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Tag: Vietnam

  • Expats confused over Vietnam’s profile picture requirement for phone users

    Expats confused over Vietnam’s profile picture requirement for phone users

    Some have no idea about the requirement, others find it invasive while network providers can’t guarantee help in English. Expats are having issues with Vietnam’s new regulation which asks phone users to submit a profile picture to their network provider.

    The Ministry of Information and Communications requires mobile subscribers to provide photographic proof of their identities before April 24, or they will be locked out of their network.

    Ryan, 28, is a Briton working in Hanoi. He had no ideas about the new regulation until we contacted him because the profile photo request was sent to his phone in Vietnamese.

    “I’ve never had to do this in the U.K. or in any other countries I’ve travelled through,” Ryan said, adding that he finds the requirement “invasive”.

    In light of recent data breaches by companies as large as Facebook, Ryan is concerned that his information could fall into the wrong hands. “I don’t know if I could trust my network provider with my information,” he said.

    The government claims the requirement will result in better control of network subscribers and prevent spam accounts.

    But while network providers claim user data will only be used to manage subscribers as stated by law, experts believe the regulation has loopholes that could be taken advantage of.

    The images could slip through the network security holes, a scenario in which the responsibility of the network provider has not yet been clearly defined, said lawyer Vu Tien Vinh.

    A photo taken by a customer and sent to a network provider cannot be authenticated, Vinh added.

    Having been to many Asian countries, Mark from Canada finds the regulation odd. “Why would a phone company need my photo?” he said.

    Ryan and Mark are not the only expats who are having issues with the regulation. Many foreigners are also confused as local mobile operators don’t seem to provide the assistance they need.

    On Saturday, customer service centers of all major network providers were packed with customers coming in to have their photos taken.

    Amid the chaos, employees at the centers suggested that foreigners could bring in their passport, or take a photo of their passport and submit it to the companies’ websites. But, they could not guarantee there would be anyone who speaks English available to help.

    Vietnam has 118.7 million mobile subscriptions, according to official data and there are 82,000 foreigners living and working in the country. As of last week, at least 38 million mobile phone users have not provided adequate personal information to network providers, said Nguyen Duc Trung, a senior telecommunications official at the Ministry of Information and Communications.

    Mark is one of them. The 35-year-old is not planning to do anything yet. “I’ll see if they actually lock my account,” he said.

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  • Vietnamese government fines illegal Bitcoin trading site

    Vietnamese government fines illegal Bitcoin trading site

    The firm claimed to have a license to trade the cryptocurrency, but was hit by a $1,750 fine. Vietnam’s information ministry has fined a company that claimed to be the first website to be certified to exchange bitcoin in Vietnam for illegal social networking and setting up an illegal site.

    Bitcoin Vietnam, which is based in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City, received a VND40 million ($1,750) penalty from the Vietnam Radio, Television and Electronic Information Department under the Ministry of Information and Communications.

    Nguyen Tran Bao Phuong, the legal representative for Bitcoin Vietnam, said they were looking into the charges.

    The company is in a transition period, so its business registration code had been revoked before the decision was made, she said .

    “Bitcoin Vietnam is a cryptocurrency exchange. We do not yet have a license to offer intermediate services, but we are not operating illegally. The company is closely following any new regulations about Bitcoin, and is willing to comply with any new law,” Phuong said.

    The company opened in 2013 and is certified to buy and sell Bitcoin, according the company’s website.

    However, in a recent interview, a representative admitted that the company’s license is only for “financial advisory” purposes.

    Over the last four years, the company has launched a number of websites such as bitcoin.vn and vbtc.vn.

    The State Bank of Vietnam does not recognise virtual currencies as a legal form of payment, and distribution or use of digital currencies is not protected by law.

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  • Truly Viet restaurant opening in Melbourne

    Truly Viet restaurant opening in Melbourne

    Vietnamese restaurant chain Truly Viet has arrived in Australia under a franchise model.

    The chain, owned by Vietnamese RedSun and operated by a joint venture between RedSun and an Australian partner, has opened its first outlet in Melbourne.

