Vietnam Insider - Page 1439 of 1521

Vietnam and Indonesia vow to settle fishing violations

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Vietnam and Indonesia have pledged to work together to resolve fishing violations in the schiea as the two countries seek to boost their bilateral trade.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, speaking to reporters Tuesday at a joint briefing with his Vietnamese counterpart, said the two countries would strengthen their partnership, cooperating particularly on fishing and other maritime issues.

“In maritime and fishing cooperation, we agreed on how to conclude the ongoing issues in this regard,” she said via a translator. “We have also agreed to try together to complete the demarcation of the exclusive economic zone, because the demarcation of the EEZ between our two countries can enhance the interests of our two peoples as well as ensure security between our two countries.”

Since 2014, Indonesia has destroyed several hundred fishing vessels, most of them from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, for violating its waters. The government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has taken a hard-line stance against illegal fishing, partly driven by the need to show its neighbors that it is in control of its vast territory of 17,000 islands.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said the two sides agreed to establish a mechanism to handle fishing violations in line with both countries’ laws.

“On our part, Vietnam will continue to strengthen education and information so as to raise awareness of our fishermen not to violate other countries’ waters,” he said.

Marsudi said trade and investment between the two countries have seen positive developments, especially after the establishment of the strategic partnership in 2013.

Bilateral trade stood at $6.8 billion last year and the two countries are targeting to bring it up to $10 billion in the next few years, she said.

- AP

Vietnam’s own Messi is putting his nation on the soccer map

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When Nguyen Cong Phuong tipped the scales at 56 pounds, the leading local soccer team in north central Vietnam turned the 11-year-old away: He didn’t meet the minimum weight requirement. His playing career nearly over before it started, Cong Phuong vowed nothing else would stand in his way.

You could still call Cong Phuong, now 23, a shrimp, at 5-foot-6 and 146 pounds, but his countrymen call him “Messi Vietnam,” for a tricky playing style reminiscent of the Argentine superstar — even if his roughly $40,000 salary can’t match Messi’s $122 million. And in cities not known for being oases of calm, the cacophony reached a fever pitch as Vietnam’s under-23 soccer team, helmed by Cong Phuong, marched to the final of this year’s Asian Football Confederation Cup, held in China. Coffee shops, bars and even cinemas were packed with supporters clad in red with the national flag painted on their faces to watch the televised matches. After each successive win, thousands of Vietnamese took to the streets amid a deafening symphony of motorbike horns and kitchen utensils beating against any available surface.

Championship hopes were eventually dashed by Uzbekistan in an extra-time defeat. But team members by then had already been granted hero status — symbols of national pride in a country that takes its rare international sporting successes seriously. “It’s still hard to believe that it wasn’t a dream,” Cong Phuong says of the run. “It makes me very proud that the Vietnamese people showed so much belief in us. Because of them we were not lonely, but full of motivation to do our best in these games.”

DAILY GYM SESSIONS HAVE BUILT STRENGTH AND STAMINA, AND RELENTLESS WORK ON HIS TECHNIQUE HAS TURNED HIM INTO ONE OF VIETNAM’S FIERCEST ATTACKING WEAPONS.

Vietnam has never qualified for the World Cup, and yet fans and analysts are watching as Cong Phuong leads a dynamic new generation who could break the streak. “I believe that Vietnam has the players to be the dominant force” in Southeast Asia, says Scott McIntyre, a soccer journalist for the Asian Game and Fox Sports. “It should be a nation aiming to consistently qualify and reach the latter stages of Asian competitions and reach the World Cup.” But for a team ranked No. 113 in the world to break through, McIntyre says, Vietnam will need to free Cong Phuong and other attacking players from coach Park Hang-seo’s conservative, defense-driven “win-at-all-costs” mentality.

Facebook confirms it collects data beyond users

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Personal information is archived even when users have logged out or don’t have Facebook account.

Facebook, embattled in a scandal over the mishandling of user data, confirmed on Monday that it also collected information from people beyond their social network use.

During heated hearings in Congress last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg had already explained that Facebook collects data beyond what users share on their profiles.

“When you visit a site or app that uses our services, we receive information even if you’re logged out or don’t have a Facebook account,” product management director David Baser said in a post on the social network’s blog.

