African swine fever has been detected on three farms in northern Vietnam, the Animal Health Department said on Tuesday.
According to a report by Mai Nguyen and Khanh Vu on Reuter, authorities have culled all the pigs on the farms located in Hung Yen and Thai Binh provinces, southeast of the capital Hanoi, the department said.
The highly contagious fever is incurable in pigs but does not harm people. The disease has spread rapidly across neighboring China since August, affecting 25 provinces and regions.
Pork accounts for three quarters of total meat consumption in Vietnam, a country of 95 million people. Most pigs are consumed domestically.
On Feb 17, Philippines has ordered a temporary ban on pork coming from Vietnam amid reports that pork samples from that country tested positive for African Swine Fever (ASF). The temporary ban on such products from entering the Philippines, which was recommended by Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Director Dr. Ronnie Domingo, comes after reports showed that pork from Vietnam, intercepted by quarantine authorities, tested positive for ASF.
The Agriculture chief also noted that while the memorandum which will implement the ban is yet to be signed, he has already ordered the BAI to “immediately effect the ban today.”
“The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world which is free from livestock diseases, including Foot and Mouth Disease,” Piñol said. “Vietnam is the latest to be included in the list of countries which could not ship pork and pork products to the Philippines because of the ASF,” he added.
A soft launch of the first phase of a new multi-billion dollar casino resort being backed by Suncity Group Holdings in Vietnam is coming this fall, GGRAsia report.
The resort, called Hoiana, is located in Hoi An on Vietnam’s central coast and phase one includes three hotels, a condo-hotel complex with 270 units dubbed the Hoiana Residence and an 18-hole golf course.
According to GGRAsia, Suncity’s new Vietnam casino coming this fall, Suncity Executive Director Andrew Lo Kai Bong told GGRAsia, “We expect it [the first phase] to open in October, and by then basically 90 percent of the first-phase content will be launched – such as the golf course, and hotels. But that should be a soft opening. We’ve aimed a grand [full] opening of it before the Chinese New Year period in 2020.”
The complex is being built by VinaCapital Group, an asset management firm belonging to Vietnam-based Hoi An South Development Ltd., and a subsidiary of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd. out of Hong Kong. Suncity became involved last August when it acquired a 34% stake in the project.
When the casino opens, locals will unfortunately not be allowed in. Vietnam is currently running a pilot program at one casino, the Corona Resort in the country – with one more to be added – that allows locals to gamble. However, Hoiana will have to wait until the end of the two-year trial ends before a determination is made if locals will be allowed to gamble in casinos.
Lo explained, “It is still not the right moment for us to apply for it [permission to offer gambling to locals],” but the venue “definitely” plans to do so. He added, “But now [currently] only two licenses were issued that allow locals,” he further stated. Once the three-year test run under the scheme was completed, Suncity Group believed “the market would be open for it.”
Corona, located on Phu Quoc Island, became the first to participate in the pilot, which requires that a casino have at least $2 billion in capital investment. The second casino is expected to be one in Van Don in Northern Vietnam, which is being developed by Vietnam-based Sun Group about 100 miles east of Hanoi.
The Grand Manhattan embraces the latest in New York living.
The 39-story development will be house apartments, a hotel, restaurants and some of the most expensive real estate in the country. But instead of Central Park views, it’s located in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1, better known as Saigon’s Wall Street.
It’s the latest brainchild of Bui Thanh Nhon, a former seller of veterinary medicine who’s built his Novaland Group into one of Vietnam’s largest property companies. The chairman’s majority ownership means he’s amassed a fortune of around $800 million, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Such opulence would have been inconceivable in 1995 when Nhon shifted Novaland into real estate. The communist country has since become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Expansion has averaged more than 6 percent per year over the past 20 years, after Vietnam opened up to foreign investment and began taking the shackles off its private-sector companies. More recently, factories have been relocating from Southern China, helping GDP to top 7 percent last year.
That’s spurring overseas investors to target the nation’s real estate, alongside a rapidly growing cohort of well-heeled domestic buyers, eager to put hard currency into property. In a world where home prices are looking precarious from London to Hong Kong, Sydney and New York, it makes Vietnam an attractive location.
Vietnam is “where southern China was 10 or 15 years ago,” said Goodwin Gaw, chairman of Hong Kong-based private-equity firm Gaw Capital Partners, which oversees $17 billion in real estate assets globally. It’s no longer a sure thing considering home prices have been rising steadily over the past 18 months, but “long term it’s still very good if you’re able to hunker down.”
