Bad debt settlement company launched today

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) officially announced the establishment of the  Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) today, July 26, with registered capital of VND500 billion (USD23.76 million).

The company's headquarters will be 22 Hang Voi in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem District, however, it will be temporarily located at the SBV’s Banking Inspection and Supervision Agency at Tay Ho District until the end of this year.

VAMC mission is to purchase bad debts from financial institutions, provide debt restructuring and guarantee continued operations of enterprises, organisations and individuals through guaranteed loans.

Financial institutions that have bad debt rates of at or over 3% of their total outstanding loans will have the option to sell their bad debts to VAMC.

VAMC was set up as a non-profit organisation with the purpose of restructuring credit institutions and improving the economy. Collateralised debt held by VAMC will be exempt from taxes, according to the NA Finance and Budget Committee.

VAMC’s management structure consists of members council, a board of directors and a board of controllers.

Dang Thanh Binh, Deputy SBV Governor, has been appointed as chairman of the company’s Members Council and Nguyen Huu Thuy, of the SBV’s Banking Inspection and Supervision Agency will act as VAMC’s general director.

VAMC is expected to help deal with between VND80 and VND100 trillion (USD3.8 billion- USD4.75 billion) worth of bad debts, accounting for between 20% and 40% of total bad debt in the country per year.

It is estimated that the company's annual revenues will be between VND60 billion and VND160 billion (USD2.85 million – USD7.6 million), which is expected to be enough to cover its business costs.

Tax policy changes hit plastic industry

Recent tax regulations of the Ministry of Finance such as an increase in import tax on materials and changes in tax payment and tax grace duration for material imports are striking companies in the plastic industry.

The Vietnam Plastic Association (VPA) said it had petitioned the ministry to reconsider a plan to increase import tax for polypropylene (PP) material to 3% from the current 0%.

Local companies only turn out a combined 150,000 tons of this material annually while the domestic demand is 750,000 tons a year, forcing the industry to import 600,000 tons of PP to make up for the shortfall, VPA said.

With the import price of some US$1,500 a ton, plastic enterprises will have to pay an extra VND500 billion to import the same material volume when the tax rate is raised to 3%.

The ministry publicized the tax rate increase plan on May 10 this year. According to the ministry, the tax adjustment imposed on PP, benzene and paraxylene is to protect and encourage the domestic production of these products. With the tax revision, the Government does not have to offset prices for Binh Son and Nghi Son companies from 2013 when their plants were commissioned.

The plastic industry has also been hit by the amended and supplemented Law on Tax Management coming into force on July 1. The new law changes tax payment and tax grace duration for importation of commodities, thus discouraging producers in the sector.

Under the revised regulations, goods that are imported as feedstock for export processing are subject to a tax payment within a maximum of 275 days. Therefore, for material import shipments out of this category, companies must pay tax before having the shipments cleared or having the goods released, instead of being allowed to do clearance procedures prior to tax payment as before.

An importer complained that it had to pay VND100 million in tax for a shipment worth VND1 billion so that it could have it cleared by the customs.

The plastic industry posted total export value of some US$1 billion in the first six months of the year, up 9.3% year-on-year, VPA reports.

Plastic products contributed a combined US$851 million, growing 11.5% year-on-year. The low export growth is ascribed to the slackened demand of the nation’s major importers like Japan, the U.S. and Germany.

PV Gas posts hefty profit

PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV Gas) has released a January-June earnings report that shows an impressive profit of more than VND7.7 trillion.

In the first half, the nation’s largest gas supplier gained over VND29.2 trillion in revenue, 9% above target. This positive result is attributed to higher-than-expected production and consumption.

In the period, PV Gas produced more than 5.16 billion cubic meters of dry gas, 17% higher than planned and 8% more than the same period last year. Its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) output reached 467,700 tons, 2% above target.

In total, PV Gas launched some 589,300 tons of LPG into the market, with over 460,300 tons for local sale, securing market share of over 72%.

The firm achieved a pre-tax profit of more than VND7.7 trillion, 65% higher than its target for the first six months, up 28% year-on-year. Its six-month net profit is put at over VND6.2 trillion, 63% higher than targeted and up 27% over the same period last year.

PV Gas said its LPG sales had been considerably affected by the falling LPG price since January and reduced production at Dung Quat Oil Refinery.

However, thanks to stable operations of three other gas suppliers – Cuu Long, Nam Con Son and PM3-Ca Mau, as well as high gas demand of household users, PV Gas beat its targets for gas output and sales in the first six months.

Another gas company that has reported profit for the second quarter and the first six months is PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution Joint Stock Company (PGD).

Its financial statement put its revenue at VND1.64 trillion in the second quarter, an increase of 1.48% over the same period last year. Its January-June revenue was nearly VND3.05 trillion, up 15% year-on-year.

Due to rising costs, PGD’s gross profit declined against the same period last year, at over VND158 billion last quarter and nearly VND281 billion in the first half.

