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Tag: asia

  • TCL Electronics pictures broader appliances market beyond TVs in Thailand

    TCL Electronics pictures broader appliances market beyond TVs in Thailand

    TCL Electronics, a Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer that sells televisions in Thailand, is considering expanding its product range in the country. The company is conducting a market study that may pave the way for it to sell other home appliance products, including air-conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines. Such a move would reduce TCL’s reliance on only one product line in the Thai market.

    Thailand’s overall consumer electronic market dropped 3 per cent year on year to Bt34.5 billion in the first 11 months of last year. Sales of flat-screen and plasma televisions dropped slumped by 8 per cent |over the period to about Bt23.3 billion.

    In contrast, overall sales of home appliance products, such as refrigerators, air-conditioners, and washing machines, increased by 6 per cent to Bt54 billion in the first 11 months of 2016.

    Sandy Zhou, head of marketing at TCL Electronics (Thailand), said TCL Thailand was keen to add a broader range of electrical appliances to its offerings in Thailand, meeting rising consumer demand in the segment. The strategy also would help TCL to improve its operational efficiency and lower management risk.

    She said that TCL Thailand achieved sales of Bt2.5 billion last year, maintaining its position as a top-three TV player in Thailand with 8 per cent market share.

    Zhou said TCL’s main income is derived from products such as Smart TV and QUHD TV, which cover the mid to premium ends of the market. TCL’s customer base can be categorised as 45 per cent in Bangkok, with 55 per cent in the rest of the country.

    “TCL Thailand expects to increase our market share in the local TV market to 10 per cent or approximately 300,000 units (Bt3.2 billion in sales value) this year. For other home appliances, our products will be launched on the market in the third and fourth quarters of this year,” she said.

    “We however have no plan to set up a manufacturing facility for our consumer electronic and home appliance products in Thailand at this moment,” said Zhou.

    TCL Thailand has been established in Thailand for more than 13 years, building up a brand loyalty and good teamwork in its workforce.

    “For this year, our strategy is to expand our sales channels domestically. We plan to increase the number of our dealers here by 30 per cent, and by 15 per cent for the number of modern retail stores. We also plan to adjust the image of our existing 100 showrooms in the Kingdom to be under the ‘Creative Life’ concept,” she said.

    Zhou said that TCL had 75,000 employees throughout Asia, the Americas, Europe and Oceania, with sales organisations in more than 80 countries and regions, and 23 research institutions and 21 manufacturing and processing bases worldwide.

    “TCL Thailand will focus on Thailand only. TCL Group also has offices in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia,” she added.

    TCL Thailand pursues its business with customer- and product-oriented strategies. Core strategies include a focus on brand awareness and price performance through maximising product value and performance efficiency.

    Wannapong Tawara, associate director of GFK Retail and Technology, a market research company in Thailand, said Thailand’s TV market value in 2017 should be similar to that of 2016, considering consumers are still cautious on discretionary spending.

    However, electrical appliances including TVs that are designed to be connected with other applications appeared to be in high demand, tapping into new consumer lifestyles, Wannapong said. With this in mind, electric appliance makers should consider introducing a variety of products that offer complex entertainment and service options and are well priced and easy to use, while coming with good after-sales service.

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  • Ford posted record sales in Philippines in 2016

    Ford posted record sales in Philippines in 2016

    Ford Philippines said it posted new record sales in 2016, the fourth in a row, with sales rising 33 percent to 33,688 vehicles, driven by continued strong demand for EcoSport, Everest and Ranger.

    The company said it also had the best-ever December performance in the Philippines with sales increasing 13 percent year-on-year to 3,198 vehicles.

    “Our big three nameplates – Ranger, Everest and EcoSport – continued to lead the charge throughout the year and further solidify the Ford brand as a top choice among Filipinos,” said Ford Philippines managing director Lance Mosley.

