Competitiveness report in 10 economic areas to be published

The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Competition Management Department (CMD) will for the first time announce the Competitiveness Report in 10 economic areas in late September or early October this year.

The information was released by Tran Phuong Lan, Head of the CMD’s Competitiveness Law Desk, on the sidelines of a ceremony to launch ASEAN’s two new publications in the central city of Danang on Tuesday.

They are the ASEAN Regional Guidelines on Competition Policy and the Handbook on Competition Policy and Law in ASEAN for Business.

The selected areas include aviation, banking, insurance, petrol distribution, telecommunication, cement, steel, chemical fertilizer, cattle-feed and dairy.

According to Lan, these areas are selected because they usually see unsound competitiveness lawsuits or contain unsound competitiveness factors.

The announcement of the Competitiveness Report will provide enterprises with new concepts in business and investment as well as ways to approach to new markets from the angle of the Competitiveness Law, she said.

The CMD will conduct competitiveness researches and supervisions in other economic areas to announce their competitiveness reports annually, he added.

Vietnam’s Competitiveness Law was approved by the National Assembly in December 2004 and officially took effect on July 1, 2005 with focus on preventing monopoly and handling unsound competitiveness cases, thus facilitating the equal participation in the market among businesses as well as protecting customers’ interests.

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Japan set to draft fresh economic stimulus

Japan will prepare an outline of fresh economic stimulus measures "as soon as possible", the government's top spokesman said Thursday, amid reports that a plan could be ready by the end of the month.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said the government would draw up stimulus plans in the coming days.

"Given the current situation, we will decide on it as soon as possible," he told reporters.

His comments came as the Nikkei business daily and other media said the government plans to compile an outline of the fresh economic package by the end of August, or Tuesday, citing unnamed government sources.

It said Prime Minister Naoto Kan was considering a supplementary budget to pay for the package of new measures, without citing sources.

Pressure on Japan to conjure bolder economic policy and counter the effects of the strong yen is increasing as stocks fall and softening export growth and weak gross domestic product data point to a slowing recovery.

Exports have been crucial to Japan's post-recession growth but the yen's current strength against other major currencies harms repatriated overseas profits, amid fears the strong currency could send more production abroad.

All of which pose a challenge for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government and its agenda focused on cutting the industrialized world's biggest public debt, at nearly 200 percent of GDP.

Hiromasa Yonekura, the president of Japan's major business lobby the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) told reporters he told Kan that the government "should intervene in the currency market".

The yen has steadily appreciated against the dollar in recent months as global investors have shunned the US currency due to the uncertain outlook of the world's number one economy.

The unit's rise to 15-year highs against the greenback and a nine-year high against the euro helped push the Nikkei index below the 9,000 level Tuesday.

For every one-yen rise against the dollar, Japan's exporters can lose tens of billions of yen earned overseas when repatriated, threatening a sector that Japan depends on to offset its weak domestic market.

Given lower stock prices and the yen's upsurge, the Bank of Japan is considering additional monetary easing such as injecting more funds into money markets, the Nikkei has reported.

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Typhoon causes flight cancellations

HCMC - Typhoon Mindulle has forced Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific to cancel around 17 domestic flights from HCMC and Hanoi to central and Central Highlands regions and vice versa.

Vietnam Airlines said that it had to call off eight flights between the country’s two major cities and Vinh on Tuesday because of the storm. In addition to its daily schedule, the flagship carrier will operate extra services on these routes on Wednesday to transport 641 stranded passengers.

Low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific was unable to run its daily service between HCMC and Vinh on Tuesday and would plan more services on this route on Wednesday to transport more than 100 affected passengers.

Vietnam Airlines’ flight cancellations as a result of the typhoon, also known in Vietnam as Storm No. 3, were many more than the only one flight by Jetstar Pacific because the national carrier’s flights to the central and Central Highlands regions of Vietnam are much more than the latter’s.

On Monday afternoon and evening, Vietnam Airlines aborted eight flights between HCMC and Hue as well as Hanoi and this former imperial capital, leaving more than 870 passengers grounded. The airline carried these passengers on its daily and extra flights on Tuesday.

Vietnam Airlines reported the biggest number of affected passengers for HCMC-Hue flights, with more than 500 passengers unable to board its four flights on Monday. There were 253 for the Hanoi-Hue route and 125 for the HCMC-Buon Ma Thuot flight cancellations.

