A Thai project was worth US$18.4 million on average, much higher than the average value of US$14 million seen in a foreign investment project in the country.
Thai investors mainly made their investments in the processing and manufacturing industry with 200 projects, valued at nearly US$7 billion, accounting for 47% of the total number of projects and 88% of investment in Vietnam.
Agro-forestry-fisheries also attracted the significant amount of investment from Thai businesses with 31 projects, capitalized at US$235.4 million, making up 7% of their total projects and 3% of their investment.
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Among other attractive sectors for Thai firms were wholesale and retail as well as construction.
The agency added that Thai joint venture investment comprised 70% of Thai investments pledged in Vietnam, worth US$5.5 billion.
During the reviewed period, the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau lured the largest amount of Thai investment with US$3.77 billion or equivalent to approximately 48% of their investment registered in the country. The northern Vinh Phuc Province came second with $744.4 million or 9.4% while the southern province of Binh Duong ranked third with US$513.4 million or 6.5%.
In terms of number of projects, however, the southern economic hub of HCM City attracted the highest number with 162 projects, representing 37.8% of total number of Thailand-invested projects in the country.
Vietnam has become a favorite destination of many Thai billionaires in recent years, with many large projects and merger and acquisition transactions taking place in retail and consumption areas, vietnamnews.vnreported.
These included Thai company Berli Juckers’ purchase of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam for more than US$870 million; and Power Buy, a subsidiary of the Central Group of Thai billionaire Chirathiyat, also acquired 49 per-cent share in new Solution and Technology Development Company NKT, the owner of Vietnam’s leading retailer Nguyen Kim Trading JSC.
According to analysts, Thai investors had many reasons to come to Vietnam as it was not only a large market with increasingly high demand but also served as an effective gate for them to access neighboring markets.
Choosing Vietnam as a primary investment destinations also meant that Thai firms would also optimize opportunities presented by import tariff reduction in trade pacts, they said./.
Van Hai (Source: vietrade)
