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VN Buss. News (Apr. 9, 1997)
Apr 09: Vietnam's Socio-Economic Development Rises in 1997
Apr 09: Japan's Shimazhu To Set Up X-RAy JV In Vietnam
Apr 09: Workshop Held To Discuss Impact Of Vietnam Oil Project
Apr 09: Vietnam Sets Up Steering Committee for Highway Project
Apr 09: Philiipines Furniture Makers Consider Shift to Vietnam
Apr 09: Four percent climb in Vietnam Airlines passenger figures
Apr 09: Japanese firms win licence for 55 mln dollar tyre venture in Vietnam
Apr 09: Germany's Linde AG gets license for large gas plant in Vietnam
Apr 09: Hotel Industry in Doldrums in Ho Chi Minh City<
Apr 09: China Oil Rig Departs Offshore Area Claimed By Vietnam
Apr 09: Vietnam Govt Seeks Progress On U.S. Copyright Pact: Report
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Vietnam's Socio-Economic Development Rises in 1997
Hanoi (VNA) - "In general, the country's socio economic development in the
first months of this year continued
rising," Deputy Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said in a report to the
eleventh session of the ninth National Assembly opened here last week.
The Deputy PM further reported that thanks to the
overcoming of consequences of floods and storms, and the change of
cropping structure, rice farming is developing well. Farmers in the
Mekong River Delta provinces have started harvesting winter-spring rice
crop which is expected to be a bumper one.
According to the report, the value of industrial output
grew 14 per cent in the first quarter of this year over the same period
last year. The State industrial sector posted a 12.5 per cent increase;
the non-State sector, 10.8 per cent; and the foreign-invested sector,
20.7 per cent.
Some essential products continued to record high growth
rates: electricity output, 9.7 per cent; crude oil, 20.6 per cent;
rolled steel, 13.4 per cent; tin, 68.3 per cent; cement, 19.5 per cent;
textiles, 8.3 per cent and detergent, 14.8 per cent.
The production of paper, chemical fertiliser, pesticide and
coal was lower compared to the same period last year because these
products did not sell well, and are still overstocked.
Meanwhile, export value rose to US$1,788 million, up 22.5
per cent, of which exports of foreign invested enterprises made up
US$160 million, up 83.9 per cent. Several export items saw rises
including rubber, 80.2 per cent; coffee, 207.7 per cent; tea, 68 per
cent; garments and textiles, 28.5 per cent; and footwear, 46.2 per cent.
Meanwhile the export of rice dropped 37.4 per cent, and peanuts, 86.3
per cent compared to the same period last year.
Also in the past three months, the import value was
estimated at US$2,723 million, up 10 per cent, and representing 20.6 per
cent of the annual target for 1997. Of the total value, imports by
foreign invested businesses accounted for US$572 million, up 36.2 per
cent. Reduction was seen in the import of several items such as cars,
down 30 per cent, motorbike, 2.1 per cent and cement, 44 per cent.
However, the trade deficit is still big.
In regard to prices, he noted that the circulation of
consumer goods was normal in the first quarter, although the indexes of
goods and services grew 2.1 per cent the lowest ever rate recorded in
the country in many years.
Mr Khai pointed to some outstanding issues which might
cause adverse impacts to the implementation of national development plan
this year.
"A sign of doldrums has been seen in production and
business activities in some sectors, particularly in processing
industry, with import deficit increasing quickly, exceeding the safety
level," the Deputy PM said.
He said that the slow disbursement of investment fund for
capital construction from both the State budget and foreign loans
delayed the pace of several development projects. The financial and
monetary operations were not yet healthy while reforms of the sate
apparatus in general and of the administrative and state-owned economic
sectors in particular were carried out slowly.
He also highlighted major measures to be taken to implement
the 1997 plan, including measures to raise efficiency of economic
activities and competitiveness of local products, especially the
production of export-oriented goods; effectively utilise investment
capital from foreign and domestic sources for national construction;
strengthen the State management as well as accelerate the
administrative reforms to improve the state performance; and other
activities in the fields of science, technology, education and culture.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Japan's Shimazhu To Set Up X-RAy JV In Vietnam
TOKYO (AAP) - Shimadzu Corp. has established
a joint venture company in Vietnam and will be the first Japanese
company to locally manufacture and market X-ray equipment there.
The new company, headquartered in Hanoi , is scheduled to
start production in October, projected initially at 30 units per year
and targeted to increase gradually to 200 units a year by fiscal 200
Shimadzu is providing 55% of the 1.5 million dollar
capitalization, Vietnamese medical equipment firm Medical Equipment
Enterprise (METECH) will provide 20%, and other Vietnamese companies
will make up the rest. METECH will provide the land for the factory, and
Shimadzu will oversee construction.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Workshop Held To Discuss Impact Of Vietnam Oil Project
Hanoi (VNA) - The social and economic impact
that may be caused by an oil refinery to be built at Dung Quat in
central Vietnam was the focus of an international workshop held in Da
Nang City.
The workshop drew the participation of researchers from
France, Canada, the US and Vietnam.
