Chemical analysis labs need more domestic equipment

HCM CITY — Viet Nam should manufacture more machinery for chemical analytical laboratories as the market for such services is huge, experts have said.

Phung Minh Lai, deputy head of the National Agency for Science and Technology Information, said the annual growth rate of Viet Nam's chemical industry would be between 10 per cent and 15 per cent in the next few years.

As part of a chemical industry development plan, the government has set up production targets for the petrochemical and pharmaco-chemical industries by 2020.

The Ministry of Health estimates that the total value of drug consumption in Viet Nam this year could reach nearly US$1.5 billion.

The growth rate of the pharmaceutical industry has reached 15 per cent annually in recent years, but the scale of the industry still has been small.

The industry mostly produces typical pharmaceutical products with simple technology, according to Lai.

To reach the target, the Government will invest around 11 million euros (US$14 million) in the industry by 2015.

These include funds for many projects, including six phamarceutical production plants, some of which would make antibiotics and sorbitol products.

Moreover, pharmaceutical companies are looking for foreign partners to help them put biotechnology into actual practice.

For the petrochemical industry, Viet Nam has built three plants during the first phase, and the second phase will be implemented by 2015.

The government also will invest nearly 30 million euros ($38 million) in environmental-research projects, including water and sewage treatment as well as solid waste management.

Viet Nam has applied biotechnology in the agricultural and aquacultural sectors as well as the food processing industry.

Because water and food safety certification are two areas with high demand, where laboratories and modern equipment are necessary.

Currently, the State is investing in building 17 main laboratories, but Lai said this was insufficient.

Most of the equipment now in use was imported from Europe and Asia.

Nicole Klammer, head of the Analytica Viet Nam Project, said the country needed an outstanding platform for the analytical lab field.

Analytica Viet Nam on April 7-9 next year will hold a fair to display a variety of equipment that can be used in the country. — VNS

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Furniture expo opens in City

HCM CITY — The best of wood works that Viet Nam has to offer will be on display at the HCM City International Furniture & Handicrafts Fair 2010 scheduled to be held here next month.

Nearly 300 enterprises will present furniture, handicraft items, wood-processing machinery and materials in some 700 booths at the Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Centre from October 6-10.

Organisers said the five-day annual event will play an important part in helping furniture and handicraft industries boost export and obtain their targeted export revenues of US$4.5 billion this year.

As part of the national trade promotion programme, it will also help local, mostly small and medium sized wood and handicraft enterprises, introduce new products and build business links with foreign importers.

Additionally, the exhibition will feature the Online Expo, which so far has attracted more than 800 enterprises with 7,000 products, an increase of 21 and 40 per cent respectively over last year.

Local enterprises will have the opportunity to establish Business to Business contacts with foreign importers at a seminar on purchasing demand and product standards that will be held during the exhibition.

The fair is being co-organised by the city's Department of Industry and Trade, the Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency and the HCM City Handicrafts and Wood Industry Association. — VNS

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Honda Viet Nam opens new auto showrooms

DONG NAI — Honda Viet Nam Co Ltd and Tuyet Tan Phat Auto Co Ltd opened its third auto centre, Bien Hoa Honda, in the southern Dong Nai Province.

There are now eight auto centres in the country.

Bien Hoa Honda is located at Amata Industrial Park in Bien Hoa City. The centre covers 6,000sq.m. that includes a showroom, services and a warehouse.

Wind power plant to break ground in Bac Lieu

BAC LIEU — Construction of the first wind power plant in Viet Nam's Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta started on September 9 at Binh Dong A hamlet in southern Bac Lieu Province.

The 500-ha wind power plant will have 66 wind turbines that will produce 310 million KWh per year.

Cong Ly Construction-Trade-Tourism Ltd Co is investing VND4.5 trillion into the project. The plant will be finished in the next 36 months.

Jetstar Pacific offers cheap fares on domestic flights

HCM CITY — The low-cost airline Jetstar Pacific is offering 1,000 tickets on the HCM City-Ha Noi-HCM City for VND100,000 each on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi.

The promotion began on September 9 and will end October 10. Every week, there will be 200 tickets on sale on the website www.jetstar.com on a random day. Customers must register and pay for the ticket with a credit card.

FPT to distribute Siemens production software

HCM CITY — FPT Information System Soft has become the official distributor in Viet Nam for Siemens Teamcentre Product Lifecycle Management Software (PLM), the world's most widely used PLM system.

The Teamcentre software connects people in global-product development and manufacturing organisations with the product and process knowledge they need to succeed.

