A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by the restaurant associations from Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam to form the Asean Restaurant Associations Alliance.

The MoU will help the food and beverage (F&B) sector in Singapore and the other countries to expand into Asean markets, as well as promoting the sharing of best practices and even the use of interesting ingredients or cooking methods.

They will also support each other’s events and organise joint activities to benefit their members and create business relationships.

 The MoU was signed at the inaugural Restaurant Asia 2019 expo held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre between March 21 and 24.

“With the common goal to promote development and excellence of the F&B community in Asean, the formation of this alliance signifies our determination, conviction and confidence to work together to propel the industry to greater heights,” Restaurant Association of Singapore president Vincent Tan said in a speech during the event.

The association has more than 400 members representing close to 700 brands and more than 3,600 food outlets here. Tan told The Straits Times: “With this MoU, we are able to further extend our network into Asean and encourage internationalisation for our members.”

He said opportunities abound in the region due to Asean’s growing population of about 650 million.

Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Chee Hong Tat said in his speech that productivity for the food service industry, measured by real value added per actual hour worked, has increased 1.4 per cent per annum in the past five years.

But he added that this is lower than the productivity in other service sectors such as retail trade, which recorded a 3.2 per cent per annum increase in the same period.

Chee said the rapid growth in F&B establishments has outpaced demand, and the increased competition has squeezed profits and impacted productivity. He added that F&B enterprises should go beyond technology to thrive, highlighting the MoU as an example.

“While we focus on cutting costs to improve productivity by reducing labour reliance, it is equally important to help our companies to achieve higher value-add and greater profitability by achieving larger scale,” he said.

Chee also pointed to the enhanced Productivity Solutions Grant that firms can tap as well. The grant includes a new subsidy to support 70 per cent of out-of-pocket cost for training, up to a maximum of $10,000 (Bt315,510) per firm.

Recently released statistics show the country had a trade turnover of $21.3 billion during the first half of March, up 18.6 per cent against the second half of February.

This result helped to bring the country’s total trade turnover to $93.6 billion by March 15, edging up to $100 billion by March 19 – a surge of 6.3 per cent on year.

The total value of exported goods was $10.95 billion during the first half of March, an increase of 13.6 per cent compared to the second half of February.

A number of export products recorded strong rises in value during the March 1-15 period compared to the second half of February, including telephones and components (up 15.7 per cent), garments and textiles (27.2 per cent), computers, electronic items and components (17.3 per cent), wood and wooden products (39.2 per cent) and means of transport and spare parts (27.4 per cent).

These figures lifted the country’s total turnover of exports to $47.05 billion by March 15, up 5.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2018.

In the first half of March, Vietnam imported $10.34 billion worth of goods, up 24.5 per cent against the second half of February.

By March 15, the total import value for the year reached $46.55 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 per cent.

Export value of foreign direct investment enterprises from March 1 to 15 reached $7.82 billion, up 12.7 per cent against the second half of February.

Use of the local currency settlement (LCS) scheme between Indonesia and Thailand has grown substantially since its inception in late 2017, Bank Indonesia (BI) said in a statement.

The LCS scheme promotes the use of local currencies to settle transactions between related parties to boost international trade and investment between countries and reduce reliance on third-party currencies like the US dollar.

Trade transactions between Indonesia and Thailand using the LCS scheme had grown substantially since the scheme was introduced on December 11, 2017. In the first two months of this year, transactions worth 121 billion rupiah (Bt268.18 million) were settled using local currencies, an increase from 30 billion rupiah worth of LCS transactions recorded over the same period last year.

The figure was also above the 58 billion rupiah monthly average LCS transactions recorded last year, the BI data revealed. Total trade between the two countries amounted to $17.71 billion in 2018, according to data from the Trade Ministry. – The Jakarta Post/ANN

Vietnam’s credit institutions told to aid pig farmers

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has directed credit institutions to support their borrowers who raise pigs and are suffering losses due to African swine fever (ASF).

Under Document No 1901/NHNN-TD, the central bank said as African swine fever has been reported in 20 provinces and cities so far – damaging pig farmers – credit institutions and SBV branches in the localities must scrutinise damages to borrowers to quickly restructure their debt repayment period and consider an interest rate cut.

Credit institutions must also continue to provide new loans for the borrowers when the fever ends to help them restore production. The institutions were also required to take the initiative in providing farmers with access to information related to the support policies.

As for SBV’s branches in the cities and provinces, the central bank required the branches to closely follow the fever’s development in their localities so as to direct credit institutions to promptly report outstanding loans due to the fever and actively solve difficulties for pig farmers. – Viet Nam News/ANN

JT Capital joins Cambodia’s derivatives market

JT Capital, a new local derivative brokerage firm, has officially launched operations in Cambodia, joining in the country’s fledgling derivative trading market after receiving a licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC), according to an SECC press release.

Speaking during the company’s launch ceremony, SECC director-general Sou Socheat said trading activity in the derivative sector saw a significant surge last year. Socheat did not detail the actual number of derivative trading transactions, but said last year’s transactions jumped 2,000 per cent compared to 2017.

According to Socheat, the hefty jump in derivative trading transactions is due to effective regulations from the SECC and growing confidence among investors. Derivative trading consists of two main entities – a brokerage firm and a central counterparty that acts as a clearing house.

According to SECC regulations set late in 2015, a brokerage firm must meet a minimum capital requirement of $250,000 (Bt7.9 million), while a central counterparty must cover $5 million.

There are more than 10 licensed derivative brokerage firms in Cambodia and four licensed central counterparties. –The Phnom Penh Post/SANN

PSE to make sure REIT proceeds stay in country

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has drafted revisions to the rules on listing real estate investment trusts (REITs) to allay regulators’ concerns that money raised from a domestic offering would be invested overseas instead of funding local property projects.

The PSE proposed that the rules be amended to require all REITs to invest at least 75 per cent of deposited property to income-generating real estate, provided it would not invest in real estate located outside the Philippines.

To be able to invest outside the Philippines, the REIT must seek special authority from the Securities and Exchange Commission. – Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN

Prosecutors on Monday outlined how Soh, 59, the alleged mastermind, and girlfriend Quah, 54, the former Ipco International chief executive, allegedly exploited family, friends and business associates to manipulate the share prices of Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital (now Attilan Group) and LionGold Group – collectively known as BAL. The stocks surged by at least 800 per cent over nine months before they plunged during three days in October 2013.

“This is a prosecution for the most serious case of stock market manipulation in Singapore,” deputy public prosecutor Peter Koy, who leads a seven-strong prosecution team, said in an opening statement that lasted almost two hours.

Last Wednesday, the third figure in the case, former Ipco interim CEO Goh Hin Calm, pleaded guilty to two of six charges of aiding and abetting Soh and Quah. Goh, 59, described as a “treasurer” in the operation, was sentenced to jail terms of three years for each of those charges, which will run concurrently.

According to prosecutors, Soh and Quah controlled a total of 189 accounts held in the names of 60 individuals and companies at 20 financial institutions, including local and foreign brokerages, as well as international banks.

Soh, an undischarged bankrupt, and Quah have been acquainted since 2002. At the time of the offences, they were in an intimate relationship, said prosecutors.

“We will wait for our partner, Malaysia, such as which law firm will be assigned. We have to complement each other,” said Oke Nurwan, international trade director general of the Indonesian Trade Ministry in Jakarta on Monday.

The European Parliament on Monday kicked off the session, which will deliberate the EU Renewable Energy Directive II submitted by the European Commission on March 13.

If the RED II is approved, the EU will categorise palm oil as an unsustainable product and phase out its use in biofuels in 2030.

The Foreign Ministry’s special staffer for prioritised programme acceleration, Peter Gonta, said the government was still waiting for the European Parliament’s decision.

“The session could produce a ban [on palm oil] or the parliament will delay the decision to April 15, or it would wait for the election of the new parliament. We still don’t know. We will find out within the next three days,” Peter added.

House of Representatives Speaker Bambang Soesatyo reportedly joined the diplomatic force by sending a letter to the European Parliament, calling on it to reject the RED II draft.

Indonesia takes the issue seriously and will take it to the World Trade Organization if the EU approves the draft, Oke said, adding Indonesia could make a separate litigation move or collaborate with Malaysia.

Indonesia is the largest crude palm oil producing country, while Malaysia is the second.

Indonesian exports to the EU were recorded at US$17.1 billion (Bt541 billion ) in 2018, while imports were at $14.1 billion (Bt445 billion). Investment from EU countries to Indonesia stood at $3.2 billion in 2017.

More provinces are expected to be hit by El Nino next month as the weather bureau sees the dry spell worsening and continuing until the end of the year.

Just a month after Pagasa announced that the climate phenomenon arrived in the country, the farm sector already incurred 1.33 billion peso (Bt800 million) in losses and damages as farm lands turned arid due to the lack of water.

“Water supply for agriculture in the Philippines has been declining because of several major reasons… [one of which is the] frequency in the occurrence of El Nino, which now hits the country every two years,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said on his Facebook page.

Pinol said the government must “locate and identify headwaters” immediately and dredge major river systems “to increase water holding capacity and prevent flooding during rainy season”,

He added that there should be “funding and implementation of alternative irrigation systems” to avoid a major water crisis in the next few years, noting that the sector’s “reliance on traditional irrigation systems instead of embracing modern technology” has impeded its growth.

Last week, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Adminis-tration held a forum and adjusted its forecast to 51 provinces from 19 provinces that would be affected by the drought.

Temperature forecast

Forecast ranges of temperature by the weather bureau also showed parts of Northern Luzon and lowlands Luzon to experience the hottest temperature at 40.7 and 40.4 degrees Celsius.

“Models indicate weak or even moderate strength of El Nino conditions for the March-to-May season, continuing into June-to-August and August-to-October 2019 season, weakening but not disappearing in October-to-December 2019,” Pagasa said.

Overall, from April to June, there are 51 provinces that will experience drought while 32 provinces are to experience a dry spell.

By the end of April, 61 per cent of the country will likely experience a drought while 31 per cent will likely experience a dry spell—leaving only 8 per cent of the country that will not be vulnerable to El Nizo.

Pagasa defines a dry spell as at least three consecutive months of 21-to-60-per cent reduction in rainfall, while drought is characterised by either reduced chance of rainfall for three consecutive months or a dry spell that lasts for five consecutive months.

In Luzon, provinces that may be hit by the climate pattern the hardest include Abra, Benguet, Kalinga, Apayao, Mountain Province, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Pangasinan, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Palawan, Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduances, Masbate and Sorsogon.

In the Visayas, provinces that are most vulnerable to El Nino include Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte and Northern Samar.

“Our partnership with China has never been stronger, and it can only be strengthened if the Chinese companies – both state-owned and private – come to the Philippines and invest,” Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) president and CEO Vivencio Dizon told potential investors.

In particular, the BCDA chief pointed out that the central business district currently rising in Clark, Pampanga, would be an attractive destination for Chinese money.

The call for more investments from China was made by key Cabinet members last week during the Philippine Economic Briefing in Beijing attended by an estimated 500 businessmen. The economic team led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III was joined by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, central bank deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo and Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, among others.

“Like China, the Philippines is well positioned for growth,” Dominguez said, pointing to the country’s “strong fiscal position” that has paved the way for the government to invest in an ambitious infrastructure programme that works in concert with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.