    The Everest became Ford’s best-seller in the Philippines in 2016 with full-year sales rising 152 percent year-on-year to a record 12,453 vehicles, finishing the year with a 6-percent rise in December sales to 1,066 vehicles.

    The EcoSport compact SUV also turned in its best-ever full-year performance with retail sales rising 15 percent to 10,010 vehicles, capping the year with December sales rising 40 percent to an all-time monthly record of 1,123 vehicles.  The Ranger, on the other hand, finished 2016 as the second best-selling pickup truck in the Philippines with total retail sales of 8,158 vehicles.

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  • Cambodia’s property market continues to trend upwards

    Cambodia’s property market continues to trend upwards

    Cambodia’s property market has developed at an increasingly fast pace over recent years which has provided foreign investors with a range of opportunities. Some insight from Simon Griffiths, the senior associate director for CBRE Cambodia, to see what lays ahead for property and foreign investment in 2017.

    2015 saw a spike in foreign direct investment (FDI), and the property sector was a big benefactor of these investments both in terms of headline investments in new development projects, and also from foreign individuals investing in one or numerous condos, SoHo units or strata office.

    2016 saw the physical manifestation of this wave of development investment in the form of large-scale buildings rising out of the ground across Phnom Penh. However, there was also a slowdown in foreign private individual sales and/or investments.
    This led to developers and individual investors to be more cautious in 2016 as everyone took stock of the market.

    Nevertheless, a palpable appetite for further development still existed with developers actively seeking out opportunities away from the ubiquitous condo template by innovating on residential design or looking at new sectors and geographies all together.

    There was evidence that private individual foreigners were still buying real estate in Cambodia late in 2016 and that private investors were particularly attracted to guaranteed yields, developers with strong reputations and new or innovate products/design.  Consequently, FDI in property/real estate remained strong in 2016 but not equal to 2015’s.

    Looking ahead for 2017, it is likely FDI will remain high but not in the same sectors or geographies as experienced in 2015 and 2016.

    If Phnom Penh is a cup, then that cup is brimming with development. That does not mean there will not be further foreign investment in Phnom Penh in 2017, but expect to see foreign investment move towards entertainment, hotels, condo-hotels and retail in 2017 rather than in 2015 and 2016 where the focus was largely on the residential sector.

    For 2017, as a foreign private investor, it is an interesting time. 

    With greater competition, developers shall increasingly offer better guaranteed yields and deals to foreign (and local) buyers.  Against the back-drop of stagnant low interest rates in developed economies, guaranteed yields of five percent and above represent ways to appreciate wealth rather than in real terms losing it as it sits in the bank – but crucially only if the private foreign investors trust the developer and the investment holds its value.

    That brings me to another sector and geography that shall +see significant FDI, and that is Sihanoukville.  Traditionally, only low-scale, low-rise tourism expect big announcements about mega resorts above 1,000 hectares and significant foreign FDI in this province.

    Whether or not all the FDI will be in 2017 is difficult to predict, but it is looking likely the next real estate boom may well be in Sihanoukville.  Expect more tourism, hospitality and entertainment investment but also residential investment, and, interestingly, that residential foreign investment may not just be in condos but also on the ground.

    The details are not known but there is a possibility Sihanoukville may gain a ‘Special Status’ and this special status may permit foreigners to buy land within specially licensed areas within the province.

    Whether this would apply to industrial units such as the Thai Special Economic Zone model or include holiday homes for foreigners is not yet clear, but either or both will lead to significant FDI in the province and be an engine for growth and investment should such a status come to fruition.

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  • Burberry reports positive Q3, retail sales up 4 percent

    Burberry reports positive Q3, retail sales up 4 percent

    For the three months to December 31, 2016, Burberry retail sales of 735 million pounds (907 million dollars) improved 4 percent underlying and 22 percent at reported FX. Comparable sales for the period increased 3 percent. The company expects FY17 adjusted PBT to be in line with current market expectations.