Its after-tax profit totaled more than VND81.4 billion in the second quarter, down 71% from VND284.8 billion in the same period last year. The first six months saw its net profit slipping to VND142 billion from VND383 billion in the year-ago period.

Even so, this result is 11% higher than its target for the whole year, VND129.45 billion.

PGD ascribed the drop in its second-quarter and six-month profits to a 7.37% year-on-year pickup in the average gas buying price last quarter, which could not be offset by a 6.32% rise in the average selling price.

Its operation costs also surged against last year as the company started work on a project for low pressure gas supply to Tien Hai Industrial Park in Thai Binh.

Earlier, CNG Vietnam Joint Stock Company reported a profit of over 37.6 billion in the second quarter and VND66.1 billion in the first six months, up slightly year-on-year and reaching 54.8% of its target for the whole year (VND120.56 billion).

PetroVietnam Southern Gas Joint Stock Company has not published its financial statement yet, but asserted that its revenue and profit in the first six months exceeded the 2013 targets.

Phu Quoc needs special mechanism for takeoff

A special development mechanism is being sought for Kien Giang Province’s Phu Quoc Island, a beautiful beach hideaway, to achieve higher tourism growth.

At a meeting held last week to discuss the matter, delegates made proposals such as offering distinctive policies and solutions to help Phu Quoc grow.

As the biggest island in Vietnam, Phu Quoc has a great platform as well as perfect location and has the advantage of air and sea transport with countries in the region and the world.

However, due to a low starting point, limited human resources, poor infrastructure, inconsistent policies and unsuitable governance methods, Phu Quoc’s investment attraction and development have been impeded.

Therefore, it is necessary to offer a distinctive mechanism and policy suitable for Phu Quoc to remove the aforementioned problems and accelerate the overall development.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh said that ministries, agencies and Kien Giang Province needed to find a model in which Phu Quoc would be developed into a special administration and economic region, and present it to central authorities for approval.

Five fruits chosen for off-season growing in the south

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved the plan for farming 12 key fruits in the southern region, with five of them set for off-season growing.

The 12 key fruits will be grown in 257,000 hectares, or 52% of the total fruit cultivation area in the south until 2020. Five of them, namely mango, dragon fruit, rambutan, durian and longan, will be grown for off-season fruits from October to March or April of the following year, says Decision 1648/QD-BNN-TT of the agriculture ministry.

This decision was issued in response to Decision 899/QD-TTg of the Government on the scheme for agricultural restructuring to achieve higher added value and sustainable development.

The decision aims to develop the key fruit growing industry in the south with large-scale production by promoting the comparative advantage and improving the competitiveness of many southern fruits at home and abroad.

The key fruits are those with strong export performances in recent years, said Vietnam Fruit Association (Vinafruit).

Nguyen Minh Chau, director of Southern Fruit Research Institute, said a number of high-quality fruits grown in the south had been accepted by many markets.

E-tax service to spread wings farther

The General Department of Taxation will enable up to 1,000 enterprises in five provinces – Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Ninh, Dong Nai and Nghe An - to pay their tax online by the end of this year.

The move follows the success of a recent pilot programme where 100 Hanoi-based enterprises used an online tax or "e-tax" service to pay tax.

Three commercial banks, including the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) and the Military Bank will work with the General Department of Taxation (GDT) to offer the e-tax payment service.

According to the GDT's Information Technology Department, the project aims to simplify tax procedures.

Up to 250,000 firms have already submitted their declarations online.

The Department looks to have all the commercial banks participating in the provision of e-tax by 2015.

The Head of the Hanoi Taxation Department said over 100 enterprises in the city had used the e-tax service, processing up to 541 transactions worth 683.7 million VND (32,500 USD) in 2012.

The new service will enable up to 150 bank branches to collect tax payments, in addition to the 37 State Treasury offices.

Plans are being developed to allow tax payments to be made at automatic teller machines (ATMs).-

HCM City to boost tax collection from stake transfer, online sales

The HCMC Department of Taxation will increase collection of tax arrears from non-traditional sources such as stake transfer and online sales in an attempt to achieve the tax revenue target allocated to the city.

“We will tap even the slightest revenue sources,” said Nguyen Dinh Tan, director of the department, at a web conference on taxation last Friday.

Collecting tax arrears from transfer of stake, copyright and trademark, along with online sales, is a move to ensure fairness for those who fully pay taxes, said Tan. He admitted his department had been collecting taxes from the above sources in an efficient way.

The taxation department has many difficulties gathering information for tax collection from the activities mentioned above.

For example, it finds it hard to collect taxes from the businesses receiving online payments via international cards or those located in foreign countries. The department has summoned them for meetings, but not so many have shown up.

As for stake transfer between unlisted companies, the taxation department does not have any information and has to contact the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment to update the changes in shareholders and collect tax arrears on that basis.

The department proposed the General Department of Taxation organize roundtables on how to collect taxes from the aforementioned sources.

Artists are another subject of attention of the taxation department with its determination to fully collect tax arrears.

