Steel pipe makers target US; HCM City approves revised District 2 residential plan; Swensen’s opens franchise in HCM City; Motorbike imports fall over last year; Oil giant to market bio-fuels

Steel pipe makers target US

Steel pipe makers have boosted exports to the US by improving the quality of their products.

During the first six months of the year, steel pipe exports earned US$33 million, with most heading to the US market, said the General Department of Taxation.

Steelmakers have a great opportunity to export more steel pipe to the US, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. US demand was high, and Chinese steelmakers have been hit by an anti-dumping duty of 17.7-39.2 per cent.

In the first half of this year, the wholly South Korea-invested SeAH Co shipped 13,920 tonnes of steel pipe to the US, while Taiwan-invested Sun Steel Co exported 6,492 tonnes.

Domestic steelmaker Viet Nam-Germany Steel Pipe Co shipped 2,890 tonnes during the period.

Viet Nam- Germany Steel Pipe Joint Stock Co deputy director Nguyen Phan Duc said his company was attempting to focus on quality and timely delivery, two factors important to this export market.

Under the company’s plan for the year, exports would account for 20-30 per cent of its total output and 70 per cent of its export volume, or 10,000 tonnes, would ship to the US, said Duc.

Hoa Phat Steel Pipe Co has also signed $1 million worth of contracts to export 1,000 tonnes to the US this month, said the head of the company’s import and export division, Do Hai Yen.

Hoa Phat only entered the US market earlier this year and exported 200 tonnes of steel pipe per month during the first half, Yen said.

HCM City approves revised District 2 residential plan

Two land plots of the Cat Lai Industrial Park will be shifted to residential use, according to a newly modified plan approved by the HCM City People’s Committee.

The new residential area will be added to the five existing ones in District 2’s new Thu Thiem urban area.

The city centre in the area will include financial and trading centres, offices, recreational centres and cultural and sports centres.

The district’s new administrative centre and other public works will be developed on 174ha of land in Thanh My Loi Ward in the area.

Other public works like schools, medical stations, administrative agencies and retail stores will be located in six residential areas in accordance with national standards set by the Government.

City parks and other recreational facilities will be located south of the area.

The committee also called for certain roads in District 2 to be upgraded, including National Road 52, Inter-provincial Road 25 and the streets of Tran Nao, Nguyen Duy Trinh, Nguyen Thi Dinh and Nguyen Van Huong.

Work is in progress on the Sai Gon-Dau Giay and East-West highways that traverse District 2.

In addition to the existing Sai Gon and Thu Thiem bridges, six new bridges and an underground tunnel through the Sai Gon River are under construction or have been completed.

The district plans to add more public transport to the existing railway route by building metro and monorail routes from National Road 50 to Thu Thiem Station.

The existing railway route in the area runs from HCM City – Nhon Trach – Long Thanh International Airport via Thu Thiem Station, covering 25ha. Public transport on waterways will also be developed.

City plans call for more than 5,000 ha in District 2 to be developed. The area is expected to have a total population of more than 600,000 by 2020.

Blue-chip rebound lifts VN-Index

The strong rally in blue-chips yesterday lifted shares on the HCM City Stock Exchange, resulting in the VN-Index gaining 0.57 per cent to close the week’s trades at nearly 494 points.

Overall market volume jumped to 45.68 million shares, worth a combined VND1.33 trillion (US$70 million) – an increase of 23 per cent in both volume and value over Thursday’s levels. Advancers were triple decliners on brisk trading as blue-chip gains aroused trading in other stocks.

Of the top 10 largest-capitalised shares, six codes closed with gains, including Masan Group (MSN), which rose 1.96 per cent; Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), 0.62 per cent; Vietcombank (VCB), 1.35 per cent; Vincom (VIC), 0.74 per cent; Vietinbank (CTG), 0.4 per cent; and Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI), 0.31 per cent.

Four codes remained unchanged including Sacombank (STB), Vinamilk (VNM), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Eximbank (EIB).

Heavy buys in Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp (REE), the most active stock with 3.16 million shares changing hands, drove the price up 4.49 per cent to VND18,600 ($0.98).

The southern exchange yesterday welcomed a listing of 130 million Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corp (PDR) shares. PDR rose 10 per cent from the reference price to VND39,400 ($2.07) on a volume of 1 million shares.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 0.22 per cent to close yesterday’s session at 153.33. Market liquidity fell 23 per cent in volume and value. However, only 35.4 million shares changed hands, worth a total of VND989 billion ($52.1 million).