“This is because other apps and sites don’t know who is using Facebook,” he added, noting Facebook was also following up with Congress on a few dozen questions Zuckerberg was unable to answer at the time of the hearings.

Baser said “many” websites and apps use Facebook services to target content and ads, including via the social network’s Like and Share buttons, when people use their Facebook account to log into another website or app and Facebook ads and measurement tools.

But he stressed the practice was widespread, with companies such as Google and Twitter also doing the same.

“Most websites and apps send the same information to multiple companies each time you visit them,” the post said.

“There are three main ways in which Facebook uses the information we get from other websites and apps: providing our services to these sites or apps; improving safety and security on Facebook; and enhancing our own products and services.

“I want to be clear: We don’t sell people’s data. Period.”

Zuckerberg says Facebook “failed” to protect people’s information following the use by Cambridge Analytica of data scraped from 87 million Facebook users to target political ads ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Source: AFP

SK Telecom Takes Liquidation Procedures for Vietnamese Unit

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SKT-LGE Joint Venture Closing Down

SK Telecom Co. is closing down its Vietnamese unit, SK Telecom Vietnam.

As SK Telecom Co. is going through the process of liquidation for its Vietnamese unit, LG Electronics Inc., which made a joint investment in the unit, will not be able to withdraw about 72 billion won (US$67.07 million) worth of investment.

According to related industry sources on April 16, SK Telecom is taking procedures for liquidation for SK Telecom Vietnam.

SK Telecom Vietnam received a “limited” opinion from auditors for two years in a row from 2016 to 2017. Accordingly, it is hard for the company to survive. In South Korea, a listed firm is delisted when it receives a “limited” opinion from auditors for two consecutive times. SK Vietnam has recorded net loss after it ran into the red in 2012, and its holding company, SK Telecom, has decided to close down the unit.

SK Telecom Vietnam was jointly invested in by SK Telecom, LG Electronics and DongAhElecomm Co. in 2000. The three companies named it SLD Telecom after their first letter in the early days of establishment in the 2000s. However, they changed the name to the current SK Telecom Vietnam in 2008. SK Telecom had a 73.3 percent stake in the firm as of the end of last year, while LG Electronics and DongAhElecomm had a 25.4 percent and a 1.3 percent stake, respectively.

As SK Telecom has decided to shut down its unit in Vietnam, LG Electronics cannot avoid loss. LG Electronics invested 72.19 billion won (US$67.25 million) in SK Telecom Vietnam. However, LG Electronics will not be able to retrieve the investment since SK Telecom Vietnam now has net assets worth only 8 million won (US$7,452) according to LG Electronics’ accounting books.

By Yoon Young-sil, Business Korea

Superdry Vietnam launching first Hanoi flagship store

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Superdry Vietnam will open first flagship store on Saturday, at Hanoi’s Trang Tien Plaza.

It will showcase the British fashion brand’s latest menswear, women’s and children’s casualwear, sportswear, footwear, undergarments and accessories.

For its Vietnam debut, Superdry will also introduce its latest perfume collection, Superdry SS18.

On opening day, the first 100 customers will each be given a Superdry shirt.

Superdry comes to Vietnam via Jaspal Group, which owns the Vietnam rights to such brands as CC Double, CPS Chaps, Lyn, Misty Mynx and Santas.

Superdry has 515 locations in 46 countries.

- Retails Asia

Vietnam’s FDI attraction: which sectors to prioritise?

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Vietnam has very good achievements in foreign direct investment attraction, however, it needs to change its strategy and orientation to focus on the necessary sectors to improve efficiency.

Sectors of current focus

Numerous foreign groups have been doing business successfully in Vietnam, such as Samsung, LG, Intel, GE, Mitsubishi, and Panasonic. However, the draft of FDI attraction orientation and strategy for 2018-2030 built by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in collaboration with the World Bank noted that Vietnam needs to carefully review the priority sectors to attract FDI in the time to come.

According to Simon Bell, the World Bank’s senior advisor on investment policy, experts mentioned high-added value in FDI attraction but have not pointed out sectors and what to do, and that in the new orientation, Vietnam needs to identify these two points.

This is the largest challenge not only for Vietnam, but also of other countries which are attracting FDI successfully in the first 10 or so years.

These sectors must become engines of development for the country. Thereby, the World Bank’s experts have researched and outlined a series of priority sectors, such as chemicals, high-tech electronic components, creative and high-tech agriculture, and high-quality tourism, in order to raise value and improve competitiveness.

