Latest news with #Vietnamese-made
The Star
10 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Vietnam advances plans for international financial centre as trade risks grow
FILE PHOTO: A container ship sails past a luxury apartment complex in Ho Chi Minh City on December 3, 2021. The financial centre will operate in both financial hub Ho Chi Minh City and tourism-focused Danang.- AFP HANOI: Vietnam is moving forward with plans to establish an international financial centre to enhance its role in the global financial market and attract international capital flows, Finance Minister Nguyen Van Thang told parliament on Tuesday (June 10). The initiative could position Vietnam as a regional hub for financial activity, boosting its economic influence, according to Thang and a draft plan, now in its 30th version, seen by Reuters. The draft includes policies covering foreign exchange liberalisation, banking activities, capital market development, tax incentives and labour provisions targeting experts and investors. Foreign investment inflows into Vietnam in January-May rose 7.9 per cent to US$8.9 billion, the government said, while foreign investment pledges were up 51.1 per cent to US$18.4 billion. But the United States has threatened heavy tariffs on Vietnamese-made goods if it does not make major concessions, which could dampen its investment momentum. The country is an important manufacturing base for companies ranging from Samsung Electronics, Foxconn and Intel to Nike and Adidas. The National Assembly, Vietnamese parliament, will vote on the resolution on June 27. A key feature allows members of the financial centre to use foreign currency for transactions and secure international financing, according to the draft. "Members are permitted to establish trading floors and platforms for commodities, carbon credits, cultural products and innovative startups," the draft said. Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed the draft as the latest version. Administrative procedures will be simplified, the draft added, creating more favourable conditions for participants. The financial centre will apply accounting and financial standards, including minimum capital adequacy and liquidity ratios, specific to both 100 per cent foreign-owned banks and domestic banks, aligning with international practices. It will operate across two cities: financial hub Ho Chi Minh City and tourism-focused Danang. The government had earlier set a goal to have the centres operational this year. - Reuters
The Star
2 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Vietnam exports first African swine fever vaccine batch to Indonesia
Workers at AVAC Vietnam preparing a shipment of African swine fever vaccine for export to Indonesia. — Courtesy of AVAC HANOI: Biotechnology firm AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company has exported its first shipment of African swine fever (ASF) vaccines to Indonesia, a major milestone in the country's efforts to bring domestically developed veterinary vaccines to the international market. The shipment, consisting of 120,000 doses of the AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine, was sent to Indonesia on Monday following nearly three years of evaluation and testing in collaboration with Indonesian authorities. The vaccine was officially approved for use by Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture in April this year. The importer and distributor is PT. Biotis Prima Agrisindo, based in West Java. According to Nguyen Van Diep, General Director of AVAC Vietnam, the export underscores the vaccine's quality and efficacy, having passed Indonesia's stringent veterinary approval process. He said the milestone reflected not only the company's success but also the progress of Vietnam's veterinary vaccine sector in establishing a presence on the global stage. The live attenuated vaccine is the first of its kind in the world to have been successfully developed and commercialised, a result of intensive research by AVAC. The product has so far been used to administer over 3.5 million doses, with around three million doses deployed across Vietnam to help contain ASF outbreaks in various localities. Nearly 500,000 doses have already been exported to the Philippines and Nigeria, both of which have responded positively to the vaccine. AVAC currently maintains a reserve of approximately 1.5 million doses to meet urgent domestic and international demand. The company is also pursuing regulatory approval in several other countries, including India, Malaysia, Nepal and Myanmar. In Vietnam, the vaccine has been rolled out on a large scale in provinces such as Cao Bang, Lang Son, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Quang Ngai and Tra Vinh, with the support of local funding. Field results have shown the vaccine to be highly effective and safe, with no recurrence of ASF in vaccinated herds. Veterinary authorities are continuing to assess the vaccine's use in breeding pigs, including both sows and boars, to extend protection across the entire pig population. Initial trials have indicated good safety and efficacy, though full evaluation is still underway. Le Toan Thang, head of Veterinary Medicine Management Division at the Department of Livestock Production and Animal Health, said the successful export to Indonesia further demonstrated the effectiveness of Vietnamese-made vaccines. He said that Vietnam's ability to control ASF domestically helped build trust in the product and opened the door for more exports. All exported veterinary vaccines must undergo rigorous testing, independent trials and safety assessments in the importing country before they are approved for use. AVAC's product has successfully met these standards. AVAC is one of three domestic manufacturers currently licensed to produce ASF vaccines in Vietnam, alongside Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine JSC and Dabaco Group. — Vietnam News/ANN
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Business Standard
02-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Apple shifts iPhone production for US market to India, confirms Tim Cook
Tech giant Apple is procuring half of its iPhones for its US market from India, as the tariffs are lower than in China, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook said. Speaking to CNBC after quarterly earnings, Tim Cook also added that it is sourcing its other products from Vietnam for its US market. However, he added, the company still makes the 'vast majority' of its products for other countries in China. Cook also confirmed that India will be the 'country of origin' for a large number of iPhones that will be sold in the US. This comes as the country tries to move away from China, owing to its high tariff rates as compared to the 10 per cent tariffs imposed on Indian and Vietnamese-made goods. Why Apple is moving iPhone production away from China's high tariffs Tim Cook's remarks follow US President Donald Trump's announcement of reciprocal tariffs. Talking about the impact on the company, Cook said that it saw a 'limited' effect in the March quarter, as Apple was able to optimise its supply chain. iPhones to cost less if production is moved to India An India Dispatch report citing JPMorgan analysis suggests that the tech giant would be able to keep the price of its phones almost the same if it completes the final steps of moving the facility to India. A cost breakdown suggests that iPhones assembled in China cost $938, whereas it would cost $1,008 if the production were moved to India. This increase of 2 per cent in the prices is relatively cheaper as compared to the 30 per cent hike in the prices of iPhones, if the company decides to manufacture phones in the US. A report from the Financial Times suggests that Apple is planning to shift the assembly of all of its US-sold iPhones to India by 2026 as the company pivots away from China following a trade war between the two countries. Following Trump's tariff announcement, the company witnessed a wipeout of $700 billion from its market value. This comes after the company spent almost two decades in China and spent heavily on creating a production line which helped the company to become a $3 trillion tech giant. Moving its assembly to India would mean that the company would have to double its production output. In 2024, Apple sought to pivot towards India for the production of its iPhones, for which its main supplier, Foxconn, and Tata started importing already assembled component sets from China. Apple Q2 results: Revenue grows to $95.4 billion, iPhone leads the charge For the quarter ending March, Apple reported revenue of $95.4 billion, up from $90.75 billion a year ago. iPhone revenue stood at $46.84 billion. Mac revenue was $7.95 billion, while iPad revenue was reported at $6.4 billion. In the current quarter, ending in June, Cook expects overall revenue to grow in the 'low to mid-single digits' on an annual basis. However, he admitted that forecasts beyond June are murky, indicating that the tariff situation remains fluid. The company follows a fiscal year cycle that begins in October and ends in September. The first quarter is from October to December, and the results were reported in January. Trump's reciprocal tariffs: What it means for Apple and iPhone supply chains On 2 April, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on more than 100 countries, including India and China. On 9 April, he announced a 90-day pause on these tariffs as several countries tried to negotiate a deal with the US. However, the list did not include China, which retaliated with its own reciprocal tariffs.
The Independent
03-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
The real and present danger of Trump playing TV bingo with the US economy
Donald Trump says that Americans have been 'plundered', "raped" and 'scavenged' by 'foreign cheaters' for decades. Such bizarre, violent language. So unpresidential. And plain wrong. Some might wonder how it might, therefore, have come to be that America is the largest and most successful economy in the history of the world, and its citizens have never been richer. Not for much longer. Trump keeps telling folk that foreign countries pay tariffs. They don't. American shoppers will. Will American shoppers see their Vietnamese-made Apple iPhones in Walmart go up by 46 per cent? Will people in those hard-pressed towns in the rust belt be made to pay more for a home made with Canadian timber? The answer is 'yes'. Tariffs are a sales tax by another name, and a highly regressive one – there is no allowance for anyone's ability to pay. Prices in America will be up, inequality will grow, and no one will be given back their 'American dream', as the president claims. As stock markets plummet in the aftermath of Trump's announcement, opinion polls suggest that Americans fear the consequences. They are right to do so. Trump, a man who once owned casinos, has thrown the dice on the greatest economic gamble since the Second World War. The game show-style presentation, as if it was a TV bingo show, should have fooled no one. The calculations of tariffs, non-tariff barriers and currency manipulations are entirely notional, to put it mildly. Trump knew what he wanted to do – like a gangster favouring cronies, and whacking supposed enemies – and worked the percentage back from there. JD Vance got a presidential shout-out – 'You are getting more confident!', which carried a hint of menace. None of it is rational. Why, he even hit the penguins in the Falklands with a 41 per cent tariff. When it wasn't the fault of malevolent 'friends and foes', it was because of that supervillain Sleepy Joe. He even chucked a Maga hat into the crowd for one of the autoworkers to scramble for. It was a typically narcissistic show, and a demeaning performance for all concerned. But at least he didn't use his favourite word 'nasty'. Which he was. At least the British breathed a sigh of relief he wasn't quite as nasty to them. Did Keir Starmer play a blinder? Everything is relative, but the fact that the UK got whacked for 'only' a 10 per cent baseline Trump tariff, whereas the EU will see a 20 per cent tax on their (much more substantial) exports to the US, must be counted a diplomatic triumph – of sorts. To some, it's a Brexit boost. Until, in other words, the British realise that a manufacturing recession in what is still our largest trading partner is bad news indeed for the struggling British economy. It could have been worse. But April 2nd 2025 – 'Liberation Day' or 'Economic Independence Day', as Trump has variously called it – is not going to be a date that should be celebrated by anyone. In a world of deeply integrated and interdependent economies, it is a nonsense. Characteristically, there's a vindictive streak in the tariff schedules unveiled by Donald Trump. The stratified approach, with the 'reciprocal' tariffs, has two purposes. It is a mercantilist policy, whereby economic activity in America is set by one politician for his own social, political or eccentric reasons rather than by consumers and market forces. As with so many areas, for example, Trump has decided that he knows better than the world's automotive giants about how and where to make their vehicles most efficiently. Globalisation and complex but highly effective cross-border supply chains are out. Things will be manufactured in America wherever possible, even if it's more expensive. If, as it will, adds costs, drives prices higher and reduces competition and quality, then that is secondary to the Trumpian vision of America making things again. He has little interest in the trade in services, which, for now, remain outside the scope of his economic rule by decree. Second, he's settling old and new scores. He said so himself, during his latest 'weave' – how he was showing 'great consistency'. Trump was born in 1947, and is man who witnessed what Toyota, Honda and Nissan did to the US car sector in the 1980s. Many in those days blamed Japan's own protectionist measures and currency manipulation for the 'unfair' competition, and with some reason (allegations that are similarly levelled against China today). As a TV celebrity, even then Trump complained about what was happening. He declared in 1989: 'America is being ripped off. We're a debtor nation, and we have to tax, we have to tariff, we have to protect this country.' He advocated tariffs of 15 to 20 per cent on Japan, South Korea, Germany and, a little oddly, Saudi Arabia. Now he's president, he can do something about what he sees to this day as their 'cheating'. It wasn't that big a surprise that Toyota got an uncomplimentary name-check in the Rose Garden. It's not too much to see the new trade policy as a sort of Trumpian act of karma; and nowadays it's applied to new perceived foes, such as Mexico, Canada, China and the European Union. For Trump, it's the fulfilment of a life-long dream. Who knows where this will lead? The last time the US tried this policy, it exacerbated the Great Depression and was thus a strong contributory cause of the Second World War. The US Tariff Act of 1930 – better known as 'Smoot-Hawley' after the two senators who sponsored the legislation – slapped substantial import taxes on the rest of the world. Retaliations and counter-retaliations followed, as did a series of competitive currency devaluations, and the next result was that world trade collapsed within a few years, the major industrial nations were mutually impoverished, and, soon enough, the trade wars led to the real thing. In some ways, the world is worse placed than it was in the 1930s to withstand yet another shock. Do not forget that the coming trade recession follows the recent energy crisis, the huge debts run up by national treasuries during the pandemic, and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, in which the banks had to be rescued at what was at the time thought to be an exorbitant cost to the taxpayers of the West. The sense of jeopardy at this point should be palpable. It is not going to be possible once again to borrow and spend our way out of a slump, because most of the advanced economies have already run out of 'fiscal headroom', in the fashionable phrase. As in the 1930s, countries are now having to divert precious economic resources into making armaments to deter or to fight wars – guns before butter. Some $5 trillion has been wiped off the value of American shares since February. We should be terrified. Maybe it's what Trump wants us to be, the whole world watching him on TV signing off the executive orders in an economically lethal version of The Apprentice. He enjoys being theatrical, but this is a dangerous game, and history offers no comfort. Within a decade of the Smoot-Hawley Act, the world was at war. A century on, who could say history won't tragically repeat itself?
