Vietnam receives third ATR72-500 from France

The Vietnam Aircraft Leasing Company (VALC) received its third ATR72-500
aircraft from the manufacturer Avion de Transport Regional (ATR), based
in the French city of Toulouse on September 14.

The aircraft, painted with the colours and logo of Vietnam Airlines,
will be transferred to the air carrier under a previously signed 12-year
leasing contract between the two sides.

The aircraft is
scheduled to travel via the Ukraine, Russia, China and land at Noi Bai
airport at 1:40PM on September 19, 2010.

VALC General Director Tran Long said that this is the third out of five ATR72-500 ordered, costing over 100 million USD.

The VALC received two ATR72-500 airplanes in April and June this year,
and the fourth one is expected to arrive by October 10, 2010,
coinciding with the capital’s millennial birthday.

After receiving the five airplanes, in December 2010, VALC’s project
will help the Vietnamese national carriers’ fleet to serve the country’s
industrialisation and modernisation.

VALC was
jointly established by the Vietnam’s Bank for Investment and Development
along with a number of State groups and corporations.

With a chartered capital of 200 million USD during the 2007-2014
period and one billion USD in the 2015-2025 period, in addition to
buying and leasing aircraft, VALC is also operates air taxis, airports
and runs training programmes./.

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VASEP decries tariffs on tra fish

Photo: Tuoi Tre

The anti-dumping tariffs imposed on tra fish exported from Vietnam to the American market from August 2008 to July 2009 were not reasonable, said the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

In accordance with the US Department of Commerce (DOC)'s preliminary decision, Vietnamese businesses paid US$4.22 per kilo in taxes, while tra fish's market price in the US was lower than the Vietnamese product's after-tax prices, said Nguyen Huu Dung, VASEP vice chairman.

The domestic firms incurred huge losses due to high anti-dumping tariffs, Dung said. He said that the association was now coordinating with relevant agencies and businesses to ask the DOC to reconsider its anti-dumping taxes on tra fish imported from Vietnam.

The DOC makes an annual decision on whether to increase or reduce anti-dumping taxes on Vietnamese commodities.

Anti-dumping tariffs, which were between 0.1 and 0.52 percent, had been imposed on Vietnam's tra fish in the past, which helped to facilitate the flow of tra fish into the American market.

The US National Fisheries Institute (NFI) said there were untapped opportunities in the US market for Vietnamese seafood exporters because the fish was listed in the top 10 of the most consumed seafood products in the US in 2009.

Several Vietnamese fish farms have received Global GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) certifications, which has created a foundation for Vietnamese seafood exporters to expand their outlets.

The statement was made by an NFI representative during a meeting with the representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Ho Chi Minh City late last week.

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VASEP decries tariffs on tra fish

The anti-dumping tariffs imposed on tra fish exported from Vietnam to
the American market from August 2008 to July 2009 were not reasonable,
said the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP)
vice chairman, Nguyen Huu Dung.

In accordance with the US Department of Commerce (DOC)'s preliminary
decision, Vietnamese businesses paid 4.22 USD per kilo in taxes, while
tra fish's market price in the US was lower than the Vietnamese
product's after-tax prices.

The domestic firms
incurred huge losses due to high anti-dumping tariffs, Dung said. He
said that the association was now co-ordinating with relevant agencies
and businesses to ask the DOC to reconsider its anti-dumping taxes on
tra fish imported from Vietnam.

The DOC makes an
annual decision on whether to increase or reduce anti-dumping taxes on
Vietnamese commodities. Anti-dumping tariffs, which were between 0.1 and
0.52 percent, had been imposed on Vietnam's tra fish in the past, which
helped to facilitate the flow of tra fish into the American market.

The US National Fisheries Institute (NFI) said there was untapped
opportunities in the US market for Vietnamese seafood exporters because
fish was listed in the top 10 of the most consumed seafood products in
the US in 2009.

Several Vietnamese fish farms have
received Global GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) certifications, which
has created a foundation for Vietnamese seafood exporters to expand
their outlets. The statement was made by an NFI representative during a
meeting with the representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development in HCM City late last week./.