    Commenting on the third quarter trading, Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement, “With a record number of views of our festive film and strong demand for new products in our collections, this third quarter improvement reflects early progress from our plans to drive Burberry’s performance for the long term.”

    The company reported low single-digit percentage growth in Asia Pacific with acceleration in Mainland China, which posted a high single-digit percentage comparable sales growth, despite the impact of the elevation of the store portfolio in Beijing. Hong Kong, the company said, improved to a low single-digit percentage comparable sales decline, with positive conversion offsetting the majority of the footfall decline.

    EMEIA region witnessing a double-digit comparable sales growth, continued exceptional performance in the UK with comparable sales growth of around 40 percent. While Continental Europe remained weak, France saw some improvement compared to Q2. Americas posted a low single-digit percentage decline in the Americas with domestic and travelling luxury customer demand remaining uneven in the United States.

    Burberry said, fashion again outperformed replenishment and led growth across all categories and accessories outperformed, led by strength in bags.

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  • Indonesia seen holding rates on rupiah, inflation concerns

    Indonesia seen holding rates on rupiah, inflation concerns

    Indonesia’s central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark policy rate unchanged on Thursday as it monitors the rupiah’s movement at a time of global uncertainty and price pressures at home.

    Bank Indonesia (BI) cut its benchmark six times last year, by 150 basis points, to 4.75% to aid economic growth. During 2016, the inflation rate was low, current account deficit comfortable and the rupiah relatively stable.

    All 22 analysts in a Reuters poll predicted the central bank will leave the main rate unchanged on Thursday.

    “BI’s monetary policy easing cycle may have come to an end,” the World Bank said in a report published on Tuesday.

    It said the space for easing is more constrained than in October – when BI made its last trim – “given US interest rate normalisation and downward pressure on the rupiah”.

    Capital Economics said BI is also likely to consider risks of higher inflation due to government plans to hike some liquefied petroleum gas prices and electricity tariffs.

    “BI expects this to push inflation towards the top of its target range, weakening the case for further monetary loosening,” the consultancy wrote on Monday.

    Higher Inflation Seen

    Earlier this month, BI deputy governor Perry Warjiyo said that although the central bank has room for more easing, it needs to “calibrate” an expected acceleration in inflation when deciding its main rate.

    He said inflation may rise to 4.6% in 2017 due to adjustments in administered prices, from 3.02% in December.

    Warjiyo, hinting at a hold on Thursday, said BI may prefer to use liquidity management tools to support economic growth, while its main policy rate will be used to maintain financial market stability.

    Some analysts said South-East Asia’s largest economy still needs loosening to lift sluggish growth, which slowed to 5.02% in the third quarter and may slow again to 4.97%, according to BI’s forecast.

    Out of seven analysts who gave views for the benchmark at the end of March, three saw BI making a 25-basis-point cut to 4.50% while the other four projected no change.

    Taimur Baig, Deutsche Bank’s chief Asia economist, said “Indonesia’s economic turnaround, which seemed apparent in the first half of last year, appears to have stalled” and that might prompt BI to cut before April.

    DBS economist Gundy Cahyadi also sees a cut, but not until 2017’s second half.

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  • SM Prime Holdings: four malls this year

    SM Prime Holdings: four malls this year

    Property giant SM Prime Holdings aims to open four shopping malls with a combined gross floor area of 292,000 sqm in the Philippines this year.

    SM Prime ended last year with 60 malls across the country, as well as six malls in China.

    President Jeffrey Lim says the company’s focus this year will be on shopping malls and residential space.

    SM Prime’s VP for investor relations, Alexander Pomento, says the malls to open this year are SM Tuguegarao (Cagayan Valley), SM Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Cherry SM Antipolo (Rizal) and SM Premier Cagayan de Oro. Their gross floor area would be 40,000 sqm for Tuguegarao, 70,000 sqm for Puerto Princesa, 30,000 sqm for Antipolo and 152,000 sqm for Cagayan de Oro.

