Vietnam Insider - Page 1253 of 1523

Truck driver tests positive for drugs following crash that killed 8 in northern Vietnam

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The driver of a truck that caused a crash killing eight people after it slammed into a group of cemetery goers in the northern Vietnamese province of Hai Duong on Monday might have been driving while drugged, police said later the same day, citing results of a quick test.

Luong Van Tam, the driver, turned himself in to police officers after the fatal accident on the section of National Highway No. 5 passing Kim Luong Commune, Kim Thanh District at around 2:00 pm on Monday.

He was asked to undergo a quick test at a local medical center, and the result showed that he tested positive for drugs, Vu Thanh Chuong, director of the provincial police department, confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on the evening of the same day.

The police chief added that officers will continue working to verify this information, implying that a brief examination might lead to inaccurate results.

Tam was speeding his truck en route to the northern city of Hai Phong when he plowed into a group of 60 officials and veterans of Kim Luong, who were walking along the highway after they had visited the local martyrs’ cemetery located by the road.

Seven victims died on the spot, another succumbed to serious injuries at the hospital, and eight others were injured following the crash.

Data from the black box revealed that the truck was traveling at 65km per hour before the crash.

The accident occurred on a section of the highway that is located out of residential areas, thus the maximum speed is 80km an hour, online newspaper VnExpress quoted Nguyen Manh Thang, deputy head of the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, as saying.

A report from the Vietnam Registry showed that the truck, belonging to Hanoi-based NEWPRO Production and Commercial JSC, was manufactured in Vietnam in 2016 and its vehicle inspection certificate is valid until May 14.

Careful pedestrians

All of the eight injured victims were in stable heath conditions as of Tuesday morning.

Hoang Van Thien, chairman of Kim Luong Commune’s Fatherland Front, who managed to survive the crash without injuries said all people in the group were walking very carefully along the edge of the road.

The group had just exited the cemetery and was walking along the highway toward a pedestrian bridge.

Acknowledging that they were traveling against the flow of traffic, the cemetery goers all tried to stay as close to the side of the road as possible, Thien asserted.

“I was in the middle of the line and noticed the truck heading toward us,” he recalled. “I jumped over the fence of the road and was able to escape death.”

A police officer in Kim Luong Commune confirmed that the highway has three lanes in each direction, and the group of cemetery goers was walking in the lane closest to the side of the street, which is reserved for motorcycles.

There are no sidewalks along the highway section, thus pedestrians have to walk in the motorcycle lane in order to reach the footbridge, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said, adding this is extremely dangerous.

The also asked the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam to examine the situation and come up with a solution to ensure traffic safety.

Source: Tuoitrenews

VN stocks up on blue-chip basket shake-up

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Vietnamese shares gained on Monday led by the banking sector following the shake-up of the large-cap VN30 Index.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 0.97 per cent to close at 911.05 per cent. It closed last week down slightly by 0.05 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange rose by 1.78 per cent to end at 103.37 points. The northern market index fell 0.3 per cent last week.

Bank stocks led the market upturn with the banking sector index jumping 3.5 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

HoSE on Monday announced four stocks would be added to its large-cap VN30 basket.

They included HDBank (HDB), Techcombank (TCB) and Eximbank (EIB), which rose between 1.9 per cent and 2.4 per cent.

The other stock to enter the VN30 basket is realty firm Vinhomes (VHM), which ended flat on Monday.

The southern market regulator also announced it would remove Bình Minh Plastics (BMP), steel maker Hoa Sen (HSG), consumer staple firm Kido (KDC) and petrol company Petrolimex (PLX) from the VN30 Index.

While BMP and KDC lost 1.8 per cent and 0.7 per cent, the news seemed to have no impacts on HSG and PLX, which gained 0.3 per cent and 1.7 per cent.

Official changes in the VN30 basket will be made on February 4, 2019. The VN30 Index tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation.

In addition, listed banks have released their earnings reports for 2018 which all beat previous year’s numbers.

HDBank has reported its full-year pre-tax profit grew 65.7 per cent to hit a record high of VNĐ4 trillion (US$172 million).

VPBank (VPB) shares leapt 3.9 per cent after the bank announced pre-tax profit of VNĐ9.2 trillion, up 13 per cent year-on-year.

Military Bank (MBB) reported pre-tax profit gains of 68 per cent to VNĐ7.77 trillion in 2018.

Military Bank also announced it would spend VNĐ2 trillion buying back 108 million shares between January 29 and February 27. The bank’s shares soared 6.3 per cent on the news.

The best-performing bank stock – Vietinbank (CTG) – surged 6.9 per cent on expectations of its earnings report.

Market liquidity remained modest ahead of the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday, with 202.8 million shares traded, worth VNĐ3.76 trillion.

Source: VNS

Online-offline mix the new way to go

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With its crusade to renew itself to meet customers’ growing demand, businesses must balance online and offline sales and incorporate a full range of services seamlessly.

Catching up with new trends, Lazada Supermarket has just been launched on Lazada.vn last week to offer essential goods at competitive prices, and expects to become the largest online supermarket in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Under this supermarket system, Lazada will maintain a warehouse for its vendors’ goods where it can inspect quality and vendors’ certifications.

