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Tag: Vietnam

  • Vietjet Announces New Routes to Seoul to Celebrate 30th Anniversary of ASIAN – South Korea Relations

    Vietjet Announces New Routes to Seoul to Celebrate 30th Anniversary of ASIAN – South Korea Relations

    To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea, as well as the recent Mekong – South Korea summit, new-age carrier Vietjet has announced plans for new routes that will connect some of Vietnam’s largest and fast-growing tourist destinations, such as Da Lat, Can Tho, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc with Seoul.

    The announcement ceremony took place during the Vietnam – South Korea Business Forum on 28 November 2019 in Seoul, South Korea, and was attended by Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea Hong Nam-Ki and senior leaders from both the South Korean and Vietnamese governments.

    Connecting Seoul, the dynamic capital of South Korea, with Dalat in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, Can Tho in Southwest Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Nha Trang on the south-central coast of Vietnam and Phu Quoc, also known as Vietnam’s “Pearl Island”, means that Vietjet’s new routes will boost tourism and trade in the two regions. It will also boost cultural exchanges between the two countries while forging closer ties between South Korea and ASEAN, one of the world’s fastest-growing economic blocks.

    Starting from January 2020, the new Seoul (Incheon) – Can Tho route is planned to operate three return flights per week, while the new Seoul (Incheon) – Da Lat route will fly four return flights per week, each with a flight time of more than five hours per leg. The two current routes linking Seoul (Incheon) to Nha Trang and Phu Quoc will also increase frequencies to meet the increasing passenger demands.

    Speaking at the ceremony announcing the launch of the new routes, Vice Chairman of Vietjet Nguyen Thanh Hung thanked the governments of Vietnam and South Korea for creating opportunities for business investment and cooperation between the countries. He also pledged that the airline will continue its mission to offer more flights with new upcoming routes with Vietjet’s modern fleet. He added that all Vietjet passengers can look forward to being served by a team of dedicated and friendly cabin crew, pointing out Vietjet’s stellar standards for safety and technical reliability.

    Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung also expects that the close relations between Vietnam, the rest of ASEAN and South Korea will contribute to the expansion of the regional aviation sector around the globe.

    With the two new routes, Vietjet operates the most number flights connecting Vietnam and South Korea with a total of 11 routes and up to 480 flights per month. The airline’s growing network has helped to boost bilateral ties and improve strategic cooperation between the two nations, creating a positive impact on the relations between ASEAN and South Korea.

  • Swedish brand H&M opens first Da Nang store

    Swedish brand H&M opens first Da Nang store

    Swedish fashion brand Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) opened its first store in Da Nang and eighth in the country on Thursday.

    The 1,600 square meter outlet is located in the Vincom Ngo Quyen mall in downtown Da Nang. Starting from VND99,000 ($4.27), the story aims to offer reasonably priced products for men, women, and children.

    Fredrik Famm, the brand’s Southeast Asia manager, said popular travel hotspot Da Nang was a market with good potential and they could open even more outlets in the central city.

    H&M was keeping its prices reasonable in order to develop sustainably in Vietnam, Famm said.

    With three outlets in Hanoi and four in Ho Chi Minh City, H&M is now established in all three regions of the country, while its Spanish competitor Zara has only two in Hanoi and HCMC.

    The expansion of H&M comes as major international brands set up shop in Vietnam to tap a rapidly growing fashion market.

    Australian brand Cotton On opened its first store in HCMC earlier this month, while Japanese casual wear retailer Uniqlo announced it would open its first store in the country on December 6, also in HCMC.

    The fashion garments industry, estimated at $5 billion in 2018, is expected to reach $7 billion by 2023.

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  • Viettel, VinSmart get approval for factories in Hanoi

    Viettel, VinSmart get approval for factories in Hanoi

    The government has approved the construction of two new factories in Hanoi by state telecom giant Viettel and private smartphone producer VinSmart.

