Vietnam Insider - Page 1382 of 1529

Most marketes in SEA Stocks has falling, Vietnam plunges over 4 percent

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July 3 (Reuters) – Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday with Vietnam declining over 4 percent to a seven-month closing low, while Thailand rose more than 1 percent.

Broader Asian markets also fell amid escalating worries a bitter trade dispute between the United States and major economies could derail global growth.

Investors have been jittery ahead of a July 6 deadline, when the United States is set to slap tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods that Beijing has vowed to match with tariffs on U.S. products.

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam shares slumped 4.3 percent in moderately heavy trading and posted their lowest close in more than seven months.

“Investors are concerned about the possible return of high inflation and possible capital outflows triggered by higher interest rates in the U.S. Today’s strong selloff was also triggered by margin calls,” said Tran Anh Tuan, chief analyst at Vietcombank Securities.

Real estate and financial stocks were among the top losers with Vinhomes JSC and Vingroup JSC shedding 7 percent each.

Vietnam shares have declined more than 25 percent from a record high hit on April 10.

Indonesian shares plunged 2 percent to their lowest close since mid-May 2017 in broad-based losses. Lender Bank Central Asia and personal care products maker Unilever Indonesia fell over 2 percent each.
An index of the country’s 45 most liquid stocks declined more than 2 percent. Thai shares erased early losses and closed 1.2 percent higher, helped by industrial, health care and real estate stocks.

Airports of Thailand rose 2.3 percent, while Bangkok Dusit Medical Services added over 5 percent. Philippine shares extended gains into a third session and posted a two-week closing high, led by a rally in industrials.

Index heavyweight SM Investments Corp rose 1.7 percent, while Aboitiz Equity Ventures gained 2.7 percent.

Philippine annual inflation likely quickened for a sixth straight month in June, a Reuters poll showed, leaving the door open for a third interest rate hike this year. The data is due this week.
The peso has declined 6.6 percent against the dollar so far this year, making it the second worst performing currency in the region after the Indian rupee. For Asian Companies click;

 

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
 Change on the day                            
 Market             Current   Previous close  Pct Move
 Singapore          3235.9    3238.94         -0.09
 Bangkok            1626.62   1607.27         1.20
 Manila             7267.34   7227.96         0.54
 Jakarta            5633.937  5746.77         -1.96
 Kuala Lumpur       1680.37   1685.05         -0.28
 Ho Chi Minh        906.01    947.15          -4.34
                                              
 Change on year                               
 Market             Current   End 2017        Pct Move
 Singapore          3235.9    3402.92         -4.91
 Bangkok            1626.62   1753.71         -7.25
 Manila             7267.34   8558.42         -15.09
 Jakarta            5633.937  6355.654        -11.36
 Kuala Lumpur       1680.37   1796.81         -6.48
 Ho Chi Minh        906.01    984.24          -7.95
                                              
 
 (Reporting by Sumeet Gaikwad in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)

Vietnam: Bamboo Airways is ready to take off at the end of 2018

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HO CHI MINH CITY — Bamboo Airways is set to take off by the end of this year, complementing Vietnamese peers including flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet, the country’s biggest low-cost carrier, said Dang Tat Thang, chairman and CEO, in a recent interview with the Nikkei Asian Review.

Both Thang and Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of parent company FLC, said they were confident of securing a license to press ahead with their launch plan. Thang told Nikkei, “Vietnam has great potential for aviation and we have prepared all the steps, including the flying license, for [our] first commercial flight before the end of 2018.”

Thang, the 37-year-old CEO, said he was confident about entering the aviation market at this time, as passenger numbers were rising sharply. Vietnam airports reported serving 94 million passengers in 2017, an increase of 16% from the previous year. The country welcomed around 13 million arrivals last year, an increase of 29% year on year.

Bamboo Airways was established in May 2017 as a subsidiary of resort developer FLC Group. According to the company, Bamboo reflects the spirit of the Vietnamese people, who are known for their flexibility.

Quyet confirmed at FLC’s annual meeting in June that Bamboo Airways would launch its first flight this year. Should it be successful, Bamboo will become the fifth local airline. Vietjet came into operation in 2011.

“We aim to become a medium-cost carrier, targeting both local and foreign passengers who fly to locations where FLC Group runs facilities,” Thang said.

Dang Tat Thang, chairman and chief executive of Bamboo Airways

FLC Group operates six golf course resorts across Vietnam and expects to increase that to 10 by 2020. The company, which is also the biggest organizer of golf championships in Vietnam, welcomes more than 3,000 golf players each month to its resorts, mainly from South Korea, Japan and China.

As Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s main transport hub, is suffering from congestion and out-of-date infrastructure, the plan is to depend on Noi Bai airport near Hanoi, Van Don International Airport and Quynhon Airport, Thang said. Regarding its fleet, Bamboo Airways will rent 10 aircraft this year then increase the fleet to 50 over the next three years, before receiving its first purchased delivery.

The FLC chairman has signed a $5.6 billion deal to buy 20 Boeing 787-9 aircrafts and a $3 billion agreement to buy 24 A321 NEO in the past three months.

Bamboo Airways is making a big recruitment drive in operations, services and flying crew, in order to fill 600 vacancies this year. “We have no experience in aviation, but we are hiring senior [people] from Vietnam Airlines, such as a deputy director, and other talent from other carriers as we [have a tight launch] schedule this year, but we will start training courses from next year,” Thang said.

FLC Group, which wholly owns Bamboo Airways, owns the largest amount of hotels, golf resorts and other apartment projects in Vietnam, ranging in size from 1,000 to 3,000 rooms. It is also planning to develop other beach-front projects, including in the Van Don special economic zone, where it intends to invest in a casino and golf course on an island near China’s southern border.

Along with two colleagues, lawyer Quyet founded Vietnam Trade Corp. in 2001 at the age of 26. In 2010, after expanding and listing on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the company was renamed FLC Group.

Quyet, 41, is one of the prominent Vietnamese entrepreneurs of his generation, which includes Pham Nhat Vuong of Vingroup, Nguyen Phuong Thao of Vietjet, Tran Dinh Long of Hoa Phat group and Tran Ba Duong of Auto Truong Hai. FLC is among the wealthiest enterprises on Vietnam’s stock market.

However, Quyet has said he does not care how rich he is, but does care about his company’s market ranking. “Real estate will make wealth for both the individual and company,” Quyet said.

Quyet has recently appeared with high-ranking politicians, particularly during overseas deal trips. The recent aircraft purchases were carried out during visits by Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to France and by Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue to the U.S, where Vietnam is working to minimize the impact of trade tensions between Vietnam’s two biggest export partners — China and the U.S.

Overcrowded hospital in Hanoi in scorching heat

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Patients, staff and visitors in Hanoi’s Bach Mai Hospital are suffering as the temperature reaches nearly 40 degrees Celsius.According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorology Forecasting, the northern region, including Hanoi, will suffer from scorching heat for more days to come.

At midday, the temperature could reach 40-50 degrees Celsius outdoor.

Despite the hot weather, the number of patients coming to Bach Mai Hospital has remained very high.

Patients and their relatives have to lie on the corridors at midday.

More security guards have been arranged due to the high number of patients

Anywhere can be the place for patients to take a rest on a hot day.

According to many patients, the hospital is overloaded so between two and three patients usually have to share a bed. In the evening, many patients have to sleep under beds along with their personal items. It is lucky to find such a seat because many others have to stay outside.

Each patient is only supposed to have a maximum of one relative to take care of them, the others have to remain outside, where they often sleep

By Tran Thanh, Dtinews

A Guide to Traditional Women’s Fashion in Vietnam

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Most modern Vietnamese women don Western-style fashion. You’ll see these fashion-forward women wearing smart black business suits, crisp blouses, and high heels on a bustling day in Vietnam’s cosmopolitan cities, as they head to work or grab lunch with colleagues. However, many Vietnamese women still proudly wear elegant, beautiful pieces of traditional clothing that have withstood the test of time. Here is a brief introduction to traditional women’s fashion in Vietnam.

Ao Dai

Pronounced similarly to “ow yay” in the South, this demure staple of Vietnamese fashion is worn by students and secretaries, as well as hotel and restaurant staff. Translated to “long shirt,” the ao dai is also worn on special occasions and is usually made of gorgeous Vietnamese silk.

This classic dress dates back to 1774, when Lord Vu Vuong of the Nguyen Dynasty announced a uniform dress for both men and women, comprised of trousers underneath a long, buttoned shirt. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the ao dai was designed the way it looks today, with its curve-hugging, flattering design. The long shirt is usually cut to where the midriff is slightly exposed, and the long flowing pants graze the floor. The ao dai is a symbol of elegance and beauty in Vietnam.

