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Tag: Vietnam

  • Vietnam launches first specialties e-commerce platform

    Vietnam launches first specialties e-commerce platform

    The site offers about 20,000 agro-forestry-fishery products, herbal food, beverage and handicrafts and others from 5,000 suppliers. All listed goods have clear origins and quality certificates issued by competent authorities.

    The platform sells commodities directly to customers from suppliers. The VNPOST only cooperates with reputable partners who have obtained business licences and food safety certificates.

    Prices of goods and delivery services are posted publicly, while payment for the shipment is collected at the time of delivery.

    At the launching ceremony, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Minh Hong asked the VNPOST to pay attention to technical infrastructure and working mechanism for safe and legal transactions.

    VNPOST General Director Pham Anh Tuan said his company wants to form links with suppliers of specialties across regions.

    Through the site, VNPOST hopes to contribute to promoting the “Vietnamese people give priority to using Vietnamese goods” campaign, Tuan added.

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  • Taxi booking service via Facebook Messenger launched

    Taxi booking service via Facebook Messenger launched

    The service launched by Thanh Cong Taxi on June 13 is the first of its kind in Vietnam, allowing people to hail a cab from the company without having to download and use a taxi-hailing app.

    Nguyen Khuong Duy, representative of Thanh Cong Taxi, said that Thanh Cong Taxi is a pioneer in Vietnam using the latest Chatbot technology of Facebook to develop the service.

    Thanh Cong company takes advantage of the Facebook Messenger application installed in mobile phones of some 40 million Vietnamese people to offer services to customers in the traditional to luxury segments.

    Besides requesting a ride, people can easily leave their comments by chatting via the messenger, Duy said.

  • Vietjet makes its debut at Hong Kong International Travel Expo with 5,000 free tickets

    Vietjet makes its debut at Hong Kong International Travel Expo with 5,000 free tickets

    The fast growing New-Age Carrier, Vietjet, will take part in the International Travel Expo (ITE) Hong Kong to be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 15 to 18, 2017.

    As a debutant of this star event of the Asia travel industry, Vietjet will turn out in full force with attractive and informative displays, special offers and promotion programs. The Vietjet Booth at G102 with the theme, “Free Summer, Fly for Free,” will spot the very attractive Vietjet Red and Yellow to welcome its visitors. They will be treated to interesting and interactive activities, from photo-taking opportunities with the popular Vietjet crew to mobile phone games with special prizes for the winners.

    The highlight of Vietjet’s presence in the ITE will be a feature performance on the Grand Stage at 2:00 pm on June 17 (Saturday), with a spectacular Flashmob Dance by a leading dance group Helki.Fam. There will also be a drama and game session on stage for visitors from the public.

    To celebrate Vietjet’s participation in the ITE, Vietjet also offers 5,000 promotional tickets priced only from HKD0 (excluding taxes & airport fees) within the golden hour 13h-15h during the ITE’s four-day time from June 15 to June 18, 2017 only at their website. The promotion applies for Ho Chi Minh City-Hong Kong route with flight time being from August 1 to December 31, 2017 (excluding national holidays).

    The recent Vietjet Summer Promotion, “Free Summer, Fly for Free,” held between April 25 and June 15, 2017, has proven to be very popular among travelers with the 1 million HKD0 tickets.

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  • Vietnam, Indonesia have much faster internet speed than India

    Vietnam, Indonesia have much faster internet speed than India

    Ranked 89 globally, India’s average internet connection speed of 6.5 Mbps is slower than Vietnam and Indonesia, which are much faster, a report said on Friday.

    While Vietnam, ranked 58, had an average internet speed of 9.5 Mbps, Indonesia at rank 77 provided a speed of 7.2 Mbps, Global leader in content delivery network services Akamai Technologies’ “The State of the Internet Q1 2017 Connectivity” found.

    The report also said that India witnessed a 4 Mbps broadband adoption of 42 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 with a year-over-year change of 81 per cent.

    “Increases in connection speeds and broadband penetration have helped enable the internet to support levels of traffic that even just a few years ago would have been unimaginable,” David Belson, editor of the report, said in a statement.

    “One need only look to January’s US Presidential Inauguration, which broke traffic records for live coverage of a single news event delivered by Akamai, largely thanks to the combination of more viewers watching at increasingly higher levels of video quality,” Belson added.

