New electric truck

The provision includes a $8.3 million grant used to build private sector capacity to execute energy efficiency projects, the bank said in a statement.

It will also provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and relevant authorities to strengthen policy frameworks on energy efficiency.

The remaining amount will be used to establish a risk sharing facility to provide credit guarantees to support local banks in providing loans for energy efficiency projects.

By reducing lending risks, the facility is expected to mobilize around $250 million of commercial financing to be provided to industrial enterprises and energy service companies at competitive terms and with low collateral requirements.

“Scaling up energy efficiency is the single best and lowest cost option to achieve multiple goals at once: meeting energy demand, preventing pollution and reducing greenhouses emission while also increasing industry competitiveness,” said World Bank country director for Vietnam, Carolyn Turk.

The World Bank estimates that Vietnam could save up to 11 gigawatt of new generation capacity by 2030 if comprehensive demand-side energy efficiency investments are carried out.

The energy efficiency investment need for key industries in Vietnam has been estimated at around $3.6 billion.

Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE)’s proposal to raise the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares is receiving mixed opinions from market experts and investors.

The proposal was initiated by newly-appointed General Director of HOSE Le Hai Tra as a solution to reduce system overloads which have troubled traders recently.

A 1,000 minimum trading lot will limit the participation of small investors, while the stock market is moving towards fairness and equality, said a budding investor.

“My friends and I, when joining the stock market, only have a few tens to several hundreds of millions of dong, raising the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares will directly affect our investment capacity,” said individual investor Diep.

“With expensive stocks, we may have to spend hundreds of millions of dong to buy the minimum 1,000 shares,” she said.

According to Diep, the stock market has never had such a chance for growth. New cash flow into the market pushed liquidity to a record high level. However, the new proposal may not only prevent new investors from entering the market but also discourage existing investors.

“The plan to raise the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares could quickly reduce the number of orders delivered daily on HOSE. However, it will cause frustration among small investors who are directly affected by the plan as they think they are not protected,” said Do Bao Ngoc, Deputy General Director of Kien Thiet Securities Vietnam (CSI).

“This plan, if in place, will affect the rapid development of the stock market under the current favourable conditions, one of which is great interest from global investors,” he said.

“Under the new plan, the most affected are the investors whose trading accounts have VND1 billion or less,” said Nguyen Hoang Hai, Vice Chairman of Viet Nam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI)

According to VAFI statistics, investors whose trading accounts have VND500 million or less account for about 30 per cent of individual investors. Among them, the number of investors participating in the market for the first time (F0 investors) with VND300 – 500 million is numerous.

“Last year, the boom of the stock market was great thanks to the participation of new investors, also known as F0 investors. The market always needs new cash flows but raising the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares could hinder the investment capacity of investors and cause them to lose money,” Hai said.

Chairman of SSI Securities Corporation Nguyen Duy Hung on his social media account recently gave a more positive view on HOSE’s proposal, saying the trading system would be on the brink of collapse without appropriate measures.

“Raising the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares is necessary at the moment to keep the system running,” he said, adding when the system upgrading process is completed, the minimum trading lot could be reverted to 10.

Hung said the overload of orders that forces the stock exchange to halt market trading is the result of a rapid-growing stock market that outpaces the processing capacity of the stock market, as such, “a long-term solution is a must,” he said.

Both before and after the Tet holiday, the overload occurred repeatedly on HOSE whenever liquidity in a trading session hit around VND14-17 trillion (US$608-738 million).

The SSC attributed the overload issue on the HOSE to the transaction processing capacity of the stock exchange that limits the number of transactions per day, while a recent surge of orders has exceeded the expectation of the market.

Rice farmers enjoy bumper harvest, high prices in Mekong Delta

Rice farmers in Mekong Delta rejoiced as the ongoing winter-spring crops yielded big gains, while domestic agricultural authorities work towards a near future where Vietnamese rice dominates markets worldwide.

After the award-winning ST25 rice rightfully earned a firm footing on the market, it and other varieties from the Mekong Delta region became highly sought-after. This fragrant rice variety sells for VND30,000-45,000 per kilogram (US$1.3-1.95) and is still seeing high demand after the Lunar New Year shopping craze ended.

“We even had retailers offering to buy our yields long before harvest, which is very rare and proves the apparent demand for high-quality fragrant rice”, said a local field owner.

Mekong Delta farmers up to now have harvested some one-third of the region’s total rice crops for the period, with an average yield of over 7.3 tons per hectare.

Seeing that high-end white rice and fragrant rice make up nearly 90 percent of the products, Soc Trang province is requesting the provincial Center for Agricultural Seeds to focus more on the production and supply of these varieties to meet local demands.

Meanwhile, Hau Giang Province has been promoting the Vi Thuy fragrant rice variety produced in an eco-friendly safety food chain. The province plans to expand cultivation areas to 500 hectares, said the director of Hau Giang’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Vi Thuy brand was rated a 4-star eco rice product by the domestic OCOP program (One Commune One Product) which prompted Hau Giang authorities to promote the safety production chain to local farmers.

On a nationwide scale, restructuring the agriculture sector by cutting off inefficient yields has boosted rice production significantly, as well as created opportunities for up to 6 million tons of Vietnamese rice to enter EU markets per year, said business insiders.

Although the EU market demands some 2.1-2.3 tons of rice per year, only 80,000 tons of Vietnamese exports can enter each year under regulations of the EVFTA.

The Asian country in recent years has commanded international attention with multiple global award-winning rice varieties. Experts believe Vietnam in the near future can export as many as 1 million tons of white fragrant rice at over US$1,000 per ton, earning US$1 billion in foreign currency each year.

To further promote Vietnamese rice, there have been proposals for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to set up a national committee for the rice industry in associations with domestic cooperatives and overseas trade counselors.

Many solutions to prevent network congestion on HoSE

Vietnam’s stock market in the trading session on March 3 continued to encounter network congestion on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), so the VN-Index was almost flat.

Meanwhile, on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index made a breakthrough of nearly 3 percent. At the end of the trading session, the VN-Index inched up by 0.34 points, or 0.03 percent, to close at 1,186.95 points, with 270 gainers, 168 losers, and 64 unchanged stocks. The HNX-Index jumped 6.16 points, or 2.48 percent, to 254.1 points, with 137 gainers, 66 losers, and 57 unchanged stocks.

Foreign investors continued to net sell nearly VND500 billion on the whole market. Of which, they net sold VND470 billion on the HoSE. Liquidity remained at a high level with a total trading volume of 819 million shares, worth more than VND18.1 trillion. Of which, put-through transactions accounted for nearly VND1.77 trillion.

The stock market traded with caution from investors after the new General Director of the HoSE Le Hai Tra spoke in the media about a solution to prevent network congestion, which possibly is to raise the minimum round lot from 100 shares to 1,000 shares to reduce the load for the trading system.

According to the HoSE’s calculations, increasing the round lot to 1,000 shares can reduce the total number of trading orders by 40-50 percent, at the same time, it can pave the way for new heights of market liquidity.

Mr. Tra said that that might only be a temporary solution to solve the current network congestion situation. In the future, when the new stock trading system comes into operation, there will be an odd-lot board, and it is also possible to return to the current round lot of 100 units. However, this opinion faced considerable opposition from investors because it will make it difficult for investors, especially small investors. Because they will have to spend 10 times as much as currently to buy stocks on the HoSE.

Another solution to prevent network congestion for the HoSE is to transfer some stocks from the HoSE to the HNX, the State Securities Commission (SSC) has just sent documents to the HoSE, the HNX, and the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD) on this.

Accordingly, the SSC requested the HNX to promptly accept and receive listed companies from the HoSE, without reviewing their records following the new listing process. The transaction mechanisms, transaction supervision, listing management, reporting, and information disclosure will be applied the same as companies listed on the HNX. The HoSE and the HNX will cooperate in supervising transactions for these stocks to ensure continuity of supervision.

Noticeably, the SSC stated clearly that shares of transferred companies, which are currently in the set of the VN-Index indicators of the HoSE will be removed from the set of HoSE indicators during the temporary transfer to the HNX. At present, SSC will temporarily not consider transferring the shares of companies currently in the VN30-Index.

The SSC also requested the HNX, the HoSE, and the VSD to urgently handle the issue so that enterprises can transfer the transactions of their shares similarly to the listing transfer cases that have been carried out so far. This mechanism will be applied from March 3 this year.

Ly Son garlic reputation threatened by fake products

The prices and the reputation of Ly Son garlic have fallen as low-quality garlic from other areas are being brought to the island and faked as Ly Son garlic.

Ly Son Island, Quang Ngai Province, is famous for its garlic which is sold at much higher prices than the garlic from other places. However, for the past years, garlic has been brought to the island and sold to tourists as the garlic from Ly Son.

According to a trader, fake Ly Son garlic is sold in huge numbers due to high demand from visitors. The price of the garlic from Nha Trang City is VND28,000 (USD1.20) per kilo. After being marketed as Ly Son garlic, its price will increase to VND45,000 per kilo.

Garlic from Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan is also faked as being Ly Son garlic and sold at An Vinh Market on the island.

As a result, there is a surplus of supply and the prices and reputation of Ly Son garlic have been badly affected. After the Tet Holiday, the prices of Ly Son garlic stood at VND60,000 (USD2.60) per kilo but has now dropped to VND40,000. At some points in the past two years, the prices of dried garlic dropped to VND20,000 per kilo.

Huynh Tung, a farmer in Ly Son, said, “The price of Ly Son garlic dropped and it’s so hard to sell garlic now.”

On February 19 and 21, the authorities seized over one tonne of non-local garlic which was being transported into the island.

Dang Tan Thanh, vice chairman of Ly Son District People’s Committee, said they had tightened monitoring and raised public awareness to protect Ly Son garlic.

“We have asked the Department of Economic and Rural Infrastructure to work on a product traceability project. It will help customers recognise the garlic better and protect the farmers,” he said.

Last June, The Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam issued the geographical indication certification to help manage and develop Ly Son garlic more efficiently.

Vietnam forecast to see growing number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals by 2025

The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals living in Vietnam is forecast to grow strongly in the next five years by Knight Frank.

By 2025, Vietnam will have 50 ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) with a net worth of at least $30 million each and 25,812 high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) with assets of at least $1 million, says The Wealth Report 2021 put out by Knight Frank.

The report pointed out that Vietnam’s number of ultra-wealthy people declined slightly due to the impact of the pandemic, dropping from 405 people in 2019 to 390 people in 2020.

Globally, China saw the fastest growth in UHNWI population with a 15.8 per cent growth rate, followed by Sweden and Singapore.