    The menu features four popular traditional Vietnamese dishes – fresh spring roll, Pho, Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwiches), and vermicelli with grilled pork and fresh herbs – which have been tweaked to suit local palates.

    RedSun deputy director Le Vu Minh reveals the chain plans to open 450 outlets internationally by 2021.

    Apart from Truly Viet, RedSun has already negotiated with partners in Laos to franchise King BBQ restaurants there.

    Founded in 2008, RedSun now operates several restaurant brands: King BBQ, King BBQ Buffet, Thai Express, Seoul Garden, Khao Lao, Hotpot Story, Sushi Kei and Capricciosa. It has 140 restaurants throughout Vietnam.

    Before RedSun, Wrap & Roll’s parent company Red Wok successfully franchised four Wrap & Roll restaurants in Singapore, and two in China.

    It plans to open six more restaurants in Shanghai in the next two years.

  • Vietnamese labor productivity among lowest in Asia

    Vietnamese labor productivity among lowest in Asia

    Productivity is rising, but not as fast as wages, creating the risk of an economic imbalance. Vietnam’s labor productivity last year was among the lowest in Asia despite showing growth, according to a report published on Tuesday.

    Average productivity in Vietnam increased by 36 percent from VND38.64 million per worker in 2006 to VND60.73 million ($1,660 to $2,600) in 2017, according to the Vietnam Annual Economic Report 2018.

    However, the level is still below Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia, according to researchers from the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy.

    Vietnam’s labor productivity was lower than Cambodia’s in the manufacturing, construction and transportation-storage-communications sectors. The country’s productivity ranked second lowest of the countries reviewed, and was only higher than Cambodia in agriculture, electricity-water-gas and wholesale-retail-repair, the report said.The General Statistics Office says that Vietnam’s labor productivity is only 1/18th of Singapore, 1/16th of Malaysia and 1/3 of Thailand and China.

    In order for Vietnam to surpass neighboring countries such as Cambodia in terms of productivity and economic growth, the country needs stronger reforms, researchers said.

    The link between labor productivity and wage growth was also mentioned in the report. Vietnam’s current minimum wage is set from VND2.76 to 3.98 million ($121-175) per month, depending on each region.

    Vietnam’s wage growth of 6.7 percent exceeded labor productivity growth of 5 percent between 2004 and 2015, and researchers are concerned it could create an imbalance if the pattern persists.

    The study also outlined issues with the country’s young workforce, as 60 percent of young laborers with lower and upper secondary education are working in the informal sector (for example, a family business), which are generally considered areas of low productivity, precarious employment and unstable incomes.

    Nearly a half of young workers have a qualification mismatch, and 33 percent are not qualified for what they do, the report said. Around 70 percent of young workers do not have social insurance, but wages continue to  increase rapidly, it added.

    Vietnam is currently riding on a wave of high growth, and some researchers forecast that GDP growth will reach 6.83 percent this year, exceeding the National Assembly’s target of 6.7 percent. However, there is the possible risk of inflation exceeding 4 percent due to pressure from price adjustments for public services and petroleum, they added.

  • Free up your summer with two million Vietjet HK$0 tickets

    Free up your summer with two million Vietjet HK$0 tickets

    Welcome the coming of summer with Vietjet’s biggest promotion of the year, “Free up your summer with Vietjet”, which comes with millions of super promotional tickets priced from only HK$0 during the period of May 9 to July 31, 2018.

    On the first week of this exciting campaign, Vietjet will run a three-golden-day promotion offering 2,000,000 tickets priced from only HK$0 from May 9 to May 11 at www.vietjetair.com. The promotional tickets are available for Vietjet’s all domestic routes in Vietnam, Hong Kong–Ho Chi Minh City route and the airline’s other international routes from Seoul, Busan, Daegu (South Korea)/ Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taichung, Tainan (Taiwan)/ Singapore/ Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai (Thailand)/ Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)/ Yangon (Myanmar)/ Phnom Penh, Siem Reap (Cambodia) to Vietnam with flight period from August 20 to December 31, 2018?

