First quarter results give optimistic indicators

Generally speaking, 57% of surveyed enterprises said their first-quarter business was far better than the end of last year. Nearly 88% forecast that their second quarter business will be far better than the first quarter, commented GSO head Nguyen Bich Lam.

According to the GSO, the sectors forecasted to grow higher than the first quarter include medicine (82.1% of respondents), electricity equipment (69.6%), garments (65.4%), electronics (65.3%), drinks (62.8%) and foodstuff (60.7%).

Some 62% of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) said their second-quarter business would be better than in the first quarter while the rate was 59.6% for foreign enterprises and 52.7% for locally-invested enterprises.

Some 88.3% of respondents were expecting that their orders would increase and keep stable in this year’s second quarter. Only 11.7% said their orders would decrease in the second quarter.

Nearly 61% of SOEs were upbeat about the surge in their second quarter orders while the rate is 57.3% among foreign enterprises and nearly 49% among locally-invested enterprises.

Stronger rises in orders during the second quarter include for medicines (80%), power equipment (66.7%) garments (61.7%), chemicals (60.7%), drinks (58.7%), paper (57.3%) and electronics (57.5%).

Regarding export orders, 75.3% of respondents said their first quarter export orders had increased. Some 86% forecast that their export orders would climb higher in the second quarter.

Da Lat Flower Biotechnology Joint Stock Company’s general director Nguyen Dinh Son said the company had reaped annual revenue of VND6 trillion (US$280.37 million) and currently had 5,000 hectares of greenhouses used for cultivating flowers.

We intend to expand this to five times its current size. The local business and investment climate has remarkably improved, Son said.

Anonymous spokesperson from locally-owned fresh milk maker TH Group told VIR that it was quite optimistic about its business performance.

The firm is planning to implement dairy cow projects in Thanh Hoa, Lam Dong and Dak Lak provinces. It is also working to implement a large scale fresh milk project in Russia. The total capital for these projects could amount to billions of dollars.

Currently, the group is operating a US$1.2 billion hi-tech dairy and fresh milk producing project in the central province of Nghe An. This project’s products have been registered in 60 nations. Products will be exported to the US in July.

Daniel Bach, chairman of cement producer Holcim Vietnam, also said the local economy was recovering, with rising demand for cement. He said this would help Holcim Vietnam operate at a full capacity of 3.4 million tonnes of cement this year.

Production is strongly bouncing back and will help the economy grow 6.2% this year. If we make more efforts, the rate will likely be 6.4-6.5% for 2014, said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dao Quang Thu.