Vietnam retail market to expand over next two years, say experts

Vietnam’s retail market is forecast to explode over the next two or three years, with the appearance on high streets of many foreign retail companies, including shopping centers and large sized supermarkets, said Fabrice Carrasco, general director of TNS WorldPanel Vietnam on October 30.

Shoppers in a supermarket in Vietnam

Speaking at a retail and distribution conference held in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Carrasco said Vietnam’s retail market is smaller than that of other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Malaysia and Philippine, however, Vietnam’s consumer habits are changing sharply.

According to RNCOS, a global market research company based in the US, retail turnover in Vietnam will top US$85 billion in 2012.

Vietnam’s retail turnover was $23.7 billion in 2008 and is expected to rise to $39 billion by the end of this year.

Bui Ngoc Hong, a law consultant at Indochina Counsel, said foreign firms have been eyeing retail and distribution business in Vietnam.

Indochina Counsel has alone supported seven foreign retail companies, which will appear on Vietnam’s high streets in the next two years, Mr. Hong said.

2009 is considered an important milestone year for trading and distribution sectors in Vietnam. Distribution in Vietnam is set for a shake up, as foreign companies move in following the country’s commitment to open the market in 2009, on the back of World Trade Organization accession in 2007.

As a result, firms from abroad have been setting up shop here since early this year, particularly firms from Japan, though no official statistics are currently available.

Japanese sewing machine manufacturer Brother International recently won a license to set up a distribution company with an initial investment of $2 million.

Stainless steel and construction material producer Sojitz opened an import, export and distribution branch in March.

Car manufacturer Nissan and electronics producer Sharp have both started distributing their own products.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam’s annual retail turnover has increased by 20 percent, on average, over the last few years and is forecast to maintain the same growth for the near future.

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Truck collision kills one, injures two

Truck collision kills one, injures two

HCM CITY — A driver was killed and his two assistants injured when their truck crashed into an oil tanker in front of the Reunification Palace in HCM City last Saturday early morning.

The truck carrying ice cubes was running on Pasteur Street in District 1 when it collided head-on with the oil tanker coming from the Le Duan Avenue at the streets’junction at 4 a.m.

Le Van Duan, 24-year-old driver of the truck, had jumped out of his truck before the collision but was trampled by his own car which bounced back after its crashed into a big tree in the April 30 Park nearby.

Imported frozen food stalled at city ports

HCM CITY — Two hundred containers with 5,300 tonnes of frozen chicken, pork and beef have been kept at the city’s ports of Cat Lai, Khanh Hoi, Phuoc Long for several months without their owners’ clearance, local customs officials said. Of them, five containers with 132 tonnes of frozen chicken wings imported over a year ago remain at Phuoc Long Port in District 9.

Customs officials attributed the situation to the stricter control over the quality of the frozen food imports that made their owners discard their low-quality goods at city’s ports.

Marine science group meets in HCM City

HCM CITY — Members of the HCM City Marine Science-Technology and Economy Association under HCM City’s Union of Science and Technology Societies convened for its first meeting last Saturday.

Le Ke Lam, the association’s chairman, said the association’s guidelines and principles conform to the marine economy development strategies towards 2020 issued by the Party Central Committee in February 2007. The association’s tasks include conducting research and providing consulting services, feedback and social supervision in the marine economy sector.

Lam said HCM City had been mapping out an action programme to carry out the country’s marine economy strategy towards 2020.

Inspectors point to unsafe ferry terminals

QUANG NGAI — Inspectors from central Quang Ngai Province’s Division of Waterway Traffic Police have found 95 substandard ferry terminals on local rivers, according to Le Tan Cuong, vice head of the division.

He said the terminals were operating without registration, working licences or safe equipment. Pilots operating from them had no certificates and some were not fit enough to control the boats. At present, there are 127 ferry terminals in the province and another 50 illegal terminals have appeared recently. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Two HCM City workers die due to lack of safety gear

HCM CITY — Two workers drowned to death last Friday in HCM City’s District 7 when a water supply pipe they were working inside was suddenly flooded.

A third worker was hospitalised.

The district police believed Nguyen Tan Dat, 29, and Nguyen Tri Nguyen, 17, and the injured Thach Dien, 25, were working for the Sai Gon Water Supply Company though they found no signboard at the site as required by regulations.

They also found the workers had been working without safety equipment like masks and breathing apparatus.

The tragedy occurred when, at the beginning of the afternoon shift, five workers got into the nearly half-empty pipe to fix leaks. Suddenly water began to flow strongly and flood the pipe. One of the workers scrambled out of the pipe to raise the alarm.

Two of the others, including a half-drowned Dien, were saved by their colleagues working above ground. City rescue staff later got into the pipe and used ropes to pull out the bodies of the two dead men which were stuck 40m far from the entrance. The incident held up traffic on the district’s Huynh Tan Phat Street for three hours. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Two new firms to push agro-industry

HCM CITY — Four domestic and foreign companies have announced that they will form two joint stock companies to promote the agro-industry in Dong Nai Province.

The companies involved are Donataba of Dong Nai Province, Prudential Fund Managament, Proconco and Glon Group (France).

