Vietnam Insider - Page 1397 of 1516

Tiki continues taking losses, e-commerce firms ‘burning’ money

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Despite big losses, e-commerce firms area still continue to pump money into e-commerce websites. It’s still unclear when the tough days will end.

The annual finance report of VNG showed that Tiki, its e-commerce website, incurred a loss of VND282 billion in 2017. If counting the loss of VND40 billion in 2016, the total loss in the last two years had reached VND322 billion.

Tiki, together with Lazada and Shopee, is among the websites which have a large share in the e-commerce market.

A source said Shopee Vietnam now has 120,000 orders a day, while the average value for each order is VND140,000. Lazada Vietnam has fewer orders, but the value of each order is higher.

Established as a website specializing in retailing English books in 2010, Tiki later received investments from different sources and then got a VND380 billion investment from VNG in 2016 after it expanded the business, selling electronics, fashion products and other items.

Tiki has continued reporting losses since receiving capital from VNG. Sources said the startup has not made profits in the last eight years of operation.

Like Tiki, Lazada and Shopee are also not making profit in Vietnam, it is believed. However, investors keep injecting money into them.

JD.com, the second largest e-commerce firm in China, together with a group of investors, made a $44 million investment in Tiki in late 2017. It continued pumping more money into Tiki in early 2018.

Investors keep making investments in e-commerce websites. Predictions say the market may be valued up to $10 billion by 2020 with a two-digit growth rate.

An analyst commented that when investors inject money into e-commerce, they ‘bank on the future’ and cannot expect profits in the first years of operation.

Even Amazon, the website with the highest revenue in the world, still makes low profit compared with revenue. Its CEO Jeff Bezos focuses on increasing revenue rather than making profits for the giant.

Selling more product items, offering price discounts, running sale promotion programs and improving customers’ care service, while having to pay for staff, delivery and storage fees, all cost a lot of money.

Beyeu, Deca, Lingo and Foodpanda, which did not have money to spend, had to leave the market.

It’s unclear when e-commerce websites will stop reporting losses. However, they said if the websites focus on attracting more clients and gaining larger market share, there is no possibility for them to make profits in the next few years.

According to the Vietnam E-commerce Association (Vecom), the e-commerce market grew by 25 percent in 2017, and the high growth rate would be maintained through 2020.

US$1=VND22,000

Source: Vietnamnet

Switzerland’s largest airline opens new route to Vietnam

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On May 30, Edelweiss, Switzerland’s leading leisure airline, announced it will open a direct air route between HCM City and Zurich this November, serving two flights per week as part of the carrier’s plan to expand its flight network in Asia.

This is the first direct air route between Vietnam and Switzerland, aiming to reduce travel times, stimulate tourism demands, and trade between the two countries.

Some travel agents are preparing to launch online ticketing services to help passengers to purchase tickets easily.

Edelweiss CEO, Bernd Bauer, said that Vietnam has become popular among Swiss people thanks to the attractive destinations on offer.

The airline expects to serve 10,500 passengers traveling from Switzerland to HCM City each year, earning a revenue of US$32 million per year.

The new air route helps to bring tourists from Switzerland and Europe closer to Vietnam and provides a wide range of options for connecting flights from Zurich to other famous tourist attractions through the Swiss airline.

At present, Edelweiss are working with major travel operators in Vietnam to design tour packages for the new route between Vietnam and Switzerland. The predicted passenger growth for the route suggests an increase of about 10% per year over the next 3-4 years.

According to the General Statistics Office, in the first five months of the year, more than 16,500 Swiss passengers arrived in Vietnam, up 4.2% against the same period last year.

As a wealthy country, Switzerland’s tourists tend to spend more when holidaying abroad than visitors from other nations.

Source: VOV

100 smokers die a day, could double by 2030

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HÀ NỘI — Smoking now claims over 100 lives in Việt Nam every day and the number is expected to nearly double in 2030.

The data is reckoned by the Việt Nam Tobacco Control Fund under the Ministry of Health.

According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), conducted by the ministry and the General Statistics Office in 2015, 53.5 per cent of non-smokers, equal to 28.5 million of adults were exposed to tobacco smoke at home, and 36.8 per cent of non-smokers, who worked indoors, equal to 5.9 million of adult, were exposed to tobacco smoke at the workplace.

In the meantime, another statistics of the ministry showed that it is estimated about 60.7 per cent of students started smoking at the age of 7-13.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that non-communicable diseases contribute to 73 percent of all deaths countrywide. Tobacco use is one of the major causes.

Medical experts said tobacco smoking is a leading factor causing an increasing risk of contracting heart-related diseases. The increase is proportional to the amount of tobacco and the smoking time.

It costs the country’s smokers a total of VNĐ31 trillion (US$1.36 billion) each year. In addition to the cost of smoking, the total cost of treatment and damage due to illness and premature death for 5 groups (lung cancer, gastrointestinal-respiratory cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart attack, and stroke) caused by smoking over VNĐ23 trillion (about $1 billion) per year.

Risks for pregnant women

According to the United States’ Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking during pregnancy causes additional health problems, including premature birth (being born too early), certain birth defects, and infant death.

Smoking makes it harder for a woman to get pregnant. Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely than other women to have a miscarriage. Smoking can cause problems with the placenta—the source of the baby’s food and oxygen during pregnancy. For example, the placenta can separate from the womb too early, causing bleeding, which is dangerous to the mother and baby.

Smoking during pregnancy can cause a baby to be born too early or to have low birth weight—making it more likely the baby will be sick and have to stay in the hospital longer. A few babies may even die.

Smoking during and after pregnancy is a risk factor of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is an infant death for which a cause of the death cannot be found.

Babies born to women who smoke are more likely to have certain birth defects, like a cleft lip or cleft palate.

Nicotine is a health danger for pregnant women and developing babies and can damage a developing baby’s brain and lungs.

The world’s lowest price

Việt Nam is among world’s top 15 countries with the lowest tobacco prices with a pack of cigarette is sold at the prices of VNĐ6,000-20,000 (24 cents-88cents).

Experts believe the low price of tobacco products is the main cause leading to its widespread use.

The tax on tobacco products in the country currently is quite low compared to other countries, about 35-40 per cent of retail price while the world average rate is 56 per cent and much lower than the WHO’s suggested 70 per cent.

In response to the situation, the Ministry of Finance proposed two plans to raise tax on tobacco at a meeting held early May.

The first plan is to collect the special consumption tax of VNĐ1,000 (4 cents) per pack of 20 cigarettes and VNĐ10,000 (44 cents) per cigar from 2020. In the second plan, the special consumption tax will increase as in the roadmap from 75 per cent to 80 per cent in 2020 and 85 per cent in 2021.

However, many experts said the rate is still low. They suggested that the additional charge should be VNĐ2,000-5,000 (11-22 cents) per pack of 20 cigarettes.

Phan Thị Hải, deputy director of the Tobacco Consequences Prevention Fund under the Ministry of Health, said the ministry agreed with the suggested additional charge.

Đào Thế Sơn, a lecture of the Hà Nôi-based Commercial University, by increasing tax to VNĐ5,000 per cigarette pack, Việt Nam can stop 1.8 million people from smoking, prevent 900,000 smoking-related early deaths and get VNĐ10.7 trillion ($470 million) in the State budget each year.

In addition to raising tobacco tax to reduce the number of smokers in the country, authorised agencies have also launched supporting programmes to help smokers in quitting tobacco. For example, Hà Nội-based Bạch Mai Hospital and HCM City-based Gia Định Hospital have run hotlines to give advice for thousands of smokers in an attempt to quit tobacco for several recent years.

The programmes have shown initial positive results.

In another movement, the health ministry organised a meeting to mark the World No Tobacco Day (May 31) and National No Tobacco Week in Đà Nẵng (May 25-31) in Đà Nẵng City last week. —VNS

Source: VNS

Vietnamese woman sentenced to 13 years for causing death, hiding body of grandchild

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Pham Thi Xuan at the People’s Court in the north-central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa on May 29, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A 66-year-old woman in Vietnam has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for causing the death of her newborn granddaughter and staging a kidnap to hide her body.

The provincial People’s Court on Tuesday handed down the sentence to Pham Thi Xuan, 66, for “murder” as per Article 93 of the Penal Code.

Xuan was found guilty of causing the death of her grandchild, 23-day-old L.M.A., and attempting to hide and dispose of her body.

According to the indictment, the elderly woman came from her hometown in the northern province of Thai Binh to her son’s house in Bim Son Town, Thanh Hoa Province to help take care of A., his daughter, in November 2017.

On November 25, Xuan was holding A. in her arms when she tripped and fell. The baby was weak and wheezing after the fall.

Le Van Thuan, Xuan’s son, was picking up his eldest son from a martial art class, while his wife was at home cleaning their bedroom at the time of the incident.

Instead of calling for help, Xuan assumed the child would not survive and planned to hide the truth as she feared her son and daughter-in-law would be mad at her.

The woman then wrapped a blanket around the newborn, put her in a plastic bag, and hid her in a bush about 30 meters from the house.

She returned and pretended to be unconscious, later claiming that a strange man and woman had attacked her and kidnapped the child.

The following day, the grandmother put the bag containing the baby’s body among other bags of rubbish so that it would be taken away by garbage collectors.

On November 27, the corpse was found at the landfill.

Xuan turned herself in to police on the afternoon of the same day.

By Duy Khang, Source: Tuoi Tre News

Unruly in the skies: Passenger assaults crew member during smoking row

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A woman in her 20s assaulted a female flight attendant after she was caught smoking in the toilet on a plane en route to Vietnam, according to Incheon police Tuesday.

The 25-year-old passenger was reportedly drunk when she was caught by the flight attendant smoking in the bathroom of the plane, leaving from Incheon International Airport to Noi Bai International Airport at 11:30 p.m. last year on Aug. 21.

Budget airline Eastar confirmed that the passenger flew into a rage — kicking her in the stomach — after the flight attendant, 23, tried to stop her from smoking and capture the incident on video with her smartphone.

The Incheon District Court views that the passenger, who possibly suffers from depression, committed the assault under the influence of alcohol.

The court ordered the woman to serve four years in prison suspended for a year and pay a 1 million won (S$1,245) fine.

Source: Asiaone

What future awaits Grab and Uber?

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In case the deal between Grab and Uber fails due to violating the Competition Law, scenarios include Uber returning to Vietnam and Grab selling off Uber’s operations.

Grab and Uber may be forced to cancel
At present, the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade is conducting an official investigation to clarify signs of violation in the deal between Grab and Uber, after a preliminary investigation found that Grab’s market share after the deal will exceed 50 per cent, which goes against the monopoly clauses of the Competition Law. The official investigation will last for 180 days from May 18.

According to the Competition Law, if enterprises participating in an economic concentration have a combined market share of 30-50 per cent, their lawful representatives must notify the competition authority before implementing the concentration, otherwise they will have to pay a fine of 10 per cent of the revenue from the fiscal year previous to the date the deal was completed (if the deal is completed in 2017, the fine is equal 10 per cent of the revenue of the 2016 fiscal year).

To boot, in case the combined market share exceeds 50 per cent of the relevant market, the economic concentration will also be prohibited.

This brings up the question of what Grab will do if its market share exceeds 50 per cent.

Truong Thanh Duc, chairman of Banking Securities Investment Law Co., Ltd., told Vneconomy that if the deal between Grab and Uber violates the Competition Law, Grab will have to cancel the deal with Uber despite the deal is ended, much like the way AVG and MobiFone did.

Notably, MobiFone and AVG had to cancel the transfer of 344.66 million shares, returning to each other what they received according to the agreement. The total value of the deal was VND8.889 trillion ($392 million).

Selling Uber’s operation to third parties
Nguyen Minh Duc, representative of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), told Vneconomy that if the deal does not comply with the regulations, Grab will have to pay a fine and separate its operations from those acquired from Uber to operate independently from each other.

However, Duc also stated that such a separation would be difficult. In reality, there has yet to be precedent for the separation of operations after a merger.

He added that after the merger, despite its monopoly, Grab neither does make competition impossible nor issues high fares to customers, the Vietnamese government should consider allowing Grab to continue operations as usual.

Uber has yet to comment on the issue, but seems to be bulling forward in other markets, following its post-M&A strategy.

Notably, according to AFP, on May 22 Uber announced that it would start piloting ride-hailing services in Japan this summer.

Uber said it aimed to provide local residents and tourists with “reliable and safe transportation” on the small island of Awaji, which is home to just over 150,000 people.

Despite finding it difficult to penetrate the Japanese market where risk-averse passengers stick to high-quality traditional taxi servicea, Uber is still eager to join this market.

“I am very excited that Uber’s technology will contribute to further enhancing the transit environment of Awaji Island,” Brooks Entwistle, Uber’s chief business officer, said in the statement, adding that this will be “the first initiative of its kind in Japan.”