Vietnam Airlines said it had prepared enough aircraft and staff for the extra services. However, it called for passengers to get updates on its website at www.vietnamairlines.com or by dialing (04) 38 320 320 for those in Hanoi, (08) 38 320 320 in HCMC and (0511) 3832320 in Danang.

The typhoon that centered offshore Ha Tinh Province at mid-day on Tuesday caused fierce winds and widespread devastation along the north-central coast.

The storm that was centered 90km from the shore caused heavy rain and strong winds up to grades 10 and 11 in Ky Anh and Loc Ha Districts of Ha Tinh. The powerful storm uprooted trees and unroofed many houses. 

Chairman of Loc Ha District Bui Le Bac said local residents, including old people, women and children had been evacuated. Military, police, and volunteers had been mobilized to help move people’s possessions and check the dyke system.

Border police have succeeded in contacting and supervising over 44,000 boats and ships to move to safe areas.

The Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control on Tuesday sent a delegation headed by Dao Xuan Hoc, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development, to the north- central provinces of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh to oversee emergency response there.

Cao Duc Phat, head of the steering committee and minister of agriculture and rural development, on Tuesday urged the authorities of affected provinces to keep in contact and guide fishing boats as well as call on residents to reinforce their houses.  All local rescue teams should be on standby.

Phat also warned that the storm might trigger flash floods like what storms did in the past, so an emergency plan should be in place to deal with floods and the aftermath.

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Singapore keen on cruise ports

HCMC – Singapore tourism officials and entrepreneurs, after their fact-finding trips to some southern provinces early this month, have shown interest in cruise port development.

Saigon port in HCMC and An Thoi port on Phu Quoc Island off mainland Kien Giang Province are seen as suitable locations for developing ports of call for cruise ships, a local official quoted the Singapore delegates as saying.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Travel Department of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said the delegates from Singapore Tourism Board, Royal Caribbean International, and KOP Group had toured ports in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, HCMC, Nha Trang (in central Vietnam) and Phu Quoc, and met with port developers there.

They said a number of operational ports in Ba Ria-Vung Tau were not fit for cruise vessels but Saigon Port and An Thoi were. “We’re not talking about a wharf for cruise ships but a hub for such vessels. That’s why they are interested in ports in HCMC and Phu Quoc,” he said.

According to him, the Singaporeans said Navi Oil and Lotus ports in District 7 of HCMC were not ideally located as it took visitors time to travel from there to the city center and tourist attractions. For An Thoi port, they suggested the local government reserve the current An Thoi fish port, then develop it into a fish market for tourists to see.

“The local government needs to care about just sanitation. It will become a unique site for tourists along with other landscapes on the island. An Thoi is also the suitable location for cruise ships active on international sea routes,” Tuan said.

He said the survey results would be presented at a meeting of the Vietnam-Singapore Tourism Cooperation Joint Committee late this year.

This is the second visit to Vietnam by the Singaporean tourism experts and businesspeople since the country’s tourism authority asked for support from Singapore as the region’s cruise hub.

Last year, Danang’s Tien Sa port was selected as the best location for cruise vessels in the region after the group toured seaports in Danang, Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue on the central coast. The two sides continued their cooperation after the trip with the signing of a deal between Vietnam’s Danang Port One-Member Limited Company and Singapore Cruise Center Pte Ltd.

International visitors to Vietnam by sea account for 5-6% of the total number of foreign arrivals in the country in 1997-2008, but the number is on the decline because large international cruise ships must anchor at cargo ports in Vietnam due to lack of port infrastructure.

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Jan-Aug textile export poised to surge 17%

HCMC – The garment and textile industry expects to achieve total export revenue of some US$6.8 billion in the first eight months of the year, a year-on-year rise of nearly 17%, said a Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) official.

Nguyen Son, deputy general secretary of the association, told the Daily on Tuesday that the export of garment and textile products of the country was steadily growing, with August revenue projected to amount to around US$1, equivalent to July.

Son said garment and textile exports to some foreign markets such as Korea, the U.S., Japan and Europe were still on the path to recovery. Garment exports to the U.S. in January through August are forecast to attain year-on-year growth of 20%, European markets 3%, Japan 13% and Korea nearly 70%.

“The industry is striving for average export revenue of US$900 million a month from now to the year-end to translate into reality its target of US$10.5 billion for all of this year,” said the deputy general secretary of Vitas.

Export garments and textiles, particularly those of high quality, can compete well with those in other countries in terms of prices.

Though the industry’s export performance is brighter than in previous months, Son of Vitas said, local producers are still grappling with rising production costs because import materials such as cotton and fiber have inched up 2% from last month.

Meanwhile, he said, domestic materials supply for the industry is barely sufficient while demand keeps growing. Most materials for the industry are imported from other markets, such as China with 35% and Korea with 16%.

To guarantee adequate materials for local garment and textile manufacturers, the Government assigned the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group or Vinatex long ago to develop materials production zones around the country.

“But the country now has one operational materials center that supplies for local garment firms in the southern region,” said Son of Vitas. This is Sanding Tam center located in HCMC’s Tan Binh District but, he said, this center was not doing fine.

While local garment enterprises have strong demand for quality materials to fulfill their export orders, Son said, construction of material centers nationwide has made no headway.

This is ascribable to unclear policy for material center development. Certain companies have spent their own money building material supply centers but some of these centers have died young due to lack of customer interest, Son said.

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Index hits 13-month low, trade recovers

HCMC – The local market took a nosedive to hit a 13-month low on Tuesday as investors rushed to offload shares to cut losses. The VN-Index lost a hefty 13.5 points, or 3.01%, against the day earlier to 434.42.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, bids surged by 39% from the previous session to 56.7 million shares while offers rocketed by 66.8% to over 74 million shares. Liquidity, however, recovered sharply with 47.2 million shares worth VND1.1 trillion changing hands, increasing by 89% and 52% respectively from the session earlier .

The market opened sharply lower and subsequently fell in two stages before hitting a daily low of 433.60 halfway through the final matching phase and finally closing marginally above that level.

Only nine stocks moved up while a total of 236 others closed in red, of which TMP was the only one to hit the ceiling price and 147 stocks plunged to the floor prices. Sectors were sharply lower while MSN, TMP, CMG and CMV were rarities as big gainers on Tuesday.

Sacombank (STB) remained the most traded stock that edged back 1.3% to VND15,700 on the volume of 1.5 million shares. Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp. (REE) came next, losing 3.6% from the previous day to VND15,900 with 1.4 million shares traded.

Foreigners returned to the buying side, acquiring 2.5 million shares worth VND99 billion and offloading 2.4 million shares worth VND85 billion. They accounted for 8.6% and 7.4% of the market’s buying and selling value respectively.

The Hanoi market also plunged on Tuesday also in higher turnover of VND773 billion. The HNX-Index lost another 4.69 points, or 3.63%, from the previous session and ended at 124.4.

There were 20 stocks rising and 286 stocks falling, of which two stocks shot to the ceiling prices while 56 stocks dropped to the floor prices. Foreigners were net sellers and accounted for 0.48% and 1.07% of the market’s buying and selling value respectively.

Fiachra Mac Cana, managing director of HCMC Securities Corp., said on Tuesday’s breakdown triggered waves of new margin calls especially in speculative issues that no doubt quickly led to some forced selling particularly in those counters that had dominated trading so far this year.

“The current market correction is being driven by continued fears of oversupply coupled with the bursting of the bubble in speculative stocks. The former has been triggered by a combination of regulatory reform in the banking sector and lack of access to cheap credit. Meanwhile, the latter theme just ran out of steam as every conceivable excuse to push up certain stocks has already been tried,” Mac Cana commented.

“On Tuesday’s move looks to us as being close to a capitulation, which while it looks ugly right now usually signals the last phase of a market correction. We give the same advice as before, medium and longer term players can buy cautiously while short-term players should wait but stand prepared when the time is right, Mac Cana added.

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Vietnam’s seafood sector eyes UAE market

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considered a favourable market for
Vietnamese seafood exporters which have seen their shipments to the
market increase in recent years.

According to the Vietnam
Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP), Vietnam
exported around 600 tonnes of seafood to the UAE in 2003 and 2004 and
doubled the volume in the next year. The growth was maintained in the
following years, resulting in 10,800 tonnes of seafood exported in 2008.

After
a standstill of 6,400 tonnes of seafood shipped in 2009, the country’s
export to the UAE obtained its biggest growth this year.

According
to the Vietnam General Department of Customs’ report, the UAE imported
over 9,100 tonnes of seafood worth 21.5 million USD from Vietnam in
the first seven months of this year, up by 41.6 percent in volume and
36.3 percent in value against the same period last year.

Of the exports, tra fish was the main product, accounting for about 8,600 tonnes.

The
growth in export of seafood to the UAE is a positive signal due to the
market’s ease on technical standards and import tax exemption in the
context of the sector facing difficulties in its major importing
markets, according to some Vietnamese seafood exporters.

About 68 Vietnamese businesses nationwide have to date been engaged in exporting seafood to the UAE./.

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