The software helps enterprises increase productivity, speed up time to market, meet business and regulatory requirements, optimise operational resources, and facilitate global collaboration.

Local advertising creatives to vie for Young Lions title

HCM CITY – Young Vietnamese who work in the advertising and marketing industry will take part in the Viet Nam Young Lions Competition 2011, which is part of an international competition that will end next year.

The Sun Flower company is the official representative in Viet Nam for the Cannes Lions International Festival.

The competition has three categories: print, film and media.

To participate, each team, including two members aged 18-28, must send no more than five print advertisements or television commercials and three submissions on media strategy to the organising committee before October 1. Information is available at www.sunflowermedia.com.vn. — VNS

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Credit card growth sluggish despite incentives

Many banks in Vietnam have tied up with electronics stores, supermarkets, restaurants, spas, and others to offer discounts to card users

High interest rates, annual fees and safety considerations have prevented the credit card industry from getting off to a roaring start in Vietnam.

Although both domestic and foreign banks have launched several promotion programmes, they still have failed to attract enough customers to use credit cards for their shopping and other needs.

Because they expect the market to be a lucrative one in the future, the banks are pushing the use of cards so as to acquire and expand their market share.

The promotion campaigns have included direct marketing and the granting of credit cards without any fees.

Ho Anh Ngoc, head of retail banking in the southern region for Techcombank, said his bank plans to increase the number of its credit card users to 23,000 by the end of this year. It is targeting customers from all income segments.

Other banks such as Vietcombank, Eximbank, Asia Commercial Bank have launched their own promotions to expand the use of credit cards.

Customers travelling to Singapore between August 27 and September 30, can get a set of X-mini Capsule speakers from Eximbank if they spend at least $500 using their Visa card over three days.

Phi Thi Phuong, head of Eximbank's card management department said since early this year, Eximbank has issued 4,000 credit cards, increasing the total number of customers to 30,000.

To attract more customers, international banks like HSBC and ANZ have sought to increase their market share by marketing on websites and through emails and phone calls to customers.

The banks have also linked up with trade centres and supermarkets to offer discounts for those using Visa or MasterCard for their shopping.

Hoang Long, who works for a transportation company in District 3, said he received an invitation to open a credit card from ANZ, but failed to get one because his monthly salary was less than VND5 million (US$256).

Furthermore, late payments on a Visa card attract very high interest rates of between 1.5 percent to 1.9 percent per month, and this is something that gives pause for thought to Vietnamese clients.

HSBC and Techcombank levy overdue fees of 1.87 percent and 1.6 percent per month respectively.

Card owners also have to pay other kinds of fees.

Nguyen Tu Anh, director of Smartlink Card Joint Stock Co, said customers have to pay considerable attention to opening fees, annual costs, loan rates and exchange rates for international payments.

Hai Duyen, a regular customer of Techcombank, said credit cards were not all as safe as presumed. Recently, she had her pocket picked, and lost VND20 million ($1,025) through her visa card.

According to Duyen, credit cards do not require any password like the ATM card. Thieves can use a forged signature.

Moreover, Vietnamese customers are still not used to using cards for their shopping, and prefer to use cash instead.

Also, many shopping centres are yet to install POS machines to accept credit card payments.

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Auto industry suffers from structural weaknesses

Vietnam's auto industry has survived its first decade, but had failed to live up to expectations because of a limited market, supply industries and roading, an expert has said.

" Vietnam is a developing market with a very limited size, but it has 11 joint venture companies with a production capacity of just thousands of vehicles per year. How can it be effective?" senior independent economic commentator Pham Chi Lan said.

As a result, domestic vehicle makers like Vinaxuki and Truong Hai Auto struggled to compete against foreign enterprises who had more advantages, she said.

Ministry of Industry and Trade heavy industry department deputy Ngo Van Tru said the domestic auto consumption of just 100,000 vehicles with 400 models per year was hardly enough to support the industry.

Lan said countries like Japan and China had several auto producers, but they were able to create healthy competition and to meet demand.

The sluggish development of domestic auxiliary industries didn't help the situation. Carmakers had to import components and parts, which pushed up prices and made them less competitive.

Lan said most local carmakers did not trust the quality of components and parts made in Vietnam . Enterprises, on the other hand, considered it too risky to produce components and parts in Vietnam .

Hanoi Export Processing and Industrial Zone management board head Nguyen Xuan Chinh said one of main reasons auxiliary industries hadn't developed was that auxiliary enterprises and auto assembling companies did not trust each other.

