Consumer prices begin to level off in April
Prices in the domestic market have regained some stability during April, following a more volatile March, thanks to a series of comprehensive and bold measures taken by the Government.
The country’s consumer price index in March shot up at its fastest pace in more than a decade, hitting 19.39 per cent year-on-year, reported the General Statistics Office.
According to the HCM City Trade Department, there has been a slight reduction in the prices of many commodities including rice, meat, poultry and seafood, especially in wholesale markets, since early April. Rice has inched down by roughly VND 400 to 600 per kilo while seafood prices have decreased by 3-15 per cent. Poultry prices also fell by between VND 14,000 – VND 30,000 per kilo.
Deputy general director of Big C supermarket, Ly Thai Dung, said that after a sharp increase in March, prices for many goods have been relatively stable.
Chairman of the Viet Nam Supermarkets Association, Vu Vinh Phu, said supermarkets have so far taken a series of measures to stabilise prices. In addition to negotiating with suppliers and refusing unreasonable price hikes, supermarkets have taken the initiative by stockpiling goods and focusing on goods with more competitive prices, Phu said.
He said a number of supermarkets are co-operating on researching provincial commodity sources to determine exactly where the best supply contracts can be made in an attempt to cut sale prices.
Big C supermarket announced it would lower its profits by between 1.5 to 2 per cent in a move to stabilise prices. The supermarket has also negotiated with about 2,000 suppliers to set price adjustment margins and time frames for any new price rises.
Representatives of suppliers said they had to carefully scrutinise their rising input costs, as well as study any price hikes as consumption was decreasing.
Director of the Hai Ha Kotobuki Confectionery Company, Ngo Kien Cuong, said that despite the sharp increase of input costs, his company could not raise product prices as consumption had fallen by between 20-30 per cent.
However, Cuong said, his company still has to maintain production to meet contracts.   
VNS 22.4

Vietnam – an appealing Asian market
Vietnam has emerged as one of the most attractive markets in Asia with an annual average growth of 8% and drastic economic reforms, said an executive of the global leading financial and credit service provider PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
Speaking at a seminar held in Germany on April 16, PWC Export Credit Guarantee Division Head Manfred Bruer said Vietnam topped the EM 20 Index that ranks 20 key emerging markets according to their attractiveness for overseas investment, and is a good premise for German exporters and investors to come to the promising market.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Tran Duc Mau said Vietnam always rolls out red carpet to welcome German investors, noting that the country has spared no efforts to speed up economic reforms and ensure sustainable growth.
The diplomat stressed that Germany is Vietnam’s important partner and is able to give a helping hand to the nation’s economic development.
According to a representative from the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam, Jan Noether, an increasing number of German firms have flocked to do business in the Southeast Asian country.
However, Noether also pointed out challenges facing Vietnam such as poor infrastructure and services, energy shortages, high office rents and inflation, red tape and corruption.
Many German entrepreneurs presented prospects for co-operation between businesses from the two countries as well as requirements for the growing flow of German investments, particularly in energy, infrastructure, water supply, environmental protection and banking.
The workshop, co-hosted by PWC and the credit insurance company Euler Hermes (EH), brought together representatives from 70 local companies and banks, including Siemens, BMW, ThyssenKrupp, Daimler, Commerzbank, Hypoverreinsbank.
VNA 20.4

Vietnam encourages investment in tourism
“Vietnam is determined to implement policies to encourage investment in tourism,” affirmed an official of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MoPI).
At a two-day seminar on tourism estate investment opportunities that opened on April 17 in HCM City, Director of the MoPI’s Foreign Investment Department Phan Huu Thang said in addition to land and financial preferential policies for investors the country will further revise its policy and mechanism to really facilitate investment.
Thang said of the total US $104 billion in FDI capital in Vietnam, US $10.8 billion have been poured in building hotels and tourism business, and foreign-invested businesses have offered new high-quality services to local customers.
Many participants at the seminar shared the view that investment in Vietnam’s tourism is profitable despite difficulties in infrastructure and ground clearance.
They also said that Vietnam is one of the most attractive tourism destinations in Asia thanks to its developing economy, stable social security and constantly improved infrastructural facilities, as well as beautiful natural landscapes and a diversified tangible and non-tangible culture.

VNA