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Vietnam’s Economy in May: Unpacked
Can LNG really save Vietnam-US trade?
Key Challenges in Vietnam-US Trade Negotiations: Unpacked
Vietnam’s Private Sector Development Push: Unpacked
Vietnam’s Aviation Industry: State of Play 2025
Vietnam and the Middle Income Trap: Unpacked
Vietnam’s 8 Percent GDP Growth Target: Unpacked
Vietnam officially considering anti dumping tariffs on Chinese steel
If anti dumping duties are introduced Hoa Phat Steel, which trades on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange under the ticker HPG, would likely be one of the key beneficiaries. Stocks in the firm are some of the most heavily traded on a near daily basis among foreign investors. Foreign ownership in the firm is currently capped at 49 percent with 24.92 percent of the company’s shares currently held by foreign traders.
Illegal Vietnam gambling sites sponsoring sports teams in Europe
Gambling in Vietnam is illegal but is still rampant. There have been some attempts to legalise the practice, particularly sports betting, with guidelines for a pilot program legislated back in 2017, but no business has as yet taken up the opportunity. This is in large part due to very restrictive regulations that limit the size of a bet to VND 1 million or about US$42 and to just a handful of sports. A minimum capital contribution of VND 1 trillion or US$42 million is also required…
Vietnam looking at introducing sugar tax on soft drinks
Dubbed the ‘sugar tax’ this has been raised several times in the past. The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam came out against the idea back in 2018 arguing there was no evidence legislating a sugar tax would reduce consumption of sugary drinks. That said, a study on a similar tax in Mexico found that the consumption of sugary beverages fell 6 percent in its first year of implementation…
Vietnam improves slightly in MSCI 2024 Global Market Accessibility Review
Of the 18 criteria listed, on six Vietnam had no issues, on four it had no major problems but could use some improvement, but for the remaining eight it was marked as needing improvement. Vietnam has been actively courting an upgrade to its market classification from FTSE Russell and MSCI. Though it still looks to be some ways away this latest report from MSCI does suggest it is moving in the right direction.
Vietnam ministry proposes 100 percent special consumption tax on alcohol
Of note, major beer makers in Vietnam, including the makers of the popular Beer Saigon and Beer Hanoi brands reported falling profits in 2023. A crackdown on drink-driving has partially been blamed alongside the pending increase in taxes on alcoholic beverages–though nothing has been confirmed and its not clear how a future tax increase might have influenced last years sales.
Vietnam News Roundup: June 7 to June 13
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers foreigner ownership changes at local banks, reports Vietnam might start importing more gold this year, the 8 million trading accounts reportedly opened with the local bourse, labour shortages for one New Balance and Adidas supplier, and more…
Vietnam car sales increase in May, but down year-to-date
Of note, an article in Business Forum Magazine has lamented that the bulk of this decline was in locally produced vehicles and suggests this might presage an even greater decline of the local car manufacturing industry. It points out that import tariffs have come down considerably on motor vehicles under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement but are also declining as a result of the European-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement which should see tariffs on cars imported from Europe reduced to zero by 2030.
Claims Vietnam to allow gold imports later this year rebuffed
There was a similar situation last month whereby Reuters reported that the state power provider had asked a key Apple supplier to reduce its power consumption, however, the state power provider later came out and said this wasn’t accurate. It should be noted that government ministries and departments and state-owned enterprises generally do not respond to requests for comment from foreign media. With this in mind, a simple solution might be to reform this practice.
