed. The second meeting of this kind is scheduled for 2019 in Brunei. In the afternoon the same day, Lim paid a courtesy call to prime minister Nguyen

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Xuan Phuc. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-brunei-target-500 million-usd-twoway-trade-by- 2025/107891.vnp City officials seek tax 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB on sales via Facebook HCM City officials are seeking ways to collect taxes from small- and home-based business owners who are selling merchandise on social media, such as Facebook, in a bid to reduce tax losses in the municipal budget. At a meeting between city's leaders and the HCM City Taxation Department, authorities said that the sector had been unable to collect taxes from a number of emerging platforms, including online businesses, which indicated that State management had not caught up with the development of the economy. Pham Thanh Kien, director of HCM City Department of Trade and Industry, said e- commerce activity had been booming, with 80,000 active websites in the city, half of which run stable operations, but tax collection in the field was very poor, especially

FINANCE sales activities through Facebook. He suggested that the HCM City People's Committee worked directly with Facebook to manage the source of revenue. The HCM City Taxation Department should cooperate with commercial banks to check accounts of organisations and individuals who are doing business on Facebook, because "Facebook traders" have to register bank accounts for transactions. In fact, in 2015, revenue from e-commerce in Vietnam reached $4.1 billion, an increase of five times compared with 2012. It is expected to reach $10 billion by 2020, accounting for 5 per cent of total retail sales in the country. Therefore, e-commerce will play a significant role in the Vietnamese retail sector in the future. Bui Quang Tin, a lecturer in business administration at HCM City University of Bank- ing, said that currently the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Circular No 47/2014/TT- BCT and government Decree No 52/2013/ND-CP are documents that regulate trading activities on e-commerce platforms. However, only social networks that register operations in Vietnam are subject to Decree 52 and Circular 47. Tin said that only foreign traders and organisations and owners of social networking sites who had presence in Vietnam, such as having a representative office or a branch operating in Vietnam, or set up the website under Vietnam's domain name with ".vn", are subject to the above documents. Therefore, to obtain sales tax from sellers on Facebook, Vietnamese authorities should work with Facebook so they will have a legal presence in Vietnam. Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu said that in developed countries, all people and organis- tions were required to declare income and pay taxes. Collecting taxes on sales through social networks was necessary, he said. He suggested that only those whose revenue was more than VND100 million ($4,386) per year be taxed. He noted that transactions on the Internet were difficult to control and collecting taxes should be done step by step. Initially, there should be requirements that all individuals conducting business via Facebook must register their operations and declare their income. Bui Quang Tin also said that with millions of Facebook accounts, in the first phase, the tax authority should target large and professional businesses, because many individual dealers operated as side jobs, or even seasonal businesses. If it tried to control all of them, it would use significant resources and probably be inefficient. The difficulty in managing online sellers and collecting taxes is said to be the conse- quence of the low rate of non-cash transactions in Vietnam. Nguyen Hong, a food businessperson on social networks, told Tuoi Tre (Young) newspaper that, in reality, it was hard for him to pay taxes because, "I have no idea of where to register my business and how to pay taxes". "When I came to the district-level economic management unit to ask to register to pay taxes, they said that they did not manage online businesses. They told me to seek information from the municipal level."

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An official of the Ministry of Finance, quoted by Tuoi Tre newspaper, said that the ministry had asked the general Taxation Department to issue guidance on collecting taxes from online businesses. For professional businesses, the Internet was one of the channels to sell products, and they still had to declare tax and pay tax. Thus, there was no loss of tax revenues, he said. However, it is difficult to tax individuals, because not all of them have tax file numbers. http://bizhub.vn/news/city-officials-seek-tax-on-sales-via-facebook_284428.html

Vietnam-US double 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA taxation avoidance The government recently issued a resolution to ratify an agreement and a protocol on agreement approved avoiding double taxation and preventing income tax evasion between Vietnam and the United States of America.

FINANCE The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was asked to complete necessary procedures in ac- cordance with law. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance was directed to work with relevant ministries and agencies to carry out the agreement and protocol after they take effect. On July 7, 2015, deputy minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai and US deputy Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Catherine A. Novelli signed the agreement. The agreement aims to avoid or eliminate double taxation of the same income in the two countries while creating a legal framework for Vietnam's taxation department and foreign taxation agencies in international tax management. By August 10, 2016, Vietnam had inked agreements on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of income tax evasion with 75 countries and territories worldwide. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnamus-double-taxation-avoidance-agreement-approved/107916.vnp

Long An moves to lure 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA FDI The Mekong Delta province of Long An has offered incentives to lure foreign direct investment (FDI), particularly in hi-tech agricultural projects and green industry. Chair of the provincial People's Committee Tran Van Can said local authorities have aimed to create optimal conditions for foreign investors in Vietnam while ensuring en- forcement of laws. From now to 2020, priority will be given to projects in residential urban areas, traffic and industrial infrastructure, hi-tech agriculture and the support industry, Can said, adding that the province was seeking investment in 16 projects, worth more than seven billion USD. The province plans to continue improving its mechanisms to draw more foreign investment while reviewing and accelerating the implementation of investment projects. The locality will provide assistance for investors in land clearance and human resource training while strengthening administrative reform, improving the investment climate and enhancing provincial competitiveness. Long An leads the Mekong Delta region in FDI attraction, with 772 projects, worth a total of nearly six billion USD from 37 countries and territories. The projects are mostly located in industrial clusters and zones, such as Duc Hoa, Ben Luc, Can Duoc, Can Guoc and Tan An city. Of which, 459 projects, worth a total of three billion USD have been put into operation. The countries with the most investment in the province are the UK, Taiwan (China), Japan, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and the US. Together, the local FD projects employ 36 percent of the province's employed labour force, and contribute more than three trillion VND (more than 131.6 million USD) per year, accounting for 37 percent of the province's budget collection. Long An has zoned off some 13,500 hectares for industrial development by 2020. Cur- rently, 5,000 hectares are ready for investment projects.

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http://en.vietnamplus.vn/long-an-moves-to-lure-fdi/107862.vnp

Quang Ninh: cross- 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA border trade Import-export turnover through Mong Cai city, which is a border economic zone in the flourishes northern coastal province of Quang Ninh, hit more than 1.8 billion USD in the first month of 2016, representing a year-on-year increase of 169.7 percent. The value of exports going through the border gate in the period reached 855 million USD, up 186.1 percent against January last year, vice Chair of the Mong Cai city Peo- ple's Committee Nguyen Tien Dung was quoted as saying by Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade) newspaper. The Mong Cai border gate's customs section said the agency approved 2,806 customs declarations from export and import enterprises from January 1 -- February 4, with a total value of 2.9 billion USD, collecting 45.66 billion VND (over 2 million USD) for the State budget.

FINANCE Minh Thang port under the Minh Thang Co., Ltd was put into operation on January 29, carrying out customs clearances for about 20 containers per day. The Thanh Dat Inland Container Depot also witnessed bustling activities in January. deputy director of the port Thanh Dat said about 50-60 containers were cleared by customs at the port per day. Nguyen Tien Dung said municipal authorities have worked to fully exploit the locality's strengths of border-gate economy, contributing to changing the local economic structure. The city has also held dialogues with enterprises and investors in the locality with the aim of timely addressing difficulties facing them. Vo Hong Chung, deputy head of the Mong Cai border gate's customs section said his agency is willing to work around the clock for customs clearance at the gate. To develop Mong Cai into a modern international border gate city, municipal authorities are focusing efforts on key infrastructure projects, such as the Bac Luan 2 Bridge, and the upgrading and expansion of Bac Luan border gate 1. Administrative procedures were simplified while the time for customs clearance was shortened, helping reduce expenses for enterprises. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/quang-ninh-crossborder-trade-flourishes/107863.vnp

Vietnam's sole 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VIR operating oil refinery Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR), the operator of Dung sets surprisingly low Quat Refinery, has set its pre-tax profit target at VN1.68 trillion ($73 million) for 2017, profit target which is a lot lower than its actual pre-tax profit of VND5 trillion ($219.45 million) in 2016. Less revenue, more profit BSR surprised industry-watchers by setting its profit target at one third of the number of 2016. However, looking at the activities of BSR from 2013 to 2016, there is a marked tendency of revenue decreasing significantly but profit increasing. The revenue has been on a trend of steady decrease. In 2013 BSR's total revenue was VND154.32 trillion ($6.78 billion), the pre-tax profit was VND2.97 trillion ($130.2 million), in 2015 the corresponding numbers were VND96 trillion ($4.2 billion) and VND6.37 trillion ($279 million); in 2016 the numbers were VND75.2 trillion ($3.3 billion) and VND5 trillion ($219.45 million). The amount of money that BSR paid to the government budget decreased from VND28.4 trillion ($1.245 billion) in 2013 to VND12.41 trillion ($543.9 million) in 2016. At the January review conference of Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroViet- nam), BSR CEO Tran Ngoc Nguyen revealed that 2016 was a harsh year for the company because despite producing domestically, its prices have to factor in the import tax, ending up in some cases 10 per cent higher than imported oil and gas products. The prices of Dung Quat's products are calculated as the sum of the price of similar imported products and the applicable tariff rate. When the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement was signed, Vietnam halved the im-

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port tariff on South Korean gasoline, to 10 per cent, effective since December 20, 2015. Meanwhile, Dung Quat's products are still subject to an import tax of 20 per cent. Ac- cording to PetroVietnam and BSR's earlier claims, this disparity forced a number of their local consumers to switch to imported sources. Earlier, the company said that because of the tax policy, its clients turned to buy foreign petrol, leading to BSR's products piling up, overloading its warehouse, putting further burdens on the refinery's operations. However, Decision No.1725/QD-TTs from prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in early September 2016 allowed BSR to set its own price, which gave the refinery a fighting chance by evening odds and clients started coming back. Therefore, on November 9, 2016, BSR completed 100 per cent of its 2016 production goal, 52 days earlier than the original plan. Actual 2016 income also surpassed the plan by 7 per cent. Remarkably, the after tax profit of BSR was VND2.3 trillion ($100.2 million), which equals 285 per cent of the goal. According to PetroVietnam's assessment, the profit of BSR was 2.8 times as much as FINANCE the annual target, which was the result of the vast difference between the price of the final product and the price of raw oil. In 2017, BSR set the production goal lower than in 2016 to carry out an overall maintenance from June 3 to July 5, 2017. Nonetheless, Nguyen emphasized that the goal is to finish five to seven days early. Additionally, after the maintenance, the factory will be able to raise the production level by 15-20 per cent of the designed capacity. Expansion and equitisation still on the table By the end of 2017, Dung Quat Refinery will be the only refinery running commercially in Vietnam. To help the refinery recover its initial investments, the government gave it a lot of preferential policies. BSR is currently on the list of 106 state-owned enterprises in which the government is going to hold less than 50 per cent of the chartered capital after equitisation, according to Decision No.58/2017/QD-TTg of the prime minister. 2017 is also the year when BSR plans to finish its equitisation process. PetroVietnam has already approved the choice of BIDV Securities Company and UHY ACA Ltd as the consulting companies to valuate the company and draw up the equitisation plan. In late December 2016, the company's valuation was completed and the equitisation plan is expected to be available in March 2017. However, the official release of the company's valuation and equitisation plan is to be decided by the State Audit and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Alongside the equitisation process, BSR is also carrying out a project to expand and upgrade the capacity of Dung Quat Refinery from 6.5 million tonnes to 8.5 million tonnes per year, equivalent to 192,000 oil barrels a day. The total capital for the project is approximately $1.82 billion. The success of the expansion project would help the equitisation. However, this is not going to be easy because until now, BSR still has not been able to find a strategic foreign partner that is willing to buy 49 per cent of the chartered capital and also take part in the project. http://www.vir.com.vn/vietnams-sole-operating-oil-refinery-sets-surprisingly-low- profit-target-for-2017.html

Ministries to focus on 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB improving business The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and finance ministry (MoF) have set up ac- environment tion plans to improve the business environment and the national competitive ability for the future. Accordingly, the two ministries will strive to improve the country's business environment to keep up with the level of top four Asean nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. In addition, the administrative reforms would be based on World Bank's criteria instead of local targets.

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Specifically, the MoIT has planned to shorten the time taken for implementation of administrative procedures. Time taken for giving access to electricity would be less than 35 days, customs clearance would be done in less than 70 hours for exported goods and 90 hours for imported goods, and resolution of contract disputes would take less than 300 days. In addition, the ministry will establish a system to support start-ups, and create a favourable and stable business environment. It will strive to have one million firms by 2020, including at least 0.5 per cent of start-ups. Meanwhile, the MoF has targeted to reach the average levels achieved by the Asean 4 group in terms of the criteria for the tax refund, risk management in tax check-ups and investigation and time taken for responding to tax claims. The ministry would also shorten tax and social insurance payment times to less than 168 hours a year, focussing on improving the country's ranking from 167th position to 100th position for the same, according to the World Bank's assessment. It will also try to improve its ranking from 93rd to under 82nd position on border gate FINANCE transaction. The ministry has asked the customs offices to enhance the effectiveness of automatic customs clearance towards the national one-stop-shop mechanism. The customs sector should be active and cooperate with the relevant ministries and sector to review the legal documents to improve administrative procedures to facilitate business operations. The ministry will also expand e-tax payment for land leasing, car registration, personal income tax and property transfer. http://bizhub.vn/news/ministries-to-focus-on-improving-business- environment_284422.html

Ministry explains 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | DTINEWS giant losses at Ninh The Ministry of Industry and Trade has pointed out the causes for the USD90m losses Binh Fertiliser Plant at a fertiliser plant in Ninh Binh Province that forced it to halt operation four years after being put into use. The ministry blamed weak management and slow actions by the Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem) and Ninh Binh Nitrogenous Fertiliser Company. According to the ministry, interest on the project's loans went up to VND527bn (USD23m) as construction crept behind schedule. In addition, the investor agreeing to let the contractor use 251,000 tonnes of coal more than the agreed amount during the pilot stage also increased costs. As of December 31, 2015, the plant had 997 employees while reports pointed out that any number more than 603 will make input costs jump. Vocational skills were also criticised. The ministry emphasized the weak management skills which lead to disparity in data in the inventory and the stored and used materials of the plant. The real values of the assets and consumable costs are not recorded correctly, decreasing the plant's profits. The prices of the products and actual costs are different from the research reports because they couldn't predict the material prices and demand accurately. In addition, the equipment proved unstable and failed to meet the designed capacity. The plant suspended production for months for repair because of various reasons including technical problems and bad weather. The company depends greatly on bank loans to operate which has also blocked it from reducing costs. The Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem) plant is located at Khanh Phu In- dustrial Park. Starting operations in 2012, the plant was designed to have an annual capacity of 560,000 tonnes of fertiliser. Until now, up to over 50,000 tonnes of fertiliser valued at VND300 billion remains in stock. Since 2012, the plant has made total losses of USD90 million. Over the past month, it has had to halt its operations, which is attributed to higher production costs and slow sales. According to the report, the plant would start to be profitable in 2015, however, it continued to incur a loss of VND364bn.