Source: VIR

New challenges to Vietnamese customers’ faith in Mercedes-Benz

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Whether German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz’s car sales in Vietnam will be narrowed due to the impact from German authority’s investigation on it and its constant recalls in this year’s first months.

23 years after being launched in Vietnam, Mercedes-Benz is one of the country’s favourite car brands. Despite difficulties, such as the market putting on hold cap purchases in 2017 to wait out more reasonable prices in 2018, reducing consumption in the segment by 10 per cent, Mercedes-Benz Vietnam (MBV) recorded total sales of 6,000 vehicles, up 40 per cent against 2016.

Even after the recent recalls throughout the country, MBV seems to be going strong with sales in the first three months exceeding 1,400 units.

However, after numerous rounds of recalls in Vietnam earlier this year as well as the German authority’s investigation, it remains to be seen whether MBV’s sales growth will continue in Vietnam.

German newswire Bold stated that, Daimler, the owner of Mercedes-Benz, is being investigated for using illegal software to manipulate diesel emissions. 40,000 Vito vehicles and 80,000 C-Class vehicles had to be recalled for investigation.

Newswire Reuters stated that the investigation has been going since 2017, after which the German authorities have multiple times called on Daimler to explain its violations.

This scandal had a marked impact on Mercedes-Benz’s business. Reuters also stated that Daimler’s shares fell 2.1 per cent to EUR70.98 at the beginning of the trading session on February 19.

Phapluatplus.vn stated that in MBV announced eight rounds of recalls this year. The latest recall was in early May, when MBV announced recalling 7,000 vehicles between May 14 to December 31, 2022 to handle electric system flaws.

While Mercedes-Benz has been going strong despite its recent difficulties, none of the previous issues had direct relevance to Vietnamese customers’ faith in the brand. However, the newest recalls all over the country as well as the investigation in Germany are new challenges and it remains to be seen how MBV will weather the storm.

Source: VIR

Vietnamese developer raises fresh capital for affordable housing

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HO CHI MINH CITY — Vinhomes listed on Vietnam’s main stock exchange Thursday and immediately jumped to second place in value, reflecting the prospects for the affordable housing market in one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies.

With strong investor appetite, Vinhomes’ market capitalization hit 296 trillion dong ($13 billion) on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, making it the second-most valuable listed Vietnamese company after its own parent, Vingroup, at 324 trillion dong. Vietnam Dairy Products (Vinamilk) follows at 239 trillion dong.

More than 2.68 billion Vinhomes shares were listed on the bourse Thursday, offered at 92,100 dong apiece. During the opening session, 10,800 shares changed hands at 110,500 dong, 20% higher than the offering price.

The successful listing is supported by growing demand for housing as urbanization accelerates in Vietnam.

Vingroup is the biggest shareholder in Vinhomes, with a 69.66% stake as of April 20, followed by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC with 5.74%. In April, Vingroup raised $1.3 billion from GIC for property investment.

Two foreign investors held more than a 7% stake at Vinhomes before the listing, leaving room for additional foreign ownership under a 49% cap.

Vinhomes offers both high-end and affordable homes. Its Vinhomes brand is geared for high- and middle-income buyers, while the new Vincity line targets lower earners. Unit sales under Vincity are scheduled to start later this year, providing 200,000 to 300,000 units to the market by 2020. Prices start at 700 million dong per unit.

Listing on the stock market will improve the company’s ability to raise funds for new projects, said Vinhomes CEO Nguyen Dieu Linh. Besides 10 projects under construction, Vinhomes will need capital to fund 26 new projects by 2021, including eight Vincity projects.

Affordable housing is the most promising segment for Vinhomes as the demand is increasing while the market currently lacks major providers, Le Anh Tuan, head of research at Vietnam-focused Dragon Capital, told the Nikkei Asian Review at the listing ceremony. Dragon Capital was one of four institutional investors in Vinhomes before the listing.

An estimated 80% of potential Vietnamese homebuyers are searching for affordable units.

In 2016, Vingroup announced it would enter the affordable housing segment after the government warned the housing industry it would tax owners of second homes in order to tackle an oversupply of high-end homes in the market.

Hanoi-based Vinhomes was founded in 2008 and reorganized by parent Vingroup in 2018. Vingroup has diversified into seven core business segments — real estate, retail, tourism, education, health care, agriculture and automobiles — becoming one of the biggest private conglomerates in Vietnam.