Conical Hat (Non La)

The famous conical hat seen in Vietnam | © Martin Garrido/Flickr

The iconic Vietnamese conical hat has mythical origins dating back hundreds of years. Legend has it that during a particularly harsh rainfall, an enormous woman descended from the heavens, protecting mankind from the rain with her hat, made of four bamboo leaves that stretched endlessly across the sky. The Vietnamese followed her example by stitching palm leaves together on a bamboo frame, and the ubiquitous non la was born. The hat has been crucial to farmers, fishermen, and travelers wishing for a brief respite from the blazing Vietnamese sun.

Ao Yem

This cousin of the ao dai still maintains elegance and beauty, but—arguably—with a tad less modesty. The ao yem is comprised of a diamond or square piece of cloth covering the chest, and is held together by two strings: one that ties behind the neck, and another across the back. It was once considered an undergarment and worn underneath a blouse or coat to preserve the wearer’s modesty.

The material and colors used to make an ao yem vary, based on class and occasion. Common women usually wore an ao yem in simple blacks and whites but opted for brighter colors during a special occasion, such as Tet. A great amount of Vietnamese poetry has been dedicated to the beauty of women wearing an ao yem.

The Southern Fashion Revolution

Prior to the 1800s, Vietnamese women wore an ao tu than (“four-piece blouse” ) with a bodice, a skirt, and a headscarf, but the South underwent a cultural reform in the early 1800s that discarded the old dress and brought in long, five-flap shirts with black loose trousers—the origins of the modern ao dai.

A group of students posing for a picture in Hue, 1931 | © manhhai/Flickr

Common women wore long black shirts made from coarse materials, while upper-class women wore shirts made from colored, smooth silks and cloths. They all wore their hair in a high bun and usually walked barefoot at work and in the town, as did most Vietnamese. If they weren’t barefoot, they had fashionable wooden clogs protecting their feet!

By Katie Kalmusky, Theculturetrip

Thailand cave rescue: What now for the boys?

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A video grab taken from footage released by The Royal Thai Navy late Jul 2, 2018, shows missing children inside the Tham Luang cave of Khun Nam Nang Non Forest. (Screengrab: Royal Thai Navy)

MAE SAI, Thailand: The rescuers dubbed it “mission impossible” but they defied the odds to locate the 12 boys and their football coach deep in a cave complex. However, the hard part may yet be ahead: getting them out safely.

Here are a few ways the hungry and weak boys could get out, none easy options.

Could they dive out?

In theory yes: but it is an extremely difficult task. Cave diving is already very risky, especially for young boys in a weakened state who have no diving experience.

Tham Luang cave, where the boys have been trapped in, is one of Thailand’s longest at 10 kilometres and one of the hardest to navigate with its winding and, at times, narrow corridors.

If they dive, they have no choice but to follow the steps that rescuers took through tiny passageways clogged with mud and silt.

That journey takes a healthy – and skilled – Navy SEAL diver about six hours.

Officials said they would attempt to train the boys to use crucial diving gear after they are rehabilitated with food, water and medical support.

“Cave diving is a very technical skill and it’s extremely dangerous, especially for an untrained diver,” Anmar Mirza, coordinator of the US National Cave Rescue Commission, told AFP.

“So they may end up being better off trying to supply them in the cave until they can be gotten out by other means.”

Explorers have spent days scouring the mountaintop for possible alternative openings. They have found a few “promising” leads and have tried to drill deeper.

But there is no indication that any of those chimneys connect to the chamber where the boys have been stranded.

Again, the boys need to spend time getting stronger in the depths of the cave before they can attempt to climb up a second entry – if one is found – or be lifted out.

What about walking out?

This would be the safest option, but at the moment, it is impossible because parts of the route remain flooded.

So, in theory, they could wait, but that means hoping that flood waters subside.

Water pumps are working around the clock to drain the floods though it has been an uphill battle for much of the week as heavy rains refused to let up.

If the current break in bad weather sticks, this option could be more promising.

But weather forecasters warn downpours may soon return as monsoon season sets in.

“If the rain fills up the cave system then that might take months before the water drops again,” Belgian diver Ben Reymenants, owner of Blue Label Diving in Thailand, who is assisting the search, told AFP.

How long could it take?

Hard to say for sure. It depends how long it takes for them to regain strength.

Experts say they could remain inside for weeks – or even months – as rescuers work out the safest option for their extraction.

The military said Tuesday it was preparing enough food for four months but did not speculate they could be in there that long.

Are the boys even in the right mindset to move?

They clearly want to leave. In the footage that emerged after the boys were found by two British divers late Monday, one asks to “go outside”.

One of the divers replied: “I know, I understand … no, not today.”

Fortunately, they seem in pretty good shape, considering.

“They’re mentally stable which is actually pretty good,” Reymenants said.

