Mar. 4 – The Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to limit car imports by implementing regulations that would help cut down its trade deficit.
The new restrictions will affect the importation of cars with less than 16 seats which make up majority of total cars imported from abroad and require that they pass quality tests by the authorities. Cars imported to the country will only be allowed to enter via the major seaports of Cai Lan, Quang Ninh, Haiphong, Danang, Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb. 18 – A total of 169 licenses were granted to foreign distributors in provinces and cities across the country last year with most of them investors from South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, Italy, France and Germany.
Vietnam’s distribution market only fully opened to foreign investors on Jan. 1, 2009 in fulfillment of its World Trade Organization obligations that allows foreign companies to establish wholly foreign-owned distribution companies. Read the rest of this entry »
Jan. 11 – Local tax agencies will now be allowed to adjust retail prices of cars and motorbikes should they be deemed lower than actual value following a newly drafted decree.
Manufacturers and distributors of vehicles will be fined should they be be caught under-invoicing to evade taxes. Tax agencies will base prices on information given by customs agencies, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association and local media, as well as previous tax and profit figures of the businesses reports Thanh Nien News. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct. 12 – The General Customs Department of Vietnam has set higher minimum taxable prices for more than 600 models of imported cars, following allegations that local importers were under-invoicing to avoid higher taxes.
Thanh Nien reports that there have been cases wherein car importers were caught declaring lower prices for imported cars. Taxable prices of all imported cars, both new and used, will now be increased by 3 and 20 percent.
The new rule will affect consumers when it increases retail prices for automobiles although it would help local car manufacturers set their prices more competitively .
Oct. 8 – Auto sales in Vietnam surged 104 percent in September from a year earlier after a 31 percent increase in August, an industry report said on Wednesday.
While 11,071 vehicles were sold in September, cumulative sales for the first nine months of the year were still down 12 percent from the same period last year the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association said. After an annual fall of 19 percent in the first eight months of the year, the surge pushed sales to 80,374 for the year. Read the rest of this entry »
Jul. 2 – Japanese carmaker, Nissan, is pushing ahead with plans to produce its vehicles in the country by 2010.
The joint venture called Nissan Vietnam remains optimistic on the potential of the market despite the ongoing credit crisis. The partnership is between Denmark’s Kjaer Group and Japan’s Nissan Motor but production itself will be done by Vietnam Motors with supervision from the engineers of the parent company.
“Vietnam is a strategic market for Nissan with tremendous opportunities,” said Shinya Hannya, Nissan’s corporate vice president for Asian markets told the AFP. “The offering of locally assembled products will accelerate our business in Vietnam and lay the foundation for further growth.”
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Jun. 25 – According to a Vietnamese foreign investment official, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country plunged by 77.4 percent to US$8.87 billion for the first 6 months of the year.
Figures compiled by the agency showed that only US$4.7 billion worth of new projects were licensed during the period, a 86.7 percent in value over the same period last year.
Another US$4.1 billion was poured into 68 operational projects, an increase of 13.8 percent. The agency head, Phan Huu Thang told Thanh Nien News added that the FDI result was still positive given the extent of the current economic slowdown.
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Jun. 15 – Vietnam will soon re-launch the Hanoi Securities Trading Center as the Hanoi Stock Exchange to serve as a new trading floor for unlisted public companies on June 24.
The country’s main bourse will still be the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange while the Hanoi Stock Exchange will provide the market for listed medium and small shareholding companies and government bonds.
So far, Vietnam has over 1,400 shareholding companies, with 166 of them listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and another 196 found on the Hanoi Securities Trading Center. Foreigners will be allowed to buy a maximum stake of 49 percent in companies and 30 percent in banks in all the three markets, reports Dow Jones.
May 4 – The Vietnamese government cut automobile registration fee by half to 5 to 6 percent of the vehicle price until the end of the year to encourage more people to buy cars during the global economic crisis.
Moreover, the value-added tax on a number of goods has also been cut in half including fiber, cloth, garments, leather and footwear, paper and paper products, cement, tiles, and 125cc motorcycles or bigger beginning Friday.
Corporate tax for the last quarter of 2008 has also been cut for some textile, garment and footwear firms. Registration fees for vehicles that have less than ten seats will amount to six percent of the price in Hanoi and five percent in other cities.
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By Chua Siew Joo
Sept. 2 – Vietnam celebrated its independence today, with rallies and parties throughout the country. Governement leaders paid tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum and laid wreath at the Monument to Fallen Soldiers
Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent on the second of September in 1945, after nearly 60 years of French colonial rule. The country however, only achieved a peaceful state of development after the Cambodian settlement of October 1991. Read the rest of this entry »