Knight Frank’s current report said that the number of HNWI decreased by 6 per cent globally last year, from 20,645 to 19,149.

To join the wealthiest 1 per cent in Vietnam, an UHNWI needs to have a net wealth of $160,000. Singapore is Asia’s highest entry, marginally ahead of Hong Kong, with the level of wealth required being $2.9 million and $2.8 million, respectively. South Korea and the Chinese mainland set the barrier at $1.2 million and $850,000, respectively.

With lower interest rates and more fiscal stimulus, asset prices have surged, driving the world’s UHNWI population 2.4 per cent higher over the past 12 months to more than 520,000. The process was seen across North America and Europe, but it was Asia with its 12 per cent growth that saw the real upswing. The expansion in wealth was not universal, with a fall in the number of UHNWIs in Latin America, Russia, and the Middle East as currency shifts and the pandemic undermined local economies.

The US is, and will remain, the world’s dominant wealth hub over the forecast period, but Asia will see the fastest growth in UHNWIs over the next five years, at 39 per cent compared with the 27 per cent global average. By 2025, Asia will host 24 per cent of all UHNWIs, up from 17 per cent a decade earlier. The region is already home to more billionaires than any other (36 per cent of the global total). The Chinese Mainland is the key to this phenomenon, with 246 per cent forecast growth in very wealthy residents in the decade to 2025.

Wealth Report pointed out that equities, which accounted for about a quarter of the portfolios of the super-rich, were a major driver of their wealth in 2020 as being in lockdown gave them time to better monitor the stock markets.

In March last year, most stock markets crashed by around 30 per cent, but they had since then bounced back, particularly in the US. The S&P 500, for instance, had rallied by 70 per cent.

“Anyone able to time equity sales or acquisitions in line with market movements would have benefited significantly,” the report said.

Securities firms rake in revenues after bumper year

Foreign and local stock brokerages closed 2020 with a blast, turning around the nosedive that opened the year due to optimism over vaccines, low interest rates, and appealing commission fees.

The momentum is expected to expand substantially this year, given the promise of Vietnam’s equity landscape. In the early part of last year, market volatilities and aggressive broad-based sell-off crippled the stock market, with the total after-tax profit of Vietnamese securities companies dropping 77 per cent on-year. However, hopes of an economic recovery have boosted brokerages’ profits, with the year seeing the highest number of new account openings.

Viet Dragon Securities Corporation recorded a record loss of VND88 billion ($3.83 million) in the first quarter of 2020, mainly from proprietary trading. However, the prospect of effective vaccines returning life to normal is injecting hope into the global and domestic equity market.

By the end of 2020, Viet Dragon Securities recorded total revenues of VND456 billion ($19.83 million), up 45 per cent against the initial plan. The firm’s after-tax profit reached VND144 billion ($6.26 million), equal to 400 per cent of the yearly plan and 424 per cent of the figure from 2019. This was also the highest profit that it had achieved since its establishment.

Meanwhile, Saigon Securities Corporation, Vietnam’s largest brokerage in terms of market share, reported 43.4 per cent higher revenue growth in 2020 than the year before. Its pre-tax profit also rallied by 54.4 per cent, reaching VND1.565 trillion ($68.04 million)

After several COVID-19 vaccines proved effective in recent months, almost the entire stock market started showing signs that an economic recovery is on the way.

As the State Bank of Vietnam remains firm on keeping a low interest rate to help the economy weather the storm, investors vigorously seek for higher returns from riskier assets, such as stocks or corporate bonds. In addition, both Vietnamese and foreign brokerages have provided customers with attractive margin lending rates, as well as low or zero commission fees.

Vu Nam Huong, CFO of VNDIRECT Securities, said the company has achieved positive results for its core revenue segments like transaction fee collection, margin lending, proprietary trading, and derivative securities. In the fourth quarter of 2020, VNDIRECT generated revenues of VND721.6 billion ($31.37 million), up 96 per cent against the corresponding period in the previous year. Its after-tax profit reached VND242.9 billion ($10.56 million), an increase of 73 per cent on-year.

Elsewhere, VPS Securities JSC achieved revenues of VND1.22 trillion ($53 million) and after-tax profit of VND133.5 billion ($5.8 million) in the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, slight increases of 0.62 and 15.03 per cent on-year, respectively. This has led to VPS recording stable income from securities brokerage in the quarter, especially in derivative securities.

Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC also posted positive performance. According to its fourth-quarter financial statement, the company achieved operating revenues in 2020 of VND683.8 billion ($29.73 million), more than three times the figure of 2019. Meanwhile, its after-tax profit reached VND348.6 billion ($15.16 million), more than 9.6 times than a year earlier.

Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation recorded a net revenue of VND514 billion ($22.35 million) and after-tax profit of VND137 billion ($5.96 million) in the fourth quarter, up 54 and 8 per cent, respectively. In 2020, the firm achieved VND1.59 trillion ($69.13 million) in revenues, an increase of 26 per cent compared to the whole of 2019.

Agribank Securities JSC (AGR) also achieved more than VND120 billion ($5.2 million) of profit, equalling 140 per cent of its initial forecast. Along with that, AGR shares also surged by more than 300 per cent since the furious fall into a bear market in March, making it one of the five stocks with the strongest increase during the year.

VietinBank Securities JSC meanwhile recorded a profit of VND128.18 billion ($5.57 million) for the whole year thanks to a sudden bump in the final quarter.

Elsewhere, an influx of foreign-invested brokerages, especially from South Korea and Taiwan, has also pushed the expansion of international know-how and standards as demand increased dramatically. For instance, Mirae Asset Securities Vietnam is currently the largest margin-trading brokerage, the second-largest firm in terms of charter capital and total assets, and among the top 7 in terms of market share. Its profit in 2020 reached VND500 billion ($21.7 million), from VND376 billion ($16.3 million) in 2019.

KB Securities Vietnam – a subsidiary of South Korean financial behemoth KB Group – reported its profit in 2020 reaching VND168 billion ($7.3 million), up around 60 per cent on-year.

Meanwhile, KIS Securities from South Korea also achieved VND207 billion ($9 million) in profit last year, equivalent to a nearly 63-per-cent-increase compared to 2019.

Kwangju Bank also plans to raise JB Securities Vietnam’s charter capital to VND 600 billion ($26.1 million). In 2019, the South Korean lender Kwangju Bank purchased Morgan Stanley’s Vietnam-based subsidiary Morgan Stanley Gateway Securities JSC for VND382.4 billion ($16.63 million).

After acquiring An Nam Securities, Shinhan Vietnam Securities also boosted its activities with a capital hike to VND812.6 billion ($35.3 million). Shinhan is now planning to raise more funds to capitalise on the Vietnamese market. Experts said ultra-low interest rates in South Korea have pushed brokerages to find another promising land.

Public investment a strong pillar for economic growth

Amid the health crisis hurting the domestic economy where private investment remains difficult to attract, Vietnam will continue beefing up public investment in a bid to hit its economic growth goal for this year.

Earlier, in June 2020, the National Assembly Standing Committee also converted the construction of three out of eight expressway projects, which are also parts of the eastern cluster of the North-South Expressway project, from PPP into public investment. These three projects, whose construction has been expedited, are Mai Son-National Highway No.45 (63.4km), Vinh Hao-Phan Thiet (106km), and Phan Thiet-Dau Giay (98km).

According to the Project Management Unit No.6 under the Ministry of Transport, the shift from PPP into public investment for these projects will help boost the disbursement of public investment, lure private investment, and spur on local production, as well as generate employment for local labourers. This will also help expand economic growth rate, which the government is targeted at 6.5% for this year.

Last November, the National Assembly passed a plan for boosting public investment for 2021. Accordingly, total capital from the state budget for 2021 will be VND477.3 trillion (US$20.75 billion), up 1.4% against the similar plan for 2020. In which, money from the central budget will increase 0.9% year-on-year, and money from the local coffers will climb 1.9% year-on-year.

The VND477.3 trillion (US$20.75 billion) public investment capital will be used for many types of projects. For instance, as much as VND16 trillion (US$695.65 million) will be earmarked for national target programmes, some VND15.038 trillion (US$653.82 million) will go to the project on constructing the North-South Expressway; VND4.66 trillion (US$202.6 million) will be used for the project on land compensation and resettlement for the Long Thanh International Airport; about VND2.8 trillion (US$121.74 million) will be for developing coastal roads; and around 4.7 trillion (US$204.34 million) for supporting localities in deploying a number of key new infrastructure projects.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), in 2021, these new investment capital sums, in addition to capital attracted from private investors, will help to complete the construction of the eastern cluster of the North-South Expressway project, the national coastal road line, connection road lines, airports, and seaports.

An MPI leader stated that in the context of numerous difficulties induced by the health crisis, expanding public investment “will be among the most feasible measures to develop the economy and facilitate it to reach the economic growth in 2021.”

“Normally it would take several years to complete procedures for a PPP project, so public investment is now a more feasible solution,” he said.

According to the Asian Development Bank, the government should accelerate public investment as one of the key pillars for economic growth in this year and beyond.

Figures from the Ministry of Finance showed that by late 2020, close to VND390 trillion (US$16.95 billion), tantamount to 82.8% of the plan allocated, was disbursed. This has been the highest disbursement rate in the 2016-2020 period – with 80.3% in 2016, 73.3% in 2017, 66.87% in 2018, and 67.46% in 2019.

Reality has shown that since early 2020, a slew of state-funded projects, mostly infrastructure ones, have come into operation, facilitating national socio-economic development.

For example, in early January 2021, the first-phase construction for the Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai province was kicked off. The port is estimated to cost VND336.63 trillion (US$14.64 billion), with over VND109 trillion (US$4.74 billion) to be needed for the first phase.

In another case, in October 2020 the 5.37 km Mai Dich-South Thang Long flyover at Pham Van Dong street in Hanoi was opened to traffic, helping reduce heavy traffic jams in the area.

Another project of the type was inaugurated in August 2020, costing about VND560 billion (US$24.3 million), crossing Hoang Quoc Viet and Nguyen Van Huyen streets in the capital city.

At the recent 13th National Party Congress in Hanoi, the Central Party Committee passed a hallmark report on assessing the results of the implementation of socio-economic development tasks for the 2016-2020 period and socio-economic development orientations and tasks for the 2021-2025 period. The report stated that public investment will be “effectively restructured and reduced in the total development capital structure.”

“Public investment will be concentrated into key sectors of the economy, key works and projects which have spillover effects and can create socio-economic development momentum, and create breakthroughs in wooing investment capital from local and foreign private sources under the PPP form,” the report stated.

