Day: March 7, 2024

HCM City: A dialogue was held in Ho Chi Minh City on March 6 to help enterprises using foreign employees deal with difficulties and obstacles.

The event attracted the participation of representatives from nearly 200 domestic and foreign businesses who discussed issues related to licensing; entry and exist and temporary residence procedures; personal income tax calculation; and payment of social and health insurance for foreign workers.

They also paid attention to solutions to cope with situations when terminating contracts with foreign workers related to social, health and unemployment insurance issues; and management and revocation of documents related to work permits when workers do not give back.

Representatives of the municipal Taxation Department, the Social Insurance Agency, and the Department of Public Security’s immigration unit answered participants’ queries, helping them address problems in their production and business.

They committed to being willing to receive questions and ideas for specific
instructions and explanations to assist enterprises in implementing administrative procedures.

Statistics show that Ho Chi Minh City has nearly 30,000 foreigners licensed to work at the city’s agencies, organisations and businesses. They have been contributing to the supply of human resources with expertise, management experience, and professional working skills in accordance with international standards./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

HCM City: Experts gathered at the Vietnam wood and furniture forum in Ho Chi Minh City on March 6 to discuss ways ahead for the sector which is facing formidable challenges posed by global economic slowdown, widespread inflation and conflicts.

Director of the Department of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Quang Bao said that wood and wooden products make up nearly 93% of Vietnam’s forestry value every year, and export of the goods have maintained two-digit growth, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, enterprises have experienced a fall in orders as consumers have tightened their purse strings, he said, adding Vietnamese woodworks depend largely on foreign markets but purchasing power from large buyers in China, the EU, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the US decline sharply.

Bao held that major export markets’ strict regulations on product legality and sustainability, trade fraud, complicated trade competition and limited production capacity of domestic firms als
o put Vietnamese wood exporters in hot water.

Meanwhile, Giovanna Castellina, a representative from the Italian Centre for Industrial Studies, said that global wood furniture market size is around 480 billion USD, with China being the leading exporter, followed by the US, Italy, Germany, India and Vietnam.

Geopolitical tensions, conflicts and supply chain disruptions will affect the sector’s growth scenario this year, she said, adding the sector is forecast to go sideways and not grow in 2023, and will rebound in 2025.

She suggested Vietnamese firms diversify its market instead of a single one to reduce risks, elaborating as three fourths of Vietnamese furniture are absorbed by the US market, export value falls dramatically when demand from the market dwindles.

Sharing the same viewpoint, Chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) Nguyen Quoc Khanh said that although Vietnam has been in the world’s top wood exporters, the country holds a small market share.

Agains
t this backdrop, businesses should outline measures to reach new and potential markets, he added.

Despites short-term challenges, experts said wood enterprises should invest in R and D activities and create new designs to improve added values for the products with a view to expanding market share in the coming time.

Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that the sector’s export turnover reached 14.39 USD billion last year, down 15.8% year-on-year.

This year, the sector targets 15 billion USD in export revenue./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Berlin: More than 70 Vietnamese travel agencies are introducing attractive tourism products and services at the International Travel Trade Show (ITB) 2024, which takes place in Berlin, Germany from March 5-7.

Themed ‘Pioneer the Transition in Travel and Tourism’, ITB 2024 features 5,500 exhibition booths from 170 countries and territories. Vietnam’s major companies in the industry are introducing their products and services at the event, including Vietnam Airlines, Saigontourist, Vidotour, and Viettravel.

Cao Chinh Mien, Director of the Vietnam Airlines branch in Germany, said that Vietnam Airlines has participated in the annual event for years as seeing it as an opportunity to promote the image of Vietnam and the national flag carrier in one of the most dynamic markets in the world.

The fair helps the carrier evaluate tourism trends in 2024 and 2025, he said.

According to him, tourism from Germany to Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam in particular has recovered about 95% compared to pre-COVID-19 pa
ndemic levels.

Deputy General Director of Saigontourist Nguyen Dong Hoa said that ITB is an important fair for the world tourism industry, and his company attends the event every year, not only ITB Berlin but also ITB Singapore.

He expected that in 2024, Saigontourist’s German market in particular and Europe in general will grow better.