Vinhomes reported 15.2 trillion dong in revenue last year. This figure is expected to increase 61% to 24.6 trillion dong this year and jump 226% to 80.3 trillion dong in 2019. Net profit for 2018 is forecast at more than 5 trillion dong and expected to quadruple to 20 trillion dong next year.

Source: Nikkei Asian

Google provides free 10,000-hour programming training to Vietnamese kids

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Google said Tuesday that it will finance a project to offer 10,000 hours of gratis lessons in programming to young students in Ho Chi Minh City and several areas of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, as a way to benefit their thinking and enjoyment of computing.

Google Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Google, is supporting the programming education for over 1,200 children and 30 teachers in state-run primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh Long and Tien Giang Provinces, in a plan that is slated to last between May and August.

Kids are expected to learn and play with Scratch, a visual programming language in which users can easily create interesting products by arranging given blocks that contain comprehensible codes.

Google’s collaborator in the project, the Mekong Community Development Center, will sent computers to the schools, many of which lie in remote or suburban areas.

The educational effort, named ‘Programming your future with Google,’ tries to kindle the kids’ interest in computer science, give them basic programming skills and sharpen their critical, logical and creative thinking as well as the competence to solve problems.

They will also have the chance to improve their skills in group work and idea communication while acquiring some qualities needed in information technology settings.

Ha Lam Tu Quynh, director of communications and public relations at Google Asia Pacific, said the company focuses on plans of raising public awareness and enhancing the personal ability in information technology in Vietnam, in order to help the country successfully develop in the direction of Industry 4.0.

“We’re in the belief that children are the most wonderful creators in the future.”

By Thai Xuan

Source: Tuoi Tre News

High housing prices: unaffordable for Y generation

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The Y-generation, or those aged 20-30, are important clients as they account for 35 percent of the country’s total population. However, only a modest proportion of the clients own housing.

This is also a burning problem in other countries. In Australia, the number of people owning houses at the ages of 25-34 fell from 58 percent in 1986 to 45 percent.

In Vietnam, the census conducted in 2014 showed that 90.8 percent of Vietnamese own housing.

However, according to Duong Duc Hien from Savills Hanoi, the majority of the 90.8 percent inherited properties or received financial support from parents. Without the support, the number of people owning houses at the age of below 35 would be a challenge.

Analysts noted that there is a growing tendency of young Vietnamese to have separate homes even when they are not married.

Many in the Y-generation have to delay their plans to get married or have children.

The real estate market has recovered strongly since 2014, helping ease the thirst for housing. However, problems have arisen: realtors have focused on developing high-end products which are affordable to only well-off families.

The new policy on allowing foreigners to own houses for 50 years has stimulated the real estate market as the presence of foreign buyers has increased demand.

Hien pointed out there is a big gap between young people’s income and the house prices in large cities. A mid-end apartment in Hanoi is priced at VND32-45 million per square meter, which is nearly equal to that in developed markets, while the Vietnamese income is much lower.

To buy houses, young people will have to borrow money. However, if they do this now, when the lending interest rates are sky high, the interest will be a burden.

Some developers have realized the demand from young people and have begun developing apartments affordable for young people. Vingroup, for example, which previously focused on high-end products, is planning to launch Vincity apartments, priced at VND700 million for each.

In addition, Nam Long has joined forces with Japanese investors to develop apartments in the suburbs.

While Gen X are the people born in 1970-1985, Gen Y were born in 1980-2000. This group now receives special attention because it is the key generation in the global force, accounting for 32 percent of the world’s population and 35 percent of Vietnamese.

By Thanh Lich

Source: VietNamNet

Ho Chi Minh City to cut water supply for District 6, District 8 this weekend

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Water access in two Ho Chi Minh City districts will be cut this weekend from Saturday evening to Sunday morning to serve the construction of a flood drain, municipal water authorities announced on Wednesday.

Authorities will use the shutoff period to begin the relocation process for the water pipeline system at the Binh Tien – Minh Phung intersection in District 6, affecting 11 wards in the district and five more in District 8.

In District 6, wards 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11,12 and 13 will be affected by the cutoff from the night of June 2 to the morning of June 3, according to the Saigon Water Supply Corporation (Sawaco).

In District 8, wards 5, 6, 13, 14 and 15 will be affected.

According to Sawaco, after the water supply is reinstated pressure may be weak and water may be murky for a short time due to a hydraulic fluctuation.

