VN business news (July 16)

[van <van@rock.civil.saitama-u.ac.jp>]

KCP weighs sugar foray in Vietnam
Vietnam Aims To Have 50 Sugar Mills In Operation By 2000
Asian Cash Rice Mixed; Offers Flat In Vietnam
Malaysian, Vietnamese joint oil field ready for commercial production
Vietnam's finance minister urges privatization

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KCP weighs sugar foray in Vietnam

After the Nagarjuna Group's successful debut into Vietnam's sugar industry,
Madras-based KCP Ltd is also looking that way.

KCP plans to set up a 2,500 tonnes-per day crushing capacity sugar plant
in the Hue province of Vietnam at a cost of $25 million.

Nagarjuna Group has already commissioned a $30 million-sugar factory
of 3,500 tonnes per day crushing capacity in the Long Ann province of
Menong Delta in south Vietnam.

This is the first 100 per cent foreign industrial venture in that country.
The plant became fully operational on January 1 this year.

The area has been developed into an industrial complex with the sugar
factory and units for by-products. While Nagarjuna Group opted for the
Tate and Lyle process technology of the United Kingdom, KCP, a major
player in sugar and cement machinery manufacture will have its own technology.

Incidentally, the company has been supplying sugar machinery and equipment
to Vietnam over the years.

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Vietnam Aims To Have 50 Sugar Mills In Operation By 2000

July 16 (Dow Jones)-- Vietnam appears set to achieve its sugar production target 
of one million metric tons by the year 2000 when a total of fifty sugar mills 
should be in operation, said Ha Duc Ho, deputy director of the Department of 
Agro-forestry Products Processing and Rural Industry and the Sugar Programme 
Executive Board under Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The sugar production target was set in 1995 and is expected to generate job 
opportunities for about 500,000 laborers.So far, 24 sugar mills are in 
operation. Ten started operation in the 1996-97 milling season (October to May).
he said.

Of the ten, the largest, the Thanhhoa-Taiwan joint venture sugar mill, has a 
capacity of 6,000 tons of cane per day (TCD), while the second largest is 100% 
foreign-owned and has a capacity of 3,500 TCD. The remaining eight local mills 
have capacities ranging from 500 TCD to 1,000 TCD.

Construction of another seventeen sugar mills is underway and should be 
completed in 1997-98 or 1998-99. The two largest mills of the seventeen are 
joint ventures - the Tay Ninh-Bourbon sugar mill, with a capacity of 8,000 TCD 
and the Nghe An-Tate & Lyle sugar mill, with a capacity of 6,000 TCD.The rest 
are local mills, with an average capacity of 1,000 TCD.

In 1999, some 41 sugar mills with a total capacity of 65,050 TCD will likely be 
in operation in Vietnam.Plans are already in place for nine more mills, with 
capacities ranging from 1,000-4,000 TCD, to start operating by the year 2000.

By 2000, Vietnam's sugarcane production should reach some 12 million tons, while 
the milling capacity of the fifty mills should be at 86,000 TCD. If the mills 
operate at 85% of their capacity, Vietnam would be able to produce the one 
million tons of sugar it is estimated will be needed to completely meet domestic 
demand.

By the year 2000, the country's annual per-capita consumption of sugar is 
expected to increase to some 12-13 kilograms, up from about 6-7 kilograms
in 1994.

There still remains a lot of potential for further development of Vietnam's
sugar industry.Currently, Vietnam has about 700,000 hectares of land suitable 
for growing sugarcane, whereas the one million ton sugar production target will 
only take up about 250,000 hectares of suitable land.

In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has already studied 
and formulated a new plan for further development of sugarcane production from 
2000-2010. From 2000, depending on progress, Vietnam could start to export 
sugar,Ho said.

Ho is scheduled to speak Thursday at the Asia International Sugar Conference
which started here July 15 and ends July 17.

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Asian Cash Rice Mixed; Offers Flat In Vietnam

SINGAPORE, July 16 (Dow Jones)--Offers for Asian cash rice are flat late
Wednesday, with offers heard for Vietnamese rice flat and offers for Thai rice 
down, rice traders said.

Vietnamese 25% and 5% broken rice are offered at $225/ton and $255/ton,
respectively, amid light activity, traders in Ho Chi Minh City said.

Activity is mainly confined to fulfilling existing contracts of 25% and 100% 
broken rice to Africa and Bangladesh.

In Thailand, offers for 25% broken rice are heard at $265/ton, down from
Tuesday's $270/ton, and offers for 5% broken rice are heard at $330/ton,
down from Tuesday's $335-$340/ton.

In India, offers for 25% broken rice are heard at $245/ton, up from $240/ton
Tuesday.

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Malaysian, Vietnamese joint oil field ready for commercial production

HANOI, July 16 (AFP) - An oil and gas field jointly developed by Vietnam and 
Malaysia is ready to begin commercial production, a foreign oil official said 
Wednesday.

The PM3 Oilfield, located in a region of overlapping claims by both countries,
will begin shipping oil to customers within two weeks.

State-owned Petroliam Nasionale Bhd (Petronas) has a majority stake in the oil 
field, while Vietnam's state oil company Petrovietnam has a 10 percent stake in 
the project which has estimated capacity of 20,000 barrels of oil per day for 
the first two years.

Two other foreign oil companies, International Canada Petroleum and Sands
Petroleum of Sweden also have stakes in the consortium.

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Vietnam's finance minister urges privatization

HANOI, July 16 (AFP) - Vietnamese Finance Minister Nguyen Sing Hung has called 
for the creation of more joint-stock companies and the privatization of 
state-owned firms to ensure growth, a report said on Wednesday.

In a front page report, the official Vietnam News quoted Hung as saying: "It's 
time for the government to push for private investment." 

"We must accelerate the formation of joint-stock companies with shares sold 
largely to the population," he added.

Hung said his idea might meet with resistance from some levels of government
and the ruling communist party, which has made state-led growth a foundation
stone of its industrialization policy.

"I understand this may damage the rights of some state managers and 
administrators, but this is the only viable way at the moment to develop the 
national economy," he said.

Hung's remarks come amid widespread indications that Vietnam's economy is losing 
steam. First half industrial production growth in Hanoi tumbled to 1.7 percent 
from 10.3 in the same period a year earlier.

Consumer prices rose just 0.1 percent in June, while state owned steel and 
cement plants have stockpiles of unsold output despite emergency import bans. 
Hung said investment must reach at least 30 percent of gross domestic product to 
achieve government growth targets of nine-to-10 percent