The competition in the Vietnamese retail market has been consistently hot over the last decade.
Following Maximark, Ocean Mart and Metro AG, Fivimart closed in October. In the last six weeks, 23 Fivimart supermarkets have merged with Vinmart and were renamed Vinmart.
The deal is part of the plan to expand Vinmart network to every residential quarter.
VinCommerce now owns the largest retail system with 100 Vinmart and 1,400 Vinmart+ convenience stores. The plan of the retailer is to open 200 supermarkets and 4,000 convenience stores by 2020.
Saigon Co-op, the retail chain dominating the southern market, has opened a new supermarket in An Giang province, raising its total number of supermarkets throughout the country to 99. About four to five Co-op Mart and Co-opXtra, and 10 Co-op Food shops are expected in Hanoi and HCMC by the end of the year.
Foreign retailers are also rushing to scale up their operation in Vietnam. Central Group, which runs Big C supermarket chain in Vietnam, inaugurated the GO!My Tho shopping mall in My Tho City of Tien Giang province. The group announced it would pour another $500 million into Vietnam to open 500 more points of sale in the next five years.
Meanwhile, Aeon from Japan and Lotte Mart from South Korea plan to open 20 and 60 supermarkets, respectively, by 2020.
In the convenience store market segment, Vinmart is now leading in a number of retail points, followed by Bach Hoa Xanh chain of The Gioi Di Dong with 405 shops and 500 by the end of the year. 7-Eleven and GS25 plan to open thousands of shops in the next 10 years. Family Mart, which has 130 shops in Vietnam, is planning to open 700 more by 2020.
In 2010, the total retail turnover was $88 billion. In 2015, the figure increased by twofold to $146 billion. The figure of $170 billion was reported for 2017 and is expected to reach $180 billion by 2020.
The rapid expansion and retailers’ ambitious plans may cause people to think that Vietnam has many supermarkets. In Hanoi and HCMC, convenience stores are seen everywhere.
However, a report found that modern retail channels only make up 25 percent of total distribution channels in Vietnam.
Vu Vinh Phu, a renowned trade expert, said that Vietnam still lacks modern distribution facilities. Most supermarkets and convenience stores are located in Hanoi and HCMC.
Phu said the volume of goods queuing up to enter supermarkets is much higher than the demand from retailers. Thus, retailers require high discount rates when choosing goods for their distribution chains.
South Korean coach Park Hang-seo has led three different Vietnamese teams to success throughout 2018, but few may know that behind this ‘wizard’ of Vietnam’s football is a hero who always keeps quiet about what he does for the development of the country’s most popular sport.
As Vietnamese football lovers flocked to the streets to celebrate their country’s victory over Malaysia in the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship final on Saturday night, they did not forget to say thank you to Doan Nguyen Duc, a business tycoon who has a strong desire and will to put Vietnam’s football on the regional and continental map.
Vietnam had waited ten years since their first AFF Cup to win the second title, which is personally the third achievement of Park Han-seo since he took the Vietnam job last year.
The 59-year-old South Korean led the young Golden Stars to the final of the under-23 Asian Cup in January and the semi-finals of the Asian Games tournament in August.
The Asian Games men’s football was a playground for under-23 footballers, with each team allowed to have three overage players.
Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc (left) and Coach Park
And it was Doan Nguyen Duc, who runs multifaceted colongmerate Hoang Anh Gia Lai and a football academy, who invited Park to work for Vietnam in 2017 and has since covered his salary using his own money rather than the budget allocated by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).
The man behind Park’s taking Vietnam job
In August 2017, Vietnam were eliminated after the group stage of the men’s football competition at that year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
The failure led to the resignation of head coach Nguyen Huu Thang, prompting the VFF to find a new manager for the Golden Stars.
Park was not a prominent candidate, as the federation had been weighing over a Japanese coach and a European manager.
It was Duc who came across Park Hang-seo’s profile and was immediately impressed knowing that the 59-year-old was assistant to Guus Hiddink when the Dutch manager led South Korea to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup.
Doan Nguyen Duc managed to have Park accept the Vietnam job, and uses his own money to pay the South Korean coach VND800 million (US$34,400) a month.
While few initially believed that Park Hang-seo would be a great choice to lead Vietnam, what he did so far is more than enough to silence any critics.
And needless to say, Duc can be proud that he made the right decision to reach out to Park and persuade him to work in Vietnam.
Shortly after Vietnam lifted their second AFF Cup on Saturday night, local fans took to social media to pay tribute to Doan Nguyen Duc, without whom Park might have not been behind the steering wheel to lead the Vietnamese squads through so many triumps this year.
Vietnam did not lose any of their eight games at the AFF Championship. The Golden Stars are in fact holding a 16-game unbeaten run since December 2016, beating the previous 15-game streak by the 2018 World Cup champions France.