    Summer is the season of joy, excitement and adventure. It is also the perfect time to “fly” with a youthful spirit, leaving behind all worries.Let’s fly with your family, friends across Vietnam and overseas destinations… with many exciting in-flight services this summer.

    Aiming to be a “Consumer Airline”, Vietjet is continually opening new routes, adding more aircraft, investing in modern technology and offering more added-on products and services to serve all demands of customers. Vietjet is a pioneering airline that is loved by many for its exciting promotional and entertainment programs, especially during the festive season. With high-quality services, diverse ticket classes and special low-fare tickets, Vietjet offers its passengers flying experience on new aircraft with comfy seats, delicious hot meals, beautiful and friendly cabin crew, and other interesting added-on services.

  • Vietnam tightens control over cryptocurrencies

    Vietnam tightens control over cryptocurrencies

    The central bank has cited tax evasion, fraud and money laundering as the reason for the move. The State Bank of Vietnam has directed banks and payment organizations to remain vigilant and keep a watch over all cryptocurrency-related activities.

    The directive follows a cryptocurrency ponzi scheme operated by a Vietnamese IT firm that made headlines last week for allegedly scamming investors out of VND15 trillion ($650 million).

    Tax evasion, fraud and money laundering were cited as the reasons for the directive.

    Vietnam’s financial and payment organizations are not allowed to provide cryptocurrency transaction services such as credit cards or currency conversion or transfer, the directive stated.

    The same organizations have been instructed to report any cryptocurrency transactions and take measures to deal with such cases in accordance with Vietnamese law.

    The State Bank also told its branches to cooperate with government agencies to develop a legal framework to deal with the distribution and transaction of cryptocurrencies.

    The IT firm that came under fire and sparked the move was Modern Tech, based in HCMC. The company is alleged to have held several conferences to encourage participants to invest in its cryptocurrencies, iFan and Pincoin.

    According to the disgruntled investors, the virtual currencies had operated in a similar way to a multi-level business model, or pyramid platform.

    In the beginning, Modern Tech paid investors via bank transfers. However, it quickly switched to using its own virtual currencies, while at the same time increasing its minimum investment limit, forcing investors to pour more money in.

    At the end of 2017, when interest payments started to come in late, investors started to catch wind of what was happening and staged a protest in front of the firm’s headquarters in HCMC.

    Modern Tech representatives have not responded to the accusations, and its founders have remained off the radar.

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  • Vietnam’s HDBank to absorb PGBank

    Vietnam’s HDBank to absorb PGBank

    Each share of PGBank will be converted into 0.621 HDBank share. Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Bank, better known as HDBank, said its shareholders approved on Saturday a plan to merge with the unlisted Petrolimex Group Commercial Joint Stock Bank as it seeks to expand operations in the country.

    The merger is scheduled to take place by August this year, the bank said in a statement.

    Each share of Petrolimex Group Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or PGBank, will be converted into 0.621 HDBank share, it said, adding that HDBank will issue 300 million new shares for the conversion.

    The merger will enable HDBank to expand its client base, including with Vietnam National Petroleum Group, which holds a 40 percent stake in PGBank and a share of around 50 percent of Vietnam’s retail-transport fuel market.

    The shareholders also approved a pretax profit target of VND3.92 trillion ($172.15 million) for this year, a 62.2 percent increase from last year.

    HDBank, a retail bank whose vice chairwoman is Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, the billionaire founder and chairwoman of Vietjet Aviation, is targeting to grow total assets to VND242.87 trillion by the end of this year, up 28.3 percent from end-2017.

    HDBank, which listed its shares on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange in January following a $300 million IPO in November, reported pretax profit of 1.045 trillion dong in the first quarter this year, up 170 percent from a year earlier. ($1 = 22,771 dong)

  • Grab refuses to release details of Uber buy-out

    Grab refuses to release details of Uber buy-out

    The deal has left tax payments unresolved and questions remaining about a potential market monopoly. Tax authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have once again sent a request to Grab in Vietnam asking the company to provide details concerning its recent acquisition of rival Uber’s Southeast Asia business.

    The reason for the request is due to the fact that Grab is legally obliged to pay tax on the transfer of capital and business market share following the deal.