“To put concerns over increasing prices and fake goods to bed, customers can now pick up authenticated essential goods from Lazada Supermarket. This will help them enjoy safe shopping while saving time on going to real stores and supermarkets,” said Tran Thi Hoang Uyen, director of Fast Moving Consumer Goods of Lazada Vietnam.

“Lazada Electronic City and Lazada Supermarket are part of Lazada’s long-term development strategy in Vietnam to bring diversified products from leading local and international brands. In the near future, we will develop these two online stores to become the leading destination for all consumers by shortening purchase times while continuously increasing the number of products and brands. For Lazada Supermarket, we set the goal to become the largest online supermarket in Vietnam and Southeast Asia,” said Max Zhang, CEO of Lazada Vietnam.

However, Lazada is not the first e-commerce supermarket. Tiki.vn and Shopee.vn have also been making moves in the market for a year or so.

Talking with VIR about this new model, a Lazada representative said that the quality of every item on Lazada Supermarket is guaranteed. The items are stored in Lazada’s warehouses and delivered to customers in 10 cities and provinces for free. “The list of cities and provinces where delivery is free will be expanded in the near future,” he added. “With the application of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data analytics, Lazada could personalise the purchasing process for individual customers on its platform, to provide the best shopping experience as well as recommend high-quality items in the searching tool and customers’ homepage.”

Retail titans see further growth

Even two of the world’s largest e-commerce giants Amazon and Alibaba are looking to break into ‘real’ retail. Amazon opened its first book store three years ago in the US’ Seattle, followed a year later by Alibaba in China. These stores increase costs and reduce profit, however, they also serve as experience spaces to link retailers and customers. This shows that the combination of online and offline retail is emerging as a key solution among retailers.

In the last two years, Jack Ma, the owner of Alibaba, has been pioneering this new retail model. Alibaba has conducted a lot of deals in the traditional retail segment, including a buy-in to Suning.com, one of the largest non-government retailers in China, and the acquisition of the Intime department store chain.

Meanwhile, Amazon released a new shopping concept called “Treasure Truck,” which combines online and offline methods, and has deployed it across the US. This confirms that businesses see further growth and sustained development in this direction, where they can earn from e-commerce platforms and use stores as experience spaces to provide hands-on experience to lure in customers.

Online-offline combo

According to HSBC, one of the largest banking and financial services institutions in the world, Vietnam has been emerging as a “dragon” in the retail segment.

According to the Vietnamese government’s master plan by 2020, there will be around 1,200-1,500 supermarkets, 180 trade centres, and 157 shopping centres in locations throughout the country. Meanwhile, according to the General Statistics Office, total retail sales and consumer service revenue in 2018 is estimated at nearly VND4.4 quadrillion ($191.3 billion), up 11.7 per cent on-year.

Notably, technology has been altering consumer behaviour. The results of PwC’s survey on the retail market showed that 49 per cent of consumers make purchases via their smartphone at least once a month.

This trend enables retailers to shift to online sales and learn about consumer behaviour to improve performance and save costs. E-commerce is an inevitable trend in the retail industry not only in Vietnam, but also over the globe.

Currently, supermarket and convenience store chains are paying more attention to online-to-offline (O2O) solutions to salve the pressure from hundreds of e-commerce platforms operating in Vietnam.

Last October, Auchan Retail Vietnam, one of the leading retailers in Europe, and Lazada Vietnam signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic co-operation with regard to the launch of their O2O model. Accordingly, customers could visit Auchan’s online store on Lazada.vn featuring thousands of high-quality authenticated goods and hundreds of private label products.

“Some 2,000 orders have been made after two months of operation. Moreover, items from Auchan have received positive feedback from Vietnamese customers, most of whom gave the shop four or five stars,” Nguyen The Dong, digital director of Auchan Retail Vietnam, told VIR.

O2O helps in-store purchases

Numerous other supermarkets have been deploying online sales. For example, VinMart can now be accessed from Adayroi.com, which is Vingroup’s e-commerce platform, while Co.opmart developed its own private website. Others like AEON, Lotte Mart, and 7-Eleven have all created smartphone apps.

Jeong Seong Won, chief financial officer of Lotte Vietnam Shopping JSC, told VIR about the Lotte app, saying that the first results are very positive, with the value of each order from the app being around VND500,000 ($21.7), much higher than the VND200,000 ($8.7) customers usually spend in person at the stores. Meanwhile, the number of customers making purchases on their smartphones has doubled every month.

“In the future, we are going to pour $50 million into e-commerce development in Vietnam,” Won said.

Meanwhile, according to the representative of 7-Eleven, there are a multitude of ways to apply the O2O model in the retail segment. For example, using the app of this convenience store chain, customers will get one drink for free after ordering six drinks through the app, which they can pick up at the shop in person, where they can buy other items. This means the app can increase revenue from walk-in customers.

Earlier, in 2016, Nguyen Kim Trading JSC, one of the leading electronics retailers and whose 49 per cent stake is held by Thai conglomerate Central Group, acquired Zalora.vn, an e-commerce fashion platform. However, the company seems rather sluggish in its application of the O2O model in its retail chain.

Talking about the challenges faced with this model, retail expert Tran Anh Tuan said, “Last mile delivery is a key part of retail supply chains, and businesses need to forge seamless collaboration between offline and online operations to provide the best services. The wide coverage of local retailers is one of their advantages, but with their rich experience, foreign players will likely do better and step faster in the O2O race.”