Prices for luxury condominiums in Ho Chi Minh City climbed 17 percent in 2018 to an average of $5,518 per square meter, according to CBRE Group Inc. The firm forecasts they’ll climb nearly 10 percent by early 2020 to $6,000 per square meter. (More affordable condos in the city only increased 1 percent last year.)
Nhon’s project contains two- and three-bedroom units that start from $6,000 per square meter. (He declined to be interviewed for this story.) While that’s almost double the price for a typical high-end apartment in Ho Chi Minh City, it’s a fraction of the cost in Singapore, Tokyo or Hong Kong, the world’s least affordable market.
What a Bargain
High-end properties in Vietnam are much cheaper than in other cities
High-end properties in Vietnam
“There’s huge interest for investing in Vietnam,” said Ilsang Cho, a spokesman for Hana Tour, a South Korean travel agency that arranges multi-day package tours to Vietnam to visit apartments.
While demand from overseas investors remains strong, the latest wave of buyers are Vietnam’s newly prosperous. The number of people with net assets of $30 million or more increased by 320 percent from 2006 and 2016, the fastest pace globally ahead of India and China, according to a 2017 report by Knight Frank.
Many Vietnamese have built their wealth with real estate, according to Chris Freund, founder of private-equity firm Mekong Capital. Home ownership rates exceed 90 percent, one of the highest in the world. Rising values mean there are middle-class families with dwellings in excess of $1 million.
Neil MacGregor, a managing director at Savills Vietnam, the sales agent for The Grand Manhattan, said developers used to focus on the middle class but are now turning their attention to the more affluent. “We have more and more very rich Vietnamese, particularly entrepreneurs looking for places to put their money,” he said.
Novaland isn’t without competition. CapitaLand Ltd., Singapore’s largest developer, has similarly luxurious projects in Ho Chi Minh City and the country’s capital Hanoi.
A rendition of a residential unit at the Grand Manhattan. Source: Savills Vietnam
Land supply in central locations, however, is extremely tight, one reason the wealthy are keen to buy now, according to MacGregor. Another factor driving demand for urban apartments is the shift away from the Asian tradition of several generations living under one roof.
“We’re seeing a significant change, where young couples prefer to escape from their parents after marriage,” said Duong Thuy Dung, a senior director at CBRE. “They like to buy condos in gated communities.”
Despite Novaland’s prominence — it’s Vietnam’s second-largest listed developer — little is known about Nhon. Born in 1958, he started the firm in 1992 selling animal healthcare products after studying agriculture at Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry. Now, units sold by Novaland account for about one-quarter of all apartments sold in the city.
“Most Asian businesses always turn to real estate when they become successful in whatever core business they have,” said Andy Ho, chief investment officer at VinaCapital Group Ltd., which invested in Novaland via its London-listed Vietnam Opportunity Fund. “When their country’s wealth grows up, people buy real estate.”
— By By Yoojung Lee and Mai Ngoc Chau – With assistance by Frederik Balfour, and Shawna Kwan
Last week, Trump announced that the meeting would be held in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam on Feb. 27 and 28. Vietnam’s Prime Minister Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Tuesday that the choice of Vietnam as the location for this month’s meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un show’s that the Southeast Asian country is headed in the right direction.
“This important event has shown that Vietnam’s investment environment is good, that Vietnam’s development model is going in a right direction and especially that the security and safety in Vietnam is wonderful,” Phuc told government officials at the Hanoi Stock Exchange.
“Vietnam will demonstrate its international role and do its best to let the word ‘Vietnam’ ring out.” To prepare for round two of Trump meets Kim, Vietnam’s foreign minister Pham Binh Minh, will visit North Korea from Feb 12 to 14 ahead of the summit.
Significant take-aways
There are several takeaways from both Phuc’s statements as well as the fact that the summit will be held in Vietnam. Phuc is right that Vietnam’s safety and security are excellent, even though much of that can arguably be attributed to the top down authoritative nature of the Vietnamese government that allows scant dissent from the party line in Hanoi.
Vietnam is also being touted as a reform model as the economic path for North Korea to follow. Last year, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said North Korea could follow the example of Vietnam, adding that Trump believed Pyongyang could replicate Hanoi’s path to normal relations with Washington and to prosperity.