Gainers outnumbered losers by 189-74, while 59 shares remained unchanged. PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) continued as the most heavily traded stock nationwide, with 4.93 million shares changing hands. PVX climbed 3.85 per cent to close at VND27,000 ($1.42) per share.

The Ha Noi market yesterday welcomed Sam Cuong Material Electric and Telecom Corp (SMT). SMT closed up 16 per cent from its opening price to VND17,400 ($0.92) on a volume of 31,100 shares traded.

The overnight slump on the US market did not affect investor confidence, said analysts at HCM City Securities Co.

Those analysts said the current market was attractive to medium – and long-term investors as many sound shares with good development prospects this year were being priced cheaply.

Vu Dinh Do, VNDirect Securities Co’s head of analysis, said there was no reason for a downtrend in the medium – and long-term. He said that if the market continued to decline, it could be a technical correction resulting from over-investment in penny stocks.

“The Vietnamese economy is developing stably and blue-chip prices are attractive. There will be no downturn risk in the medium term,” Do said.

Foreign investors concluded yesterday as net sellers on both national exchanges. They were responsible for a combined net sale of 4.1 million shares, worth over VND25 billion ($1.3 million).

Thang Long Securities tops HN-Index

Thang Long Securities Co continues to hold the largest share of the brokerage market on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange.

A second-quarter report of the 10 leading brokerages by market share, issued by the Ha Noi Stock Exchange this week, showed that Thang Long Securities accounted for nearly 13.1 per cent of the market, up from over 11.9 per cent in the first quarter.

In second place was VNDirect Securities, with 5.65 per cent – an increase of 1.1 per cent over the first quarter – followed by FPT Securities with a 4.5-per-cent market share.

A relative newcomer, Hoa Binh Securities Co, which has only been a member of the stock exchange for two years, was also in the top ten, with a market share of nearly 2.3 per cent.

“The positions of securities companies haven’t changed much in this rating, which means medium-sized brokerages are tying harder than large ones to lure clients in the context of market gloom,” said Nguyen Thanh Phong, a senior official with a HCM City-based financial consultancy company.

However, a high brokerage market share didn’t mean high profits, Phong said, noting that most profits earned by securities companies came from institutional trading.

“Still, being recognised for having a significant brokerage market share could help securities companies market themselves, especially the young ones,” he said.

A high brokerage market share may not help much when markets remain uncertain as present, said the head of brokerage for a Ha Noi-based securities company who asked to remain anonymous. “The maintainance of a traditional client base may be more effective than expansion.”

New challenges for Vietnamese bicycle sector

Foreign bicycle manufacturers often bring their products to Vietnam before exporting them to EU markets to evade anti-dumping tariffs, says the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA).

The situation is attributed to the EU imposing no anti-dumping tariff on Vietnamese bicycles and 30 percent on Chinese bicycles.

The VCA says if Vietnam cannot control the situation, it is likely that the EU will once again impose an anti-dumping tariff on Vietnamese bicycles.

The VCA is now working closely with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and anti-trafficking agencies to inspect the capacity of domestic bicycle producers.

At the same time, provincial departments of planning and investment will only grant licenses to businesses that can prove their production capability.

Swensen’s opens franchise in HCM City

The first franchise of Swensen’s opened in HCM City on Thursday through an agreement between Thai-based Swensen’s and Viet Nam’s An Minh Ice Cream Joint-Stock Co.

Swensen’s has stores in Asean, the Middle East, and the Americas. It owns more than 200 outlets in Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia.

Hoang Thi Hong Anh, director of An Minh Ice Cream Joint-Stock Co said premium ice cream with 27 flavours enjoyed a discount of 10 per cent from July 30 to August 30.

The general manager of Thailand’s Swensen, Peter King, said his company’s five-year plan calls for opening 80 restaurants in India, 30 in Viet Nam and three in Laos .

Work starts on An Phu Thinh area

An Phu Thinh Development Investment Construction and Tourism JSC will break ground on the An Phu Thinh new urban area in the southern province of Binh Dinh next Monday.

The urban area has an investment capital of VND2.45 trillion (US$128.94 million). It will occupy a 153.63ha area and include villas, offices and a trade centre. Construction work will be in three phases and end in 2018.

Viglacera builds in-house institute

Viet Nam Glass and Ceramics for Construction Corp (Viglacera) will today begin work on the Viglacera Development and Research Institute in Hoang Mai District of Ha Noi.