    Vietnam’s tax law states that all income generated by foreign companies operating in the country should be subject to tax, regardless of where they are based.

    Organizations and individuals that receive capital from foreign organizations are required to declare and pay tax on behalf of those foreign organization, tax authorities cited the law as saying.

    With details of the Uber- Grab deal remaining undisclosed, authorities are still unsure how to calculate how much the latter owes in tax.

    Uber also allegedly still owes Vietnam’s government $2.3 million in taxes required, but claims that according to Vietnam’s agreement on double taxation avoidance with the Netherlands, that figure is inflated.

    Grab has previously said that the $2.3 million is down to Uber, and has refused to pay the firm’s outstanding debt.

    Grab’s decision violates Vietnamese law and international practices, said lawyer Doan Van Hau, chairman of the Vietnam Lawyers’ Commercial Arbitration Center.

    Quoting Vietnamese law, Hau said that Grab was responsible for paying all of Uber’s back taxes.

    Ho Chi Minh’s tax department previously asked five local commercial banks to help it collect the outstanding sum from Uber, but failed to do so as the company did not have a bank account in Vietnam.

    Uber has since filed two lawsuits against Ho Chi Minh’s tax department.

    Grab is also under investigation by Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade for violating the Competition Law in its acquisition of Uber.

    Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore are all requesting details of the acquisition.

  • Samsung Electronics to expand production in Vietnam

    Samsung Electronics to expand production in Vietnam

    Samsung is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam and accounts for around a quarter of the country’s total export revenue. Samsung Electronics Co. is determined to further expand production in Vietnam, co-CEO Koh Dong-jin told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Friday.

    Samsung will recruit more Vietnamese employees and develop electronics in smart cities in Bac Ninh province and other places, according to a statement posted on the government’s website.

    Samsung is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam and accounts for around a quarter of the country’s total export revenue.

    Phuc told Koh that Vietnam is always willing to create the most favorable conditions for Samsung to develop in the country, the statement said.

    Samsung has invested $17.3 billion in eight factories and one research and development center in Vietnam, turning the country into its largest smart phone production base, the government said.

    Exports from Samsung Electronics’ factories in Vietnam totaled $54 billion last year, it said.

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  • Vietnamese startups pour $129 million into financial tech scene

    Vietnamese startups pour $129 million into financial tech scene

    Widespread smartphone usage, increased consumer spending and a low unemployment rate have spurred investment. Vietnamese startups have invested $129 million into financial technologies, with investors saying the country has high potential for tech development, a conference in Hanoi heard last week.

    Vietnam is one of the best markets for financial technologies given its widespread smartphone usage, increased consumer spending and low unemployment rate, Varun Mittal, Ernst & Young’s ASEAN FinTech head, said at the conference.

    FinTech (financial technologies) are technological innovations created to support or enable banking and financial services such as AI-powered trading.

    “Foreign investors are interested in and even willing to buy FinTech from Vietnam due to the country’s markets being attractive for FinTech development,” Mittal said.

    The company said there are almost 80 FinTech firms currently operating in Vietnam, with about 47 percent specializing in payment services. This is partly due to the fact that most Vietnamese people still conduct transactions in cash.

    Mittal also said that several banks want to collaborate with FinTech firms to develop digital banking software instead of developing the software themselves, citing lower costs.

    Korea-based financial group Keb Hana’s chairman Kim Jung Tai said that the group is working with a Vietnamese bank on the development of FinTech during a meeting with Vietnam’s Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue in Hanoi back in January.

    However, obstacles still remain. Vietnam’s financial services country leader for Ernst & Young, Nguyen Thuy Duong, said the Southeast Asian nation does not yet have an official policy regarding cooperation between banks and FinTech firms. The fact that many FinTech companies are just fledgling startups with limited capital, workforces and experience doesn’t help either.

    Duong added that the State Bank of Vietnam is working on developing a legal framework to experiment with FinTech before applying it on a larger scale.