Due to the lack of information, the department has to collect a list of 1,500 permits for performances at home and abroad granted by the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism since 2010 and gather information on performance schedules from personal websites and advertisements. If such information does not match the personal income tax declarations of artists, the department will have them declare again and supplement their tax payments.

Talking to the Daily, Tan stressed it would be difficult for HCMC to meet the tax revenue target assigned by the General Department of Taxation in the context of economic woes.

“Newly-established firms can hardly have taxable incomes, while many of those having operated for years have shut down, affecting not only such businesses but also the income of a lot of workers, and certainly leaving an impact on tax revenue,” he said.

Not asking for a lower tax revenue target, the HCMC taxation department just proposed the General Department of Taxation change the tax revenue profile, raising the target for tax revenue from crude oil and lowering the target for revenue from other domestic sources.

HCMC has been assigned with a target for VND22.7 trillion in tax revenue from crude oil, only 56% of the amount in 2012. Meanwhile, the target for tax revenue from businesses has increased higher.

However, businesses are now mired in troubles with high inventory and slow consumption, which greatly affects tax revenue from this source, Tan said.

At the conference, the General Department of Taxation revealed tax collection in the first six months totaled some VND291.6 trillion, meeting 45.2% of the estimate and up 4.2% year-on-year.

Tax revenue from domestic sources increased over the same period in 2012, but compared to the same period in the past three years, the pace and the growth rate were the lowest this year.

Tax collection in 32 cities and provinces stayed below 48% of the estimate, including major localities like Hanoi, HCMC, Haiphong and Thua Thien Hue. Tax debt by the end of June had reached VND64.6 trillion, up 32% year-on-year, with 13.2% rated as doubtful, an increase of 28.3% over the same period in 2012.

PPF Vietnam provides VND2.3-tril. consumer loans

PPF Vietnam Finance Company Limited through Home Credit brand disbursed over VND2.3 trillion worth of consumer loans for customers in the first half of 2013, a 76% year-on-year surge.

By late June, nearly one million customers reached the company to take out loans for motorbike and home appliance purchase. The enterprise also expanded its network to over 2,900 sale points in 58 cities and provinces nationwide.

PPF Vietnam expects to reach total outstanding loan of over VND6 trillion by the end of this year.

Friedrich Weiss, general director of  PPF Vietnam, in a statement released on Monday said that the consumer credit market is growing in Vietnam with strong potential.

Consumer credit currently accounts  for 5-6% of gross domestic product (GDP). In the next five years, the ratio may rise to 10% of GDP given economic recovery, rising income per capita and strong urbanization, Weiss said.

Since commencing operations in 2009, PPF Vietnam with Home Credit brand  has provided loans for bike and electronic appliance purchase or cash demands.

Confidence buildup may save troubled market

As trust is considered one of the crucial elements helping prop up the protracted dreary real estate market, local property developers are seeking ways to obtain it to draw customers back to them.

In an advertisement column of multiple newspapers, a high-class apartment project in HCMC’s District 2 posts a slogan: “You - The only thing we are lacking”.

The slogan is right in the sense that the project has finished construction of all related components, from apartments, infrastructure, greenery space to a supermarket and it has even completed issuing the ownership certificates for homebuyers but it is still unable to lure homebuyers. This is also what many other projects are looking for.

Instead of waiting for the market’s recovery, a few project owners have managed to find solutions themselves because no one can bring back the confidence to the market but them.

The Hung Phat apartment project on Le Van Luong and Dao Su Tich streets in Saigon South is an example. After a long time of construction interruption, project owner Hung Loc Phat Construction and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. has resumed work on the project with a new image via a construction commitment.

Nguyen Du Luc, director of the company, said his firm is showing customers a written commitment promising to deliver homes in the second quarter next year. If failing to keep the promise, Hung Loc Phat will be subject to a sanction based on a total money volume paid by customers at an annual interest rate of 25%.

Besides, if the handover is six months behind schedule, homebuyers will have the right to return the apartment and get back all the money they pay along with a fine for late delivery.

Luc deemed this as a way in which the project owner proves its capacity of carrying out the project in the context that numerous housing developments cannot be completed and handed over to customers on time given financial constraints. Furthermore, the project targets those in dire need of housing.

The housing scheme comprises of 358 units measuring from 56 to 97 square meters each and offered at some VND14.7 million per square meter, or about VND1 billion a unit. Homebuyers just need to make a down payment of 60% of the home value to take over it with a full set of interior furnishing items.

With the construction pace commitment and the reasonable prices and payment policy, the project has seen a positive sales result since earlier this month. Up to 80 units were sold among 100 units on offer, according to Nam Viet Real Estate Joint Stock Company as the brokering firm.

Similarly, the developer of the Sky Garden project in Hanoi City’s Hoang Mai District has come up with the idea of installing cameras at the scheme so that customers can monitor its construction anytime they want. The scheme with 360 units covering 89-124 square meters each will be delivered at the end of next year.