“I want to say thank you to [Doan Nguyen] Duc for a reason I’m sure we all know,” one Facebook user wrote.
“Vietnam – the new Southeast Asian champions: this is a quiet feat of Mr. Duc, who brought coach Park Han-seo to Vietnam,” another post reads.
Doan Nguyen Duc seldom talks about what he does for Vietnam’s football, and never would he take credit for bringing the South Korean ‘wizard’ to the country.
Duc did not even watch last night’s game at the 40,000-seat My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, but joined two other football-loving tycoons and friends in a more quiet football-watching gathering in the central city of Da Nang.
The real hero of Vietnam’s football was willing to speak to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper after Vietnam’s captain Van Quyet lifted the 2018 AFF Cup in Hanoi.
‘I’m only a quiet ferryman’
Duc told Tuoi Tre he was “more than happy” seeing Van Quyet and his teammates celebrating with the trophy after the historic game. “My happiness last night was just like that of any Vietnamese football lovers,” he said.
Asked what he thinks about such statements as ‘had it not been for Duc, Park Hang-seo would have never worked in Vietnam and made the team so popular,’ the 56-year-old mogul, chairman of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, simply said, “I don’t think so.”
“People can say what they want,” he said.
Duc underlined that he always considers himself a “quiet ferryman.”
In Vietnam, a ferryman is a metaphor for someone who does good deeds without asking for credit or anything in return.
“I will never say no if I can do something for the development of football for our country,” he added.
In 2007 Duc founded the Hoang Anh Gia Lai – JMG Academy, a football training center that has since trained generations of young Vietnamese talents with support from English Premiership side Arsenal until July last year.
Several footballers trained by this academy have won their way to play for the national team, such as midfielders Nguyen Tuan Anh and Luong Xuan Truong, and strikers Nguyen Cong Phuong and Nguyen Van Toan.
Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong were recruited for Vietnam’s campaign to win their second AFF Cup this year.
However, Phuong did not play in Saturday’s final game, whereas Truong was sent to the pitch when it was only minutes from stoppage time.
Doan Nguyen Duc said he was not upset that few Hoang Anh Gia Lai – JMG Academy members were playing last night.
“There’s nothing to be sad about,” he said.
“Frankly, if many of my players had been there in the final match, would they be able to help Vietnam to win the Cup? We can’t be sure about it.”
Duc said he is proud that his football academy was an impulse for more focused young footballer training efforts across the country.
“That’s my biggest pride,” he said. “And I will always want to be a quiet ferryman who is totally devoted to Vietnam’s football.”
Doan Nguyen Duc said his one and only goal when he founded the football academy is to ‘incubate’ talents for the national teams, rather for his club Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC, which plays in the top-flight V.League 1.
“My club has won all trophies of the V.League 1 so I will exert all my efforts to the national squad,” he explained.
The top Arsenal-trained players – Truong, Phuong, Toan and Anh – had been anticipated to help Vietnam win the first-ever SEA Games gold medal, but their campaign in the 2017 competition in Malaysia only came to a forgettable end.
“It’s a big regret but [these players] and their teammates, who are trained by other football academies in Vietnam, have brought home the even more precious trophy, the AFF Cup,” Duc said.
Duc called those players who won the 2018 AFF Championship the new ‘golden generation’ of Vietnamese football, adding that “the next generation will continue to introduce even more talents that are totally capable of snatching the SEA Games gold medal in the Philippines next year.”
“I strongly believe this as the team will continue to play under the magic of Park Hang-seo,” he said.
Coach Park and his men will start their next big tournament on the Asian football calendar – the 2019 AFC Asian Cup – in the United Arab Emirates next month.
Vietnam share Group D with strong rivals Iran, Iraq and Yemen.
The Golden Stars played at the finals of the continental championships just once since 1975, reaching the quarter-finals as co-hosts in 2007.
Businesses can now see great opportunities to sell products internationally via online retailers such as Amazon.com or Alibaba.com.
“The Future of E-commerce in Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG)”, a report from Kantar Worldpanel, showed that the global e-commerce market was growing by 30 percent per annum.
Meanwhile, Indiatimes cited a report from Ali Insitute that said the online retail revenue of BRIC (Brazil,Russia,India and China) countries amounted to 47 percent of global total online sales, reaching $876 billion in 2016.
The information was good news for Vietnamese technology firms, which are developing retail platforms or doing business online on a global scale.
Nguyen Ngoc Dung from the Vietnam E-commerce Association (Vecom) said, however, that seeking opportunities to sell goods online on global retail platforms was not easy to do because Vietnam’s businesses have to satisfy requirements on product quality and brands.
Vecom noted that some businesses had tried to sell products in the global market through retail platforms, but they could not go far with their plans. Their products are displayed on the lists of products of retail websites, but they cannot be provided to consumers.
