Idemisu Q8 – The First 100% Foreign Capital Petrol Station in Hanoi

Foreign Capital Petrol Station in Hanoi

On October 5th 2017, at the Thang Long Industrial Park (Hanoi), the opening ceremony of the Idemisu Q8 petrol station was held, marking the first 100% foreign capital petroleum station participating in the Vietnam petroleum retail market.

IQ8 is a joint venture between Kuwait International Petroleum (Kuwait) and Idemitsu Kosan (Japan).

Based on the experiences that both Kuwait Petroleum and Idemitsu have achieved in Europe and Japan, IQ8 Petroleum Joint Venture is aiming to develop professional petroleum business in Vietnam in the next years.

Thang Long gas station has carved a mark on the new era of Vietnam’s petroleum industry and Idemisu Q8 committed to contribute to the development of Vietnam in the future.

IQ8 is equipped with an automated station management software system that allows card payment with many advanced features that will bring more convenience to customers.

The software system allows accurate management of fuel quantities to 0.01 liters, providing detailed reporting of transactions to customers.

Petrol stations are designed and equipped with the latest technology, including:

Two-layered fuel tank, pipeline system made of synthetic material to minimize leakage of fuel causing environmental impact.

The petrol station also provides Japanese standard services in order to bring satisfaction to customers through trained staffs.

According to Mr Hiroaki Honjo, CEO of Idemitsu Q8, the joint venture will strive to become the number one service provider in Vietnam.

Previously, Idemitsu Kosan has been conducting petroleum exploration in Vietnam since the 1990s. Recently, this investor has been involved in Nghi Son (Thanh Hoa) and a number of lubricant business activities nationwide.

After that, Kuwait Petroleum and Idemitsu have set up Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum in 2016 in order to distribute petroleum products in Vietnam.

By establishing this petroleum joint venture, Idemitsu and Kuwait will provide a stable supply for the growing market of Vietnam where demand for petroleum products is expected to grow fast in the coming time.

The ambition of this 100% FDI joint venture is to expand the petroleum retail system nationwide. After Idemisu Q8 opened in Hanoi, Idemisu Q8 will in turn appear in some provinces in the Southern of Vietnam.

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Solar Energy Power Future in Vietnam

Although the initial investment cost for solar energy in Vietnam is high but it brings in opportunities for cheaper option than thermal power technology being used in Vietnam.

In other country, solar power plants are competing fiercely with the thermal power plants running on coal.

In Vietnam, Thien Tan solar energy plant has been started to construct on 24 ha land in Quang Ngai with capacity of 19.2 MW at investment of VND 800 bil.  The Ministry of Industry and Trade has also approved the investment project of Tuy Phong solar energy plant on 50 ha land in Binh Thuan with capacity of 30 MW at investment of VND 1,454 bil.  This will open opportunities for renewable energy to contribute to the effort of protecting the environment and curbing climate change.

The solar energy is new in Vietnam therefore the investment in this area is at very early stage.  However, the foreign investors have been increasingly interested in seeking opportunities in investment in solar energy projects.

Similar to investment in wind power energy in Vietnam, one of the concerns for investors is the expected increase in purchasing price from Electricity Vietnam Corporation, the party whom purchase the electricity on Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).   Further, legal frameworks for promoting solar energy investment are not yet finalized.  Accordingly, the contribution ratio of renewable energy in Vietnam is minimal.  The Vietnam government has been trying to put some effort to increase the renewable energy contribution to 5,6% (in 2020) and 9,4% (2030).

 To achieve this, Vietnam government shall need to be consulted on plan to support the solar energy investment project in Vietnam in tax, land, capital, power purchase agreement.  Investors would need to be consulted by local consulting firm on process, procedures on investment policy, appraisal process, power purchase agreement, and other steps to develop and execute an energy project in Vietnam to improve the effectiveness of the investment in renewable energy.

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Finland Poured 33 Million USD into Clean Energy Projects in Vietnam

Watrec Company has just started to invest in Vietnam with a clean energy project, investment capital of 30 million euros (over 33 million dollars) in Hanoi.