Phuc is also correct in his assertion that Vietnam will demonstrate its international role by hosting the summit. Moreover, Vietnam’s status as a growing political force in Asia and globally is gaining ground. Just a few months ago, on October 3, a Vietnamese military medical team took part in a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.
Moreover, Vietnam is taking a more assertive role closer to home within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The country is also playing a delicate balancing act, albeit with impressive diplomatic results, as it increases ties with a former foe, the U.S., India, Japan and others as a counterweight to China in the region.
Oil and gas overtures
Vietnam’s economy is also flourishing, only send to China in the Asia-Pacific region in sustained economic growth over the past decade-plus. However, therein lies the rub, as is often the case with the Southeast Asian tiger of nearly 100 million people. Tense bilateral relations with Beijing are rife with geopolitical, territorial and oil and gas overtures.
It’s no secret that Beijing lays claim to more than 90 percent of the South China Sea, in what is now called its nine-dash line. Other rival claimants in the South China Sea include Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. However, Vietnam and the Philippines have been hardest hit by China’s assertiveness in the troubled body of water. In 2012, the Philippines lost Scarborough Shoal, clearly within Manila’s UN-mandated 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) after a tense naval standoff with the Philippine ships. Since then, the Philippines has largely made a pivot toward China for economic benefit but at the end of the day it will backfire when a new president takes office in two years and as the often politically vocal Philippine populace pushes back against Chinese land grabbing in the region.
Chinese pressure
Recently, Beijing has disrupted Vietnamese gas exploration and production activities clearly within Hanoi’s EEZ, but in areas that Beijing also claims. According to a BBC report last March, which cited an industry source, state-owned Petro Vietnam, under threat from Beijing, ordered Spanish energy firm Repsol to suspend an oil and gas project, which was in its final stages, off the country’s southeast coast. The pull-out could cost Repsol some $200mn in lost investment, the report said.
The site in question is called Ca Rong Do (Red Emperor) and lies in block 07/03 in the South China Sea. Repsol’s local subsidiary estimates that it contains 45 million barrels of oil and 172bn ft³ of gas. A drilling rig, the Ensco 8504, was scheduled to depart from Singapore for the drill site on March 22. Repsol had already contracted Yinson, a Malaysian owned company, to provide a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel at the site for 10 years at an estimated cost of more than $1 billion.
It was the second time in less than a year that Hanoi bowed to Chinese pressure in its own waters. In July, 2017, Vietnam also ordered Repsol to stop oil drilling operations at an adjacent location, Block 136/3, in response to what media at the time called “threats from China.”
Beijing’s pressure against Vietnam to halt development of its own hydrocarbon resources will exacerbate an already looming gas shortage. To meet the upcoming shortage, the country will have to turn to liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, likely from the U.S., but also from other producers, including Malaysia, Qatar and Australia. However, LNG offers a more expensive alternative that sourcing Vietnam’s own natural gas reserves.
At the end of the day, though Vietnam is indeed pivoting itself to a stronger regional power and even garnishing international attention, its centuries old problems with China will still create impediments for both energy planners in the country as well as the political power base in Hanoi.
A passenger bus crashed into a container truck on Hai Van Tunnel in the central city of Danang, injuring 13 people with the majority being South Korean visitors.
The incident occurred at 12:10 pm today, February 18, when the truck driven by Dang Quang Thanh hit into the passenger bus running in the opposite direction operated by Nguyen Van Thai.
The collision severely damaged the bus, leaving 13 passengers inside injured with most of them being the South Korean. The accident also resulted in serious congestion on the tunnel.
The victims have been taken to Danang General Hospital for the treatment.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Hanoi’s long-delayed Cat Linh-Hadong metro line, which is developed by a Chinese company, is expected to start commercial operations in April.
According to recommendations of the Hanoi People’s Committee and the Chinese EPC (engineering procurement construction) main contractor, the test runs of the Cat Linh-Hadong line will last until the end of the first quarter, after a total of six months.
Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong said that the Cat Linh-Hadong urban railway will be put into official operation from April. In the early stages, the metro will be free for passengers.
Hanoi Railway Transport Company has proposed a fare of around VND10,000 ($0.43) for a five- to six-kilometre trip later on, which will be adjusted depending on the distance.
The fare will be subsidised by the government to persuade people to use the metro instead of their private vehicles, according to the company. However, the city is still appraising the fare options.