Th project to build the country's first oil refinery is
part of a strategic programme to give a much-needed boost to economic
development in the central region.
More than 50 papers presented at the workshop focussed on
the benefits that construction of this oil refinery and development of
an industrial zone at Dung Quat would bring to the local people. They
analysed the environmental, ecological, social and cultural effects of
the projects.
A personnel training programme as well as the role of Da
Nang university in training qualified staff and skilled workers for the
industrial zone were also raised for discussion.
Methods to approach US advanced technology in oil refining
and Canadian experience on environmental protection were among other
issues presented by foreign experts at the three-day workshop.
Vietnam will build the Dung Quat oil refinery by itself,
according to General Director of PetroVietnam Mr Ngo Thuong San, and
will conduct a new feasibility study for the more than US$1.3 billion
project.
Dung Quat is an under-developed area in Quang Ngai
province, about 1,000 km from the country's oil fields to the South. The
location of the refinery was the main reason for the earlier pull out of
the project by French oil giant Total.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Vietnam Sets Up Steering Committee for Highway Project
Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam has established a State steering committee to
accelerate construction of the North-South 'Trans-Viet' Highway, the top
of a nine project transport masterplan scheduled to be implemented by the
turn of the century.
The 12 member committee is under Prime Minister Vo Van
Kiet's direct guidance, with acting Minister of Transport and
Communications Le Ngoc Hoan at its head, according to the relevant
Government decision.
The main tasks of the steering committee, whose members
also include the Deputy Ministers of National Defence, Planning and
Investment, Finance and Science, Technology and Environment, and the
Deputy Governor of the State Bank, are to help the Prime Minister make
proper decisions and address issues which are beyond the powers of the
line ministries. The committee will supervise as well as closely
coordinate with relevant agencies to ensure the smooth construction of
the new highway.
The Highway, also known as the Truong Son Highway, will run
to the west of the existing 1,700 km national highway 1A, passing
through 14 provinces from the North to the South. It will be built along
the legendary supply route of the Vietnam war, known as the Ho Chi Minh
Trail, at an estimated cost of US$5.5 billion.
A feasibility study for the project is scheduled to get
underway this quarter.
>
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Philiipines Furniture Makers Consider Shift to Vietnam
CEBU CITY (AAP) - Cebu furniture exporters have expressed interest in
Vietnam as an alternative site for the
expansion of their operations because of the country's cheap labor,
according to industry officers who attended the government briefing on
business opportunities in Vietnam and Myanmar Monday at the Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI) regional office.
The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions
(Citem) has reported that 10 furniture firms will join the
government-sponsored trade mission for Vietnam slated from May 5 to 9.
Eight of these furniture exhibitors are from Cebu, Citem
mission head Vivian Castillo said.
An officer of the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation,
Inc. said Vietnam has become a major competitor for the Philippines in
furniture because of cheap labor.
The strategy open for Philippine furniture exporters is to
wage competition right in Vietnam soil.
The first Cebu furniture firm to expand operations in
Vietnam was Maitland Smith a multinational firm engaged in the
production of high-end furniture for the export market.
"I would not be surprised to see other Cebu-based furniture
firms going that way in the near future if the wage issue here will not
be resolved or stabilized soon," Castillo said.
Aside fom the furniture industry, Citem also tapped
exhibitors of industrial goods, services, processed and fresh food
products for the "business development mission" to these two counties,
Castillo said.
The mission will explore the "contract market" with focus
on hotels, which are now being constructed in Vietnam's Mekong Delta
area and in Myanmar.
"It is usually during the period of construction that the
hotel management starts sourcing their furniture requirement through
contracts with furniture firms for their supply," Castillo said.
The mission will also target hotel projects and contract
agents based in Singapore and other countries, Castillo said.
During a briefing, a Vietnamese consular official suggested
Cebu businessmen could go into joint ventures with Vietnamese firms.
A good example is Vietnam Motors which is a joint venture
with Philippine Columbian Motors with Kia and Mazda Motors as third
party in the business partnership.
For a Filipino trader to invest in Vietnam, he or she must
go into manufacturing and find a local partner to handle the
distribution of goods in the domestic market.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Four percent climb in Vietnam Airlines passenger figures
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam Airlines carried four
percent more passengers in the first quarter of the year
than in the same period in 1996, a report here said
Wednesday.
A total of 711,600 passengers have travelled with the
national carrier since the beginning of the year, including
290,800 foreigners, the Hanoi Moi daily reported.
The figure for foreign passengers, who pay higher fares on
domestic routes than locals, was up seven percent. In
addition, 10,600 tonnes of cargo have been carried since
the beginning of January, a rise of 14 percent.
Vietnam Airlines planes made 7,300 domestic and
international flights in the first quarter, the daily said.
The airline, known as one of Vietnam's most profitable
companies, serves 15 destinations inside Vietnam and 19
abroad.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Japanese firms win licence for 55 mln dollar tyre venture in Vietnam
HANOI (AFP) - Japan's Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. and
Mitsubishi Corp. have won a licence for a 55 million dollar
project to produce car and motorcycle tyres in southern
Vietnam, an official said Wednesday.
