German Enterprises Seeking Investment Opportunities in HCM City

At a meeting between the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and the German Business Association (GBA), Mr Jens Ruebbert – Chairman of GBA said that Vietnam is an attractive destination for investment and business activities of foreign investors, including German businesses.

Go along with Mr. Jens Ruebbert attending this meeting, there are more than 70 German enterprises operating in various fields, wishing to expand investment and trading activities in a number of potential areas such as automobile, production, communication, finance, insurance…

With advanced professional qualifications and also experiences, German enterprises are expected to seek investment and trading opportunities, bringing practical benefits for both sides of the business community, as well as both countries.

Germany is one of the major and efficient partners of Vietnam in the field of education and training, science and technology… It is possible to mention some of their projects that have been implementing in Vietnam as Vietnamese-German University; Construction of Phu Lac 1 wind power plant worth 35 million Euros; No. 2 metro line in HCMC worth 240 million Euros or the project to improve energy efficiency in rural areas worth 120 million Euros…

According to the leader of HCMC, the relation between Vietnam and Germany are increasingly strengthened and is developing in various fields such as political, economic, commerce and education…

Germany is one of the important partners of Vietnam in the European Union. Therefore, Vietnam in general and HCMC in particular, wish to promote cooperation in the field of urban transport, health, education…

Until 2020, the two-way exchange trade turnover target between Vietnam and Germany will reach 15 billion to 20 billion USD.

Therefore, in order to create favorable conditions to help German businesses reaching and searching for investment and trading opportunities with Vietnam partners, the Department of Planning and Investment of HCMC has published information on economic and social development orientation of the city from 2016 to 2017.

Besides, the city also introduced several measures to boost production and trading, in order to remove difficulties for enterprises, improve the investment environment to attract human resources at home and abroad such as enhancing trade promotion, expanding the market by concentrating in investment sectors that are encouraged by the city.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Textile Industry in Vietnam

Vietnam textile industry for many years has always been one of the major export sectors of Vietnam. With the development in technology, the number of skilled worker is growing along with many preferential policies from the Government, the textile industry has obtained encouraging results, creating the value of goods, ensuring domestic demand and export.

1.Overview of the industry

According to the General Department of Customs, in 2014, the value of exports textiles reached 20.91 billion dollars, increasing 16.6% compared to 2013. The value of textile exported was the second largest export industry in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s textile industry has a high production capacity: 4,424 enterprises (as of 31/12/2013) with 2.5 million workers, growth rate of 14% annually. There are 1.2% of enterprises reaching $100 million export revenue, 3.25% of them reaching 50 million and 30% reaching over $1 million. There been several textile products including 8000 tons of cotton fiber, yarn 900 thousand tons, 1.5 billion m2 fabric. Localization ratio of the whole industry was 50% in 2014.

Export capacity of the textile industry is also very impressive. Particularly in 2014, the export value reached 20.91 billion US dollars, accounting for nearly 14% of total turnover exporting ones in the country­­ – No. 1 export industry of Vietnam until 2012, No. 2 in 2013 onwards (after the mobile phone). Vietnam is the 4^th largest exporting country, accounting for 4.92% of global textile exports in 2014, after China, Bangladesh, Italy.

Vietnam’s textile sector has yet to master generating raw material. The high-quality raw material required depends heavily on importing (around 60-70%). Mainly imported raw materials are from China, Taiwan and Korea. Vietnam’s textile industry has currently imported 90% of raw cotton, 100% synthetic fibre and 80% cotton fabric.

According to research by the Ministry of Labour, every $1 billion of Vietnam textile export created extra 250,000 jobs. Currently, Vietnam has a population of over 90 million people which 49% of the population of working age worked in the textile industry. Moreover, the labour cost in Vietnam is relatively low compared to many countries in the region. The advantage of the lower labour cost will resulted in lower production cost, thus being price competitive. However, in this sector, there is a shortage of skilled labour leading to difficulties to develop the industry.

