Economy and commerce
Trade
Thailand's TCC acquires Metro Vietnam for $704 million
Thai consumer goods group TCC Holding Co. Ltd has completed its acquisition of the Vietnamese operations of Metro for 655 million euros (US$704.1 million). TCC’s subsidiary TCC Land International Pte. Ltd. takes over Metro’s 19 stores and related real estate portfolio in Vietnam, the German company ...
Trade-friendly Vietnam now offers far more than just low-cost labor
Vietnam is seen by many foreign businesses as being a very attractive place to invest in and do business for many reasons, Francois Guibert, Chairman of the EU-ASEAN Business Council says. “Vietnam has a lot more to offer investors than just low-cost labor,” Guibert told Thanh Nien ...
Downward spiral persists in exports of Lao coffee amid world price slump
The volume of coffee exports from Laos has decreased continually over the past couple of years due to a slump in coffee prices on the world market. Total coffee exports in 2014 reached 26,000 tonnes at an estimated value of US$60 million (Bt16.6 billion), which fell ...
Thailand plans 2m more tonnes of G-to-G rice sales
The Thai government aims to sell over 2 million tonnes of rice this year on a government-to-government (G-to-G) basis. But it admits a renewed attempt to sell rice to Iran may hit a snag because of escalating political conflict in the Middle East. Chutima Bunyapraphasara, Commerce Ministry permanent ...
Somkid: Exports take back seat to local work
The Thai government is focused on stimulating the domestic economy and promoting community-based enterprises in the first half of the year as the global economic recovery appears set to remain sluggish. Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said on 5 January at a cabinet meeting that in light ...
Rice warehouses are put back on the table in talks with China
Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce announced last week a $400 million proposal by three Chinese firms to build state-run rice warehousing facilities to increase the Kingdom’s storage capacity. Lacking such capacity has been a longstanding issue that sector experts say has in part hampered ambitions of reaching the ...
Vietnam weakens dong fixing as it adopts market-based rate
The State Bank of Vietnam reduced the dong’s reference rate for the first time since August, after saying over the weekend that it is moving to a more market-based methodology in setting a daily reference rate versus the dollar. It lowered the fixing by 0.03 percent ...
Vietnam, partners look to sign Pacific-rim trade pact in February
The Vietnamese government expects to sign an agreement with 11 other nations in early February to finalize their negotiated terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, taking another step to turn one of the most ambitious trade pacts into reality. According to local media, Minister of Industry and Trade ...
Vietnam's currency drops to limit of trading band for first time
Vietnam’s dong fell to the limit of its current trading band for the first time, reflecting further pressure to weaken after three devaluations already this year. The currency fell as much as 0.07 percent to 22,547 per dollar in Hanoi, diverging from the State Bank of ...
Vietnam's garment exports forecast to top $27 billion
Vietnamese textiles and garment exports will possibly hit US$27.1 billion this year, an increase of more than 10 percent from 2014, local media reported. Local producers shipped $20.63 billion worth of textile and garment products in the first 11 months, up 8.9 percent from the same ...