Yokohama is to take a 68.45 percent stake in the Vietnam
Yokohama Tyre Company with Mitsubishi Corp. taking 1.55
percent and the local state-owned Southern Rubber Company
holding the remaining 30 percent, said the official from
the local partner.
Investment will be made in two phases, he said, adding in
the first phase the joint venture will spend four million
dollars building a plant to produce motorcycle tyres in Hoc
Mon district in Ho Chi Minh City, which is expected to
start production later this year.
The second phase is due to begin in 1998, when the joint
venture will construct a separate plant in Tuy Ha
industrial park in southern Dong Nai province to produce
tyres for cars. Construction of this plant is expected to
take two years.
The project, licenced on April 1, will be valid for forty
years, he said.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Germany's Linde AG gets license for large gas plant in Vietnam
Hanoi (dpa) - The Munich-based chemicals giant Linde AG has been given
a business license for a 26-million-dollar joint venture industrial gas
plant in Vietnam, a company official said Wednesday.
``We have just obtained the license ...if everything runs well we can
start to build the plan in six months,'' said Pham Duc Tuat, Linde's
chief Vietnamese representative.
Production, which would reach 2,000 cubic metres per hour, is not
expected to come on stream until 1999, he added.
Linde's joint venture partner is Vietnam Industrial Gas Company (Thanh
Gas), a unit of the Vietnam Chemicals Corporation owned by the Minstry
of Industry.
Linde has taken 60 per cent of the project, while the Vietnamese
partner has 40 per cent; the legal capital is 9 mill!on dollars.
The plant's output - to include oxygen, nitrogen, acetlyene and liquid
and gaseous argon - will ``be marketed in northern Vietnam where there
are no industrial gas plants yet, said Tuat, who has been working on
this project for two years.
There are a few older plants in the southern part of the country, he
said.
Linde is interetsed in looking at other possible downstream
investments as Vietnam develops its petroleum and petrochemical
industry, he added.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Hotel Industry in Doldrums in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (Xinhua News) -- The hotel industry in Vietnam's Ho Chi
Minh City
had hard times in the last two years because the supply of hotel rooms has
exceeded the demand, the Vietnam News reported today.
After years of booming hotel construction, Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam's largest commercial hub, has 19,123 hotel rooms, accounting
for 30 percent of the country's total.
Foreign tourists to the city however numbered less than 1 million in
the whole of 1996.
As a result, the occupancy rate has fallen dramatically from 68 percent
in 1993 to 40 percent in the late 1996, which had worried both the
state-run hotels and private hotel owners.
Moreover, the hotel industry still faces challenges from the
foreign-invested joint-venture hotels now under construction. Seven
more such joint ventures totaling 1,760 rooms will be completed by the
end of this year.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
China Oil Rig Departs Offshore Area Claimed By Vietnam
BEIJING (AP) -- A Chinese oil rig has left an offshore area claimed by both
China and Vietnam, but not because of Vietnamese pressure, an official with
China National Offshore Oil Corp. said Wednesday.</p>
The Kantan03 rig completed a month of exploration and drilling activities at
a site midway between Vietnam's northern coast and China's island province
of Hainan, then left according to schedule, according to Zhu Dazhi, head of
CNOOC's international liaison department. CNOOC is a state-owned enterprise
which coordinates all Chinese offshore oil activities.</p>
Zhu told Dow Jones the withdrawal wasn't directly tied to Vietnam's protests
or the start Wednesday of expert-level talks in Beijing between
representatives of the two countries on the offshore issue.</p>
'Vietnam's claim (to the site) is totally groundless,' Zhu told Dow Jones,
reiterating China's well-known position.</p>
On March 7, the CNOOC oil rig and two tugboats entered the waters Hanoi
calls Block 113, sparking a protest from Hanoi.</p>
China dismissed Vietnam's objections, maintaining 'normal exploration
operations' by Chinese vessels in the region are 'beyond reproach.'</p>
Wednesday's bilateral negotiations are one more attempt to resolve a
long-running dispute over maritime sovereignty in the region. A section
chief at the department of treaties and law of China's Foreign Ministry and
his Vietnamese counterpart are leading the talks.
Wednesday, Apr 09, 1997
Vietnam Govt Seeks Progress On U.S. Copyright Pact: Report
Hanoi (DJ) -- In a potential sign of progress toward a U.S.-Vietnam copyright
agreement, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh has instructed the
Ministry of Culture to submit its plans for the pact 'soon,' according an
official media report Wednesday.
Khanh ordered the ministry to do this 'so as to be able to sign a copyright
agreement at an appropriate time,' the newspaper Lao Dong (Labor) said.</p>
The U.S. presented a draft version of the treaty to Hanoi nearly one year
ago, but thus far there has been little Vietnamese response, despite a
stated desire to come into line with international copyright standards.</p>
A U.S. trade delegation will visit Hanoi next week and will have the
authority to conclude the pact.</p>
The copyright agreement is precursor to a comprehensive U.S.-Vietnam trade
agreement, negotiations for which are also underway.</p>
Vietnam is estimated to have a 99% software piracy rate. And pirated compact
discs and videos are easily available in city streets.