“Luckily the coach had the sanity of mind to keep them all together, huddled together to conserve their energy, that basically saved them.”

Source: Channelnewsasia/AFP

World Cup: Japan fall short to exit in cruellest fashion

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It was the most agonising way for Japan to go out of the World Cup.

Their players slumped to the turf as Nacer Chadli slammed the ball into the net at the end of a 94th-minute counter-attack, the last move of the game in Rostov-on-Don allowing Belgium to clinch a stunning 3-2 victory and a place in the quarter-finals.

Among the pre-tournament favourites in Russia, Eden Hazard and the Belgians march on to a last-eight meeting with Brazil.

But a crushed Japan head home having been two goals ahead midway through the second half on a steamy night on the banks of the Don River.

They will feel they deserved better than this after a superbly disciplined performance, with Maya Yoshida marshalling their back line and Eiji Kawashima – a goalkeeper who has been relegated in both Scotland and France in the past three seasons – making several vital interceptions.

There was plenty of technical quality on display as well, with the two goals scored early in the second half by Genki Haraguchi and the excellent Takashi Inui both worthy of the biggest stage.

Winger Haraguchi, of Fortuna Duesseldorf in Germany, somehow beat the giant frame of Thibaut Courtois to find the far corner and put Japan ahead just after the break.

Then Inui – operating on the other flank and who has just signed for Spanish side Betis – showed what he can do with a magnificent strike from outside the area after being teed up by Shinji Kagawa.

Japan looked to be heading for the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time in their history.

But a side who scraped through the group phase only by virtue of receiving fewer yellow cards than Senegal were finally undone in the final quarter of the game.

The Samurai Blue contained Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku for more than an hour, but it was the substitutes sent on by Belgium coach Roberto Martinez who made the difference, along with a stroke of luck.

Jan Vertonghen, undone by Gaku Shibasaki’s through ball for Japan’s opening goal, was fortunate to see his header loop over Kawashima and in under the crossbar to pull one back in the 69th minute.

Five minutes later, however, it was Marouane Fellaini, the classic Plan B, on for Dries Mertens, who headed in the leveller from Hazard’s stellar assist.

Belgium’s captain had stirred, and his side had the momentum.

At 2-2, it was a repeat of the last World Cup meeting of these teams, at the 2002 tournament in Japan.

Akira Nishino’s side could have settled for taking the tie into extra time but instead they were punished for taking a chance on a last corner kick, and Chadli, another substitute, finished off the move.

Nishino – only appointed in April after the controversial sacking of veteran coach Vahid Halilhodzic – deserves credit for taking Japan so close against one of the finest sets of players around.

That will be little consolation just now, however.

Source: VIR

Vietnam Airlines announces flight price hike

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Vietnam Airlines will continue raising flight prices following Vietjet Air and Jetstar Pacific, doubling overall ticket prices after taxes and increased fees.

According to Vietnam Airlines, it will start collecting fees for system maintenance in the next five to seven days in order to improve the management of its customer database. The applied fee for short domestic routes is VND80,000 (USD3.48) and VND150,000 for domestic routes that are longer than 850km. The fee for international routes is USD7.

The fee is exempted for business class, elite class and club economy class.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines will scrap the ticket charges for web purchases, which is VND50,000 (USD2) for domestic routes and USD7 for international routes to encourage more online bookings.

Both Vietjet Air and Jetstar Pacific had increased their system maintenance fees right before the summer holiday period. Jetstar Pacific applied a fee of VND210,000 (USD9), an increase of VND70,000. Vietjet Air also increased the fees to VND210,000-VND370,000.

Other fees were also increased including airport, cancellation and change fees.

Mai Thanh, a ticket agent in HCM City, is worried that their business could face difficulties with higher prices. In September, a ticket from HCM City to Vinh cost VND500,000 (USD22) but with the new fees, the flight now costs VND1m.

“The original ticket prices displayed on websites are only VND299,000 (USD13) or VND499,000. But after adding in taxes and fees, it will double. Many customers think that we earn high commission fees and cause us trouble,” she said.

Since transport costs account for two-thirds of holiday spending, higher fees will also spell trouble for tourism companies.

Local airlines have increased various types of fees since early 2018 after the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam raised several airport service fees.

Source: VIR

Facebook updates map to remove Vietnamese islands from China’s territory

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An earlier version of the map wrongly showed the groups of islands as belonging to China

A map provided by the ad manager tool of Facebook no longer shows Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands in the East Vietnam Sea as parts of China after the social media platform was made aware of the serious error.