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In last July, it suffered VND19 billion in damage caused by Mirinae Storm. If all operations are halted, the plant would lose VND1.2 trillion in 2017. But the losses may be cut by VND250bn if it can produce 290,000 tonnes of urea. Vinachem and Ninh Binh Nitrogenous Fertiliser Company proposed to extend loan re- payment deadline to 20 years and reduce interest rates. http://www.dtinews.vn/en/news/018/49704/ministry-explains-giant-losses-at-ninh- binh-fertiliser-plant.html

M&A again become 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | DAU TU CHUNG KHOAN hot issue in banks' The banking sector is under the pressure to drastically merge small banks with no annual shareholders unique business models as they have for a long time been unable to raise charter cap- meeting season ital. Although the plan to increase capital from three trillion dong to four trillion dong of Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade (Saigonbank) was set four

FINANCE years ago, no move was made until the end of 2016, because existing shareholders do not want to make more contribution while the bank's development potential is low. In the past, there were proposals to merge Saigonbank into the Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), but shareholders of Saigonbank rejected. At the 2015 annual shareholders meeting, Saigonbank committed to restructure the system by its own internal forces but the improvement seems to remain modest as the business activities of the bank, which are reflected through indicators, are not outstanding compared to the average level of the sector. From late 2011 until now, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has handled nine weak joint stock banks. Some names disappeared from the financial market after conducting mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals, such as Hanoi Building Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Habubank) -- merged into Saigon Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), Western Joint Stock Commercial Bank (WesternBank) -- consolidated with PetroVietnam Finance Joint Stock Company (PVFC), Tin Nghia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TinNghiaBank) and Finance and Trade Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Fi- combank) -- consolidated with Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB), Dai A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (DaiA Bank) -- merged into Hochiminh city Housing Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank (HDBank), Southern Joint Stock Commer- cial Joint Stock Bank (SouthernBank) -- merged into Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), Mekong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Mekongbank) -- merged into Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MaritimeBank), and Mekong Housing Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MHB) -- merged into Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). The market is currently ex- pecting the completion of the merger deal between Petrolimex Group Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PGBank) and the Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade of Vietnam (Vietinbank). The low charter capital has affected numerous other development indicators of small banks for ensuring safe operation, from total assets to the credit granting ability, etc. Therefore, the two sides of the problem - financial capacity and operational efficiency - are always required by SBV. In addition to Saigonbank, there are about six banks having charter capital equivalent to the legal capital or just slightly higher, including Kien Long Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Kienlongbank), Vietnam Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VietBank), Viet Capital Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Viet Capital Bank), Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NamA Bank), and Viet A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VietA Bank), etc. Despite making various efforts and commitments, these banks seem to have only handled one side of the problem, which is improving business efficiency compared to the difficult period in the past, while increasing charter capital seems to not be feasible. The need to enhance financial capacity is currently urgent because the new standards of the Basel II are about to be widely applied (currently being piloted at 10 banks) and many small banks are unlikely to be able to meet these standards if SBV requires. However, it is uneasy to increase charter capital for small banks in the current context.

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Although the stock market is exciting, bank shares have not regained the peak period when domestic investors massively purchased and pulled prices to more than 100,000 dong per share, regardless of banks' business results. In the current situation, domestic investors do not buy additionally issued shares and so do foreign investors. According to Andy Ho, Managing director of VinaCapital, it is necessary to loosen the ownership limit for foreign investors in the banking sector to higher than the current 30 percent limit, because it is a major barrier for attracting foreign capital. General director of HSBC Vietnam Pham Hong Hai also shared that foreign investors will not be willing to acquire domestic banks and join the restructuring of weak banks if they can only own a modest proportion of shares, because it means that they do not have control over the activities of banks. Although small banks are not always weak banks if they have good business performance and asset quality, in Vietnam, the majority of small banks are weak. In 2016, while Vietcombank has actively self-settled all the debts in VAMC, the Vietnam Technolog- ical and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) announced to have basically FINANCE handled the bad debts, and many other banks with total assets of more than hundreds of trillion dong also confirmed to definitely clear off bad debts in 2017, most small banks remain silent. If VAMC does not tackle the debts purchased from banks, in a maximum of four years, the company will return these debts to banks to self-settle. At that time, the volume of bad debts worth hundreds or thousands of billion dong would become a serious problem for banks. Under the current mechanism, selling bad debts to VAMC and receiving special bonds in return is only a method to help banks have a certain amount of capital to continue the operation and it is not a thorough solution. According to Dr Le Xuan Nghia, some small banks are even bearing an amount of bad debts which is equivalent to their own equity and some cases even suffer negative equity due to bad debts. Dr Nghia believed that small banks with limit charter capital of around three trillion dong are facing the risk of being merged or acquired, instead of waiting for the chances to maintain growth. Information given by SBV in early 2017 mentioned that the agency is currently completing the Scheme to restructure the system of credit institutions in association with bad debt settlement period 2016-2017 under the direction of the government. SBV has identified five weak banks, including the three "zero dong" banks - Ocean Bank, Con- struction Bank, and Global Petro Bank. The plan to settle these banks will be implemented right in 2017, after being approved by the prime minister. SBV's Governor Le Minh Hung in the beginning of the year said that there are certain difficulties for handling bad debts and restructuring the banking sector, although the processes were accelerated in 2016. In addition, the system contains weaknesses, in which the operations of banks need to be further restructured. According to Vietcombank, the bank has actively been giving support to a bank and this task has been registered with SBV's Governor and the government. After being approved, the bank commits to be the pioneer bank which successfully restructures a weak bank allocated by the government and SBV. Previously, Vietcombank was tasked to support Construction Bank in the fields of capital and currency business, lending, trade finance, management, and information pro- vision and exchange. Meanwhile, Global Petro Bank and Ocean Bank are being supported by Vietinbank. Although the above mentioned Scheme of SBV has not been released, it is most likely that the number of banks in Vietnam will continue to decline in 2017.

M&A in 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BAO DAU TU pharmaceutical Pharmaceutical market is considered very prospective but local companies only meet industry almost less than half the demand. In order not to lose the home playing field, the pharmaceu- inevitable tical industry needs to have companies that are capable of competing with foreign rivals and M&A is almost inevitable.

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As per the Association of Pharmacy, the pharmaceutical industry currently ranks No.6 among sectors having the highest revenue in the world. The drug consumption worldwide now is $1.2 trillion/year in which patented drugs account for 50 percent ($615- $645 billion) and these pharmaceutical inventions' protection lasts about 20 years. Meanwhile, drugs that run out of protection time reckon for 30 percent ($400-$430 billion). The drug spending per capita among developed and developing countries have large difference ($609 compared to $91). The spending on drugs here in Vietnam is currently very low, with $40/person/year. Regarding the future development potential, the growth of global pharmaceutical market is 3-6 percent/year, of which the US pharmaceutical market is 1-4 percent/year and the pharmaceutical market of developing countries is 12-15 percent/year. As per Ass. Prof Dr Le Van Truyen - pharmaceutical professional, former deputy minister of Health - the success factor for pharmaceutical companies is the ability to prove the benefits of their products and services. Currently in Vietnam, the price of patented drugs is almost beyond the reach of most people. Therefore, as per Truyen, the issue FINANCE that businesses must solve is to make drugs accessible to patients. He said, selling drugs at cheap price to many people will bring higher profits compared to just selling drugs at high price to some patients. Vietnam's pharmaceutical market is currently one of the fastest growing markets in Asia, ranking 17/175 countries in the world, with an average growth rate in 2010-2015 at 17-20 percent/year. In 2017, the growth rate of this market in Vietnam is forecasted to be higher than 17 percent. Though the pharmaceutical market is considered to be very prospective, currently the domestic production of drug only meets 45 percent of the demand, while the rest must be imported with the import value to swell 16 percent/year. This situation shows that "honey" stills flows mainly to the pocket of foreign pharmaceutical giants. Therefore, in order not to meet the home playing field, the pharmaceutical market needs to have companies that are capable of competing with foreign rivals and M&A is almost inevitable. In fact, the M&A move of the pharmaceutical industry are warming. The latest move was at the beginning of 2017, Cuu Long Pharmaceutical Company JSC signed agreement of to purchase shares of Euvipharm Pharmaceutical Company JSC from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. with a total transfer value of 170 billion dong. The deal is expected to be completed in Q1/2017. After completing, Cuu Long Pharmaceu- tical Company and its subsidiary company (100 percent owned by Cuu Long Pharma- ceutical) will hold 90 percent stake in Euvipharm. Nguyen Van Sang, Chair of the Board of Cuu Long Pharmaceutical JSC said the purchase of controlling shares in Euvipharm Pharmaceutical will help the company enhance production capacity and develop new pharmaceutical lines such as injection, eye drops, etc. due to utilising the modern equipment system of Euvipharm in Long An. "In addition, along with Euvipharm, the group of pharmaceutical companies of Cuu Long Pharmaceutical may boost R&D to develop many new products especially medicines to treat cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes. Euvipharm Pharmaceutical JSC owns pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Duc Hoa district (Long An province) with a total investment of $17 million. The plant has large production capacity for most common dosage forms including antibiotic powder products, effervescent and products that require special production environment. Meanwhile, Cuu Long Pharmaceutical owns three GMP-WHO drug producing factories. This company supplies to the market medicines, vitamin, medical instruments, syringe, infusion, etc. This is the only unit in Vietnam that produces and supplies cap- sule products (empty hard capsules) of different types. Though Cuu Long Pharmaceutical's acquisition of Euvipharm is just an individual move, in the future, many other pharmaceutical companies may also have to consider M&A to strengthen their capacity against competition pressure.

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Huge competition 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNECONOMY seen in the investment The property market is welcoming the largest ever investment trend in mid-range race in mid-range apartments. Vibrant, bustling but businesses investing in mid-range apartments are apartments facing huge challenges as competition is increasingly intense. The investment in high-end apartments has become less "hot". The market trend starts to shift to mid-range apartments through the fact that both the supply and consumption of this product line have increased markedly. Some studies by Data First in 2016 showed that in HCM City, there were as many as 355 apartment projects whose prices ranged between 600 million dong to less than one billion dong. Of which, the number of projects priced about one billion dong accounted for 64 percent with 226 projects, tens of thousands of apartments, locating mainly in the West and the East of the city. In mid-December 2016, Dream House JSC offered to the market the second phase of Dream House Palace project or Asa Light project invested by Thai Bao. Both projects

FINANCE were priced less than one billion dong. Some other projects such as PegaSuite, Heaven Riverview were priced from 1.1 billion dong. Most recently, The Western Capital project has been introduced to the market by PHP- Real. The project includes three blocks, 36 floors in height and 1,233 apartments. This is considered as the project that has the largest scale in the heart of District 6. The special feature of this project is the selling price at about 1.3 billion dong per 2-bedroom apartment. Accordingly, buyers just need to prepare 360 million dong and the payment is broken down into four times within one year (three months each). The rest will be made within two years with no interest rates or will be lent by bank in 25 years. Especially, this loan applies preferential interest rates. It is estimated that each month the buyers of The Western Capital will have to pay about 7-10 million dong including both principal and interest. Modern facilities of the project make buyers expect a lot. Accordingly, the Western Capital is invested professionally in living space with the area for green trees to account for 7,800 square meters. Along with that is the overflow swimming pool meas- uring 600 square meters, Wi-Fi, gym, spa, clubhouse, etc. The project also hands over apartments with luxury interior such as: wood floor, kitch- en cabinet with plaster ceiling, touch light, etc. Residents here are also projected by modern equipment such as electrical cards for elevator, electrical keys for each apartment, smart camera IP that allows observing apartments from everywhere through smartphone. As per PHPReal -- the exclusive marketing and distribution unit - besides customers that invested since the first phase of the project, the major customer segment of The Western Capital is young couples and those who just set up start-up businesses. Meanwhile, in the eastern part of the city, the apartment price is higher, about 1.5-.8 billion dong but the consumption is also good. Some typical projects are Him Lam Phu Dong (400 apartments), Him Lam Phu An (more than 1,000 apartments) invested by Him Lam Land, E-Home apartment (Nam Long) and some other investors such as N.H.O, Gia Hoa, Kien A, Hung Thinh, C.T Group, etc. The city's increased population, the real housing needs are the reasons for the increasing expansion of mid-range apartments. Chair of HCM City's Real Estate Association Le Hoang Chau said it is time for real estate market to come back to its core value: people who need home will be able to purchase home. That is also the main driving force to promote the development of mid- range apartments in the near future. As per CBRE Vietnam, in 2017 HCM City's market will have 44,000 apartments in which mid-range apartments account for more than 70 percent. This figure shows huge competition pressure in the near future for this product line. Especially, the information that Vingroup is encroaching to develop affordable housing with more than 300,000 apartments to be implemented since this year has marked a new turning point for the market. Vo Thi Diu Hien, CEO of PHPReal said "The supply of apartments priced less than two

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billion dong now is very huge, so competition is inevitable. The important thing is companies choose their own strategy to attract customers. For The Western Capital, we choose the strategy of "five star with soft price". That means the price is equal to that of mid-range apartments but customers will receive the quality of high-end commercial apartments". This direction is considered to be entirely not easy because if it is implemented, it will bring about huge financial pressure, not to mention the cost of land, construction, trade, transport, etc. In other words, to realise this direction, businesses not only need to be strong in capital but also need to be very persistent. That more and more investors boldly develop the fully equipped affordable apartment product line and improve life quality for the people is a positive sign of a steadily growing market. In addition, to stand firm in the competition process, businesses need the support and companionship from banks because home buyers in this segment are mostly first-time FINANCE buyers who often do not have enough finance. Apart from the soft selling price, businesses should establish flexible payment process for buyers. In fact, projects with flexible payment method and have large support from bank loan will be paid more attention by buyers.

In Vietnam, Uber 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | TUOI TRE NEWS drivers whine about While Vietnamese authorities are criticised for not taxing Uber enough, local Uber firm's unfair division drivers are complaining about having between 15 and 25 percent of their earnings end of revenue up in the company's pocket. Uber's initial vision was to provide a technological solution for car and motorbike owners to utilise their vehicles and earn an extra living. However, as the business model was adopted throughout Vietnam, it quickly became a full-time job for the unemployed, who were willing to buy a new vehicle on cheap loans just to get into the business. For every ride, Uber bags between 15 and 25 percent of the fare charged to customers depending on different times, according to Duy, a former public employee who took up Uber driving when his company became unprofitable. "[Uber] basically just provides an application and sets up a network, so they are getting too big a share of the pie," Duy said. "A ten-percent commission rate would be more acceptable." Uber driver Nguyen Duc Trong said he had seen improvements in his income since becoming a driver two months ago, but the high commission taken by the company was undermining the hard work of its drivers. "We are entitled to no insurance programme, be it medical or social insurance, whereas traditional taxi drivers are provided with such protection," Trong explained. "If there was an insurance programme, many [Uber] drivers would be willing to accept a higher commission rate in exchange for those benefits." In total, the application's Netherlands-based parent firm Uber B.V. and its partnered drivers pay a three percent tax on their revenue, approximately ten times lower than the tax imposed on traditional taxi companies, according to Ta Long Hy, chair of the HCM City Taxi Association. Nguyen Thai Son, a former official at HCM City's Tax Bureau, admitted that local taxation authorities had been overwhelmed by the business model, and that it would look further into Uber's other markets to decide on a better tax policy for the company. Meanwhile, one senior tax expert who asked not to be named said that Uber B.V. was operating as a transportation company while declaring itself a technology firm. Whenever customers pay for their ride using bank cards, the full sum is transferred directly into Uber B.V.'s account in the Netherlands before the company reimburses its drivers in regular payments, the expert explained. If passengers opt for cash payment, the amount is immediately deducted from the driver's Uber credits before they are repaid their share in the same way.

