The Hai Phong Industrial Zone Management Board has granted an investment licence to Flat Group from Hong Kong (China) for a solar glass factory worth US$200 million (Bt7 billion).
The factory will cover 21.8 hectares in the Dinh Vu Industrial Park, reported Dau Tu Newspaper.
It is expected to begin operations in late 2017 with a capacity of producing about 580,000 tonnes of solar glass each year.
Haiphong holds its position among the country’s top performers in foreign direct investment attraction with 31 newly-registered and capital adjusted projects valued at more than $1.74 billion in the past five months of the year.
Large economic groups from Japan, South Korea and Belgium chose Hai Phong to land their investments thanks to the northern port city’s favourable geographic location and potential.
The city is housing more than 450 valid foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of over $12 billion. – Viet Nam News
Ayala unit now among
biggest EMS suppliers
Ayala-led Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc (IMI) is now the 6th largest global provider of electronic manufacturing services (EMS) to the automotive industry, improving its ranking by a notch from last year.
IMI’s ranking went up based on 2015 automotive EMS revenues from 7th place in 2014, according to the roster drawn up by US-based global market research New Venture Research, IMI disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange Wednesday.
The Laguna-based EMS company said its IMI’s ranking had gone up on the back of a 9.2 per cent increase in automotive EMS revenue shown on its audited financial statement. Revenue generated by IMI from the automotive segment amounted to $349.86 million in 2015 compared to $321 million in 2014 and $276 million in 2013.
IMI supplies customised solutions in driver assistance, driver and passenger safety, car security, and body controls, among others.
Overall, IMI is among the top 50 EMS providers in the world based on the latest list of Manufacturing Market Insider based on EMS-related revenues. – Philippine Daily Inquirer

Airbus predicts surge in
after-market spending
Airbus has published its first global services forecast (GSF) and predicted that over the next 20 years, total industry after-market service spending will reach US$3 trillion per year (Bt105.3 trillion).
Of this total, the cumulative value of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activity will exceed $1.8 trillion by 2035, Airbus predicted.
On an annual basis, Airbus predicts that the MRO spend will grow from $53 billion to over $132 billion per year, representing average year-on-year growth of 4.6 per cent.
After-market services activity is inherently linked to the growth of passenger fleets – which Airbus believes will more than double from 19,500 commercial aircraft over 100 seats at the end of 2015 to almost 40,000 by 2035.
Consequently, it said the need for pilots and technicians would commensurably increase. Today there are an estimated 200,000 active pilots who fly passenger aircraft. Airbus’ GSF predicts that this number was set to grow to some 450,000 pilots by 2035.
It said the need to replace flight crew who retire during the next 20 years would result in the need to train as many as 560,000 new pilots.
In terms of technical staff needed, Airbus GSF predicted there would be a requirement to train approximately 540,000 new technicians who would fulfil various duties across the airframes, engine, and component domains.
Airbus also said that given the accelerating demand for flights and the burgeoning airline fleets, Asia-Pacific would represent a largest portion of the market for both MRO activity and the need for new qualified pilots and technicians, while Europe and North America combined would account for approximately one third of the total MRO market spend. – The Nation

Palestrato Apparel was only launched six months ago, but has already managed to catch the attention of fitness enthusiasts from the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and several countries in Europe.
Syaima has already sold over 300 pieces including tights, sweatpants and T-shirts. Her last line was sold out in less than a month.
“Locals make up the bulk but I have had orders from basically everywhere.
“The Brunei market is just a stepping stone and I don’t intend on just staying here,” she said in yesterday’s briefing organised by Darussalam Enterprise (DARe).
Palestrato Apparel gets its growing international clientele mostly through its Instagram account and the company’s website.
Bruneians wearing her apparel in running events overseas also draw the attention of potential customers.
“Every day, I meet someone new because there’s always someone asking about the product,” she said.
There are others approaching her who are keen to invest in her clothing brand. Syaima decided to start her own fitness apparel business after she got tired spending thousands of dollars on imported brands.
Thinking that it was something she could do herself, she did her research and tried to understand the business better.

This was announced by deputy governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) Zao Minh Tu at a workshop in Hu Giang Province. Tu said as many as 16 credit contracts worth 10 trillion gong were signed at the event.
As part of the Mekong Delta Economic Co-operation Forum 2016, the workshop on bank credit for the Mekong Delta region’s socio-economic development was an opportunity for localities, enterprises and experts to discuss credit policies in particular and banking activities in general to help the region’s development.
Truong Cnh Tuyen, deputy chairman of the Hu Giang provincial people’s committee, said besides the state budget, capital from banks had made important contributions to the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta region in general and Hu Giang Province in particular.
Thanks to bank loans, many businesses and farming households in the region had more resources to expand production and improve the quality of agricultural products.
According to the SBV, the region’s capital mobilisation accounts for about 7 per cent of the total capital mobilised for the national economy. Bank credit has also seen a gradual increase in recent years. From the beginning of the year, the total outstanding loans of credit institutions based in the southwestern region reached 400 trillion dong, up 3.3 per cent year-on- year, comprising 8 per cent of the country’s total outstanding loans.

When told that the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague had ruled that the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal was part of the Philippines, Daroca’s face lit up.

Chen Shi Qiu, a delegate of experts from China’s Public Diplomacy Consulting Committee, had expected Indonesia to take a more “objective, just and fair position” as it had in the past. “I think the more objective and fair view would be in conformity with the factual situation and the behavior of the tribunal and the wrongdoings of the Philippines side on this issue,” Chen said in Jakarta on Wednesday in a discussion with the press organized by the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia.