Vietnamese foods promoted on Japanese TV; Craft villages target domestic customers; US still top market for clothing forecast to grow 3% this year; Policy advocacy weak in VN business groups; Trade with Russia totals $3.6 billion

Equipment imports of FDI firms surge; Exploring prospects in home-for-rent segment; Non-oil tax revenues run short of target; Banks call for room to fund giant projects; FDI engine needs a big overhaul; FIEs lead way on capital use

Splendid high end supermarkets with fandangle windows, which were once the shopping destinations only for the rich, have shifted to serve popular customers as well.

In Vietnam, Metro Cash & Carry, Adidas registered their business as wholesalers. However, in fact, individual clients still can buy goods directly from the distributors.

The number of Vietnamese businesses have been decreasing sharply in recent years, according to official reports by state management agencies.

The Competition Administration Department (CAD), an arm of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), which conducted a survey on 10 business fields, has found out that oligopoly exists in six of them.

Avon, one of the three foreign invested enterprises which distribute products in Vietnam under the mode of multi-level marketing (MLM) has announced the withdrawal from the Vietnamese market.

A lot of investors had to transfer real estate projects in 2012 when their money got exhausted. Though the real estate market was frozen, it is now still the right time to make investment in the real estate sector, when the prices get cheaper.

Mekong Delta farmers eager for Gov’t to stockpile rice; Agro-aqua-forestry exports increase in 2012; Banks to charge on-us transaction fee from next March; Major solutions to defuse sluggish real estate market

Ministry urges companies to quicken disbursement; Consumer goods import still strong; DOC cancels antidumping review on Agifish; Vietnam-Thailand road extension mulled; Billion-dollar steel projects get moving

Domestic automobile joint ventures have expressed their worries that they may have to shut down by 2018, when the import car import tariff reduces to zero percent.

Not all steelmakers in trouble; Big struggle ahead to get local SMEs back on their feet; HCM City exports to top US$30 billion; Businesses pessimistic about 2013 economic prospects; Phu Quoc International Airport inaugurated

Farm produce exports rise on volumes; Eight border-gate EZs get development priority; Online shopping doubles in 2012: Visa; Huge funds needed for irrigation development in Delta; Travel agencies benefit from long Tet holiday

Vietinbank to get US$65 million from foreign banks; Wood industry urged to reform; Taiwan finances aircraft purchase; Foreign partner to buy seafood processor; Tax break lifts investor sentiment; Insurers may fail the target for 2012

Rice exports hit a record high; Rare earth processing plant built in Quang Ninh; HCM City’s GDP soars by 9.3 pct; New ruling fails to rouse gold market; Tightening fruit and vegetable imports; EVN to issue bonds to repay debts

IFC urges Vietnam’s listed firms to improve governance; Vietnam aims for regional top five in tax facilitation; First direct air route to Indonesia launched; Shrimp exports to hit US$2.2 billion this year; The socio-economic portrait after 11 months

CG meeting to be held in Hanoi in December; Koreans top foreign travelers list in Vietnam; Industry remains sluggish, inventories high; EU free trade big advantage; Bank chiefs arrested on fraud counts; Price of sugar cane rises $5 per tonne

Road planning revised down due to capital shortage; Tough to convert commercial condos into low-cost homes; Increased credit targets not easy to obtain; Technology transaction floors quiet; New challenges for Long Xuyen Quadrangle

Assoc. wants furniture quality higher to safeguard consumers; Conditional cashew export seen hitting small traders; Vietnam’s bond market grows the fastest in East Asia; Small apartments still built; SOEs going unchecked