Specifically, the project is converting energy from waste with the processing capacity of the plant about 600 tons of waste per day. The project is a comprehensive solution for collecting urban solid waste, classifying and converting it into biogas, as well as other combustible materials to produce electricity. At present, Watrec is in the process of negotiating with partners to finalize the allocation of funds for the project.

Watrec is the leading biogas technology company in Finland, handling 315,000 tonnes of organic waste each year at its plant-building chain. The project in Hanoi aims to manage the mixed waste that has not been classified and treat urban solid waste.

According to FinPro’s representative, Vietnam has the potential to develop clean energy projects from urban waste and agricultural and forestry waste.

FinPro focuses on converting waste into energy and bioenergy in Vietnam for about 2 years. Therefore, FinPro understands the potentials and challenges in converting waste into energy in Vietnam.

In fact, in recent years, many Finnish companies have invested and implemented projects in this field in Vietnam and have made positive progress.

For example, Doranova has one of the largest projects with a landfill disposal facility worth 6m euros under construction in the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, aiming to convert 35,000 tonnes of waste into energy.

Nearly a year ago, Doranova is one of the Finnish companies to undertake a project to convert waste into energy in Binh Duong. Accordingly, this project will recover the gas from the landfill and treat, supply the biogas to the power plant with a capacity of 1.6 MW.

Regarding the investment and construction of clean energy projects, according to representative of Valmet, the leading company in Finland, Vietnam is Valmet’s investment priority. From the investment realm, deploying projects in this area, Valmet’s representatives made 3 recommendations. First, it is necessary to determine the feasibility of the project by identifying the source of input waste from the plant. The second is about the fee collected from the garbage carrier to the processing plant. Third, it is necessary to consider electricity price lists when selling to EVN.

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Many Foreign Brands Are Coming to Vietnam

Realizing that Vietnam is a promising market, foreign enterprises want to do business in Vietnam through the form of franchising. Recently, many consumer goods, fashion and cosmetics brands from Japan and Thailand are promoting the franchise with Vietnamese partners and enterprises.

In the framework of the program “Vietnam – Thailand Enterprises Interaction in The Field of Franchising” which was held in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) recently, there were 40 Thailand enterprises operating in the food, beverage, restaurant, supermarket, health care, cosmetic sectors joined to find partners in Vietnam.

According Mr Nupartpat Sutthitham, Director of the MP Mart convenience store chain (Thailand), currently in Thailand there are 3 MP Mart stores, in which the model is not the same as Family Mart or Circle K. While Family Mart sells mainly food (80%), MP Mart sells mainly fast moving consumer goods, which are produced in Thailand (70%).

According to representatives of MP Mart, the cost to open a store in Thailand with an average area of 150 m2 is approximately 50,000 USD. Realizing the Vietnam market has many opportunities, MP Mart wants to explore and this is the first time this brand comes to Vietnam. The criteria for selection of investors, partners of MP Mart are having financial resources to be able to scaling this model in large numbers in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, according to representatives of Kokekokko – a well-known chicken fast food brand in Thailand with 5 stores, using Japanese spices to marinate chicken. Representatives of this brand also did not hide their intention to find partners with business understanding and financial resources to open stores in Vietnam.

Also in late November of 2016, there were 9 Japan enterprises with 14 fashion brands came to Vietnam to find partners to open franchise stores or distribute products in the domestic market.

According to Mr Akira Kaise, representatives of I Am Company Limited, this fashion brand has been presented in many markets around the world such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Korea, Taiwan, Spain, UK, Netherlands… and this is the first time he comes to Vietnam to study the market.

Representative of I Am Co., Ltd commented that young population, good economic development, increasing people’s incomes… are factors to make Vietnam becoming a potential market for fashion items. In addition to the market penetration, the Company is also interested in outsourcing or investing in Vietnam to take advantage of low labor costs and highly skilled labors.

At the Vietnam market, Japanese businesses are often mentioned in the culinary field, meanwhile, the fashion, cosmetics or beauty brands are not widely known by consumers. Thus, recently, many Japanese cosmetic brands have decided to enter the market of Vietnam and looking for official distributors.

In an activity operated by the Esuhai Company of Vietnam recently in HCMC, there were nearly 10 cosmetic brands of Japan participated. Among them, the brand Kose is well known by many consumers.

According to the representative of Kose, this enterprise has been established since 1946, global sales reached 2.1 billion USD a year and has been presented in 18 countries. However, so far, this brand does not have official distribution channel in Vietnam market. Therefore, along with the promotion of market presence and product introduction, on this occasion, Kose desires to find agents and official partner in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, according to representatives of Nippon Menard Cosmetic Company, owner of the brand Menard, the Company is fully confident to introduce their products to consumers in Vietnam and wanted to find good partners to be able to access to more consumers.

According to the representatives of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in HCMC, Vietnam currently has more than 93 million populations, of which half are women who want to become more beautiful as earnings are improving and willing to spend the budget for beauty and body care. Therefore, this is a favorable time and good opportunity for the Japanese cosmetics brand to penetrate the market of Vietnam.

However, there is the fact that the Japanese cosmetic and fashion products are priced relatively high compared to the average income of local consumers. In addition, the Japanese fashion is not common in Vietnam market. Therefore, this is seen as the first step for the fashion and cosmetic brands of Japan to explore the market and find partners.

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FDI in Real Estate Reached 1 Billion USD in 2016

The area of real estate business attracted total FDI capital reached 1 billion USD in the first 9 months of 2016.

Foreign Investment Department (Ministry of Planning and Investment) has announced FDI report for the first 9 months of 2016. Accordingly, there were 1,820 newly licensed projects with total registered capital of 11.02 billion USD, increased by 1.1% over the same period. Meanwhile, there are 851 projects registered to adjust capital with the added value of 5.3 billion USD, decreased by 13.9% over the same period.

Generally in the first 9 months of 2016, total newly registered and additional capital reached 16.4 billion USD, decreased by 4.2% over the same period in 2015.

In 9 months, foreign investors have invested in 19 sectorsin which the field of processing industry, manufacturing is the sector attracting more attention of foreign investors with 767 new projects and 608 respectively adjust capital projects.

In 9 months, foreign investors have invested in 19 sectors, in which the field of processing industry and manufacturing are the sectors attracting more attention of foreign investors with 767 new projects and 608 projects register to adjust capital.

Total new and increasing capital to processing industry and manufacturing reached 12.15 billion USD, accounting for 73.9% of total registered capital in 9 months.

In particular, the field of real estate business ranks 2nd with 34 newly registered projects, total capital reached 1 billion USD. The field of professional activities, science and technology ranks 3rd with 649 million USD, accounting for 3.9% of total investment capital…

In the first 9 months of 2016, there are 65 countries and territories have investment projects in Vietnam. Korea leads the way with a total investment capital reached 5.58 billion USD. Singapore ranked 2ndwith total investment of 1.84 billion USD. Japan ranked 3rd with total investment capital of 1.7 billion USD.

Foreign investors have invested in 54 provinces and cities in which Hai Phong attracted the most investment capital with 37 new projects and 28 projects register to adjust capital, corresponding to 2.74 billion USD. Followed by Hanoi and Dong Nai with total investment capital of 1.97 and 1.89 billion USD respectively.

Some large projects that are licensed in the first 9 months of 2016 including LG Display Hai Phong with total registered investment capital of 1.5 billion USD, invested by LG Display Co., Ltd (Korea). The goal of the project is producing and processing plastic OLED display products for mobile devices such as cell phones, smart watches, tablets.

LG Innotek plant project in Hai Phong with total registered investment capital of 550 million, invested by LG Innotek Co., Ltd. (Korea) with the goal of producing camera modules.

Amata City project in Long Thanh has a total investment of 309.3 million USD, invested by Thai investor with the goal of building service urban in Dong Nai.

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Set-up Branch Office in Vietnam

The Branch of a foreign business entity in Vietnam (referred as “The Branch”).

Means a subsidiary unit of the foreign business entity, established in accordance with the law of Vietnam in order to enter into contracts in Vietnam and conduct activities being the purchase and sale of goods and other commercial activities consistent with its license forestablishment in accordance with the law of Vietnam and any international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.Set-up Branch Office in Vietnam

The Branch will need to apply and obtain the establishment license; and have a seal bearing the name of the Branch.

The Branch is permitted to conduct activities being the purchase and sale of goods and other commercial activities consistent with its license for establishment in accordance with the law of Vietnam and any international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

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Sustainable development in Vietnam

Achievement of sustainable development in Vietnam

The sustainable development objectives including economic, social development and environment protection have been integrated into national priority development together with economic growth objective.

With a stable GDP and economic growth, improvement of education, Vietnamese citizens have gained more knowledge about gender quality, environmental and other social issues, thus, creating campaigns to support collective action. For example, the campaign collecting garbage along beaches in Vietnam attracted more than 1000 students to participate in which indicated collective action to mitigate effect of disaster and climate change.

Vietnamese government has significantly improved the rate of hunger eradication, poverty reduction, population, job creation, education and healthcare. Particularly, in 2014, total state budget for hunger eradication and poverty reduction were more than 34 billion VND. Thus, the poverty rate took a nosedive from 14.2% in 2010 to 1.8-2% in 2014, proving average reduction of 2% per year national wide.

The state fund for environmental protection has been increased, thus the policies for environmental protection has put into regular operation. By executing tax exemption for environmental friendly enterprises, businesses in Vietnam have been more aware of coordinating environmental protection policies into long term vision and mission.

Vietnam takes part in international agreement to show commitment to sustainable development such as: WTO, United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nation Convention to combat desertification, the convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora…

Challenges of sustainable development in Vietnam

There have been some challenges in Vietnam when implementing sustainable development policies. An increase in natural disaster, degenerated natural resource (water and biodiversity resources), wasteful and ineffective production and consumption are causing huge destruction to various local communities.

Even though there have been some supporting policies for enterprises in Vietnam to implement sustainable development policies, they have not obtained full awareness of the link between good environmental, social, and governance performance and the ability of companies to be profitable and survive in turbulent times. Therefore, most of the firms succeeded in promoting sustainable development practices are international businesses.

Sustainable development in business

Since Vietnam takes part in international trade agreements, there will be more international and institutional investors need the information of material environmental, social and governance information about company performance to decide whether to make investment decision.

Sustainable development of the business should be proven by social factors (employee compensation, benefits, staff turnover, safety practices, diversity and local community) and environmental factors (energy efficiency, GHS emissions, biodiversity conservation, water usage, natural resource use, waste to energy and recycling practices). These factors are crucial for investors as they indicates how the company takes into account risks, opportunities, management approach, stakeholder value and long term development.

Sustainability report has been strongly recommended by Vietnamese government. Vietnam Brewery Ltd is one of a few leading companies taking this report seriously. Their report in 2014 stated that the company switched from diesel to biomass as boiler fuel, reducing direct CO2 emissions as a result. In addition to reducing our carbon footprint and mitigating the effects of global warming, the local community has also benefitted from the programme with an additional income from the sale of rice husks. The company also highlighted the code of conduct which allowed the employees to voice their opinions. There have been also other big cooperation taking part in the trend for example Bao Viet Corporation, Vinamilk, Hau Giang Pharmacy…

In conclusion, in order for enterprises in Vietnam to actively engage in sustainable development and voluntarily adopt sustainability as common practice, Vietnamese government should take more urgent actions.

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Italian Business Expand Investment in Binh Duong

Ambassador of Italy in Vietnam and Binh Duong provincial leaders have attend the opening of the investment support office of Emilia Romagna (Italy) in Binh Duong.

This is the first representative office of the business community, investors of Emilia Romagna in Vietnam, which functions to create a bridge of cooperation between the two countries and promote Italian businesses to invest in Binh Duong.

On the same day in Binh Duong province, the ceremony to sign a memorandum of cooperation between Becamex IDC Corporation (under Binh Duong Provincial People’s Committee) with the Emilia Romagna region, Bonfiglioli Group and Unimore University (Italy). Content of the memorandum is to cooperate in economy, science, technology and education between the parties.

The Italian Embassy in Vietnam said Emilia Romagna is a dynamic economic region with many Italian famous enterprises in the field of manufacturing industry.

Through the opening of a representative office for the business community in the Binh Duong and signed a cooperation will open more opportunities, create the wave of investments by Italian enterprises to Vietnam in general and Binh Duong in particular.

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