According to the World Bank, Vietnam’s main instrument for macromonitoring has been the speedier implementation of the public investment programme, which has been plagued by slow disbursement in the last few years. As a result, total public investment disbursements increased from VND192 trillion (US$8.34 billion) in the first three quarters of 2019 to VND269 trillion (US$11.7 billion) during the same period in 2020 – a rise of 40%.

“Such effort, principally from the central government, has translated into an increase of investment expenditures from 4.8% of GDP to 6.5 of GDP between the first nine months of 2019 and 2020, supporting aggregate demand through the multiplier effects on suppliers and jobs over time,” stated a World Bank report on Vietnam’s economy 2020. “With any stimulus programme, the role of public investment is not just to directly stimulate the economy, but also to crowd in private investment.”

Vietnam’s economic growth hit 2.91% last year, significantly fueled by an expansion in public investment, which has helped create massive employment and consumed a great volume of materials and inputs in the economy, such as electricity, steel, and cement.

For example, figures from Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) showed that the group’s produced and imported electricity output in 2020 was 247.08 billion kWh, and its commercial electricity output reached 216.95 billion kWh, up 2.9 and 3.42%, respectively, as compared to 2019.

In the first 11 months of 2020, its public investment disbursement reached VND521.2 billion (US$22.66 million), hitting 73.6% against the initial plan allocated by the government.

According to the MPI, in such a number of big projects as the eastern cluster of the North-South Expressway project, the disbursed capital as of late December 2020 totalled VND9.96 trillion (US$433 million) out of VND10.8 trillion (US$470 million) for 11 sub-projects in last year, equal to 92.21%.

Some sub-projects (Cao Bo-Mai Son, Cam Lo-La Son, My Thuan 2 Bridge, and two leading roads) in public investment form expensed VND2.64 trillion (US$115 million) out of VND2.81 trillion (US$122 million) in 2020’s capital plan, tantamount to 94.18%.

HoSE’s raising of standard trading lot to 1,000 could bar small investors

If the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE) proceeds with its plan to raise the minimum volume of shares that can be traded in an order from 100 to 1,000 to address its trading system overload, it could leave huge negative impacts on small investors and prompt many of them to leave the bourse, according to experts and investors in the field.

Thao, the owner of an eatery in HCMC’s Thu Duc City, told VnExpress that she has topped-up VND20 million to her online trading account, which she opened just a couple of days ago and she planned to start trading on the southern bourse today, March 3.

However, last night, she learned that HoSE is weighing extending the size of the standard lot.

She originally wanted to purchase the stocks of four major businesses, namely Vinamilk, The Gioi Di Dong, Vingroup and Novaland. But if HoSE effects the change, she as an inexperienced investor could only buy stocks priced below VND20,000 with the amount of money, or has to have at least VND78 million to buy shares of the real estate developer Novaland or even over VND100 million for each of the other big stocks.

“Such amounts are too huge for new investors like me,” she told the paper.

Commenting on the issue, Dr. Tran Xuan Nam, chairman of Saonam Consulting Company, said that HoSE’s plan was going against a common trend under which the stock market is set to become a platform channeling long- and medium-term capital from the widespread public into the economy.

Nam added that the local stock market could experience a strong sell-off before the plan is executed. Further, the stock market operators would need a long time to regain the trust of and entice investors to rejoin the market.

Earlier, Le Hai Tra, general director of HoSE, shared the plan with the local media, saying that once the plan takes effect, small investors would receive better protection by investing in exchanged traded funds. Also, this would promote the growth of the fund management sector and increase the number of professional investors in line with the Government’s goal.

Further, the change in the standard trading lot could reduce some 50% in the number of trading orders, paving the way for the market turnover to reach higher levels, Tra said.

Expert suggests developing second airport for Hanoi area

The annual capacity of the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi should be doubled to 50 million passengers as originally planned, and a second airport needs to be built in the southern part of the Hanoi City area, instead of doing research over a second airport in 2040, said an expert.

Architect Tran Ngoc Chinh, chairman of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association, put forward this proposal at a conference held on March 3 on the national airport development plan in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, reported Tuoi Tre Online.

Chinh said that if the Noi Bai airport’s capacity is raised to 100 million passengers per year, it is a must to build a metro line linking to the airport, develop two more ring roads and an elevated road above Vo Nguyen Giap street and other infrastucture facilities, which could spoil the capital city’s urban planning and lead to extremely dense traffic facing the north of the Red River.

Accordingly, he proposed developing the second airport in the southern part of Hanoi to promote the growth of this area.

Some locations such as Ung Hoa in Hanoi, Thanh Mien in Hai Duong Province and Phu Ly in Ha Nam Province could be considered to build the airport, Chinh suggested.

In response, Nguyen Bach Tung, deputy head of the Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau, under the Transport Ministry, agreed with the suggestion to research an appropriate location to build the second airport in the Hanoi area.

HCMC implements seaport fee collection plan

The government of HCMC has executed a resolution on introducing levels of fees for using infrastructure facilities and public services at seaport terminals in the city, reported Phap Luat Online.

The municipal government asked the relevant agencies to implement the resolution effectively within their authority.

Earlier, the HCMC People’s Council passed a plan of the HCMC People’s Committee on collecting infrastructure fees at seaports, starting from July 1 this year.

According to the plan, the lowest fee is VND15,000 per ton and the highest is VND4.4 million for a 40-foot container.

Revenue from the seaport infrastructure fees will be contributed to the State budget. Fee collectors will take a maximum 1.5% of the total revenue.

The seaport fee collection is aimed at creating a budget to develop the road system near seaports, to ease traffic congestion and to enhance the goods transport capacity, contributing to the city’s development.

‘Workation’: The rise of a hybrid travel trend after the pandemic

According to the survey, 52% of Vietnamese travelers have already considered booking somewhere to stay in order to work from a different destination, while 57% would be willing to quarantine if they could work remotely.

A recently survey conducted by Booking.com showed that workcation looks set to form a key part of people future travels, at least for the next couple of years.

‘Workation’, as the word suggests, is ‘Work’ + ‘Vacation’ and involves working away from office, blending leisure with business. While not a completely new concept, it seems to garner the attention of travelers worldwide since the outbreak of Covid-19 last year that meant working from home was the new normal.

According to the survey, 52% of Vietnamese travelers have already considered booking somewhere to stay in order to work from a different destination, while 57% would be willing to quarantine if they could work remotely.

“Remote working is becoming a likely long-term reality as health and safety is a top priority in the current environment,” Anthony Lu, Regional Director, Vietnam at Booking.com said.

He also predicts that instead of hotel, more work-friendly  accommodation alternatives, like homes and apartments will be on high demand by for both business and leisure travelers who are looking to work remotely.

In addition, more and more travelers think that having relaxing  while during a business trip is an essential, especially on the “new normal” of working  after Covid-19 pandemic.

Accordingly, 58% of Vietnamese travelers on the survey said they would take the opportunity to extend any business trip so that they could schedule some leisure time. Many are also likely to add a week or two to their holiday in order to work remotely.

Although working from one’s own home has its perks in the coming time, people still want to book somewhere to stay for a welcome change of scenery.

Laptops become the newest travel necessity of 2021, with 61% agreeing that due to the increase in working from home and reliance on technology, business travel will be considered less essential than before. Instead, “workation” may become more prevalent and preferable.

These travelers are mostly looking for accommodation that has home office facilities, fast WiFi and most importantly, a spectacular view or cozy area to help make the workday fly by. Good health and safety precautions at each destination is again a top priority. It is tough to focus on work if our mind is caught up with safety or security concerns around the property.

“There is always a way to jazz up work and yet achieve your travel passion, now more than ever. Travelers could now set themselves free from the long-working time of nine hours for five consecutive days at the office because they can work from anywhere,” experts from Booking.com said.

Vietnam holds potential to become new destination for global investors

Vietnam is currently home to 100 Swiss firms with a combined investment capital of nearly US$2 billion, including major names such as Nestle, Novatis, Roche, Holcim, and ABB.

Given the country’s positive progress in global economic integration, Vietnam holds potential to become new destination for global investors.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Le Linh Lan made the statement in an online conference discussing Vietnam’s market economy on March 2 to mark the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Switzerland diplomatic relation (1971-2021).

“While the global economy fell into a recession, Vietnam’s effective measures against the Covid-19 pandemic has helped the local economy maintained a positive growth of 2.9% in 2020,” noted Lan.

“The country’s strong efforts in digitalizing its economy and the technology competent workforce are plus points,” she continued.

Echoing Lan’s view, Trade Counsellor of Vietnam Nguyen Duc Thuong noted Vietnam has a huge network of industrial parks nationwide and extensive economic partnership with over 50 economies around the world, making the country an attractive investment destination.

According to Thuong, Switzerland is one of Vietnam’s major trading partners and its sixth largest European investor, for which 100 Swiss firms are currently operating in the country with a combined investment capital of nearly US$2 billion, focusing on manufacturing and processing, electricity.

International Business Advisor of consulting firm Dezan Shira & Associates Filippo Bortoletti said 112 countries and territories are having investment projects in Vietnam, while opportunities continue to arise given the country opening up for more business fields from electronic technology, chemicals to material production.

Marketing Manager of Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) Nguyen Chi Toan attributed the country’s political stability, a large market and high-skilled labor force as factors to help attract FDI.

“There has been a shift in customer behavior towards online platform, which contributes to the digital transformation process,” he suggested.

Giving a more detail look on the operation of Swiss companies in Vietnam, Supply Chain Director of Nestle Vietnam Will Mackereth said the company is employing nearly 4,000 workers and remains among top three most efficient branches of the corporation worldwide.

According to Mackereth, Vietnam is one of Asian hubs for production and trade.

Two co-founders of The Happy Turtle Straw of Axel Armellin-Nguyen and Nhat Vuong said more local customers are turning to green products, which create room for the company to expand other green product lines of shoes and face masks made from coffee slurry, or straw, knives and forks from bamboo.

Slow digital transformation might mean bankruptcy for small-scaled businesses

The digital transformation process normally takes place under the two forms of implementing digital technologies into the existing business model or completely reforming the operation model and business structure.

Dr. Trung shared that even though digital transformation has appeared in the world for over 10 years, most companies choose the form as a situational solution only.

A recent research co-conducted by RMIT University experts and KPMG Audit Co. reveals that foreign-invested enterprises and large private corporations in Vietnam are going through this process smoothly. Sadly, state businesses and small- and middle-scaled enterprises are just at the beginning stage.