Le Quang Tu Do, deputy director of Vietnam’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI), said on Monday afternoon the U.S. tech giant had complied with the authority’s request to stop showing the groups of islands as parts of China on its map.

A test by Tuoi Tre News on Tuesday found that the social media had indeed updated its map to remove the archipelagoes from Chinese territory.

Earlier, users in Vietnam discovered that a map in Facebook’s ad manager tool had been showing Truong Sa and Hoang Sa, over which Vietnam exercises its sovereignty, as parts of China.

Facebook allows Page owners to promote their posts to a highly targeted audience through its Boost Post feature.

The ad manager tool enables Page owners to choose the age groups and geographical locations of the audience for their paid content.

Until Monday morning, when ‘China’ was selected as the target location, the archipelagoes became highlighted, which was not the case when users switched the location to ‘Vietnam’.

Vietnam asserts continuous and indisputable sovereignty over both groups of islands, while China has been condemned for its use of force to occupy Hoang Sa in 1974 and several shoals in Truong Sa in 1988.

In a previous statement, Facebook said the mistake was purely technical and was not politically motivated.

The social media platform is the next popular Internet service to get into hot water for wrongly identifying the Vietnamese maritime territories as China’s.

In 2016, Google also caused a stir among Vietnamese Internet users by labeling the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagoes as parts of China on its online maps, a mistake the tech giant has since corrected.

Around 53 million Vietnamese people, or over half of the Southeast Asian country’s population, use Facebook, making it the social media site’s seventh-biggest market as of 2017.

Source: Tuoitrenews

Vietnam stock market hits new low, could go lower

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VN-Index, fell 39 points to 908.26 by 2:25 p.m. Tuesday and VN30-Index fell 3.7 percent to 895.86.
Vietnam’s stock market fell 4.11 percent on Tuesday afternoon, hitting its lowest point this year, following a dramatic plunge in the second quarter.

The country’s benchmark stock index, VN-Index, fell 39 points to 908.26 by 2:25 p.m. Tuesday, while the VN30-Index, representing a group of 30 largest capitalization stocks in the country, also fell by 3.7 percent to 895.86.

The smaller HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange and the UPCoM-Index for unlisted companies also dipped 3.7 percent and more than two percent, respectively.

Shares of banks, including Vietcombank and ACB, plunged 4-5 percent.

Meanwhile, blue chip stocks like Vinhomes JSC (VHM), Vingroup JSC (VIC), and steelmaker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) were being sold en masse, driving down the entire market.

This marks a further drop in Vietnam’s stock market after it plunged 18.19 percent in the second quarter this year, making it the worst-performing market in the world.

Local stock companies have anticipated that the VN-Index could fall to 900 points and even further.

Vietnam’s stock market had experienced its heyday since last year, when it hit a 10-year high and reached 984.24 points in the last trading session of 2017. It had not broken the 800-point barrier since 2008.

Continuing its good run, the VN-Index grew 19.33 percent in the first three months of this year, becoming the best-performing market in the world.

It passed the 1,200-point level on April 9, and has hovered at above 900 since then.

Source: Vnexpress

Vietnamese twenty-years draws striking portraits of World Cup stars

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Although the 2018 FIFA World Cup has just gone half its journey, 23-year-old guy now possesses a trove of 16 lifelike portraits of the event’s biggest football stars

A young Vietnamese has constantly kept his pencil busy during the ongoing 2018 FIFA World Cup, drawing more than a dozen charismatic portraits of his favorite stars at football’s biggest competition.

Bui Anh An, a resident in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, takes pride in his trove of 16 drawing portraits of the World Cup stars, when Russia 2018 is only a couple of matches away from the quarterfinals.

The 23-year-old, who has never been to an art school, started drawing manga, a style of Japanese comics, and other cartoon characters since his elementary school years out of a great passion for painting.

He could create realistic depictions of different characters only after two months of practice.

Despite his love for and talent in painting, An ended up enrolling at the Hue University College of Foreign Languages, as his parents did not want him to pursue art.

But as his love for art never ceases to exist, the born-in-1995 always works hard, though secretly, to sharpen his skill.

An found international competitions to be a great chance to satisfy his hobby. The man has constantly drawn portraits of footballers with his pencil during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the 2016 UEFA European Championship and this year’s World Cup in Russia.

Although Russia 2018 is about to enter its quarterfinals, An now possesses a ‘treasure trove’ of 16 striking portraits of the World Cup football stars, despite not being trained by any professional painting school.

“I like to watch football and love a lot of players and teams, so I draw and post pictures of them [on Facebook] before the ‘H-hour’ of the games,” An told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, explaining the motivation behind his drawings.