Vietnam bank lowers foreign ownership limit below Aussie bank’s current holding
It’s not clear what this might mean for Australia’s Commonwealth Bank nor why they bank made this decision. It could be to give local shareholders greater control over what the Commonwealth Bank does with its stake or could also be that the bank wants to diminish the influence of foreign banks on its local operations…
Vietnam port pushes back on allegations of pilfering from goods for export
The allegations now include 1.68 tons of coffee missing from a shipment to Egypt in January; four shipments of pepper to the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, and Japan from March that were each missing between 1.5 and 4.6 tons; and three pepper shipments to Malaysia and Norway between September last year and March this year that were each missing between 200 kilograms and 3.3 tons of product…
Vietnam aviation forum highlights outsized debate over rising local airfares
It’s not exactly clear why airline ticket prices have become such a huge focus in the local media and this could suggest that said coverage is slightly disproportionate to the problem it purports to cover. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the local aviation industry has been having a difficult time of late and this may be simply adding to its woes…
Vietnam-US Trade Tracker [data set]
The United States is the biggest buyer of Vietnam’s exports and together the two countries engage in over US$100 billion worth of trade each year. This tracker looks at what is imported from the US and exported to the US from Vietnam using the most recent data available.
Proposal to increase foreign ownership limits in airlines in Vietnam rejected
The Vietnam airline industry has been struggling broadly as a result of government regulated ticket prices, increasing fuel costs, and a debt hangover from the COVID-19 pandemic when the industry more-or-less ground to a halt. Bamboo Airways, in particular, only took to the skies in 2019 the year before the pandemic broke out. It also started life as a subsidiary of FLC Group which has been heavily mired in controversy after its leader was arrested back in 2022. This saw the airline spun off but the new independent entity has never had much success and has repeatedly downsized its fleet and the number of routes it offers…
Increased dependence on thermal power spurs Vietnam coal imports increase in May
Of note, the price it is paying to its key suppliers has varied widely over the first five months of the year. Its most expensive coal imports have come from China averaging US$302 per ton versus its cheapest coal imports from Laos which have cost US$68 a ton by the same metric. On average, it has paid US$166 per ton…
Vietnam shares worth US$119.5 million to be liquidated in BlackRock ETF exit
This is in line with a broader exodus from Vietnam’s stock markets of foreign investors. Since the start of the year, just shy of US$1.58 billion has been withdrawn by non-Vietnamese investors for a number of reasons like exchange rate pressures, higher returns elsewhere, and general uncertainty with respect to the local economy…
Adidas, New Balance suppliers struggling to find workers in southern Vietnam
Some of the challenges raised in this article, with respect to hiring workers, is that workers have more job options other than factory work, workers no longer need to move to population centres with many manufacturing operations opening in tier two cities and provinces, and workers that moved back to their hometowns during the COVID-19 pandemic have still not returned on the back of the general uncertainty that the pandemic created.
Korea’s Daewoo looking at making cars in Vietnam
Vietnam’s automotive industry is huge but dominated by motorcycles. That said, cars are becoming more popular with just shy of 5 million registered vehicles at the end of 2020. This does, however, represent just 5 percent of the population of 100 million people which means there is plenty of room for car sales to grow…
Russian president could be in Vietnam next week: Reuters
Vietnam has remained cordially with Russia throughout the Ukraine War. The Southeast Asian nation is heavily dependent on Russia for its arms supplies but also has a strong bond with the country on account of their similar political pasts. This has seen Russian tourist arrivals grow by 80 percent in the first five months of this year over the first five months of 2023 and…
Vietnam solar production slows on end to antidumping moratorium
Of note, Trina Solar, in November of last year, announced it would almost doubled its investment in Vietnam bringing the total invested to nearly US$900 million. It also said, around the same time, that it believes its solar panels should be exempt from the US tariffs on the ground that its polysilicon comes from the US and Europe. With this in mind, it’s not clear what might happen to the additional investment Trina Solar announced last year…
Reports Vietnam will allow gold imports before the end of the year
If this is accurate, this would signal an interesting turn of events. To be clear, the State Bank took control over gold imports and exports to stabilise the local currency when inflation surged back in 2011. At the time, gold was being used as a store of wealth to hedge against inflation and banks were permitted to lend and borrow against the yellow metal which was pushing up demand (incidentally this practice was banned in 2012, too). This was increasing demand for US dollars to import more gold and subsequently putting inflationary pressure on the local currency…
Labour Market Report
Q1 2025
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