Adding to this tardiness are the adverse effects of Covid-19 pandemic on business activities, creating several challenges in administration performance.

Finally, among small- and middle-scaled enterprises, there are always obstacles from weak competitiveness ability, low creativity, difficulties in approaching capital sources, and high overhead cost.

“These issues might lead to even more trouble if each business and the Government do not apply suitable policies to tackle”, said Dr. Trung.

He firmly stated that implementing digital technologies is unavoidable if enterprises want to maintain their operation in this Industry 4.0, and this should be done as soon as possible.

Even in this harsh time, there are more and more novel business models related to digital technologies appearing worldwide. Admittedly, various kinds of trouble are preventing many companies from carrying out the digital transformation process. However, worse than the pandemic itself, slowness in applying these new models would no doubt lead many small businesses to bankruptcy.

Insiders make suggestions to maintain sustainable export growth

Vietnamese enterprises should take advantage of online marketing channels, re-arrange production and business orientations and strategies, and bring into full play advantages brought by free trade agreements if they want to achieve sustainable export growth, according to insiders.

Statistics of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) shows that Vietnam’s import-export value reached 95.8 billion USD in the first two months of 2021, up 24.5 percent year-on-year. Of the total, exports were valued at 48.55 billion USD, up 23.2 percent, and imports 47.26 billion USD, up 25.9 percent.

During January-February, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 1.29 billion USD, down from the 1.8 billion USD seen in the same period last year. The domestic sector posted a trade deficit of 4.14 billion USD, while the FDI sector, including crude oil, saw a trade surplus of 5.43 billion USD.

At the Government’s February regular meeting, MoIT Minister Tran Tuan Anh set a target of 4-5 percent in export growth in 2021.

To that end, MoIT Deputy Minister Cao Quoc Hung said that the ministry is considering a new strategy on import-export activities in the coming time to be submitted to the Prime Minister for issuance.

In addition, the ministry will continue engaging in negotiations and perfecting relevant institutions on free trade agreements (FTAs), including issues related to the rule of origins so as to help business better optimize advantages of the agreements.

It will also consolidate and expand export markets, bring into full play opportunities brought about by existing FTAs, diversify import and export markets, diversify exported products, increase the competitiveness of exported products, and develop brands so as to achieve sustainable export development, Hung added./.

Hanoi licenses 22 new FDI projects in February

A total of 22 foreign investment projects were granted new licenses in Hanoi during February, with a combined registered capital of U$12.1 million, according to information released at a recent press conference held by the municipal People’s Committee.

The opening two months of the year witnessed the total registered capital of newly established FDI projects and additionally increased capital projects reach a sum of US$58.9 million.

Furthermore, the capital has allowed two domestic investment projects to make use of non-budget capital, with newly registered capital and increased capital reaching VND2.879 billion.

Most notably, the reviewed period saw roughly 3,415 enterprises being established, with registered capital reaching VND36.6 billion, a decline of 8% in terms of the number of enterprises and a 54% fall in registered capital compared to the same period from last year.

Despite being affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the economic situation in the capital has yielded a number of positive results, including many outstanding indexes being recorded throughout the two-month period.

The total state budget revenue in the capital by the end of February stood at VND50.839 billion, accounting for 20.2% of the estimate.

Moreover, both January and February witnessed the strong recovery of export and import activities, with export turnover in February posting a year-on-year rise of 10.7%.

Banks plan to attract foreign capital

A number of banks continue planning to raise capital this year to improve their financial capacity and many have already deployed plans to attract more foreign capital.

The shareholders of Viet Capital Bank have approved the plan to issue additional shares of up to a maximum of VND1 trillion ($43.5 million) in the first quarter.

At the same time, the bank has just closed the list of shareholders whose written opinions will be requested on the plan to set the maximum foreign ownership limit at 30 per cent to attract additional foreign capital while improving financial capacity and competitiveness.

Nam A Bank is implementing a plan to increase its charter capital to VND7 trillion ($304.35 million), including a plan to issue 57 million shares, equivalent to VND570 billion ($24.8 million), to pay dividends at the rate of 12.4878 per cent and offer for sale 143 million individual shares, equivalent to VND1.43 trillion ($62.17 million).

In addition, the bank is also completing the application to list shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX), instead of trading on the UpCom where it is traded at around VND14,200 (62 US cents).

Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) said that the bank plans to sell another 10 per cent of its shares to foreign investors after completing the deal to sell a 15 per cent to Aozora Bank from Japan in June 2020.

Sacombank (SCB) also said that they continue to improve their financial capacity and competitiveness. Accordingly, the bank has submitted to an extraordinary general meeting a plan to increase charter capital by VND5 trillion ($217.4 million) at the end of 2020. The move has increased its charter capital from VND15.23 trillion to VND20.23 trillion ($662.17-879.57 million).

Previously, Sacombank also announced that it was negotiating with foreign strategic partners to sell part of its capital in order to improve its financial potential after completing the restructuring and listing on the stock exchange.

According to the provisions of Decree No.01/2014/ND-CP, the ownership ratio of a foreign strategic investor must not exceed 20 per cent of the charter capital of a Vietnamese credit institution, and the total share ownership ratio of foreign investors in a domestic credit institution must not exceed 30 per cent of capital.

Currently, many Vietnamese banks are looking to fill up their foreign ownership rooms. At restructuring banks or the three zero-dong banks, foreign partners can buy 100 per cent of the capital with the consent of the government.

On the other hand, according to the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), European banks will be able to increase their shareholding rate in two Vietnamese banks to up to 49 per cent without waiting for a decision to increase the foreign ownership limit. This commitment does not apply to the four state-run banks of BIDV, VietinBank, Vietcombank, and Agribank.

Ho Chi Minh City urges on 32 long-delayed real estate projects

At a recent meeting between Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee and real estate developers, 32 long-delayed projects by 21 developers were discussed to bring about breakthroughs in development.

Novaland had the largest number of projects under discussion by the central and local authorities, with 10 of the 32 projects bearing their logo. These projects include Co Giang apartment building in District 1, the officetel and apartment building at 151 Ben Van Don Street in District 4, a 30 hectare project in Binh Khanh commune of District 2, and seven other projects in Phu Nhuan district.

The Co Giang apartment building in District 1 was handed over land by Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee and the local Department of Construction has granted a construction licence for the project.

The officetel and apartment building at 151 Ben Van Don Street in District 4 has already been approved for land use right taxation.

In the 30ha project in Binh Khanh commune of District 2, legal procedures are being reviewed together with the larger project of Thu Thiem New Urban Area (where this project is located). At the same time, the local authorities are looking for solutions to help achieve a breakthrough at the project.

Seven other projects are being reviewed by local authorities.

Him Lam Land’s Him Lam residential project in District 9 (Thu Duc City) and Saigonres’ two projects were also on the agenda for having legal difficulties. Le Thanh Construction-Trading Co., Ltd. and Phu Long Real Estate Corporation have two projects each.

According to Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association, the key problems of those projects are mainly related to the slow process of calculating land use rights. Because of this, developers cannot pay tax and be approved for construction and granting red books to buyers.

Representing the developers, Chau suggested Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee to issue guidelines to pave the way for projects which include public land. These projects have been delayed for a long time as they consist of small land plots under the management of the state and they cannot get the whole project cleared for construction.

“Local authorities should consider these projects case by case and submit their proposals to the committee to collect the public land plots and hand them over to developers,” Chau said.

Other solutions proposed included removing administrative procedures, setting out a priority list to grant red books to end-users as soon as possible.

He also suggested the committee to set up City Architect Consultant Bureau which can help solve prolonged delays.

The committee’s chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong assigned local authorities to submit a report on each project, talking with developers to ensure their projects can recommence at the soonest.

Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/VIR/SGT/Nhan Dan/Hanoitimes

By staff writers – Translated by Uyen Phuong

Workers from Vietnam Electricity (EVN) instruct a business owner in Hà Nội’s Thanh Oai District on how to use power economically and efficiently. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The World Bank, acting on behalf of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), has signed a grant worth US$11.3 million with the State Bank of Việt Nam to support the development of a commercial financing market for industrial energy efficiency investments.

The total financing from the GCF also includes a $75 million guarantee.

Out of the grant, $8.3 million will be used to build capacities for the private sector to identify, appraise and execute energy efficiency projects.

It will also provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and authorities to strengthen policy frameworks and regulations and create an enabling environment to accelerate the energy efficiency market in Việt Nam.

The remaining grant funds and the guarantee will be used to establish a risk-sharing facility to provide partial credit guarantees to support local banks who may risk potential defaults on loans for energy efficiency projects.

By reducing lending risks, the facility is expected to mobilise about $250 million of commercial financing to be provided to industrial enterprises and energy service companies at competitive terms and with low collateral requirements.

Carolyn Turk, Country Director for the World Bank in Việt Nam, said: “Scaling up energy efficiency is the single best and lowest cost option to achieve multiple goals at once: meeting energy demand, preventing pollution and reducing greenhouses emission while also increasing industry competitiveness.”

“Against the context of limited public financing for energy, the risk-sharing facility is an innovative financial instrument to crowd in private sector investment financing for a greater uptake of industry-wide energy efficiency measures,” she added.

The grant and guarantee are executed under the ‘Việt Nam Scaling up Energy Efficiency Project’ which aims to support the country in achieving energy efficiency targets in the Green Growth Strategy as well as emission reduction objectives under the National Determined Contributions.

According to the World Bank, as a country whose level of energy intensity and emission intensity is among the highest in the region, Việt Nam is actively embarking on the green energy transition and decarbonisation pathway.

The World Bank’s Low Carbon Study estimates Việt Nam could save up to 11 GW of new generation capacity by 2030 if comprehensive demand-side energy efficiency investments are carried out. The energy efficiency investment need for key industries in Viet Nam has been estimated at around $3.6 billion. — VNS

Vietnamese shares trimmed early gains on Monday with the VN-Index closing lower as banking stocks came under selling pressure towards the final minutes of trading.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged down 0.04 per cent to close at 1,168.27 points.

It had risen 0.02 per cent last week.

More than 652.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND15.6 trillion (US$673.9 million).

Market breadth was positive with 274 gaining stocks and 183 losers.

After the lunch break, the market fluctuated in a quite negative direction as many banking stocks dropped sharply and pushed the VN-Index down to the reference level.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) fell 2 per cent to VND31,800 per share, VPBank (VPB) lost by 1.1 per cent to VND41,350 per share, Vietcombank (VCB) declined by 1.5 per cent to VND95,200 per share and Techcombank (TCB) dropped by 0.9 per cent to VND38,850 per share.