Original equipment manufacturing, automobiles and transport parts, and environmental technology are short-term priorities, while healthcare and education, pharmaceuticals and health products, and financial and IT services are mid-term ones. They are all high added-value sectors.

Professor Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) stressed that it is important to lure FDI into high-tech and environmentally friendly projects that comply with Industry 4.0.

“Additionally, they need to be promoted by attractive incentives which lure large groups and corporations to invest into renewable power projects,” added Professor Mai.

Sectors Vietnam must say ‘no’ to

In addition to priority sectors, Professor Mai said that Vietnam must say “no” to FDI projects in cement and iron-steel manufacturing as well as oil refineries in order to implement its green growth goals. He suggested choosing modern and high-tech investors to develop coal and gas thermal power projects.

The leader of Samsung Vietnam told us that Vietnam should continue luring FDI capital into labour-intensive fields such as textile, footwear, and the processing and manufacturing sectors. He said that countries attracting FDI usually aim to transfer technology, take advantage of big capital exceeding domestic firms’ capacity, and create jobs for local human resources.

“These three factors are necessary for socioeconomic development. Processing and manufacturing projects are also very important to create jobs with simple requirements and skills. How will workers live without such projects?,” he noted.

The World Bank’s experts said that Vietnam should not stop pouring FDI capital into sectors which have been invested successfully.

Agriculture and the basic production fields are still very necessary. In addition to pouring capital into big cities, FDI also needs to reach the fields of textile and footwear or create jobs in remote areas, according to Simon.

- VIR

Real estate loans remain high in some banks

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Real estate lending continued to remain high at more than 10 per cent of the total outstanding loans in several banks.

Online news portal Bizlive.vn reported that the top five banks recording a high proportion of real estate lending by the end of last year were Sacombank, 17.6 per cent; Techcombank, 12.6 per cent; LienVietPostBank, 11.6 per cent; Kienlongbank, 10.1 per cent and VPBank, 8.5 per cent.

Except for LienVietPostBank, which saw a slight increase in real estate lending, the other four posted a strong decline in the proportion of lending to real estate businesses. VPBank managed to pull this ratio to below 10 per cent instead of 11.7 percent in 2016.

Three other banks that also recorded an increase in the proportion of lending to real estate businesses but kept it under 10 per cent were ABBank, HDBank and SHB.

According to State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV), the total outstanding loans in real estate of credit institutions by the end of last year exceeded VNĐ471 trillion (US$20.72 billion), mostly for projects in urban zone construction and housing development as well as house repairing and business activities.

Earlier this year, SBV had ordered lenders to tighten control of investment loans intended for the real estate and securities markets, warning risks of bad debt.

“Lenders should avoid focusing on stock and real estate customers and maintain credit growth in these sectors within safe limits,” SBV said in a statement.

They should keep track of their debtors’ finances and progress of their projects, it said.

“Credit expansion should go hand in hand with strict supervision to ensure loans are used for the purposes they are intended for and do not add to bad debt,” the statement read.

Source: VNS

Government proposes restricting hours of alcohol sale

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The Ministry of Health (MoH) is discussing policies to restrict the number of hours to sell alcohol.

At a recent conference on the draft law on alcohol consequences prevention hosted by MoH, hours of alcohol sales was the main subject of discussion. Therein, three plans have been proposed.

First, alcohol can only be sold from 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 10pm every day, except at international terminals of airports and on tourism and entertainment streets.

Second, alcohol can only be sold from 6am to 10pm every day, except at international terminals and on tourism and entertainment streets.

Third, the hours of alcohol sales will be regulated by the government in necessary cases based on the demand of the draft law.

MoH will choose the solution with majority votes.

Nguyễn Huy Quang, head of the Legal Services Department under MoH, said the law aims to control the demand for alcohol, come up with solutions to reduce the consumption of alcohol, tighten the management of alcohol supply, prevent the consequences of alcoholism and improve public health. The draft law is expected to be proposed to the National Assembly in October.

Quang blamed alcohol consumption for the increasing number of traffic accidents among male drivers aged 14 to 49. Thus, to improve traffic safety, the draft law proposes ban on drinking and driving by drivers of all vehicles, including cars, tractors, specialised motorbikes, airplanes, trains and waterways transport.