Retail experts said that multi-channel sales, including online and offline, have become an inevitable trend in Vietnam, contributing to the development of the e-commerce segment to reach the $10 billion forecasted by experts by 2020.

Under statistics of the Vietnam E-Commerce Association, O2O retail is one of the most spectacularly growing segments in e-commerce, growing 35 per cent in 2017, a whopping 10 per cent higher than the whole Vietnamese e-commerce industry.

According to a report on VIR

Trouble in other markets may prompt Apple to consider Vietnam

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While iPhone sales falling in many markets, leading to a sharp drop in Apple share prices, sales have continued to go well in Vietnam.

Apple is now seeking a leader for its sales and business development division in Vietnam. In 2016, it looked for a distribution director in Vietnam. On Apple’s website, recruitment notices sometimes appear for software and hardware engineers for Hanoi and HCM City offices.

Apple still doesn’t have an Apple Store in Vietnam, but its products are sold through AARs (Apple authorized reseller) and APRs (Apple premium reseller). In addition, it has joined hands with large distributors.

Apple only has two Apple Stores in Southeast Asia, one in Singapore which opened in 2017, and the other in Thailand in 2018.

Zing.vn quoted a former regional director of Apple as saying that the Vietnamese market is still far from able to satisfy Apple’s requirements.

“They (Apple) would ‘lighten’ the Vietnamese market first through AARs and APRs and clear unofficial imports. Later, they would spend money on billboards at shopping malls before opening an Apple Store,” he explained.

Private shops stopped using Apple’s logo after they received warning from Apple’s representative in Vietnam about intellectual property infringement two years ago.

However, Apple’s recent moves show the giant has begun paying attention to the Vietnamese market. In late 2015, Apple Vietnam received an operation license which showed the office of the company is in HCM City.

Vietnamese analysts believe that Apple may consider accelerating its plan because of the rapid growth of iPhone sales in the market. The sales are decreasing in many markets, while iPhones are still selling well in Vietnam.

The selling prices of iPhones vary among different countries. iPhone Xs Max 256 GB sells at $1,249 in the US and $1,600 in China. In Vietnam, the price quoted by authorized resellers is VND38 million, or $1,700.

China and India are the two most problematic markets for Apple. In China, consumers have turned their back on iPhones because of the US-China trade war. In India, with th high price, iPhone is considered a luxury product.

The sales decline in the two markets may prompt Apple to switch its focus to Southeast Asia, according to analysts.

In a recent letter to shareholders, Apple admitted it is facing difficulties, but still puts high hope on the US, Canadian, European and South Korean markets. Apple also expects good sales in Mexico, Poland, Malaysia and Vietnam.

According to a report on Vietnamnet

New Eximbank – the journey to becoming a leading quality bank in Vietnam

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In 2018, despite many challenges, Vietnam’s Eximbank has achieved better financial result thanks to hard work by all of its staff and strong support from valued customers.

Member of the Board cum Head of Restructuring Project, Mr. Yutaka Moriwaki told Vietnam Insider, “We started “New Eximbank” project at the beginning of 2017, and during this two years, we have realized many new initiatives. We developed for the very first time a mid-term strategy approved by the Board earlier 2018; We have changes Head Office Unit that proactively developing its own business strategy and enhancing two-way communications with the business network; and We have officially implemented new KPI concept and fair and transparent compensation system that further reinforce our performance-driven HR system onward”.

In addition, the information technology division of the bank has successfully deployed the new core bank system, a fundamental engine for new growth initiatives and innovations.

“However, it is very first step to our journey to become a leading quality bank in Vietnam”, Yutaka added.

In 2019, Eximbank planned to transform its business network structure in order to be compatible with head office directions. Although the productivity and efficiency have been improved for last 2-3 years, Eximbank is still behind many top competitors in the market. But the member of the Board cum Head of Restructuring Project said, the bank is very optimistic since Eximbank already has clear directions of business strategy on top of strong support and commitment from top managements.

“More concretely, we will improve productivity and efficiency of our workforce by modifying functions of branches and transaction offices for the focused segment; shifting more resources to sales and solutions and standardize and streamline operations through centralization and process improvement”, said Yutaka.

He also confirmed that, it doesn’t mean the bank will restructure the people as Eximbank is most proud of the fact that, “New Eximbank” project started without losing any employee. “We are very much care how to motivate our staffs to improve productivity and customer-centric mind”.

Featured photo: Mr. Yutaka Moriwaki, Member of the Board cum Head of Restructuring Project at Eximbank.

Tada, the blockchain-based ride-hailing app launched in Vietnam

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Singapore-based ride-hailing app Tada just launches its operation in Vietnam on Monday – less than a week after opening in Cambodia.

Ho Chi Minh City marks the third South-east Asian market for Tada’s parent, South Korean start-up Mass Vehicle Ledger (MVL), which moved out of East Asia when it entered Singapore in 2018. Straits Times reports.

The company had earlier said, when it launched the Tada service in Phnom Penh on Jan 16, that Vietnam and Malaysia would be its next ports of call in the region. It also aims to bring Cambodian tuk-tuk drivers on board the platform in February.