Dung believes that improvements will be seen in 2019, when domestic associations and goods supply chains join forces and sign cooperation agreements with Amazon Global Selling, under which a big trade fair will be organized to attract sellers from all over the world to Vietnam to enjoy Vietnamese goods.
This will be a great opportunity to bring Vietnam’s goods to the world via amazon.com.
With ‘Fulfilment by Amazon’ (FBA), sellers need to send products to Amazon’s FBA centers, while the next steps will be undertaken by Amazon.
Meanwhile, some e-commerce experts have advised businesses to try to sell products through intermediary distribution units.
Shark Louis Nguyen at the ceremony on announcing the venture fund of VND10 billion in Hoa Nang startup, signed an agreement on investment in VIETSWAY to bring Hoa Nang organic rice to the world market via amazon.com.
VIETSWAY is cooperating with retailers selling Vietnam’s goods in the US via sale channels such as Amazon, Ebay, Google Shopping and Rakuten.
Fado.vn is also providing support services to small and medium enterprises to sell products on amazon.com. It posts enterprises’ information on stalls on amazon.com and carries out sale promotion activities.
The sellers on amazon.com have gathered to exchange experience and exploit opportunities to sell products on the platform. Group Amazon Vietnam on Facebook, with over 18,000 members, which came out three years ago, is one of them.
Authorities in Vietnam said Monday they had seized more than 100 metric tons of goods illegally brought to the country from China and taken into custody several people implicated in the smuggling.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security caught 24 people in the act of transferring contraband from trucks with foreign license plates onto Vietnamese trucks in the northern border province of Lang Son on December 14.
Two of the people hold foreign nationality while the others are Vietnamese.
Police later detained eight people on smuggling charges and kept seven trucks, including two foreign vehicles.
The 100-ton haul of contraband, including a wide variety of goods from tobacco and automobile parts to household appliances, was worth several billion dong (VND1 billion = $43,000).
Around 52,000 cases of illegal cross-border transportation of goods were booked in the first half of this year in Vietnam, whose areas contiguous to Cambodia in the southwest and to China in the north are smuggling hot spots.
Topping the contraband list were cigarettes, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, candy, sugar and clothes.
Vietnam customs seized nearly three million cigarette packages in 1,033 smuggling cases revealed over the past four years but only one was handled with criminal charges.
The reason, the department said, was that smugglers tried to carry less than 1,500 cigarette packets, below the level where criminal charges can be pursued.
Vietnam’s jet fuel demand will surge to a record this year as its tourism industry attracts a wave of new visitors and the country’s airlines are rapidly expanding.
The country is on track to have 38 million international passengers and 16 million visitors this year, according to data from CAPA Centre for Aviation. That is up from 18 million passengers and 8 million visitors in 2015, according to the data.
“Aviation demand in Vietnam is booming… Fuel consumption in Vietnam will reach a record high this year and will keep rising for the years to come,” said Tran Hoai Nam, vice president of Vietjet, Vietnam’s biggest private airline.
He added Vietnam’s growth in foreign arrivals was the highest in Southeast Asia, rising 8.7 percent annually.
The surge in traffic has translated into a rush of jet fuel demand in Vietnam. Through November, the country has imported 1.87 million tonnes of the fuel, according to customs data, equal to 14.8 million barrels, and up 18 percent from the same period last year.
“For 2018, jet fuel demand in Vietnam is estimated to be increased by about 20 to 25 percent in comparison with 2017, mostly due to the increase in consumption of the international flights,” said a Hanoi-based trader at one of country’s jet fuel suppliers, who asked to remain unidentified due to company policy.
Vietnam currently consumes about 18 million barrels of jet fuel per year, according to data from Petrolimex Aviation.
By 2035, Vietnam will have 150 million airline passengers per year, nearly four times what it was in 2015, according to a 20-year forecast from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Over the same period, India will have 442 million passengers, 3.6 times what it was in 2015, while China will have 1.3 billion passengers, 2.7 times what it was in 2015, IATA said.
In November, Vietnam issued an aviation licence to Bamboo Airways, which would be the country’s fifth airline after Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific Airlines, Vietjet Aviation and Vietnam Air Services Co.
Bamboo is expected to launch its first flights within weeks. It signed a provisional deal in July to buy 20 of the wide-body 787-9 jets from U.S. manufacturer Boeing and agreed a memorandum of understanding with Europe’s Airbus for up to 24 of the narrow-body A320neo jets in March.
VietJet, which currently operates 60 Airbus jets, has signed a $6.5 billion (5.2 billion pounds) agreement to buy 50 new jets.
Important reliance
Vietnam’s jet fuel imports will continue to surge as the country only has two refineries, Dung Quat in the central province of Quảng Ngãi and Nghi Son in Thanh Hoa province, near to the capital Hanoi, which only started operations this year.
