Local scooter maker loses licence, cries foul

Lisohaka Co Ltd, a unit of Vinashin Motor, said on Thursday that it has completed the necessary procedures to file a suit against the state agency Viet Nam Register (VR) for withdrawing the quality certificate that allows it to sell its locally assembled Diamond Blue 125 scooters in the domestic market.

A Lisohaka representative said VR had announced the withdrawal of the certificate and asked Lisohaka to suspend assembling Diamond Blue scooters after some 200 units had been sold.

The market management agency also recalled several other Diamond Blue 125 scooters on display at Lisohaka’s showroom in Ha Noi.

The action was taken after Piaggio Viet Nam and Honda Viet Nam condemned the scooter as an illegal copy at a news conference in Ha Noi on Tuesday. The two motorcycle makers affirmed that Diamond Blue and Piaggio’s Vespa LX were identical in appearance and that the scooter was not equipped with a Honda engine as claimed.

Honda Viet Nam said none of its affiliates or plants anywhere in the world make the AF14E engines fitted into the Diamond Blue 125.

Lisohaka claimed the engines were sourced from Sundiro Honda Motorcycle Co. in China. Vu Manh Ha, general director of Vinashin Motor, had said early last week that his company had bought the engines from Shenzhen Aerospace Guang Yu Industries, an authorised distributor of Honda products in Southeast Asia.

VR certified on May 31 this year that the AF14E engine manufactured in 2009 and used for Diamond Blue 125 was brand-new.

Lisohaka launched Diamond Blue, priced at VND50 million (US$2,500), into the local market in September this year.

VR deputy head Do Huu Duc had told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that on 17 May 2010, Sundiro Honda Motorcycle affirmed that it had provided AF14E engines for Diamond Blue 125 scooters to Vinashin Motor.

“Based on this document and tests, we granted the certificate for the company to assemble Diamond Blue scooters with Honda AF14E engines,” said Duc.

But later on September 30, the President of Sundiro Honda Motorcycle, Hiroshi Sekiguchi, wrote to VR, announcing that the Chinese company has never made or approved any motor with the name AF14E.

The Commercial Councellor at the Chinese Embassy in Ha Noi affirmed that the document signed by Sekiguchi was an official statement and that Sundiro Honda has never manufacturered Honda AF14E engines.

Duc said these were reasons behind VR’s decision to recall the certificate granted to Diamond Blue 125 scooters.

A representative of Lisohaka was quoted by Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) as saying that VR’s recalling of Diamond Blue 125 scooters was “irrational” because they had obtained all the necessary documents including the engine quality certificate granted by VR.

Price inspection teams form

The Finance Ministry has decided to establish teams to inspect price registrations and postings at 16 companies involved in the price stabilisation programme.

These companies produce or deal in essential goods covered by the programme including pharmaceutical products, dairy products, steel and construction materials, gas, fertilisers and animal feed.

The companies targeted for the coming inspections include major ones like the Quang Ngai Sugar Co., Bourbon Tay Ninh, Southern Food Corporation, Viet Nam Steel Corp., and Ha Tien Cement Co. No.1.

According to the Finance Ministry’s Price Management Department, prices of essential goods will continue to rise in the second half of November.

In the first half of November, pork prices rose by VND1,000 to VND3,000 per kilogramme; fish of various kinds by VND5,000 to VND15,000 per kilogramme; and beef by VND5,000 per kilogramme compared with October.

Pests, bad weather and floods in central provinces, that have affected food supply, as well as ‘psychological pressure’ were some of the reasons that led to price hikes, it said.

The department also forecast slight increases in the prices of sugar, steel and medicines.

Floods threaten salt farms

Thousands of salt farmers in central Quang Ngai Province are in dire straits, unable to sell their produce and having to store it outdoors near salt-marshes, unprotected from heavy rains and floods.

The main reason for their critical plight is the import of salt. Local salt was overnhelmed by imported salt in the domestic market and it is one of the main reasons leading to the critical situation facing local saltworkers.

Pham Ngoc Thanh, an expert from the Ministry of Industry’s and Trade’s Chemicals Department, said in 2010 the country needed 240,000 tonnes of salt for chemicals production and 214,000 tonnes for food and seafood production and processing.

Thanh said 156,000 tonnes of this was bought domestically and the remaining amount imported.

Le Van Nghiem, deputy head of the Quang Ngai Forestry-Farm Produce-Seafood Quality Management Agency, said salt-producing provinces were amazed at these figures.

Nghiem said 20 provinces in Viet Nam were producing salt and they could fully meet the domestic demand.

Deputy director of the Quang Ngai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phan Huy Hoang said that in June 2010, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had instructed relevant agencies to provide interest-free loans for farmers to produce salt until the end of the year.

Dung had also asked the Northern Food Corp (Vinafood 1) to buy 20,000 tonnes of salt from northern provinces and 180,000 tonnes from southern provinces for reserves.

However, Vinafood 1 had bought no salt in the past five months, Hoang was quoted by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper as saying. — VNS

Tags: Diamond Blue, Vietnam Scooter market, Vinashin Motor