Four cases to enjoy tax payment extension

The Government recently issued a Decree to detail the implementation of the Law on Tax Management (amended).

Under the newly-approved decree, tax agencies will consider the extension if tax payers belong to one of the following cases:

Firstly, suffering from material damages caused by natural disasters, fires and unexpected accidents which directly affect business and production;

Accordingly, material damages to machines, equipment, means, materials, commodities, factories, working places, cash, and valuable papers shall be taken into account.

In the first case, tax payment shall be extended for the maximum of two years.

Secondly, halting operations due to the relocation of production and business establishments as required by State agencies.

Thirdly, having yet gotten refund of capital construction as stipulated in the State budget estimate;

Fourthly, being unable to pay tax on time in case materials are imported to serve the production and storage period which lasts over 275 days and other special difficult cases.  

For the last three cases, time of tax payment cancellation is less than one year since the day of tax payment deadline.

The Decree will take effect on September 15, 2013./.

Phuc Long IP transfers land to tenants

Transferring land to local customers rather than leasing it out on an annual basis is a measure adopted by Phuc Long Company to attract tenants to its own industrial park (IP) in Ben Luc Town in the Mekong Delta province of Long An.

Mai Tri Hieu, director of Phuc Long IP, said his park is one of a few that transfer land use rights to local corporate tenants, while foreign investors in the park still have to sign a land lease with the company. The offered leasing price ranges from VND1.6 million to VND1.9 million per square meter, or US$75-90, for a duration of 50 years.

Located along National Highway 1A, Phuc Long IP covers some 80 hectares and costs VND625 billion. The project started construction in 2009 and came into operation in April 2012.

Seven local and foreign investors will build their factories in the park, including Russian, Japanese and South Korean firms, Hieu said.

There are a total of some 28 IPs in Long An, and 16 of them are already active with average occupancy of 44%, according to the province. They are home to about 750 enterprises with total registered capital of around US$1.6 billion and VND25 trillion.

Vietnamese consumer confidence remains stable in second quarter

Nielsen Holdings N.V, a global information and measurement company, today announced The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions showing that Vietnamese consumer confidence is still stable in the second quarter of this year.

According to the survey, Vietnam consumer confidence index dips one percentage point from the first quarter 2013 to 95 in this quarter, after significantly jumping 6 points in the beginning of the year. This number is higher than the global average at 94 but remains lower than the regional benchmark at 105.

Forty-two per cent of Vietnamese respondents stated their local job prospects to be good or excellent in second quarter 2013, unchanged since the previous quarter and lower than the regional average of 61 per cent.

Displaying signs of concern about future financial security, less than half, 48 per cent, of Vietnamese had a positive financial outlook, down 6 points compared to the first quarter 2013, taking the score below the regional average at 61 per cent.

Though many Vietnamese consumers are concerned about the future financial security, more than one third of them are still willing to spend their spare cash on holidays.

New technology also holds strong appeal for Vietnamese consumers as one third are spending their spare cash on new technology products.

IPC wants to build logistics complex in city

Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Company (IPC) has forwarded to the HCMC government a project to construct a logistics complex in the outlying district of Nha Be, an executive of the firm said.

The 153-hectare logistics area at Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park (IP) would handle cargo from ships with a loading capacity of more than 30,000 DWT, which enter Hiep Phuoc port through the Soai Rap River, said Doan Hong Tam, general director of Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park Joint Stock Company (HIPC), a unit of IPC. The Soai Rap River is being dredged under a project set for completion in the middle of next year.

As earlier approved, the logistics area would be developed in the third phase of Hiep Phuoc IP on a total area of nearly 400 hectares, Tam said. However, the city’s government recently asked IPC to rapidly develop the facility first on 153 hectares of over 600 hectares of Hiep Phuoc IP’s second phase to serve huge vessels coming to Hiep Phuoc port.

The facility’s infrastructure would be constructed in parallel with the construction of infrastructure in Hiep Phuoc IP’s second phase for completion at the end of next year before being improved in the following seven years, Tam said. Still, he declined to elaborate on the investment cost of the project which is being weighed by the local government.

The second phase of Hiep Phuoc IP would attract manufacturing and seaport services industries using high and environmentally friendly technologies. It will also target producers of high-class building materials, precision engineering, machinery, electronic devices, and those serving sea vessels and providing warehousing services among others.

According to Tam, HIPC is preparing infrastructure to woo small Japanese investors in the precision engineering sector to Hiep Phuoc IP in the second phase. The first phase of the park, covering about 310 hectares, has attracted a total of 98 companies that employ nearly 9,000 workers.

Expansion proposed for Bien Hoa bypass

The southern province of Dong Nai has proposed the Ministry of Transport approve widening a stretch of National Highway 1 bypassing its Bien Hoa City from four to six lanes.

Work on the 12.2km bypass project is underway but at a slow pace caused by land clearance problems.

Dong Thuan Investment Joint Stock Company, the project’s investor, said the proposed widening of the bypass would need an additional investment of around VND75 billion and that it would take one more month to complete the bypass.