“Both Dung Quat and Nghi Son refineries are primarily catered towards the production of gasoline and diesel, and thus, jet fuel yield is relatively low at 5 percent,” said Peter Lee, an analyst at Fitch Solutions Macro Research.
Nghi Son, once fully operational, will produce about 4.6 million barrels of jet fuel per year, said a source at the refinery. Dung Quat can produce as much as 2.3 million barrels per year, according to the company website.
“Vietnam will be reliant on imports to meet most of its jet fuel demand going forward,” Lee added.
Vietnam imports most its jet fuel from refineries in Singapore, Thailand and China, trade data showed.
Despite the steep growth outlook for Vietnam’s aviation sector, passenger growth might may be uneven as the country grapples with capacity constraints at its airports.
Vietnam’s biggest airport Tan Son Nhat, serving Ho Chi Minh city in the south, receives about 10 million more passengers per year than it is designed to serve.
The government is planning a second international airport at Long Thanh, 40 km (24 miles) east of Ho Chi Minh City, that will serve 25 million passengers a year starting in 2025.
For the first time, Miss Vietnam H’Hen Niê made it into the top five in the Miss Universe 2018 competition this morning.
Miss Philippines Catriona Gray was crowned Miss Universe 2018 this morning.
This year’s competition had a record 94 contestants and was held in Thailand.
The runner-up and second runner-up were Miss South Africa Tamaryn Green and Miss Venezuela Isabella Rodríguez.
During her interview, H’Hen was asked about the #metoo movement. She said: “I don’t think that it has gone too far. Protecting people’s health, protecting women and fighting against sexual harrassment is the right thing to do. Women need protection and rights.”
Earlier, H’Hen’s national costume representing bánh mì, was among top four outfits with the most compelling back stories.
H’Hen said after the competition, she would devote her time on her studies for a better future. She also said she hoped to work in the coffee export industry so that she could help to improve the living conditions of her family and hometown, Dak Lak.
H’Hen cleverly used her costumes to convey meaningful messages during the competition. Her red and yellow dress showed her pride and love for her home country, while the brocade dresses was a symbol of her Ede ethnic culture. She also raised awareness about LGBT rights with a rainbow-coloured skirt and HIV/AIDS with a red ribbon on her wrist.
H’Hen Niê is the first person from an ethnic minority to be crowned Miss Universe in Vietnam.
She was born in a poor family in a rural village in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak where it is customary to get married as early as 14.
When she was told to find a husband at the age of 14, H’Hen said that she could not possibly get a husband at the time because she “had to follow her dreams and didn’t want to live a life where she had to marry early like many other kids had in her village”.
Instead, she went to HCM City, working different jobs – maid, tutor, leaflet deliverer and model to pay for her studies and life.
In 2017, she was crowned Miss Universe Viet Nam.
The top five is the furthest Vietnam has ever achieved at the Miss Universe beauty pageant. In early November, Vietnamse contestant Nguyen Phuong Khanh was crowned Miss Earth 2018.
According to Global Cement, as of December 2018, China is the world’s largest cement producer with a capacity of 1,484mn tons per year, followed by India and Vietnam, with 437 and 148mn tons per year, respectively.
Vietnam has 74 production plants in total, and almost all of them are controlled or owned by the government. Potentials to produce cement in Vietnam is considered ‘high’.
Clinker & Cement Export Value: significantly increased in 2018
According to the Vietnam Cement Association (VNCA), the country faced a surplus of 26Mt of cement overall in 2017. In 10M18, cement exports reached an all-time high of USD1.1bn.
Until November 2018, China is Vietnam’s biggest export destination, with more than 7.6mn tons in volume and more than USD276mn in value.
On March 2017, Chinese planners considered cutting production of coal, steel, and cement by 10% to control air pollution.
Cambodia is importing cement from Vietnam at USD 51.6/ton while the Philippines has to pay USD 46.4 per every imported ton.
As a result of negative news from the extended US-China trade war and Huawei’s CFO’s arrest, the VNIndex closed at 952.04 pts, down 0.68% WoW. Since the start of the month, the VNIndex increased 2.75%; however, it had increased 2.7% on the first day of December, meaning it almost stayed flat for the remaining 9 trading days.
The VNIndex was mainly impacted by some large caps, especially the VN30 group which fell 1.16% WoW. CTG was the biggest loser this week with 7% WoW on the news that it is the biggest lender to a company called Decson, a delisted construction company, which is now under bankruptcy status.
Furthermore, VJC and HPG both declined ~3% WoW and were heavily net sold by foreigners on Friday.
ACV managed to increase 4.3% this week, despite foreign net selling. Its liquidity unexpectedly improved, with an average of nearly 145,000 shares per day in 4 latest days, 2.5 times higher than its 1-month average.