    Pomento says that about 370,000 people are employed in SM Prime’s 60 shopping malls.

    Its latest shopping mall in the Philippines is the 80,000-sqm SM City East Ortigas, which targets customers in the eastern part of Metro Manila.

    In the first nine months of last year, SM Prime grew its consolidated net income by 13 per cent year-on-year to P17.5 billion, buoyed by higher shopping-mall, office and residential development plus hotel revenues.

    For the third quarter alone, SM Prime’s net profit rose by 15 per cent year-on-year to P4.9 billion, supported by a 14 per cent expansion in revenue to P18.5 billion.

    Philippine shopping mall revenue grew by 9 per cent year-on-year to P32.1 billion in the first nine months, while mall rental income expanded by 11 per cent to P26.9 billion.

    In the past two years the group has expanded its shopping mall GFA by 1 million sqm.

    Meanwhile, mall revenue from China rose by 5 per cent year-on-year to P3.1 billion in the first nine months while operating income grew by 6 per cent to P1.5 billion.

    SM has just opened its seventh mall for China in Tianjin.

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  • Cebu Pacific suspends Manila-Laoag flights temporarily

    Cebu Pacific suspends Manila-Laoag flights temporarily

    Cebu Pacific, the country’s largest carrier, has temporarily suspended flights between the capital and the northern city of Laoag, a government spokesman said Monday.

    The company did not give a reason for its decision, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesman Eric Apolonio told.

    Cebu Pacific did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Separate searches on the carrier’s website and mobile app showed no available flights between Manila and Laoag this week.

    “They (Cebu Pacific) advised CAAP that they are temporarily suspending flights. That’s their exact word. We don’t know the reason yet because it’s internal,” Apolonio said.

    Passenger traffic in the Manila-Laoag route reached 204,550 in 2015 and was poised to have risen slightly last year after traffic hit 109,550 in the first six months of 2016, before the peak holiday travel period, Apolonio said citing CAAP data.

    With Cebu Pacific suspending flights, the route will be left to Philippine Airlines and its low-cost unit PAL Express.

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  • Vietnam unemployment rate at 2.3%

    Vietnam unemployment rate at 2.3%

    The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said in its report that the ministry has focused efforts on looking for solutions to develop the labor export market as the domestic market is having trouble.

    Around 1.6 million people were offered jobs last year, a 1% year-on-year increase. Of which some 1.5 million employees earned jobs in the country, up 0.3%, and 126,000 were sent overseas as guest workers, up 9.6%. The unemployment rate was 2.3%, broken down into a high rate of 3.18% in urban areas and 1.86% in the countryside.

    However, there are still many shortcomings in creating jobs, especially for young adults and fresh college and university graduates. The third quarter of last year saw 202,000 with university or higher degrees unemployed. The number of students enrolled in vocational schools was still limited.

    In addition, the number of Vietnamese working overseas illegally after the expiration of their work contracts has declined but still quite high in South Korea and Taiwan.

    The number of workers sent overseas for guest work in 2016 grew by over 9%. However, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam warned there should be stringent regulations towards Vietnamese employees working overseas. Otherwise, potential and major markets like Japan and South Korea will reject Vietnamese workers in the future.

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  • AirAsia launches Early Bird Sale with tickets starting at Rs 99

    AirAsia launches Early Bird Sale with tickets starting at Rs 99

    AirAsia has launched an Early Bird sale with the base fare of tickets to select domestic routes starting at Rs 99. International flights to select destinations start at a base fare of Rs 999.

    The sale, now underway, will go on till January 22, 2017, and you can book tickets for travel time between May 1 2017 and February 6, 2018.

    The sale will be applicable on direct flights from Hyderabad to Bengaluru, Goa and Kochi.

    While on international routes, the sale will be applicable on flights from Kochi, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Tiruchirappalli to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

    AirAsia said airport taxes and other charges will be extra.