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  • Rising costs in China make entrepreneurs look to Vietnam

    Rising costs in China make entrepreneurs look to Vietnam

    ‘People are starting to wonder if doing business in China is worth it.’ African nations have been turning to Vietnam as the business environment in China becomes increasingly more difficult. African businesses started flooding to Guangzhou City after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

    Migration from Africa has risen as China “has stepped up its diplomatic links and investments with the continent,” the newspaper explained.

    In 2009, local media put the African population in Guangzhou at 100,000, including those who had overstayed their visas, it said.

    Guangzhou draws merchants who come to buy goods such as jewelry and electronics in bulk, which they ship back to their homelands.

    A part of the city has even been given the name “Little Africa.”

    But things have changed.

    The city’s African population had dropped to 10,344 in February last year, citing the municipal bureau of public security as saying, though Liang Yucheng, a professor of social sciences and humanities at Sun Yat-sen University, told the newspaper that there were still nearly 20,000 African traders in Guangzhou.

    Felly Mwamba, a leader of the Congolese community in Guangzhou, said one of the main reasons for this was rising costs, listing visa fees air tickets and other living expenses.

    “Most African trade with China is basic goods, like clothes, shoes, electrical appliances and low-end smartphones. Prices, logistics and living costs are all soaring in China,” a Kenyan trader identified as Don said.

    “Every day among the African community in Guangzhou, more and more have people started talking about going home or exploring new markets like India, Vietnam and Cambodia,” he said.

    The other reason for the falling African population in Guangzhou, as pointed out by Xinhua news agency in January, is that “police have tightened enforcement on illegal immigration.”

    Long-time African residents told that they have seen their compatriots lapse into “illegal” status after struggling with visa renewal requirements.

    Nigerians must submit criminal record checks for all work and student visas, and no African countries are eligible for 72-hour or 144-hour transit visa exemptions, unlike visitors from many other nations.

    “My friend had to go home to give fingerprints for a criminal record check. A return flight costs $2,000. By the time he got all his documents in order, his visa had expired,” said Akubakarr Sajor Barrie, director of an import-export company.

    “For a small business owner, this is really hard. People are starting to wonder if doing business in China is worth it and they’re going to countries like Turkey and Vietnam instead,” he was quoted as saying.

    Official data from the labor ministry showed the number of foreign workers in Vietnam grew by more than 12,600 in 2004 to 83,500 in 2015, and 93 percent of them are legal.

    Those foreigners come from 110 different markets, and most of them are from China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

    Vietnam was named among the top 10 destinations for expats in a ranking released in March to aim at guiding the world’s rising number of modern nomads.

    The country was placed ninth on the InterNations’ 2018 Expat Insider survey, climbing three spots from last year.

    More than four in five expats, or 81 percent, described the Vietnamese people as welcoming, and 73 percent said it was easy to settle down in the country, the survey found.

    Of the expats questioned, 56 percent said they had found it easy to make friends with locals, and 16 percent said they planned to stay forever.

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  • Vietjet reports first quarter profits of over USD65 million

    Vietjet reports first quarter profits of over USD65 million

    Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (HOSE: VJC) has just released its consolidated financial statement for the first quarter of 2018 with significant growth for the airline that exceeds expectations.

    The airline’s revenue stood at VND12,560 billion (USD552 million), a year-on-year increase of 146% that is attributed to growth in passenger transport, ancillary service and sales and leaseback revenue.

    The airline’s fleet expansion, coupled with the opening of new international routes, raised its transport revenue to VND6,035 billion (USD265 million), an increase of 52% over the same period last year, and 10% higher than the company’s target. Vietjet’s core business profit was increased to nearly VND737 billion (USD32 million), a 74% jump over the previous year’s figure. Ancillary revenue also increased to VND1,825 billion (USD80 million), a rise of 64% year-on-year.

    The positive results in revenue growth contributed significantly to the company’s gross profit of VND1,810 billion (USD79 million), a 135% increase year-on-year. At the same time, sales and management costs also increased at a lower rate compared to revenue growth. Therefore, Vietjet’s profit before tax in this quarter stood at VND1,480 billion (USD65 million), an increase of 254% compared to Q1 2017. After-tax profit of the parent company’s shareholders stood at VND1,366 billion (USD60 million), a 263% increase. Earnings per share in this quarter stood at VND3,026 (USD0.13), one of the highest EPS on the Vietnamese stock market.

