Oct. 30 – South Korea’s Samsung Electronics has recently opened a US$700 million plant in Yen Phong Industrial Park located in the northern province of Bac Ninh, making it the first cellphone plant in the country and Samsung’s seventh in the world.
The new plant will manufacture 1.5 million mobile handsets monthly to be sold locally and overseas. Annual output is expected to reach 100 million by 2012 while employing 8,000 people more from its current staff of 2,000. Continue reading
Oct. 28 – Banking giant HSBC has raised its stake in one of the country’s leading insurance and financial services group to 18 percent for US$105 million.
The increased investment on Bao Viet Holdings is in line with HSBC’s overall strategy to expand into emerging Asian markets. HSBC first bought a 10 percent stake in Bao Viet in 2007 and was given the choice to purchase another eight percent by the Ministry of Finance. The bank is being given the option to increase its stake up to 25 percent in three years. Continue reading
Oct. 23 – Guangdong companies signed 24 projects worth US$723 million during a trade forum in Hanoi on October 20.
“Vietnam will do its best to further develop this relationship, including efforts to boost economic, commercial and investment ties with Guangdong province,” Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem was quoted as saying by Nhan Dan.
Bilateral trade between Vietnam and China’s Guangdong Province has been growing steadily amounting to US$3.35 billion last year and accounting for one-sixth of the total trade between the two. During the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade increased by 26 percent to US$2.6 billion. Continue reading
Oct. 20 – Hau Giang Province located south of Can Tho City and and 240 kilometers of Ho Chin Minh City is offering incentives to attract more investors.
Investors in the province will be qualified for zero import and export taxes, a 15-20 percent tax reduction on revenue from 10 to 12 years and bank incentive loans.
“Investors would receive exemption from land lease fees, and land and water surface taxes for 3-15 years,” Nguyen Van Thang, deputy chairman of the Hau Giang People’s Committee was quoted by Vietnam Net during an investment promotion conference held for the province in Hanoi. Continue reading
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 .
Sept. 30 – The largest ceramic tile plant in Southeast Asia has opened in Quang Nam Province in Vietnam spanning 40 hectares and costing VND$1 trillion.
The plant can handle eight production lines with a total output of 24 million square meters annually says Xinhua. It will provide about 1,000 local jobs for the province.
Vietnam is currently the top producer of ceramic and granite tile in the region overtaking Indonesia with an annual production output of 300 million square meters.This also makes Vietnam the sixth-largest ceramic and granite tile producer in the world.
Sept. 28 – Vietnam will soon open the country’s first rice exchange on November 26 to make trading easier.
Vietnam the world’s second-biggest rice exporter. “The exchange is designed to create more favorable conditions for sellers and buyers to meet and conduct transactions,” Nguyen Van Dong, director of Hau Giang Province Agriculture and Rural Development Department, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview. Continue reading
Sept. 21 – Danish beer company, Carlsberg, is forecasting that its volume growth in Vietnam will even surpass the beer industry’s expected market growth of 6 to 8 percent annually.
This has led the company to sign an agreement with Vietnamese brewer Hanoi Beer & Beverage Corporation (Habeco) in anticipation of the increased volume by raising its stake in the Vietnamese brewer from 16.07 percent to 30 percent.
Henrik Juel Andersen, head of Carlsberg Indochina told Reuters that its market share in Vietnam, together with Habeco, stood at 32 percent. Continue reading
Sept. 18 – HSBC has announced that it will be partnering with state-run, Vietnam Posts, to make its financial services available to more people through its network of post offices.
HSBC clients will now be able to make credit card payments or receive cash payments at post offices. “This move significantly expands HSBC’s domestic reach for cash-based transactions, the predominant mode of settlement, to around 2,000 collecting points across Vietnam,” the bank said in a statement. Continue reading
Sept. 2 – The Kim Thanh Bridge linking Kim Thanh Commercial Center in Vietnam’s Lao Cai Province and China’s Yunnan Province was inaugurated yesterday.
The 295 meter, four-lane bridge cost almost US$10 million to build and was funded by both Vietnam and China beginning 2006. The bridge can be found 2.5 kilometers from the Lao Cai international border gate thus cutting travel time for trucks journeying from Hai Phong to Hanoi to Lao Cai then finally into a major highway in China’s Yunnan Province.
Between 400 and 500 heavy trucks are expected to cross the four-lane bridge daily reports Thanh Nien News.
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