“In addition, I want to cheer for the players and help me feel part of the atmosphere of the World Cup,” he added.

Inspiration

It took the young man four to six hours to accomplish a sketch of one player on A3 or A4-sized papers.

The inspiration for the portraits often comes from the strong impression those players left in An during their recent matches, not from their daily looks.

For instance, An was so captivated by the mysterious smile of Cristiano Ronaldo, when he scored the first goal during Portugal’s group stage opener against Spain on June 16, that he finished drawing the portrait of the Portuguese star even before the first half ended.

The mysterious smile of Ronaldo after he netted a goal against Spain is depicted in this drawing posted on Bui Anh An’s Facebook page

When Portugal and Argentina both advanced into the knockout stage, An came up with the idea of drawing Ronaldo standing side by side his Argentine ‘rival’ Messi in their national jerseys, implying his hope that the two men would face each other in the quarterfinals.

Messi and Ronaldo stands side by side in their national jerseys in this drawing posted on Bui Anh An’s Facebook page.

But as both teams were eliminated after the round of 16, An edited his artwork, putting an air ticket in the hand of Messi, indicating that they were ready to fly home from Russia.

To An, the most important thing in portraiture is the proportion of the faces.

“The facial proportion has to be correct. If not, it will be impossible to recognize who the player is,” An said.

“It is also important to show their charisma, so that the portrait can become soulful,” the young man added.

An has received a few hundred likes on Facebook for every of his artworks.

An said that he took the praise and comments as motivations to draw more World Cup-themed paintings.

Below are some of the portraits by Bui Anh An:

Ronaldo’s face from a different angle is depicted in this drawing posted on Bui Anh An’s Facebook page.

By Bao Anh

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Billions of USD flowing to Vietnam from Asia

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Vietnam has been receiving big investments from Japan, Singapore and South Korea, and new capital from China.

Ban Won Ik, deputy chair of the The Association of High Potential Enterprises of Korea (AHPEK), confirmed that there is a strong South Korean investment wave in Vietnam.

With large investment projects, South Korean investors now play an important role in some of Vietnam’s key business fields, including electronics industry, energy, automobile manufacturers, textiles & garments and construction.

However, real estate & construction is the field which the three Asian investors are most interested.

Japanese Nomura Real Estate Asia has unexpectedly acquired 24 percent of capital in A-class Sunwah Tower.
Analysts said the value of the deal must be very high, if noting that the building is located on Nguyen Hue Road in the central business district 1 of HCMC, where large financial institutions such as Citi Bank, VinaCapital and Bank of China have their offices.

Prior to that, Japanese Mitsubishi bought 11,000 square meters of office area in Le Meridien Complex. The well-known A-class office building A&B Tower has also fallen in the hands of a Japanese investor.

While Japanese investors prefer offices for leasing thanks to stable profits (7-8 percent), Singaporeans target more complex assets, including commercial projects combined with housing.

CapitaLand has acquired the 9,000 square meter ‘golden land plot’ in Tay Ho district in Hanoi, while Keppel Land has spent $11.4 million for 10 percent more of shares in Saigon Sports City residential quarter project.

In the first five months of the year, total foreign direct investment in Vietnam reached $9.9 billion, more than half of which went to processing & manufacturing industries and 10.8 percent to the real estate sector.

The three biggest foreign investors in the first five months of the year were South Korea (26.5 percent), Japan (15.4 percent) and Singapore (11.25 percent).

Emerging China

Vietnam recently has begun receiving FDI flow from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Some analysts said with strong financial capability, the cash flow is very likely to lead the game in the coming years.

In 2012, China only ranked 13th among 100 foreign investors in Vietnam. But there are now more Chinese-invested projects in many key cities and provinces of Vietnam.

In HCMC, Hong Kong Land has acquired projects in Thu Thiem new urban area and the central area.

In the central region, the resort-casino project of the joint venture of Chow Tai Fook, Suncity Group and Vinacapital is worth $4 billion.

By Kim Chi

Source: Vietnamnet

Automobile industry of Vietnam is too small compared with ASEAN countries

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Vietnam has been building up its automobile industry for the last 20 years, but the number of automobiles assembled in Vietnam is far below that of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The ASEAN Automotive Federation (AAF) has eight members, including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Brunei.

Thailand is leading the region in output with 2 million automobiles made annually. The market buys 800,000 cars and commercial vehicles each year. The second and third positions belong to Indonesia with 1 million products, and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Vietnam, though having a young population, has modest output of 300,000 products a year. In 2016, the members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) sold 304,000 cars, but the figure dropped to 270,000 in 2017.