Sawaco also said it plans to deploy water trucks to the affected areas to alleviate any issues brought about by the lack water.

Customers are advised to contact Cho Lon Water Supply Co. via hotline numbers 38556169 or 38552354 for support if any issues should arise after the water supply is reinstated.

By Son Luong

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Nearly all banks make a profit in first quarter

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Most banks reported satisfactory profits for the first quarter of 2018, but their asset exploitation and capital use efficiency varied.

Banks’ Q1 finance reports showed that they made fat profits in the quarter. Some banks reported profits increasing by two or three times in comparison with the same period last year.

Vietcombank, for example, following the record profit of VND11 trillion in 2017, has reported pre-tax profit of VND4.359 trillion in Q1 2018, a sharp increase of 59.3 percent over the same period last year.

VietinBank, the other member of the ‘big four’, reported profit of VND3 trillion in Q1, up by 19 percent.

Many joint stock banks also reported profits of trillions of dong. VP Bank, for example, made a profit of VND2.618 trillion, up by 36 percent, Techcombank VND2.568 trillion, up by 94 percent, and MB Bank VND1.918 trillion, up by 72.5 percent.

If considering the growth rate, Eximbank and VIB are leading commercial banks.

By the end of Q1, Eximbank had obtained pre-tax profit of VND560 billion, while VIB Bank had VND518 billion, or 3.3 times higher than the same period last year.

However, ‘largest’ doesn’t always mean ‘most effective’.

If considering total assets, BIDV is the largest bank with VND1,200 trillion, followed by VietinBank with VND1,100 trillion and Vietcombank VND1,000 trillion. However, Vietcombank’s profit is the largest in the banking system.

Among private banks, the banks with the biggest total assets include Sacombank (VND381 trillion), MB Bank (VND316 trillion) and ACB VND300 trillion).

Analysts noted that four state-owned banks are the biggest, considering their total assets, but this group of banks doesn’t have the highest capital exploitation efficiency.

BIDV’s ROA (return on assets) was 0.16 percent in Q1 only, which means that the bank created 0.16 dong of profit from every 100 dong of its assets.

The ratios were higher for Vietcombank and VietinBank with the ROAs of 0.34 percent and 0.22 percent, respectively. However, the ratios of the two big banks were still lower MBBank (0.49 percent), TP Bank (0.42 percent), ACB (0.39 percent) and VIB (0.32 percent).

Sacombank had the lowest ROA among the group of 13 banks surveyed by Bizlive, at 0.11 percent.

The low ROA shows the results of an ineffective investment and lending policy, or high operation cost of banks. Meanwhile, the high ROA reflects the reasonable use of assets and effective business strategies.

Regarding ROE (return on equity), TP Bank is leading the surveyed banks. Its’ ROE was 7.35 percent in the first three months of the year.

As banks earn fat profits, bank officers’ income have increased sharply. A Bizlive report showed that average income is VND8-40 million a month.

By Xuan Mai @ VietNamNet

Man walking around world enjoys Việt Nam

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While pushing his caddie around the streets of Việt Nam for three months, Nicolas Queune took the time to observe its landscapes and its people.

Queune stands out in the crowd because he always wears a red T-shirt and a straw hat like his favourite comic character named Luffy, from the Japanese popular manga comic, One Piece. He started his journey on foot around the world in 2013.

An avid reader of the popular Japanese manga, which tells about the adventures of the aspiring king of the pirates Luffy, Nicolas decided to reproduce the journey of his hero to give meaning to his life.

Although the manga takes place in an imaginary world, the author is inspired by real places.

He started his trip five years ago in Asia. He first flew from France to Japan, and from there he walked around New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.

His adventures will then take him from South East Asia to Europe, then probably to Central America.

He arrived in Việt Nam in March and has been travelling around the country on foot until now. He is currently in the centre of the country.

Falling in love with Việt Nam

Upon arriving in Việt Nam, he began waking from Điện Biên Phủ to Lào Cai, from Hà Nội to Quảng Ninh to see Ha Long Bay, and he’s now in Nha Trang.

“In Việt Nam, life is not expensive. I can sleep in a guest house for just a few euros,” he says.

“In some other countries where life is more expensive, I mostly sleep in a tent, behind a tree, in abandoned houses, or at train stations.

“I am very happy to be in Việt Nam because Vietnamese people are among the most welcoming people that I’ve met until now,” he says.