On the opposite side, the oil and gas sector increased, becoming one of the best-performing sectors in Viet Nam on Monday, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Vietnamese oil and gas stocks grew well, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW), and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS).

“The market was moving sideways around 1,168 points. Liquidity increased slightly from the previous session and market breadth was positive, showing that investment cash flow is spreading,” said BIDV Securities Co.

“Foreigners were net sellers on both HoSE and HNX. The VN-Index is likely to consolidate in the range of 1,160-1,200 points in the coming sessions,” said the company.

Foreign investors net sold VND1.25 trillion on HOSE, including PVPower (POW) (VND212.8 billion), Vinamilk (VNM) (VND203.9 billion) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG) (VND171.5 billion). Foreigners were net sellers on the HNX to the tune of VND9.56 billion.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index gained 0.33 per cent to stay at 1,170 points.

Seventeen of the 30 large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket decreased while 12 climbed.

In the VN-30 basket, Masan Group (MSN) was the biggest decliner with a 2 per cent drop, Vinhomes (VHM), Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB), Mobile World Group (MWG) and Khang Dien House (KDH) all lost more than 1 per cent.

In contrast, PVPower (POW) maintained its uptrend momentum of a more than 5 per cent increase, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) advanced 2 per cent, while Novaland (NVL) and The Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) both climbed 1 per cent.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rallied 1.39 per cent to end Monday at 263.42 points.

More than 144.7 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND2.1 trillion.

Vietnam continues slapping safeguard duty on fertilizer imports

The trade ministry is coordinating with relevant units to closely monitor the price fluctuation in the world fertilizer market, prices of input materials and the business performance of domestic enterprises.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has continued to slap safeguard measures on diammonium phosphate (DAP) and monoammonium phosphate (MAP) fertilizers imported to Vietnam, rejecting proposals by some importers to temporarily cancel the decision due to a recent shortage and the increasing price of the items in the domestic market.

The ministry’s temporary safeguard duty is based on a trade defense agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and after a comprehensive investigation and assessment of the impact of those items to the Vietnamese market in accordance with the relevant regulations. Safeguard measures will be applied as a substantial increase in imports causes serious injury for the domestic sector.

According to the ministry, DAP price fluctuations are mainly due to external factors such as the increase in the prices of some input materials and transportation costs. The domestic demand for DAP has basically not increased compared to the previous years.

The safeguard duties are applied at a lower rate, with an application time shorter than the one permissible under WTO regulations, the MoIT said, adding that relevant ministries and branches have carefully considered the current situation of the domestic fertilizer market, the impact of the safeguard measures on local producers and farmers, and the impact on the costs of rice cultivation, according to the MoIT.

At the time  the decision to apply safeguard measure takes effect, the safeguard duty is only equivalent to a maximum of 0.66% of the total cost of rice production. This rate may be even lower because the safeguard  tariff would be  gradually reduced along the roadmap while many other costs of rice production increase.

The imposition of the safeguard tariff under a gradual reduction creates a fair environment for domestic production, and bring benefits to fertilizer users. For an agricultural country like Vietnam, reducing dependence on imported fertilizers is an important issue, the MoIT emphasized.

The ministry said that the current law does not provide temporarily canceling safeguard measures according to temporal changes. The MoIT will continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and related units to evaluate and review the application in accordance with the provisions of law.

Women in banking leadership: an exciting challenge

Working in the financial field, particularly the banking sector, is not only challenging, but also interesting for Vietnamese women as it affects many aspects of their personal lives as they pursue higher positions.

More and more women are taking part in banking work now since the businesses are growing stronger in Vietnam and around the world.

Dang Chau Giang, head of Small and Middle Enterprise (SME) Marketing and Customer Service Department at VPBank, said that many female employees work for banks now, and more and more are promoted to middle management as they tend to be more careful and have unique ideas.

“It provides decent jobs, decent incomes, and also an interesting experience. In this field, women are more careful and even more decisive,” Giang added.

Research on listed companies in Asia and China conducted by International Finance Corporation (IFC) showed that companies with at least 30 percent of women on the board of directors see rates of return that are 2 percentage point higher than companies with all male boards.

“We know that diverse leadership teams make better decisions. Diverse teams have a better ability to assess risk and a stronger record of innovation, leading to better business results,” Amy N. Luinstra, Gender Lead in East Asia Pacific of IFC, said.

But not many get to senior positions and the board of directors. Women account for approximately 60 percent of banks’ entry-level workforce, and as they progress along the career ladder, women hold one-fifth of top executive positions.

“We face a lot of pressure. As entry-level employees, we have to finish our tasks on time. As managers, we have to reach business targets without violating internal regulations and creating conflicts,” Giang, who has 17 years of experience in banking and 11 years in management, said.

“In general, the workload is always high so it is normal for employees to go home at 7 – 8pm. Not to mention if you work in sales, you have to go out often to interact with customers.

“This makes things difficult for women, especially married women, as they can not spend time with their families.

“If they cannot manage to strike a balance between personal lives and work, they might struggle and it prevents them from reaching higher positions.”

The ‘leaky pipeline’ of women in leadership is hurting the banks, Luinstra said.

Another key factor influencing female workers’ ambitions in pursuing leadership roles is the working environment.

“If you work in organisations which are open to changes, new ideas and initiatives, you also have a mindset for changing and improving your value,” Giang said.

“Employees, especially women, who work in that environment are motivated to grow and strive for new challenges.

“And of course, female employees will have a feeling of being satisfied if they work in quiet and safe environment. They might easily be pleased with their current jobs and positions.”

This will be a challenge for both banks and women themselves, Luinstra noted.

“To find solutions and answers for these questions, IFC is cooperating with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to promote innovative, impactful initiatives to open doors for women into leadership positions in banks,” Luinstra said.

The partnership includes three phases. The first is to research the current status of women and men in banks, what barriers prevent more women from being in leadership and what are some promising practices among banks.

In the second phase, IFC and SBV will sponsor an awards programme to acknowledge individual high achieving women in banking as well as prominent banks working to promote gender equality in their hiring and promotion practices.

And the last phase is a peer learning platform that brings together private-sector banks to exchange knowledge on the best practices in talent development, leadership and succession planning, and creating more flexible and inclusive workplaces for women and men.

Gender diversity in leadership brings another advantage, Luinstra added.

“When there are more women in decision-making roles in finance, they tend to lend more to women-owned businesses, who are currently underserved by banks in Vietnam,” Luinstra said.

“This contributes to the growth of the economy as whole and is good for the bank. In emerging Asia, loans to women-owned SMEs had a 3.2 percent non-performing loan (NPL) ratio compared to 4.5 percent NPL for the SME segment.”/.

WB helps drive on efficient energy investments in Vietnam

The World Bank (WB), acting on behalf of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), has signed a US$11.3 million grant with the State Bank of Vietnam to support the development of a commercial financing market for industrial energy efficient investments, with the total financing support from the GCF also including a US$75 million guarantee.

Of the total, a sum of US$8.3 million from the grant will be used to build capacities for the private sector in order to identify, appraise, and execute energy efficiency projects. This will also provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, along with relevant agencies aimed at strengthening policy frameworks and regulations whilst creating an enabling environment that can accelerate the domestic energy efficiency market.

The remaining grant and the guarantee will subsequently be used to establish a risk sharing facility that can provide partial credit guarantees to support local banks, many of whom may risk potential defaults on loans by getting involved in energy efficiency projects. By reducing lending risks, the facility is therefore expected to mobilise approximately US$250 million of commercial financing that will be provided to industrial enterprises and energy service companies at competitive rates along with low collateral requirements.

“Scaling up energy efficiency is the single best and lowest cost option to achieve multiple goals at once by meeting energy demand, preventing pollution and reducing greenhouses emission while also increasing industry competitiveness,” said Carolyn Turk, country director for Vietnam of the WB.

“Against the context of limited public financing for energy, the risk sharing facility is an innovative financial instrument to crowd in private sector investment financing for a greater uptake of industry-wide energy efficiency measures,” Turk noted.

The grant and guarantee will be executed under the Vietnam Scaling up Energy Efficiency Project which aims to support the nation in meeting its various energy efficiency targets set out in the Green Growth Strategy, as well as emission reduction objectives pledged under the National Determined Contributions. Boasting a level of energy intensity and emission intensity which is among the highest in the region, Vietnam is actively embarking on a green energy transition and decarbonisation pathway.

The WB’s Low Carbon Study estimates that Vietnam could save up to 11 GW of new generation capacity by 2030 providing that comprehensive demand-side energy efficiency investments are carried out. Indeed, the energy efficiency investment need for key domestic industries was estimated to be at roughly US$3.6 billion.

Vietnam gold market freezes as global prices set to plunge

“Never before have the gold market been such quiet in the first few months of the year,” said a representative of SJC.

While the global gold prices for the first time in months fell below the US$1,700 per ounce, the domestic market of this precious metal came to a standstill as result.

At the final trading session of last week, selling and buying prices for gold bars quoted by Doji, Vietnam’s largest jewelry company, stood at VND54.95 million (US$2,376) and VND55.5 million (US$2,400) per tael.

Vietnam’s largest gold and gold jewelry production and distribution Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC) listed the gold selling and buying prices at VND55.1-55.5 million (US$2,382-2,400). As a result, domestic gold prices last week were down by VND700,000 (US$30.27) against last week.

Such decline came as the global gold prices fell below the US$1,700-per-ounce-mark to a nine-month low of US$1,695, equivalent to VND47.2 million (US$2,041) per tael [a tael is 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces].

Chief Currency Analyst at HYCM Giles Coghlan attributed the Covid-19 vaccine roll out to the trend of  selling out gold at the moment.

Meanwhile, the fact that a hike in prices of Bitcoin (surpassing US$50,000) and crude oil on the global market to nearly US$61 per barrel, has been luring investors into the cryptocurrency and the oil market.

Chief Market Strategist at Blue Line Futures Phillip Streible said if the gold price could not hold on to the US$1,675 per ounce this week, there is a high chance that the price will further go down to the US$1,600 per ounce mark.

Despite a bleak outlook for global gold prices, the domestic price for gold remained high and kept the difference at nearly VND8.2 million (US$354.87) per tael.

Director of the New Partner Jewelry Company Nguyen Ngoc Trong said there were almost no gold-related transactions for the past few days.

“Investors were supposed to sell gold  when the prices remain high, but in fact, this was not the case,” said Trong.

When the domestic gold prices were around VND56-62 million (US$2,422-2,682) per tael, or a difference of up to VND8.5 million (US$367.77) per tael from world prices, people were still buying in gold.