However, over 200 households have not agreed to relocate to make room for the project.

Nguyen Van Khang, director of the firm, said that due to slow site clearance, his company would not be able to finish the project on schedule, resulting in extra management and construction costs.

The provincial government has recently instructed relevant authorities to hand over the remaining land to the investor this October. However, according to the investor, even if land was made ready, the Bien Hoa bypass would not be up and running by early next year.

Carried out under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, the Bien Hoa bypass starts from Tra Co Church in Trang Bom District and links to National Highway 51 in Bien Hoa City.

The bypass needs VND751 billion for construction and resettlement in two areas. If the proposed widening was approved, the cost would rise by an additional VND75 billion.

Kicked off in July 2010, the project was originally expected to be complete within 27 months but has already fallen behind schedule. The period permitted for toll collection would be 23 years and 11 months after the bypass is opened to traffic.

According to the Dong Nai government, the Bien Hoa bypass will help ease traffic congestion in Bien Hoa City, and spur economic growth in the province.

Work starts on VND5-trillion children hospital

The HCMC Children’s Hospital project started construction in Tan Kien and Tan Nhut communes in the outlying district of Binh Chanh on Monday at a total cost of VND5 trillion after seven years of construction delay.

At the ground-breaking ceremony of the project on Monday, Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the city’s Health Department, said the 12.4-hectare hospital is the first medical scheme in the hi-tech medical zone covering 54 hectares in Binh Chanh for the city.

“The cost of leveling the space and building the hospital is VND2.5 trillion, while investment in medical examination and treatment equipment requires another VND2.5 trillion. The Children’s Hospital will come into operation as the most modern general hospital nationwide at the end of 2015, helping to ease the chronic overload at Children’s Hospital 1 and Children’s Hospital 2,” Binh said.

The project, which is designed by a South Korean consulting firm, has eight levels and two basements with 1,000 beds with total floor area of 24,940 square meters. It comprises of a general medical examination area and wards for inpatient and outpatient treatment equipped with medical, non-clinical and functional technologies.

The ground leveling for the hospital will be completed in the next quarter by Chau Phat Co. Ltd at a cost of VND58.8 billion. The Civil Works Construction Investment Management Authority under the city’s health department is the project owner.

HCMC Vice Chairman Hua Ngoc Thuan said that from the end of 2013, other general hospitals in the city will set up children’s medical examination and treatment wards to offer better treatment services for children.

“The policy of the city’s leaders is that hospitals will join forces to ease the overload at Children’s Hospital 1 and Children’s Hospital 2. In the future, these two hospitals will focus on curing serious and specialized cases only,” Thuan said.

The Children’s Hospital in Binh Chanh will receive children from the Mekong Delta provinces while Children’s Hospital 1 and Children’s Hospital 2 will treat patients in HCMC and the southeastern region in the future, he added.

The local government in 2007 entrusted the health department to map out a zoning plan of the 1/2,000 scale for the entire 54-hectare medical zone in Binh Chanh to construct hospitals and medical universities at the city’s western gateway. The medical zone is designed with an aim of attracting patients from the Mekong Delta to help ease the chronic hospital overload in the city center.

The medical zone includes  a 12.4-hectare Children’s Hospital, a 2.6-hectare Hematology and Blood Transfusion Hospital, a 5-hectare Binh Dan Hospital 2, a 3-hectare Heart Hospital and a 10-hectare medical university among others.

Under the zoning plan for its medical networks by 2020 with a vision to 2025, the city will construct four hospital zones in the four gateways. For instance, large-scale hospitals with a combined 8,200 beds will be developed in the eastern gateway in Thu Duc and districts 2 and 9. For instance, work on the Tumor Hospital 2 project will start in District 9 at the end of September with total investment of some VND5 trillion.

Similarly, hospitals with 9,300 beds in total will be constructed to the west in Binh Chanh District, hospitals with 5,000 beds in the south in Nha Be, Can Gio and District 7, and hospitals with around 9,000 beds in the north in Cu Chi, Hoc Mon and District 12.

The project owner of these projects is also the health department’s Civil Works Construction Investment Management Authority.

HSBC says further rate cuts unlikely

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is unlikely to lower rates further after such a move last week due to rising inflationary pressures, according to HSBC Global Research.

HSBC Global Research explained in its report dated July 19 that inflationary pressures had elevated due to the recent fuel price hike, potential rise in public service costs and cost pressures caused by the recent dong devaluation.

Fuel retail prices increased again in Vietnam last week, the third time in just more than one month, hitting a record high of over VND24,570 per liter of petrol and VND22,310 a liter of diesel oil.

In late June, the central bank raised the inter-bank exchange rate of Vietnam dong from VND20,828 to VND21,036 to the dollar. As the average inter-bank exchange rate had been kept unchanged for one and a half years, this adjustment is aimed to better reflect foreign currency supply and demand, thus stabilizing the foreign exchange market.