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Plans accelerated for refinery projects

The State Steering Committee on Key Oil and Gas Projects on Sept. 13
reviewed their work concerning the first oil refinery in Dung Quat and
other projects, and developed plans and timelines for their completion.

The National Oil and Gas Group was assigned to take measures to
effectively manage and operate the 3 billion USD Dung Quat Oil Refinery.
The ministries of Construction and Finance were asked to help with
measures to quickly reach a balanced budget. The committee asked
provincial authorities in Quang Ngai to focus on management support for
resettlement and compensation.

The Dung Quat
refinery has a designed capacity of 6.5 million tonnes of crude oil
annually, or more than 140,000 barrels per day. Capacity is expected to
expand to 10 million tonnes per year by 2013-14.

The refinery project began in the 1980s and came into operation in early
2009. As of last month, the refinery is operating at its full
designated capacity. More than 5.7 million tonnes of crude oil have been
imported for the refinery to produce 4.98 million tonnes of
high-quality products.

However, investors and
contractors still had to work to fix technical problems and strike a
balanced budget, said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, who chaired
the meeting.

The meeting also discussed measures
to complete the investment mechanism for the Nghi Son Petrochemical
Refinery in Tinh Gia District, in the central province of Thanh Hoa. The
procedures for ground clearance and infrastructure construction are
also being sped up for the project.

Construction of
Nghi Son Refinery, Vietnam's second planned refinery, is expected to
start this year and become operational by 2013. More than 90 percent of
the required area for the 6 billion USD project have been cleared.
Authorised bodies are conducting the necessary negotiations and
evaluating the project's environmental impact report.

The refinery has a designed capacity of 10 million tonnes of crude oil
per year with possibility to expand to 20 million tonnes.

Preparation activities for initial investment in the Southern
Petrochemical Refinery complex, the third of its kind in the country,
were also discussed yesterday. The national steering committee asked
relevant bodies to boost their management of completed projects and to
review completion plans for others./.

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Global fertiliser prices on the rise

Fertiliser prices have increased following the appreciation of the US
dollar against the Vietnamese dong as well as higher prices on the
global market, spurred by high demand in many countries like India.

Le Quoc Phong, director of Binh Dien Fertiliser Company, said there were
limited supplies and a shortage of reserves on the global market.

Vietnam had had to import a large volume of fertiliser every year to
satisfy local demand since its local production met only one-third of
consumption, Phong said.

A kilo of DAP fertiliser
has risen to 11,200 VND (0.57 USD), compared to 11,000 VND earlier this
month and 10,600 VND in August.

Similarly, the price
of a kilo of urea fertiliser increased from 6,200 VND (0.3 USD) in
August to 6,250 VND in earlier this month to 6,350 VND currently.

China is currently the biggest supplier of fertilisers to Vietnam,
accounting for nearly 45 percent of the country's total imports,
followed by Russia, the Republic of Korea and the Philippines.

In April, Chinese authorities raised the fertiliser export tariff from 35 percent to 135 percent.

The Vietnamese Government recently issued a circular calling for an
increase of the fertiliser import duty from 5 percent to 6.5 percent.
This pushed up prices of fertilisers, experts have said.

Most farmers are worried about the higher prices, which will add to their production costs.

More than 318,600ha under the autumn-winter rice crop in the Mekong
Delta region are in the growing stage, which are in dire need of
fertilisers.

To stabilise the fertiliser market and
help farmers feel more secure about production, experts have urged the
Government to adopt new policies.

Local fertiliser
producers should restructure their distribution network and regularly
check selling prices to prevent agents from raising prices freely.

Currently, the Government did not have incentive policies for
enterprises to import fertiliser to keep in reserve. Fertiliser prices,
thus, depended on the fluctuation on the world market, Phong said.

Fertiliser reserves were like a double-edged sword, he added. They
worked well when prices increased, but when they dropped, businesses had
to sell at market prices and losses were unavoidable.

The Government, he said, should create measures to ensure security for
businesses and others who participate in price-stabilisation
programmes. Soft loans and support when prices drop should be included,
he said./.

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New shares debut on Hanoi bourse

The Hanoi Stock Exchange on Sept. 13 welcomed new listings by Nam Viet
Bank (NVB), IDJ International Financial Investment and Enterprise
Development Co (IDJ) and Asia Pacific Investment Co (API).