Other goals include the launch of a wallet app in the first half of 2019, as well as a rent-a-car and chauffeur service platform and data-sharing partnerships with other companies by year-end, according to the MVL website.

According to Straits Times, four-year-old MVL bills Tada as a zero-commission app that uses blockchain technology to store records such as payments and vehicle maintenance. It said that it has had more than 27,000 drivers and 200,000 users in Singapore since launch.

KOTRA opens one more office in Vietnam

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State-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) has opened its third Vietnamese office in Vietnam’s Da Nang, aiming to support exporters in line with Seoul’s New Southern Policy that centers on strengthening ties with Southeast Asian countries.

KOTRA claimed the Da Nang branch will help around 50 South Korean firms in the central region of the country.

Vietnam is the seventh country that has more than three KOTRA offices.

The Vietnamese government recently has been introducing various projects to foster the central region, seeking to bolster infrastructure, such as roads and ports.

According to local media, large Korean corporations have headed for northern Vietnam, while the south has been favored by the RoK’s small and medium-sized enterprises. Meanwhile, the central region has been a destination for FDI in tourism as a large number of Korean tourists travel to central cities and provinces, particularly Danang.

Last year, the RoK’s registered FDI in Vietnam reached a record high of more than 9 billion USD, landing in major projects in manufacturing, real estate, energy, distribution and M&A.

Vietnam Coal Comprehensive Report

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The coal industry has an essential role for production activities, particularly in the energy sector. In the past five years, coal production has been volatile, especially in 2013, the world production of coal has increased sharply. However, this figure has been reduced in 2015. This is also the sharpest decline since the IEA began its statistical year in 1971.

Asia is the largest producer of coal in the world, followed by North America, Europe, and the CIS. China and the United States are two countries having a very strong coal industry with large reserves of coal, modern mining technologies and appropriate development policies, especially in some countries that restrict exports, focusing on energy production and other domestic industries.

Coal, one of the most stressed commodities in the context of the price of mineral resources is affected. Both thermal coal and metallurgical coal have fallen sharply over the past few years, even though thermal power generation accounted for about 41% of the world’s total, while metallurgical coal is still important in steel production. In the first quarter of 2018, thermal coal prices continued to rise sharply after a rebound in 2016. It is expected to continue to rise in 2018 due to strong demand from leading importers in Asia such as China, India, Japan, Korea.

Vietnam Coal Industry has a small scale and complicated geological conditions. Over the past few years, open-cast exploited coal output has still remained the key role and represented about 55-60% of the total coal mining volume of the whole industry. Vietnam coal industry is facing many difficulties, business efficiency is reduced due to factors such as the price of domestic coal is decreased, production costs are increasing when the coal mining exploitation increasingly exhausted. That requests enterprises to boost investment in pit mining, along with an increase in taxes and fees. Vietnam coal is hardly competitive with imported coal due to the higher price but lower quality.

From a coal-exporting country, by 2013, Vietnam has started importing coal with the ascending output. By the end of the first quarter of 2018, imported coal output reached x, xxx thousand tons (increased 1.9%) and export turnover reached xxx million USD (up 9.5% over the same period). Coal prices in Vietnam are subject to a lot of pressure from taxes and high fees in production costs. The business results of the coal industry in the past few years have not had many mutations even tended to decrease. However, by 2017, the situation was more positive.

For more information, click on the link below: https://www.kenresearch.com/metal-mining-and-chemicals/mining/vietnam-coal-comprehensive/155419-101.html

https://www.kenresearch.com/metal-mining-and-chemicals/chemicals/clean-coal-technology/168243-101.html

Contact:
Ken Research
Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications
Sales@kenresearch.com | +91 901537824

FDI could be a great wave into Vietnam by 2019

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There is being a shift in FDI inflows into Vietnam. More and more FDI enterprises pour quality capital into Vietnam instead of by the reason looking for natural resources, low labor cost, etc as before.

With 2,589 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam with a capital size of 31.44 billion USD (accumulated to December 20, 2018), Taiwan is currently ranked 4th out of 130 countries and regions, has invested in Vietnam over the past 30 years.

US businesses investing in China are also intending to shift their investments outside of China. Sharing the story on the sidelines of the APEC Business Forum taking place in Papua New Guinea from November 17-18. Mr. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said there are about one third the number of US businesses that have moved or are intending to shift their investment out of China due to tensions from the US-China trade war.

Not only that, the VCCI representative also said that Vietnam has become a much-mentioned name in Papua New Guinea after PwC published its business investigation report. Accordingly, Vietnam has surpassed China to become the economy with the most prospect of FDI attraction, standing on countries like the US, Australia, Thailand, etc.

Comments on FDI inflows from Taiwan into Vietnam in the coming time. The process of moving factories out of China will take time, so Taiwanese businesses will, in the short term, boost orders to Taiwanese businesses in other markets, including Vietnam. Therefore, more Taiwanese projects would be expanded in Vietnam.

Related topic: Company registration in Vietnam

It is estimated that in 2018, FDI exported surplus of USD 32.8 billion including crude oil and trade surplus of USD 30.5 billion excluding crude oil. The latest report of the Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planning and Investment) said that in 2018, the export of FDI enterprises (including crude oil) reached 175.5 billion USD, up 12.9% compared to with the same period of 2017.

This level of export has accounted for nearly 71.7% of total export turnover of Vietnam. In particular, exports excluding crude oil reached 173.2 billion USD, up 13.6% over the same period in 2017 and accounting for 70.7% of export turnover. In terms of imports, in 2018 FDI enterprises imported 142.7 billion USD, up 11.6% over the same period in 2017 and accounted for 60.1% of Vietnam’s import turnover.

Thus, in general, the foreign invested sector saw a trade surplus of 32.8 billion USD, including crude oil and trade surplus of 30.5 billion USD, excluding crude oil in 2018.

Foreign investors have been present in all 63 provinces and cities in the country, in which Ho Chi Minh City is still the leading province in attracting FDI with 45 billion USD (accounting for 13.2% of total investment capital), followed by Hanoi with US $ 33.1 billion (accounting for 9.7% of the total investment capital), Binh Duong with US $ 31.7 billion (accounting for 9.3% of total investment capital).

Source: Rong Viet Securities

Ikea plans brick-and-mortar center in Vietnam: gov’t official

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Ikea Vietnam, the Swedish furniture giant’s subsidiary in the Southeast Asian country, plans to invest on a EUR450 million retail center and warehouse system in Hanoi, the capital’s chairman has said.

The information was revealed by Nguyen Duc Chung, chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, at a conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Thursday, according to the Vietnam Television (VTV).

The center is expected to become Ikea’s main supply hub for its Southeast Asian market and to boost the Swedish company’s e-commerce business in the region upon its completion, according to Insider Retail Asia.

“At present, all parties involved are in the process of negotiation,” Chung said.

Ikea is now officially present in only three Southeast Asian markets, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, according to VTV.

Torbjorn Loof, chairman and CEO of Inter Ikea Holding, said in an interview with Bloomberg in 2017 that the company was planning to expand operation in Vietnam “within five years” from that point.

Ikea has steadily set its Southeast Asian footprint, with the latest largest store planned in the Philippines.

Founded in 1943, Ikea is the world’s largest furniture retailer with 400 stores in 49 countries all over the world. It is known for its ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories

In recent years, Vietnam has been a potential hub for retailers to place their warehouses. Last November, Alibaba-backed online retailer Lazada finished a 4000-square-meter warehouse in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang.

According to a report on Tuoi Tre

Vietnam ranks sixth globally in ecommerce revenue in 2018

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Vietnam raked in the world’s sixth-largest ecommerce revenue in 2018, according to online statistics portal Statista.

With 49.8 million customers on electronic shopping sites, the Southeast Asian country’s online sales revenue last year was $2.26 billion, up 29.4 percent compared to the previous year, Statista said.

The last quarter of 2018 witnessed dramatic changes that dictated the final positions of domestic ecommerce players for the entire year as the sites introduced large, long sales offers.

Shopee topped Vietnam’s online shop list in terms of total web visits, with 123.2 million visits.

It was followed by Tiki while Lazada came third and The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World) and Sendo ranked fourth and fifth respectively.

The domestic companies of Tiki, The Gioi Di Dong and Sendo were amongst Southeast Asia’s top ten highest-traffic ecommerce sites, according to meta-search website iPrice Group and web analytics website SimilarWeb.

Large investments were poured into ecommerce service firms in Vietnam last year.

Tiki received VND122 billion ($5.2 million) from home Internet-and-technology company VNG and a reported $44 million from Chinese online retailer JD.com.

Meanwhile Sendo secured $51million from eight investors, especially Tokyo-based SBI Holdings, which represents a competitive edge in the country’s ecommerce industry, driving its 22-percent growth in 2018 and eliminating several major players.

It seemed that Vietnam had not tapped the full potential of its online shopping market as 53 percent of its population used the Internet, and nearly 50 million possessed smartphones.

According to a report on Tuoi Tre

Bank rankings see big changes in 2018

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VietinBank, a state-owned bank, is no longer one of the top 5 profitable banks, while a private bank has for the first time been added to the top 3.

In Vietnam, four state-owned banks were the largest and most profitable in previous years, but that has changed.

VietinBank’s chair Le Duc Tho confirmed that the pre-tax profit of the bank was VND6.8 trillion in 2018, much lower than the VND9.2 trillion in 2017.

Tho said the bank’s plan on raising charter capital has not been approved by SBV, but it has begun a reshuffling plan. It had to scale down its operation in the last months of 2018. Cutting lending and increasing provisions against risks were the reasons behind the fall in profit.

Meanwhile, Vietcombank stands in the first position on the list of most profitable banks with pre-tax profit of VND18 trillion. The second position belongs to a private bank – Techcombank – with VND10 trillion.

Analysts say that Techcombank is following a specific operation model with its core activities revolving around relations with large partners such as Vingroup (real estate developer), Masan (consumer goods manufacturer) and Vietnam Airlines (air carrier).

A report shows that Techcombank’s credit grew by around 4 percent by the end of September 2018. However, the bank had used up the ‘credit room’ allocated to it, with the corporate bond value increasing by VND13 trillion.

The bank’s net interest margin made up 50 percent of total income in 2018, which meant that a large proportion of revenue came from non-credit services and extraordinary profits.

Techcombank’s total revenue was lower than other banks of the same scale, but its profit was considerably higher.

The other top positions on the list belonged to BIDV, a state-owned Bank, and VP Bank, a private bank.

Though VP Bank’s profit was 12 percent higher in 2018 than one year before, it implemented only 84 percent of the yearly profit plan.

VnExpress quoted sources as saying that the former gained profit of VND9.6 trillion and the latter VND9.2 trillion.

The upswing made by VP Bank in recent years has been interrupted because of the slowdown of FE Credit, a VP Bank 100 percent owned finance company. The company only made up 40 percent of total profit of the bank.

The fifth and sixth positions belonged to Military Bank (MB) and Agribank which reported profit of VND7.6 trillion and VND7.5 trillion, respectively.

According to a report on Vietnamnet

FDI to rise, IZ developers hope to make big money in 2019

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Vietnam has become an even more attractive destination amid escalating trade disputes. The land leasing rate in industrial zones (IZ) has soared since mid-2018, and is expected to continue in 2019.

The increase in labor costs in China has led to many foreign manufacturers’ relocating their facilities since 2015. The relocation trend accelerated recently because of the US-China trade war.

Vietnam’s business environment has improved considerably, jumping by 24 grades just within three years to 69th in the World Bank’s report.

Vietnam has attractive advantages, including a strategic position in Asia and border with China, with favorable conditions for road transport. The IZs in Vietnam are connected with seaports, and wide roads and highways which have been built and upgraded.

A report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment said the occupancy rate of IZs in Vietnam is now 73 percent. Meanwhile, 90 percent of commercial land in Thailand had been used by the end of Q2 2018, according to CBRE.

Thailand has many automobile manufacturing facilities, while Vietnam has been chosen by technology conglomerates over the last 10 years.

Samsung, LG and other groups have been in Vietnam for more than 10 years, generating large demand for land in the north. The labor force and the favorable conditions in accessing suppliers both have provided a solid platform for production activities in the region.

Rong Viet Securities believes the big demand for land leasing may come from Samsung Display and LG Display’s plans to increase production of OLED screens in Vietnam, as well as from solar power projects and Vinfast’s automobile manufacturing.

The current land rent is $82 per square meter for 50 years in the north, which is 13 percent higher than the rent in the south.

Rong Viet Securities’ economists believe that the Kinh Bac Urban Area Development Corporation (KBC) and Viglacera (VGC) will continue enjoying the biggest benefits.

KBC hopes it can lease the remaining 843 hectares of land in Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Hai Phong, while VGC now has 911 hectares of land in some northern provinces.

Land tenants in HCMC may come from different industries, including heavy industry and chemicals. The US-China trade war has recently encouraged enterprises, mostly small and medium sized, to relocate their business from Taiwan and China to southern IZs of Vietnam. This will bring benefits to Long Hau JSC (LHG) and Nam Tan Uyen IZ (NTC).

According to a report on Vietnamnet

AFC Asian Cup 2019: Vietnam beat Jordan on penalties to qualify for their first ever quarter-finals

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Follow all the action as impressive Jordan play Vietnam in the Asian Cup’s first last 16 clash on Sunday January 20 2019 with kick-off at 12:00 CET.

Goalkeeper Dang Van Lam was the hero of Vietnam’s 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over Jordan following a 1-1 draw in the Asian Cup round of 16. Fourfourtwo.com reports.

Dang Van Lam was Vietnam’s hero with a decisive save in a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over Jordan in a last-16 tie that had finished 1-1 after extra time.

Jordan had been ahead when Baha Abdel-Rahman’s sweetly struck free-kick gave Vital Borkelmans’ side the initiative just before half-time, but the second period saw a resurgent Vietnam take control of the game.

Nguyen Cong Phuong’s equaliser rattled Jordan, who then withstood successive waves of Vietnam pressure to take the game into a goalless period of extra-time.

Baha’ Seif rattled the crossbar with Jordan’s second penalty before Van Lam saved from Ahmed Salah, and Bui Tien Dung I then rolled in the winning strike to send Vietnam into the last eight.

Vietnam coach Park Hang-seo said he expected a physical encounter and his side shirked none of the early duels while containing the threat posed by Yousef Rawshdeh in the Jordan attack

The Golden Dragons carved out their best chance of the first half when Doan Van Hau played a fast one-two with Nguyen Quang Hai before lashing a low shot towards goal, but experienced Jordan goalkeeper Amer Shafi got down well to parry the ball away from danger.

After Do Hung Dung was penalised for his high challenge on Salem Al Ajalin, Abdel-Rahman stepped up and curled the ensuing free-kick from the side of the penalty area into the far corner of the net to put the Brave Gentlemen 1-0 up at the interval.

Just six minutes into the second half Vietnam drew level when Nguyen Trong Hoang’s inswinging cross beat a line of Jordan defenders and Cong Phuong slid in to meet it with a volley that flew over Shafi’s head before he could react.

The equaliser galvanised Vietnam who might have taken the lead had Phan Van Duc connected cleanly with his shot when he raced through on goal 10 minutes later, and Dung drilled a low swerving effort that Shafi could only punch clear as extra-time loomed.

Yasen Bakheet’s looping volley over the crossbar was the best either side could muster in extra time, and when it mattered most it was Van Lam who held his nerve, diving to his right to save Salah’s penalty and clinch victory for Vietnam in the shoot-out.

Walmart’s Vietnam Has Become A Reality

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By Brittain Ladd

I wrote an article titled Walmart’s Vietnam on September 3, 2018, where I outlined multiple reasons why Walmart will encounter significant issues in India as a result of its acquisition of Flipkart, India’s leading online retailer. The title of the article, Walmart’s Vietnam, was chosen as a result of similarities I identified between Walmart’s visions of grandeur in India, and the same visions of grandeur of the U.S. when it chose to enter Vietnam in the 1950’s eventually leading to the Vietnam War.

Before continuing, I advise reading Walmart’s Vietnam as it will help readers better understand what I outline in the remainder of this article.

India And The New Colonists

When I wrote the article Walmart’s Vietnam, executives at Walmart reached out to me to chide me for what I had written. The executives I spoke with were confident that Walmart had made a “game changing” decision with its decision to acquire Flipkart. None of the executives believed my pessimistic view of India and Walmart.

I did not criticize Walmart for wanting to have a presence in India. However, I struggled to understand the value of acquiring a retailer in India with a government so willing to implement regulations that benefit India while punishing multinationals. Especially U.S. multinational corporations.

Fast-forward five months and executives at Walmart have come to the realization that what I described as possibilities in my article are becoming a reality. A sense of concern has crept into the voices of the same individuals who joked with me months earlier.

According to multiple reports, India’s government has once again taken aim at U.S. multinational corporations in an attempt to prevent the companies from increasing market share in India’s fast-growing and lucrative online e-commerce market.

India’s government has approved a new set of rules that are set to go into effect on February 1st. The rules are designed to do the following:

Prohibit e-commerce retailers from selling products from businesses they have an equity investment in.
Prohibit exclusive arrangements with those businesses.
Limit discounts and cash-back programs.
India’s government claims the rules will be applied evenly but the target of the new rules are clearly Walmart and Amazon. According to a report by The Motley Fool (TMF), Amazon and Walmart have a combined e-commerce market share in excess of 70%. The government crackdown will severely limit the ability of how both companies can operate.

For example, Walmart was already prohibited from selling products on Flipkart that were sourced outside of India. (Imagine if Amazon in the U.S. was suddenly prevented from selling anything on Amazon.Com that wasn’t sourced from a company inside the U.S. Imagine if Walmart couldn’t sell any products in its stores or online that weren’t manufactured and sourced in the U.S. The results would be devastating to both companies.)

India’s new e-commerce rules stipulate that businesses that own the inventory being sold on the controlling e-commerce platform will no longer be able to do so if the platform owns 25% or more of those businesses. Flipkart, which is 77% owned by Walmart, used to derive most of its sales from its subsidiary WS Retail. But apparently in anticipation of the new rules, it largely stopped selling its products on the platform according to TMF.

Amazon, though, derives around 40% of its Amazon India sales from Cloudtail India, its joint deal with Catamaran Ventures. It has another major retailer, Appario Retail, that also exceeds the 25% threshold. Under the new rules, they won’t be able to sell on Amazon according to TMF.

The rules were created after intense lobbying by groups representing millions of India’s small traders and shopkeepers who believe not only are they at a disadvantage due to their small size, but more importantly, they believe India’s government should favor them over foreign owned companies commonly referred to as “the new colonist.”

To add insult to injury, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of India’s Reliance Industries, announced a partnership between its Reliance Retail subsidiary and the telecom unit Jio for the purpose of creating a new commerce platform to “empower and enrich India’s 1.2M small retailers and shopkeepers.” In other words, instead of Indian’s using e-commerce platforms owned and operated by Amazon and Flipkart, Indian’s should shop on an Indian-owned and operated e-commerce platform.

The proposed Reliance/Jio platform will be launched in Gujarat. Gujarat is home to the 1.2M small retailers and shopkeepers referenced by Ambani. (There are an estimated 14M small retailers and shopkeepers in India operating stores that average 500 square feet in size). Gujarat is also the home state of both Reliance’s founder, Mr Ambani’s father Dhirubhai, and of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who was previously the state’s chief minister.

It is perceived that Ambani has actively been encouraging India’s Prime Minister to implement the new rules that will restrict the ability of Walmart and Amazon to compete. Because Reliance is an Indian-owned and based company, it will not be subject to the new rules that Amazon and Flipkart must follow.

Satish Meena, an analyst at Forrester Research stated “Reliance being able to control the supply of goods that are sold on its marketplace will certainly benefit them” he said in a discussion with the Financial Times. Stated another way, Reliance can source products from India and other countries, and Reliance can own the inventory that it sells on the Reliance/Jio platform. Reliance can also provide inventory to small retailers and shopkeepers using the Reliance/Jio platform.

If the platform created by Reliance/Jio becomes popular (which it should) it’s conceivable that a large percentage of the 14M retailers and shopkeepers operating in India will migrate to the platform to gain access to products provided by Reliance. In addition, the majority of online shopping will be conducted on the Reliance/Jio platform as customers will find more products at lower prices than can be found at Amazon and Flipkart. This is what Ambani is counting on.

Ambani also spoke out about the need for India to beat back colonization:

Mahatma Gandhi led India’s movement against political colonization. Today, we have to collectively launch a new movement against data colonization. India’s data must be controlled and owned by Indian people — and not by corporates, especially global corporations …we will have to migrate the control and ownership of Indian data back to India.

In plain English, what Ambani has been able to accomplish is convince the Prime Minister of India to implement rules to punish and weaken the ability of Walmart and Amazon to compete on a level playing field for no other reason than Walmart and Amazon are U.S. multinationals. Ambani is also using his position as Chairman of Reliance to leverage assets he has a direct financial interest in to create an alternative e-commerce platform to those operated by Flipkart and Amazon, while also not being required to follow the new rules he helped to influence.

India is home to an estimated 14M small retailers and shopkeepers. India’s government continues to introduce rules to protect its small retailers and shopkeepers from being negatively impacted by multinational companies like Amazon and Walmart. Photo Credit: GettyGetty
According to an economist I spoke with: “India didn’t gain a reputation for being one of the most corrupt and protectionist countries in the world by accident, It worked very hard to gain the distinction.”

Walmart and all multinational corporations operating in India better prepare for a future of increased rules designed to limit their ability to compete. India is moving closer and closer to China. The potential impact on U.S. multinationals is staggering if India and China increase collaboration and partnerships.

The Best Intentions Don’t Matter

Am I surprised by what’s taking place in India? No. I warned in my article Walmart’s Vietnam that it could happen.

As for Amazon, it has invested $7B in India, far less than the $20B invested by Walmart. (Walmart continues to state that it outbid Amazon for Flipkart. Completely false. Amazon had no intention of acquiring Flipkart. Amazon’s bid was a form of guerilla warfare designed to change the narrative away from Walmart back to Amazon. It worked. Media analysts confirmed that Amazon received the majority of press coverage during the process of Flipkart being acquired, not Walmart. The press coverage greatly increased Amazon’s brand awareness in India.)

Based on my knowledge of what Amazon has planned for India as well as the fact Amazon-India is being run by highly skilled executives, I am confident that Amazon will be able to quickly pivot and implement changes that will reduce but not eliminate the impact of India’s new e-commerce rules. This is why I didn’t write an article titled Amazon’s Vietnam.

I do not have the same level of confidence in Flipkart. Here’s why.

Binny Bansal, Flipkart’s co-founder and former CEO, was forced to resign from Flipkart after Walmart discovered Bansal had hid details related to a possible sexual assault. I wrote about Bansal’s resignation in this article. (I’ve been asked if I think Bansal has been working with India’s government to craft the new e-commerce rules as a form of “payback” against Walmart. I have no evidence to support such a charge.)

Based on off-the-record discussions with contacts at Flipkart, Flipkart has not recovered from the resignation of Bansal. There is also concern that many of Flipkart’s most-skilled associates will defect to the new Reliance/Jio partnership. In fact, Flipkart is currently struggling to retain and attract the best talent.

In the article about Bansal, I stressed that forces within India would conspire against Walmart to drag the company “into deep water.” The forces I listed were Amazon, India’s government and India’s business leaders such as Ambani). I specifically made the recommendation for Walmart to minimize the role of Judith McKenna, President and CEO of Walmart International, and other Walmart executives in India and instead, greatly increase the responsibilities of Marc Lore, President and CEO, Walmart E-Commerce U.S.

Walmart is facing a future where it may have no choice but to write down some if not all of its investment in India. (Indian economists I spoke with are convinced this is going to happen). In Walmart’s Vietnam, I pointed out that no matter how badly the U.S. wanted to be in Vietnam, the Vietnamese always viewed America as being an invader. I can make the same argument of Walmart in India. Walmart may want to be in India but India clearly doesn’t want Walmart.

Of all the countries on earth, few if any come close to India’s fervent nationalism. The phrase “Forever Indian” isn’t a slogan, it’s a deeply held belief. (An Indian economist I know said it best: When Walmart acquired Flipkart, Flipkart stopped being an Indian company).

Walmart needs a new strategy for India and Marc Lore is the only person at Walmart who can create it. I stand behind my recommendation that Lore become the CEO of Flipkart. Lore is highly respected in India even if Walmart isn’t. Lore is also Walmart’s most capable executive as it relates to e-commerce. Frankly, I believe Lore’s title should be CEO of Global E-Commerce Operations and Strategy. Lore should have complete authority to design, implement and manage India’s e-commerce business.

I also stand behind my recommendation for Walmart’s Board of Directors to get involved by seeking outside experts to independently audit Flipkart’s operations and assess Walmart’s strategy in India. You read it here first: It is not beyond the realm of possibility that a recommendation could be made for Walmart to divest Flipkart if losses mount. In other words, withdraw from India. Sound familiar? Those who read Walmart’s Vietnam will think so.

Walmart may have the best intentions in India but the best intentions don’t matter when operating in a country that makes the rules and can change the rules to its benefit at any time.

Conclusion

The water is getting deeper for Walmart in India. Lobbying India’s government to rescind the new regulations won’t work. Offering to make increased investments in infrastructure projects to win the hearts and minds of India’s population won’t work.

Walmart is in a precarious situation whether it wants to admit or not. I strongly encourage Walmart to become much more aggressive in India. Naming Marc Lore as CEO of Flipkart is a must-have. It is inconceivable to me that Walmart’s most capable executive isn’t running Walmart’s biggest e-commerce investment in a country with the biggest retail potential out of any country in the world.

I warned that India could become Walmart’s Vietnam. And it has.

Read full article on Forbes.com