Interest rate for terms less than one month on the interbank market on Monday was still high, at 5.5%-6% while the rates were a bit lower at longer terms, suggesting that banks were in a need of short-term capital.

The dong weakness coupled with higher fuel costs suggests headline inflation will likely surge to 7.1% year-on-year in July from 6.7% in June, says HSBC Global Research in the report.

The good thing is dampened domestic demand and a favorable base effect may push inflation lower towards the end of the third quarter. Yet, upside risks to inflation remain.

The Government may be motivated to raise public service costs given the weak budget revenue.

Commodity prices may increase due to an expected acceleration of global growth in the final quarter. Therefore, further rate reductions will likely stoke up inflationary pressures, the bank said.

“With core inflation in the double-digits and headline inflation expected to accelerate in July, the SBV has limited room to cut rates further. We expect rates to stay steady, if not move higher, from now on,” the report says.

In the report, HSBC remarks the SBV was trying to ease liquidity conditions by reducing interest rates.

The SBV last Friday lowered  the open market operation (OMO) rate by 50 basis points, from 6% to 5.5%. In the year to date, the rate has been brought down by a cumulative 150 basis points, from 7% at end-2012.

The latest OMO rate cut is likely intended to ease the liquidity crunch, which caused overnight interest rates to rise to its highest level this year, HSBC Global Research suggests. Due to limited liquidity, overnight interest rates have shot up in recent days and hit the record high.

“We believe today’s move is rather reactionary to recent credit conditions and rates are unlikely to be lowered further. With a rising interest rate environment globally, the lowering of the OMO rate could trigger outflows, further exacerbating the liquidity crunch, and possibly push term rates higher,” says HSBC Global Research.

The OMO offer volume may ease some of the liquidity squeeze, but it will hardly solve the fundamental issues surrounding Vietnam’s meager credit growth, according to the report.

Restriction on capital advance for road contractors

The capital advance for contractors of traffic projects must not exceed 30% of the annual capital allocation plan for these projects to prevent capital construction debt from surging, says the Ministry of Transport in a document issued last Thursday.

Owners of the traffic projects financed by the State budget and government bonds and the agencies in charge of such projects should only do the work whose costs can be covered by the funds allocated to them in 2013.

In case of capital advance, contractors can be given a maximum sum of only 30% of the annual capital allocation plan for the projects. If the plan had been adjusted and the sum given in advance exceeds 30% of this plan, the project owners should recover part of the advanced sum.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong told the Daily that the ministry was striving to settle its capital construction debt to contractors of completed and operational projects.

He said the transport ministry next week would reveal the figure of capital construction debt in the transport industry. Although the figure has not been unveiled, it is presumably quite large.

In a report on six-month operation review, the transport ministry stated  its main task in the second half of the  year was to deal with the capital construction debt to contractors of the projects  run by the ministry.

Earlier this month, the Government requested ministries and localities to focus on tackling capital construction debt owed to contractors who have used their own capital to execute projects to be reimbursed later.

During this year, the Government has asked ministries and localities to prioritize their funds for capital construction debt settlement. Prior to May 20 every year, at least 30% of the capital construction debt must be resolved.

As of end-2012, capital construction debt in 63 cities and provinces had totaled more than VND91 trillion, including  over VND25 trillion owed to finished projects, according to a report by the Ministry of Finance.

KTG Land offers “no loss” leasing term for unit’s owners

KTG Land – the investor of Fusion Suites Danang Beach, a residential project located on the shore of Danang beach, last week introduced the project to Hanoi customers with a “no loss” leasing programme for the first three years of the unit’s operation.

“With the breakthrough commitment to this, KTG is totally confident in its ability and strength despite the first three year duration traditionally being the most difficult for any leasing projects,” the company said in its statement at the project’s launch event.

Located in the north of Danang beach, close to the city centre and Son Tra peninsula, Fusion Suites Danang Beach includes a 21-storey tower, of which 17 floors are reserved for apartments, two floors for penthouses and two others for restaurants and other facilities.

The apartments at Fusion Suites Danang Beach are divided into four categories, including 36 studio apartments (38 square metres each), 52 deluxe units (60 square metres) and 34 corner units (67 square metres).

The project has been attracting a lot of attention as it presents an opportunity for investors to own an ocean looking unit operated by a well known developer. The Fusion brand apartments’ price is also attracting attention, starting at a very reasonable VND1.3 billion per unit.

Known for their Fusion Maia resort, Serenity Holding, the owner of the Fusion brand has applied their knowledge of innovative hospitality services to the project to generate stable revenue source for customers.

From the initial sale in April this year, interest in the project exceeded expectations.

By May, about 35 per cent of the project's apartments had been sold. Currently the second floor of the project is under construction.

The building’s frame is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013. The building will officially be put into operation in the first quarter of 2014.

Due to the good building progress running parallel to positive sales, HD Bank has committed to offer financial support programmes with loans up to 70 per cent of the contract value. The programme gives owners a flexible payment method and greatly reduces financial pressure during the construction and development of the project.