Finally, the Vinafund’s VN30 ETF (HOSE: E1VFVN30) has increasingly gained investor attention due to capital inflow from Korea in recent months, and the latest USD151mn inflow from Thailand, via Depository Receipts, issued by a Thai brokerage house, and listed on the Security Exchange of Thailand (SET). With such sizeable inflows many shares in the VN30 basket are expected to increase.
Liquidity on the HOSE hasn’t yet improved. Daily matched value fluctuated around VND2,700bn, lower than last week’s average of VND3,363bn.
Vietnam is attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) thanks to its low wages, high quality labor force and geographical proximity to the supply chain of regional producers, especially in the electronics sector. FDI continues to flow into Vietnam and the ~7% of GDP in 2018, is helping stabilize domestic currency and boost domestic consumption. The New Year is around the corner and I believe high probability external factors will impact Vietnam more than internal factors: US-China trade war, FED rate rises, USD increasing, and EURO zone deleveraging.
However, I think that given some steep declines in certain stocks, there will be some interesting opportunities to pick up. More on this in the coming days…
Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested two men who disguised as women to steal from a foreigner on Saturday night, when people were celebrating Vietnam’s winning the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship.
Officers in District 1 confirmed they are holding Le Thanh Duong, 23, and Nguyen Minh Canh, 25, in custody for theft.
At around 1:30 am on Sunday, Duong and Canh, dressed as women, rode a motorbike and approached Jack Sanders, a 34-year-old Canadian man, who was standing in front of a house on Bui Thi Xuan Street.
The ‘girls’ then had a short conversation with Sanders before tricking him into joining them on their motorcycle.
The suspects took the foreigner to a nearby alley when they snatched his phone and escaped on their vehicle, leaving the victim behind.
A team of the district’s police unit, who was patrolling the area at the time, was aware of the incident and started chasing down the thieves.
They were able to capture the criminals on Luong Huu Khanh Street.
At the police station, Duong and Canh claimed they dressed up as women and preyed on foreigners to steal from them.
The two were previously convicted of theft and robbery and have just finished their jail terms, according to officers.
They believed it was a good opportunity to carry out the crime last night, as most people were busy celebrating the national football team’s victory at the AFF Championship final.
Vietnam beat Malaysia 1-0 in the second leg of the final on their home turf in Hanoi on Saturday evening, securing a 3-2 aggregate triumph to win the regional title.
The celebration involves people taking to the street, usually on their motorbikes, with the national flags and anything that can ‘make some noise,’ literally, to glorify the triumphs of the country’s national football team.
Vietnam’s real estate market continues to be of major interest to foreign investors.
When discussing the most dynamic emerging markets globally, it’s hard to lose sight of Vietnam. Driving its strong economic growth is an expanding middle class with thickening wallets. Rapid urbanization supported by a young, growing and educated population all bode well for an economy with one of the world’s fastest growing GDP rates.
With robust growth momentum, the World Bank has projected that Vietnam’s GDP will expand by 6.8 per cent this year. Understandably, this has fueled the appetites of global investors looking to make their mark in the country’s burgeoning domestic real estate market.
Home to Asia’s best performing stock market in 2017 and the second-largest retail market in 2018, much of the appeal Vietnam currently holds sits, ironically, in its auspicious future. Since 2015, the bulk of big-ticket M&A transactions we’ve seen have been championed by those investing in property development sites, followed by hotels, apartments and offices. This is testament to the fact that those pouring money into Vietnam are in it for the long run.
Over the last three years, foreign investment in Vietnam’s real estate market has been increasing year-on-year. In particular, developers from Singapore, Japan and South Korea have favored development sites in downtown areas and within close proximity to metro stations. Local developers usually enter into joint venture agreements with foreign developers on the premise of optimizing decision-making in site sourcing and project management.
Running alongside the strong demand for commercial sites is a relative shortage of supply, which is especially prevalent in the market for prime retail and office spaces in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Grade A rents in Ho Chi Minh City have increased from about $35 per sq m per month in the second quarter of 2016 to $43 in the second quarter of 2018, which translates into a healthy 23 per cent growth.
Similar office rental growth has been observed in Hanoi over the past two years. In the office market, the increasing presence of international firms has resulted in developing areas absorbing the overflow of occupants. Progress in office construction, however, has been pleasing, and the second half of 2018 will bring a significant amount of Grade A office supply onto the market.
Another area generating solid demand is the residential sector, and this segment of the market stands to inject further momentum in the economy. To illustrate, the largest IPO this year was that of a luxury residential developer, in which Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC recently acquired a stake. Investors from Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have shown much enthusiasm in the serviced apartment and condominium markets, together representing 75 per cent of total buyers in the buy-to-let market.
As a whole, foreign buyers accounted for 50 per cent of all successful residential deals. What this tells us is that foreign investors are not merely entering Vietnam to set up operations, they are committed to keeping their money here. This could explain the 15 per cent rise in prime residential prices in Ho Chi Minh City over the past two years.