    On a global level, the average connection speed was 7.2 Mbps – an increase of 15 per cent year-over-year – and average peak connection speed increased 28 per cent year-over-year to 44.6 Mbps in the first quarter of 2017.

    “While South Korea had the highest average connection speed globally at 28.6 Mbps in the first quarter, Singapore had the highest peak connection speed at 184.5 Mbps in the first quarter,” the report noted.

    The average mobile connection speeds ranged from a high of 26 Mbps in Britain to a low of 2.8 Mbps in Venezuela. Germany had the highest peak mobile connection speed at 200 Mbps in the first quarter.

  • Vietnam among top 6 most-attractive retail markets

    Vietnam among top 6 most-attractive retail markets

    Vietnam has been named among the Top 6 most-attractive retail markets in the world this year by A.T. Kearney in its Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), following India, China, Malaysia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    It outstripped populous markets such as Indonesia (8th) and countries with good retail markets in recent years, such as Thailand (30th), Philippines (18th), Kazakhstan (16th), and Saudi Arabia (11th).

    This is evidence that Vietnam’s retail market is again attracting foreign investors, as it was outside of the Top 30 in 2002, then 6th in 2009, 14th in 2010, and 23rd in 2011, according to A.T. Kearney.

    The reason why Vietnam is in the Top 6 is that its investment laws are open and promote its attraction among foreign retailers.

    The government has permitted foreign retailers to own 100 per cent of capital in the country’s retail sector and has adopted priority policies to attract them.

    This is reflected in a 12.5 per cent increase in foreign investment in 2016. The recent free trade agreement (FTA) signed with the EU is expected to push investment even higher.

    Retail sales have also increased significantly in recent times, reaching $118 billion in 2016, up 10.2 per cent against 2015.

    “It’s a suitable time for Vietnam to boost up its economy, which is shifting towards private enterprise and high-value export items, and this is expected to increase incomes and consumption in the long term,” said Mr. Soon Ghee Chua, AT Kearney’s Southeast Asia chief.

    He also believes that government incentives, urban and middle-class population growth, a young population, and GDP growth expected at 6.6 per cent this year gives foreigners plenty of reason to be optimistic about Vietnam.

    E-commerce also contributes significantly to retail revenue in the country, which is expected to increase 22 per cent this year, and online discounts and promotions are boosting sales. AT Kearney notes, however, that businesses will have to be careful and have a long-term strategy to sustain this growth.

    Foreign retailers are expanding their business systems in the domestic market. According to A.T. Kearney, convenience stores and mini-marts are the fastest growing segments. Circle K and FamilyMart entered the market in 2009 and are expanding rapidly. FamilyMart expects to have more than 800 stores by 2020 and 7-Eleven will open its first store in Vietnam this month under a franchise agreement with Seven System Vietnam, and aims to open 1,000 stores over the next ten years.

    According to forecasts to 2020, modern retail channels will increase up to 45 per cent, the country will have about 1,200-1,300 supermarkets, the number of trade centers will also increase to over 300, and convenience stores will number in the thousands.

    The GRDI was first published in 2002, ranking 30 developing countries on their attractiveness for retail investment.

    It analyzes 25 factors related to macroeconomics and retail, to help retailers identify global strategies and identify emerging market investment opportunities. The study not only indicates the most attractive markets today but also potential markets in the future.

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  • Hanoi shops employ topless men to lure customers

    Hanoi shops employ topless men to lure customers

    The trend started at a restaurant on Thai Ha Street. The images of young men without a shirt on and hot body made many curious and went to the restaurant to see for themselves.

    Tran Thai Linh, a local in Dong Da District, said she also went to the restaurant out of curiosity but then she was disappointed after discovering that the men only appeared for two minutes when the restaurant introduce new dishes.

    Linh said the restaurant definitely hit the nail on the head as everybody liked beautiful things. The images were shared by women are those who came to the restaurant at that moment.

    “I wasn’t there personally but it looked like both adults and children were at the restaurants while the topless waiters appeared. This may not be good for children as they are too young and people of different age groups also come here to eat and may find it offensive,” Linh said.

    After the images and the video clip were shared widely on the internet, many people commented that the PR stunt was crude and that they prefer waiters in ties and shirts.

    Nguyen Minh Hoang, head of the marketing department of the restaurants, said, “This is a private event to introduce new dishes. All 120 guests we invited are students and office workers age 18 to 35. However, some people who couldn’t attend gave their tickets to their relatives and acquaintances. That’s why there are elderly people and children.”

    Hoang said the restaurants couldn’t exactly tell the guests to leave then. He said such private event had been held in many countries before but the restaurant failed to predict the unexpected outcome.

    Not long after, another clip was quickly shared on Facebook, showing hairdressers in only trousers and ties serving customers. Many said they would ask their friends to go to the salon.

    Trinh Minh Hang from Quang Ninh Province said, “I needed my hair done and wanted to experience the service by those muscular and handsome men so I called the salon. However, they said the men were there for a special event and they only washed and dried your hair.”

    Kim Anh, an office worker in Thanh Tri District, said at first she wanted to try too but then was persuaded by her friends that it was not very appropriate.

    Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism fined the Tran Anh Company which runs electronic goods stores VND40 million (USD1,920) fast year for employing promotional girls wearing bikinis to greet customers last year. The company claimed that they just co-operated with a partner to make a sex education video series, and it was not a marketing campaign.

    In 2012, VietJet Air was also fined VND20m for in-flight bikini show to celebrate its first flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang.

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  • Vietnam’s exporters hunt for robusta coffee as supplies dwindle

    Vietnam’s exporters hunt for robusta coffee as supplies dwindle

    International trade is holding bulk of Vietnamese robusta stocks. Vietnamese coffee exporters, faced with dwindling robusta supplies in the world’s top producer, are paying up to buy beans from international trade houses who scooped up much of the crop early in the season.

    Local exporters in Vietnam are struggling to find coffee to fulfill their contracts, trade sources said, after farmers sold forward much of the harvest early on in the season when global prices hit their highest in more than five years.

    The squeeze comes at a time of tight supplies in the country, after a smaller crop this season and heavy rains during harvesting that wreaked havoc on crop quality.

    Vietnam is the world’s top grower of robusta coffee, which is mainly used to produce instant or soluble coffee.

    The coffee is priced against ICE robusta futures and international trade houses were able buy at a discount of $50 to $70 a tonne when farmers were selling heavily.

    “The international trade has been stockpiling basically,” said one European trader. “They decided to get long early on.”

    Local exporters, now unable to get supplies from farmers, have been forced to buy from the international trade houses at premiums of $20 to $30 a ton, industry sources in Europe and Vietnam estimate.

    They pegged profits for the international trade houses, who have stored the coffee in their warehouses in Vietnamese ports, at $70 to $100 a ton.

    “They used financial leverage to buy at discounts at the beginning of the harvest season,” said Phan Hung Anh, deputy director of Anh Minh Co, a coffee-trading firm in Daklak, Vietnam’s largest coffee-growing province. “And now they sell back to companies at premiums.”

    “Vietnamese firms can’t do the same because their financial capability and storage don’t match those of international trading houses.”

    Vietnam is expected to produce 26.3 million bags of coffee in the 2016/17 season, down from 28.4 million in the prior season, Rabobank figures show.

    International traders were holding roughly 6.5 million 60-kg bags (390,000 tons) at the end of May, out of about 9 million in stocks in the country, sources estimated. They have sold about 30,000 to 40,000 tons to local exporters, Vietnamese traders said.

    These trades have been painful for local Vietnamese exporters, some of whom sell beans to coffee giants such as Nestle and Jacobs Douwe Egberts.

    Traders said many had sold coffee far in advance to roasters at much lower prices and are now feeling the pinch of strengthening differentials as they inch towards delivery.

    The exporters have been left with little choice, however, as farmers sit on their remaining good quality coffee in the hope that prices will climb.

    Farmers are holding less than 15 percent of the crop at this point in the season, compared to about 35 percent in a typical year, traders estimated.

    Local exporters could find themselves squeezed further in coming months as supplies continue to dwindle and differentials strengthen before the start of the next harvest in October.

    There is also a risk international trade houses may stop selling coffee to Vietnamese exporters, as they shift attention to delivering on their own contracts with roasters later in the year.

    “That tightness is starting to materialize,” said another trader. “And if they turn off the tap, the prices and the differentials will go even higher.”

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  • Vietnamese steel faces anti-dumping investigation in Australia

    Vietnamese steel faces anti-dumping investigation in Australia

    An Australian firm has accused Vietnamese manufacturers of manipulating market prices. Australia’s Anti-Dumping Commission (ADC) has initiated an anti-dumping investigation into steel rods imported from Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam.

    The investigation was launched following a complaint lodged by OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Ltd, a manufacturer of steel coil in Australia.

    OneSteel said that that the goods are being exported to Australia at prices less than their normal value and that dumping has damaged the Australian industry through loss of sales, market share and profits.

    The products include hot rolled rods in coils that are not subject to export tax in Australia at present.

    OneSteel alleged that the dumping margin on products from Vietnam is at least 30.6 percent. The company said that the price of these products in Vietnam should not be used to calculate their global market value.

    Steel products from Indonesia, Taiwan and Turkey have also been subject to anti-dumping investigations in Australia, and both Indonesia and Turkey were slapped with anti-dumping taxes in 2015 for a year, while the same products from China were hit with a tariff in April 2016.

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  • Taxi boom blamed for traffic jams in HCM City

    Taxi boom blamed for traffic jams in HCM City

    The city was home to around 300 app-based taxis of less than nine seats in 2015. But the figure grew to 2,437 by the early 2016 and 22,000 by late April this year.

    Giao attempted to blame Uber and Grab for being partially responsible for HCM City’s traffic jams.

    Meanwhile, the city has more than 11,000 traditional taxis, raising the city’s total taxi number to over 33,000 against the set taxi number target of just no more than 12,700 by 2020. The mushrooming taxi development has worsened the city’s traffic jams.

    Nguyen Van Tam, deputy head of the HCM City Transport Department, suggested that app-based taxi boom has become a new problem for the city, so, the city has considered halting the transportation license for cars of below nine seats to operate under the form of app-based taxi service.

    The re-licensing will be carried out after the city finishes a plan on app-based taxi operation, Tam said.

    A representative from the Southern Airport Authority claimed the severe traffic congestion around Tan Son Nhat International Airport is also partially caused by Grab and Uber cars, many of which cruise around to wait for customers.

    Earlier, traditional taxi enterprises urged management agencies to take appropriate steps against foreign ride-hailing firms like Uber and Grab in order because they were proving far more competitive that traditional taxi services.

  • What’s next for remittances to Vietnam?

    What’s next for remittances to Vietnam?

    Global economic and political conditions cast doubt on the inflows, which have been an important source of capital for Vietnam.

    Vietnam is still in the list of top remittance recipients, but experts are uncertain about the future considering recent economic and political developments in the world.

    According to World Bank’s estimates, during 2016, Vietnam received around $13.4 billion from overseas, up 3 percent from 2015.

    The Washington-based bank noted that remittances to developing countries, in general, fell for a second consecutive year in 2016, a trend not seen in three decades.

    For Vietnam, over the past 25 years, the flow of overseas funds has increased around 100-fold, from $140 million in 1993 to approximately $13.4 billion in 2016, according to latest data released in May by the World Bank.

    Last year, remittances made up for 6.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

    The U.S. has been the largest source of remittances for Vietnam, accounting for around 60 percent of all remittance inflows last year, as calculated by us based on several estimates.

    But there are uncertainties ahead. Credit Suisse, in its report released in March this year, warned of a possible slowdown in 2017, given global economic and tighter border controls imposed by the Trump administration.

    Analysts said remittances could be affected by the recent hike in interest rates in the U.S., which means senders can earn good profits by keeping money in the U.S.

    In recent years, the purpose of using remittances shifts from family support to business investments, real estate and savings, Atish Shrestha, the regional director for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam at Western Union, told via email.

    As such, the logic of holding on to their money makes sense, Shrestha said.

    He added that while economic and political conditions in the send countries may weaken remittance inflows to Vietnam, the growing number of Vietnamese migrants working abroad may help to offset these effects.

    In 2016, the number of Vietnamese who went to work abroad hit 126,300, exceeding the projection by over 26 percent, and up nearly 10 percent from the previous year, according to the Department of Overseas Labor.

    Vietnam’s major source of remittances, aside from North America, are Australia and European countries, according to Western Union.

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  • Vietnamese property developers see new tricks in VR

    Vietnamese property developers see new tricks in VR

    As competition in the property market heats up, developers are seeking new ways of attracting buyers – one recent attempt makes use of virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR).

    It’s expected that VR will boom this year, with a wide number of sectors taking advantage of the latest technology, including real estate, which will allow potential buyers “real” experiences of property projects.

    A recent report by Cushman & Wakefield estimated that VR and AR would become a US$2.6 billion market in real estate by 2020, as headsets such as the Oculus Rift and the Microsoft Hololens become common place over the next few years.

