Dong Thap urges investment for 55 projects

The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap is calling upon domestic and foreign investors to get involved in its 55 projects which require a total capital of nearly 4 trillion VND (222 million USD).

The appeal was made by provincial leaders at a seminar to promote investment and social welfare for Dong Thap province which was held in Ho Chi Minh City on August 22.

They pledged to provide investors favourable conditions and preferences in terms of corporate income tax, technical infrastructure and land rental.

At the seminar, eight businesses registered to invest in the province with a total investment of 3.5 trillion VND.

Dong Thap boasts rice-growing and aquaculture advantages with over 337,400 ha of alluvial soil and 5,000 ha of water surface. It has also completed planning for three industrial zones on a total area of 930 ha.

Leading domestic coffee exporters band together

The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association’s newly created club of leading coffee exporters is expected to promote the development of the country’s coffee industry.

Luong Van Tu, chairman of the association, said the club, which was launched last week, would help unite domestic coffee exporters and bring higher profits to growers, processors and exporters.

Vietnam, which has 146 coffee exporters, is the world’s second largest coffee exporter.

Tu said domestic exporters had not worked together well, and had not taken advantage of their position in the world market.

Club members would gather monthly or more frequently to exchange information related to the coffee market, including output and prices at home and abroad, said Do Ha Nam, chairman of the club. Nam said the exchange of information among club members would help them minimise business risk.

One of the club members, Nguyen Thang Long, general director of Intimex Hanoi Production and Trade Joint-Stock Company, said the club would help his company draw up new export strategies.

The club’s members include 20 major coffee exporters that have posted an export volume of at least 10,000 tonnes of coffee within three years.

Cassava exports buck downturn

Cassava is becoming an increasingly profitable export due to growing world demand, domestic traders have said.

Though cassava has only been listed as a key export staple for a year, foreign sales, which reached 2.7 million tonnes, were worth more than 400 million USD in the first seven months of the year, up 4.4 and 2.8 times in terms of volume and value.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said increasing exports of the root had taken place despite the global economic slowdown, which had harmed foreign sales of other goods.

Cassava is chiefly used to make enthanol. A kilogram of the root can produce two litres of ethanol. Petrol blended with ethanol is preferred in developed countries because it is less polluting.

Nguyen Tuan Viet, who runs the website Vietgo.vn, which promotes exports over the internet, said that one in every 10 orders he received were for sliced cassava or powdered cassava.

However, Viet said there were not many domestic firms selling the root as it was a relatively new export.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, China is Vietnam’s largest importer of root, accounting for roughly 90 percent of Vietnam’s total cassava export volume.

Viet also said that roughly 70 percent of orders for cassava on his website were from China. He said there were numerous orders also being placed from the Republic of Korea, Russia and Malaysia.

MoIT reported that China imports nearly 4 million tonnes of sliced cassava and 1 million tonnes of powdered cassava annually.

Nguyen Thi Lam Binh, assistant general director of the Hanoi Production and Trading Company (Intimex), said her company exported roughly 120,000 tonnes of cassava to China this year.

Binh said that her company was seeking more cassava sources to meet demand from the country.

She added that although other export markets, such as Japan and the European, were looking to import cassava, they demanded a higher quality product, which domestic suppliers find it harder to meet.

Canada wants to promote economic ties with Vietnam

The Canadian government wants to boost economic ties with Vietnam, promote negotiation on investment protection and promotion agreement, said a Canadian senior trade official.

The Canadian government has added Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, into the country’s list of 13 priority markets for coming years, Janet Chater, who is in charge of trade relations with Southeast Asia at the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told a recent workshop on Vietnam-Canada business cooperation in Toronto.

Economic-trade ties between Canada and Vietnam saw developments in recent years, with two-way trade reaching at 1.3 billion CAD (almost 1.3 billion USD) in 2008, Chater said.

Canada exported goods worth 317 million CAD to Vietnam in 2008 and became the southeast Asian nation’s 10 largest investor with total registered capital of 4.2 billion CAD, she added.

The workshop, jointly held by the Vietnamese Embassy in Canada, the Ocean Packer and Canson Canada drew the participation of representatives from nearly 50 Canadian firms, including GEO Express International and Nova Scotia bank.

Participants discussed Vietnam’s economic potential and shared experience in doing business in the country.

They highly spoke of business climate in Vietnam, hailing its economic development, “Doi moi” (renewal) policy as well as policy adjustments of the Vietnamese government to cope with the global crisis.

Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Duc Hung introduced the country’s projects calling for investment and foreign investment incentives as well as prospects for cooperation between Vietnamese and Canadian businesses.

He stressed that bilateral trade has not met potential despite recent increase. He asked Canadian firms to boost trade and investment promotion, seize opportunities for business and cooperation with Vietnamese partners, thus contributing to enhancing the bilateral ties.

Ministry warns of fraud in Hong Kong

The trade ministry has asked local businesses to exercise extreme caution when trading with Hong Kong partners after two businesses reported being defrauded there.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade office in Hong Kong said a Carling (Hong Kong) Limited had “vanished” after it received deposits for 1,000 tons of meat powder from the two Vietnamese businesses.

The businesses said they did not receive any shipments from

Carling, nor could they contact anyone from the company, the ministry said in a statement.

It did not mention the value of the deals and the deposits.

Carling was licensed by Hong Kong authorities in 2004 to director Pierre William Boyomo Giuntang, a Cameroonian national, and his codirector Thomas Tsang Ka Kau, a Hong Kong citizen, according to the office.

The ministry has asked Hong Kong authorities to investigate the alleged fraud.

Vietnamese businesses should consult the ministry’s office before they trade with partners in the territory, according to Vietnamese trade authorities.

VietNamNet/VNA, TN

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