HCM City investment shifts toward tech
With Ho Chi Minh City now discouraging investment in labour-intensive sectors and preferring technology-based industries, investment in its industrial parks and export processing zones decreased by 53.95% year-on-year in the first nine months of this year to US$354.77 million.
Foreign direct investment was worth US$167.17, a fall of 67.4%, according to the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (Hepza).
Hepza issued investment certificates for 14 FDI projects worth US$46.96 million, a year-on-year fall of 88.9%, while 23 existing projects invested an additional US$120.79 million, an increase of 33.88%.
Japan was the largest investor, accounting for 77.35% of the investment, followed by Singapore (9.59%), the Republic of Korea (7.64%) and Hong Kong (2.22%).
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| Workers of Sunny Group based in Linh Trung Export Processing Zone in HCM City. |
Most of the investments were in electronics (76.29%) followed by food processing (5.73%), high-end textiles (4%), mechanical engineering (2%), and plastic and rubber (1.26%).
Tran Cong Khanh, head of the Hepza office, told a press briefing on October 11 that this year Hepza encourages investment in high-tech and supporting industries as well as the four key industries of mechanical engineering, electronics and IT, chemicals, and food processing.
Investment by domestic enterprises fell 26.9% to US$187.05 million, with 50 new projects worth US$146.04 million getting licences, an increase of 11.2%.
Most of the new projects are in food processing, services, mechanical engineering, chemicals, plastics and construction materials.
Export by enterprises in the IPs and EPZs rose 6.76% to US$4.32 million.
Some 285,700 workers are employed in the IPs and EPZs, marginally up from last year.
There are more than 1,400 projects with total investment of US$9.31 billion, including 564 foreign-owned projects worth US$5.47 billion.