He hasn’t run into any danger on his journey so far, and he hopes this will continue to be the case.

“Here, it is very easy to meet people, they are curious; they invite me to drink tea with them on the sidewalk. I spend lot of evenings with local people. Some invite me to have dinner with them at home.

“Vietnamese cuisine is very tasty. I love it,” he says.

The language barrier has proven a challenge; most people try to speak to him in English, or use gestures. He has a smart phone where he can find translation of words and show them to local people.

His walking speed depends on the kinds of roads and on the climate.

In cities like Hà Nội, he says that he can walk 40 kilometres par day, starting at 8am and finishing at 10pm.

Nicolas Queune has travelled around many regions of Vietnam, pushing his caddie, and wears a red T-shirt and a straw hat like his favourite comic character, called Luffy, from the Japanese manga, One Piece Photo: Vuong Bach Lien – VNS

Meaning

“Many of my friends thought I was joking when I told them about this idea. They didn’t believe that I could do it,” says Queune. But the 37-year-old French man is determined to make his dream come true.

“I lived a boring life in France, I hope to do something meaningful with my life,” he says.

Before starting this journey, Nicolas Queune, living on the outskirts of Paris, kept working morose short-term contracts in IT, and went through life without a goal or project.

“I spent my days in front of the computer. I spent my spare time playing games. I’ve never had a girlfriend,” he says.

One day he found the website http://www.toutenmarchant.com which tells the story of two French men making a tour around the world by foot. He told himself that he may also do it.

And then, after ten days of preparation, he quit his job, took his savings, and started his trip.

He weighted 123 kilos at that time. After five years walking, he lost 50 kilos.

Nicolas has already travelled more than 8,000km on foot.

He tells about his trip in French on a Facebook page (Expedition One Piece Francais) and updates it regularly. He has an increasing number of fans.

Recently, his mother, 60, flew from France to join the walking tour with him in Thailand to fulfill her childhood dream.

“The trip has changed my life. I met so many interesting people,” she says.

“And by making this trip, I understand that everyone can do it! I opened to the world, me who spent all my time in front of my computer.”

He also wants to show that a major adventure like a world tour is not only for seasoned travellers or the elite: “I was obese; I had never hiked or even travelled alone. However, I did it and others can do it too.”

Source: VNS

Why Vietnam is shutting out some materials

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Vietnamese authorities have boosted inspections of scrap imports and plan to halt shipments to key ports next month.According to a number of sources, the changes are a result of a glut of scrap paper and plastic imports and numerous instances of customs violations. Reported by Resource Recycling.

Because of China’s restrictions, Vietnam has become a larger destination for exports of U.S. recyclables. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. exporters sent more than 173,000 short tons of recovered fiber to Vietnam from January through March, up dramatically from 57,000 short tons during the prior-year period. U.S. ports sent Vietnam nearly 79 million pounds of recovered plastics during the first quarter, up from 40 million pounds during the prior-year period.

In recent months, exporters have cited the Southeast Asian country as a major alternative market that’s increased in the past year. And the country has been a destination for Chinese scrap processors looking to invest in Southeast Asia as a way to work around China’s restrictions.

Now, Vietnamese officials are restricting imports, similar to the actions taken by the Chinese government over the past year.

Giant wave of imports

A May 21 letter from Vietnam’s Tan Cang-Cai Mep terminal to shipping companies, obtained and shared by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), describes a major increase in containers of scrap paper and plastic coming through the port.

The letter notes that a different terminal, Tan Cang-Cat Lai, which is among the largest Vietnamese shipping terminals, has amassed more than 8,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units, a measurement for container quantity) of scrap plastic and paper on-site as of May 21. Tan Cang-Cai Mep, a smaller terminal, has stockpiled 1,132 TEUs that can’t be moved to the larger terminal due to the buildup. Both terminals are operated by Saigon Newport Corporation (SNP).

The larger terminal has already stopped accepting scrap materials, and the smaller one will stop accepting all containers of scrap plastic June 25 through Oct. 15. The terminals will require more thorough documentation beginning June 15, according to the letter. This means shipments must be accompanied by valid import permits and a written guarantee of when the container will be picked up by the buyer.

“This notice comports with rumors that Vietnamese customers had no more room for imported materials and that the build-up of containers of recovered paper and plastic scrap diverted from China were causing delays at Vietnam’s main import terminal,” ISRI wrote.

