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VN Buss. News (Mar. 25/1997)
Mar 25: Vietnam annual inflation at 10 year low
Mar 25: Vietnamese and Cuban firms team up in rat poison joint-venture
Mar 25: Vietnam in oil talks with Geopetrol, Conoco
Mar 25: Vietnam 1Q97 Trade Deficit $935M Vs $1.0B 1Q96
Mar 25: Vietnam March Indus Production Up 12.7% Vs Yr-Ago
Mar 25: Vietnam: Proposal Made For Oil Refineries At Two Sites
Mar 25: S. Korea: Daewoo Corp. In Vietnam Kraft Paper Venture
Mar 25: Vietnam: Police Arrest Leading Entrepreneur For Corruption
Mar 25: Carrier Air Conditioning to build Vietnam plant: report
Tuesday, Mar 25, 1997
Vietnam annual inflation at 10 year low
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam recorded year-on-year
inflation of just 2.3 percent in the month to March 25, its
lowest rate in more than a decade, according to official
figures released Tuesday.
During the month to March 25 prices nationwide fell 0.5
percent, thanks to softer food prices, especially the price
of rice, which fell 1.2 percent from February and 7.2
percent from a year earlier, according to the General
Department of Statistics.
Inflation is at its lowest level in Vietnam since the
country launched its economic reforms in the mid-1980s.
Fuels have been the only major commodity to see double
digit inflation over the past 12 months, up 26.6 percent
due to large fuel price and tax increases in November.
Construction materials -- which led a surge in inflation
last year when the country was hit by severe shortages of
cement and steel -- declined in price by 1.6 percent over
the past year as stockpiles mounted and cheap imports have
flooded the market.
Ho Chi Minh City, which has seen its economy grow at around
15 percent annually in the past two years, had the highest
inflation rate in the country at 4.5 percent over the past
12 months while its monthly inflation dropped 1.1 percent
over February.
Prices in Hanoi also saw a slight over the previous month,
falling 0.5 percent, and were up just 1.9 percent over a
year earlier.
Inflation in Vietnam has fallen from 67 percent in 1991 to
17.5 percent in 1992, 5.2 percent in 1993, 14.4 percent in
1994, 12.7 percent in 1995 and just 4.5 percent last year.
The dong has slipped 3.4 percent against the dollar in the
past twelve months according to the official exchange rate,
and 0.9 percent since February.
However the dong has lost more value against the dollar on
black market rates in recent weeks.
Vietnam releases its inflation figures around the 25th of
the month rather than waiting until the month is over.
Tuesday, Mar 25, 1997
Vietnamese and Cuban firms team up in rat poison joint-venture
HANOI (AFP) - Cuba and Vietnam have created an
offshore holding company that will market and eventually
produce a Cuban-developed rat poison, one of the investors
said Tuesday.
Beta Vietnam Fund, a Dublin-listed, closed end direct
investment fund managed by Ho Chi Minh City-based Indochina
Asset Management Company has teamed up with a Cuban
state-owned company in the project, the investor said.
They would form a 5.35 million dollar company, Bio Viet Nam
Ltd., to produce and distribute the rat poison, the
investor said, confirming a paid announcement which
appeared in the Vietnam News Tuesday.
Bio Asia is licenced for 25 years and will be located in
Can Tho Industrial Zone in the Mekong delta, Vietnam's rice
bowl.
Tuesday, Mar 25, 1997
Vietnam in oil talks with Geopetrol, Conoco
HO CHI MINH CITY (Reuter) - Vietnam is negotiating with France's
Geopetrol GEOP.PA and a consortium led by Conoco Inc over exploration
rights to a prime offshore oil block known as 15-1, industry sources
said on Tuesday.
One official at the state oil and gas firm Petrovietnam, who
declined to be named, said that an announcement of the
production-sharing contract was just days or weeks ahead.
The triangular block -- which lies off the country's
southeast coast and north of its biggest-producing oilfield,
Bach Ho (White Tiger) -- has been eyed by oil majors for years.
"Certainly 15-1 had three prospects that we saw in the
southeast corner," said a source at one major western oil firm,
whose bid for a share in the field was rejected.
