Briefs

Yangon’s ports are expected to receive more than 2 million containers per annum by 2020, according to the Myanma Port Authority (MPA).
They received 890,000 containers in 2015, said Zaw Tun Lwin, deputy general manager from the MPA.
He said the annualised figure could increase to 4 million by 2025.
He added that the government was working to find better solutions to tackle cargo problems. A container manageฌment system is being tested in Mandalay with the help of the Japan International Cooperation Agency to allow cargo shipฌping from central regions, such as Mandalay, Sagaing and Magway, where most rice, peas and corn are produced, according to Zaw Tun Lwin.
The government recently held discusฌsions with businesses on how to jointly deal with cargo management as Yangon Region needs more storage space for conฌtainers and it lacks a reliable electricity supply and enough modern machinery. 
Militaryappointed First Vice President Myit Swe, who leads a committee for development of the private sector, met business leaders on March 16 in Yangon to discuss port clearance operations across the country, to end long delays and address rising costs.It is estimated that nearly 90 per cent of national trade is cleared at Yangon’s ports, causing urban congestion.
The situation is expected to worsen as trade, worth US$25 billion (Bt875 billion) over the past year, rises in line with ecoฌnomic growth. It is estimated that the economy will grow by at least 7 per cent in the next two years.
“Transport has been a big issue for decades. Delays at the ports are directly related to the transport problems. A lot of containers remain at ports since the long Thingyan holiday [in April last year]. It is really hard to clear them if clearance servฌices are available only in office hours,” Aung Moe, vice president of the Container Trucks Association. – Myanmar Eleven

HCM City to continue ‘use Vietnamese goods’ campaign
Ho Chi Minh City plans to continue promoting the “Vietnamese give priority to using Vietnamese goods” campaign.
Speaking at a meeting on March 16 to review last year’s campaign, Tran Tan Ngoi, vice chairman of the HCM City Fatherland Front Committee, said many promotional events, including trade fairs, have been organised to showcase local products in the city, even in its rural areas.
Domestically made goods now account for 8090 per cent of all products retailed, according to Ngoi.
Awareness of the importance of the domestic market has improved among companies, and they pay attention to brand registration, developing products to customers’ tastes and expanding their distribution network even in remote areas, he said.
Ngoi said Fatherland Front Committee, the city Department of Information and Communication and the Business Association of Vietnamese HighQuality Products would set up a website on domestically made products this year. He admitted the campaign had shortcomings since many enterprises had yet to focus on improving quality, resultฌing in many products failing to meet conฌsumers’ needs.
The campaign, though large in scale, had not captured much attention among consumers. – Viet Nam News

Indonesiabased Astra Honda Motor to boost big bike output
Motorcycle market leader Astra Honda Motor aims to sell 400 units of big bikes this year. 
Marketing director Thomas Wijaya said the manufacturer would reach its target by aggressively launching a new model in the 500cc class. Currently out of nine big bike models, five are in the 500cc class.
“The 500cc class contributed 50 per cent of our big bike sales last year, for Indonesians, the size is the most suitable even for daily usage,” he said during the launch of the CMX500 Rebel in Jakarta on Friday.
The company will also open a new big bike dealership in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, in April. Currently, there are nine Honda big bike dealerships; two of them based in Jakarta, and the others in Medan, North Sumatra; Bandung, West Java; Semarang, Central Java; Yogyakarta; Denpasar, Bali; and Makassar, South Sulawesi.
“As of March, we already sold 30 units of the big bikes, the number is small, but we believe the market will increase,” he added. Currently, most of the big bikes are imported from Thailand and Thomas did not specifically mention when the big bikes could be manufactured in Indonesia. –The Jakarta Post