    “It’s essential to begin preparing for the expansion,” Cushman & Wakefield said. “In addition to virtual walkthroughs of both finished and unfinished buildings and virtual models projected onto desks and tables in the real world – innovations which are already in development – companies see opportunities for more game-changing features a little further down the road, once mass adoption takes hold.”

    Cushman & Wakefield cited a research report released last year by Goldman Sachs, saying that VR/AR hardware and software is finally catching up with consumer expectations, and are posed to disrupt a number of markets, including real estate.

    Catching up with the trend, several Vietnamese developers have started to use VR and AR in their marketing to promote sales, such as Vingroup, Sun Group and BIM Group.

    At a recent sale opening of Citadines Marina Ha Long, BIM Group used the Microsoft Hololens to demonstrate every detail of the project in front of buyers’ eyes.

    A representative from the developer said that the use of new technologies would help make up for the gaps in traditional marketing tools.

    Phan Thanh Hue from Booyoung Vina was quoted by Dau Tu Bat Dong San (Real Estate Investment) newspaper as saying that the new technologies brought life-like experiences to customers.

    Dinh Anh Tuan, director of 3D Vni, which provides the hardware, said that many customers were excited about the new experiences. Tuan said that developers were staring to use VR and AR in marketing and more expansion was expected.

    Tuan said that VR was forecast to become an indispensable trend, changing the face of marketing and sales in many sectors, including real estate. This technology would also help increase the competitiveness of property products, he added.

    According to Pham Ngoc Mai Anh, director of ADT Creative, a start-up in VR applications, there is an increasing interest in using VR by property developers.

    However, because of current prices, VR is now only appropriate for high-end segments rather than having broad appeal, experts say.

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  • Vietnamese firm to ship first batch of chicken products to Japan in August

    Vietnamese firm to ship first batch of chicken products to Japan in August

    It has taken the company two years to meet Japan’s strict quality control processes. A Vietnamese firm has completed the necessary procedures to start shipping processed chicken products to Japan.

    Koyu&Unitek Co. Ltd is the first poultry firm in the country to gain access to the Japanese market, and plans to export around 300-400 tons in August this year.

    Nguyen Van Quyen, head of the company’s export division, told that the Japanese market is very demanding and has strict control processes, so it had taken nearly two years to complete the necessary procedures.

    The most difficult phase was building the company’s own management oversight program following criteria laid out by the World Organization for Animal Health and Japan.

    Japanese importers pay special attention to antibiotic residue in products, banned microorganisms and bird flu, among others, said Quyen.

    In additon to Japan, his company is also seeking export opportunities in Europe, Australia and Canada. Each market requires its own strategy to meet the respective criteria of each country, said the official.

    According to Pham Van Dong, director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Department of Animal Health, Vietnamese chickens are usually consumed in the domestic market and are not bred for export.

    Only two local companies have registered to export processed chicken to Japan: Koyu&Unitek in July 2016 and CP Vietnam Co. Ltd in late May 2017.

    Since the beginning of this year, Vietnam has exported $13.7 billion worth of farm produce, forestry products and seafood to the world market, up 9.5 percent against the same period last year, according to the ministry.

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  • Aviation infrastructure overloaded

    Aviation infrastructure overloaded

    The heavy investment made recently by the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) to upgrade airports and develop new infrastructure still cannot satisfy the increasingly high travel demand.

    The additional parking lots set up by ACV recently do not mean much if compared with demand, while airlines still have to scramble for the locations to park their aircrafts. Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat Airports had many meetings to discuss the allocation of parking lots but they were not useful.

    Giao Thong quoted a high ranking executive of Vietnam Airlines as saying that the carrier’s fleet has 10-15 new aircraft every year while it has put next-generation aircrafts into operation. In 2015, Vietnam Airlines had 83 aircrafts, while the figure is expected to increase to 120 by 2020. This leads to a higher demand for parking lots and the upgrade of technical service areas.

    Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of Vietjet Air, has repeatedly asked for more aircraft parking lots at the Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai and Da Nang Airports. In 2016 alone, the air carrier needs at least 44 parking locations.

    According to Tran Van Thang, ACV’s deputy CEO, ACV has arranged 11 new parking locations at Noi Bai, raising the total number of licensed locations to 70.

