RoK businesses optimistic about opportunities in Vietnam

Republic of Korea (RoK) businesses remain quite optimistic about business opportunities in Vietnam in the next 1-2 years, according to a survey of the RoK Chamber of Commerce and Industry.Made public on April 6 by the RoK Embassy in Vietnam, the survey found out that 50.3 percent of the interviewed 250 RoK businesses operating in Vietnam have chosen Vietnam as a destination for their long and medium-term investment.Those investors cited Vietnams advantages in workforce, markets, and preferential treatments to foreign investors as reasons to make decisions regarding investment. The survey also found out that 48.2 percent of the asked businesses intended to expand the scope of business while 45.2 percent said they would maintain their current operation this year.

First same-price Daiso supermarket opens in HCM City

Japan’s leading same-price retailer Daiso has launched its first supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City.The new supermarket supplies over 90,000 types of products imported from Japan, including cosmetic, stationery, fashion items, toys and household goods at a parity price of 30,000 VND (1.6 USD) per unit.Daiso Japan, established in 1972, currently has over 2,500 shops throughout Japan and 500 others in many countries in the world.

It plans to complete a chain of 20 Daiso supermarkets throughout Vietnam by 2010.

Daisos franchising partner, Tri Phuc Company, runs the Daiso supermarket chain in Vietnam.

PetroVietnam Fertilizer may manage, not buy, Ca Mau plant

PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemical may manage the Ca Mau Fertilizer Plant under a lease contract after shareholders rejected an acquisition plan.

Dinh La Thang, chairman of PetroVietnam, the formers parent, told the media earlier this month that his group expected PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemical Co. to manage many fertilizer and gas plants when setting it up, and not just the Phu My Fertilizer Plant it manages now.But late last month, many shareholders voted against buying the US$990 million Ca Mau Fertilizer Plant, complaining they knew too little about it since they had only two pages of information to go by.Some others were also worried that the purchase would take the value of PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals assets above VND20 trillion ($1.13 billion), more than four times its market capitalization of VN4.9 trillion.PetroVietnam, which has a 63 percent stake in PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemical, was not allowed to vote since it also owns Ca Mau.

Nearly 1 trillion VND for software development Shipbuilders launch heavy tonnage vessels The Prime Minister has decided to earmark 980 billion VND for the software and digital content industry development from now until 2012.Of the amount, 676 billion VND will be spent on 11 projects on building a software and digital content industry portal gate, a development fund, and an information technology complex as well as developing a software and digital content industry business incubator. Meanwhile, 90 billion VND will be used to assist businesses in applying the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) standard into production and organize short term training courses in this field. A total of 88.6 billion VND will be used to develop open source software and 30 billion VND for the establishment of major businesses in the field

Five-star cruiser brings 1,600 tourists to Ha Long Bay Five-star cruise liner Costa Classica on April 6 took 1,600 foreign holiday-makers to visit Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO-recognised world cultural heritage site, in northern coastal Quang Ninh province.This is the first time the Costa Classica has arrived in Vietnam but it is the third cruiser of Costa Crociere S.p.A., a member of the worlds largest cruise industry leader Carnival Group, to include Ha Long Bay in their tour itinerary.The Costa Allegra and Costa Marina are making regular trips to the heritage site.In early April, Ha Long Bay welcomed another five-star liner Crystal Serenity carrying 670 foreign tourists under the flag of Bahamas.

Tienphong Bank agrees to finance building of confectionery plant The Hanoi-based TienPhong Commercial Joint Stock Bank has inked a deal to provide Dong A Joint Stock Company a VND57 billion (US$3.2 million) credit line to build a confectionery factory in Tay Ninh Province. It will provide VND37 billion, while the Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OceanBank) will provide the rest.Dong A will use the total loan to build the factory, import foreign machines and purchase transportation means, TPB said.The 17,400-square-meter plant in Trang Bang Industrial Zone will be built in two phases.TPB said the first phase would be a confectionery line with a capacity of 600 kilograms an hour. A biscuit production line would be the next phase.

Vi