ISRI added it is “confident this is more to do with port capacity constraints and not a permanent regulatory shift.”

Violations discovered

A handful of recent announcements from Vietnamese customs officials confirm growing concerns over scrap imports since the beginning of 2018. They describe activities similar to those targeted by Chinese customs officials over the past year.

In April, the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) described numerous recent violations involving scrap paper and plastic coming into the country. The violations included material not meeting Vietnamese quality standards, mislabeling, the use of false import permits and a lack of permits altogether. In response, customs officials have ramped up inspections. According to GDVC, in some areas agents began inspecting 100 percent of scrap paper and plastic imports.

Most recently, GDVC said it had implemented a “plan on risk management for scrap imports,” which includes continuing the heightened inspections and taking stock of all the containers of recyclables sitting at ports.

GDVC alluded to the Chinese material ban, and said it presented “the potential danger for Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries to become scrap destinations.”

Restricted import permits

An announcement from SNP in late April shows the overcapacity problem has been growing since the beginning of the year.

On April 23, SNP wrote to its customers that the volume of scrap paper and plastic had “soared” since China banned most of the material. Because of that, Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Finance “restricted the import permits for plastic/paper scrap into Vietnam,” according to the SNP letter.

“Consequentially, consignees are not able to complete customs clearance for many shipments of plastic/paper scrap which have arrived at Vietnam seaports,” SNP wrote.

At that time, 1,000 TEU of material Cai Mep had sent to the larger Cat Lai port were stuck without anywhere to go.

“If there is no punctual action, this volume will escalate and cause high yard occupancy at ports” and other storage areas, SNP wrote, “affecting routine operation of both ports and shipping lines.”

By Colin Staub

Vietnam court upholds key decision in landmark ‘Super Swindler’ fraud case

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A court has upheld a key judgement in Vietnam’s biggest-ever fraud case, spotlighting the country’s ability to tackle financial crime at a time when foreign banks are heeding government calls to invest.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s High Court rejected an appeal yesterday against a judgment that the central perpetrator of a 4.9trn dong ($215mn) theft – dubbed “super swindler” by local media – is responsible for returning some of the stolen money, rather than the individual’s employer at the time, state-controlled VietinBank. Reuters reported

The ruling comes as financial firms flock to Vietnam, hoping to capitalise on a period of privatisation and capital-raising deals in the fast-growing emerging Southeast Asian economy.

The chief executive of one victim, depositor Saigonbank Berjaya Securities JSC (SBBS) – a unit of Malaysia’s Berjaya Corp Bhd – said she had no hope of recouping her bank’s $10mn from the perpetrator, who was sentenced to life imprisonment.
“I am heartbroken and lost for words,” Josephine Yei said.

VietinBank, formally Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade, did not respond to emailed requests for comment. A VietinBank lawyer said the bank had instructed its lawyers not to comment to media.

Majority owner State Bank of Vietnam – the country’s central bank – could not provide immediate comment.

In many economies, banks can be liable for embezzlement of depositors’ funds if negligence of the bank is established. In Vietnam, interpretation of liability law becomes more open when the perpetrator goes beyond their responsibility, a lawyer said.
“Vietnam doesn’t have case laws for such cases so it depends completely on the mind of the jury,” said Nguyen Thanh Ha, chairman of Hanoi-based SBLAW, ahead of the ruling.

Court documents showed indebted Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu and 22 accomplices were convicted in 2014 for “misappropriation of funds” from 15 victims in 2010 and 2011.

Nhu used her title as a senior VietinBank manager to encourage customers to deposit funds which she and accomplices appropriated using fake official documents, according to the indictment.

The court yesterday said the victims signed contracts which promised interest rates higher than those permitted by the State Bank of Vietnam and were therefore illegal.

SBBS said it was unaware of any illegality, and argued that contracts with forged signatures should be considered void.
Both domestic and foreign investors have been watching the case closely to “see how the legal framework protecting depositors in Vietnam is being implemented”, SBBS lawyer Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen told Reuters after the ruling.

VietinBank is Vietnam’s second-largest listed bank by market value. It is 64.46% state-owned, with its next-biggest shareholder Japan’s MUFG Bank, a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, with 19.7%.

Earlier this month, credit-ratings firm Fitch upgraded its view of VietinBank to B+ from BB-.

Reporting by James PearsonEditing by Christopher Cushing