In 2006, 2012 and 2017, the Vietnamese automobile market declined sharply because of changes in policies.

The demand is also still low in Vietnam. A report of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) showed that 23 out of every 1,000 people own cars. The figure is 204 in Thailand and 400 at minimum in developed countries.

For many years, the domestic automobile industry has been developing joint ventures with foreign investment. However, the joint ventures only focus on assembling cars, while many of them have shifted to trading cars instead of domestic assembly.

Analysts say Vietnam’s automobile industry is now relying on Vietnamese manufacturers, such as Thaco and Vinfast.

The former has 20 factories that make car parts and assemble cars with modern production lines. Its Chu Lai – Truong Hai Automobile Industrial Zone is a multipurpose mechanical engineering and automotive center.

Thaco Mazda, which is considered Mazda’s most modern factory in South East Asia, invested by Thaco, just became operational last March.

The VND12 trillion factory with the latest automated production line and technology covers an area of 30.3 hectares and has capacity of 100,000 products a year.

Vietnam also puts high hopes on Vinfast, which kicked off construction in 2017, and uses high technology. Vinfast automobile manufacturing complex in Cat Hai Economic Zone in Hai Phong City, which has huge capital of $3.5 billion, is being built to become the leader in South East Asia with capacity of up to 500,000 products a year by 2025.

The underdevelopment of Vietnam’s automobile industry is partly caused by weak supporting industries. Vietnam now has 20 automobile manufacturers and assemblers, but only has 84 first-class vendors and 145 second- and third-class vendors.

The figures are too small compared with other regional countries. Thailand, for example, has 16 manufacturers, but has 700 first-class vendors and 1,700 second- and third-class vendors.

By Thanh Lich

Source: Vietnamnet

Egg coffee, a must-try F&B in Vietnam

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“Coffee and…egg, together?” Yes, it may sound strange but it certainly forms a must-try drink in Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi nowadays.

On Nguyen Huu Huan, one of the endlessly busy streets in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, an almost hidden cafe lies in a narrow alley where people can find the most authentic version for “ca phe trung”, or Vietnamese egg-coffee mix, in town.

The 70-year-old-plus “Cafe Giang” was packed on both floors by locals and tourists on Tuesday afternoon.

They sat around the old square wooden tables, either lively chatting with companions, or silently sipping a cup of coffee, and surely, with egg.

Nearby the stairs to the second floor places a modest, open-plan kitchen where Nguyen Tri Hoa, owner of Cafe Giang, is whipping up egg yolks with sugar and condensed milk, and other parts of the recipe.

The mix is then boiled. Next comes coffee, it is quickly poured into the beaten eggs, forming a beautiful and aromatic foam.

A teaspoon is provided to drinkers for them to eat the foam before drinking the coffee at the bottom.

Egg coffee is served in hot and cold versions. The former comes resting in a small dish of hot water to maintain its temperature. When the strong coffee taste at the bottom of the cup seeps through the egg – the yellow layer on top – it becomes richer, thick and sweet.

“It’s my favourite choice all year round. But you’d better take it in autumn and winter to taste the best of it,” Quan, a 25-year-old Hanoian told Xinhua.

As a loyal customer, the young man usually comes here with his friends.

Though plenty of coffee shops in Hanoi now serve the dish, Quan believes Giang’s distinctive rich and foamy coffee deserves the greatest reputation in town.

The cold option, introduced in the 2000s, is served as a yellow concoction in a small glass. Laden with ice, it is consumed with a spoon and tastes almost like a coffee-flavoured ice cream – more like a dessert than coffee.

To foreigners, a “wow” reaction is not rare when they encounter the unique drink.

“It’s the first time I’ve tried, with egg, it’s a little bit strange,” said Prisca, 26 from France, with an excited face.

“Nice,” she concluded satisfactorily, while her companion, the 27-year-old Vidian from Guadeloupe, a French overseas region, an island group in the southern Caribbean Sea, came up with the same answer, “It’s a good experience.”

According to Nguyen Tri Hoa, his father Nguyen Van Giang created the drink in 1946 while working as a bar tender at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel in Hanoi. A milk shortage then forced Giang to cast around for alternatives and he found eggs. That is how Vietnamese egg coffee was born.

Hoa, the youngest son of the family, is also the first one to follow his father’s path. Time passes by, he has enrichened the old menu with several new creations.

“I started to make cocoa eggs and white bean eggs in 1999. And then in 2010, after welcoming so many foreign customers and also travelling a lot, I realised that rum and beer can be great complements to egg,” Hoa recalled.