The project has a total investment capital of VND10 billion (US$520,830). The institute is expected to open early next year.

Approval for Bach Duong complex

BaÏch Duong Hill Co Ltd has received planning approval for its Bach Duong Hill Tourism Complex.

The complex, which will have a total investment of US$476 million, will occupy an area of 265ha in the central province of Binh Thuan. Construction is expected to start next month.

Wheat turnover reaches $350m

Enterprises imported 1.44 million tonnes of wheat with a turnover of US$350 million in the first six months of this year, up 80 per cent in terms of value and volume over the same period last year.

In July alone, 230,000 tonnes of wheat were imported, worth $56 million.

The imported wheat is used as animal feed and is relatively low in price compared to maize, rice, bran and manioc.

Motorbike imports fall over last year

This year, 51,400 motorbikes have been imported, worth US$64 million, down 21.9 and 21.6 per cent in quantity and value respectively over the same period last year.

The import turnover of motorbike accessories and components is expected to be $491 million, up 35.8 per cent against the same period last year.

Five projects to be scrapped

Phu Tho’s Department of Investment and Planning and the people’s committee have withdrawn licences for five slow-moving projects.

Among the projects were Dong Thai Duong Co Ltd’s paper production plant that had a registered capital of US$4.5 million and Leosco Co Ltd’s $3 million teddy bear plant. The firms received their licences in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

Handicraft show to open in Ha Noi

The “Ha Noi handicraft 2010″ expo will run from August 4 to 9 at the Ha Noi Culture Friendship Palace.

The annual fair aims to promote exports of handicraft products.

The expo is expected to attract 100 handicraft enterprises offering 500 products from traditional craft villages.

Ocean Bank earns $16.3 million

OceanBank has posted a pre-tax profit of VND311 billion (US$16.3 million) for 2010, an increase of 265 per cent against the same period last year.

In June, the bank’s total assets were valued at VND43 trillion ($2.2 billion).

OceanBank, which has 83 branches nation-wide, has opened two more branches this week in Bac Giang Province and HCM City.

Investment revives in Long An

Foreign direct investment is picking up again after the economic slump last year in the southern province of Long An.

In the first half of the year nearly US$105 million has been committed by investors in five projects, 18 per cent up from the same period last year, according to Phan Thanh Phi, head of the province’s industrial park management.

Investment licences have also been issued for nine domestic projects with a total registered capital of VND346 billion (US$18 million), 82 per cent higher year on year.

The size of projects also increased dramatically in the first half this year. The average FDI per ha of land in industrial parks has previously $3 million and VND23 billion ($1.2 million) in case of domestic projects.

They have surged this year to $35 million and VND108 billion ($5.6 million).

Soichiro Kitamura, director of Vina Eco Board Ltd, a subsidiary of Japan’s Sumitomo Forestry, said his company has leased 20ha in the Phu An Thanh Industrial Park to build Southeast Asia’s largest wood processing factory.

Work on the $100 million factory, which will process 250,000cu.m of wood annually, will begin on August 18.

Lam Truc Nho, the company’s general director, said Long An Province was popular with investors because it had the advantage of being connected to HCM City by road, air, and water.

But manpower remains a challenge for the province.

Oil giant to market bio-fuels

PetroVietnam has announced that it will begin to sell bio-fuel E5, an A92 petrol substitute, tomorrow.

The environmentally-friendly E5, a mix of 5 per cent ethanol and 95 per cent lead-free A92, will be available at more than 20 petrol stations in HCM City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, and Ha Noi.

This number is expected to increase to more than 4,000 by 2012.

Initially, E5 will cost VND500 less than A92, or VND15,990 a litre.

Automobile manufacturers like Honda, Toyota and General Motors produce vehicles that run on bio-fuel.

PetroVietnam’s move is in line with the Government’s plan for bio-fuel development through 2015.

The oil giant is building three ethanol plants in Phu Tho, Quang Ngai and Binh Phuoc provinces at a total cost of US$240 million which are expected to begin operations in 2011.

They will produce 300 million litres a year from dried cassava.

Lemongrass co-operative receives Global GAP certification boost

A co-operative that grows lemongrass in Lam Dong Province has been awarded a Global GAP certificate.

The Tien Dong Lemongrass Co-operative, which began applying the Global GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) standard in 2007, has harvested 10ha out of its 30ha of lemongrass.

It is the first lemongrass co-operative in Lam Dong Province to be awarded the Global Gap certificate, which indicates that it has met standards on product quality, worker health and safety standards, and environmental protection.