On March 6, at ITB Berlin, head of Marketing and Product Sales at Vietnam Airlines Pham Thi Nguyet and Vice President in charge of development of Munich Airport (Munchen) Oliver Dersch signed a Memorandum of Understanding on opening a direct route between Munich and Vietnam from October 1, with a frequency of three flights per week. The number is targeted to increase to four by the end of this year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

HCM City: Townhouse and villa transactions in Ho Chi Minh City have fallen to the lowest in the last five years with their primary supply reaching only 40% and a low absorption rate, according to real estate consultancy Savills Vietnam.

Moreover, most of the townhouses and villas are priced at over 30 billion VND (1.2 million USD), exceeding the affordability of the majority of house buyers in the city.

According to Savills Vietnam, last year, the primary supply of townhouses and villas in Ho Chi Minh City saw a year-on-year decrease of 40% to 993 units, the lowest in the last five years.

In addition, only 286 units were sold last year, marking a year-on-year reduction of 73% and the absorption rate drop to 29%.

Explaining the slowdown, Giang Huynh, associate director at Savills Vietnam, said that the capital mobilisation process is still affected by the inspection of real estate bond issuance. In addition, the world’s economic and political developments leave heavy impacts on the domestic economy, causin
g the incomes and cash flow of businesses and people to be blocked.

On the other hand, the scarcity of land funds in the inner city area of Ho Chi Minh City has pushed up house prices, leading to reduced affordability. Because of limited supply, investors gradually target the high-end housing segment, thus narrowing the buyer pool and slowing the absorption rate significantly.

She said the scarcity of land in the city has pushed up housing prices.

According to its urban development plan, by 2030, the city will focus on high-rise buildings to optimise land plots and meet the large housing demand.

This year 1,400 of them will enter the market, with 65% being priced at VND20-30 billion each, Savills has forecast.

Housing demand tends to shift to neighbouring provinces. Specifically, Binh Duong will have more than 3,400 new apartments, more than 90% of which cost less than 10 billion VND. Dong Nai will have 2,900 new apartments, 41% of which are priced at 5-10 billion VND and 29% priced at 10-20 billion VND.

According to Giang, Dong Nai and Binh Duong have the advantage of developing low-rise houses to supply the Ho Chi Minh City market. When infrastructure is upgraded and developed harmoniously, travel time from the provinces to Ho Chi Minh City will be cut, so housing prices become more reasonable and housing products are more diverse, which helps make demand stronger.

Seeing that trend, in recent years, big investors have acquired land funds in these suburban markets to deploy large-scale projects. Besides, housing prices in neighbouring provinces are more competitive than those in Ho Chi Minh City. The average primary selling price in Binh Duong and Dong Nai is just 16% and 22% of that in Ho Chi Minh City, Giang said.

Savills Vietnam forecasts that the supply of townhouses in Ho Chi Minh City in 2026 will reach nearly 5,500 units, equal to 78% of Binh Duong and 40% of Dong Nai.

The largest future supply with 1,500 units will be in the suburban district of Binh Chanh, followed by Thu Duc city with 1,300 uni
ts and Nha Be district with 1,000 units./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ba Ria – Vung Tau: The southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau shipped over 1.25 billion USD worth of products abroad in the first two months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

Asia remained the province’s largest export market with nearly 807 million USD, followed by the EU (over 280 million USD) and the Americas (nearly 94 million USD).

Local firms attributed the robust rebound in exports to the global demand’s recovery and falling inflation.

This year, the province eyes over 6.97 billion USD in export revenue, up 3.05% from the previous year, with crude oil export turnover expected to rise 3.28% to 5.56 billion USD.

The Department of Industry and Trade said the world’s slow economic growth, weak consumption demand and rising protectionism will make 2024 a challenging year for local trade activities.

Besides, large importers such as the US and the EU are tightening their belts, resulting a fall in the volume of orders, while dome
stic industrial production like garments and textiles, leather shoes and electronic products hinge on exports, with only 10% for domestic consumption and the remaining 90% for foreign markets.

Against this backdrop, the provincial People’s Committee has directed competent sectors and localities to focus on improving the local business climate to support enterprises in developing production and ensuring sustainable supply for exports.

Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade Vu Bich Hao said the department will keep a close watch on the local production to remove roadblocks in a timely manner, and accelerate the implementation of three strategic breakthroughs, namely human resource training, improvement of institutions and infrastructure development.