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According to the expert, if Uber B.V. was merely a provider of technology solutions, the money customers pay should have been split according to the agreed rate of commission at the time of payment. "Why aren't Uber drivers receiving their 80-percent share of the revenue immediately rather than waiting for the money to be transferred abroad before returning to Viet- nam?" the expert asked. "We can see that Uber B.V. is paying its drivers as if they were its employees [without performing its duties as an employer]." The fact that Uber B.V. is in control of all the revenue also means that it is free to change the rules at any time without the consent of its drivers or approval from Vietnamese authorities, the expert added. http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/39783/in-vietnam-uber-drivers-whine-about-firms- unfair-division-of-profits

Japanese automakers 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNN

FINANCE threaten to leave Japanese automobile manufacturers have discussed the possibility of relocating their Vietnam again factories to regional countries because of Vietnam's weak supporting industries. Jetro's (Japan External Trade Organisation) Chief Representative Takimoto Koji, meeting the local press on February 14, said that some Japanese automobile manufacturers are considering leaving Vietnam because of problems in tax policies and underdevel- opment of Vietnam's support industries. There are four Japanese invested automobile enterprises in Vietnam, namely Toyota, Mazda, Honda and Suzuki. Jetro did not say exactly which enterprises were considering leaving Vietnam. Meanwhile, other automobile manufacturers are considering importing cars from Asean to sell domestically instead of maintaining production lines in Vietnam. Under ATIGA, Vietnam will have to cut the tariff on imports from Asean to zero percent by 2018. The Vietnamese automobile market remains small with 250,000 cars sold a year, much lower than 2 million cars sold in Thailand. Meanwhile, a production line needs to churn out 200,000 products a year at least to bring profit. While affirming that many investors wanted to invest in Vietnam's automobile industry, Koji said the investment trend may change because the supporting industries in Vietnam have not improved. The enterprises making cars in Vietnam may leave for Indonesia, Thailand or Malay- sia. Supporting industries are considered the foundation for automobile manufacturing. This is not the first time foreign automobile manufacturers have threatened to leave Vietnam. In April 2015, Yoshihisa Maruta, general director of Toyota Vietnam, at a meeting on reviewing the performance of the automobile joint venture, mentioned the possibility of stopping car assembling in Vietnam and shifting to importing CBU cars for domestic consumption. The general director said that it would be less costly to import CBU carsvfrom Thai- land than assemble domestically, and that Toyota and other manufacturers hoped the government would apply measures to encourage the development of supporting industries and help stimulate demand. In early 2016, the automobile manufacturer once again emphasized the importance of the government's support to help the automobile industry. Commenting about Toyota's statement about the possible departure from Vietnam, deputy chair and secretary general of VAMI (Vietnam Association of Mechanical In- dustry) Dao Phan Long said Toyota took the move just to ask for more investment incentives. Long said Vietnam's developed transport system with a series of new highways, plus a market of nearly 100 million people, is a lucrative market for any automobile manufacturer.

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Vietnam-Lithuania 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB business potential The huge potential that exists for Vietnamese and Lithuanian firms to cooperate in needs stimulation many sectors and areas "needs to be stimulated," a conference heard on February 27. Speakers highlighted agricultural and food products, education, tourism and high- tech sectors as particular areas for promoting economic ties between the two countries. Located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, Lithuania is the largest of the three Baltic States by population, territory and the market, and ranks first in EU for the GDP per capita growth. Arunas Karlonasz, commercial attache of the Republic of Lithuania to China, South Korea, Vietnam and Mongolia, said trade between Vit Nam and Lithuania has increased significantly in recent years, but it was still modest and "needs to be stimulated." Lithuania's main goods exports to Vietnam are plant and animal origin products, food, furniture, wood products and medical instruments. It import from Vietnam plant and

FINANCE animal origin products, minerals and electrical machinery. Nguyen The Kien, chair and CEO of Saigon Star Company, said it is very difficult at present to find Vietnamese, Chinese or other Asian products in the Lithuanian market. This was due to a disadvantage in transportation and a lack of understanding about each other's markets, he said. He urged Vietnamese companies to study the market further so as to better tap its po- tentials. "Located in the geographical centre of Europe, Lithuania is a good gateway for Viet- namese goods to penetrate other countries in the European market," he said. Mindaugas Kuklierius, agricultural attache of the Republic of Lithuania to China, South Korea, Vietnam and Mongolia, said agriculture and food industries played a significant role in the Lithuanian economy, with their export revenue accounting for 19.4 per cent of total Lithuania's exports in 2015. He said Lithuania exports to more than 100 countries, and hoped Vietnam will become one of its large export markets soon. The dairy industry is a key agricultural production sector, producing about 2 million tonnes of milk a year, half of which is used for export. The industry's most important product is cheese, Kuklierius said. Lithuanian businesses have thus far exported some meat products, including chicken swings, to Vietnam, but the volume remained modest, and "we want to improve in the future," he added. Lithuania does not produce certain kinds of fruits and vegetables because of unsuita- ble climate, which means "we have to import quite a lot. Vit Nam has a very good climate to grow fruits and vegetables, so we can cooperate." Vietnam exports different kinds of fruits and vegetables and canned products to Eu- rope, and Lithuania should not be excluded from this list, he said. "I see very good opportunity for cooperation in trading for agricultural and food products with Vietnam. In Lithuania we produce and grow food products that you do not have here or you are not strong in, and you are very strong in fruits, fish and products that we don't have. So we can easily exchange and increase our cooperation in the future". Commercial attache Karlonasz said that besides agriculture and food industries, pos- sibilities for further expansion of bilateral trade ties lie in the IT, biotechnology, lasers, medical devices, pharmacy and hi-tech sectors. "Vietnam has quite highly skilled professionals working in the IT sector, while Lithua- nia and even EU lack such people. This could be an area for strengthening our cooperation." He also called on Vietnamese businesses to invest in the manufacturing industry in Lithuania so as to supply goods to the EU market. Ina Marciulionyte, Ambassador of Lithuania in Beijing and accredited to Vietnam, encouraged Vietnamese businesses to open restaurants in Lithuania "because we have no Vietnamese restaurant in the country at present.

Intellasia 28 February 2017 28 / 51 Vietnam finance & business 28 February 2017

"We would also encourage students from Vit Nam to study in our country because we have good universities and offer programmes in English at competitive prices compared to the rest of European countries." There is no direct flight between the two countries, but there are four operating international airports in Lithuania that offer direct flights to and from many European cities, she said. In the future, when travel demand increases strongly, a direct flight can be established, she said. Delegates at the conference organised by the Saigon Star Company also said that the upcoming EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement FTA would help expand trade between the two countries. http://bizhub.vn/news/viet-nam-lithuania-business-potential-needs- stimulation_284421.html

28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | TUOI TRE NEWS

FINANCE Foreign owners of indebted steel firm The owners of a foreign direct investment (FDI) steel firm in southern Vietnam have flee Vietnam fled the country after incurring insurmountable debts totalling VND100 billion (US$4.46 million). Quatron Steel JSC was licensed to run a steel manufacturing complex in My Xuan B1 Industrial Zone in Tan Thanh District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province in 2008, funded entirely by foreign capital. The company's six founders were all foreigners from Jordan, Greece and Canada. According to investigations by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, the company has been caught up in losses since 2014 and unable to pay workers' wages or social insurance. As of February 2017, Quatron Steel has been indebted to 20 of its business partners by over VND11 billion ($491,000), while also owing over VND2.7 billion ($120,000) in wages and a further VND15 billion ($670,000) in social insurance it is expected to pay for nearly 400 workers. The company has also been found to have unpaid taxes and overdue bank loans total more than VND1.2 billion ($53,000). Its 80,000-square-metre factory complex had been mortgaged to a local branch of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to obtain a loan of around $3 million. In total, Quatron Steel's debts amount to over VND100 billion ($4.46 million) while its mortgaged properties are valued at around VND60 billion ($2.68 million), according to Tan Thanh's Civil Judgment Execution Division. Authorities have not been able to make contact with the company's CEO or chair since mid-2016, as the foreign nationals had allegedly fled Vietnam. Nguyen Phi Hung, a labour official at Ba Ria-Vung Tau's Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said it is "extremely challenging" to safeguard the rights of the company's labourers now that their employers are no longer within Vietnam's ju- risdiction. An inspection carried out last year on Quatron Steel by the provincial industrial zone watchdog found that the company could only provide vague authorisation papers of directorship. The firm later requested that future inspections be postponed until a new CEO was ap- pointed. "When authorities got wind of the losses at Quatron, its owners were already abroad and were directing the company's operations via an invalid representative," said Nguyen Anh Triet, head of Ba Ria-Vung Tau's Management Authority for Industrial Zones. "Therefore, we couldn't impose a travel restriction to prevent them from fleeing the country." The company's mortgaged assets will be sold at market prices, the money from which will be used to pay outstanding wages to Quatron's workers, according to Nguyen Duy Hong, deputy chair of the provincial Department of Labour, War Invalids and So- cial Affairs.

Intellasia 28 February 2017 29 / 51 Vietnam finance & business 28 February 2017

Khanh Hoa calls for 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA increased economic Authorities of the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa province has introduced rep- cooperation with US, resentatives from the US and Russian economies to the locality's potential and Russia strengths, especially in sea-based economy. Meeting with Matthew J. Matthews, head of the US delegation, in Nha Trang city on February 27 on the sidelines of the first Apec Senior Officials Meeting (SOM-1) and related meetings, Le Duc Vinh, Chair of the provincial People's Committee, said that the US's investment in Khanh Hoa remains modest with only one project worth 2.7 million USD while about 30,000 American tourists visit the province each year. The local leader wished that more and more businesses from the US will come to seek investment opportunities in Khanh Hoa, particularly in Van Phong Bay economic zone, adding that the province encourages investment in such fields as hi-tech, education and petrochemistry. He also emphasized the need for the two sides to enhance collaboration to make Nha

FINANCE Trang city more attractive to Americans. At a meeting with Valery E. Sorokin, a senior official from Russia, Vinh spoke highly of the current comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia, saying that thanks to direct air routes from Russia to Khanh Hoa, the number of Russian tourists to the city hit over 300,000 each year. However, the two sides' trade and investment cooperation is still yet to match their potential and expectations, he said, noting that Khanh Hoa is calling for investment in such areas as petrochemistry, shipbuilding, equipment manufacturing and seafood processing. The US and Russian representatives said their economies will take measures to enhance cooperation with Khanh Hoa and encourage their businesses to invest in the locality. This week, the Khanh Hoa authorities plan to hold more meetings with representatives from Apec economies attending the SOM-1 and related meetings. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/khanh-hoa-calls-for-increased-economic-cooperation-with- us-russia/107890.vnp

Low-cost apartment 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNN developers face big The limited supply of low-cost housing has prompted many real estate developers to challenges jump into the market segment. In mid-2012, the Hanoi real estate market woke up when Muong Thanh Group put low-cost apartments up for sale at VND10 million per square metre, a surprisingly low price which no other real estate developer could offer. Within several days after the apartments were marketed, Muong Thanh sold hundreds of apartments, though the market was in crisis at that time and apartments in other projects remained unsold. Some other low-cost projects marketed since that that time led to a rush by n investment. This was attributed to the short supply. Only state-owned corporations such as Viglacera, Handico 5, HUD and Vinaconex, and privately run companies such as Muong Thanh and Thu Do Invest were interested in low-cost projects. Since real estate developers focused on high-end products, they missed the opportunities in the low-cost market segment. And those who saw the potential of the low-cost market segment could pocket big money. However, the low-cost market segment appears to have cooled down in the last two years, after problems were found in some low-cost apartment blocks, including rapid degradation of buildings, poor facilities and lack of firefighting equipment. Low-cost apartments is often associated with 'low-quality'. In such conditions, a lot of big players, well known for luxury projects, have decided to jump into the low-cost market segment. The announcement by Him Lam, FLC and Vingroup to develop low-cost apartments instead of only focusing on medium- and high-end products is expected to trigger fierce competition in the market segment. Dang Hung Vo, former deputy minister of Natural Resources and the Environment,

Intellasia 28 February 2017 30 / 51 BUSINESS BUSINESS BIZ NEWS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam confidence Shares up on investor 2017 February 28, Business Briefs Intellasia agement Corporation (TVC) tosecure a9percent stake in the enterprise. * Tung TriViet Ltd Co has acquired nearly VND1.08trillion, anddown 2percent up2.8 year-on-year percent respectively. year, VNSearned consolidatednet profit of VND4.5 revenuerose6.3percent to ports. Its serv ride-hailing tion fromUberandGrab billion in2016, down 5.1pe * TaxifirmVietnarnSunCorp billion and billionin2015. VND67.4 VND1.15 trillion andconsolidat ca supplement itsworking treasury shares to * Quang Narn Rubber Investment planstosellover four(VHG) Company million March 7. The company will make payments on April 4. pe paying the ofVND1,000 second dividend * An Phat Plastic &Green Environment sus a loss of VND51.9billion from it net in audited billion VND72.8 the co because list warning its from (VIS) ny decide has * TheHochiminhStockExchange percent stake inthe enterprise, from nowtoMarch28. over 1.1 million shares of ThuDueHousingDevelopment Company(TDH), or a1.6 and Investment Development * ForeignTrade 4.5 percent. to cut itsownershipfrom5.2 percent to (MWG) Group Enterprise* Mekong FundII cent. Lam Son SugarCorporation(L of Join Long HanoiTrade&Investment * Thang face-big-challenges.html http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/busine centers.gym parkspools, amusement and forchildrenming VND16 million squaremetre,per has also The investor of Ecohome project inLongBien such as swimming pools, playing yards, parks and shopping malls. the priceofVND18millionper square metre, a projectat launching inHanoi, district Mai Hoang in Garden Gelexia of The investor projects. and IndustryCorporation (ITA) tospur its buy to has registered Corporation Tan * Tan 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA of dongtocarryout util This explains why some low-cost project deve thembring tothemarket. Meanwhile, existing investors will have to products atthemost reasonable prices. marketthewillsaidbecome more transparent, inwhichbuyersaccessable to will be On the Hanoi StockExchange, the HNX-Index was up 0.63percent to end February The points. index at 717.44 southern decrea close to percent 0.42 Stock Exchangeedgedup HCM Indexonthe The benchmark VN look. this weekasin sessions correction inearly Shares rose on February 27 on thetwo exchan 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA ity items whichthey had onl rcent against the previous year, duetotherisingcompeti- has registeredto sellone mil oration (VNS)madeconsolidat profit fromitsrevenueVND3.7trillion lastyear, of ver- ed losses of VND22.3 billi ed lossesofVND22.3 SS) to reduce its holding from 21.2 percent to 20.7 per- 20.7 to percent 21.2 holding from its reduce to SS) s revenue of VND3.1trillionin2015. Company (AAA) will spend VND57 billion billion VND57 spend will (AAA) Company ss/173337/low-cost-apartment-developers- todeveloping swim- committed outdoors ices, VietCapitalSe vestors remained positi vestors remained change howthey carry out projects and 517,000 shares of Tri Viet Investment Man- Investment Viet ofTri shares 517,000 holding from 14.6holding from pe sed 0.4 inthelasttwosessions. percent mpany reported profit in 2016. VIS earned mpanyin 2016. reportedprofit over VND70 billion from its revenue of its from overVND70billion promisedtodevelop infrastructure items pital in March. VHG reportedVHG in March. revenueof pital of the recorddate on for 2016 r share Compa- to removeVietnam-ItalySteel d 20 million shares of t Stock Company has sold 300,000 shares has sold300,000 Company t Stock trillion in 2016. In the fourth quarter last quarter Inthefourth trillion in2016. Corporation of HCM City will be selling City willbe Corporation ofHCM district,whichhas thesellingpriceof lopers are willing to pay tens of billions ofbillions tens topay arewilling lopers ges despite expert forecasts of a slight y implemented in high-end inhigh-end implemented y on in 2016, versus VND659.7 VND659.7 versus on in2016, lion shares ofMobileWorld lion ed net profitofVND312.6ed curities Company re- rcent to16.7percent. TanTaoInvestment 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 31 / 51 31/ 2017 February 28 ve over market out- ve overmarket BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam All indexes closeup chips Shares inchuponblue Intellasia http://en.vietnamplus.vn/shares-up supply. limited but supply andhigh risks, low-end medium-cost and fiercecompetitionineverysegm gence According toBao Viet SecuritiesCo,thedo 2013. of firstquarter peak inthe their from ary 20,down4.7percentfromDecemberlast Property inventories decreased tonearly 30 and 4percent. (HQC) increased1 between (ITA),FLC Group(FLC) Quan Consulting-Trading-ServiceHoang and RealEstate vestment (NVL), Kinh Bac Ci (NVL), KinhBac vestment sessions andlifted itswinning Van Phat Hung Corp (VPH)hi estate sector thisyear. the real chips, investorsfrom blue continued Apart HCM Cityadvanced while elevenslumped. by market 30 shares top Eighteen ofthe and Corp (FPT). FPT (BID) BIDV (VCB), Vietcombank (CTG), inbank Their buys focused on large-cap stockssuch retreat. a signaled indices the when buy to willing were investors said Anh Securities Co,wroteinamark and market sentiment remained positive," Tr "Selling pressure on themarket value compared to last week's averagefigures. were traded on thetwo markets, up over 10percent andslightlylower in in volume Large propertystockscontinuedtoattrac and FPT Corp (FPT) advanced. (CTG) Vietcombank (VIC), VinGroup (VNM), asVinamilk such shares Heavyweight Blue chips recovered and supportedthe market. remainingflat. 310 and Market condition was, however On the Hanoi StockExchange, the HNX-Index The VNIndexonthe Stock HCM Exchange points. was up0.1percentat715 of large-cap stocks. Shares inchedup on Mondaymorning on the two exchanges, driven by the recovery 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB co a worth million shares, of243.5 total A remaining flat on thetwo exchanges. positive wi market conditionwas The overall poin tradeat 86.86 27's On HNX, the HNX-Index rose 0.55points(0 theHNX-Index On HNX, per cent). points (0.31 dex 2.46 0.45 (0.67percent),theVNMid-Index points On HSX, theVNIndex increased 2.97 poin 27. All indexeson stockmarketmain Vietnam's Poor day for food andbeverages not enou 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNECONOMIC TIMES http://bizhub.vn/markets/shares- The afternoon session starts at 1pm. the twomarkets. overVND2.1 sharesworth 150 million Nearly Tan TaoInvestmentIndust Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Re Hoang ts, following last week's gain of0.5percent. gain week's last following ts, ry (ITA) and Kinh BacCity Development (KBC). ty Development (KBC), Tan ty Development et reporton February 27. run to six days in a row. Others including Novaland In- Novaland including Others row. ina days tosix run t the daily limit rise of 7 percent for three consecutivepercent forthree of 7 rise daily limit t the reduced significantly sessions fromtheprevioustwo , still negative,stwith 189 inch-up-on-blue-chips_284401.html -on-investor-confidence/107908.vnp value and liquidity on the main bourse in t cash flows, includ mbined 3.8trillion VN gh to dent VN Index on FebruaryVN Indexon gh todent 27. ts (0.42 per cent), the VN30-Index 4.41 4.41 VN30-Index ts (0.42 per cent), the to bet on property stocks on high hopes for on propertyhopes stocksonhighto bet mestic real estate marketwillsee diver- .63 per cent), the HNX30-Index 0.83points .63 cent),theHNX30-Index per ent. Whilehigh-end products havelarge trillion VND (1.2billi VND trillion finished in positive territory on February th 258 stocks rising, 216 declining and 228 and 228 declining rising,216 stocks th 258 points (0.05 per cent) and the VNSml-In- and the per cent) points(0.05 as VinGroup (VIC), PV Gas (GAS), Viet- (GAS), Gas PV (VIC), VinGroup as al Estate, Novaland Investment (NVL), Investment(NVL), Novaland Estate, al year and a decrease of nearly 77 per cent percent of nearly77 decrease year anda an Duc Anh, a stock products haverelatively high demand trillion (US$92 million)weretradedon (US$92 trillion increased 0.34 per cent to 86.6 points. Tao Investment Industry Tao Investment ocks rising, 202 declining ocks rising, ing FLCGroup(FLC), D (167million USD), on USD)as of Febru- 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 32 / 51 32/ 2017 February 28 analyst atBaoViet analyst BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam exchange pct ondebut- VietJet jumps20 stock Intellasia VietJet currently operates about 60routes bo carrier. domestic top the nation's as year this cent of Vietnam's domestic market, will likely surpass flag carrier Vietnam Airlines The CAPA centre forAviationhassaidthat biggest shareholder. Company CEO Nguyen ThiPhuongThao,the na 26 foreign investors which recently boughta stake inVietJet. andaMo GIC fund gapore sovereignwealth The airline had intended to list overseas by billion. $1.19 at airline vate The price announced by Vietjet would put th per dong($3.97) share. price of90,000 would list on the domesticHoChiMinhStock repoOn February13,Reuters from down or up percent 20 of debut priceonits day. the starting maximum a move to price stock the allows bourse The bined 103 shares weretraded The budget airline's stocks rose fromastar Exchange showed. on Tuesday to on debut trading Vietnam's biggest private airline, jumped Exchange. Stock That's the maximum jump allowed forstoc 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNEXPRESS http://vneconomictimes.com/article/ba by billion HNX VND1.3 ($57,057). VND61 by sold onHSX Foreign investorsnet 0.3 per cent. VCS closed atitsopeningprice while PVSlo On HNX,PHProse3per cent,SHB2perACB0.9 cent,andVCG0.6percent. 6.9per cent. rising in ceiling hit it and million) ($4.6 billion ofVND105 liquidity sawtrad VNM, million). Thelargest cap, itrose0.7percent inpric as hands ing shareon thehighesttraded ROS was HSX, spectively, while MWGin Among other large capson HSX, HPGand BV 1.8 per cent, VIC1.6per and DXG0.9percent. In real estate, most large caps closed up opening price. In energy, PGDincreased 2.3per cent and per cent. cent, and CTG 1.4 per cent, BID 0.3per cent, while EIBlost0.9per cent andMBB 0.4 In banking, VCBsawthehighest increase, of cent, BHN 1 per cent, SAB 0.8 per cent, SBT 0.4 per cent, and VNM 0.1 per cent. All large caps in food and beverages lost late inthesessionbefo 718.3 points afternoonit fluctuatedforsometimebefo the to increasing then gradually falling again The VNIndexopened andlostsome at 714.47 was Friday, andonHNX VN ($1 trillion VND3.04 reached onHSX Liquidity followed increase point saw a 137 point increasefollowed HSX by points (0.49percent). 0.47points theUPCoM-Index percent), (0.53 by a120pointdecrease. creased 1.6percent. rted Vietnamese budget airl budget rted Vietnamese D442 billion($19.4million),8.4percentlower. D442 by 0233GMT, thedatashowed. 0233GMT, by hit 108,000 dong ($4.74), da ($4.74), dong hit 108,000 re easingto points. close at717.44 e. HBC followed, with VND281 billion ($12.3 billion ($12.3 VND281 followed, with e. HBC nking-finance/all- : FLC by 3.9percent, KBC 2.4percent, NVL e of VND100 billion ($4.4 million). HAG saw billion($4.4million).HAG e ofVND100 ground: KDC by 2.1 per cent, MSN1.7per close the morning session at 715 close the sessionat715 points. In morning by the maximum 20 percent limitinearly a 125 point decrease while HNX saw a 152 a 152 saw decrease whileHNX point 125 a ting price of 90,000 dong per share. A com- share. A dongper ting priceof90,000 GAS 0.3cent per whil with VND411 billion ($18.3million) chang- billion VND411 with k price on its debut day by Ho Chi Minh Minh Chi Ho by day debut on its price k last year, but the plan was put on ice. Sin- on ice. was put the plan year,but last VietJet, which currently 40per- commands th locally and internationally, and expects expects and internationally, and locally th (0.83 per cent) and the VNALL-Index 4.99 4.99 andtheVNALL-Index percent) (0.83 rgan Stanley investment fundareamong rgan Stanley st 1.1 cent,PVI0.8percentand per NTP 2percent, followed e capitalisation of Vietnam's biggestpri- e capitalisationof re edginguptoitspeakofthe day of billion ($2.7 million) billion ($2.7 ground earlyon but regained it before 33.4 million), 15 per cent lower than last last lowerthan cent per 15 33.4 million), H lost 0.5 per cent and 0.2per cent cent, re- lost0.5 and per H Exchange on February 28 at a starting tion's first female billionaire, is the female billionaire, tion's first indexes-close-up-1 ine VietjetAviationVJC.HM ta fromHoChiMinh Stock e CNGclosedat its 28 February2017 28 by SBTwith1.5per 28 February 2017 33 / 51 33/ 2017 February 28 and net bought on on bought net and BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam debuts on boursedebuts on investment trust First localrealty shares onwarning list putsHSX 21.6mn PVB buy HPGshares PENM IVGermany to Intellasia on-warning-list http://vneconomictimes.com/article/bankin cent. per 35 of arise 18; February to 13 per ($0.44) from VND10,200 had increased It on February24. ($0.57) VND13,100 to from week, last sharply pricefell share Its PVCoating is now among theten listed enterp record is the has PVCoating first time ina million), resulting billion ($3.1 VND71.6 pared totheVND900 billion($ billi VND6.4 revenuereached PVCoating's 31,201 asatDecember profits After-tax Februaryon toitswarninglist on PVB) 27. The Hanoi Stock 21.6mi Exchange put (HSX) 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNECONOMIC TIMES Revenuefor2017 wa recently. after price fell HPG's share from March 2 toMarch 31. It will spend about VND120 bill Hoa PhatGroup(stock shares ofthe lion Private Equity New MarketsGermany IV(PEN 31. to 2 from March conducted shares tobe Transaction for3million 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNECONOMIC TIMES change-3548004.html http://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/vietj 30 percent thisyear. the filingshowed, while its ThaotoldCEO Re 96percent annual net profit jumped Its 2016 Airbus and Boeing in recent years. It to haveafleetof aircraftby2023. 200 investment trust (REIT) of Es Techcom VietnamReal 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY enlarged in the future to meetenlarged its investme intheto future is aclosed-end TCREIT day. and (HOSE) an estimated priceofVND10,000 codethe stock TCREIT has Stock Bank (Techcombank). awhollyownedsubsidiary of Vi (TCC), was establishedbyTechcomban TCREIT 27. shares http://vneconomictimes.com/article/bankin this year. Saigon SecuritiesIncorporation portunity for investors looking at the (MSI). "It'snot Incorporationitimes Securities Hoan, toBui Duc normal," according is "This tendays. inthelast ($1.99) at VND45,500 Shares nowhover ($1.75) between VND40,000 cent. per 24 but net profitwastarget cent against2016, fund with startup capital of capital startup fund with tate Investment Trust (TCREIT) became the first real estate realestate thefirst became Trust (TCREIT) Investment tate Vietnam tomakeitsdebut onthestockmarket February it announced itsmanufacturin it of FUCVREIT on the Hochiminh CityStockExchange of FUCVREIT on theHochiminh s targeted at VND38 trilli 39.5 million) recorded in 2015. million)recordedin2015. Its 39.5 costs were more than ion ($5.26 million)on the tran (SSI) expects that HPG share pr share HPG that expects (SSI) ed a losseight inthelasted a years. mid- andlong-termpotentialofHPG." mid- 6 were negative, triggering the warning. the triggering 6 werenegative, had ordered billionswort etnam andCommercial Technological Joint k Investment FundManagement Company VND14,300 ($0.62) per shareonFebruary20 per ($0.62) VND14,300 code HPG), or a0.36 per centholding. et-stock-jumps-20- percent-on-debut-ex- ed atVND5trillion ($219.72 million), down nt needs when more potentialtarget prop- on ($280,997) in downsharplycom- 2016, on ($280,997) g-finance/hsx-puts-2 g-finance/penm-iv-germany-to-buy-hpg- loss ofVND54billion ly to VND2.29 trillion on rising revenue,on rising to VND2.29trillion ly share to VND13,800 ($0.6) from February fromFebruary ($0.6) VND13,800 share to uters the bottom line is expected toclimb vice President of Equity Research at Mar- at Research vice PresidentofEquity such such a a bad and good thing, is even op- llion shares ofPVCo rises with the highest losses at present. losses at the highest rises with per fund certificate, said HOSE last Fri- and VND 41,000 ($1.79), after peaking ($1.79), afterpeaking 41,000 VND and M IV) has registered to purchase 3 mil- 3 purchase to registered has IV) M VND50 billion, which wouldbe on ($1.66 billion),up14.2per on ($1.66 g and businessplanfor 2017 saction, tobecarriedout ice will rise 46 per cent 1-6mn-pvb-shares- 28 February2017 28 h of jets fromboth 28 February 2017 34 / 51 34/ 2017 February 28 ($2.37 million).This ating (stock code ating (stock BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam this week seen continuing into correction Market Intellasia stretched after surging 49 percent from De appeared valuations whose (STB), was Sacombank laggards theleading Among this month,advancing0.9 percen 714.47. close at to the sessionearlier from Last Friday the VNIndex racked up its biggest daily loss in weeks, sliding 0.33 percent the inrecenttimes, expert said. ordeclined mildly increased After this correction phase,cash could findit points. or 710 to 708 may drop Index VN creases likeFLC, FITand HBC might facest and CIIplungingtotheirfloor prices last However, as the VN Indexwent downfor three consecutive sessionswith HAG, STB grow thanks to positive macroeconomic factors. Nguyen HuuBinhfromIVSSecurities Comp by the stock market news site Index is VN Therefore, the goals for2017. re business positive with stocks into flowing If psychological bottlenecksare removed and founder of Ocean Bank. the upcomingcourthearing of a high-profile week last retreated markets stock Hanoi and Nguyen NgocLan,head ofthebrokering de weeks. inprevious sharpgains made bounces back,with penny stocks remainingth before it two sessions one or in correctionlocal market isexpectedtocontinue The 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY VietnamProp VinaCapital, of There are currently some foreign REITsin law. according toVietnamese REIT is However, unlikeothertypesoffund, companies. realty on value real asset ofits most spends ally ov the authority board ofrepresentativeshas REIT is a fund formed byinvestorsthrough decided by a resolution ofa change Any operate indefinitely. will TCREIT tential. apartment projectsdevelopedbymajororga of on streamcenters, whichcangenerate stable cial focus a be will TCREIT of strategy The the trust is on HOSE, its certificates would be more liquid. without which thetrustinvests properties in investor certificates, fund TCREIT Holding identified.erties are bourse-.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52556/Firs rulehelps purchases. This fund certificate their investors can buy more fund certificates of public initial launch funds these When bank deposits,money market in in value netasset oftheir percent of35 shares,andamaximum estatecompany or real percent andamaximumof100percen of65 imum The country's currentregulations require real on theloca or realestatestocks Management. Thesefundsraise fromfo capital Asset Saigon of (VPH) Holding Property Vietnam and Capital, Indochina of ILH3 and general meeting ofinvestors. general meeting erty Fund Limited (VPF) of tinnhanhchungkhoan. l market, and then list overseas. struments, bondsor shares. t for a ninth consecutive week. t foraninthconsecutive week, other pennystockswithstrongin- Despite that, the index enjoyed its best week Despiteits that,theindexenjoyed ferings or additional in the coming sessions, cash would keep estate investmentsor shareacquisitions at expected tohitnewhi expected improve liquidity for real estate investors. for real estate liquidity improve cember 7through lastThursday.After the Vietnam suchasVina s athomeand abroad ownpartofthose t-local-realty-investment-trust-debuts-on- rong sellingsoon.Shouldthishappen,the fice buildings, hotels, resortsandcommer- their purchases offundcertificates,anda partment of Agriseco, said the HCM City ofsaid theHCM Agriseco,partment er investment decision making. REIT usu- s way to blue chips as the stocks havejust requiredtobelistedonthestockmarket, nisations with prices showing upside po- nisations withpricesshowing having tospend large sumsofmoney. As sults in the first quarter or high earnings case against VanTham, Ha former chair any predictedthemarketswould further due toprofittakingand concern about s of revenue. It will also eye housing and It willalsoeyehousing revenue. of s estateinvestmentfundsto invest amin- or use their real estate topayforextra intheduration of its operation willbe e target of profit takers. Penny stocks reign markets, invest in real estate and/ estate in real invest reign markets, t of their net asset value in realestate t oftheirnetasset value vn as saying. vn as Dragon Capital, ILH-ILH2 fundraising rounds, ghs, Lan was quoted Land Limited (VNL) 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 35 / 51 35/ 2017 February 28 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam exports to struggle exports to Vegetable, fruit Vietnam seeks opportunity in Japanese prefecture Intellasia Meanwhile, Vietnamese vegetable and fruit for trade cal activities. counties enterprises of promotion importing months and the USDepartment the -- because centres to moderntrading US apples had, however, entered all distri States, pa United in the fornia andNewYork products fruit and vegetable local instance, For been developed accordingtoexpe steps tradepromotion to maintain and but Vietnam's fruit and vegetable products were fruits, as aresult ofwhichtheir export The year2016 witnessed growth impressive year. this USD year-on-year increase of30percent. Export an ofvegetables export value national Total Association. Fruit and ble higrowth inexportvalueat thecurrentble The domestic vegetable andfruitindustrywi 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA hope a retail, restaurant,with Hokkaido businesses wish to cooperate with with Vietnam. tradeactivities promoting of JapaninAsean. Japanese localities, incl Trade Organisation (JETRO), described Vietna ExternalJapanAssociation the Hokkaidoganised Industry andthe and Trade by Horiuchi, arepresentativeoftheHokkaido Vietnam. to products local seek 27 to onFebruary City inHCM held An event toconnect businesses fromViet 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA week.html http://english.thesaigontime shares on the Hanoiexchange. cent fromaweek earlier respectively. Th they netbought10.5 millionshares worth Foreigners were active on the selling side commented.market, it th stakeheldbyhisfamily, 9.5 percent and a the bank Be's impacton Tram However, given resents all the voting righ th affect resignations willnot lution on therestructuring of STBthatwasea According toViet Capital Secu their currentpositions. Tram Beand gotappr his sonTramKhaiHoa, closed, localmediare market 344402.vov http://english.vov.vn/trade/japanese-pre and intermediate. transport down costson to popularise Japanese products inVietnam, qualit the highlighted businesses Vietnamese and seafood famousproducts. being the most rice,beef with processing, food and inagriculture locality leading Japan's is Hokkaido consumers, he added. ts ofthesetwopeople. s.vn/52560/Market-correction- e operations of the bank as e operationsofthe ported two membersof the bank's board of directors, ofbringing localhigh qual rities Company, their resign Company,their rities of Agriculture ensured fund ctations, the as value exceeded theirexport value ofrice. fecture-seeks-opportunity-in-vietnam- ey alsonet purchased VND8.7 billion of products retained their freshness for six freshness for their retained products uding Hokkaido, are keenon themarket and opportunities for cooperation andexports of nam and Japan's Hokkaidoprefecturenam was per- 12.7 percentand 255 up billion, VND318 during the week. On the HCM City market,the HCMCity Onduring theweek. bution systems -- from gh level, according to the Vietnam Vegeta- the Vietnam to level,according gh business delegationtoeventwhichwasor- the freshness of theseproducts have not value is expected to increase to 3 billion to value isexpectedtoincrease d fruits reached a 2.4 billion in2016, USD e news was interpreted as negative by the by e newswasinterpreted asnegative businesses should lo should businesses products remained freshonlyfor a few rlier approved by the prime minister.The approved by rlier in the export value of vegetables and value ofvegetables in theexport exported to60countries and territories, y of Japan's processedy food,and saidthat Vietnaminimport-export, distribution, oval from oval from the centralbank to resign from rtly due to poortradepromotion,itsaid. rtly due ll face obstacles in maintaining sustaina- maintaining in obstacles face ll m asone of the most importantpartners in the past in his inhis in thepast ca were sold wereonlyat places afew inCali- sociation said. the central bank currently rep- currently the centralbank ity products toVietnamese ity seen-continuing-into-this- ations comply ations comply with areso- s were contributed by lo- traditional markets markets traditional 28 February2017 28 wer price by cutting by cutting wer price 28 February 2017 36 / 51 36/ 2017 February 28 pacity asvicechair BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam VNPT's divestment pushes forDeputy PM export value increases Agro-forestry-fishery Intellasia http://en.vietnamplus.vn/a and 1.4percent,26.2 and in percent,respectively 19.8 volume. and 36 percent, falling 6.9percent,12 pepper; Similar dropswere witnessedinother farm year. last same period the against by and tonnes 799,000 to volume in cent Rice exports inbothvolume plummeted an period lastyear. tonnes but wentup22.3percentinvalueto In the first twomonths,coffee exports decr inFebruary. millionUSD 993 Meanwhile, the forestry industry saw a slight increase of 0.3 percent inexport value to USD, down 3.1 fromthe percent same period year. last thanks mostly toasurgeincoffee export Major farm products saw ayear-on-year in Development. Rural and of Agriculture The valuein February alone is estimated at 1.9billion USD, according to the Ministry of1.4percent to 4. increase year-on-year The export valueofagricultural,forestry 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vegetable-f market. in world the products fruit and vegetable ofVietnamese ability prove competitive step-by-stepenterdistribution systems inex porters shouldactivelypartner to carry ex- and fruit vegetable local export markets, large firm instrict and tostand Dat said production. and fruit vegetable local affect market, leadingtolosses port c affecting time, would take inspection This percent. 100 percent oftotalimported inspected fromfive tions were violated, they would gradually increase the percentage of importedfruits regula-and safetyfood hygienecase whereoneIf importingeven countries identified hygiene and safety asthey havedoneover exporter local fruit said also The association and longan, could be kept freshlonger He expected that afterprocessing, Vietnam' current projects on researching preser industry need andfruit vegetable said the Nguyen Dinh Tung, general director ofloca duction. enterpriseseration with andproducerstoen and herbicides. pesticides products, suchas and collegestoresearch develop vege should Additionally, thestate met international standards atenterprises. sary tohavepreferential loans for the de Nguyen HuuDatfromtheVietnamVegetable fruit products. conditions for development ofprocessing credit packageworth 100 tril days, the association said, adding that it ex Deputy prime minister VuongDinhHue recent 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNS groforestryfishery-export- lion VND for hi-techagricultur lion VND and eventuallya loss ofthe have preferential loans for research institutes, centres ruit-exports-to-struggle/107892.vnp vation technologyfor farming products. than the currentperiod of 1-2 months. out suitable trade trade pr suitable out 3 billionUSD in the first two monthsof2017. velopment ofmodern processing lines that , while seafoodexportvalue hit 844 million 40.6 percent invalueto248 million USD and fishery products is estimated to seea technology forVietnamese vegetable and ed fundsamountingto500billionVNDfor table andfruitseedsplant protection the pasteightyears, chinhphu.vn reported. pectedthat a contribu 616 million USD compared with 616millionUSDcompared the same eased by 7.3percentinvolumeto 273,000 s major fruit products, suchasdragon fruit crease to2.4billionUSD of 8.8 percent s should continue paying attention to food paying attentionto s shouldcontinue onsumption and quality offruitsinthe ex- d value. Shipments dr Shipments d value. ing products, such as tea, cashew nuts, porting markets and protect as well im- and as protect as markets well porting l professional fruitexporter VINA T&T, The research facilities also requiredThe researchfacilitiesalso coop- sure efficiency in vegetablesureand fruitpro- efficiency batches, atpresent,to 50 percent or even .3 percent, respectively inexportvalue; and Fruit Association saidit was neces- ly urged listed businesses of the Viet- value-increases/107919.vnp enrite market. Itwouldalso e would create favourable e wouldcreate omotion programmes, omotion programmes, tion fromthe state's 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 37 / 51 37/ 2017 February 28 opped by 17.2 per- BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam forum India-CLMV business Vietnam attends Intellasia It alsofeatured threesessionson cooper renewable energy and electricity. struction, agro-fisheries and related sector dian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, fo The two-dayconclave, co-hosted bythe Conf nities. panies' shares. proved to bequitedifficult with unsu many However, according toVNPT, the divestmentfromsome ofthese companies has and from36other divisions the Asean-India framework via the forumprovides businesses a chanceto The host highlighted India's strength in engineering and garment and affirmed that cludingpharmaceuticals.farmproduce and ingarment, Vietnampotentia said andIndiaholdgreat She development. skill and agriculture bilateral ties withCLMVare appreciated, es aman, for herpart,saidAseanisone of the pi Minister of State for the Indian Ministry the sharing ofexperience in State manage Indiacommitted has toCLMV, identifying sp continuing India-CLMVcollabor connectivity and trade-services Hung sugg trade links, CLMV economicand In order to push forward thesustainable development of Vietnam-India, andIndia- world overthepastyears and betweenVietnam well as ties India. as Vietna about Hung updatedparticipants city, the Indian stateofRajasthan, on February 27. He madethe suggestion the at India- fourth training and improvement. capacity infr services, inmanufacturing, vestment Asean members,namely Cambodia, Laos, Industry Deputy ministerof 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA continues The company to divest from16 cent ofVNPT'stotalinvestment. the books. Their VND1.04 totalearningwas million) (US$27.08 billion divested VND602 financial to VNPT's Previously, according sessment before reportingto the government. MIC efficientthe method, thanthecurrent di the for method different a using case, In (LTC), Company Stock Telecom Joint rent - struction JointStockCompany (QTC), Haci Furthermore, VNPTwillcontinue to dive terests. procedure for the P&THotelJSC., in accordan to has instructedVNPTtorefer The MIC manage their funding ofbusinessesand government's2015, concerningtheon October13,ND-CP Decree control the over 91/2015/ He saidthe proposalwasbasedonthe Company. JointStock Hotel P&T of the Communica Ministry ofInformationand the The deputy PM has assigned theMinistry of ess. nam PostsandTelecommunicationsGroup (VNP and TradeCao QuocHungha and using the directmethod. liberalisation, fu establishing Asean-Indiatr ation partofa ation mill as 100 ation withCambodia, MyanmarandVietnam. ment in the context ofdivestment. in ment of Commerce and Industry Nirmalan Sithar- of CommerceandIndustryNirmalan m's economy and its integration into the st fromthe Quang Nam Transportation Con- astructure, inter-regi the decree and proceed with the divestment ment, exchange of experts and training. report, by the end of 2016, the company had company the 2016, endof by the report, divisions using theag seekpartnership an vestment process would provetobemore Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), via its in- its (CLMV), via andVietnam Myanmar s, skill development,s, skill energyconservation, will be responsible for comparisonandas- sco JointStockCompany (HAS), Low Cur- pecially inengineering, renewable energy, according tothe regulations. current CLMV business conclaveheldinJaipur ccessful public offerings of the said com- cused its discussions on engineering,cused itsdiscussionson con- Financetostudyapr trillion ($46.7 million), equal to 174 to174 per equal million), ($46.7 trillion over their total VND2 by over theirtotalVND2 trillion ($89.9) tions (MIC) on tions the(MIC) divestmentsituation llars East"policyof in the"Act India and ested strengthening bilateral transport ested strengtheningbilateral ederationof IndianIndustry and theIn- ecific cooperative areas and increasing and ecific cooperativeareas andthegovernmentin- ce withthelaws l of collaboration indiverse areas, in- l ofcollaboration rther enhancing cooperation within rther enhancing T) to speed up theirT) tospeed divestment proc- ion-USD credit packagethat ion-USD s suggested India backfour ade and investment centre, ade and centre, investment onal trade,technical d investmentopportu- glomeration method 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 38 / 51 38/ 2017 February 28 oposal put forthby BUSINESS review of fee at ports demands Deputy PM finance& business Vietnam lead e-business index City andHanoi HCM standards petrol higher quality Vietnamadopt to Intellasia standards_284403.html http://bizhub.vn/news/viet-nam-t As in 10 Vietnamese firmsnamed of and reformedit company larger stakeinthe Petrolimex isVietnam'slargestfuel wholes per and VND18,440 litre, respectively. ern Theywillbesold City. region HCM and regi southern in the be sold will 95-III RON phur andbenzene, reducing harmfu III) and withemissionlevel 4(RON RON 95 95- level3(RON emission with RON 95 market, in the used commonly and widely is ComparingRON 95fuel withEuropeanEmission Level(RON 2Standard 95-II), which standards for newly manufact the primeministerproviding 2011, of This ispartofthe plan torealise Deci ndh.vn. meets European emissionlevel 3and4standards,accordingfinancialto websitenews The Vietnam National Petroleu 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB ports and so, it could notcompare its fees It added that HaiPhongCity was thefirstloca 62.5 per cent for 40-feet container). It saidthefees were muchlowerthanthat collection hadadequate legal foundation. Last week, the municipal Peop March 20. Committee to review thecollection offees ofCommerceandIndustry(VCCI) Chamber Trade, Planni nance, Justice,Industryand The governmentOffice last weekend sent a City. northern HaiPhong in ports all at utilities and public facilities service infrastructure, use of of fees for the Deputy prime minister VuongDinhHuehasas 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA HCM City took the lead with 78.6points,fo Citytookthelead with HCM more than 3,500 businesses in 54provinces and cities across the country. The announcementcamefrom the2016e-Busine Friday. inHanoion Forum ness announc E-commerce Association(Vecom) nam HCM City and Hanoi continue tolead Vietna 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNS http://bizhub.vn/news/deputy-pm-dema conducted smoothly. ations are paymentability with the of enterprises, and theseaportsand through transport oper- The ministryalsoasked the government Office competitiveness andcreate a favourab The Ministry of Finance on January 25hadsaid feesas theshort, wereincreased too thricewithinthree years. It added that businesses beli Phong'sseaports were Hai increased at utilities public and facilities service infrastructure, of use the for the fees said VCCI cent. per 70 hi collected Resolution 148weremuch under No Earlier this month,VCCIsubmitted a docume eved the city's roadmapforan eved the ured,and motorbikes. assembledand importedcars le's Committee le's Committee released a documentaffirmingthat the m Group(Petrolimex)has of o-adopt-higher-quality-petrol- ia's Top 1,000 ia's Top1,000 Brands by Nielsen. l emissions intotheenvironment. sion No. 49/2011/QD-TTg, datedSeptember1, sion No. 49/2011/QD-TTg, for two consecutive years since 2015. years for twoconsecutive le investmentenvironment for firms. nds-review-of-fee-at-ports_284405.html roadmap forapplicationofexhaustemission ng and Investment, Transport, and Vietnam withother localiti of Lao Cai(ahalffor20-feetcontainer and and report to theprimeminister before on while the latter will be sold in the north- in sold be will latter the on while aler. Japanese sharehol llowed by Hanoi (75.8 points). Other local- Other points). (75.8 Hanoi by llowed document requiring the ministries ofFi- requiring the document s operations. The firm is ranked third out ranked firm is s operations.The at the at initial per prices ofVND18,290 litre 95-IV) aloweramount have of lead, sul- to workwiththemunicipalPeople's mese localities in nt to the PM, saying that the fees being that the PM, saying nt tothe lity inthecountry to charge feesatsea- to ensure that the that charges were toensure in line thefees being collected should ensure ked ministries toreview thecollection ss Index (EBI), based on a survey from on asurvey Index (EBI),based ss ed at the 2017 Vietnam ed atthe2017 Online Vietnam Busi- gher levelsofupto than the current increase of feeshadbeen ficially sold RON 95which es havingseaports. e-commerce, The Viet- 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 39 / 51 39/ 2017 February 28 ders have boughta BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam predicts profit dipspredicts profit Vietnam refinery says regulator Fertiliser imports fair, Intellasia because theyusing outd were The VCAsaid the two enterprises producing fertiliser from coal hadincurred losses just output reaching August temporarily stoppedproductionsince Ninh Binhplant has beenforcedtosuspend plants' productswereunable to compet Binh fertiliser plant and VND7,600 per kilo Meanwhile, the production cost isatahigher kilo. than higher is perkilo VND5,600 price at The authority said PhuMyand Ca had Mau respectively. the unreasonable valueaddedtaxpolicy andth The fertiliser plantsthemselveshave said of imports. because was currently difficulties ing Therefore, there was notenoughproof toc price againsttheglobal pr tion of fertiliser from gas. Additionally, th co ing fertiliserfrom tonnes each. Thetworemaining plants, Ha ducing fertiliserfrom Vietnam has four plants producingnitroge due toan increase incoal price over the pastmonths. liser productionenterprises inVietnam, Ha tothe According report senttotheminist under Competition Authority (VCA) etnam the measuresfor toapply ucts defence trade There's noevidence showing that fertiliser imports havedamagedfertilser local prod- 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB dex.html#GQ1Zg42DGWKqz31m.97 http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/351834/hcm wi Forum Online Business Vietnam 2017 The points, 81 gaining transaction, For thelastcategory, DaNangreceived and DaNang. Hanoi followed by and HaiPhong.Duongthe B2Bcategory ForBinh Meanwhile, HCM City topped the B2Cindex with 72.4points, followed byHanoi, point, followed by HCM City with 85.5 point. Of these, Hanoihas the highestindex in hu agencies (G2B). tween businesses andbusinesses (B2B)between andtransactions businesses and state resources,man transactions betweenbusinesses(B2C),customerstransactions and be- The index wasbased on four criteria: info localities. the comparing among ofe-commerceand development plication TheEBIwas localities. first published in 2 The gapbetweenthecountry'stwoeconomic Son (21.2). andLang Bac Kan (22.6), CaMau (23.2), Quang the five provinces Meanwhile, with the point), areYenBai points lowest (23.7 Tuyen (42.2). (5 Nang Da include topfive in the ities Dung Quat Refinery in thecentralprovince 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA http://bizhub.vn/news/fertiliser-imp the world coal price. al, withanannualca half ofthe capacity. gas -- Phu My and Ca Mau -- with an annual capacity capacity of 800,000 annual an -- with Ca Mau and gas --Phu My ice, baodautu.vnreported. ated technology, whilethegl ated followed byHCMCityandHanoi. orts-fair-says-reg 2.8 points),BinhDuong(43) and HaiPhong e with importedfertilisereproducts. highest valuationonth production costatVND4,500-VND4,800 per pacity of480,000tonn the primary reasons for difficulties included included for difficulties reasons the primary ry, the authority said said authority ry, the rmation technology infrastructureand hu- 012 with the purpose of evaluating theap- ofevaluating purpose 012 with the e twoplants were buying coal at ahigher onclude thatthemainreason theywerefac- man resources and infrastructure with93.7 man resources infrastructure and Bac andNinh Binh, usetechnologyproduc- nous fertiliser, including two plants pro- plants two including fertiliser, nous Bac andNinhBinh, facedmanydifficulties its production while Ha Bacplanthasalso for the HaBac plant. Therefore, the two of QuangNgai is aimingto decrease its the Ministryof IndustryandTrade. level of kiloforthe per VND10,000 Ninh imports, according toareport by the Vi- hubs remains large comparedwithother still earned profitbecausetheir selling ll take place in HCM City onMarch3. City placeinHCM ll take -city-and-ha-noi-l 2016 due to high inventorydue to and annual 2016 e higherpurchasepr ,HCM City also leads with 77 points, ulator_284430.html obal trendwastheproduc- es and560,000tonnes, ead-e-business-in- two nitrogenous ferti- two nitrogenous e satisfaction ofG2B 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 40 / 51 40/ 2017 February 28 ice of coal against of coalagainst ice BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam in PhuMy Hung Japanese apartments first purchase Buyers rushto Intellasia Of the many potential foreig Hung, Quoc according toTruong to were ofthegroup allowed The luckiest apartments. future for list waiting ments being offered atthelaunch) tosubmit cand 800 the end, only company invited prospective bu A totalof1,539 Together, the three companiesrepresent Real EstateSumitomo Groupand ForestryGroup. Japanese partners to develop the project MyHu estate developer Phu Prestigious real sales at the Grande, Phu My Hung's first Japanese apartments. Hundreds of potentialbuyersflockedto HC emony heldtokickoff sales ofth Many prospective foreign buyers, 30 percen 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNEXPRESS BSR alsoaimstomaximiseit scheduled plans,he added. increased in the world The market. maintenance resultsstrive forhigher should However, we tenance inthe ofmiddle the year. its operat the refineryaddition, willhalt In the speculativeoil price of 50 USD per barrel. director,Tran NgocNguyen,BSR'sgeneral to year. the previous than In 2016, than1trillionVND it spent more trillion VND. It contributed 12.4 trillion VND to the State budget. Last year, itsturnover wasar time. and ashorterproduction oil pricesexpected drop incrude an see despit the modesttargets, set they said BSR VND a year.It trillion of114.7 turnover expectedturnover five year Its total in the period. in the2016-20 USD refinery--has announceditsapprovedpr the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group(Pet State-owned BinhSonRefini The vious year. budget VND to the 7.2 State tribute trillion to firm isexpected the USD. Additionally, The refinery plansnotto export oil this year toplunge are profits forecasted Its 2017 by a2017 targ thisyear, 17 percent turnover including value-added tax, maintenance fees and land-use fee. right land-use feesand tax, maintenance value-added including The apartments cost between VND5billi Dubai. and Seoul Beijing, Shanghai, were Japanese. Cityex In addition toHCM It hasproposedthe MinistryofLabour,Inva from44.9million in2015. asharp decrease VND VND a month, year, itsaveragesala last that reported It The refinery meetsaroundathird ofViet tonnes. output of5.8 million total its to striven bring It has fectiveness. http://en.vietnamplus.vn trillionVND. 100 its special mechanism for managerial salaries /vietnam-refinery-predic n buyers whoattended the ce s operation and productiontore operation s ound 75.2trillion VND,while its profit wasmorethan 5 yers requested achance yers requested to at ng andPetrochemical Company(BSR),anaffiliateof e luxury apartments in HCM City. HCM in apartments luxury e vice presidentofPhuMyHung. 66 percent from 2016 to 1.68 trillion VND. trillion 1.68 to from2016 percent 66 yielded oil prices of 90 USD per barrel. USD per prices of90 yielded oil ry and bonuses for leaders 38.8 million werebonuses ry and -- namely,Daiwa House Group, Nomura on ($219,000) and VND10 billion ($438,000), ($438,000), and VND10 billion on ($219,000) half ofJapan'srealestatemarket. period was 573.7 trillion VND, with average withaverage trillion VND, was 573.7 period nam's demand for fuel andoil products. on itsinvestments,on spending 1.4 times more investanadditional 2 trillion VNDand con- purchase a single apartment asingleapartment on Saturday, purchase ion within 52 days for its third overall main- overall third for its days 52 ion within yearly capacity to 98 percent, with a total total a percent, with 98 to yearly capacity , a 5.2 trillion VND reduction from the pre- the trillion VNDreductionfrom 5.2 , a , while its exports in 2016 earned 28 million while itsexportsin2016earned, pats, many buyers flew in from Tokyo, Tokyo, from in flew buyers many pats, e highgrowth last year, because theyfore- idates (three times the number of apart- of number idates (threetimesthe et of 62.4 trillion VND (2.77 billion USD). (2.77 VND trillion of 62.4 et t ofwhom are Japanese, attended the cer- M for City a ceremony heldtokickoff lids and Social Affair ballots that will of will ballotsthat ng collaborated with three distinguished at companies with annual turnover overturnover with annual atcompanies than the set targets, as have settargets, the oil prices the than roVietnam)--which operates the 3billion roVietnam)--which operates ld media that the set targets are based on oduction, businessandinvestmentplans is also expected to shorterbe thanthe ts-profit-dips/107900.vnp remony, roughly30percent tend Saturday's event. In event.In tend Saturday's duce costs, increasing ef- duce costs, fer themslots on the 28 February2017 28 s consider applying 28 February 2017 41 / 51 41/ 2017 February 28 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam solar power project to start Central city Vietnam company enters Japan's leading sports Intellasia tion manufacturing awideva Founded inOsak sportswear company. and be distributedbySupersports.Mizunoisone This is the firsttime Mizuno running shoes City. District 7,HCM ments-in-phu-my- http://e.vnexpress.net/news/ sports, diningand entertainment." green space,naturalha lot of we havea fer amust-visit place for Saigon residents, ing-sports-company-enters-Vietnam.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52565/Ja metersand with a total retail areaofmore square more than300 staff. than 5,000 Supersports and its exclusive brands have saidit openfive would tober 2013, Supersports, the largestsportsretail chai voCity. shoes. The footgaugemachine "Precision Fit" technology to At the event, Supersports and Mizuno also Rider20,oneof the 290 gram Wave the li and Sayonara lines couldsuitthediversene Representatives ofMizuno many and Italy. Mizuno isJapan'sone number brand,a favouredprovider andGer- intheUS,France, athletics. football, volleyball, baseball, tennis, golf, zuno, Japan'scentury-old sporting goods icon, Supersports, oneofVietnam's 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY "The Phu MyHungMidtown complex and the trees, aJapa creating Sakura Sakura Park, which willfeat be also will ab residents future The Grande's national Bank,whichalsoofferpros The project isguaranteed byVietcomban of their ownership certificate. remaining 45 percent uponhandover ofthe ha off pay to willhave28months Customers units. Two-bedroom apartm four bedrooms. one and 69and249 Buyers canchoose square between BBQ areas, gardens, yoga studios, golf simulation studio and libraries. have alloftheir needssatisf ments and 13 shops. The Grande providesserv The 26-floor building will fe ment inthepastthreeyears. dos, offices,retail space andamusementcent The Granderepresentsfirst the buildingin Da Nanghas announced itsfi 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB the installation of solar equipment athealth equipment solar of the installation The city'ssecretariat said the project,whic $75,0 European Commission(EC) and hung-3547070.html ied withoutany need to leave, includingswimmingpools, and Supersports hope that Mizuno's famed Wave Rider ature high-end facilities,tw nese atmosphere for visitors. for atmosphere nese ure beautifulriverside views give customersthemost accura business/buyers-rush-to-purchase-first-japanese-apart- rst solar power project, funded with $415,000 from the from $415,000 with funded solarpowerproject, rst riety ofsports equipment largest sportinggoodschains willto servecustomersbe usedVi-Supersports SC at to seven new stores this year. this stores to sevennew pective buyerspreferentialloans. 00 fromthecity'scounter fund. rmony and many interesting activities for for activities interesting many and rmony n inThailandwhichentered Vietnam in Oc- k's South Saigon Branch and Vietnam Inter- ghtest runningshoes on themarket today. pan percentE2 percen pan percentE2 cycling, judo, tabletennis, badmintonand h willbebuilt from " PhuMyHungrepresentative said. "Here Phu My Hung Midtown, a complex ofcon- PhuMyHungMidtown, acomplex opened 32stores inHanoiand HCM City, have been introduced inVietnam and will centresandschools, anditwouldfund re- unit and pay the balance following receipt introduced thefootgaugemachinewith a in 1906, Mizuno Mizuno is now a in1906, a global corpora- eds of Vietnam's customers. This includes le to stroll to Vietnam's first-of-its-kind first-of-its-kind toVietnam's le tostroll ofJapan's bestknownsportsequipment lf thevalue of their ers. It is PhuMyHung's biggest invest- metreapartmentscontaining between at Supersports SC ents account for 62 the 62 percent ofall ents accountfor ices of all kinds to ensure its residents residents its toensure kinds ofall ices impressive Sakura Pa impressive Sakura o basement levels, 309 309 apart- o basementlevels, and sportswearforrunning, of hundredsSingapore te advice for theirrunning , lastweekintroducedMi- 2017-20, would support wouldsupport 2017-20, t80 percent99s-lead- t80 unit. They'll pay the 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 42 / 51 42/ 2017 February 28 VivoCity outletin rk promise toof- BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam takes flight VN's chicken industry Intellasia http://bizhub.vn/news/cent power and asolar-power heater system. became project FPTComplex Da Nang's 2014, In ronment. sorts havebeen using thesolar power heater system tosave funds and help theenvi- cent ofthecity'spopulation toareportfromthecity'sIn According with city inthecentral plant The German Asean Power Companyplansto from rural areas. projectsto useen to develop The cityplans sunlight per year andanaveragewindspeed of 3mper second. Da Nanghas great renewable energy potentia nano-lighting technology and other solutions At leastone expected enterprise was to qualif hy ensuring veterinary minist At addition,the fooding safetystandards. withrisk low ofdiseases inchicken,wellas plans, havefundsandcarryoutmeasures to plan, thepeople'scommitteesofkeyprovin the will direct The ministry chicken conquertheworldmarket. plan on monitoring food safetyforproce The Ministry ofAgricultur 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB In 2011-15,thecitycut12,000 servation andgreen tech. Da Nanghisconsidered thefirstVietnamese solarstall powersystemsLight-emitting and Diodes (LED)indeep-sea fishing vessels. In 2013, the city's Science and TechnologyDe out the projectincooperati city's energyc As scheduled, thecentral search onsolar technology capacity and management. The ministry will moni The ministrywill rural development. minister ofagricultureand mission, or safetyfood standards ofimpo processed chicken according toregulations ing chicken in those countries. The importing countries will have delegations to visit will havedelegations countries chicken in Theimporting those ing countries. Viet chicken tostrictmarkets, export "To he countries, said. someAsian and Binh PhuocProvince has also focused ontrade prises. enterprises toinspect chicken production lines and sign agreements with local enter- success If to thismarket. namese chicken es haveheldtrade promotion Hoang ThanhVan, head of the ministry's the first Vietnamese chicken exported un briske chicken to export theprovince terprise in "The ministry has combinedwith DongNai processing facilities. terprises' staff in charge ofmonitoringf It willopentrainingcourse on food safety for exportprocessed chicken. chicken, focusing ondistrictsandprovinces ry will help enterprises build abattoirs and processing facilities tor food safety in provinces in producing and processingexport in provinces inproducing food safety tor gieneand food safety. e and Rural Development (MAR Development Rural e and on with European partners. ral-city-to-start-solar-power-project_284424.html s forveterinary workers inprovinces anddistricts en- implementation of implementation the planfr uses solarpower forheaters, an investment of $400 million. of$400 an investment tonnesof carbon emissions activities targetingthe Japane activities dustry and Trade Department, around 30per around Trade dustry Department, and onservation and consultanc ood safety and veterinary hygieneatchicken nam must reach standardsof regions breed- ssed chicken for exportto help Vietnam's ful, Japanese partners will visit local local visit partnerswill Japanese ful, der large commercial contracts," Tam said. Livestock Department, rting countries, said VuVanTam, deputy ergy from oceanwavesandtides andbiogas ergy from as abattoirs andproces as abattoirs of the International Food Standards Com- International FoodStandards of the ces in chicken breeding will also issue prevent chicken diseases tocreateregions with enterprises joiningthenational plan Province's authorities to support one en- to support one Province's authorities y for acertificate on f build a 40 megawatt solar ( builda40megawatt power MW) city to invest significantly inenergy con- partment launched a pilot project to in- to launched apilotproject partment in itspublic lighting systemproject. l, with a 90km coastline, 2,000 of l, witha90kmcoastline,2,000 hours promotion activitieswithJapan, the EU t to Japan. If this is a success, it will be be will it success, a is this If Japan. to t the firstin city om 2017-20. According to the tothe According om 2017-20. and saved $433,000 byusing while five-star hotels and re- and hotels five-star while D) has released anational D) se market toexport Viet- said manyenterpris- 28 February2017 28 ood safety to export 28 February 2017 43 / 51 43/ 2017 February 28 to use 12kWh solar touse12kWh sing facilities meet- y centrewillcarry BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam surges Vinalines' portactivity Intellasia http://www.vir.com.vn/vinalines-port-activity-surges.html Vai also berth seven services dedicated tointra-Asia imports and exports. weekly mainlineservices connectingdirect US weekly. Forimports andexports from andtotheEuropean market, there are three port Vai comple the Mep-Thi Cai Currently, said Europe," and between Vietnam are we the 'testcall' wehope With America. Vietnam in1923. we started Last year ago, startalmost a century its ment that had call' 'test -- confirms toVietnam our a "This important strong commitment commit- sel to Vietnam -- the largest cont call of "Margrethe Maersk" is the first call complex, as it successfully launched atria week animportantmilestone marked Last transhipment tobecomeimportant pushing inattracting years After of difficulties throughput," he added. "The seaport sector contributeCai Mep-ThiVaihas Saigon portto "In addition, asolidrise in the ports'keyare items," which NguyenCanh tributed tostrongdemandsfor imported anim "The significant rise in the volume ofgoods inbulk at CICT, SSIT, andSP-PSA wasat- capacity ofover aroundthr to Vai areain2016, Cai Mep-Thi on-year rise of 36 per cent in the totalvolu Good performancejoint-vent by theforeign million. per cent to $22.4 28.2 cent 31.7per afteryearsofclockingjust 2016, reac Thefigure TEUs. on-year toover720,000 the volumeofcontai In 2015, operator with72 container terminals in69countries. ture between VinalinesandDanishcompany International thejointven- The yearwasalsoa success (CMIT), for CaiMep Terminal while revenue rose 22.6 per centtoover $8million. CICT accommodatedover 3.82 million tonnes g as apartner. Carrix/SSA located inthenorthern(CICT), provinceofQuangNinh. Thisjoint venturealsohas improvements alsosaw business at 2016 over of Mep-Thi Vai,reportedrevenue doubling the period, during tonnes ofgoods SSIT, ajointventure betweenVinalinesand Tau made revenue of $3.07millioninth The port located inthe Cai Mep-Thi Vaiarea (TEUs). throughput re year. Container tonnes last based PSA, saw its volumeof bulk goods incr According toaVIRsource,SP-PSA, a joint- SSIT, and CICT rated better numbers in 2016, signalling an upward trend. enduringyears,After anumber of slow 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VIR http://bizhub.vn/news/vns-chicke said. export find more ternational standardsand The domestic livestock industry must havesustainable development according to in- in chickens breeding regions inspect and seven millionTEUs. the country's container volumeandmore goodsflowsfrom ner throughput goods shipped via CMIT rose80percent throughput goodsnerCMIT shipped via ainer vessel ever to come to Vietnam. to come to ever vessel ainer n-industry-takes an official on the MargretheMaersk. direct service between andVietnam North cargo, the Cai Mep-Thi cargo, theCaiMep-Thi Vai portcomplexare up 85per $5 cent on-year. million, e percenton-year. year, up 33.47 Vinalines' joint-ventur Cai Lan International Container Terminal International ContainerTerminal Cai Lan ever of a Maersk Line Triple-E container ves- containerMaersk LineTriple-E ever ofa Vietnam toensure ached 67twenty-foot l berth for 18,000 l berthfor18,000 TEU The vessels. port of me of container throughput of ports inthe for andthe Mep-ThiVaiport CMIT Cai ee millionTEUsof out ly withEurope. TerminalsinCaiMep-Thi venture port ofVinalinesandSingapore- markets for local chicken products,he markets forlocal US-based Carrix/SSA, handled3.8 million on the way to establishing a direct service is likely to grow 10-12 per 10-12 togrow year." cent this likely is contributed toasignificant ports has ure when the first Maersk vesselarrived in x accommodates 10 direct services to the to services direct 10 x accommodates hubs aswell asgatewaystothe south. of capacity. This port ofcapacity. its2015volume. Theport, alsoinCai APM Terminals, the world's leading port Terminals,theworld'sleadingport APM of thesouthernprovinceBaRia-Vung ease 32.7 per cent on-year to1.54million ease 32.7 hed over1.2millionTEUsbytheend of d toCMIT's robust growthofcontainer Tinh, acting of CEO Vinalines, told VIR. al feed, soy beans, and corn in 2016 -- 2016 corn in and beans, al feed,soy oods inbulk last year,up38.9per cent, -flight_284429.html safety,"said. Van e ports CMIT, SP-PSA, equivalentunits 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 44 / 51 44/ 2017 February 28 an annual designed an annual 's revenuealsorose BUSINESS receives USgrant farming initiative Mekong organic finance& business Vietnam trading partner Vietnamkey as regards Britain medical devicefactory Japanese firm tosetup faster slides volume dips, value export February rice Vietnam's Jan- Intellasia http://bizhub.vn/news/japa million by2030. $700 then and million to$500 in thefactory capital investment its increase to planned baodautu.vn, headoftheSa with Speaking this year expected tobebuilt The factoryis and other SoutheastAsian countries. The medical devices will be supplied to the domestic market andexported toJapan used for bloodfilt es In the first phase,which is worth $300 mil cence for production in Saigon Hi-tech ParkinHCMCity. device supplie Nipro Corporation, amedical 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB ue-slides-faster-3547730.html http://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/vietn el since 2008. 5 milliontonnesin2017. th The VietnamFoodAssociationhasprojected say. players industry year, exportsthis nam's rice onViet- brakes the pricesareputting uncompetitive and demand overseas Slowing last month, theagricu China,thePhilippines andIvory Coast were $144 to percent 33.8 fell earnings while In January,thevolumealreadydropped31 the corresponding periodlastyear, th from shipmentsofthe grain in the January-February period, down40.6percent from atthe position main after unchanged third The Southeast Asian nation, with world ranking tonnes, while the turnover fellfaster, 17 perc falling two months the first ments in export extendeditsdowntr rice Vietnam's inJanuary. a 34 percent slide from quickening Rice export turnoverinthe first two months 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNEXPRESS 107904.vnp http://en.vietnamplus.vn/mekong-organic- peoplefortr toyoung It provides grants Association. Arm charityWarm aged byHCM City Y-Farm is developed by enthusiastic youn dren andyouths in organic farm The network's mainactivity,inall five lowe 2017YSEALI SeedsforFutureprogramme. It isone of 20 projects fromaround riculture has won a grantfrom ag- in sustainable generation younger the educating and farming organic in gagement FarmNe Youth the by Mekong An initiative 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA Britain considers Viet 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY of itstrading partners areouts the hiscountry for Fox about was optimistic ropean Union (EU),Britain will contin votetoleave theEu- June's last thatdespite Friday last City inHCM reporters Fox told Internati for State Secretary of ration in the kidney. ration inthe nam an importantnam tradingpartnerinthe coming years, British lture ministry said. ministry lture Lastyear,thevolume fellto nese-firm-to-set-up-medica onal Trade Liam Fox has confirmed. ide Europe. He said Brexit wo the US Departmentof State. ing and sustainable agriculture. the world to receive this grant underthe the grant this world toreceive the agriculture ministrysaidMonday. e ministry said inamonthly report. ministry e ue to pursue a liberal trade ue topursuealiberal policy. million, basedonViet aining in organican lion, the factory will produce medical devic- the factory willproduce lion, g people intheMekongcountriesandman- end onthinoverseasdemand,withship- and operational by the end of the next year. the next the endof operational and by India and Thailand, would get $248 million $248 get would Thailand, India and igon Hi-tech Park Le Hoai Quoc said Nipro Hoai Quocsaid igon Hi-techParkLe am-s-jan-feb-rice-export-volume-dips-val- farming-initiative-receives-us-grant/ ent from a year ago to an estimated 799,000 anestimated799,000 to ent fromayearago r Mekong countries, involvestraining chil- percent from a year ago to 337,000 tonnes, tonnes, 337,000 to year ago from a percent fallsaround40percent from a year ago, twork (Y-Farm)thatfocuseson youthen- post-Brexit era, as more than 90 percent r fromJapan, has received abusiness li- the top three buyers ofVietnamesetop the rice e country'sriceexportstoreacharound in riceexport this year expected tore- 4.8 milliontonnes,thelowestlev- l-device-factory_284402.html uld makeiteasier forBrit- d sustainable farming. sustainable d nam's customs data. 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 45 / 51 45/ 2017 February 28 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam 42.2pct y-o-y arrivals soaring international visitor February sees build materialzones backs cooperatives to Agriculture ministry Intellasia ner.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52544/Brit He said Britain would use its expertise to nam, among others. fi technology,operation opportunitiesinthe explore investmentco- andto encouraged would be more Britishbusinesses Fox said City. HCM month the local firm has served 28 trips of five 28 trips of month thelocal firmhasserved cruise ServiceCompany's Travel Saigontourist ism. build-material-zones.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52557/Ag kets such as and the US Europe. Tho and Long An. Such zones willmake it to zones ricematerial expand will The delta market. to theAustralian da, Germany andRussia. Meanwhile, mangoand dragon fruits have found their way Currently, Vietnam's green-skin pomelo is exported to the Netherlands, China, Cana- hectares. 1,000 of minimum a with and dragongrowingarea mango Hoaa Loc become will while TienGiangProvince farming areaProvince inBenTrelo key products inthe delta for export. Inparticular, it willhelp builda green-skin pome- The ministrywillfocuson safe material zone Mekong Delta. prime minister's decision on The ministry held a conference last week to discuss plans this year and carry out a goods for export. key farm op (US$6.3 million) to help agricultural cooperatives build large material zones to devel- billion VND145 set will aside Development Rural and ofAgriculture The Ministry 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY feredconsulting design and servicesforVi and infrastructure development. Two compan education especially Vietnam, sectors in inmultiple involved got firms have British Thursday.Fox inHanoilast betweenVietna at a meeting ble itby2020 billio $5.6 at stood tween thetwocountries countriesand 233 and25thamong UK in 2015 Vietnam ranked38th 241 among countries an thetwo countries. awaiting portunities Viet with freetradedeal bilateral look toa when the Brexit process has notbeen comp Fox stressed Britain wouldcarry out the isation. and ofBritain the that and Viet governments Asia afterhe tookupthenew position.Fo toSingaporeandVietnamastheFox's trips expanding to importance attaches Britain countries. with European maintain goodpartnerships ain tostrengthenties,particularly those to arecord monthlyhigh thism Foreign visitor toVietnam arrivals 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY country lastmonth, according to data of percentyear the sameperiod riseover last Vietnam has welcomed over 2.2million internat of nearly 1.2 million. 