Industry sources said Conoco, a unit of DuPont Co ( E.I. Du Pont De Nemours
& Co ),
led a consortium grouping South Korea's Petroleum Development
Corporation (Pedco) and Yukong Ltd 44510.KS .
Petrovietnam's General Manager for International Cooperation
Do Van Ha told reporters that a short list would be drawn up
next month for four other blocks, 09-2, 09-3, 16-1 and 16-2.
The Saigon Times Daily this week quoted Petrovietnam
President Ngo Thuong San as saying six U.S. firms and six
Japanese firms had submitted bids for these blocks.
He said the bidders included Esso, Mobil Corp ,
Conoco, Opeco, Texaco Inc and Soco International Inc. of
the United States, and Japan Petroleum Co Ltd., Indonesia
Petroleum Ltd., Mitsui Corp 8031.T , Marubeni Corp. 8002.T ,
Nissho Iwai Corp. 8063.T and Idemitsui Kosan Co. of Japan.
Other bidders included Korea Petroleum Development Corp and
Pedco and Britain's Enterprise Oil ETP.L.
Tuesday, Mar 25, 1997
Vietnam 1Q97 Trade Deficit $935M Vs $1.0B 1Q96
Hanoi (DJ) -- Vietnam's trade deficit in the first quarter of 1997 is
expected to total $935 million, according to an economic report from the
General Statistics Office made available to the media Tuesday.</p>
The deficit is narrower than the $1 billion trade gap recorded in the
year-ago first quarter.</p>
The trade deficit in March is expected to total $295 million, the GSO said.</p>
The cumulative January-February deficit was $640 million.</p>
Exports in the first quarter are projected to total $1.79 billion, up 23%
from the year-earlier quarter.</p>
Imports are projected at $2.72 billion, up 11% from the year-earlier period.</p>
Vietnam's trade deificit in 1996 totaled nearly $4.00 billion, about 17% of
gross domestic product.</p>
As a result of its size, the trade gap has emerged as the principal
macroeconomic challenge facing the nation. International organizations like
the World Bank have warned about the sustainability of the deficit in the
medium term unless steps are taken to narrow it.</p>
The scale of the deficit has been a major factor behind the ongoing
depreciation of the dong in Vietnam's interbank foreign exchange market.</p>
The government has made reducing the trade deficit one of its top priorities
for 1997, although few concrete measures have materialized so far.</p>
Among major export and import items in the first quarter of 1997 are:
(Figures are in metric tons unless otherwise indicated.)
EXPORTS:
Crude Oil 2.35 million
Coal 857,000
Rice 350,000
Coffee 138,000
Textiles $212 million
Footwear $193 million
Marine products $128 million
<p>IMPORTS:</p>
<pre> Petroleum products 1.50 million
Black cement 362,000
Urea 197,000
Steel 190,000
Clinker 164,000
Motorcycles 106,000 units
Autos 3,900 units
Tuesday, Mar 25, 1997
Vietnam March Indus Production Up 12.7% Vs Yr-Ago
Hanoi (DJ) -- Industrial production in Vietnam is expected to increase 12.7%
in March compared with March 1996, according to data from the General
Statistics Office made available Tuesday.
The total value of industrial production in March is projected at 10
trillion dong (about $860 million).</p>
Industrial production in the state sector is projected to total 5.03
trillion dong this March, an increase of 11% compared with the value of
production last March.</p>
Production in the non-state sector is expected to reach 2.46 trillion dong,
also an 11% increase compared with the year-earlier month.</p>
Output in the foreign-invested sector, which is regarded as a separate
categoy, is expected to total 2.51 trillion dong, up 19% compared with March
1996.
Tuesday, Mar 25, 1997
Vietnam: Proposal Made For Oil Refineries At Two Sites
HO CHI MINH CITY (DJ) -- A group of Vietnamese government economists and
scientists
has proposed that Vietnam build oil refineries in the south and north of the
country,
rather than in the center, Tran Quan Ngoc, a general director at the
Ministry of
Planning and Investment, told reporters Tuesday.