  • Cambodia to Build the World’s Tallest Twin Towers

    Cambodia to Build the World’s Tallest Twin Towers

    The world’s tallest twin towers will be built in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh but doubts about the building’s commercial viability are casting a pall on its prospects this early in the game.

    The “Thai Boon Roong Twin Tower Trade Center” is being jointly developed by Cambodian firm, Thai Boon Roong and Chinese contractor, the Kia Nip Group.

    The mixed-used tower complex will be 560 meters high and include 133 floors. It will be worth over $1 billion. Thai Boon Roong Twin Trade Center will become Asia’s tallest tower, and a new icon for Phnom Penh, said the company.

    It will be located on the five-hectare Dream Land plot in the Tonle Bassac commune in Phnom Penh. It will feature a hotel, commercial office spaces, a cultural center, retail and shopping centers, entertainment facilities, residential areas, exhibition halls and a four-floor underground parking lot.

    A consortium led by Sino Great Wall International Engineering won a $2.7 billion contract last week to build Thai Boon Roong Twin Tower Trade Center. Sino Great Wall said construction is expected to take some 60 months.

    Sino Great Wall International Engineering is a leading Chinese property construction contractor and a subsidiary of Sino Great Wall.

    The project will begin once the consortium of Sino Great Wall International and another Chinese company, Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry, finalize the funding.

    The current tallest twin towers in the world are the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Petronas has 88 floors and is 452 meters high.

    Doubts over the financial future of the project stems from the Thai Boon Roong Group being owned by “trigger happy” Chinese-Khmer businessman Teng Bunma. The hot-headed Teng is notorious for pointing guns at his opponents during disputes.

    He’s also banned from entering the United States for being a suspected international drug smuggler.

    Thai Boon Roong also owns Cambodia’s tallest building (the 39-storey Vattanac Capital Building), which has had huge occupancy problems. Vattanac Capital had an occupancy rate of only 30 percent by mid-2016.

    The fortunes of this building do not bode well for the future of Asia’s tallest twin towers — which might well become a “White Elephant” — despite the rapid growth of office, retail and condominium projects in Phnom Penh.

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  • E-commerce firms face rivals from Japan, Thailand, China, South Korea

    E-commerce firms face rivals from Japan, Thailand, China, South Korea

    Aeon, a Japanese e-commerce group, has launched aeoneshop. The website began its operation on January 1, 2017, mostly distributing the products from Japan and the ones bearing Topvalu, an Aeon’s private band. In Vietnam, nearly 1,000 products bear the brand.

    Of the products it distributes, Aeon hopes ‘Me va Be’ (mother and babies) products will be popular with Vietnamese mothers who like Japanese goods.

    Initially, Aeon will only delivery goods in HCMC. Like other e-commerce websites, Aeon will provide free deliveries to orders worth at least VND300,000.

    Analysts said that Aeon’s policies on goods purchases, payments and exchanges are nearly the same as other e-commerce firms.

    With Aeon in Vietnam, the market now has the most powerful rivals in the region. Two months ago, South Korean Lotte launched the Lotte.vn website, hoping for an ambitious plan to hold 20 percent of market share and become a top player in the market.

    Meanwhile, Jack Ma of China, a billionaire who owns Alibaba, has taken over Lazada in Vietnam, while Thailand’s Central Group bought Zalora Vietnam through Nguyen Kim, of which it holds a large capital stake.

    The Vietnamese e-commerce market is known as a ‘money burning machine’, meaning that investors pay big money even though profits are unpredictable.Competing against the four big players from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and China are three Vietnamese groups – Adayroi (Vingroup), Tiki (VNG) and Vuivui (The Gioi Di Dong).

    Lingo, Beyeu and Deca all have left the market because they ‘did not have enough money to burn’. Tiki has reported a loss of VND160 billion in the last eight months since it received investment from VNG.