KTG Land intends to greatly increase its investment in Vietnam, focusing on financing of high-yield real estate projects and leisure facilities.

The company is currently investing in five distinct lifestyle properties located throughout prime locations in Vietnam with total investment capital of approximately $20 million.

Jan-Jun sees 12% growth in domestic travel

The number of people who took domestic tours in the first half of the year grew 12% year-on-year to 24 million, according to estimates by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

VNAT said outbound travel demand had slackened in recent years, but demand for local tourism had steadily grown.

In 2010, 28 million people took domestic tours, and the figure increased by two million a year later and to 32.5 million in 2012. In many provinces, the domestic travel segment makes considerable contributions to the tourism industry.

Numerous tour operators in HCMC have confirmed the trend.

Local travelers prefer short-haul tours, which last three to five days, to save cost. The number of individual customers surged in the period; they cared more about prices and tour quality as well.

“Local tourists often opt for discounted or promotional tours arranged in conjunction with air carriers because the quality of travel and hotel services remains unchanged,” said Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing manager of Saigontourist Travel Service Company.

Saigontourist said the number of individual buyers of its local tours had edged up some 15% annually in the last five years while growth in groups of customers had been lower.

Similarly, Tran Xuan Hung, director of Viking Travel, noted consumers were inclined to choose long-distance luxury tours in the past but as their incomes were shrinking due to the country’s protracted economic woes, they were currently shifting to short-haul tours with more affordable prices.

Jetstar offers regular Hanoi-Nha Trang flights

Low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific  will operate regular flights connecting Hanoi with Khanh Hoa Province’s Nha Trang City from this September with one flight per day instead of offering only summer flights like before.

According to Jetstar Pacific, instead of providing Hanoi-Nha Trang flights during summer as the peak travel time, it will  operate regular flights on the route from September 1.

The carrier on Monday started to sell promotional tickets for all air routes with flights departing between September 10 and November 28.

The promotional airfares start from VND279,000 for HCMC-Buon Ma Thuot flights, VND549,000 for Buon Ma Thuot-Vinh flights, VND449,000 for HCMC-Danang flights, VND499,000 for Hanoi-Danang flights, VND749,000 for HCMC-Haiphong and HCMC-Vinh flights, VND779,000 for HCMC-Hanoi flights and VND849,000 for Hanoi-Cam Ranh flights.

Promotional tickets are sold at www.jetstar.com and applicable for online payments.

Vietnam wood products lauded for quality, price

Vietnamese wood products have gained praise for quality, design and competitive prices, said James Koh, presidential advisor of the Singapore Furniture Industries Council.

Speaking at an introduction in HCMC last week of the International Furniture Fair Singapore 2014/31st ASEAN Furniture Show (IFFS/AFS 2014), Koh said Vietnamese firms had joined the event for the past 10 years and that their products had won the confidence of international clients.

Regular Vietnamese attendants at the IFFS/AFS event have won many orders, Koh said. The IFFS/AFS 2013 took place in March, with 26 Vietnamese enterprises displaying their products on 1,000 square meters. These firms obtained positive results.

According to PNY Investment & Trade Service Company, who sent local enterprises to the IFFS/AFS 2013, local firms reached out to 145 international clients with their orders amounting to over US$2 million. Some clients signed more contracts with Vietnamese firms thereafter.

The organizing committee of the IFFS/AFS 2014, which will take place from March 13-16, 2014, said that more than half of the Vietnamese firms present at this year’s event had put their names down to join next year’s edition.

To encourage more Vietnamese firms to join the event, PNY Company, a representative of the IFFS organizing committee in Vietnam, said that enterprises would enjoy booth rent discounts, join the common booth Vietnam Pavilion and receive other incentives.

The IFFS 2013 featured a total of 466 exhibitors from 26 countries, and attracted 20,000 clients from 102 countries and 118 big groups.

Agriculture ministry wages war against sturgeon smuggling

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has written to the ministries of public security, defense, finance and industry-trade among others seeking support for a fight against illegal sturgeon imports into the country.

The agriculture ministry needs help to thwart the illegal import of animals in the list of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), including sturgeon.

The ministry has no other choice but to resort to this tough measure as a considerable volume of Chinese sturgeon has been flown into Vietnam via illegal import channels or legalization by sturgeon farming areas in the north of the country.

Like other species in the list of CITES, Chinese sturgeon must be licensed by CITES Vietnam and CITES China before being imported into Vietnam, a CITES Vietnam representative told the Daily.

The representative admitted his agency so far has only issued certificates to companies importing sturgeon eggs or breeder sturgeon and that no enterprises have asked his agency for a license for commercial sturgeon imports from China. As such, Chinese sturgeon on sale in the local market at the moment is illegal.