    Vietjet’s Q1 results were 25.5% over the airline’s original target of VND50,970 billion (USD2.24 billion) in revenue and VND5,806 billion (USD255 million) in profit before tax for 2018.

    In the first quarter of 2018, Vietjet operated 28,830 safe flights with the technical reliability rate of 99.7%, and with the safety performance indicators of flight as well as ground operation amongst the top in the region. The on-time performance in the first quarter stood at 83.4%. During Q1, Vietjet also announced plans to open international routes to India and Australia in line with its plans to expand its international flight network after having achieved full coverage on the domestic network.

    The airline’s stellar Q1 performance was further buoyed by the naming of Vietjet as the region’s top fastest growing airline by Singapore’s Changi Airport.

    As of March 31, 2018, Vietjet’s undistributed profit after tax was VND6,724 billion (USD295 million). The company will pay a cash dividend of 10% on May 25, 2018 to its shareholders and is on its way to finalizing the necessary procedures at the State Securities Commission of Vietnam to settle the remaining 20% dividend of 2017 by shares. Earlier last week at the 2018 General Shareholders Meeting, the shareholders also agreed with a proposal to pay dividends of 50% of its profits in 2018.

  • Shrinking profit for Sabeco’s Vietnam

    Shrinking profit for Sabeco’s Vietnam

    Saigon Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) has released its consolidated financial statement for the first quarter of this year. Accordingly, Sabeco reported an increase in revenue but a decrease in profit.

    Notably, its consolidated net revenue was VND7.81 trillion ($343.1 million), up 4.6 per cent on-year, after-tax profit decreased by 2.7 per cent to VND1.16 trillion ($50.96 million).

    Besides, as of March 31, the firm’s asset value reached VND20.76 trillion ($912.09 million), down 6 per cent against the beginning of the year.

    Meanwhile sales expense decreased by 13 per cent to VND594 billion ($26.18 million) due to decreases in expenditure for administrative and marketing programmes.

    Along with the decline in profit, Sabeco’s share plunged after hitting the record VND334,500 ($14.69) in late November 2017. Notably, on May 4, Sabeco’s shares were at VND219,000 ($9.62).

    Previously, the April 23 extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting voted to add three new foreign members to the management board, including one from Thai Beverage Public Co., Ltd.

    The first is Koh Poh Tiong, chairman of Thai Beverage-owned Beer Group, which owns a 49 per cent stake in Vietnam Beverage.

    This year, Sabeco estimated earnings of VND35.98 trillion ($1.58 billion) in revenue and VND4.8 trillion ($210.86 million) in after-tax profit, signifying increases of 4.4 and 2.2 per cent, respectively.

    The others are Malcolm Tan Tiang Hing, CEO of Shanghai-based alcoholic beverages distributor Dxcel International, and Sunyaluck Chaikajornawat from Thai law firm Weerawong Chinnavat & Partners Ltd. They were elected as independent members.

    Speaking at the meeting, Koh Poh Tiong stated that the new members will co-operate with the existing members to help Sabeco maintain its leading position in Vietnam. Besides, the new members will try to take the Sabeco and 333 Beer brands abroad. Singapore will be the first destination and the next stop Thailand, before other countries.

    It will take massive funds to realise the above promise, which seems even more unlikely in light of the consecutive decreases in Sabeco’s profit.

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  • Vietnam’s e-commerce market sees many new players

    Vietnam’s e-commerce market sees many new players

    Vietnam is among the fastest growing commerce markets. E-commerce makes up 0.5 percent of value of the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sector in the four largest cities, while the number of online shoppers increased from 5.4 percent to 8.8 percent in urban areas within one year. The value of one online shopping cart triples the value of a traditional shopping cart.

    The recent report of Kantar Worldpanel says that Vietnam’s e-commerce activities grew by 69 percent in 2017. Meanwhile, Frost & Sullivan predicted that Vietnam’s market value would rise from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $3.7 billion in 2030, or an annual growth rate of 45 percent.