    Analysts believe that those who have more powerful financial capability will win the battle, leaving the field to foreign companies.

    Commenting about the competitiveness of aeoneshop.com and Lotte.vn, Nhip Cau Dau Tu said they had the advantage of confidence. Lotte.vn focuses on cosmetics and fashion products because ‘South Korean cosmetics’  are popular in Vietnam.

    Aeon focuses on electronics and children’s products because products from Japan have a good reputation among Vietnamese.

    The second advantage is the large store network. Aeon, for example, besides the four shopping malls in HCMC and Hanoi, also has 18 Fivimart shops in Hanoi and 66 Ministop shops in HCMC after acquiring 30 percent of Fivimart and 49 percent of Citimart stakes.

  • Volkswagen won’t make Audi cars with SAIC in China before 2018

    Volkswagen won’t make Audi cars with SAIC in China before 2018

    German carmaker Volkswagen said on Wednesday it would not produce or sell any Audi cars with SAIC Motor until at least 2018, seeking first to strengthen ties with existing Audi partner China FAW Motor Corp .

    VW announced in November a non-binding agreement with SAIC to discuss a partnership regarding Audi AG, which is the best selling premium brand in China.

    Tying up with SAIC, China’s largest automaker, could boost slowing sales for the premium Audi brand as Daimler’s Mercedes and newer entrants such as General Motor’s Cadillac eat into its market share.

    “No sales, no production, nothing this year (2017),” state-owned China Daily on Wednesday quoted VW China chief Jochem Heizmann as saying.

    A VW spokesman confirmed Heizmann’s remarks, saying talks with SAIC were ongoing but that nothing “operational” would happen before 2018.

    “An agreement (with SAIC) could be reached in 2017 and there will be preparation with all the points for sales and production and so on,” an Audi spokeswoman told Reuters.

    “As soon as there is an agreement, there will be measures to fulfil this agreement, but right now we are just in talks and we have no agreement.”

    She added that while larger talks were ongoing, discussions about sales with SAIC were on hold until an agreement is reached resolving concerns of existing FAW dealers.

    Volkswagen gets a larger proportion of the proceeds from the 50-50 tie-up with SAIC than from its 40 percent stake in the venture with FAW.

    Joint ventures with VW and Audi have given FAW a lifeline as it struggles to create successful brands of its own.

    Existing dealers of Audi cars in a letter to the German firm last year said creating a new sales network would further damage an already tenuous situation as existing dealers suffer from slowing sales and generally operate at a loss.

    The Volkswagen spokesman said the priorities were first to strengthen ties with FAW, including with a recently agreed 10-year joint plan, second to resolve concerns of existing Audi dealers, and last, to move forward with a cooperation with SAIC.

    Audi said on Tuesday that its joint venture with FAW would introduce five more plug-in electric cars in China in the next five years, following on FAW and VW agreeing to a 10-year roadmap for the venture.

  • Telstra, Ericsson demo 10G intercontinental encryption

    Telstra, Ericsson demo 10G intercontinental encryption

    Australia’s Telstra and Ericsson have separately demonstrated secure end-to-end encryption over  10Gbps intercontinental link.

    The companies encrypted data in transit at 10Gbps between Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia using Ciena’s ultra-low latency 10G wire-speed encryption technology.

    The companies said the trial demonstrates that data can be encrypted in transit – beyond the walls of a data center – at high speeds without any impact to performance.

    “The outcome of this test shows that data can now be encrypted while in transit across a long distance, while maintaining the speed and reliability our customers have come to expect from our international network,” Telstra executive director of international operations and services Darrin Webb said.

    “We will continue to work with Ericsson and Ciena to take this trial to the next level with a 100Gbps encryption test.”

    “This time last year Telstra and Ericsson achieved an encryption trial between Melbourne and Sydney. We have now extended the distance from Melbourne to Los Angeles with data in transit encryption at 10Gbps, which is the typical speed used today over these distances without encryption,” Ericsson head of customer unit Australia and New Zealand Emilio Romeo added.