Nam Viet Bank (NVB), which became the third bank listed on the northern
bourse, issued 100 million shares, representing its entire charter
capital of 1 trillion VND (51.3 million USD). NVB closed up 8 percent
from its opening price to 11,900 VND per share (0.61 USD), with 69,700
changing hands.

This year, NVB targets earnings of
2.67 trillion VND (136.9 million USD) and a net profit of at least 350
billion VND (18 million USD). It has also set a goal of total assets
reaching 27 trillion VND (1.4 billion USD) by year's end and outstanding
loans of 17 trillion VND (871.8 million USD).

The bank also plans to increase its charter capital to 3 trillion VND (153.8 million USD).

IDJ, which operates in the fields of infrastructure and real estate
development, was founded in 2007 with domestic individuals contributing
about 90 percent of its charter capital.

This year,
it targets earnings of 550 billion VND (28.2 million USD) and a net
profit of 75 billion VND (3.8 million USD). It has also set plans in
place to increase its charter capital to 400 billion VND (20.5 million
USD)

IDJ shares closed down 12.5 percent on their
opening day to 17,500 VND (0.90 USD) per share, with nearly 1.1 million
traded.

Real estate developer API, established in
2007 with a charter capital of 264 billion VND (8.4 million USD), has
been listed on the unlisted public companies market (UPCoM) since
October of last year.

It moved its listing to the
primary exchange, and saw its shares plunge by 10 percent from their
opening price to a close of 15,500 VND (0.79 USD) per share. API shares
generated a volume of 273,500 on their opening day.

API has targeted earnings of 200 billion VND (10.3 million USD) this year and a profit of 50 billion VND (2.6 million USD)./.

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Asia banks set to boost lending as Basel hurdle cleared

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE - Asian lenders are set to use surplus capital to accelerate lending in the region's fast-growing economies or scout for acquisitions after new capital rules confirmed most will comfortably meet the global regulatory requirements.

The new Basel III rules announced late on Sunday will require banks to raise the level of top-quality capital they hold to 7 percent of their risk-bearing assets over the course of the next nine years. The majority of Asian banks comfortably meet that requirement already.

This means the region's banks are sitting on an estimated surplus capital of about $400 billion, according to analysts at brokerage CLSA, which will come in handy to cope with the strong loan growth expected in the region.

"Given that growth rates in Asia are so high, they may use the excess capital to finance growth and maybe we don't see much in the way of new capital raisings in the next 3-5 years," CLSA analyst Daniel Tabbush said.

Barring Japan, where demand for loans is forecast to drop 6.5 percent in 2010, most Asian countries are likely to see loan growth of between 5.7 percent to 18.3 percent over the course of 2010, according to research by Macquarie.

"The trick here is to find the well capitalized banks and match them with markets ripe for a further expansion in lending," said Ismael Pili, head of Asian financial research at Macquarie.

Pili sees banks in Indonesia - where the average common equity ratio is estimated at around 16.5 percent - having the best promise to deliver on growth, with PT Bank Panin and PT Bank Danamon having the most potential for balance-sheet expansion.

M&A possible

Banks could also look at M&A opportunities to deploy excess capital. Deal activity is seen higher in countries where credit growth is relatively slower or where banks have higher surplus capital.

"M&A is still a possibility, specially by the Chinese banks as they are the ones sitting with the biggest pool of excess capital," CLSA's Tabbush said.

CLSA estimates Chinese banks having about $153 billion in surplus capital.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, which wants to rapidly grow in Asia, is exploring the option to buy a majority stake in Korea Exchange Bank, which is currently valued at about $4 billion.

Still, expectations about large M&As are low due to lack of assets and regulatory restrictions.

"The problem with acquisitions in Asia is the lack of availability of assets," said Sunil Garg, a banking analyst with J.P. Morgan.

"Then there are lots of regulatory hurdles. When you get regulatory roadblocks, then it basically reduces opportunities. Hostile M&A is just not popular in Asia. So you can't do cross-border deals and you can't go hostile," he added.

Many Asian banks were holding on to excess capital due to the uncertainty over the Basel III rules. But holding on to excess capital over a longer period is set to dilute banks' return on equity, meaning some will look to raise dividends.

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