Global GAP standards require that farms reduce adverse environmental impact, including the use of chemical fertilisers.

The co-operative’s farmers were introduced to Global GAP techniques and provided with seeds and fertiliser by the Asia Regional Biodiversity Programme and the HCM City-based Lemongrass Attar Saroma Company.

The programme is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Saroma Company is the sole lemongrass attar buyer of the co-operative’s products.

“Global GAP practices help farmers have higher yields of quality products, and this aids our company’s competitive capacity as we can sell quality lemongrass attar in the global market,” said Saroma director Lam Thi My Dung.

According to Ngo Dac Thanh, a coordinator of the USAID programme, one tonne of lemongrass cropped under the global GAP practices produces triple the amount of one tonne cropped naturally.

Nguyen Thi Nghien, chairwoman of the district Farmers’ Association, said farms applying global GAP standards had created more jobs, but the model had not been expanded because it lacked a boiler system.

“A boiler system has the capacity to handle lemongrass harvested from 10ha only,” she said. A boiler system costs VND155 million (US$8,100), according to USAID.

Modern livestock farms benefit southern farmers

More farms in southern Soc Trang Province are equipped with modern equipment that have helped cut losses caused by epidemics, and, as a result, many farmers have escaped from poverty.

For example, farmer Pham Van Du in Ho Dac Kien Commune in Chau Thanh District can earn nearly VND4 billion a year from raising 90,000 chickens, 60,000 hens and 2,200 pigs.

“Five years ago, my family was on the list of poor households in the district since we lacked agricultural land for cultivation,” Du said.

“Everything changed in 2005 when we got a Government loan with low interest rates. We rented land and built a modern farm to raise chickens and pigs by applying industrial methods,” he said.

“At first, we only raised hundreds of chicken since we were afraid of not having enough capital for feed and other needs,” he said.

The production scale was expanded after several companies, including the PC Viet Nam Joint-Stock Company, helped them.

The companies provided breeds, feed, breeding techniques and veterinary medicine.

Modern breeding methods were also used by farmer Tran Thanh Dai who owns a large farm in Ke Sach District’s Dai Hai Commune.

“Only farms that use modern, safe breeding methods can bring profits to farmers,” Dai said.

“I can earn between VND150,000 and VND200,000 raising a four-month-old pig, and between VND3,000 and 5,000 from a two-month-old chicken,” he said.

Last year, Dai made a profit of VND3.5 billion (US$184,200) thanks to breeding 80,000 chickens, 64,000 hens and more than 2,000 pigs.

He and his family will work with the CP-Viet Nam Company to build another farm capable of raising 60,000 chickens in An Ninh Commune.

“We only have to invest in building breeding facilities and employing workers, while the company will do the rest, including selling the products. This cooperation has really benefited us.”

Quach Van Tay, head of livestock breeding for Soc Trang Province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department, said the province has 181 breeding farms, of which 121 raise pigs, 25 breed cows and 35 farm poultry. These farms employ nearly 2,000 labourers.

A majority of these farms are modern, with waste treatment systems that can generate biogas or be used for farming fish.

In addition, the owners of these farms have poured more investment in high quality breeds and feed.

Meanwhile, agricultural offices in districts and communes have set up close links between farmers and enterprises.

The province has 20,038 Sind-crossbred cows, accounting for 67.8 per cent of the total herd, and 787,000 industrially-raised chickens, representing 50 per cent of the provincial flock. Up to 80 per cent of the total pigs are crossbred pigs.

Tea sector to focus on quality

Viet Nam’s tea sector was intent on improving its product’s quality, hygiene and safety instead of focusing on productivity, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said yesterday.

The sector would also combine modern and traditional processing technologies to produce speciality teas of high quality, said the ministry’s Le Xuan, director of the Agro-forestry and Fishery Processing and Salt Industry Department.

He told an international tea conference in Ha Noi that Viet Nam’s tea sector needed to change and it would change, despite the challenges. It would strengthen its instruction and guidelines in terms of techniques and technologies and impose stricter controls, he said.

New tea varieties with higher productivity would be planted and there would be a focus on developing organic tea and increasing the country’s tea specialities to improve the sector’s performance.

Chairman of the Viet Nam Tea Association Doan Anh Tuan said the association would focus on expanding cultivation areas, as the plantations harvestednow were well below the processing capacity.

In fact the association would suggest localities cease issuing licences to new tea factories until the production situation in existing factories had been assessed. Those factories which failed to meet production requirements would be ordered to reach required levels or be closed down.