Thanks to government efforts to ease restrictions on foreign holdings in public companies, the future just got brighter. This allows the composition of the economic landscape to diversify and encourages foreign ownership of commercial assets, thereby creating additional demand for real estate and increasing the rate at which Vietnam outpaces its fellow “BB”-rated peers in economic growth.
Given the parallels we can draw between the Vietnamese and Chinese stories, you might begin to speculate how sustainable demand and overall economic activity are. A differentiating factor Vietnam boasts is the relatively equal dispersion of wealth compared to other developing nations. And, to understand why else investors would be inclined to stay in Vietnam, we need to think in reverse. With a government that has publicly expressed the need to improve productivity and lower transaction and logistics costs, businesses are better equipped in attracting investors not only to individual companies and projects but to the wider market.
As concerns about credit tightening and geopolitical uncertainties remain, it’s easy to see why there may be some speed bumps in the short term. But, escalating trade tensions between the US and China have prompted companies to shift production to Southeast Asia in a bid to circumvent levies. Vietnam, which is a major exporter of apparel and electronics, has benefitted from this shift of low-cost manufacturing away from China.
Further, as the 2015 real estate market recovery shows, the occasional market correction is good news in the long run. And, we only need to look at the largest transactions this year for major office, residential and retail sites, all backed by foreign capital, to gauge the fervor foreign investors have in Asia’s rising star.
Conglomerate introduces first four smartphone models bearing Vsmart brand.
VinSmart, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, announced the launch of four models of smartphones under the brand name Vsmart at a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on December 14.
Vsmart products use the VOS operating system developed on the Android platform, follow European standard technology, and are priced from VND2.5 million to VND6.3 million ($108 to $270).
There are four models – Joy 1, Joy 1+, Active 1, and Active 1+. Active 1+ is the most advanced and comes in the three colors of green, black and rose gold, with a metal frame, back glass, and rabbit ear screen and is equipped with a 660 SnapDragon Chip of 6GB RAM, with a selfie camera and dual camera.
Active 1 has the same design as Active 1+, with metal frame and back glass but no rabbit ear screen, and is available in black or white. Joy 1+ is in the low-cost segment and Joy 1 is the cheapest model.
To be mass produced, all passed nearly 2,500 standard tests, including hardware tests, mechanical tests, and software tests, at BQ labs in Spain and at the Vsmart factory. Vsmart also sends its products to test at Qualcomm labs, the world’s best-performing semi-conductor chip maker.
With a desire to give customers absolute trust in its smartphones, which are produced entirely in Vietnam, a long warranty of up to 18 months is offered. There are over 500 warranty agents, with three large customer care centers in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City and one large repair center at its factory.
Vsmart’s distribution channels nationwide number 5,000 stores, with products also delivered to more than 3,000 stores of mobile phone chains worldwide and more than 1,500 stores and online sales channels.
“We are currently establishing six overseas laboratories, including in the US, South Korea, Japan, China, Israel and Singapore, in order to conduct research on new technologies used for smart electronic devices,” said Mr. Tran Minh Trung, CEO of VinSmart. “With an advantage from having our own technology, human resources, and factories, VinSmart is expected to launch ten smartphones in 2019, in the low, medium, and high segments.”
“VinSmart will also bring the most updated technology and latest consumer trends in phones, such as rabbit ears, water droplets, overflowing screen, the latest line of Qualcomm and Mediatek chip processors, AI camera technology, wide angle photography, fingerprint sensors, and so on.
It will focus on developing a Vietnamese UI interface and UX experience and select and integrate essential applications and entertainment services next year.
For international markets, VinSmart will work with local partners to localize the experience as well as select applications and services suitable for each market. It aims to research, develop and deliver its own VOS security operating system based on the Android platform.
Before the launch ceremony, Qualcomm Incorporated and VinSmart entered into a Patent Licensing Agreement on December 14 covering multimode complete terminals. Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has granted VinSmart a royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture, and sell branded multimode complete terminals such as 4G/5G smartphones. Royalties payable by VinSmart are consistent with the terms of Qualcomm’s branded multimode licensing framework disclosed this past year.
Born and raised far away, the young man’s publicly declared goal and dream was to play for Vietnam. When the final whistle blew at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi Saturday night, confirming Vietnam has the new AFF Suzuki Cup champions, all the Vietnamese players ran towards each other, sharing hugs and tears.
But goalkeeper Dang Van Lam spent that moment by himself: he walked back to the goal, hugged the goalpost, knelt down, prayed and cried.
Lam played a vital role throughout the tournament, ensuring no goal was scored against Vietnam till the team reached the semifinals of the tournament, making great saves until it ended.