    Ericsson and Telstra next plan to demonstrate 100Gbps encryption over the same intercontinental route in the first half of the year.

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  • Vietnamese invest heavily in Australian cattle industry

    Vietnamese invest heavily in Australian cattle industry

    Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has unveiled that the first large-scale purchase of an Australian cattle ranch – for beef production – by a Vietnamese company has been made, in the Northern Territory, south of Katherine.

    The purchase of the US$13.6 million cattle ranch by An Vien Pastoral Holding and Agriculture Company is the first far-reaching Vietnamese agricultural investment in the land down under on record, says MLA.

    Per MLA, Pham Nhat Vu, chair of the An Vien Media Group holding company, was listed the official successful bidder of record for the purchase of the 200,000-hectare cattle ranch.

    The deal includes the purchase of 10,000 head of Brahman cattle.

    Commenting, an MLA spokesperson said: When you see high-net-wealth individuals and global corporations making beef investments in Australia, it shows confidence in the Australian beef industry and gives confidence that they believe the consumption of red meat globally is strong.

    Though An Vien did not initially respond to requests for comments on the deal by GlobalMeatNews, says MLA, it is widely speculated the impetus for the investment is that it is much easier for Vietnamese to invest in big ranches in Australia than procure the large amounts of land needed in the Southeast Asian country.

    It is a very complicated undertaking in Vietnam to get even a 100-hectare size plot of land, which is the bare minimum necessary to operate a large-scale ranching operation, says a local Vietnamese rancher.

    For comparison purposes, there are many cattle operations in Australia that cover thousands of hectares each, he says, adding that the move makes good strategic business sense.

    Even though Australian taxes are much higher compared to those in Vietnam, weather and market conditions are more favourable and even a comparatively small US$4 million investment could provide a solid rate of return.

    While Vietnam is better known for receiving foreign direct investment rather than providing it, in recent years, forward thinking Vietnamese companies have been looking to invest in numerous countries— from Laos to Russia, and Australia.

    A spokesperson for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) disclosed that in 2015, Vietnamese outward foreign direct investment into Australia was US$348 million, while Australian investment into Vietnam was an estimated US$1 billion.

    Vietnamese also are acquiring a growing taste for beef, and the An Vien Pastoral Holding and Agriculture Company might be targeting exports back to their home market.

    An Austrade spokesperson said there had been an exponential growth in the number of cattle exported by Australia to Vietnam over recent years, with a peak in 2015 of 360,000 head.

    He forecasts that 200,000-live head of cattle would be imported into Vietnam from Australia in calendar year 2017, in part fuelled by the lack of import tariffs from Australia to Vietnam.

    In addition, the Austrade spokesperson noted that the Vietnam government considers live cattle as a useful input that can have added value within Vietnam through slaughtering and processing.

    Beef consumption per capita per year in Vietnam, according to official sources, currently stands at 2.5 kilograms in a nation of an estimated 95 million people, which is expected to grow in coming years.

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  • Samsung Elec to supply Exynos processors for Audi vehicles

    Samsung Elec to supply Exynos processors for Audi vehicles

    Tech giant Samsung Electronics said on Wednesday it will start supplying Volkswagen’s Audi with Exynos processors for the carmaker’s infotainment systems, expanding its chip sales for the auto business.

    Samsung said in a statement its Exynos processors will power up to four in-vehicle displays for Audi’s next-generation infotainment system without elaborating on the contract value or what vehicles Audi will use the chips for.

    Car Infotainment systems for cars are for displaying information such as navigation and playing audio or video. The systems also increasingly allow drivers to connect their phones to their vehicles.

    The world’s top maker of smartphones and memory chips has been trying to boost sales of components for automobiles to boost growth. Samsung already supplies memory chips to Audi.

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