Therefore, at this present, many are suffering losses of around VND5 million (US$216.38) per tael.

Those buying golds at high prices are forced to wait and keep monitoring the market situation, while the risky nature of a big gap between domestic and global prices is keeping new investors from coming in.

“Never before have the gold market been such quiet in the first few months of the year,” said a representative of SJC.

Amid suggestion that the central bank should issue license for importing gold from abroad and thus narrow the price difference from international and domestic markets, experts urged local authorities to be cautious as the market is at a standstill at the moment, not to mention potential impacts to inflation and current exchange rates.

State budget revenue up in first two months

State budget collections were estimated at 286.7 trillion VND (12.4 billion USD) during January and February, or 21.3 percent of the annual estimate and up 0.6 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Finance reported on March 8.

Domestic revenue stood at 246.65 trillion VND, equivalent to 21.8 percent of the estimate and marking a year-on-year rise of 2.8 percent.

After conducting 3,400 inspections and checking 16,500 corporate tax filings, tax agencies proposed 3.4 trillion VND in fines be imposed, including 780 billion VND for the State budget. Some 345 billion VND has been collected, together with 5.1 trillion VND in tax debts.

State budget expenditure reached 207.3 trillion VND in the first two months, or 12.3 percent of the estimate and down 6 percent year-on-year. Of this, 23.49 trillion VND was for development, or 4.9 percent of the estimate and down 32.4 percent.

According to the ministry, debt interest payments fell 14.3 percent to 21.88 trillion VND while regular expenditure was up 1.2 percent year-on-year to 161.8 trillion VND.

Some 12,760 tonnes of rice from the national reserve were provided for residents in disaster-hit areas. Up to 27 trillion VND worth of Government bonds were issued.

In the remaining months of this year, the ministry will continue using the national reserve, as requested by the Prime Minister, and implement bids to buy rice for the reserve./.

Agricultural co-operatives benefit hugely from investment in technology: experts

Preliminary processing of hydroponic vegetables at Tuan Ngoc Agriculture Cooperative in HCM City’s District 9.

According to Lam Ngoc Tuan, chairman of the Tuan Ngoc Agriculture Cooperative in HCM City’s District 9, his members use hydroponic vegetable cultivation techniques and achieve high yields, are not afraid of inundation during rains and high tides, grow plants evenly compared to those grown in soil, and plant the next crop right after harvest without waiting to prepare soil, increasing the number of crops in a year.

The average yield of hydroponic vegetables is VND500 million (US$21.500) per hectare per year, 45 per cent higher than soil.

Experts say new technologies are key to advancing the agriculture sector since they could boost value to make produce more competitive in the global market.

In recent years there has been increasing investment in advanced farm technologies, resulting in aquaculture farms breeding high-quality and high-yield fish varieties like crayfish and tilapia and flower and fruit farms using net houses, greenhouses, hydroponics, and microbiological fertilisers and pesticides.

But farms find it hard to expand due to the lack of agricultural land in HCM City amid the rapid urbanisation.

Besides, many are stymied by the Land Law, which does not allow any construction on agriculture lands.

Huynh Van Thanh, director of the Can Gio Tuong Lai Cooperative in Can Gio District, said that he proposed the competent authorities to allow cooperatives to construct on agricultural lands.

Viet Nam seeks to be among the 15 top agricultural countries in the world by 2030 and top 10 agri-processing countries.

To achieve them, the Government issued a resolution in 2019 with measures to encourage businesses to invest in effective, safe and sustainable agriculture to integrate globally.

Farm exports are expected to reach US$50-51 billion by 2025 and $60-62 billion by 2030.

To implement the target, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will recommend policies to attract investment in the agricultural and fishery processing industries.

Ha Van Thang, chairman of the Viet Nam Agriculture Businesses Association, said most businesses want a clear legal framework for high-tech farming, incentives such as simplifying loan procedures to easily borrow from banks.

Experts said to attract investment in agriculture it is necessary to drastically cut administrative procedures and improve the business environment.

Vietnam a strategic destination for Samsung’s R&D activities

Samsung Vietnam plans to expand its investment in Vietnam by setting up a research and development (R&D) centre, strengthening cooperation with domestic enterprises, and taking part in public infrastructure projects, its General Director Choi Joo Ho has said.

In an interview with “Tuoi tre” (Youth) newspaper, Choi said Samsung launched the construction of a new R&D centre in Hanoi in March last year, which is scheduled for completion in December 2022.

This is Samsung Electronics’ first R&D centre outside of the Republic of Korea and the largest of its kind by a foreign-invested enterprise in Vietnam, Choi said.

Vietnam is not only an important global production hub but also a strategic destination in Samsung’s R&D activities, he added.

Looking back on 2020, Choi said it was a memorable year for Samsung. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it suffered a fall in exports in the first half before recovering in the second half. In the year as a whole, it posted some 57 billion USD in export revenue, a little below its target of 60 billion USD but a positive result amid the pandemic.

He said that, in 2021, the company will continue to strictly implement COVID-19 prevention and control measures set by the Vietnamese Government and the Samsung Group, thus completing the twin target of ensuring safety for the company and maintaining production stability while fulfilling its export goals.

Regarding the movement of multinational groups in global supply chains to Vietnam, Choi held that Vietnam’s advantages in abundant skilled workers, stable socio-political situation, smooth investment environment, diverse infrastructure networks, and effective and successful pandemic prevention and control measures have had a positive impact on such movements.

Samsung is now operating six factories in Vietnam, with about 130,000 employees. According to Choi, since the pandemic broke out Samsung Vietnam has abided by pandemic prevention and control regulations defined by the Vietnamese Government and Samsung has applied prevention principles in factories worldwide.

Noting that Vietnam has won global praise for its fight against COVID-19, Choi believed it will continue to successfully control the current outbreak and become a global model in the effort./.

Rice exports to see bright outlook this year

Increasing global demand, stable domestic production, and better rice quality count among the reasons Vietnam can be confident its rice exports will prosper again in 2021 and surpass the 3.1 billion USD in revenue posted in 2020, despite a significant decline in the first two months of this year.

According to figures from Vietnam Customs, Vietnam earned 192 million USD from shipping nearly 348,000 tonnes of rice overseas in January, down 34.2 percent in value and 36.4 percent in volume against December and 2.4 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively, year-on-year.

As the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday fell in February, the month’s export turnover is expected to be down.

Nguyen Van Don, Director of Tien Giang province’s Viet Hung Limited Company, said the beginning of the year is never the peak time for trade, as consumers have already purchased rice for the long holiday period at the end of the previous year. Rice prices in the Mekong Delta are also at a high level, so purchasing businesses and foreign customers are all waiting for them to fall.

General Director of the Trung An Hi-tech Farming JSC Pham Thai Binh said that transportation problems have also hampered rice exports in recent times. He pointed out that the country is facing a serious shortage of empty containers and cargo ships for exports.

According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), there are high hopes being pinned on Vietnam’s rice exports in 2021, with major export markets such as the Philippines and Africa continuing to sign contracts, while many others have significant demand for fragrant rice and sticky rice, in which Vietnamese enterprises hold an advantage.

VFA Vice President and General Secretary Nguyen Trung Kien said that bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the EU-Vietnam FTA and the UK-Vietnam FTA, which contain preferential tariffs, will create favourable conditions for Vietnamese rice to compete with foreign exporters.

Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries have pledged to provide a tariff quota of 10,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam in 2021 under the Vietnam-EAEU FTA, while the EU’s quota of fragrant rice from Vietnam is 80,000 tonnes each year under the EVFTA.

The UK-Vietnam FTA, which came into effect at the beginning of this year, cuts tariffs to zero and has no quotas.

Binh said that rice exports this year will not only sustain the value growth seen in 2020 but also increase in volume.

Saying there are reasons for optimism, he noted that the country’s policy of intensive and extensive integration into the world has created a number of competitive edges for its economy via multilateral and bilateral FTAs.

Under the integration policy, Binh said, the rice sector has gradually restructured itself towards higher quality rather than primarily focusing on output, and is growing more diverse varieties, with high-grade grains meeting demand among both domestic and foreign consumers.

Vietnam exported 6.15 million tonnes of rice worth 3.07 billion USD in 2020, down 3.5 percent in volume but up 9.3 percent in value against 2019, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development./.

Southern provinces attract FDI as existing investors vote with their feet

The southern key economic zone is increasingly attracting investments from foreign investors who have already tasted success there.

Most of the investment is in hi-tech and supporting industries.

In Dong Nai Province, dozens of foreign businesses have been expanding or investing in new projects.

Some of the notable ones approved this year include two electronic part and component factories by Korean companies Hansol Electronics Viet Nam and Platel Vina at a cost of US$100 million and $30 million.

The two already have successful projects in HCM City and Dong Nai.

Cao Tien Dung, chairman of the Dong Nai People’s Committee, said there are around 372 projects from Korea and 253 from Japan in local industrial parks.

Companies from the two countries have been investing anew and expanding in the province in a wide range of industries such as footwear, textile and garment and supporting industries, and this is expected to continue, according to Dung.

Binh Duong Province has attracted $301 million, including $253 million in existing projects.

In HCM City, US giant Intel Products is set to invest an additional $475 million in its existing plant to increase production of 5G products and Intel Core processors.

With the availability of land shrinking, the HCM City Hi-tech Park is focusing on the expansion of existing projects rather than new ones, according to its management.

It plans to build a 160ha science and technology park in the future to attract investment in hi-tech.

Hua Quoc Hung, head of the HCM City Exporting Processing and Industrial Zone Authority, said the aim is to attract $550 million worth of FDI, especially in key sectors and supporting industries.

The first two months of the year saw $5.46 billion worth of FDI coming into Viet Nam, a 15.6 per cent drop from the same period last year.

Japan, Singapore and South Korea have been the three largest investors.

Total retail sales of goods and services up 5.49% in two months

Total retail sales of goods and services in the first two months of this year reached VND904.5 trillion, an increase of 5.49% over the same period in 2020.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday and the outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic in several localities in February 2021 slowed down trade and service activities in February compared to the previous month.

Total retail sales of goods and services in February was reported at VND439.7 trillion, down 5.4% from the previous month but up 8.2% over the same period in 2019.

During the two-month period, total retail sales of goods was reported at VND722.1 trillion, up 7.8% over the same period last year, accounting for 79.8% of total retail sales of goods and services in two months.