The first entity, which will be called the Development and Technology Joint Stock Company (DTJSC), will provide technical solutions in livestock breeding from breeds, foodstuff, technical training, breeding, slaughtering to consumption.

The second joint stock company is Agro-Park, which closely unites all the phases of the agro-industry from breeding and cultivation to processing and consuming. Agro-Park is the first-ever agro-industrial complex in Viet Nam, adapting the model “from farm to table” which the Glon group has done at Bretagne, France.

Besides, Agro-Park aims to help farmers with quality control, environmental improvements, and anti-pollution measures.

Alain Glon, chairman of the Glon group, said “With the experience of over 60 years in livestock breeding and processing, we are completely capable to make Dong Nai Province become a large center in the field in 20 years, just as what we have done for Bretagne in France.”

A leader in France, the Glon group will bring to the project their technology, management skills and experiences.

Donataba general director Nguyen Thi Le Hong added: “Livestock breeding and processing in Viet Nam is now at the small and household scale. Meanwhile, the demand for safe and quality food is rising. Dong Nai Province has realised this. We are very glad to co-operate with the Glon group as well as our other partners, Prudential and Proconco.”

The initial investment for Agro-Park is planned at VND500 billion.At present, there are two areas with a combined size of 1,780ha at Thong Nhat and Xuan Loc districts in Dong Nai Province, which are under consideration for the Agro-Park complex. —

Two Koreas agree to hold military talks

The Republic of Korea (RoK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) have agreed to hold military talks on October 2, local media reported.

The talks, which will be held at truce village of Panmunjom, will be their first military dialogue in over eight months, according to the RoK’s Yonhap news agency.

The DPRK first proposed to hold the talks on September 30, but the RoK side offered to hold on October 2 and the DPRK had agreed, the news agency said.

The two Koreas held last military talks on January 25 of this year. –

SAM finalises deal with two local firms

HCM CITY — The Cayman Islands-registered Saigon Asset Management Corporation (SAM) expects to maximise its potential following the finalising of its agreement with two local partners, Hanoi Fund Management and Thang Long Securities Company.

Hanoi Fund Management (HFM) will assist in the portfolio management of SAM’s Vietnam Equity Holding.

“This partnership will maximise the two sides’ potential and bring new value to SAM’s investors,” said Louis Nguyen, SAM’s chairman and CEO.

SAM’s international experience and fundraising ability as well as SAM’s parent company, the joint-stock Military Bank, will help further the co-operative arrangement.

Thang Long Securities Co will provide financial investment services to SAM’s investors and partners.

The securities firm offers services, including brokerage, consultancy on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance, as well as equity private placement.

“Foreign investors have a real demand in accessing Viet Nam’s stock market, and through our relationship, our shareholders and partners will be able to get trustworthy information and opportunities,” Louis said.

SAM, previously known as Anpha Capital Group, is managing two funds, Vietnam Equity Holding (VEH) and Vietnam Property Holding (VPH), which have a combined capital of US$125 million. They are listed on Germany’s Frankfurt and XETRA exchanges.

HFM, with the Military Bank and Thang Long Securities as major holders, manages, apart from VEH, two other funds, Ha Noi Fund and Vietnam Tiger, and offers portfolio management to local and foreign investors.

By August, around $130 million was under HFM’s management.

Thang Long Securities, also an affiliate of the Military Bank, is one of the five top securities brokers in Viet Nam. —

Two Koreas agree on medical cooperation in Kaesong

Hanoi (VNA) – Medical cooperation between the two Koreas has made headway in Kaesong with the Republic of Korean (RoK) doctors being allowed to examine Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s patients, a relief group said on July 26.

An agreement to this effect has recently been signed between the two countries’ authorities, Busan-based Green Doctors was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying.

The agreement permits doctors from the RoK and DPRK to work side-by-side at a medical facility in the inter-Korean Kaesong industrial complex, Yonhap added.-

IDG Ventures Vietnam invests in two web ventures

IDG Ventures Vietnam on July 17 announced its strategic investment in Mua-Ban (Buy-Sell) joint stock company and Pyramid Consulting Vietnam (PyCo).

Mua-Ban is an online advertisement network with its website, http://www.muaban.net , receiving more than 1 million hits a month and IDG Ventures Vietnam says it expects its investment will leverage the local company’s promotion strategy and help it develop its online advertising to reach a larger number of customers.

Additionally, Belgium-Headquartered PyCo is expected to reach its strategic goal of becoming a leading partner of international advertising and communications groups with investment from the IDG Ventures Vietnam.

Addressing the license-granting ceremony, Patrick McGovern, founder and chairman of IDG, praised Vietnam ’s recent economic growth, especially its IT industry’s dynamism and its development index in the world top rankings.

McGovern said he believed IDG made the right choice in investing in Vietnamese companies and that its investment would bring in fast returns.

The US-based IDG Ventures is a global network of venture capital funds with more than 2 billion USD under its management. It is also the first US venture capital fund invested in information technology in Vietnam with 100 million USD capital.

IDG has invested in 300 companies in Asia, including 35 IT companies in Vietnam .

By 2010, IDG plans to set up another fund capitalised at around 300 million USD to invest in IT companies in Vietnam to help them become national giants and strive for international status.-