The metro line will be assessed for safety by the Vietnam Register and an independent French agency before launch.
According to the Ministry of Transport, some four per cent of the works related to pathways and terminals have yet to be completed. The Chinese main contractor will carry out test runs carefully and hand the line over to the city authorities for management and commercial operation.
Cat Linh-Hadong urban railway, developed by the Ministry of Transport, started construction in October 2011 and has a length of 13.1km. The total initial investment of the project was $552.86 million (in 2008), including $133.86 million from the Vietnamese government and $419 million borrowed from China. However, this has been adjusted to $868 million, with loans from China increasing by around $250 million to $669 million.
This metro line has 13 trains with four carriages each. The length of a train is 79m, with a height of 3.8m and width of 2.8m. The trains are painted green and sport the image of Khue Van Cac, a symbol of Hanoi.
Once completed, the trains will transport up to 2,110 passengers across 12 stations. The stations are Cat Linh, La Thanh, Thai Ha, Lang, Thuong Dinh, Ring Road 3, Phung Khoang, Van Quan, Hadong, La Khe, Van Khe, and Yen Nghia.
The Ministry of Public Security has started an investigation into an acid attack on an overseas Vietnamese from Canada in the central province of Quảng Ngãi during the Lunar New Year holiday.
It was reported that on the evening of February 9, Võ Duy Nghiêm, 26, was attacked by two masked strangers while he was taking his girlfriend, 26-year-old Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Trâm, to dinner.
The strangers also slashed his tendons and knees before riding away.
Nghiêm was rushed to the hospital afterwards and taken to Canada for treatment with the assistance of a Canadian insurance company on February 15, according to Võ Duy Linh, Nghiêm’s father.
The police took sample of the white liquid suspected to be acid at the scene for testing. The area where the attack occurred had no cameras so identifying the attackers would be difficult, police said.
Nghiêm was born in Việt Nam but left for Canada in 2013. Nghiêm worked as a nail worker at a shop owned by his older brother Võ Duy Hoàng in Vancouver. Nghiêm and his girlfriend, who is a Canadian national but originally comes from Sóc Trăng Province, moved to another area to work and returned to Vancouver in 2018.
Nghiêm had returned to his hometown to welcome in the Lunar New Year in 2014 and 2019.
Despite advice against the early deployment of 5G, the government of Vietnam and the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) have taken the first steps toward 5G.
The first license for 5G, the fifth-generation mobile technology, IMT 2020, has been granted to the military telco Viettel. The experiments will be carried out in 73 places in Hanoi and HCMC.
Viettel now has the right to use the frequency bands 2575 – 2615 MHz, 3700 – 3800 MHz and 26500 – 27500 MHz to implement experiments.
The licensing occurred several days after a MIC conference on tasks in 2019 which put emphasis on the time to begin 5G. It is expected that HCMC will be the first city in the country to use 5G services before 5G becomes commercialized in 2020.
Along with the trial of 5G, MIC will continue granting licenses for 4G services and consider a roadmap to stop 2G and 3G.
Thieu Phuong Nam, CEO of Qualcomm Vietnam, said the world has begun 5G and now is the right time for Vietnam to take the first steps to implement 5G.
Qualcomm has been preparing well for the 5G era. It is expected that it will have about 30 devices, mostly smartphones using 5G chips, to be marketed in 2019.
According to Nam, the mobile telecom industry needs about 10 years to commercialize one new telecom platform. This could be seen in the development process of 3G, 4G and 5G.
Regarding Vietnam’s telecommunication, to prepare for the launch of 3G 10 years ago, Qualcomm had to work with all mobile ecosystems here for five to seven years. It has been working with partners in the mobile ecosystem in Vietnam since the commercialization of 4G began two years ago.
4G is still developing well all over the globe, including Vietnam. The representative of Qualcomm said there are still many things for Vietnam to do to improve 4G.
“While the entire world is preparing for 5G, the good quality of 4G LTE will serve as an important platform for Vietnam to march towards 5G. Developing 4G will still be a key task in the immediate time,” Nam said.
Not only is it experimenting with 5G, Viettel is also following an ambitious plan on manufacturing telecom equipment. It hopes that by 2020 that 80 percent of the core network infrastructure will be Viettel products.
Also by that time, Viettel plans to finish the first phase of the project on researching and designing specimen chipsets and 5G BTS.
The plan would match its service launch roadmap, in which 2019-2020 would be the time to test 5G infrastructure equipment. By 2021, 5G would be available in urban areas, and by 2023, it would be available throughout the country.
Saigon residents face the risk of burned eyes and skin even after brief exposure to the sun, doctors caution.
Consistently high UV levels have been hitting Saigon in recent days, posing a serious health threat to its residents.
In February, the UV Index in the southern city has consistently been rated 10 or above, indicating ‘very high’ or ‘extreme’ level of ultra violet radiation under U.N. standards, the Southern Regional Hydrometeorology Center has reported.
Weather Online, a U.K.-based meteorological service firm, also reported similar UV levels in the city from late January, with a peak UV level of 13 on February 8.
Health experts say such UV levels could pose several health risks, including skin cancer.
“When exposed to too much sunlight, the skin can get burnt, become dry, lose its elasticity, accelerate aging and may even cause skin cancer,” said Nguyen Trieu Vu, head of the Oncology Department at the Thu Duc District Hospital in Saigon.
The city is undergoing one of the most severe heat waves in this year’s dry season, with temperatures reaching 35-36 degrees Celsius at peak hours from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., according to the hydrometeorology center. Saigon’s dry season is expected to last at least until early May.
Experts have advised residents to wear sunscreens, sunglasses and brimmed hats, among other measures.
The UV Index is an international standard measurement of the strength of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. It is designed as an open-ended linear scale, directly proportional to the intensity of UV radiation. An UV Index of between 0 and 3 is considered ‘low’, and above 11 is considered ‘extreme.’
By SandyLi, This article was first posted on scmp.com
New home prices in Ho Chi Minh City averages at about HK$2,800 per sq ft, which is 14pc and 18pc of the average price for Hong Kong and Singapore respectively.
With properties priced at a discount to those in neighboring Singapore and Thailand, Vietnam is rapidly drawing Hong Kong and China investments its way and becoming a popular investment destination.
Buyers from the mainland of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong last year accounted for 25 per cent of the Southeast Asian nation’s total transactions by foreign buyers, up from 21 per cent in 2016, according to data from CBRE Vietnam.
Carrie Law, chief executive of online agency Juwai.com, said that given Beijing’s ongoing controls on capital outflows, Vietnam’s relatively low prices were very appealing to Chinese buyers.
“Buyers with limited assets overseas are able to purchase properties in a rapidly growing market and diversify their investments. You can buy a 700,000 yuan (US$109,781) home in Vietnam with the money you have overseas, even if you can’t afford to buy a 5 million yuan home in Australia or the US,” she said.
“Chinese buyer demand for Vietnam properties in the first quarter of 2018 was more than 300 per cent higher than the first quarter of 2017. The country is still lower on the preference list than Thailand or Malaysia, but demand is growing,” said Law.
To capitalize on the demand, CapitaLand will launch its new mid-to-high end residential project in Ho Chi Minh City, De La SOL, for sale in Hong Kong on Saturday, with 60 to 100 square metre (645.8 to 1,076.4 square feet) units going for HK$1.8 million (US$229,321), or HK$2,800 per sq ft. This compared with HK$15,000 a sq ft in Singapore and HK$6,000 a sq ft in Thailand.
Graphic: SCMP
Chen Lian Pang, chief executive officer of CapitaLand Vietnam said Hong Kong remained its largest source of foreign buyers since the company launched its first project in the city in 2016.
“We have some from Singapore and mainland China but they are not in big numbers. We had sold at least 300 units to the Hong Kong market in the past two years,” he said.
The De La SOL development, scheduled for completion in the last quarter of 2020, is the Singapore-listed firm’s 12th project in Vietnam – 10 in Ho Chi Minh City and two in Hanoi. Vietnam, it said, was its third core market after Singapore and China.
The US$177 million project – located in the city’s district 4 and is similar to Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan district – comprises 482 units in three towers. It is about 10 minutes by car to the core business district, or district 1. The initial down payment is 10 per cent of the purchase price, and the remaining 90 per cent can be paid by instalments over two years starting from January 2019 to the last quarter of 2020.
“For such a price, you can only buy public housing in Singapore. Home prices in Singapore have saturated and [we are] unsure how long it will remain flat. Thailand [housing market] is oversupplied and prices are not cheap anymore,” he said.
Prices of high-end properties in central Ho Chi Minh City at US$3,000 to US$6,000 per sq m were about half of the US$7,000 to US$9,000 per sq m for equivalent properties in Bangkok, and less than 10 per cent of those in Hong Kong, said agents.