Meanwhile, total retail sales of accommodation, catering, travel and tourism services all decreased in the first two months of this year, with a 4.3% decrease in the revenue of accommodation and catering services and a 62.1% decrease in the revenue of tourism and travel services.

Retail sales of other services was posted at VND91.5 trillion, up 3% over the same period in 2020, accounting for 10.1% of the total retail sales of goods and services.

Bringing Vietnamese goods into foreign distribution channels

For Vietnamese products to enter foreign distribution channels, it was necessary to be more professional and stable in product quality, said experts.

Foreign supermarkets such as Aeon, Lotte or MM Mega Market, which are operating in Viet Nam, are effective distribution channels to help consume and export Vietnamese goods. However, it seems that Vietnamese businesses have not taken advantage of it.

In order for Vietnamese products to be sold through foreign distribution channels, the criteria for product quality and food safety and hygiene are a priority.

In addition, goods put on supermarket shelves need to be supplied in a large quantity, uniform quality and high stability, however, many products of domestic companies have not met these criteria, according to experts.

Consumers around the world are interested in many Vietnamese agricultural products, such as mango, banana, lychee, longan, and dragon fruit. However, in order to get into foreign supermarkets like Aeon or Lotte, it was quite difficult, said experts.

For example, Viet Nam’s bananas, according to Lotte Mart, are popular among Korean consumers, but the criteria for bananas of Vietnamese farmers to put on the shelves of the supermarket systems are to be uniform in quality, and must be delivered continuously and steadily.

However, the factors were difficult to implement not only for Vietnamese banana but also for many other agricultural products, according to experts.

Although Vietnamese agricultural products have many delicious varieties, which are popular among both domestic and foreign consumers, the country could not produce them in a chain to ensure safety and stability as well as other factors related to international standards, therefore, it was very difficult to enter foreign supermarkets.

Data of the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that Central Group exported goods of Vietnamese enterprises through this system only reached US$21 million in 2012 but soared to over $200 million last year.

Japanese Aeon has also contributed to the export of Vietnamese enterprises from $200 million in 2017 to over $500 million last year.

Market expert Vu Vinh Phu said in order to increase the amount of Vietnamese goods consumed through foreign distribution channels, Vietnamese enterprises had to improve their production capacity to be able to supply products that meet the criteria and standards of partners.

“This is the challenge of the globalisation game that forces every Vietnamese enterprise to strive to assert themselves,” Phu told Dai Doan Ket (Great Unity) newspaper.

HCM City to keep land prices unchanged for next 5 years

The HCM City People’s Council has kept the official land prices unchanged since market prices did not change between 2019 and last year.

The price list, which is adjusted every five years, serves as a basis for calculating land-use rights fees, administrative sanctions, fines, and paying compensation for land the city acquires.

According to Nguyen Toan Thang, director of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment, this is the first time the framework remains unchanged.

The price coefficient is adjusted annually.

Anyone seeking land-use rights or change the purpose of land use has to pay a fee based on the prevailing coefficient.

In the list, the highest land prices of VND162 million (US$7,000) per square metre are in Nguyen Hue and Le Loi streets in the downtown area but this is only a fifth of the estimated market price of around VND800 million.

The lowest rate on the list is VND1.5 million.

The prices of land for commercial purposes are 80 per cent of residential land prices, while non-agricultural lands used for purposes such as healthcare and education cost 60 per cent.

The highest rate for agricultural lands used for rice, annual crops or aquaculture is VND205,000, and VND300,000 in the case of perennial crops.

The People’s Council has increased the coefficient at the High-Tech Park in District 9 and Thu Duc new City.

District 9 is a property hotspot where land prices are climbing daily.

The district People’s Committee is always packed with people coming to complete administrative procedures related to land like adjusting and extending land-use rights, according to media reports.

Many also crowd notary offices to mortgage their lands to borrow from banks or sell them.

Land plots that have the certificate of land-use rights are being traded at a brisk pace at high prices, attracting many speculators, real estate agents said.—

Map for national innovative startup ecosystem makes debut

In the middle of the map is the part for 30 outstanding startups with impressive achievements lately. Around it are five sectors of network, talent, capital, support, and service.

The map is expected to help international partners easily locate and contact prominent organizations in the current ecosystem. It is frequently updated to precisely reflect the sustainable growth of the national ecosystem in the upcoming year.

At present, National Program No.844 is aiding intermediary organizations in their activities to support startups like incubation, business promotion, investment attraction, necessary service provision (media coverage, human resources training).

ISEV is formed in accordance with Decision No.844/QD-TTg by the Prime Minister, clearly affirming that innovative startup is a new business model based on exploiting Intellectual Property, advanced technologies, and with an operation time of less than 5 years from the first business permit certificate date.

This national program aims at creating a favorable environment for the creation and growth of new enterprises with high growth potential based on Intellectual Property, technologies, new business models; quickly perfecting the legal system to support innovative startups; and forming a national innovative startup portal.

The program estimates that in 2025, there will be 2,000 startup projects incubated, 600 startup businesses created, and 100 enterprises successfully attracting investment from venture capitalists via purchasing or merging, with a total value of around VND2,000 billion (approx. US$86.8 million).

Statistics from Echelon Magazine (Singapore) reveal that in 2020, Vietnam owns 3,000 innovative startups, a double of the quantity in 2015.

High-tech park incentives under review

Despite enjoying special incentives, foreign investment flows into Hoa Lac High-tech Park are yet to meet expectations – and possible moves to align all such parks with the same policies will only increase the competition between them as they try to persuade investors to pour money into  digital transformation ventures.

While the figure is higher than that of 2019, when the park lured in just four domestically-invested projects registered at VND7.46 trillion ($324 million), it was far lower than 2018, when it attracted 11 projects registered with VND17 trillion ($739 million), a record high over the past 20 years. Notable names involved included Nidec, Mitsubishi, and Hanwha Group.

The result is lower than expected though the HHTP itself enjoys Decree No.74/2017/ND-CP which came into effect in 2017, governing special mechanisms and policies for the park only. Few social infrastructures such as workers’ housing, hospitals, trade centres, and other services have been licensed there.

Industry insiders said that in the context that the country is promoting high-tech foreign investment and the trend of making business and investment in the local market among technology groups, the lacklustre foreign investment attraction of the HHTP has raised questions over how attractive it actually is. While COVID-19 is an obvious reason, others should be included, some added.

Established in 1998, the filling rate of the park is now 40 per cent of its over 1,500 hectares. The HHTP boasts the longest history among the country’s three high-tech parks, and has the advantages thanks to Decree 74, which includes unique incentives such as the 10 per cent corporate income tax (CIT) within the first 30 years for a new investment project of at least VND4 trillion ($174 million).

Looking to the south where Saigon High-tech Park (SHTP) is located in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Anh Thi, head of its Management Board said that it has licensed two foreign-invested projects early this year – the $19.5 million US-invested Arevo 3D printer factory and the $1 million office for lease project by South Korea’s SNST & Finger Vina.

“Due to the land funds left for new projects, the park plans to attract $200 million worth of investment this year, and the production value of high-tech products hit $25 billion, while disbursement of the capital there is $700 million,” Thi said.

In 2020, the SHTP lured over $35 million worth of foreign investment, meeting half of the yearly target due to COVID-19 impacts and limited land funds left.

In the central region, Danang High-tech Park (DHTP) lured in $150 million worth of foreign investment and $108.7 million of domestic funding in 2020. Established in 2010, the fill rate in the park is now at 30 per cent.

Similar to the HHTP, the government issued Decree No.04/2018/ND-CP in 2018 on incentive policies for the DHTP, making it a motivation for the park to increase its attraction.

Competition among the three high-tech parks is expected to increase as the Ministry of Science and Technology is working on a draft decree in which incentive policies should be applied commonly for all three. Thus far the draft decree has received differing opinions, with some saying that the highest incentives in the decrees should be kept for certain parks, while others recommended that the policies should indeed be applied for all.

If the latter option gets the go-ahead, the high-tech parks will no longer have their own specific advantages and will be required to improve themselves and build other advantages to make them more attractive to investors.

For Hoa Lac, the groundbreaking of the National Innovation Centre (NIC) in early 2021 will be a new driving force. According to the project’s draft plan drawn up by the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s (MPI) Central Institute for Economic Management, the NIC will be developed with the total investment of VND1.9 trillion ($82.6 million), including VND1.7 trillion ($73.9 million) for the physical construction and VND200 billion ($8.7 million) for operating capital. The NIC is expected to lure 40 big technology companies, 150 startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises, and 15 venture investment funds, thereby creating more than 5,000 jobs.

Government policies are in place to accelerate digital transformation across sectors, thus promoting domestic businesses and international ventures to make more investment in the sci-tech sector in the months to come.

As shown in statistics from the MPI, sci-tech was the fifth-biggest sector for overseas investors last year, and the fourth-biggest in the first two months of 2021.

Securities firms rake in revenues after bumper year

Foreign and local stock brokerages closed 2020 with a blast, turning around the nosedive that opened the year due to optimism over vaccines, low interest rates, and appealing commission fees.

The momentum is expected to expand substantially this year, given the promise of Vietnam’s equity landscape. In the early part of last year, market volatilities and aggressive broad-based sell-off crippled the stock market, with the total after-tax profit of Vietnamese securities companies dropping 77 per cent on-year. However, hopes of an economic recovery have boosted brokerages’ profits, with the year seeing the highest number of new account openings.

Viet Dragon Securities Corporation recorded a record loss of VND88 billion ($3.83 million) in the first quarter of 2020, mainly from proprietary trading. However, the prospect of effective vaccines returning life to normal is injecting hope into the global and domestic equity market.

By the end of 2020, Viet Dragon Securities recorded total revenues of VND456 billion ($19.83 million), up 45 per cent against the initial plan. The firm’s after-tax profit reached VND144 billion ($6.26 million), equal to 400 per cent of the yearly plan and 424 per cent of the figure from 2019. This was also the highest profit that it had achieved since its establishment.

Meanwhile, Saigon Securities Corporation, Vietnam’s largest brokerage in terms of market share, reported 43.4 per cent higher revenue growth in 2020 than the year before. Its pre-tax profit also rallied by 54.4 per cent, reaching VND1.565 trillion ($68.04 million)

After several COVID-19 vaccines proved effective in recent months, almost the entire stock market started showing signs that an economic recovery is on the way.

As the State Bank of Vietnam remains firm on keeping a low interest rate to help the economy weather the storm, investors vigorously seek for higher returns from riskier assets, such as stocks or corporate bonds. In addition, both Vietnamese and foreign brokerages have provided customers with attractive margin lending rates, as well as low or zero commission fees.

