Vietnam Business News

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• Limited mineral exports may be allowed to cut inventories
• Insurers target higher growth with more diverse products
• Competitors stake out growing market for chat software
• VNPT to pull plug on pay phone service
• Auto industry receives needed policy stimulus
• Foreign investment begins year with a bang
• Banking in Vietnam loses appeal
• Masan Consumer expanding FMCG empire in VN
• Vietnam attends IFAD Annual meeting
• Listed companies make bad investment decisions

Limited mineral exports may be allowed to cut inventories Posted: 18 Feb 2013 12:03 AM PST Enterprises in several localities will be allowed to continue exporting unprocessed minerals under a decision issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT). According to the MoIT, the decision is a temporary measure to help enterprises settle their inventories and raise capital to have more resources for further development. It will apply only to [...]

Insurers target higher growth with more diverse products Posted: 17 Feb 2013 11:38 PM PST The insurance industry had targeted growth of 10-12 per cent for non-life insurance and 12-14 per cent for life insurance this year, according to the Viet Nam Insurance Association. The industry was also expected to reinvest roughly VND100 trillion (US$4.76 billion) this year, up VND9.5 trillion against last year. Director of the Ministry of Finance's [...]

Competitors stake out growing market for chat software Posted: 17 Feb 2013 10:58 PM PST Competition in the free chat software market has become stronger than ever with the participation of a lot of large technology groups, both foreign and domestic. South Korea's Kakao software firm last month officially joined the Vietnamese market. Kakao Talk software allows free SMS messaging in all smart phone operation systems including Android, iOS, BlackBerry, [...]

VNPT to pull plug on pay phone service Posted: 17 Feb 2013 07:38 PM PST State-owned telecommunications giant VNPT Group has announced it will decommission all pay phones nationwide from March 25 this year due to a slump in demand. The company began providing the service in 1997, and the number of telephone boxes around the country subsequently rose to about 11,000. However, demand for the service has gradually decreased [...]

Auto industry receives needed policy stimulus Posted: 17 Feb 2013 07:36 PM PST Auto producers are trying to put last year's disappointment behind them and are hoping for a prosperous 2013. 2012 was a challenging year for Viet Nam's automobile industry. The market dropped by more than one-third with just 93,000 units sold. Most of last year's decline can be attributed to increases in existing fees and taxes [...]

Foreign investment begins year with a bang Posted: 17 Feb 2013 07:35 PM PST Viet Nam is expected to attract a wealth of foreign direct investment (FDI) this year after a bumper January kickstarted efforts with a total FDI registration of over US$280 million. The figure is largely comprised of $202.9 million in processing industries, representing 72.1 per cent of the total sum, followed by $50 million in the [...]

Banking in Vietnam loses appeal Posted: 17 Feb 2013 06:27 PM PST Vietnam could use foreign investors' help fixing a banking system that is hobbling its economy, but slowing growth, bad loans and a lack of transparency make for a challenging sales pitch. The government may allow foreign investors to take positions as big as 49% in state-owned banks, or even majority stakes conditional upon later divestment, [...]

Masan Consumer expanding FMCG empire in VN Posted: 17 Feb 2013 06:24 PM PST In a July 2012 bulletin sent to Masan Group employees, titled “From darkness to dawn”, the company CEO, Madhur Maini, said the firm is eyeing a bigger share in the Vietnamese retail and consumer product sector. With the coming partial acquisition of bottled beverage producer Vinh Hao, Masan Consumer Joint Stock Co, an arm of Masan Group, is [...]

Vietnam attends IFAD Annual meeting Posted: 17 Feb 2013 06:23 PM PST A Vietnamese delegation attended the 36th session of the Annual Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome from February 13 to 14. The three-member delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Finance Truong Chi Trung, joined representatives from 166 other member countries and international organisations, including Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu. Seventy-nine [...]

Listed companies make bad investment decisions Posted: 17 Feb 2013 06:22 PM PST Listed companies made serious errors last year that only came to light following the economic downturn. The three main mistakes were investments in real estate, financial sectors and business expansion. In recent years, most listed firms have invested in the financial sector. Commercial banks and securities companies operated as investment banks, while enterprises set up [...]

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