Asia’s priciest address on offer as five villas set for en bloc sale at The Peak, asking US$298 million
Vietnam, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, opened its property market to foreign investors in July 2015, long after fellow member nations Thailand and Malaysia.
The country is still lower on the preference list than Thailand or Malaysia, but demand is growing Carrie Law, Juwai.com
Developers are allowed to sell 30 per cent of the units in each building to foreigners since the law allowing non-local residents to own apartments under a 50-year lease took effect in 2015.
Chen compared Ho Chi Minh City to Shanghai’s Pudong area from more than 10 years ago, when the area was undergoing a series of infrastructure construction including the subway system and airport terminals that when completed, helped boost property prices. Ho Chi Minh City could follow in the Chinese city’s footsteps, with home prices rising four to five times over the next 10 years, he said.
Interest in Ho Chi Minh properties has been growing among foreign buyers, even though Vietnamese bank home loans are not made available to them.
Abhinav Maheshwari, who works in Hong Kong’s finance industry, and his mainland Chinese wife paid HK$2 million for a 87 sq m apartment in the city.
“Our purchase is for investment. Given the political stability of the socialist government, we see Vietnam as having the possibility to grow just like China,” Maheshwari said.
“In the long run, we also feel it provided us diversification, instead of just holding assets in the Hong Kong currency which is pegged to the US dollar. I may think about other cities in Vietnam, perhaps Da Nang, where some of my friends have bought villas,” he said.
Hanoi’s housing market is drawing a buzz, a decade after the bust
Home prices in Vietnam have been rising in recent years, propelled by the country’s recovery from the housing slump between 2009 to 2013. They rose modestly last year on the back of a 6.8 per cent economic growth and rapid increase in direct foreign investments.
New home prices in Ho Chi Minh City increased 3.6 per cent during the year to the last quarter of 2017, and those for villas and town house rose 13.6 per cent in the same corresponding period, according to JLL.
Just as the returns are attractive in a developing market like Vietnam, the risks could also be high.
“Vietnam is a less stable market than the advanced nations over, and there may be a greater risk of property bubbles and crashes. I would advise buyers intend on purchasing in Vietnam to do their due diligence and look for properties with enduring elements of value, such as water views, convenient locations, and high-quality construction,” said Law of Juwai.
While most real estate industry insiders expected the Vietnamese property market to continue to grow in 2018, she said some feared that prices could hit bubble levels next year, especially if more land was not made available for development.
“The worst for Vietnam property market is over,” said Chen of CapitaLand, which has more than US$1 billion of assets in the country and was one of the first foreign developers to enter the market in 1994.
Traffic along the highways in Ho Chi Minh City with the skyline of the business district in the background. Photo: Alamy
But he also cautioned prospective buyers to choose developers which have the financial strength to complete construction of the development and offer sound property management services.
Kingston Lai, founder and chief executive of Asia Bankers Club, a Hong Kong-based agent for overseas properties, said investors would have to pay a total transaction cost of 2 per cent of the selling price when they sell their apartments in Vietnam. But they would earn a 6 to 8 per cent rental yield in Ho Chi Minh City, compared with a lower 2 per cent in Hong Kong, Lai said.
He said foreigners were allowed to sublet and resell their properties to local and other foreign investors. “But they are restricted from buying apartments from local people who are allowed to own freehold properties.”
With the AFF U-22 Championship set to kick-off, eight nations are represented by some of their best and youngest talent to see who shines brightest.
One such nation who has a lot riding on their shoulders is Vietnam as their senior team has enjoyed an excellent run of form as of late.
In the latest AFF Suzuki Cup, the Golden Dragons were victorious and lifted their second title in history after beating Malaysia in the final. They were impressive throughout the tournament and are expected to be one of the best ASEAN teams in the coming years.
They did well in the AFC Asian Cup and represented the continent to the fullest of their abilities so many are interested to see how the budding superstars of Vietnam will do in the U-22 tournament.
With that in mind, we take a look at five of the most promising players who will represent Vietnam in the U-22 tournament.
Y ELI NIE
First up is a promising goalkeeper who is only 18 years old, Y Eli Nie.
He has represented his country in other youth tournaments and continues to improve as he gets more experience under his belt.
His quick reflexes and reaction time make up for the lack of size that most goalkeepers possess.
NGO TUNG QUOC
Next up is defender Ngo Tung Quoc who is currently 21 years old.
A player with high football IQ, he plays for XSKT Can Tho F.C. and his play should help influence how Vietnam form from the back of the pitch.
BUI HOANG VIET ANH
Another defender makes the list as Bui Hoang Viet Anh is another player who will be relied on to help stop opponents from scoring.
At 20 years old, he’s already played a big part in other youth tournaments for Vietnam and it should be the same for the U-22.
With the Golden Dragons particularly concentrating on the defensive end, he should be a key piece in the engine.
TRAN BAO TOAN
One name that fans should watch out for in the midfield is Tran Bao Toan.
The 18-year-old is versatile and can play up front when needed but his creativity is maximised when he is part of the midfield.
Don’t be surprised if he ends up with his name on the scoresheet in the AFF U-22 Championship.
TRAN DANH TRUNG
Last but certainly not the least is striker Tran Danh Trung.
A teenager at 18 years old, he has the all the makings of being one of the premier striker for Vietnam in the future.
Excellent with his ball control and calm and collected with his finishing, he will definitely play an important role in their U-22 campaign.
Following the successful first edition of Vietnam Wind Power conference in June 2018, which attracted nearly 200 international and local delegates, and featured 30 industry and government speakers, the Global Wind Energy Council will be holding its second edition of Vietnam Wind Power Conference in Hanoi on 11-12 June 2019, in partnership with GIZ and the Danish Embassy Hanoi.
According to a report on EVWind.es Vietnam’s establishment of the Feed-in-Tariff in August 2018 has created renewed momentum for the country’s wind market and attracted a rush of development projects. There is already 187 MW of installed wind farm capacity in the country, and the Vietnamese government has set a target for wind farm development at 800 MW by 2020, 2,000 MW by 2025 and at 6,000 MW by 2030.
However, there are still a number of regulatory challenges to be addressed in order for project developers to be able create PPAs that are bankable from the point of view of international project finance, while the long term potential and system impact of renewables has yet to be fully recognized in long term planning. During our full-day conference on 12 June, we’ll be addressing these topics as well as other pressing issues relating to the development of a sustainable wind and renewables industry.
Experts from the international and national wind industry, financial institutions, high level representatives from government and other competent authorities from Vietnam, will set the scene for a discussion on what needs to be achieved to smooth the way for further development.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has said that the presence of Amazon in Vietnam will give opportunities to Vietnam’s businesses to reach the world market, but businesspeople are not so optimistic.
MOIT’s Trade Promotion Agency has announced the cooperation with Amazon Global Selling to help Vietnam’s businesses boost exports via the e-commerce channel.
Amazon has promised to support businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, access the world market and develop their brands on Amazon.com. It has also pledged to run training programs to help businesses improve their skills of selling goods on the giant’s ecosystem.
Vu Ba Phu, head of the Trade Promotion Agency, believes that the cooperation program is an important step which can help businesses approach 300 million customers on Amazon.
Vietnam’s businesses were selling goods via Amazon before the cooperation program was launched.
Betrimex’s coconut milk is officially available on Amazon. The products are sold at $1.7, or VND40,000 for a 330 ml can. The producer estimated that the value of coconut milk has increased by 300 times thanks to the exports.
Some other Vietnamese products such as balm and broom are also available on Amazon and Ebay with prices 10 times higher than domestic prices.
A report from the E-commerce & Digital Economy Department showed the rapid growth in e-commerce in Vietnam, about 20 percent per annum.
Amazon has realized the great potential from the growth. Amazon in September 2018 sent its staff to Vietnam to discuss how to bring Vietnam’s goods to the world.
According to MOIT, only about 200 Vietnam’s businesses are selling products on Amazon, a modest figure if noting that Vietnam has a wide range of advantageous products, including farm produce, food and wooden furniture.
Asked about business prospects in the future with the support of Amazon, Vietnamese businesspeople gave cautious answers.
Nguyen Thanh Tong from An Thai Son Company, which has been selling portable self rocketing automatic hammocks on Amazon for years, admitted that the sales on Amazon were a very small proportion of the company’s revenue. About 100 products can be sold each month and the buyers are mostly overseas Vietnamese.
Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep quoted a businessman as saying that it would be difficult to sell popular products, such as coffee, on Amazon, if the products are not special. In general, Amazon likes to choose original products from every country.
The businessman warned that products must meet the requirements on quality, food safety and origin in accordance with US standards to be displayed on Amazon. At present, only several Vietnamese companies can satisfy the requirements.
Most big real estate developers are heading for Phu Quoc Island, where the first casino open to Vietnamese has begun operating.
The presence of well-known names such as Vingroup, Sungroup and Bimgroup, plus the execution of a series of transport infrastructure projects, has warmed up the Phu Quoc market up again.
Vingroup is the biggest investor with a resort/casino that cost the company VND50 trillion, or $2.2 billion.
The giant firm owns many land plots in advantageous positions with the view toward the sea. Its 900 hectare Vinpearl Phu Quoc is located on Bai Dai beach, one of the world’s 10 most beautiful and pristine beaches.
The 37 hectare casino, a part of the mega project, is believed to be the biggest magnet attracting high-society travelers.
Opinions from well informed circles say Vingroup is going to introduce a new project adjacent to the area.
Tran Thi Thu Hien, director of DTJ Group, the distributor of Vingroup’s resort real estate products, said with a series of new infrastructure items and the casino, the island will see a new investment wave.
Other big real estate developers, namely Sungroup, Bimgroup and CEO Group, are also proceeding with their huge projects. They put high hopes on their investments on Phu Quoc as they can see travelers flocking there.
A report from the Kien Giang provincial tourism department showed that 3.7 million travelers came there in the first 11 months of 2018, an increase of 38 percent compared with the same period last year.
A real estate broker on Phu Quoc confirmed that the market has warmed up after a quiet period. Investors feared a real estate bubble and mixed information about the development of Phu Quoc Special Economic Zone in the future. But they have returned as they understand that latecomers may miss great opportunities.
An analyst also noted that the golden days have yet to return to Phu Quoc market, but it has become much better than mid-2018. Though the number of successful transactions remain modest, more people have shown interest in large projects there.
Meanwhile, more and more real estate trading floors have opened recently on large roads such as Hung Vuong and Tran Hung Dao.
The analyst said the trading floors are getting ready for the distribution of large projects developed by Vingroup, Sungroup and Bimgroup. Other small projects are also expected to launch their products soon.
Foxconn, one of Apple’s most important partners, is planning to set up factory in Vietnam, possibly in the northern province of Bac Giang.
Business Times reported that Foxconn injected $213.5 million into a company in India from September 2018 to January 2019 in a ‘long term investment plan’ and it is paying $16.5 million to Fuhua for the right to use 250,000 square meters of land in an IZ in Bac Giang.
A Foxconn report said it is selling the land-use right in Vietnam to a unit belonging to FIT Hon Teng, a subsidiary of Foxconn. FIT Hon Teng, listing its shares on Hong Kong’s bourse, manufactures cables for iPhones.
Meanwhile, Apple plans to build a data center in Vietnam.
Pegatron Corp, a rival of Foxconn, has relocated a part of its production base to Indonesia as a result of the China-US trade war. The company is also considering renting production premises in Vietnam and India.
Both companies did not clarify if they are relocating the production of components for Apple. However, their move shows that Taiwanese companies, the major electronics manufacturers of the world, are reconsidering their reliance on China, and are preparing for changes in the manufacturing systems which brought great success to them in the 1980s.
Vietnamese market
Three years ago, the public was stirred up by the news about Apple’s plan to invest $1 billion in a data center in Vietnam. The two localities Apple eyed at that moment were Hanoi and Da Nang.
The establishment of a data center, according to analysts, aims to ease Apple’s reliance on its third-party data partners such as Amazon and Microsoft.
If the project occurs, this will be the second project of Apple in Vietnam. Reuters in October 2015 reported that Apple invested VND15 billion, or $673,000 in Apple Vietnam LLC, a subsidiary located in HCMC.
The establishment of a subsidiary has paved the way for iPhone to sell its products in the Vietnamese market, as well as provide warranty and consultancy services.
Vietnam has emerged as an important market for Apple in the context of saturation in other large markets, including China, the US and India, which has led to a sharp fall in sales.
Though iPhones are expensive compared with the majority of Vietnamese, iPhone models all have been selling well in Vietnam. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple held 5 percent of smartphone market share in Vietnam in the period from Q2 2017 to Q2 2018.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, in a letter to staff in early 2019, predicted an all-time record high in sales in some key markets. Vietnam was among the markets he mentioned.