Regarding other motorbikes, MoH has proposed two plans.

The first one prohibits motorcycle drivers from having an alcohol concentration exceeding 30mg per 100ml blood or 0.15mg per every litre of breath when riding motorcycles. The current regulation stipulates alcohol concentration to not exceed 50-80mg per 100ml blood or 0.25-0.4mg per every litre of breath for motorcycle riders.

The second plan proposes complete ban on alcohol while driving.

According to medical experts, a concentration of 50mg of alcohol per 100ml starts to poison the nervous system.
Nguyễn Thanh Long, deputy health minister, said up to 70 per cent of the Vietnamese were directly or indirectly affected by the drinking problem. He said the consequences of alcohol consumption were much greater than the profit it brought.

“Alcohol is ranked fifth among the top 15 health risk factors leading to traumatic injury, mental disorders, cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer,” he said.

There are nearly 20 countries that prohibit drivers from drinking and driving and some 20 others that allow an alcohol concentration of up to 20mg per 100ml of blood.

According to Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the alcohol concentration reaches 50mg per 100ml of blood half an hour after consuming 65ml of alcohol.

Source: VNS

Vietnam’s Da Lat targets breakthrough in flower export

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Flower farmers in Da Lat City, located in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, are overcoming technical challenges to produce export-quality flowers.

Situated in a plateau around 1,500 meters above sea level, Da Lat enjoys year-round cool weather which stands in contrast to Vietnam’s tropical climate, making the city ideal for growing high-value flowering plants originating in temperate countries.

Da Lat is one of Vietnam’s biggest flower-growing regions, producing around three billion flowers every year, ten percent of which are exported to foreign markets including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and China.

In recent years, small and medium-sized flower farms in Da Lat have joined bigger, foreign-invested firms in exporting floricultural products, which contributed to the city’s remarkable flower export growth.

Between 2015 and 2017, Da Lat reported a yearly increase of 18-30 million in exported flowers.

Japan is the city’s largest flower market, importing around 60 percent of its production, with Australia, South Korea, Belgium, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Russia and Cambodia being other major markets.

According to Pham S, deputy chairman of Lam Dong Province, there is around 9,000 hectares of flower-growing land in Da Lat, capable of meeting the city’s goal of shipping 400 million flowers yearly over the next five years.

Plant variety rights, or plant breeders’ rights, are rights granted to the breeder of a new variety of plant that give the breeder exclusive control over the propagating material and harvested material of a new variety for a number of years.However, as Da Lat’s floricultural industry grows, plant variety rights are quickly becoming a “deadly weakness” for small exporters, said Phan Thanh Sang, president of the Da Lat Flower Association.

Ninety percent of household flower growers in Da Lat are using seeds that violate these protected rights, which hurts their chances of exporting harvested products to developed markets, Sang said.

In reality, many opportunities to export flowers to Japan have been missed when farmers were unable to answer questions regarding the breeder of their flower variety posed by officials from the Japan Externaal Trade Organization (JETRO).

Meanwhile, farmers are still having difficulties getting access to flower varieties that are no longer protected by breeders’ rights, said Vo Quoc Khoa, director of flower company Dalat Green.

To cope with this setback, the administration of Lam Dong Province has introduced a model where major companies partner with local farmers by providing them with quality flower seeds and growing techniques, in exchange for harvested crops.

The province is looking to launch a flower exchange and online platforms where foreign importers can place orders for Da Lat-grown flowers online.

Source: Tuan Son (Tuoi Tre News)

Over 1,500 houses damaged, farms devastated as hailstorms hit northern Vietnam

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The storms have left many without a roof over their heads and destroyed crops that were ready for harvest.

Hailstorms and strong winds hit Vietnam’s northern mountainous region on Saturday evening, damaging houses and destroying crops.

In the northeastern province of Bac Kan, authorities said that over 1,000 houses had been damaged in an hour-long hailstorm that bombarded three districts with hailstones of up to three centimeters (1.2 inches) in diameter, the size of a grape, according to local media.

Some residents were forced to spend the night out in the open, the province’s disaster control unit said. A large area of corn fields and orchards in the province was also damaged.

“The hailstorm crushed most of the corn, and about 70 hectares [173 acres] of plum trees that were near harvest time dropped their fruit prematurely. Seedlings at tree nurseries were also severely damaged,” said Nguyen Dinh Diep, vice chairman of Pac Nam District.

Authorities in Bac Kan have set up tents in the affected areas and are providing assistance to help locals overcome the damage.

In Cao Bang Province, the hailstorms also blew the roofs off around 500 houses and ripped through 400 hectares of crops, causing damage worth around VND5 billion ($220,000), officials said.

The northwestern province of Son La also suffered two brief hailstorms on Saturday, which devastated plum orchards with hailstones of 2-5 centimeters in diameter.

“My family has 400 plum trees and it’s only three weeks until harvest time, but the hailstorm caused nearly 90 percent of the fruit to fall,” said Song A Gia, a farmer from Moc Chau District’s Chieng Di 2 Village.

“We also have 100 peach trees that suffered the same fate,” he said, calculating losses worth VND200 million ($8,800).

The hailstorms were the results of a cold front entering Vietnam from the north on Saturday, according to weather forecasters. The condition is expected to bring rain to the Red River Delta, including Hanoi.

Source: Vnexpress

Bill Gates, Obama and Elizabeth II among most admired persons in Vietnam

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A majority of people that are most applauded in Vietnam are foreigners.

Of all the people in the world that Vietnamese people admire the most, Bill Gates, Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II stand in top, a new survey has found.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and philanthropist, takes the first spot among all the men that are most admired by Vietnamese people, followed by U.S. former president Obama and Lai Van Sam, the most famous TV show host and program producer in Vietnam, as found in an annual survey conducted by YouGov, a world-leading online market research company based in the U.K.

As for women, Queen Elizabeth II arrives third after Hai Ba Trung, or the Trung sisters, two Vietnamese military leaders who ruled Vietnam for three years after rebelling against the first Chinese domination of Vietnam in AD 40, and Vietnamese diva My Tam, who has been hailed the “Queen of V-Pop” for many awards in and outside of the country, including Best Selling Artist of Asia by Big Apple Music Awards, MTV Europe Music Award for Best Southeast Asian Act, and World Music Award for World’s Best Selling Vietnam Artist.

This year, YouGov expanded its study to cover the views of people in 35 countries, the highest ever, and interviewed more than 37,000 people to compile the list.

The results are calculated from the combination of responses to two questions – whether a respondent admires the figure at all and whether they are the figure the respondent admires the most.

In December, YouGov gathered open-ended nominations from panelists across 35 countries, asking them simply: “Thinking about people alive in the world today, which [man or woman] do you most admire?” These nominations were then used to compile a list of the 20 men and 20 women who received the most nominations and were nominated in at least four countries. An additional 10 popular local figures were added to the lists for individual countries.

Over the beginning of the year, the company then used the lists to poll each of the 35 countries asking two questions: “Who do you truly admire?”, where respondents could make multiple selections, and “Who do you most admire?”, where they could only pick one, and combined those two numbers into a percentage share of admiration.

On the global scale, American actress Angelina Jolie, Michelle Obama, former first lady of the U.S., and Oprah Winfrey, American TV show host and producer, conquer the group of women.

As for the male category, Bill Gates and Barack Obama take the lead, and Chinese actor Jackie Chan occupies the third position.

Both American men have been to Vietnam where they were welcomed like rockstars. Bill Gates funded big projects to provide internet access for people in rural Vietnam and to support Vietnamese orphans. Obama visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in May 2016 where he met with entrepreneurs and students, and caused big fanfare by having dinner at a plastic stool noodle restaurant popular to locals.

Source: Vnexpress

PetroVietnam ready for ‘radical reform’ after prosecution of top executives

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PetroVietnam (PVN), the country’s state-run oil and gas giant, is preparing for an unprecedented reform of its organization and investments, in the wake of many prosecutions involving its top executives.

The reform plan, recently submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, would include a gradual streamlining of PVN’s apparatus and the group’s divestment from a number of subsidiaries from now to 2025.

In its report, PVN also asked to be granted special mechanisms that would allow the group to regain financial footing after recent major losses caused by mismanagement.

According to the plan, the number of departments within PVN’s organizational structure will be reduced from 23 to 13 by merging departments with overlapping or closely related duties.

The petroleum behemoth will close one of its three representative offices nationwide as a cost-saving measure.

By 2019 PVN will have completely divested from its subsidiaries including PetroVietnam Maintenance and Repair Corporation (PVMR), PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC), and PetroVietnam Insurance Company (PVI).

Other PVN-owned businesses including PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PVGas), PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals Corporation (PVFCCo), and PetroVietnam Ca Mau Fertilizer Company (PVCFC) will be subject to partial divestiture from now to 2020.

Meanwhile, PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Corporation (PVEP) is scheduled for privatization in 2025, when it is expected to have reported three straight years of profitable operations.

The number of businesses where PVN holds a 100 percent stake will be reduced from five to two.

The reform is also set to lower the number of businesses where PVN owns more than 50 percent of the shares from 11 to eight, and businesses where it holds less than 50 percent from 12 to eight.

These include keeping 32 percent of Vietnam’s share of profits earned by foreign companies or joint ventures that extract from oilfields located in Vietnamese waters. The share in 2018 is 28 percent.While promising radical changes to ensure its efficient running, PVN also asks for government approval to enjoy special mechanisms.

PVN also seeks permission to keep half the money it gets from privatization or divestment deals for reinvestment into other businesses, and to spend 17 percent of its revenue on further oilfield surveying.

The oil and gas group looks to issue US$500 million worth of bonds in 2020 and put one coal-fired power plant up for sale until then to balance its cash flow.

Prosecution of former executives

A Hanoi court last month handed 18 years of imprisonment to PVN’s ex-chairman Dinh La Thang for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar loss at the oil and gas group where he was the top leader between 2008 and 2011.

Former PVN deputy general director Nguyen Xuan Son, chief financial officer Ninh Van Quynh and four former members of its board of members were also sentenced to between 15 months in non-custody and 23 years behind bars in the same case.

The defendants were found guilty of economic mismanagement in the loss of VND800 billion ($35.2 million) worth of PVN investment in local lender OceanBank.

Thang, along with PVC former chairman , PVC former general director Vu Duc Thuan and 20 other defendants had stood trial for violating state regulations on economic management and embezzlement of property.In January, Thang was condemned to 13 years in prison in another case involving his wrongdoings as chief of PVN that resulted in losses of VND119 billion ($5.24 million).

Thanh was penalized with lifetime imprisonment, while Thuan was sentenced to 22 years in prison for serious violations.

The other defendants received jail terms ranging from 17 months to 16 years, some being given non-custodial sentences.

Dinh La Thang was previously a member of the Politburo, the all-powerful body of the Communist Party of Vietnam, from January 27, 2016 to May 7, 2017.

He was also secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee from February 5, 2016 to May 10, 2017.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

More foreign brands franchised to Vietnam

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More Asian brands, particularly those from Southeast Asia, have been franchised to the Vietnamese market, with seven foreign franchises licensed in Vietnam this year.

According to franchise data on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the most recently licensed company is the U.S.-based KF Tea Franchising LLC, which was licensed on April 3.

Last month, MCOSTAR of South Korea specializing in catering and accommodation business and Ten Ren Tea of Taiwan got franchise licenses. Three companies licensed in January are from the U.S., Japan and Singapore, and active in dining and massage services.

Data of the ministry also showed that 203 companies have been licensed to franchise hundreds of brands in Vietnam since 2007 in a wide range of areas but mostly catering.

Of these, 7-Eleven was registered in 2015 but its stores were just opened last year. FamilyMart arrived in Vietnam long ago but has recently started franchising its convenience stores.

These statistics do not reflect the actual picture of the franchise market. There are brands active on the domestic market but they are not yet included in data.

According to Nguyen Phi Van, chairwoman of Retail & Franchise Asia and founder of World Franchise Associates, foreign brands will continue flowing into Vietnam in the next three years. However, Vietnam’s franchise market is still in its infancy as franchise activities began to be active in 2009.

Van said Vietnamese investors, if spending much on franchises, will need to focus on operations. Meanwhile, those spending little have to accept the fact they need to work with franchisers to build complete franchise models.

Source: Saigon Times

Hoa Phat Group and Bisuco accused of environmental pollution again

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The factory in the photo belongs to Hoa Phat Group’s Hoa Phat Steel Integrated Complex in the northern province of Hai Duong. This plant is located near a residential area in Kinh Mon district’s Duy Tan Commune.

According to locals, the smoke from Hoa Phat factory’s chimneys is suffocating during the night hours. They said that despite closing all doors and windows, they still cannot sleep. Furthermore, the factory also releases iron filing, affecting local people’s food and drink.