Viet Nam ranks fifth in the world and first in ASEAN in tea production.

Last year Viet Nam exported 130,000 tonnes of tea. In the first seven months of this year, it exported 65,000 tonnes.

The sector in Viet Nam employed 6 million people and contributed greatly to poverty reduction and socio-economic stability, Tuan said.

Farmers who grow tea can earn about VND19.5 million (US$1,000) per hectare.

The problem was, however, that the quality and productivity were not even. In some cases farmers harvested 6 tonnes per hectare, in others only 1-2 tonnes per hectare.

Moreover, 99 per cent of export tea was raw material and there was no world trademark for Vietnamese tea.

The country had about 445 tea enterprises, but many had not invested enough in machinery and assembly lines, Tuan said. The quality was not high and thus the price was lower.

And the country still did not have a plan for developing the tea sector so consequently everything was out of kilter. Processing capacity was twice that of the supply.

Tuan also said there was a lack of co-operation among farmers, enterprises and the Government, which lead to difficulties in promoting tea consumption and export.

At the conference, Muhammad Hanif Janno, Pakistani Tea Association chairman, said the Pakistani association was willing to co-operate with Viet Nam to improve its tea quality.

He said Viet Nam needed to make quality control top priority, control the use of pesticides and apply international criteria in all phases of tea production.

Viet Nam should open a bidding centre for tea, which would ensure quality and pricing for consumers, he added.

Nguyen Duy Hung, chairman of Phu Tho Province’s Tea Association, said the Government should install enforceable levels of hygiene and safety and encourage the expansion of the tea factory-tea plantation model.

Representatives of 20 countries attended the conference, including Malaysia, Pakistan, India and the United Kingdom.

Central and Central Highland regions hold first industrial promotion conference

The first ever conference on promoting industrial production in the central and Central Highland regions was held in Binh Dinh province on July 31.

According to the conference, industry and trade departments of regional provinces and cities should strengthen examinations and supervisions to ensure the progress of industrial promotion projects and appropriate spending.

According to the Department of Local Industry under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the first six months of 2010, although the economy showed signs of recovery after the world economic crisis, the industrial growth was not high in the face of many difficulties such as rising prices of electricity and petrol, difficult access to loans and power shortages.

However, the industrial promotion work in central and Central Highland provinces and cities was maintained and the State management on industrial promotion was strengthened during the period.

The conference also noted that six out of 14 regional provinces have yet to build their own industrial promotion programmes and eight localities are slow to improve the capacity of provincial industrial promotion and development consultancy centres.

Vietnam-Italy cooperate in footwear industry

A conference on improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises was held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 30.

The conference was co-hosted by the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, the UN Industry Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Italian Development Cooperation Agency and the Ho Chi Minh City Footwear Association.

Enterprises attending the conference were updated with information and analysis of the major targets for improving competitiveness and boosting business relations with Italian footwear businesses.

Italian businesses and the Ho Chi Minh City Footwear Association will sign agreements on promoting production and enhancing the quality of Ho Chi Minh City’s footwear industry.

Nguyen Van Khanh, General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Association, said that Italian businesses will provide the Vietnamese businesses with technology, equipment and marketing. Italy has a large market but its production capacity is modest while Vietnam has the advantage in production but is limited in technology. Cooperation between the two countries will provide the market with quality products that can be sold at more competitive prices.

Pakistan eager to work with Vietnam’s tea sector

Pakistan is ready to work with the Vietnamese tea sector, said the President of Pakistani Tea Association Muhammad Hamif Janoo.

At the International Tea Conference in Hanoi on July 30, Muhammad Hamif Janoo said that Vietnamese tea has been imported by Pakistan from 1999 and is popular with local people for its quality and affordable price.

He said that Vietnam should build a centre for tea auctions to encourage farmers to raise the quality of their tea and create a healthy business environment and increase competition.

Addressing the conference, the President of the Vietnamese Tea Association Doan Anh Tuan, said that Vietnam is one of the worlds major tea producers and the country is ranked fifth in terms of tea output and exports.

Vietnam produced 130,000 tonnes in 2009, from only 55,700 tonnes in 2000. In the first seven months of this year, the nation exported 65,000 tonnes of tea, earning US$91 million, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent.

However, Vietnam’s tea exports to Pakistan dropped this year with a volume equal to only 60 percent of the level in the same period last year and this resulted in Pakistan dropping to the second place in the list of the 70 countries that import Vietnamese tea.

PV