Fourth Gloria Jean’s Coffees outlet opened

The new GJC outlet on Nguyen Du Street in HCMC’s District 1 - Photo: Nhan Tam

HCMC – Phong Cach Song Viet Joint Stock Co. opened a fourth franchised Gloria Jean’s Coffees (GJC) shop in HCMC late last week, more than three years after Australia’s coffee brand debuted in Vietnam.

Franchisee Tran Uyen Vi, manager of the fourth GJC, said the new outlet was located at the premises of the Galaxy Nguyen Du Cinema, 116 Nguyen Du Street in District 1, HCMC, so it could expect a lot of guests, especially youth, who want to experience more than 30 kinds of tea and coffee.

The new GJC store is running a promotion till the end of October with each drink discounted 20%.

Tran Khanh Vy, managing director of Phong Cach Song Viet that is the general franchisee of GJC in Vietnam, said the company would open the fifth franchised GJC shop at Quoc Te Square in District 1, HCMC in November. The company is also working on plans to open more in years to come, mainly in the city.

The GJC brand was born in Australia in 1996. It has since been growing fast, with 500 stores in Australia, over 400 in Asia and the Middle East, and over 300 in the U.S.

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Rubber export seen at US$1.5 billion

HCMC – The nation expects to beat this year’s rubber export target of US$1.5 billion this year given the rising rubber prices on the world market, according to the Vietnam Rubber Association (VRA).

Vietnam in the first nine months of 2010 obtained US$1.42 billion in rubber export revenue.

VRA said that rubber supplies from large exporters were shrinking due to unfavorable weather while rubber demands of China and India remained high. As a result, rubber prices on the global market rocketed to US$3,270 per ton in September, up 250% against the 2009 average figure.

Meanwhile, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries predicts the rubber output worldwide at around 9.5 million tons this year, increasing by 6.3% against 2009. However, the output will decrease from 2011 as many countries will replant rubber trees and natural rubber prices will stay high then.

China, India and Malaysia are leading rubber importers, accounting for 47% of the total global rubber consumption.

In 2009, Vietnam had the rubber growing area of 640,000 hectares, exported around 680,000 tons worth over US$1.2 billion to 70 markets.

Under the Government’s scheme, Vietnam will grow 800,000 hectares of rubber by 2020, reach the latex output of 1.2 million tons and obtain export value of US$2 billion.

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Coffee prices should stay stable

HCMC – Local experts predict that coffee prices in Vietnam would be stable during the 2010-2011 crop, ranging from VND24,000 to VND29,000 per kilo.

Vietnam is the second largest coffee exporter in the world, so foreign coffee traders and enterprises here will try to keep the prices low to below VND29,000 per kilo to improve their profit margins, coffee expert Doan Thien Nhan said.

Recently robusta coffee bean prices in the Central Highlands hit a two-year high of nearly VND31,000 a kilo.

Luong Van Tu, chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), said coffee prices have risen on the global market due to low coffee stock. The world prices may move between US$1,700-1,800 per ton within the next month, keeping coffee prices in Vietnam high as well, he said.

According to Vicofa, both Vietnam and Brazil are drought affected. If there is not enough rainfall in October, the coffee crops from both nations would be impacted.

In addition about a third of the coffee trees in Daklak, Gia Lai, Dak Nong and Lam Dong provinces produce low quality beans because they are too old, contributing to a predicted 10-20% drop in output.

The International Coffee Organization estimates the world crop would increase by 7 million 60-kilo bags against last year to 133 million bags.

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Free trade advantages for Vietnam, RoK firms

RoK Ambassador in Vietnam Park Suk-hwan has urged businesses of
both countries to take advantage of preferences from the ASEAN-Korea
Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA).

He stressed the important role of
AKFTA in expanding trade and economic cooperation between Vietnam and
the Republic of Korea (RoK) at a workshop on improvement of the
effective use of the agreement for goods from ASEAN countries and
Vietnam in Hanoi on October 4.

Bilateral trade and economic cooperation have grown rapidly and become a fine example for the world, the diplomat said.

Trade
between Vietnam and the RoK reached 10 billion USD in 2009, an
increase of 20 times against 1992 – when the two countries established
diplomatic ties – and is expected to reach 20 billion USD by 2015.

Deputy
Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said that
implementation of AKFTA had contributed to increased Vietnam
exports.

In 2009, Vietnam earned 1.66 billion USD from export
of goods given preferences from the regional agreement, accounting for
80 percent of the country’s total exports to the RoK.

In the
first six months of this years, thanks to certificates of preferential
origin, businesses shipped goods worth 842 million USD, accounting for
almost 65 percent of Vietnam ’s exports to the RoK.

Deputy
Minister Bien said the workshop offered an opportunity for experts and
policy makers to present information about preferences and the
agreement’s implementation to Vietnamese firms.

However,
the Ministry warned that businesses needed to actively study and inquire
into markets and preferences in order to tap the preferences in the
agreement and strengthen ASEAN links./.

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RoK tops investor list in Vietnam

The Republic of Korea (RoK) is the largest source of foreign
investment in Vietnam , with an accumulated capital infusion of 23
billion USD, said the RoK Consul General in HCM City Kim Sang Yoon.

At the Oct. 4 meeting held by the HCM Union of Friendship Organisations
to celebrate the founding anniversary of the RoK (Oct. 3), Consul
General Kim Sang Yoon said the cooperative relations between Vietnam and
the RoK have strongly developed since the two countries established
their diplomatic ties 18 years ago, with two-way trade turnover
increasing from 500 million USD in 1992 to 9.5 billion USD.

At the meeting, Chairman of the HCM City Vietnam-RoK Friendship
Association Vu Van Hoa thanked the RoK for its support to Vietnam -
and HCM City in particular - during the national construction and
development.

In 2009, Vietnam received 985
million USD in aid from the RoK Economic Development Cooperation Fund or
20 percent of the fund’s budget, Hoa said.

The RoK
has also provided non-refundable aid to help Vietnam develop
infrastructure systems, health care and environmental programs, he said.

In recent years, cooperation in tourism, education, sports and culture has borne fruit.

About 59,000 Vietnamese people are working and studying in the RoK and
tens of thousands of Vietnamese brides have married RoK men, while many
thousands of RoK families are living in Vietnam , according to the
Vietnam-RoK Friendship Association.

Up to July of this year, the RoK provided the second largest number of tourists to Vietnam , with 368,000 arrivals./.

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Coffee prices to be stable in 2010-11 crop

Experts have predicted little changes in the prices of Vietnamese coffee
in the 2010-2011crop, with prices between 24,000-29,000 VND per kg.

By the end of September, 2010, coffee growers in the Central Highlands
of Tay Nguyen, Vietnam ’s largest coffee-growing area, sold their
beans harvested in the 2009-2010 crop for 31,000 VND a kilo - the
highest price recorded in the past two years.

According to the
Vietnam Coffee and Cacao Association (Vicofa), although output of a
large coffee-growing area in Vietnam, which is currently the world’s
second largest coffee exporter, is likely to be affected by dry October
weather and ageing, the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) has
forecast that the world’s coffee output in the 2010-2011 crop is likely
to reach 133 million 60-kg bags, a rise of 7 million bags compared with
the 2009-2010 crop.

In the past nine months, Vietnam shipped
abroad 925,000 tonnes of coffee beans for 1.32 billion USD, which
represented rises of 4.2 percent and 0.9 percent in terms of volume and
value year on year.

Vietnam’s largest coffee market is Germany, accounting for 13.5 percent of total export volume, followed by the
US, which takes 12.7 percent of Vietnam’s coffee exports./.

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Province cuts red tape for investors

Photo: Reuters

Binh Duong province has made every effort to improve its infrastructure and administrative formalities so as to attract more foreign investors, said chairman of the provincial People's Committee, Nguyen Hoang Son.

The province had also taken advantage of its geography and offered incentives to lure foreign invested projects.

The province attracted more than 846 foreign invested projects with registered capital reaching US$7.3 billion between 2005 and 2010, bringing the total number of projects in the province to date to 1,966 capitalised at $13.5 billion, said Son.

Investors include Korean tyre manufacturer Kumho Asian Group, with a total investment capital of $360 million and Thailand 's Siam Cement Group, which specialises in producing packages, with a total investment capital of $140 million. Malaysian property developer SP Setia Berhad Group invested $620 million in the My Phuoc eco-urban project and a $60 million beverage factory was financed by Japan 's Kirin Acecook Vietnam .

The strong attraction for foreign invested projects was a positive sign, as it made a very important contribution to the province's economic development and generated high industrial value, said director of the Department of Planning and Development Huynh Van Trai.

Local authorities have worked with vocational schools to train skilled workers to meet the greater labour demands that come with more foreign invested projects.

Paik In Ki, chairman of the Republic of Korea ’s Financial Investment Association in Binh Duong, said foreign investos were pleased to invest in the province as they could see good infrastructure and good support from local authorities which helped investors to be successful. His company would continue to act as a bridge to provide other Korean businesses with a deep understanding of the province's investment climate and raise their investment in the province.

Binh Duong has developed 28 industrial parks covering 8,751ha.

Prominent projects in the province include the VND3.5 trillion (US$179.5 million) My Phuoc-Tan Van road, which is currently under construction. The road will be a major transportation route to international airports and seaports.

Kang Myong Jun, diretor of DJV Ltd Co, Automotive Manufacturing & Wholesales-Parts, Automotive Repair & Service, said apart from good infrastructure, other facilities such as accommodation and urban areas were also important for luring foreign investors.

 

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