In addition, the factory’s sewage is directly poured into the Kinh Thay River, massively polluting the locals’ water supply. This seriously affects their farm products and plants, limiting the local economy.

However, Hoa Phat Group completely denied accusations of environmental pollution. The group admitted that the photos of chimneys releasing smoke are real, but that was because the plant stopped blast-furnace No.2 for maintenance and upgrade. To support its claim, the group submitted a document on stopping the blast-furnace to the local authority.

Not only Hoa Phat Group, but also many enterprises were revealed to cause serious environmental pollution through violating regulations. Binh Dinh Sugar JSC (Bisuco), 97 per cent held by Indian-based NIVL JSC, has just been suspended for this very reason.

Ho Quoc Dung, Chairman of the Binh Dinh People’s Committee, said that Bisuco caused serious pollution by directly eliminating sewage into the Kon River. The local authorities have many times warned and directed the firm to fix its violations, but went unheeded.

Lately, on April 9, the Thanh Hoa Environment Police caught workers of Nam Canh JSC (specialised in producing pulp and votive paper) discharging wastewater directly into the Ma River.

On March 31, the Hung Yen Department of Irrigation and the Hung Yen Environment Police caught workers of an abrasive company discharging wastewater into the North Hung Hai irrigation systems.

Source: VIR

Being a shipper in Vietnam: instant but not easy money

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Delivery men on motorbikes, known locally as “shippers,” are becoming more common in Vietnam.

Countless “shippers” snake their way through Ho Chi Minh City’s traffic every day to deliver goods to eagerly awaiting customers.

But as with most jobs, the delivery business is not a walk in the park.

At the end of his sophomore year, Phan Van Dao’s parents bought him a motorbike.

That was three years ago. Since then, Dao has spent his days receiving orders via cellphone and transferring goods to customers.

Every now and then, Dao’s work day stretches to 11:00 pm as he battles traffic and picks up late orders.

Though his work hours are spent driving through dusty streets on hot, sunny days and battling floods in the rain, the flexibility is just one of the reasons Dao has stuck with shipping.

Nguyen Hoang Hai is also a keen shipper.

“We make up to ten deliveries every day so we need to be constantly picking up and delivering goods until late at night. Sometimes we even have to leave unfinished meals to pick up delivery orders from customers. After driving around the city for a whole day, our faces are covered with dust. At least we can wash our faces. I can’t even imagine what is going to happen to our lungs,” Hai joked about his experience.

Like any other job, shipping is not always smooth sailing.

At times, Dao is in such a rush to deliver packages that he runs a red light and is stopped by the police, turning a VND15,000 (US$0.7) payday into a VND300,000 ($13) fine and complaints from angry customers about a lack of punctuality.

But racing against the clock is normal for a delivery driver. Certain parcels need to be delivered within two hours – barely enough time for the shipper to get to the warehouse, pick up the parcel, and make it to the customer.

Beating other shippers to accepting is another added stress of the job. A driver who takes his eyes off the app for just a few moments may miss the chance for a lucrative payday.

The riskiest part of the job, however, is delivering food.

Being in a hurry has led to several situations in which Dao let the food become too messy for the customer to accept the delivery. In those cases, he is forced to eat the food himself to keep it from going to waste.

Another challenge these delivery men face is traffic jams.

“Traffic jams are the scariest,” Dao says.

“I usually calculate just enough time [for the parcel to be delivered], but when I see a traffic jam I know I am in trouble. It is alright when the customers are easy-going, but some demanding customers refuse to pay for the goods and the delivery service. Even if they do, I am still marked in the system as ‘late.’ I receive a penalty if that occurs too often.”

On the other hand, being a shipper does have its perks.

“Working as a delivery man, I do not have to wait until the end of the month to be paid because I’m paid directly after delivering the goods. It is a really good feeling to have the money in my hands, but there are times I have to pay the price,” Dao says.

According to Hai, a hard worker can make a considerable monthly income in the shipping business. On the flip side, bigger paydays come with bigger competition.

“I didn’t accept delivery orders made late in the night or ones with low shipping fees and bigger deposits. However, these days I pick them all or else other shippers might take the offer. There are even freelance shippers who agree to lower prices,” Hai said about his job.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

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