    Chinese firms

    Analysts warned that Chinese online retailers are penetrating the Vietnamese market, putting pressure on domestically made products.

    JD earlier this year announced investment in Tiki to become one of the biggest shareholder of the e-commerce firm. While JD declined to reveal the amount of capital, Tiki has said that it had raised $50 million worth of funds to expand its business.

    Prior to that, Alibaba launched in Vietnam in April 2016 after it wrapped up the takeover of Lazada in SE Asia.

    Headquartered in Singapore, Shopee is still listed among Chinese firms in Vietnam as 40 percent of Shopee shares are held by Tencent, a Chinese technology group.

    All three Chinese ecommerce markets entered the Vietnamese market through mergers and acquisitions.

    According to Google, Lazada, Shopee and Tiki are three out of four most searched e-commerce websites in Vietnam.

    Chinese not the only foreign players

    However, with investors from the US and Japan entering the field recently, the worry about the dominance of Chinese firms has been lifted.

    Most recently, Japanese Scroll acquired 26.9 percent of shares of Cat Dong, the company that owns cungmua.com, nhommua.com and Shipto.vn. This is the second time that Cat Dong transferred capital during its 8-year operation.

    Prior to that, Cat Dong received investment from ACA Investment, a Japanese ifund belonging to Sumitomo which once poured money into Bibomart and Son Kim Land.

    In early March, the e-commerce market welcomed Amazon. The US giant, instead of making investment deals, decided to join hands with the Vietnam E-commerce Association. With the cooperation, Amazon wants to help Vietnamese businesses export their products on the Amazon platform.

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  • Vietnamese concerned as biofuel proposed to replace regular fuel

    Vietnamese concerned as biofuel proposed to replace regular fuel

    People fear that they are being forced to buy a product they are not interested in. A new proposal to replace the most popular gasoline in Vietnam with biofuel is raising concerns among experts and consumers who said it will force them to buy a lesser product.

    The idea of replacing the current 95-octane gasoline A95 with E5 biofuel was proposed by Tran Minh Ha, deputy director of Saigon Petro at a meeting between fuel companies and the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Wednesday.

    E5 is a locally-produced biofuel that the government has been trying to promote for years. Starting from January 1, the government has officially replaced the 92-octane A92 with the ethanol-blended E5, which is a mixture of 95 percent of A92 and 5 percent of ethanol.

    With prospects of A95 being wiped off the market, drivers feel they are being forced to switch to the E5 biofuel, which they don’t want.

    Although studies conducted by Hanoi University of Technology have found that the E5 mixture is good for engines while producing fewer emissions, Vietnamese drivers are still hesitant because they fear that it can cause fire or damage their vehicles’ engine and parts.

    “No policy should compel people to purchase a product. Authorities need to make careful calculations with the public’s preference taken into consideration,” said Ngo Tri Long, former director of Market Research Institute under the Ministry of Finance.

    Although E5 is reportedly used by 42 percent of drivers, the quality of this mixture has not convinced the public, Long said.

    As there is currently only one company producing E100 alcohol in Vietnam, an ingredient of the E5 mixture, there won’t be enough supply to produce biofuel should A95 be taken off the market, he added.

    Local fuel businesses have been trying to promote ethanol fuel by lowering its price. However, the price difference between E5 biofuel and the popular A95 is not substantial enough to attract drivers, according to Tran Ngoc Nam, deputy general director of Vietnam Petroleum Group (Petrolimex).

    In a VnExpress survey of over 13,000 readers, 88 percent said they do not want the familiar A95 to be withdrawn from the market.

    The Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Thursday that they will take the matter into consideration and ask for directions from the government.

    Most countries in the world still offer consumers a choice between ethanol and gasoline. The United States, Brazil and European Union are leading the change in biofuel usage, producing and consuming about 80 percent of the world’s total, according to Bioenergy Australia. Thailand plans to increase its biofuel consumption from 7 percent of total fuel energy use to 25 percent by 2036.