Vietnam Morning News For November 8

Vietnam ranked 19th among world’s best destinations for expats
Vietnam ranked 1st in terms of the disposable income for expat in HSBC’s latest report, where 72% said they have saved up more just by moving to Vietnam than in their home countries.
— The Hanoi Times

Vietnam among world’s top five competitive retail markets
Vietnam’s retail market is one of the top five competitive compared to others in the world, heard a seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 7.
— VietnamPlus

PetroVietnam surpasses key financial targets
The Vi?t Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has surpassed key financial targets for the first 10 months of this year thanks to stability in production and business as well as the rise in petrol prices in October.
— Viet Nam News

71% of European businesses expect increases in revenue in Q4
Approximately 71% of European businesses operating in Vietnam expect an increase in order volume or revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018 according to the latest data from the Business Climate Index (BCI) conducted by the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) on the business sentiment among European companies in the third quarter of 2018.
— Nhan Dan Online

More efforts needed to have 1 million firms by 2020
Vietnam aims to have 1 million businesses by 2020, and to reach this lofty goal, more timely solutions are needed, according to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung.
— VietnamPlus

Vietnam warned against being ‘transit point’ for Chinese garments to go to US
Vietnam’s textile & garment and footwear industries are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries from the US-China trade war. However, the risks are high as Vietnam may become a place for Chinese goods to transit before going to the US.
— VietNamNet Bridge

Vietnam: Mekong farmers switching to more profitable crops
The Crop Production Department from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development stated that in 2018, rice farmers in the southern Vietnamese province switched 68,019 hectares of less productive land to more profitable crops.
— Fresh Plaza

Vietnam to lift foreign ownership limit on listed companies
Vietnam plans to lift some limits on the foreign ownership of listed companies, the country’s stock market regulator said on Wednesday, in a move analysts said could boost overseas interest in one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.
— Reuters

High logistics costs hinder Vietnam’s economic growth
Logistics costs amount to 20.9 percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP), impeding the country’s competitive edge, according to experts.
— VietNamNet Bridge

“It’s our high-tech farming that allows our Vietnamese red chili to be competitive”
For Mina Export, an exporting company based in Vietnam, investing in high-tech farming equipment has paid off. With a new license to export to the European market in the pocket, the company is ready to take the region by storm with their red chili, or as it’s called in Vietnam; Bird’s Eye Chili.
— Fresh Plaza

Petrol prices sharply reduced
The retail price of biofuel E5 RON 92 fell by VND1,082 to trade at a maximum of VND19,600 (US$0.84) per litre at 3pm today, the ministries of industry and trade and finance announced.
— Bizhub

Air business novice Bamboo Airways yet to receive license to take off
In June, Bamboo Airways announced it signed a deal worth US$5.6 billion to acquire 20 Dreamliner commercial jets from Boeing after the airlines inked a similar deal costing US$3 billion with Airbus.
— VietNamNet Bridge

Vinamilk remains upbeat about future growth
Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk) is optimistic about its future development as the sector still has room to grow, the company’s general director Mai Kieu Lien told an investor meeting on Tuesday.
— Bizhub

HDBank supports clean agriculture
HDBank said it has earmarked VND10 billion (US$430,172) for loans with tenures of up to 10 years to clean and hi-tech agricultural businesses.
— Bizhub

Hanoi to host Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2020: Mayor
The event is an opportunity to showcase the city of Hanoi to the world with its special combination of ancient and modern beauty from 2020.
— The Hanoi Times

Mobile World Investment to issue $46m dividend stock
Mobile World Investment Corporation will issue 107.6 million shares to pay shareholders dividends at a rate of 3:1 after achieving positive business results.
— Viet Nam News

Viettel Global suffers loss of nearly US$35 million in 9 months
Viettel Global is the only Vietnamese companies having revenue of over US$1 billion in overseas markets.
— The Hanoi Times

Ba Ria-Vung Tau to develop logistics sector
The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau has set a goal to develop logistics into a major service sector with a focus on seaport development.
— Bizhub

Vietnam foreseen investment wave after foreign ownership cap removal
Andy Ho, managing director and chief investment officer of VinaCapital, said Vietnam has a lot of great businesses to invest in and the economy is stable and growing.
— The Hanoi Times

VIB’s shareholders gain from bonus shares with the ratio up to 41.13%
Vietnam International Bank (UpCom stock code: VIB) has just been approved to increase its chartered capital to VND7,834 billion in 2018 from VND5,644 billion by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and had relevant dossier endorsed by the State Security Commission of Vietnam.
— Vietnam Insider

Lot of Industry 4.0 room for Vietnamese SMEs
Contrary to popular perception that Industry 4.0 sidelines SMEs, smaller firms can better leverage the revolution, experts say.
— VnExpress

Northern localities work hard to improve rice productivity
Vietnam’s northern region harvested some 5.6 million tonnes of rice during the summer-autumn crop, up more than 320,000 tonnes from the same period last year, heard a recent conference.
— VietnamPlus

Fair to enhance Vietnam – Cambodia trade cooperation
The 2018 Vietnam Trade Fair in Cambodia, themed “Friendship, Cooperation and Development”, kicked off on November 7 at the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
— Nhan Dan Online

BOT road investors face quality backlash
The Ministry of Transport (MoT) had decided to stop collecting tolls from build-operate-transfer (BOT) roads that had quickly fallen into disrepair after opening.
— VietnamPlus

Which are Vietnam’s most successful coffee chains?
Highlands Coffee reported sales of VND1.24 trillion ($53.23 million) last year making it Vietnam’s largest coffee chain in terms of revenues.
— VnExpress

HCM City welcomes Dutch water businesses
Ho Chi Minh City welcomes Dutch businesses, especially those in water management which is of the Netherlands’ strength, stated Tran Vinh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee while meeting Henk Ovink, Dutch Special Envoy for International Water Affairs on November 6.
— Nhan Dan Online

PENM III Germany raises US$19.2 million from offloading shares of Hoa Phat Group
The transaction has generated double profit for PENM III Germany with share price of VND41,000 (US$1.76) apiece.
— The Hanoi Times

Feature photo Beyond Pesticides

This week’s Vietnam morning news feature photo acknowledges International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, November 6.

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Vietnam morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Vietnam news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies, not politics.