In the eight matches that Vietnam played, Lam kept the goal clean throughout the stage group. Opponents were able to find the back of Vietnam’s net just four times, once each during the first leg and second legs of the semifinals, and twice in the first leg of the final.
On social media, Lam has become a rising star, with many praising his skills and thanking him for Vietnam from many “dangerous” situations.
Writing for U.S.-based global sports website ESPN on November 3, football commentator John Duerden said he saw Dang Van Lam as the key player in the team, set to be the number one choice for the goalkeeper position for years.
Long journey
To get where he is now, the 25-year-old goalkeeper has made quite a journey.
Lam was born to a Russian mother and Vietnamese father in Russia and grew up there. His mother is an actress and father is a ballet dancer, but Lam fell for football at a very young age.
Before he decided to pursue a career in Vietnam in 2010, Lam had learned to play football at two professional football clubs in Russia, Spartak Moscow and Dinamo Moscow.
In 2015, Lam caught netizens’ attention when he made it clear on Facebook that he wants to play for the Vietnamese men’s national team.
In 2015, Lam caught netizens’ attention when he made it clear on Facebook that he wants to play for the Vietnamese men’s national team.
“My biggest wish now is to play for the Vietnam’s U23 national football team. This is the last year that I’m still young enough to be in the team for SEA Games [Southeast Asian Games]. If not now, when?”
He pleaded for help from other Facebook’s users, calling them to share the post, in which he wears a uniform with Vietnam’s national flag.
“Though I was born in Russia, my father and I are Vietnamese. I have a Vietnamese passport and I’m fluent in Vietnamese. And I’m qualified enough to be in the team because I have been trained at renowned clubs in Russia like Dinamo va Spartak Moscow,” he wrote.
The post won the netizens over, but did not help Lam further towards his goal.
It was not until May 2016, when Lam was playing for the Hai Phong Club in northern Vietnam that he was noticed by the then coach of the Vietnamese national team, Huu Thang.
On June 13, 2017, Lam officially played as a member of the Vietnamese men’s national team for the first time. It was a game against Jordan for the qualifying round of the Asian Cup 2019.
The match ended with a 0-0 draw and Thang told the press back then: “Now you don’t need to question why I choose Lam in first place, we can see how good he is during the match.”
However, at the Asiad, or Asian Games 2018 in August, coach Park Hang-seo kept Lam in reserve for the whole season. Lam had to wait for months for his turn to come.
The AFF Cup was his turn, and he made it count.
The tournament was the third time that Lam played as a main member of the Vietnamese team, and he did not disappoint his coach, teammates and supporters.
“For Vietnamese football lovers, this victory means a lot, because we have finally returned to lead regional football after a decade. All Vietnamese people have waited for this trophy and we’re all truly happy for making it. We’ve all tried our best to win,” Lam told VnExpress after the match on Saturday night.
Today, Dang Van Lam can take a look at the post he wrote in 2015 smile proudly to himself.
After all those years, his dream has come true.
He has become an important part of Vietnam’s football history.
Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao is in Bloomberg’s list of 50 people who’ve been business game changers in 2018. Thao is the first Vietnamese citizen to be named in the Bloomberg list, which highlights key players in all fields, from finance to fashion, media to manufacturing, banking to biotech, politics to philanthropy, entertainment to energy.
The founder and CEO of budget carrier Vietjet Air wants to take on regional giants like Indonesia’s Lion Air and Malaysia’s AirAsia Group Bhd, Bloomberg notes.
The carrier has forecast that the number of passengers it serves this year will rise 40 percent to 24 million, as it begins to tap into Vietnam’s growing middle class by expanding overseas routes.
The expansion further changes the face of Vietnam’s aviation market that has been long dominated by state-owned Vietnam Airlines JSC, as VietJet offers millions of Vietnamese customers who have never flown the chance to buy a cheap ticket, Bloomberg says.
Thao, 48, has extensive experience in doing business in Vietnam and abroad in many fields, including finance, banking, aviation, realestate, and retail.
She launched Vietjet in 2011. The airline now leads the domestic market with a 45 percent share. It operates 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, mainland China, Thailand, Myanmar, and Malaysia.
The carrier made an IPO on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange on February last year, becoming the first airline in Vietnam to list publicly.
Thao also has interests in banking and real estate, which includes owning three beach resorts.
Bloomberg says it comes up with the list by utilizing its worldwide resources, including the work of 2,400 journalists and unique, proprietary data and analytics.
Also on the list this year are Jerome Powell, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Amy Hood, chief financial officer at Microsoft Corp, and Ryan Coogler, director of Maverl’s movie Black Panther.
Just last week, Thao was named the 44th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes, up 11 places from last year.
Forbes estimated the richest woman in Vietnam to have a net worth of around $2.6 billion.
Park Hang-seo, coach of the Vietnamese men’s football team, Saturday dedicated their AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 victory to their diehard fans.
“I am very happy. This championship has been amazing. This is our best performance yet in the two months leading to the AFF Cup this year,” Park said at a press conference after the Vietnam v. Malaysia final played at the My Dinh National Stadium Saturday night.
“I would like to thank everyone in the coaching team, our players and our fans as well, who have cheered for us so much today. I would like to dedicate this championship to all our Vietnamese fans,” he said.
Malaysian coach Tan Cheng Hoe said after the tournament: “Vietnam was so good in this year’s AFF Cup.” He said he hoped that Vietnam could continue producing similar performances in future tournaments.
“I would like to congratulate Vietnam and its national team. They deserved it,” he said.
Vietnam made history Saturday night when it defeated Malaysia with a 3-2 aggregate in the final of the AFF Suzuki Cup. The first leg of the final, played at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Malaysia Tuesday, ended in a 2-2 tie, giving Vietnam the advantage of having scored two away goals.
The second leg ended with a 1-0 win for Vietnam, the goal scored by forward Nguyen Anh Duc.
“I highly value Anh Duc’s performance today. But the win was achieved by the whole team, by all 23 players, not by any single individual,” Park said.
Ever since his arrival on Vietnam’s football scene over a year ago, Park has made an indelible mark. He led the country’s U23 men’s team into the final of the U23 AFC Championship last January, and the national Olympic team to the semifinals of ASIAD 2018 last August.
But it is Saturday`s AFF Cup championship that is possibly the most memorable moments in Park’s career.
“Right now, I really like my job here in Vietnam. To live and train with the players here is one of the best moments of my life. But the moment me and my players lifted the AFF Cup is certainly the most impressive one so far,” Park said.
Miss Universe Vietnam 2017 H’Hen Nie made a peace offer following her ‘falling victim’ to a mean joke by three other contestants, including an American beauty queen, during their current run at the Miss Universe 2018 competition in Thailand.
Followers of Miss Universe 2018 have been angered by a live-streamed video featuring Miss USA 2018 Sarah Rose Summers over the past few days.
In the video posted on Instagram, Summers, 24, imitated the Vietnamese beauty H’Hen Nie’s impression, while saying, “She’s so cute and she pretends to know so much English.”
“You ask her a question and after having a whole English conversation with her, she goes…,” Summers said, adopting a placid smile and starting nodding in an impression of Nie.
“She’s adorable,” Summers added, repeating the impression of Nie and laughing.
Miss Vietnam was not the only victim of Summers’ controversial comments as the American candidate and two of her fellow competitors, Colombia’s Valeria Morales and Australia’s Francesca Hung, also mocked Miss Cambodia Nat Rern for not speaking English.
Summers looked at the camera of the video, asking “Could you imagine? Miss Cambodia is here and doesn’t speak any English, and not a single other person speaks her language… Poor Cambodia.”
Morales and Hung responded to this comment by shaking their heads sympathetically.
As the video went viral and a swift backlash went on, Summers apologized by posting a photo capturing Summers and Rern, and Hung and Nie, in pairs, hugging each other, on her Instagram account on Thursday.
In her caption for the photo, she said that she had spoken about the issue with both Rern and Nie and apologized for her comments.
“In a moment where I intended to admire the courage of a few of my sisters, I said something that I now realize can be perceived as not respectful, and I apologize,” the caption reads.
“I would never intend to hurt another. I am grateful for opportunities to speak with Nat, Miss Cambodia, and H’Hen, Miss Vietnam, directly about this experience.”
Whether Summers’ comments were intentional or not, the Vietnamese representative to Miss Universe 2018 decided to hold out the olive branch, instead of demanding an eye for an eye, upon this apology.
Nie appeared to reply to Summers’ actions in a post in English, using the same photo, on her Instagram account on the same day, saying “We all did the great job on the stage tonight! Sleep well and tomorrow will be brighter, my girls. Hugs and kisses. We are a family.”
The Miss Vietnam was praised by online citizens for this embracing behavior.
A screenshot captures Miss Universe Vietnam 2017 H’Hen Nie’s post on Instagram on December 13, 2018.
In the same manner, Miss Australia Francesca Hung, one of the three contestants in the controversial video, also uploaded a photo of the five candidates involved where H’Hen Nie kissed Miss USA on her cheek, adding a heart emoji in her caption.
Despite the controversy, Miss Universe Vietnam 2017 H’Hen Nie still wowed viewers with her strut, especially a skillful turn to show off her yellow dress, in the Miss Universe 2018 semifinal on Thursday night.
This outstanding performance immediately cast H’Hen Nie the spotlight of media.
A lot of praise from international audience, former Miss Universe winners, and global beauty magazines, was given to the representative of Vietnam.
After the semifinal, the contestants will continue the sidelines before entering the final on December 17.