    Viettel will build a 9.1-hectare plant at the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park on the city’s outskirts to test and manufacture high-tech equipment and a 13.2-hectare research center for defense products, electronic and telecom equipment, network infrastructure, and 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.

    Viettel will also coordinate with the park’s management board to trial applications for smart cities related to issues like environmental management, urban lighting and smart parking.

    VinSmart, the electronics arm of Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate, Vingroup, will build a 4.8-ha smart electronics plant which is likely to have a capacity of 125 million devices a year in its first phase.

    Their completion dates are not known.

    Viettel and VinSmart’s plants are two of four new projects worth VND7.46 trillion ($320.42 million) that have been approved at the park, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

    The others are by two private companies to produce drugs and radiation-resistant plastics.

    Military-run Viettel in January became the first company in the country to receive permission to trial 5G services followed by MobiFone. It plans to launch in 2020, installed the first 5G station in Hanoi early this year and made the first 5G phone call in May.

    VinSmart was established by Vingroup in June, and produced its first smartphones within just six months. It has produced a total of eight models so far.

  • Vietnam tightens consumer loans

    Vietnam tightens consumer loans

    Vietnam has tightened rules on consumer loans, requiring a progressive decline in their ratio in the coming years.

    Cash loans cannot exceed 70 percent of a finance company’s total loans for consumer durables starting 2021, according to a decree issued recently by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

    The ratio will drop to 60 percent in 2022, 50 percent in 2023 and 30 percent in 2024.

    Finance companies can only disburse cash loans for customers without bad debt records with the National Credit Information Center under the central bank. The decree is set to take effect on January 1, 2020.

    Competition has intensified in the consumer loans division as new players enter the market. Vietnam had very few finance companies in 2015, but as of June this year 16 firms had received permission to operate, not counting alternate lending and pay-day loan platforms, SBV data shows.

    FE Credit, the biggest player so far, accounts for 47.3 percent of the market, followed by Home Credit with 16.9 percent and HD Saison with 10.1 percent, according to financial data provider FiinGroup.

    However, finance companies’ revenue growth has been slowing down, from 87.4 percent in 2015 to 15.3 percent last year, it said.

    Outstanding consumer loans amounted to 19.7 percent of Vietnam’s total outstanding last year, up 3 percentage points from 2017, FiinGroup added.

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  • Netflix wants to produce Vietnamese content

    Netflix wants to produce Vietnamese content

    U.S. streaming service provider Netflix wants to produce content in Vietnam as it seeks to expand in Asia, its CEO has said.

    Speaking at a meeting with Mai Tien Dung, Chairman of the Government Office on Monday, Reed Hastings added that the company, which has set up offices in other Asian countries like India, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, wants to set up one in Vietnam too.

    Netflix has been available in Vietnam since 2016 at VND180,000 ($7.8) a month for a basic subscription.

    It has been seeking to produce and acquire rights for more Asian content to increase the number of global subscribers.

    In September “Hau Due Mat Troi” (Descendants of the Sun Vietnam) became the first Vietnamese series to be screened on Netflix following the screening of movies like “Trung So” (Jackpot) and “Hai Phuong” (Furie).

    Netflix has 151 million subscribers in 190 countries.

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  • Vietnamese carmaking startup VinFast gets $950 million credit line

    Vietnamese carmaking startup VinFast gets $950 million credit line

    VinFast, which aims to become Vietnam’s first domestic car manufacturer, said it has secured a 12-year credit facility for as much as $950 million to help buy machinery and equipment from German suppliers.

    The company, a unit of Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup JSC, plans to have its first production models built under its own badge hit the streets next August. Vingroup has earmarked about $3.5 billion for the project.

    VinFast, led by former General Motors executive Jim DeLuca, showed off its BMW-based LUX A2.0 sedan and LUX SA2.0 crossover at the Paris auto show last week. Assembly is scheduled to begin next week year.

    Credit Suisse AG and HSBC were the lead arrangers and the financing agreement was guaranteed by German export credit agency Euler Hermes, Vingroup and Vinfast said in a statement.

