Taiwan tops list of foreign investors in Vietnam

Taiwan has been leading foreign investors in Viet Nam since June, making up between 19 and 26% of the total registered foreign investments in the Southeast Asian market.

Taiwan has so far this year got licenses for 112 projects with a combined registered capital of 8.6 billion USD, representing 14.5% and 18.6% of the country’s total foreign investment projects and registered capital, respectively, reported the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily News quoted the Taiwan Plastic Group Chairman Wang Yung-ching as saying that his company will not with draw from Vietnam as the country remains an attractive investment destination.

Many other Taiwanese industrial giants have followed suit, read the newspaper in early July.

Several Taiwanese companies have been shifting their investments from traditional industries such as apparel and leather shoe making to hi-tech industries, including production and assembly of laptops and mobile phones.

A senior trade expert attributed the new trend to the Vietnamese Government’s policy promoting foreign investments in hi-tech industrial projects.

Vice President of the Taiwanese Commercial Association D.H. Chang explained the reason on the sideline of a forum for businesses from Pintung city of Taiwan and Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam in March.

Viet Nam is the first choice of Taiwanese investors with intensive-labour projects, that would have paid ten times more for labour costs in their native land.

One of the examples is a Steel Complex and Son Duong seaport in the central coastal province of Ha Tinh , in which the Hung Nghiep Formosa Viet Nam under the Formosa Group of Taiwan has registered to invest almost 7.9 billion USD. The project received the investment license in June.

The wholly Taiwanese-invested company has also added 160 million USD to its projects in the Nhon Trach 3 industrial zone, bringing its total investments in Dong Nai province to almost 1.12 billion USD and making it the biggest foreign investor in the southern province. (VNA)