Vu Nam Huong, CFO of VNDIRECT Securities, said the company has achieved positive results for its core revenue segments like transaction fee collection, margin lending, proprietary trading, and derivative securities. In the fourth quarter of 2020, VNDIRECT generated revenues of VND721.6 billion ($31.37 million), up 96 per cent against the corresponding period in the previous year. Its after-tax profit reached VND242.9 billion ($10.56 million), an increase of 73 per cent on-year.

Elsewhere, VPS Securities JSC achieved revenues of VND1.22 trillion ($53 million) and after-tax profit of VND133.5 billion ($5.8 million) in the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, slight increases of 0.62 and 15.03 per cent on-year, respectively. This has led to VPS recording stable income from securities brokerage in the quarter, especially in derivative securities.

Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC also posted positive performance. According to its fourth-quarter financial statement, the company achieved operating revenues in 2020 of VND683.8 billion ($29.73 million), more than three times the figure of 2019. Meanwhile, its after-tax profit reached VND348.6 billion ($15.16 million), more than 9.6 times than a year earlier.

Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation recorded a net revenue of VND514 billion ($22.35 million) and after-tax profit of VND137 billion ($5.96 million) in the fourth quarter, up 54 and 8 per cent, respectively. In 2020, the firm achieved VND1.59 trillion ($69.13 million) in revenues, an increase of 26 per cent compared to the whole of 2019.

Agribank Securities JSC (AGR) also achieved more than VND120 billion ($5.2 million) of profit, equalling 140 per cent of its initial forecast. Along with that, AGR shares also surged by more than 300 per cent since the furious fall into a bear market in March, making it one of the five stocks with the strongest increase during the year.

VietinBank Securities JSC meanwhile recorded a profit of VND128.18 billion ($5.57 million) for the whole year thanks to a sudden bump in the final quarter.

Elsewhere, an influx of foreign-invested brokerages, especially from South Korea and Taiwan, has also pushed the expansion of international know-how and standards as demand increased dramatically. For instance, Mirae Asset Securities Vietnam is currently the largest margin-trading brokerage, the second-largest firm in terms of charter capital and total assets, and among the top 7 in terms of market share. Its profit in 2020 reached VND500 billion ($21.7 million), from VND376 billion ($16.3 million) in 2019.

KB Securities Vietnam – a subsidiary of South Korean financial behemoth KB Group – reported its profit in 2020 reaching VND168 billion ($7.3 million), up around 60 per cent on-year.

Meanwhile, KIS Securities from South Korea also achieved VND207 billion ($9 million) in profit last year, equivalent to a nearly 63-per-cent-increase compared to 2019.

Kwangju Bank also plans to raise JB Securities Vietnam’s charter capital to VND 600 billion ($26.1 million). In 2019, the South Korean lender Kwangju Bank purchased Morgan Stanley’s Vietnam-based subsidiary Morgan Stanley Gateway Securities JSC for VND382.4 billion ($16.63 million).

After acquiring An Nam Securities, Shinhan Vietnam Securities also boosted its activities with a capital hike to VND812.6 billion ($35.3 million). Shinhan is now planning to raise more funds to capitalise on the Vietnamese market. Experts said ultra-low interest rates in South Korea have pushed brokerages to find another promising land.

Steel, mechanical firms in struggle for survival amid COVID-19

Vietnamese steel and mechanical enterprises have felt a critical impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, with a gloomy market and sharply declining orders, and are in need of further support from the Government.

A wide range of steel companies reported sluggish manufacturing and low transaction numbers due to project delays as a result of social distancing measures.

The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) said that steel consumption has fallen as the construction sector has cooled, while the transportation of goods and materials to northern localities like Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, and Quang Ninh has faced challenges from new virus epicentres in Hai Duong and Quang Ninh.

Preparations for pandemic prevention and control and the arrangement of logistics at steel plants, particularly the Hoa Phat steel complex in Kinh Mon district, Hai Duong province, are costly and have affected production.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Industries Dao Phan Long said auto makers are manufacturing at a moderate pace as they have received fewer orders than previously but are paying more for transportation.

In a bid to remove bottlenecks facing local manufacturers, VSA recommended that the State Bank of Vietnam and commercial banks provide credit support to companies, such as extending payment deadlines or cutting loan interest rates.

Along with helping business owners with quarantine costs for foreign experts, Long suggested the Government create the conditions necessary for companies to bid on domestic projects so they can expand markets and gain more orders during these tough times.

General Director of Hyundai Thanh Cong, Le Ngoc Duc, said registration fees on locally-manufactured and assembled cars should be cut until the end of this year.

Car sales plummeted 35 percent when COVID-19 hit Vietnam during the first half of 2020, he added, but sales then bounced back in the second half following a Government move to halve registration fees.

Most recently, the Ministry of Finance recommended the Government consider allowing the cost of COVID-19 prevention and control to be deductible for tax purposes.

It is evaluating measures introduced and studying suitable tax and fiscal solutions to carry out the Government’s dual task of pandemic prevention and control and economic recovery while ensuring balance in the macro-economy./.

HCM City Tet consumption slumps

The resurgence of COVID-19 has hit demand for consumer goods and services in HCM City, with revenues in February falling by 6.4 per cent, according to Government data.

The Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays, usually the most lucrative period for the consumer market, were in February.

Retail sales of consumer goods and service amounted to VND110.6 trillion (US$4.78 billion), a year-on-year increase of 4.7 per cent, a report by the city Department of Industrial and Trade said.

Sales of consumer goods were estimated at VND69.9 trillion ($3.02 billion), a rise of 10.3 per cent compared to the same period last year but a decline of 5.9 per cent from the previous month.

Catering, accommodation and travel services took a big hit from the pandemic.

The resurgence of outbreaks in the city in late January with lockdown orders in some residential areas and fears of infection discouraged consumption.

In the first two months retail sales rose by 3.6 per cent year-on-year to VND 228.9 trillion ($9.9 billion), the report added.

Kien Giang has 18 more star-rated OCOP products

Eighteen more local specialties have been recognised as three- and four-star “One Commune, One Product” (OCOP) products in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

Ten have received four-star rating, namely Kim Thien Loc-branded Nang Huong rice and two types of unhusked rice produced by Rach Gia organic farming cooperative, two fish sauce products by Khai Hoan Trading JSC, and five kinds of grey sedge woven baskets and bags by Toan Tuyen handicraft workshop and Phu My women’s cooperative.

Eight others were rated three stars including rice paper, fermented snakehead fish, wine made from sticky rice and guava, Eucalyptus essential oil, and black pepper coarse.

The recognition and ratings are valid for 36 months.

Kien Giang has earmarked more than 326 billion VND (14 million USD) to implement the OCOP programme, which aims to develop at least one staple product in each commune around the country, between 2019 and 2025.

OCOP products are commercial products and services like food and beverages, medicinal herbs, handicrafts and home decoration, and rural tourism services and sales.

The programme ranks them on a scale of five stars, with a five-star being the highest.

The province wants to have 25 to 30 OCOP products meeting provincial five-star standards and five qualified for national five-star standards by 2025./.

KITA inks contract to operate new convention centre in Vietnam

The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and its arm Convention & Exhibition Centre (COEX) said on March 8 that they have signed a contract with Vietnam’s Becamex IDC to run the World Trade Centre Binh Duong New City Expo in the southern province of Binh Duong.

With a combined area of 22,000 sq.m, including 11,679 sq.m for indoor space and 7,935 sq.m for outdoor area, the New City Expo is the largest convention centre in Vietnam.

Its construction ended last month, and the centre currently awaits opening this month. It is expected to contribute to linking economic, cultural and tourism activities between the Republic of Korea and Vietnam.

About 25km distant from the centre of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong lies in the southern key economic zone. It is now the largest industrial city of Vietnam with over 800 Korean enterprises.

A COEX representative said the centre will connect Korean firms with countries in the RoK’s New Southern Policy./.

Small investors oppose expanding trading lot

Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE)’s proposal to raise the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares is receiving mixed opinions from market experts and investors.

The proposal was initiated by newly-appointed General Director of HOSE Le Hai Tra as a solution to reduce system overloads which have troubled traders recently.

A 1,000 minimum trading lot will limit the participation of small investors, while the stock market is moving towards fairness and equality, said a budding investor.

“My friends and I, when joining the stock market, only have a few tens to several hundreds of millions of dong, raising the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares will directly affect our investment capacity,” said individual investor Diep.

“With expensive stocks, we may have to spend hundreds of millions of dong to buy the minimum 1,000 shares,” she said.

According to Diep, the stock market has never had such a chance for growth. New cash flow into the market pushed liquidity to a record high level. However, the new proposal may not only prevent new investors from entering the market but also discourage existing investors.

“The plan to raise the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares could quickly reduce the number of orders delivered daily on HOSE. However, it will cause frustration among small investors who are directly affected by the plan as they think they are not protected,” said Do Bao Ngoc, Deputy General Director of Kien Thiet Securities Vietnam (CSI).

“This plan, if in place, will affect the rapid development of the stock market under the current favourable conditions, one of which is great interest from global investors,” he said.

“Under the new plan, the most affected are the investors whose trading accounts have VND1 billion or less,” said Nguyen Hoang Hai, Vice Chairman of Viet Nam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI)

According to VAFI statistics, investors whose trading accounts have VND500 million or less account for about 30 per cent of individual investors. Among them, the number of investors participating in the market for the first time (F0 investors) with VND300 – 500 million is numerous.

“Last year, the boom of the stock market was great thanks to the participation of new investors, also known as F0 investors. The market always needs new cash flows but raising the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares could hinder the investment capacity of investors and cause them to lose money,” Hai said.

Chairman of SSI Securities Corporation Nguyen Duy Hung on his social media account recently gave a more positive view on HOSE’s proposal, saying the trading system would be on the brink of collapse without appropriate measures.

“Raising the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares is necessary at the moment to keep the system running,” he said, adding when the system upgrading process is completed, the minimum trading lot could be reverted to 10.

Hung said the overload of orders that forces the stock exchange to halt market trading is the result of a rapid-growing stock market that outpaces the processing capacity of the stock market, as such, “a long-term solution is a must,” he said.

Both before and after the Tet holiday, the overload occurred repeatedly on HOSE whenever liquidity in a trading session hit around VND14-17 trillion (US$608-738 million).

The SSC attributed the overload issue on the HOSE to the transaction processing capacity of the stock exchange that limits the number of transactions per day, while a recent surge of orders has exceeded the expectation of the market.

Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/VIR/SGT/Nhan Dan/Hanoitimes