    The statement also said that in August Vinfast completed syndication of a $400 million term loan facility led by four international banks.

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  • Vietjet Launches Black Friday Ticket Promotions from S$0

    Vietjet Launches Black Friday Ticket Promotions from S$0

    Vietjet launches Black Friday promotions with millions of tickets from only S$0 (*). All promotional tickets are available for the whole day on 29 November 2019 (GMT +7), with the fastest fingers winning more tickets.

    Explore domestic destinations within Vietnam and fly between Vietnam and Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Cambodia, including all other routes operated by Vietjet Thailand. Tickets for this promotion is applicable for travel between 1 December 2019 to 24 October 2020 (**).

    Promotional tickets are available on Vietjet’s website, the “Vietjet Air” mobile app and on Facebook. Tickets can also be booked via Vietjet’s hotline +8419001886 or from official Vietjet agents and ticket offices. Payment can be easily made with Visa/ MasterCard/ AMEX/ JCB/ KCP/UnionPay cards.

    Vietjet’s biggest promotional campaign in 2019 is also ongoing, titled “Fly around Asia and hunt for the 1kg golden aircraft” with hundreds of attractive prizes. Customers joining the program will have opportunities to win prizes daily and weekly with a grand prize, the 1kg golden aircraft.

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  • Pork price hikes drive up related food costs

    Pork price hikes drive up related food costs

    Pork prices have surged following the African swine flu outbreak in Vietnam, driving up prices of related food in supermarkets and restaurants.

    Over the last two months, the prices of pork products at many supermarkets and food stores in Ho Chi Minh City rose 5-25 percent.

    For instance, the price of pork sausages has risen from around VND120,000 ($5.2) to VND150,000 ($6.5) per kilogram, and that of higher-end sausages from VND150,000 ($6.5) to VND210,000 ($9.1).

    Hoa, the owner of a food store in HCMC, said that over the past week, all suppliers have announced price increases of VND3,000-20,000 (13-86 cents) on each kilogram of pork, forcing her to adjust prices accordingly.

    “Many merchants have advised me to buy in bulk now and store the pork because prices will rise even further as demand rises and supply dries up,” Hoa said.

    Similarly, restaurant owners in HCMC have raised the prices of rice and noodles dishes with pork as an ingredient, which on average cost around VND30,000 ($1.3), by VND2,000-5,000 (9-22 cents) each.

    “I can’t raise prices too much or it will shock my guests, so I have to do a balancing act of cutting smaller portions of pork, finding cheaper suppliers,” said Hue, a restaurant owner in Go Vap District, HCMC.

    Vietnam has had to cull 5.9 million pigs infected with African swine fever since the beginning of the year, equivalent to 337,000 tons of pork, according to Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

    This has resulted in pork prices rising by 19 percent since last November, and could rise by a further 10-15 percent by the end of this year with an expected shortage of 200,000 tons, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

    While the consumer price index in November is forecast to reach 0.8-1 percent, pork alone is expected to contribute 0.75 percentage points to this increase, GSO officials said at a government meeting urgently called Monday to find ways to limit the surge in pork prices.

    At the meeting, the government assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to monitor and forecast upcoming pork shortages every month, so that the government could import enough quantities to ensure balance in demand and supply and control prices.

  • Vietjet Air signs $140 million loans for fleet expansion

    Vietjet Air signs $140 million loans for fleet expansion

    Vietjet Air has signed a syndicated loan agreement worth $140 million with three foreign banks to fund its aircraft purchase plans.

    The lenders were South Korea’s Woori Bank and KEB Hana Bank; and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the airline said in a statement Tuesday.

    The low-cost airline is eyeing new routes to the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Australia using the 20 Airbus A321XLR aircraft it ordered last month.

    The A321XLRs are scheduled to be delivered from 2023 and the carrier plans to add 10 international routes every year, Thao said.

    Vietjet currently flies 40 domestic and 66 international routes. It operates 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to places such as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, mainland China, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and India.

  • Vietnam reduces penalties for illegal currency exchange

    Vietnam reduces penalties for illegal currency exchange

    Vietnam has significantly lowered penalties for illegal currency exchanges following outrage over a man being fined VND90 million ($3,900) for exchanging $100 last year.

    The fine was revoked after a public outcry erupted over disproportionate punishment.

    An individual or a shop illegally exchanging up to $1,000 will receive a warning instead of a fine of up to VND100 million ($4,300), according to a new government decree set to take effect December 31.

    The fine will increase progressively, with a maximum penalty of VND100 million levied for illegally exchanging more than $100,000, the decree says.

    Illegal exports and imports of currency will be fined up to VND250 million ($10,800).

    The legal amendments come after a resident of the southern city of Can Tho was fined VND90 million ($3,900) in October 2018 for exchanging a $100 note at a gold shop.

    It is a common practice for Vietnamese citizens to exchange currencies at local gold shops that offer better prices than banks, even though very few of the shops are licensed exchangers.

    Can Tho authorities revoked the punishment after Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said such a heavy fine should be reviewed, and lawyers and lawmakers also said it was unreasonable?

    However, the province confiscated the $100 note from the man, an electrician who makes VND4 million ($171) a month.

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  • Australian fashion brand Cotton On comes to Vietnam

    Australian fashion brand Cotton On comes to Vietnam

    Australian fashion brand Cotton On is the latest foreign player to come looking for a piece of the action in the growing Vietnamese market.

    It opened its first store in the country at Vincom Thao Dien in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2 on November 15. It plans to open two more stores before December, including one at Aeon Mall Ha Dong in Hanoi, it said in a statement.

    “We know there is a growing demand for street/casual wear fashion in Vietnam, so we’re confident our distinctive product offering will resonate with customers who want access to the most effortless, on-trend products,” James Lavdas, Cotton On’s general manager of license, said.

    The group has come to Vietnam through a partnership with Imex Pan Pacific Group (IPPG), which also brought other fashion brands such as Nike and Mango to the country. It is the first Australian apparel retailer in the Vietnamese market.

    Cotton On, among the largest fashion brands in Australia, was established in 1991 and now has a presence in 19 countries. Before Vietnam, it had entered India in January.

    Earlier this month Japanese casual wear retailer Uniqlo announced it would open its first store in the country in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 on December 6, adding to the list of around 200 foreign fashion brands that have entered Vietnam, including Zara, H&M, Giordano, Topshop, Gap, and Old Navy.

    Industry insiders say that Vietnam, with its young demographic, growing incomes and 96 million population, is a hugely promising market.

    The industry was estimated to be worth $5 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $7 billion by 2023.

  • One percent Vinamilk stake out of reach for Singaporean investors

    One percent Vinamilk stake out of reach for Singaporean investors

    Two Singaporean investors in Vinamilk have failed repeatedly to increase their stake in the dairy giant by one percent.

    In the latest instance, investment firm Platinum Victory has once again failed to increase its stake, Vinamilk said Monday.

    The Singapore-based company has been unable to increase its stake from 10.62 percent to 11.62 percent as of November 15 “due to unfavorable market conditions,” the Vinamilk statement said.

    Platinum Victory, a unit of Singapore’s leading diversified conglomerate Jardine Cycle & Carriage, has immediately registered again to buy the 1 percent stake between November 21 and December 20, Vinamilk added.

    Since early last year, another Singapore-based company, F&N Dairy Investments, which is the largest foreign investor in Vinamilk at 17.31 percent, has also been unsuccessful in repeated attempts to raise its stake by one percent.

    Vinamilk is among the largest listed companies in the country with a market cap of VND208.96 trillion ($9 billion). From January to September, the company’s after-tax profit rose 5.8 percent year-on-year to VND7.92 trillion ($341.5 million). The state is its largest stakeholder at 36 percent.

    Platinum Victory had last month proposed to spend $60 million on increasing its stake in Vietnam’s industrial appliance maker REE from 24.9 percent to 35.01 percent.