Furthermore, the department will help businesses capitalise on existing free trade agreements, enhance trade promotion, and provide them with market information and that related to policies and technical standards of foreign countries./.

Source
: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has tasked the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) with leading and coordinating governmental ministries and agencies to keep interest rates low and financial access easier for businesses, according to Directive 18/CD-TTg signed on March 7.

He asked the central bank to conduct reviews on the results of credit issuance by financial institutes across the country, including commercial banks and credit institutions, to stabilise interest rates and stimulate credit growth in 2024, with an emphasis on the timely and sufficient provision of credit to serve the economy and the safety of the financial system.

The PM stressed the importance of taking a proactive, flexible and timely approach to monetary policies in 2024, in line with the main objectives outlined in Resolution 01/NQ-CP dated January 5, which prioritises promoting economic growth, resolving difficulties for production and business, meeting foreign currency needs for production and business, and ensuring macroeconomic stabi
lity and inflation control.

The directive said top priorities in 2024 will continue to be reducing interest rates for loans, coupled with enhancing access to credit to support the development of production and business, as well as ensuring sufficient and healthy credit and foreign exchange.

In addition, it emphasises stronger inspection, control and supervision of credit issuance by credit institutions. This is to ensure a flow of credit, including foreign currency credit, concentrated in priority and important areas and growth drivers of the economy and serving the needs of business.

The issuance of credit outside legal regulations, to inappropriate subjects, and the granting of credit to executives, management boards, and their related individuals as well as shadow businesses at preferential interest rates, will be strictly dealt with.

The central bank has been told to keep interest rates low and increase the application of IT technology, as well as promote social responsibility and business ethics amon
g credit institutions./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

HCM City: Vietnam’s aquatic product exports could reach 9.5 billion USD in 2024, said Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Data from VASEP showed that aquatic product exports raked in over 1.3 billion USD in the first two months of 2024, up 23% year-on-year. Of which, both shrimp and tuna exports increased by 37% compared to the same period last year while tra fish (pangasius) exports rose by 15% and other types of fish by 8%.

Kim Thu, a shrimp market expert, said by the end of February, shrimp export turnover reached approximately 460 million USD. Such markets as China, the US, Japan, Canada and Australia, have all seen substantial increases, she added.

In January, China surpassed the US to become Vietnam’s largest shrimp importer. It is forecast that China’s shrimp imports in 2024 will increase, creating more opportunities for Vietnamese shrimp.

Pangasius export turnover in the first two months of this year was also positive after recordin
g consecutive declines in 2023, raking 275 million USD. Exports to some markets like the US and China will bounce back due to reduced inventories and increasing demand. The pangasius market of China is expected to be more vibrant thanks to the country’s support policies to stimulate consumption in the first half of 2024.

However, insiders said there are still challenges to overcome such as oversupply, high inventories, lower purchasing prices and increased competition. Tensions in the Red Sea leading to increased transport costs, the European Commission’s “yellow card” warning against Vietnamese seafood and anti-subsidy lawsuits will likely pose additional difficulties for businesses this year.

VASEP’s Director for Communications Le Hang said that the US and EU’s bans on Russian aquatic products as well as China’s ban on Japanese aquatic products, and the US and EU’s warnings against forced labour at China’s processing factories are motivating US, European and Japanese businesses to seek processing partners
in Vietnam.

Hang advised Vietnamese businesses to review their market strategies and suggest them focus on the domestic market with a population of 100 million as their living standards have improved.

VASEP Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thu Sac urged businesses to take measures to turn these challenges into opportunities, exploiting and developing suitable products for international markets./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Petrol prices were adjusted down from 3 pm on March 7 by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), and the Ministry of Finance due to falling global prices.

The retail price of E5RON92 bio-fuel dropped 240 VND to 22,512 VND (0.91 USD) per litre, while that of RON95-III was cut by 372 VND to 23,557 VND per litre

The prices of diesel and kerosene decreased 302 VND and 176 VND to 20,471 VND and 20,609 VND per litre, respectively.

Meanwhile, the price of 180CST 3.5S mazut increased 174 VND to 16,133 VND per kg.

The two ministries decided not to use the petrol price stabilisation fund./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency