Sunday, October 10, 2010

City begins promotion season

A customer steps out of a shop in HCMC’s District 3 that offers big discounts for buyers - Photo: Minh Tam
HCMC – The HCMC Departments of Industry and Trade, Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday kicked off the 2010 promotion month, ushering in a shopping spree with 700 enterprises giving 5% to 50% discounts on thousands of products.

The commercial activity in the city has become even more bustling as relevant agencies in all districts have also launched promotions at stores within their precincts. Enterprises joining the program expect that the purchasing power will be higher this year after they had seen revenue surging by around 30% to 40% in the 2009 program.

Saigon Co.op supermarkets have reported stronger buying power after they began the program on August 29.

“Pork products sell well given strong discounts by key food processors Vissan and Sagrifood. We also give 35% to 50% discounts on apparel products,” said a representative of Co.opMart.

Huynh Thi Ngoc Tram, public relations officer of Big C supermarket chain in the southern region, said Big C had launched discounts on 2,300 products with most of which being raw and processed food.

“We even discount those products whose prices are increasing strongly at traditional markets such as beef, poultry and seafood,” Tram said.

For electronic equipments, the buying power at Thien Hoa Electronics Supermarket has surged by around 25% from previous months.

“Thien Hoa is cooperating with manufacturers to launch discounts from 10% to 50% on all products. Consumers now are interested in home appliances such as cookers and gas stoves,” said Thien Hoa deputy marketing director Nguyen Thi Quyen.

Tram from Big C said the number of customers at Big C supermarkets rose by at least 30% during the holiday. They were interested in fashion items, home appliances, food and beverage, she said.

A representative of Saigon Co.op told the Daily via telephone that the enterprise this year targeted to increase revenue by 45% to 50% against normal days.

“The target is not high compared with a revenue growth rate of 40% last year. However, this is a substantial figure given strong revenue growths of our supermarket network over the past time. It is not hard to achieve the target as we have opened more stores this year,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Thien Hoa aimed at the 40% to 50% revenue growth rate and was confident to reach the goal.

According to the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade, quality is the most important factor for the success of the promotion month. The department has signed a document to ask market monitoring agencies and related offices to launch inspections into shopping venues to ensure product quality and protect consumers.

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Vina Projects boosts urban planning services

Vina Projects CEO and GD Paul James (L) and his assistant James Chew (2nd, L) present a model of Thu Thiem New Urban Area in HCMC to local reporters during the press conference on Tuesday - Photo: Kinh Luan
HCMC – Vina Projects is looking to further penetrate the fast growing Vietnamese market through a range of services, especially consultancy on urban planning.

Vina Projects is a joint venture between VinaCapital with a 50% stake and inProjects Group, a Hong Kong provider of services for the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors.The CEO and general manager of Vina Projects, Paul James, told reporters on Tuesday that his company provides seven core services including urban planning, retail tenant coordination, project consultancy /hospitality, and management for project, construction, facilities and program.

Vietnam is urbanizing at a fast rate which may reach 45% in 2020 from 28% in 1999, he said. “Professional urban planning services are needed to ensure that new urban areas are planned properly.”

Vina Projects, which got an investment license in December last year, has 20 contracts for project /construction management, 10 for urban planning, and one for facility management.

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OCB rushes to raise funds

Trinh Van Tuan (C), general director of OCB, introduces his bank’s new product and promotion program at a news briefing in HCMC on Wednesday - Photo: Thu Thuy
HCMC – With a new rule on higher safety ratios coming into force in early October, Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) on Thursday launched a new deposit product and a VND7.5-billion promotion program to accelerate fund raising.

The bank’s promotion program from September 1 to November 27 will award VND7.5 billion in prizes for depositors in lucky draws. Those who deposit a minimum of VND5 million or US$300 are eligible to join the draws.

The special prize is an apartment worth VND1.1 billion in Thinh Vuong Residential Place project in District 2 in HCMC.

The bank’s new product links payment and call deposit accounts for customers, so they just need to register a maximum amount for payment when opening the account. The surplus in this account will be automatically transferred to a demand deposit account with a higher interest rate, at 5.8% per year.

Trinh Van Tuan, new general director of the bank, told a news briefing in HCMC on Wednesday that those products were designed to retain existing customers and attract new deposits to meet the safety ratio requirement provided in the central bank’s Circular 13.

The circular requires banks to ensure the ratio of outstanding loans to raised funds is 80%. But the current ratio of OCB is 90%.

In the first eight months of the year, OCB obtained VND250 billion in pre-tax profit, 62.5% of the year’s target.

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Saturday, October 9, 2010

EVN told to start talks for long-term power import

HCMC – Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) Group to start talks over a long-term contract to import power from China as well as from other regional countries.

In a document issued by the Government’s Office on Tuesday, the Government ordered that EVN buy power from China during 2010-2015 via the 110-kilovolt and 220-kilovolt power lines. EVN was told to report to the Government the progress of negotiations for power purchase by October this year.

EVN was also instructed to do a feasibility study for a plan to set up the 500-kilovolt power transmission line connecting Vietnam and China, and submit the feasibility study to the Government no later than next January.

In addition, the Government also asked EVN to execute projects that had been approved for building the power link between regional countries as well as to complete procedures for starting work on Duyen Hai 3 Thermoelectric Plant this year.

The deputy prime minister asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to complete mapping out the national master plan for power development for the next period in September.

According to the document, Vietnam is accelerating projects to tap hydropower sources in Laos and Cambodia as well as hastening construction of a common power line between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

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HCMC’s economic restructuring slow off the mark

HCMC – There has been little progress in the planned restructuring of HCMC’s economy, experts said at a conference on Tuesday.

While HCMC is an economic driving force in Vietnam, the city’s contribution to the national economy has not met expectations, said Tran Dinh Thien, head of Vietnam Institute of Economics, in a meeting to assess impacts of Vietnam’s joining WTO and HCMC’s economic restructuring.  

“When I ask myself what big changes have occurred in the city in the last 20 years, it’s hard to find the answer,” Thien said.

The city economy still relies on providing foreign companies with outsourcing services, and external factors [like importing materials],” he added.  

According to the HCMC Bureau of Statistics, added values in all the three sectors of service, industry and agriculture have fallen annually. The three sectors are expected to contribute 57%, 42% and 1% to the city’s economy respectively in 2015.  

The service sector has experienced the fastest growth to account for 54.5% of the city’s GDP in 2010. However, a shift from manufacturing to service is not attributed to the city’s efforts, but rather the natural progress as more entrepreneurs venture into the service sector that promises higher profits.

Tran Van Bich, another economic expert, noted that manufacturing is being moved out of the city to other provinces, and the land is being taken up by service providers.  

In addition, non-State and foreign invested companies have made strong contributions to the city’s economy. Foreign invested enterprises accounted for 23.3% of the city’s GDP in 2009, up from 20.6% in 2006.

For real progress to be made, experts suggested HCMC needs breakthrough changes in red tape, infrastructure and skilled workforce numbers. The big challenge though is administrative reform.

“Choosing key sectors has been important for the city, but it’s vital to undertake institutional changes,” said Thien .  

“HCMC should have a larger vision as it develops into a modern mega city, than just trying to upgrade its current situation. I can’t imagine what the city will look like in ten years,” Thien added. 

Developing infrastructure with natural conditions and economic targets in mind and training a highly skilled workforce for the transferring of high technology are also needed for the city’s sustainable development, he said.

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Fitch downgrades Vietcombank, ACB on strong credit growth

HCMC – Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) have seen their rating downgraded to ‘D/E’ from ‘D’ by the international credit rating agency Fitch, which cited risks related to strong credit growth.

Fitch in its statement says that the downgrade reflects Vietcombank’s substantially weakened balance sheet arising from excessively strong loan growth and fragile underlying loan quality.

Furthermore, Fitch believes Vietcombank’s individual rating remains under pressure, due to increasing risk of high credit costs arising from underlying weak loan quality and limited capitalization.

Also, Fitch expects Vietcombank, along with other local banks, to continue facing a difficult environment, particularly given the Vietnamese Government’s weakening ability to manage inherently volatile market conditions when needed.

Vietcombank reported loan growth of 26% in 2009, which decelerated to 12.7% year-on-year in the first half this year, resulting in the aggregate growth of 118% between 2006 and mid-2010. However, Fitch notes that there is a risk of Vietcombank’s loan growth accelerating in the second half, given the Government’s strong encouragement to grow credits by up to 25% in 2010 as a means of supporting economic growth.

The same reason has been given for the downgrade on ACB’s Individual Rating to ‘D/E’ from ‘D’. Fitch estimates that, by end-September 2010, ACB’s capital adequacy ratio (CAR) would be lower than the new regulatory minimum of 9% that is effective from October 1.

ACB maintained its excessive loan growth in the first half this year with a 42% year-on-year increase. Fitch says that the bank’s target for 2010 is 54%, which implies a likely acceleration in lending in the second half this year, and that, if achieved, would equate to growth of 464% during 2006 - 2010.

ACB plans to raise equity capital by VND1.6 trillion and issue bonds worth VND3 trillion by end-October 2010. However, Fitch expects the bank’s capitalization to be insufficient in maintaining strong loan growth for a higher market share, and to adequately cushion against potential high credit costs.

Fitch also affirms Individual Rating at ‘D/E’ and ‘E’ for two State-owned banks namely the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank), respectively.

The downgrade sparked protests from Vietcombank.

Pham Quang Dung, deputy general director of Vietcombank, told the local online newspaper Vnexpress that Fitch made assessment based on information released by the bank while the agency was not here to understand the reality of Vietnam.

Dung said the bank had got approval from the Prime Minister to spur capital by VND4 trillion that would make Vietcombank’s CAR rise to 10.5% from the current 8.45%.

“We have explained this situation to Fitch but they did not take it,” he added.

Commenting on high credit growth last year, Dung said that was due to the Government’s subsidized lending program and Vietcombank’s outstanding loans increased only 26% compared to the industry-wide growth rate of nearly 40%.

Although such a credit growth rate is high compared to international standard, Vietcombank still faced the threat of losing its market share in Vietnam, he said.

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Validity of tour guide cards extended to end-Sept

HCMC – Local tour guides can use their paper-based practicing cards until September 30, instead of on Thursday, following a new decision by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

VNAT earlier asked the provincial departments of culture, sports and tourism to complete the issuance of the new plastic cards by September 1, but this job cannot be completed due to strict requirements provided by the Tourism Law.

The law forces tour guides to have a bachelor degree but many experienced guides for markets such as Germany, Italy, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea find it impossible to meet this requirement, meaning they cannot change their cards.

This explains why only 283 of 1,680 professional card holders serving foreign tourists in HCMC as the country’s tourist hub have had their cards replaced so far.

The new rule has put many tourism companies at stake, such as those serving Chinese-speaking tourists. The city has only 184 tour guides responsible for tourists from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Taiwan but visitor arrivals from these markets are on the steady increase.

Last year, Chinese-speaking visitors to HCMC accounted for 21.6%, or more than 500,000, of the total number of international arrivals. For that reason, many companies will certainly fall short of tour guides if these people fail to change their cards.

“Just about half of the tour guides can change their cards but the proportion of eligible Chinese-speaking guides is even lower because many of them do not have a bachelor degree,” said Nguyen Duc Chi, deputy head of the Travel Division of the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

He said VNAT’s latest decision to the extend the deadline for card change would help resolve the problem for French-speaking guides because they had 10 years’ experiences and a high-school diploma on French before 1975 as required.

“To me, the requirements should be flexible depending on experiences and skills rather than an academic degree. But the law has no mention of work experience,” Chi said.

Chi said the department was not sure whether it could get the card changing job done by the end of this month.

For tour guides for domestic visitors who now have certificates issued by their travel companies, they will also have to register for the new cards with the administration.

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