A representative of Vinaxuki, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "Vinaxuki produces 40 percent of its own components and parts. We plan to raise that to 60 percent."

Meanwhile, another fact against the development of the car industry was the nation's poor roading.

Main roads in Hanoi and HCM City , for example, could adequately accommodate only 15 percent of all vehicles, instead of the standard 40-60 percent. The density of vehicles per kilometre in Hanoi was 6,500, including motorbikes.

The sources said authorities should give tax incentives to encourage domestic auto production by a certain deadline.

Economist Lan said: "Auxiliary enterprises should produce components and parts for many different vehicles, which would help them save production costs and human resources."

The Government should encourage local firms to produce autos which satisfied the demands of motorbikes and made the vehicles more competitive with foreign one, Lan said.

 

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Computer market grows 19 percent

The Vietnamese computer market is predicted to see a year-on-year increase of 19 percent thanks to a dramatic increase in laptop sales, according to market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

In the second quarter of this year, computer sales marked a 12 percent increase on Q1, the IDC reported.

The increase was attributed to Vietnamese consumer preferences for laptops rather than desktop based PCs, it said.

In Q2, the number of laptops imported to Vietnam rose by a dramatic 38 percent over Q1, and 33 percent over the same quarter last year.

Laptop sales in the second quarter totalled 462,407, the corporation said.

It believes that the start of the new school year in August, combined with sales promotions, would give computer manufacturers a well-needed shot in the arm, ensuring that they were likely to achieve their turnover targets.

With manufacturers looking to clear old models, free accessories and big discounts are likely to be offered to consumers, it said.

The brand-name laptop market grew 38 percent in the second quarter, with Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo and Asus doing well.

Dell became the market leader for the first time, with an 11 percent share of the market thanks to efficient distribution and competitive prices.

HP cut imports due to high stock levels and was second with a 10.5 percent market share. They were followed by Acer with 9.9 percent, Lenovo with 5.1 percent, and Asus with 4.8 percent. While the laptop market recorded good business results, the PC market showed a distinct downturn.

In the second quarter, the IDC reported, only 273,101 PC units were imported, down 8 percent over the first quarter, just a 1 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

It said almost all computer companies had recently faced challenges caused by lower demand and over-stocking of personal computers.

This would become more serious when demand dropped, and Government projects cut IT spending.

IDC spokeswoman Phan Yen said the Vietnamese computer market in the first half of this year had faced many challenges because of lower demand, which was predicted to slacken towards the year-end.

The recent depreciation in the dong was not likely to help matters, she added.

 

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Vietnam, Guangxi sign 54 cooperation projects

As many as 54 trade, investment and credit cooperation projects with a total value of US$1.9 billion were signed during an economic-trade forum between Vietnam and China’s Guangxi province in Hanoi Saturday.

The projects cover mostly areas of mechanical engineering, machinery, cement, urban infrastructure, wind power, irrigation and hydropower.

Speaking before over 1,000 delegates being senior government officials and businesspeople at the forum, President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always attaches importance to developing the friendship with China and will do its utmost to foster the bilateral ties, particularly the economic, trade and investment relations with Guangxi province.

The VCCI President spoke highly of the dynamic cooperation between Vietnamese and Guangxi businesses, expressing his belief that Vietnam ’s business environment which is getting more favourable and the country’s deeper economic integration will help ensure Guangxi investors’ success here.

Loc said he hoped that through the forum, Guangxi businesses will strengthen trade and investment cooperation with their Vietnamese counterparts in order to improve the trade balance between the two nations.

According to Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Sun Guoxiang, the economic-trade cooperation between Guangxi and Vietnam has rapidly developed in recent time. Vietnam has become Guangxi’s largest trade partner with two-way trade reaching over $4 billion in 2009. The figure exceeded 2 billion USD in the first half of this year, accounting for nearly 16 percent of the two countries’ trade turnover.

The ambassador affirmed that the Chinese government pays attention to and supports Guangxi businesses’ economic-trade cooperation with Vietnam and will continue facilitate the two sides’ businesses in implementation of cooperation projects in the coming time.

Governor of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Ma Biao stressed that Guangxi always attaches importance to developing its economic-trade ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Vietnam .

He suggested the two sides speed up the building of the Nanning-Hanoi expressway, develop infrastructure and strengthen coordination in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) cooperation framework as well as facilitate exchanges and cooperation between Guangxi and Vietnam ’s border localities.

At the forum, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong also committed to creating more favourable conditions for Guangxi businesses to implement their projects in line with Vietnamese law and called for their continued investments in the country.

 

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