The government has repeatedly stated its intention to build Vietnam's first
oil refinery, a proposed $1.3 billion project, in Dung Quat, a remote
location on the central coast. But now, 'Many people have different opinions
about this,' Ngoc said.</p>
Under the proposal from a group of economists and scientists, the initial
development of the nation's refinery capacity would be with two smaller
refineries in the north and south, rather than with one large refinery in
the center, Ngoc said.</p>
Under the proposal, the two refineries would have a combined capacity equal
to that planned for the Dung Quat refinery, 6.5 million metric tons a year,
Ngoc said.</p>
The group of scientists and economists has suggested the two-plant plan
would constitute the first stage of the refinery industry's development in
Vietnam and that a large facility at Dung Quat would be developed later as
the second stage.</p>
Ngoc said the new proposal has emerged from individuals outside of
state-owned Vietnam Oil & Gas Corp. (PetroVietnam) who are concerned
with the absence of infrastructure at Dung Quat and its distance from both
the nation's crude supplies and major markets.</p>
On top of refinery construction costs, an estimated $300 million to $500
million will need to be spent on infrastructure at Dung Quat, now a small
fishing village, to prepare the site.</p>
The lack of infrastructure is a 'very big problem,' Ngoc said.</p>
Additionally, he noted that about 65% of Vietnam's oil product consumption
occurs in the south.</p>
Dung Quat is 900 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh City.
Tuesday, Mar 25, 1997
S. Korea: Daewoo Corp. In Vietnam Kraft Paper Venture
SEOUL (AP, DJ) -- South Korea's Daewoo Corp. (Q.DWO) said Tuesday it plans to
produce kraft paper in Vietnam under partnership agreements with Vietnam Paper
Corp. and Haiphong Paper Co.
Daewoo, the trading arm of conglomerate Daewoo Group, will hold 70% equity
in the venture while the two Vietnamese companies will each own 15%.
A total of $60 million (U.S.) will be invested to manufacture 50,000 tons
of kraft paper a year in Haiphong as soon as an approval is obtained by the
Vietnam government, Daewoo said. Operation is slated for the latter half
of 1999.
Stocks of Daewoo gained 300 won to close the day at 5,200 won on
volume of 292,510 shares.
Vietnam: Police Arrest Leading Entrepreneur For Corruption
HO CHI MINH CITY (DJ) -- One of Vietnam's rising business leaders has been
arrested
and charged with misappropriation of state property, court officials said
Tuesday.
Than Minh Phung, the director of the Minh Phung Garments company, was arrested
Monday by police in Ho Chi Minh City, the state-run Saigon Times Daily reported.
Also arrested on similar charges was Lien Khui Thin, the director of
Vietnam's Export Import and Tourism Co.</p>
Both men were charged with 'abusing confidence to appropriate socialist
properties.'</p>
Court officials confirmed the arrests, but refused to elaborate on the
charges or say if the cases were related.</p>
Phung is one of Vietnam's new generation of entrepreneurs, having built one
of the country's leading private businesses since economic reforms were
introduced in the mid-1980s.</p>
He has held audience with Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet and had frequently
appeared in newspapers and magazines as an example of entrepreneurial
spirit.</p>
Vietnam's ruling Communist Party has launched a concerted campaign to crack
down on private and public corruption. A growing number of businesses are
coming under closer scrutiny.</p>
Courts in southern Vietnam have invoked the death penalty in three separate
cases of corruption
involving public funds and state property since late last year.
Tuesday, Mar 25, 1997
Carrier Air Conditioning to build Vietnam plant: report
HANOI (AFP) - US-based air conditioner
manufacturer Carrier Air Conditioning Co. Ltd. has received
a licence to build a 100 percent foreign-owned plant in Ho
Chi Minh City, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Carrier Vietnam Air Conditioning Co, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Carrier, received a 50-year licence, said
Harry Nguyen Ha, chief of the Carrier Representative office
in Ho Chi Minh City, according to the Saigon Times Daily.
The company plans to build a plant costing 10 million
dollars which is expected to open by mid 1998, he was
quoted as saying.