The agriculture ministry also requests Vietnam Airlines to transport sturgeon with legal origin. That is because a large volume of sturgeon has reportedly been transported by air from Hanoi to HCMC for sale recently. Some even suggested that the ministry’s Department for Animal Health set up a quarantine checkpoint at Tan Son Nhat International Airport to prevent sturgeon smuggling.

However, Nguyen Van Binh, director of the Department for Animal Health for Zone 6 which has an office in HCMC, argued it is unnecessary to do so. Binh ascribed his viewpoint to the fact that domestic animal transport, including transporting sturgeon, isn’t subject to veterinary safety certification in line with the prevalent law.

Relating to sturgeon smuggling, after local media reported that sturgeon imported illegally from China was on sale at local supermarkets, market monitoring officers of a province set up an inspection team. One of the supermarkets inspected presented a certificate showing its sturgeon purchase from a local fish farming company but the enterprise denied the information, saying it only sold sturgeon to the supermarket from 2010 to 2011. No sturgeon was sold to the supermarket in 2012, the firm insisted in a report to the agriculture ministry not long after the incident.

Chinese traders buy overgrown pigs from locals

Chinese traders have resumed purchase of Vietnamese pigs but they only need fat pigs weighing over 100 kilos each, which has helped increase live pig prices slightly, said Nguyen Tri Cong, chairman of the Dong Nai Livestock Association.

Compared to two weeks ago, live pig prices in the southeastern region inched up slightly from VND39,000 to VN41,000 a kilo. With the return of Chinese traders now, local pig prices have always been affected by buying demand from China over the past three years.

The livestock association of  Dong Nai, which has the country’s biggest pig herd, expects the price to be stable instead of vigorously fluctuating like before.

Chinese traders have resumed Vietnamese pig purchase but their demand is still low, lifting live pig prices by some VND2,000-3,000 a kilo from a fortnight ago, Cong informed.

He however is worried that farmers will seek to raise pigs longer so as to make them weigh more than 100 kilos each for sale to China and once the neighboring market stops pig purchasing, farmers will be unable to sell the product at home as domestic consumers prefer lean pigs.

However, Cong also admitted a rise in pig prices is good news to farmers in the context that they have kept suffering losses owing to low prices over the past time. He expected pig prices to continue to surge in the near future and stay stable rather than increasing sharply within weeks but then dropping to the production cost level later.

Prices of old pigs weighing over 100 kilos fell to this year’s lowest level over four months ago, at a mere VND33,000-34,000 a kilo, which is ascribed to a halt in China’s purchase dragging down local prices.

Tra fish farmers hit by falling prices

Tra fish farmers in the Mekong Delta are struggling with multiple difficulties as fish prices are plunging to the bottom.

Currently, export-qualified tra fish, weighing 0.8-1 kilo each, sells for VND19,000-19,500 per kilo if payments are made one or two months after purchase. In case of immediate payments, prices are VND18,000-18,500 a kilo.

With such prices, the lowest in about 3-4 years, farmers incur a loss of VND3,500-5,000 from each kilo sold.

Nguyen Van Tach, a tra fish farmer in Chau Phu District, An Giang, said: “Prices are too low now. Moreover, it’s extremely hard to receive payments. Therefore, a lot of farmers have quitted.”

“I’ve sold 117 tons of tra fish at VND20,700 a kilo, but so far haven’t got full payments,” he said.

Giving explanation for declining tra fish prices, experts said many enterprises now could produce their own fish and thus farmers were forced to sell their fish cheaply.

However, farmers stressed enterprises could not provide themselves with enough tra fish for processing and export and still had to buy fish from farmers.

Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that after the U.S. had increased antidumping duties on Vietnamese tra fish, only nine companies enjoyed a low tariff on tra fish exports to the U.S.

For fear of undersupply, the U.S. importers have accepted to buy tra fish at US$0.5-0.7 per kilo higher. Therefore, enterprises have rushed to export to this market, leading to a year-on-year rise of 50-70% on tra fish exports to the U.S. in April and May.

“Businesses have signed too many contracts. Seeing signs of oversupply, the U.S. importers start to push down prices and reduce imports, affecting prices of raw tra fish in the local market,” Hoe explained.

Tach said: “This year is probably the hardest year for tra fish farmers as raw fish prices are now only VND18,000-18,500 per kilo, and may drop dramatically to VND17,700 a kilo. Solutions have been discussed much, but what matters is whether they will be implemented or not.”

He proposed the State adopt policies to grant tra fish farmers an easier access to loans. In addition, the authorities should take measures to increase the effectiveness of tra fish purchasing contracts, ensuring that enterprises pay farmers on schedule, he said.

Tran Cao Muu, general secretary of Vietnam Fisheries Society, suggested policymakers should map out a proper plan for the local tra fish industry, from farming to purchase, processing and export, to prevent price volatility.

“We should not aim for the first or second rank in tra fish export yet. What matters now is how to achieve consistency and generate the highest profit for Vietnamese tra fish farmers,” he said.

Vietnamese tra fish exports in the first six months are estimated at US$800 million, down 7.3% year-on-year, according to VASEP.

Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR