Many provinces in the South East attract FDI capital

Production of the electronic components at the Nidec Sankyo Vietnam Company, the Saigon Hi-Tech Park. Photo: T.D.

Processing and manufacturing industries attract capital

In the first 11 months of 2017, the HCM City was the leading locality in attracting FDI with US $5.68 billion, accounting for 17.2% of total investment in Vietnam. In particular, the manufacturing and processing industries accounted for 24.7% with nearly US $480 million, up nearly 5.4 times over the same period last year.

Typically, the investment project of CJ Cau Tre (South Korea) in building a complex for food processing from meat and fish in the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone, Nha Be district had a total investment of US $53.3 million on an area of 7.1 ha. This was for the following items: Food processing factory, research and development center, and modern food safety center. The first stage of the project had a design capacity of about 12,000 tons of product per year. As recently as in November, Ho Chi Minh City has issued a new investment license for the Smart Complex Zone project at 2A functional area in Thu Thiem new urban area, District 2. A total registered capital of US $885.85 million was invested by South Korea with the target of real estate business.

Binh Duong is one of the southern provinces with the highest FDI inflows in the country. According to the Binh Duong Provincial Department of Planning, in the first 11 months the total foreign investment capital registered to grant, adjust and contribute capital in buying shares in the province reached US $2.546 billion, up 125% over the same period in 2016. The FDI capital contributed more than 49% of the total social investment capital, contributing more than 67% of industrial production value and accounting for over 82% of export turnover of Binh Duong province. Notably, most of the FDI capital in Binh Duong was invested in the processing and manufacturing sector, including many projects with a high technology content, and reduced labor costs. Specifically, the manufacturing and processing industry had 161 newly registered investment projects; 110 times the projects were adjusted for capital increase, and 71 projects contributed capital by purchasing shares with a total investment capital of US $2.138 billion. This accounted to 83.6% of total foreign direct investment from the beginning of the year in the whole province. For example, the inauguration ceremony of the factory of the Bel Vietnam Co., Ltd., a member of the Bel Group (France) with a value of US $20 million has just opened. This is a manufacturer of famous cheese brands such as Con Bò Cười, Kiri, Babybel, Goodi, and Regal Picon. This factory has applied modern technology for processing and producing dairy products to serve the export and domestic markets.

Another example is the investment project of the Polytex Far Eastern Limited Company. This is a noteworthy project because the registered area of the company is the development of ancillary industries for the garment sector, including synthetic polyester fiber products. The project has the additional registered investment capital of US $485.8 million. The total investment capital after the increase is US $760 million, in Bau Bang Industrial Zone, Bau Bang District. With a modern machinery production line, with high technology production applications, the investor expects to meet the demand for the auxiliary textile industry not only in Binh Duong but also in the whole country.

In addition, some provinces in the southern area, such as Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An, Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc, have also made good progress in attracting FDI capital in recent months, promising a victorious year. Typically, the Dong Nai province has achieved the early goal of attracting FDI with nearly US $1.18 billion by November 20th, surpassing nearly US $180 million compared with the plan in 2017.

Improve the environment, attract the investment

For sustainable development, attracting more from FDI investors in the coming time is essential. At a recent foreign investors meeting, Chairman of Binh Duong People's Committee Tran Thanh Liem said that the province was concentrating resources to invest in improving the infrastructure system. To plan the expansion of industrial parks, and create a clean land fund for attracting investment. As well as implementing training for human resources; building social housing, housing for workers, and providing sufficiently and timely labor resources for businesses and investment.

Also, Binh Duong would continue to accelerate the administrative procedural reform to ensure publicity, transparency and simplicity; to concentrate on developing high-quality services to meet the production and business requirements of the enterprises and the industrial and urban development needs of the province, to strengthen the direction at all levels and branches to ensure political security, social order and safety, and to create conditions for keeping enterprises focused on investing in Binh Duong.

Similarly, in order to attract the FDI capital in the last months of the year, the Ho Chi Minh City determined to find a way to develop four key industries (mechanical engineering, electronics, chemicals - rubber - plastic and food processing). Specifically, the mechanical engineering sector continues to focus on increasing its scale of production and expanding the consumption market. It has advanced swiftly with the investment of new equipment and is now able to compete in the region. Many automatic equipment lines, systems, and machines have been produced to replace ones imported by the enterprises. They are highly competitive due to stable quality and have a purchase cost of about 50-70% compared to imported products in the same type. The electronic-information technology sector has been developed increasingly through the acquisition of high-level techniques and science by international economic group projects investing and using semiconductor electronic chip and board technology.

In addition, in order to attract FDI capital into the export processing zones and the industrial zones, the HCM City People's Committee has directed HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA) to speed up the projects in the industrial zones of, Vinh Loc 3, Vinh Loc, Phong Phu, Le Minh Xuan 2, Le Minh Xuan 3, North East Cu Chi, Hiep Phuoc stage 2, Automobile Mechanics and An H.