2.Opportunities for textile industry

TPP is a great opportunity for many industries including textile. According to economic experts, TPP will have a huge influence in the global textile industry. TPP opens investment opportunities (FDI) into developing materials and supporting industries. When joining the TPP, textile tax rate reduced to 0% which indicates a huge profits for Vietnam’s textile sector.

Besides, FTAs (The free trade agreements) also opens up further export opportunities for Vietnam’s textile industry to the market European Union, Korea, Asian Economic Union – Europe …  Vietnam will benefit from free tariff agreement from EU. Besides, the Vietnamese enterprises will be supported in terms of access to high technology from other countries, thus enhancing value of products.

3.Challenges

Other than opportunities, the textile industry will be facing many challenges. The domestic textile enterprises are mainly operating in small and medium scale with low capital investment and financial resources, limited technology, equipment and innovation capabilities. This lead to inability to achieve economic efficiency and compete with other countries. After all trade agreements take effect, Vietnam’s textile industry must meet strict rules and requirements such as origination of raw material (fabric). Meanwhile, most of raw materials (fabrics) was imported from other countries such as China (not a member of TPP). Therefore, if Vietnamese enterprises do not use raw materials from Vietnam or other countries in the TPP, it will be difficult for them to enjoy free tariff when exporting to the US and other countries in the TPP. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises are highly recommended to learn about TPP and other free trade agreements. Besides, Vietnamese enterprises should prepare for qualified workforce, equipment and new technologies and intellectual property. The state and agencies functions have created specific guidance on the provisions of the tax, customs to help Vietnamese enterprises to utilise export opportunities with the advantages of tariff.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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TRADE PROMOTION IN THE INTEGRATION PERIOD

In the past 5 years from 2011 to 2015, trade promotion activities at home and abroad have achieved much progress, contributing significantly to the growth of the country’s export. However, when Vietnam integrates deeper into the world market, the role of trade promotion will become more significant.

In recent years, trade promotion has been implemented uniformly and efficiently, maximizes the resources at home and abroad to support the businesses and contribute to the economic and social development of the country.

Typical is the national trade promotion program. With the support from the program, the presence of Vietnam export products in many traditional markets such as the US, EU, China, Japan, South Korea is expanding. At the same time, the program has supported the business to come back to such markets as Russia and Eastern Europe, strengthening the operation in Myanmar, Laos, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America…

According to statistics, the activities of the national trade promotion program in the period of 2010 – 2014 have attracted the participation of more than 21,000 businesses. In particular, the companies have directly deal and signed contracts with a total contract value of export goods and sales reached nearly 5.3 billion USD and more than 1,000 billion VND.

The participation in the multilateral free trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and bilateral agreements, in addition to the benefits that it can bring to the export of strategic goods Vietnam, the domestic manufacturing sector is forecasted to face with negative impacts if there are no timely and appropriate measures to support.

In order to effectively effectively support companies and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new generation FTAs, Ministry of Industry and Trade has directed the relevant agencies to deploy more practical trade promotion activities, focusing on activities to tapping and opening the markets that Vietnam has signed and under FTA negotiation.

In particular, focus on supporting the export promotion in overseas market with such activities as: Organize and participate in specialized trade fair abroad, organize trade delegations to help maintain export turnover in the key markets, expand export market in new and potentialmarkets.

Promote export through activities organized right in Vietnam: Organize international exhibition in Vietnam; organize international conference; organize and welcome the foreign delegations to Vietnam; mobilize the commercial counselors in countries around the world to introduce business opportunities, connect businesses and provide updated market information for businesses.

Coordinating agencies, related organizations and multinational corporations bring Vietnamese goods to international supermarkets: Organize Vietnam goods week in supermarket system in France, Japan and Korea…

Improve the performance of the trade promotion office that have been established in the United States and China; completing the establishment of trade promotion offices in China; finishing the scheme to set up trade promotion office in foreign country.

In order for the trade promotion activities to operate effectively and bring good opportunities for businesses, apart from the support of the State, companies need to improve technological content, added value to their goods, building and developing brands and participate in global supply chains.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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