While Hoa runs the family’s premises on Nguyen Huu Huan Street, his older sister and brother, respectively set up two other egg coffee shops on Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Cafe Dinh and on Yen Phu Street, Cafe Giang Yen Phu.

Cafe Dinh, the 20-square-metre place with a modest balcony, is on the second floor of a bag shop.

Though slightly hidden and hard to locate, it offers a nice view over Hanoi’s iconic Hoan Guom Lake. With music, flowers, unique coffee and sunflower seeds, it is a place where many locals chat, text, play games or read news as the coffee drips timelessly through the filters.

By Tao Jun, Nguyen Xuan, first posted on Xinhua

Taiwanese tattoo artists feature at Vietnam’s first tattoo expo

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Taiwan’s Orient Ching and Josh Lin chosen from thousands of applicants to feature at the Hanoi event.

Two prominent Taiwanese tattoo artists have been chosen to feature at the Vietnam Tattoo Expo 2018 in Hanoi on July 7-8. Taiwan News reported.

From a contestant pool numbering in the thousands, Taiwanese artists Orient Ching and Josh Lin were chosen to feature at the inaugural event by a five-member panel.

Orient Ching is a Kaohsiung-based tattoo artist who specializes in traditional and Japanese-inspired styles. He is an organizer for the annual “I Love Tattoo” expo, held in Kaohsiung.

Josh Lin is a Taipei-based tattoo artist who specializes in realism and contemporary styles. He won the Tattoo World Championship at the 2012 Australian Tattoo Expo.

Le The Son, head organizer for the event said the tattoo expo will provide a holistic exhibition of contemporary tattoo styles and culture.

The two-day event will include over 100 tattoo booths and a variety of contests to showcase technique, skill and style. Vendor stalls will also sell a wide range of products.

Workshops on recent advances in tattoo techniques and discussion groups on the state of tattooing are planned across the two-day event.

Music performances throughout each day of the event will also take place.

The tattoo expo is expected to bring in more than 5,000 visitors and will include more than 150 tattoo artists from 16 countries.

Additional feature artists will travel from France, Italy, the Philippines, Portugal, Spain, the UK and Vietnam.

Ann Savage from the Philippines, Tery Do from France and Gau Den, Trung Kien and Nam Phong from Vietnam are the event’s other main drawcards.

The Vietnam Tattoo Expo 2018 will be held at the Cultural Friendship Palace in central Hanoi.

By Scott Morgan

Vietnam jails former central bank official amid graft crackdown

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HANOI (Reuters) – A court in Vietnam on Monday jailed a former deputy governor of the central bank for three years, his lawyer said, the most senior banking official put on trial in the Southeast Asian nation amid a crackdown on corruption.

Vietnam’s banking system was rocked in the early 2010s by a string of mismanagement scandals and under-regulated lending, and is still reeling from nonperforming loans.

In 2012, Dang Thanh Binh, 64, and four accomplices were accused of “lack of responsibility”, leading to losses of up to 15 trillion dong ($654 million) at the privately-owned Vietnam Construction Bank, lawyer Pham Van Dam said.

“The trial has ended and Binh and four other defendants were charged with ‘lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences’,” Dam said, without saying if Binh would appeal.

Binh had failed to fulfill his duties and follow the instructions of the central bank and the prime minister, the official People’s Police newspaper said, citing the indictment.

Vietnam Construction Bank, formerly known as Great Trust Commercial Joint Stock Bank, suffered heavy loses and was forcibly taken over in 2015 by the State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank.

“I regret that I did not fulfill the tasks assigned to me by the state, but I and other leaders at the central bank were innocent in our motives,” the paper quoted Binh as telling the jury at his trial.

The court in Ho Chi Minh City also handed prison terms ranging from one to 2-1/2 years to Binh’s accomplices on Monday, the lawyer said.

The trial came amid a corruption crackdown in which several senior government officials and executives of state-owned enterprises have been arrested and jailed.

Vietnam this year jailed former Politburo member Dinh La Thang for 31 years for financial irregularities at PetroVietnam, formally known as Vietnam Oil and Gas Group.

Thang, 57, who denied any wrongdoing at his trial, was the highest-level politician Vietnam has jailed for decades.

The recent legal cases should not affect Vietnam’s efforts to meet its socioeconomic goals, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Monday.

“He who hesitates, who doesn’t work and doesn’t rush to make products and fulfill his duties should be questioned,” Phuc said.

Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by James Pearson and Clarence Fernandez