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  • Sendo wins funding, overtakes Tiki in Vietnam

    Sendo wins funding, overtakes Tiki in Vietnam

    In this financing round, its largest to date, Sendo has been backed by its existing investors including SBI Group, Beenos, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Daiwa PI Partners, and Digital Garage together with new investors such as EV Growth from Indonesia, and Kasikornbank from Thailand.

    According to a statement, the funds will be used to expand the breadth of its existing integrated platform offering to both sellers and consumers, as well as to “further deepen its technology moat with AI and machine learning to enhance the overall consumer journey experience”.

    “While we have hit our annualized gross merchandise volume (GMV) target of US$1 billion earlier than expected, we care much more about meaningful and sustainable GMV growth, which we believe has to come from consumer stickiness owing to a great shopping experience,” said Hai Linh Tran, co-founder and CEO of Sendo, pictured above.

    “Sendo’s integrated ecosystem spanning marketplace, advertising, logistics and financial services is designed to ensure that, and that goes well with our monetisation strategy into multiple revenue streams and ultimately, our path to profitability.”

    Senior partner and MD of Softbank Ventures Asia, Daniel Kang, said Sendo’s strength in using the capabilities of its partners within the ecosystem has essentially created a win-win for merchants, advertising companies and financial institutions. “The company’s marketplace model is well-aligned to address the needs of typical Vietnamese sellers and consumers, and more importantly, to empower them,” he said.

    According to a recent report from iPrice, Sendo has become the second-most downloaded app and the second-most visited e-commerce website in Vietnam, overtaking its domestic rival Tiki which is 25.65 percent owned by Chinese e-commerce giant JD. Both Sendo and Tiki are concentrating solely on the Vietnam market,rather than expanding into other countries as its rivals are. Regional player Shopee remains number one.

    Sendo now boasts more than 500,000 sellers, with an estimated 17 million SKUs listed on its platform. The company serves more than 12 million customers across across the country.

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  • Vietjet targets Middle East, Australia with new long-range jets

    Vietjet targets Middle East, Australia with new long-range jets

    Vietjet Air plans to start flying to the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Australia using the 20 Airbus A321XLR aircraft it has ordered.

    “When we receive the airplanes with the longer range, then we can serve up to 60 percent of the global population,” Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of the budget carrier, told Reuters on the sidelines of the CAPA Asia Aviation Summit.

    The A321XLRs are scheduled to be delivered from 2023. Thao was quoted by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, which named Vietjet the “Asia Pacific Low-Cost Airline of the Year” at the summit, as saying the carrier plans to add 10 international routes every year.

    Vietjet currently flies on 40 domestic and 66 international routes. It operates 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to places such as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, mainland China, Thailand, Myanmar, and Malaysia.

    Vietnam’s fleet of over 200 aircraft last year could quadruple by 2038, U.S. aircraft maker Boeing said.

    Its 21 state-run airports served 106 million passengers in 2018, up 13 percent from a year earlier.

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  • Toyota subsidiary to set up another airbag plant in northern Vietnam

    Toyota subsidiary to set up another airbag plant in northern Vietnam

    Japanese auto parts maker Toyoda Gosei plans to build another airbag plant in Thai Binh Province at a cost of $16.8 million next year.

    Work on the plant will begin in May 2020. When completed in October 2021 it will help increase the company’s capacity in Vietnam to 25 million airbags annually, Toyoda Gosei said in a statement on Wednesday. It will employ 700 workers initially, increasing to 2,000 by the end of 2023.

    Toyoda Gosei, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp., built its first plant in Vietnam in Hai Phong City in 2004. Last July it opened a $24.6-million second plant at the Tien Hai Industrial Park in Thai Binh Province.

    It plans to increase the capacity of the Hai Phong factory to meet increasing orders. Airbags produced in Vietnam are exported mainly to Japan but also to other markets such as ASEAN and North America.

    Established in 1949, Toyoda Gosei has 67 facilities and factories in 17 countries around the world.

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