Foreign investors eye Vietnam's textile industry ahead of free trade pact
Vietnam's textile industry has been seeing a strong flow of foreign investment over the first half of the year, a trend that many say is spurred by a trade treaty expected to be completed by this year-end.
News website Saigon Times Online reported on July 1 that Taiwanese-owned Polytex Far Eastern Company has been granted a license to build a yarn factory in the southern province of Binh Duong, which neighbors Ho Chi Minh City.
It was the largest foreign project in the province in the first six month, with a cost estimate of US$274 million for the first stage, according to the website.
Between US$700 million-US$1 billion was planned for the second stage, a representative of the investor was quoted as saying.
The company's third textile project in Vietnam was meant to take advantage of the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, which, when signed, will give Vietnamese products duty-free access to major markets, the representative said.
They were the biggest FDI projects to be approved in Vietnam by June 20, accounting for 29.2% of the total new pledges during the time, according to a recent report by the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
With an investment of US$660 million, Turkish-owned Hyosung Istanbul Tekstil Ltd.'s yarn factory in Dong Nai was the largest of the three, followed by the US$300-million project by British-owned Worldon Vietnam Ltd., Co. in Ho Chi Minh City.
The third one is invested by Hong Kong-owned Lu Thai Textile Co.
Vietnam licensed 757 new FDI projects with total pledges of US$3.83 billion by June 20, down 21% year on year, the Foreign Investment Agency reported.
Meanwhile, US$1.65 billion has been registered for existing projects, a year-on-year decrease of 17%.