1.2 ofnearly expansion of a new cooperative model in 2016-2020 inthe 2016-2020 in model newcooperative of a expansion the VietnamNational Admi EU-Vietnam FreeTradeAgreement (EVFTA) in trade with partners, and Britain would would Britain and partners, trade with in onth have surged 42.2percent year-on-yearonth havesurged x said Vietnam washoldingmuchpotential m's primeminister NguyenXuan Phucand support HCM City to become asmartcity. Citytobecome HCM support trade with Vietnam, which isevidentin n in 2016 and the two sidesexpectedtodou- the and in 2016 n nam tocashinontradeandinvestmentop- . Around onethe millionforeigners. Around visited possible to meet high demand of large mar- high demandoflarge meet possible to riculture-ministry-b etnam's tallest buildi etnam's tallest ain-regards-Vietnam- leted. After the completion, will thecompletion, Britain leted. After someprovinces such as Kien Giang, Can first countries hefirst countriesSoutheast hadvisitedin nancial, pharmaceutical sectorsinViet- nancial, nam were sharing a view of trade liberal- of trade a view sharing were nam projectsthat will supply processors of d territories exporting exporting productsd territories tothe ies from the Europeancountryhaveof- international cruise ships -- Celebrity Celebrity -- ships cruise international tourism services have fared well as this this have as services fared well tourism territories last year.Two-waytradebe- territories last ional visitors in the year to date, a 33 33 date, a to year the in visitors ional acks-cooperatives-to- ng, Landmark 81,in ng, Landmark as-key-trading-part- 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 46 / 51 46/ 2017 February 28 nistration ofTour- BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam transit authority public setting up HCM City mulls Intellasia thority ofthe city. a ce could become that it so gated toit key operator of transit services,public so department would make thePublic Transp Le Hoang Minh, deputy director oftheHCM proposed agency couldoperatethe entire public transit network. be would systems transit public the city's The WBnoted representative thecityshould should be empowered tooverseepublictransit, shesaid. not will inserviceby2019. The be Public transitagen not necessarytocreate a public Nguyen ThiBich HangattheUniversity of said. ment," Lam if needbe. other relevantboards from staff partment ofTransport, Lamsaid,andinthe The Public Transport Management and Operat work asthe city is stre sugg was what said Affairs, Home of ment this proposal,LeVanLam, on Commenting be very inconvenientforcommuters. search for routes or download 30 software or card foreachline kinds of 30 different The WBrepresentative noted alackofinte under the Departmentof Transport. tran cy inchargeofpublic andrunning areup systemand tramway transit wh changesby2025 tem willundergodrastic c the told representative (WB) Bank World A ganisation. suggested integrating some existing relevant At aconference onestablishment of apublictr transit, metroand tram, amongothers. transitsystem public The in the integrated tions. responsible formanaging thority weighing transport authorityis HCM City The 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY The averageroom occupancy rate ofso day, belowthat for visitors. European He saidtheprice of a package tourforCh sufficient guest rooms for them," next 60 percent grow "Chinese touristsmay HCM City. and Beijing servicebetween more daily flight frequencies.increase their Forinstan ist arrivalsinthe city are expected torise cent year-on-year increase ofChinese travel Tu QuyThanh,director ofLienBangTrav on scheduled flights. There arecurrently central anincreasinglylarge Vietnam, to China has remainedVietnam's largest source crew membersfrom 49 cruise shiptrips. welc has Travel Saigontourist This year Halong. These vesselsdropped byHCMCity,Vu Millennium, Celebrity Constellation, Europa amlining its bureaucracy. amlining its sit managementbecause some ex public transit in the city to ensure effective opera- inthecitytoensureeffective transit public he told the Daily last Saturday. last theDaily he told ntral transport management and operation au- me large hotelsreaches 80percent.over omed around 46,900 passengers and 28,600 omed passengersand28,600 46,900 around Transport Management and Operation centre expanded to neighbouring provinces and the and expanded toneighbouring provinces further as airlines are workingonplansto ng Tau, Danang, Nha Trang, Hue and number of Chinese havecometoHCMCity number of more functions andpowers would be dele- each vehicle. Moreover, theywouldhaveto 10 flights City. 10 between ChinaandHCM elink, said his company has enjoyed a 40 per- 40 company hasenjoyeda his elink, said inese guests to HCM City is around $100 a Cityisaround$100 inese gueststoHCM ce, ChinaSouthernone Airlineswilloperate gration would leadcity city will consist of commuter bus, bus rapid rapid bus bus, commuter consistof city will programmes for each busline.This would for programmes ested bythe WB representative would not ort Management and Operation centre the lers to HCM City this month. Chinese tour- month.Chinese City this toHCM lers Transport and Communications said is it said and Communications Transport future, itcould takeonmorefunctions and "It's hardtohaveanewagencyatthemo- cy because the first metro line ofthe city month. Weare having onference that the city's public transit sys- transit city's public the that onference deputy director of the HCM City Depart- City the HCM directorof deputy boards, instead of establishing a new or- boards,a instead ofestablishing Shadow. Silver and Virgo Superstar II, have along-termvision.long run, Inthe market. In addition to chartered flights In tocharteredflights addition market. en the city's first busrapid metro line, en thecity'sfirst ansit agencyintheci City DepartmentCity ofTransport, saidthe the possibility of establishing an au- an ofestablishing possibility the ion centre is currently runby the De- . Therefore, the city will need an agen- an need will city the Therefore, . isting organisa 28 February2017 28 commuterstocarry 28 February 2017 47 / 51 47/ 2017 February 28 ty last Friday, some some Friday, last ty difficulty finding finding difficulty tions arenot BUSINESS in ThaiBinh farming projectbegins high-tech First finance& business Vietnam Binh Duong Panasonic expands in Intellasia binh_284417.html http://bizhub.vn/news/first-high-tec fresh milkproductionproject inthecentral also beenoperatin Grouphas TH Since 2009, sector, whilecreatingmore intheagricultural value added the to increase agriculture inhigh-tech toinvest prises agri landtoservelarge-sized and accumulate tocontin localities he asked Additionally, area. this in invest to businesses more for way inthis high-tec forinvesting THGroup ciate attheceremony,Speaking mini deputyprime long-term andefficientinvestment mechanisms and policies tocreate the mo Further, Thai Binh Province commitstoacco arisin difficulties solving quickly by and environment, investment safe and afriendly bycreating investors assist ly agenciesDien asked toencouragebusine local food consumption and exports. and high-qualityri organic vegetablesgrow model to atechnology develop and help build it will intooperation, coming When province's first hi-tech projec Ng Committee provincialChair ofthe People's seeds). pesticides, no no growthstimulation, pr Organic Standards tomeet the "Five zero" go Also, theproductionwillcomp uct distribution. ning withtheseed nursery, the project'splans to investor, TH Group, dy cultivation and riceproduction. ofwh hectares, 3,000 The projectwillcover well as high-quality rice. lion (US$135million)project will focus on lion ($8.9 million)inexpandin Panasonic Corporation hasannounced an inte Binh Duong province. next existing to fa tobe New factory built 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNECONOMIC TIMES Located inthe DungNghiaCommuneof thepr Binh was begun on Friday. Construction ofthefirsthigh-t 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | BIZHUB An additional factory willbe sions are expected togointo operation inOctober. Eco Solutions Vietnam (PESVN),in Co. With the additional factory, PESVN aims to aims PESVN factory, additional the With and approximately 13mill vices pr Thailand andIndonesia.Itcurrently in facturing site for wiring devi The existing plant launched full-scale pr VN and Takashi Ogura, general dire the Components BusinessUnit directorof A breaking groundceremony was heldon etnam over recent years. fo siveness totherapidincrease demand in jobs for local people.jobs forlocal cultivation,harvesting, pr ces andcircuitbreakersin So t inthe ofagriculture. field built adjacenttothe existing factory to enhance respon- g its wiring device and circui and device g itswiring ech agriculture project in the northern province of Thai of ech agricultureprojectinthenorthernprovince ly with Global Good Agricu with GlobalGood ly ion circuitbreakers annually. g during the implementationprocess. in the area, the chair noted. area, the inthe h-farming-project-begins-in-thai- ctor ofPESVN, attended the event. southern Binh Duongprovince. The expan- eservatives and no genetically modified oduction in November 2014 as 2014 a new manu- in November oduction ctory at Panasonic Eco Solutions Vietnam in Vietnam Solutions ctory atPanasonicEco ue to improve the investmentto improvethe environment ue oduces approximately 53 millionwiringde- st favourableconditionsforTH Group's make the project aproduction chain, begin- Energy Systems Business Division atPES- growing organicvegetables and fruits, as February 25. Takashi Ogasawara, Power ich 2,000for pad- be reserved hectares will r wiring devices and circuit breakers in Vi- in breakers circuit and devices r wiring province ofNgheAn'sNghiaDanDistrict.province ce, meeting the increasing demand for safe increasing demandforce, the meeting h agricultural project, which will pavethe double its production capacity in FY2020. in FY2020. capacity production its double g a $1.2 billion, 37,000ha hi-tech dairy and hi-tech dairyand 37,000ha billion, a $1.2 g mpany enterprises, as the well as study als (no chemical fertilisers, no chemical fertilisers, als (nochemical cultural projects.Healsocalledonenter- ster TrinhDinhDungsaidthatheappre- sses to rent agricultural land and active- ntion toinvest approximatelyJPY1bil- ovince's VuThuDist uyen HongDiennotedthatthisis the ocessing, packaging and prod- utheast Asia, followingthose t breaker factory, Panasonic ltural Practice (GAP) and and (GAP) Practice ltural 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 48 / 51 48/ 2017 February 28 rict, the VND3tril- BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam sales Beverages leadFMCG Hiep Phuoc IP processing facility in Cau Tre to build food IP plant atPhuHa electronic component Korean firmbuilds Intellasia Hiep-Phuoc-IP.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/52558/Cau- governancecorporateitleading as islooking become a toprocessor food inVietnam. Cau Tre showed awillingness toembrace big deals. Transwell Enterprises Limited, Viet Fund sor. CJCheil Jedang planned toacquir pressed interest inbuyingastake ofnearly Korea's CheilJeda year, South CJ Late last year. time this the f on work Tre said A sourcefromCau pan, the US, and Europe. way to their found products have market, its Established in1983,CauTreunderwent equiti a researchand development centre, Its keyco meters. more than70,000square requirearound atotalwill of The project City. in HCM Park Industrial Phuoc Hiep withIndustrial Hiep Phuoc Joint Park Stock Joint Stoc Export Goods Processing Cau Tre 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY phu-ha-ip-344433.vov http://english.vov.vn/investment/korean- companies. destinationformanyinvestors an attractive and abundant With low-cost labour force, billion. VND1,730 Covering 350ha, Phu HaIP is invested by land. of rent atotalof20ha Thus, Phu HaIZhas so far attracted five IP as their destinations. Phu Ha chose Elpostech Corp, NTVina, and Almus Vina, Jawa like satellites Samsung This is the fifth businesses fromthe Republic tronic componentplant. at Phu Ha Industrial land rent 20,000sq.m Co.Lt C&M the Davo of Samsung, satellite A 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VOV http://vneconomictimes.com/article/bu companies worldwide. company hasexpanded globally andnow oper in and device enterprisesolutions, tomotive, for customers solutions ics technologies and Panasonic Corporation isaworldwide leader inthedevelopment of diverse electron- to theexisting factory inorder to ad of the purchaseare alsoplanstoexploreThere on-year riseof 7.3 percent,volume increase of6 the highest inthreeby a years, driven Phong, Can Tho, NhaTrang and Danang-- salesreportshowsFMCG growthThe insixmajorcities Hanoi, -- HCMCity,Hai FMCG sales. a Nielsen Vietnamreport. Thereport says sumer goods (FMCG) marketsegment in the fo contri tobethebiggest continued Beverages 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | THE SAIGON TIMES DAILY dress anyfurther increase indemand. and amodernfood safety centre. e 47.33 percent e 47.33percent of Tre'sshares Cau from siness/panasonic-ex Korean andtwo Japanese businesses which VND1.2 trillion (US$52.8 firm-builds-electronic-component-plant-at- ood processingcomplexcouldbeginsome- beverages accounted for 40 percent of percent beverages accountedfor40 ng Corporation, aunit of Group, CJ ex- and Song DaCorporation via put-through Viglacera withatotalconstruction cost of mponents include afood processing plant, Park in Phu Thoprovincetobuild an elec- convenient transport, PhuHa has become 50 percent in the Vietnamese food proces- food Vietnamese the in 50percent in electronics, especially Samsung satellite butor to total sales in the fast-moving con- salesinthefast-moving tototal butor bounced backinthe period, with ayear- k Co last Saturday signed anagreement Co to set up a foodprocessing complexat Co tosetup Tre-to-build-food-processing-facility-in- more than30foreign markets, mainly Ja- ofKorea toinvest intheIP. Earlierother dustries. itsfoundingSince in1918, the in the consumer electronics, housing, au- d has signed a contract with Viglacerato with d hassignedacontract investors with strong financesandgood sation in 2006. Apart from the domestic from the Apart in 2006. sation sq m adjacent anareaofapprox.18,000 ates 474 subsidiaries and 94 associated and94associated ates subsidiaries 474 urth quarter of of year, last to urth quarter according pands-in-binh-duong 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 49 / 51 49/ 2017 February 28 million) and cover and million) BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam RoK soar Telephone exportsto Hanoi shopping mallin second Lotte tobuild Intellasia with a department store, a supermarket with and a department store,asupermarket the 7.3hawithin appr span The mall will Group hasnot released any details regarding investment capital. our high-quality services bring demand and begin inthesecondto quarter. "Wehopeto Eom SunWoong, director of Bu mall inHanoi:CiputraHanoiMall. The South Korean conglomerate the Lotte 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VET http://english.thesaigon Anh Dung, director ofretailmeasur and trendsconsumer demandin more about inthe coun consumption tostronger leading More rural consumers had betterInternet access, andhigher income, smartphones rural areas. percent and 51percentoftota respectively, there washigherthaninurbanareas in Oc Rural areas emerged as a new source ofgr co, and 3.2percentin dairy products. food, 9.6percent inpersonalcaregoods, 8. oflastyear thelastquarter In particular, these categories but babycare registered positive growth. dairy goods,householdcare,pe FMCG inVietnam is categorised intoseven gr percent. biggest importer oftelephonesand component The Republic of Koreathe Un (RoK) surpassed 28/FEB/2017 INTELLASIA | VNA hanoi-.html http://www.dtinews.vn/en/news/018/49707/l Stephe said demographics," young and and anexpansiongrowthin consumerretailspending,power, inurban population "The market isbecoming more attractivere published annually byAT Kearney from theUS. marketssince inth emerging retail 2008 tate consultantsJLL. Ithascontinually be a rising is emergingas Vietnam fastest growing in Southeast Asia this year. sales growingbyabout90per centfrom2009 witnessed healthygrowthofapproximately 10 In from TheEconomist Estimates line shopping appsfor iOS and same as in Lotteoutlets and cheaper than other e-commerce sites. It also launched on- Seo Tae Ho, director ofthe Lotte E-commerce Co., said that prices on thesite are the Department Store. luxury as well as Mart Lotte from (FMCG) Co.,thesi bythe Managed Lotte E-commerce market shareinVietnam'se-commerce sector. wi 2016 e-commercesiteinOctober launched an Lotte now covers all retailchannels: supe City. HCM department stores: Lotte Department Stor According toWoong,intermsofretail,Lo Lotte affiliates. times.vn/52550/Beverage retail market within Asia-Pacific, according to real es- rsonal careand babycareproducts,andcigarettes. All Android, targeting mostly women. siness ManagementatLotte, telligence Unit showthat telligence ement services at Nielsen Vietnam.ement servicesatNielsen n Wyatt, Country Head of JLL Vietnam. Wyatt, CountryHeadofJLL n e Global Retail DevelopmentIndex Retail e Global (GRDI) saw growth of an impressive 11.6 percentin impressive of an saw growth en among the world's Top 30 most attractive 30most attractive theworld'sTop en among oximately 200,000 sq m complex, together complex, m sq 200,000 oximately rmarkets, TV sales, onlineandmobile.It rmarkets, TVsales, tober-September 2016 with 7 percent and 6.7 and6.7 7percent with 2016 tober-September e Hanoi and Diamond Department Store in Storeand DiamondDepartment e Hanoi l FMCGrevenues in the country came from owth for manufacturersas sales growth Group has announced asecond shopping 1 percent in home care products andtobac- 1 percentinhomecareproducts cosmetics and fashionitemsfromtheLotte tte hasbeen investing andfocusingontwo cently onthe back of open the shopping mall very soontomeet the shopping open tryside. Therefore, producersshouldlearn otte-to-build-second-shopping-mall-in- a cinema,allto di be te offerste all fast-m to the peopleofHanoi," he added. The oups ofbeverages(includingbeer), food, to 2015.The market isexpected tobethe rural areas to boost sales, said Nguyen Nguyen said sales, areas boost to rural ited ArabEmirates(UAE) to become the s fromVietnam in January,with reve- per cent annually in recent years, with years, inrecent annually cent per th goal a20 th the per cent of staking out s-lead-FMCG-sales.html Vietnam's retail market has Vietnam's retailmarket said that constructionis oving consumer goods a rise inpurchasing a 28 February2017 28 rectly operated by 28 February 2017 50 / 51 50/ 2017 February 28 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam Intellasia End http://en.vietnamplus.vn/teleph and million K Hong (144.8 USD) include the US (with206.8 million oftur Aside fromtheRoK and theUAE, majormark periodlastyear. to thesame product ofVietnamwithtotal turnover of2. an 2017, telephones the endofJanuary At resenting adeclineof37.4percent. UAE fell from 365 million USD inJanuary 2 phones to37 countries andterritories inJa According tothe general Department of nue ofnearly 230 millionUSD, aye one-exports-to-rok-soar/107920.vnp ong, China (112.3 millionUSD). ar-on-year surge of 107.7 percent. ar-on-year surgeof107.7 nover), Austria (163.3 million USD), Italy million Italy (163.3 USD), nover), Austria Vietnam Customs, Vietnamshipped tele- d components remaintheleadingexport nuary. Vietnam's tothe telephoneexports 3 billion USD, rising 2.6 percent compared percent rising2.6 3 billionUSD, 016 to 228.5 million USD this January, rep- January, this USD million 228.5 to 016 ets ofVietnam's telephones inJanuary 28 February2017 28 28 February 2017 51 / 51 51/ 2017 February 28