    At Tan Son Nhat Airport, four new locations have been arranged for ATR72 aircrafts. The figures are 8 at Da Nang and 16 at Cam Ranh. However, he admitted that the additional supply still cannot satisfy the high demand from airlines.

    Head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Lai Xuan Thanh confirmed the lack of parking lots for aircrafts. He said all the four large airports including Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat, Da Nang and Cam Ranh need to have their parking areas expanded to satisfy the demand.

    A CAAV report showed that in the first six months of 2016, airlines provided more than 128,000 flights, 15.8 percent of which were delayed while the canceled flights amounted to 0.6 percent.

    About the reasons behind the delayed and canceled flights, the report pointed out that airlines’ technical problems were the direct reason of 10.3 percent of delayed flights, while the lack of equipment at airports caused the delay of 6.2 percent, or 1,250 flights.

    Meanwhile, the problems in flight control at the departure airports were the reason behind the late arrival of 11.3 percent of total delayed flights.

    Thanh from CAAV said that until the Long Thanh Airport is built and put into operation, the overloading at Tan Son Nhat would still not be settled.

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  • Vietjet offers generous dividend payouts at the rate of 60%

    Vietjet offers generous dividend payouts at the rate of 60%

    Based on business results of the financial statements for the first quarter of 2017, the Board of Directors of Vietjet has announced to advance the first phase dividend for 2017 at the rate of 20% in the form of cash. The shareholder list confirmation date will be within July 2017.

    Also, according to the issuance plan approved at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in 2016 and based on KPMG audited capital report for the first quarter of 2017, Vietjet agrees to offer a bonus sharedividend to the shareholders at the rate of 100:40 (a compliment of 40 shares per 100 shares owned). Theshareholder list confirmation date will be within July 2017 following the approval of the State Securities Commission of Vietnam, the same time with the list confirmation date for cash dividend distribution.

    Accordingly, Vietjet shareholders will receive a 20% cash dividend and 40% bonus share dividend, totaling 60%.

    Earlier in May 10, Vietjet finalized the shareholder list for cash dividend for 2016. After the 40% bonus share dividend, those shareholders who have already received shares and cash dividends of 119% for 2016 will continue to receive dividend advance for 2017.

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  • How will Saigon track down Facebook retailers to collect tax?

    How will Saigon track down Facebook retailers to collect tax?

    Tax officials are reaching out to 13,500 retailers in their database, but they admit this will be a very tough task.

    For the first time Ho Chi Minh City has started a new tax collection campaign targeting retailers on Facebook, the most popular social network in Vietnam.

    Now tax officials are working to solve an anticipated problem: how to track down thousands of retailers across the city, many of whom are elusive, and how to calculate their earnings.

    Le Thi Thu Huong, a municipal tax official, said the city has a record of 13,500 retailers on Facebook and that the law only requires those with an annual revenue of VND100 million or $4,400 to declare tax.

    Tax officials will also need to figure out how to determine their taxable income, Huong said, noting that cash transactions are difficult to monitored.

    “Tax authorities will need the support and cooperation from relevant sectors such as banks, postal services and Facebook itself to collect tax effectively,” she said.

    District-level tax agents said they have been reaching out to the 13,500 retailers in the database, but to no avail.

    District 1 and Binh Thanh District have both sent out letters asking Facebook retailers to meet officials to discuss tax payments, only to find that many of the addresses listed on Facebook are fake.

    “If the retailers continue to keep quiet, we will come to them in person,” an official in Binh Thanh said.

    Another official said the database should be reviewed to remove inactive retailers first before district agents begin to send out requests.

    Nhung, an online retailer in Binh Tan District who sells clothes and cosmetics on Facebook, said her monthly revenue usually stays at VND30-40 million ($1,300-1,700) .

    She did not hide the fact that her address and phone number are not disclosed publicly on Facebook.

    “I think this is why the city’s tax department doesn’t have me in the database. So far I have not been contacted,” Nhung said. VnExpress chose not to publish her full name.

    “It’s not easy for tax authorities to have my personal information, unless they contact Facebook directly. But that is not likely to happen,” she said.

    Nhung also said most of her customers pay in cash.

    Mai, a cosmetics seller, said she has received a letter from District 1 even though she has a business license and has declared tax.

    She said she may just ignore the letter because it’s “not necessary.”

    Since February, Vietnam’s tax authorities have been looking at ways to collect taxes from online businesses that use Facebook and other social media sites such as Instagram and YouTube.

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