Author: malaysiang

The Vietnam M and A Forum 2023, themed ‘Thriving Together’, will be organised by Bao dau tu (Investment review) in Ho Chi Minh City on November 28.

The forum, the 15th of its kind, draw the participation of more than 500 experts and enterprises, who will discuss M and A opportunities, and share excellent M and A strategies.

It will feature an awards ceremony to honour companies with robust M and A strategies and most outstanding advisory firms in the past 15 years, and an announcement of an in-depth report on the M and A market in Vietnam during 2009-2023.

Participants will have the opportunity to meet and discuss with businesses from Singapore through the VBEX Connect Business Matching Programme.

At the Global M and A Partners Conference held in the southern economic hub last week, experts said enterprises from the US and the EU are funneling new capital into Vietnam, with the local M and A market expected to maintain its attractiveness despite its relatively modest scale.

Ivan Alver, Co-chairman of GM
AP, said he believes that Vietnam’s strengths lie in its stable political environment, abundant and skilled labour force, and competitive labour costs. As a result, multinationals are choosing the Southeast Asian country as a destination to implement their supply chain diversification strategies.

In addition to the prospect of becoming a manufacturing hub in the region, Vietnam also promises to be a consumer market with an increasing middle-class population. European and American investors will have to invest more to penetrate this market, said Alver.

Arnaud Ginolin, deputy general director of Boston Consulting Group Vietnam, shared that although electronic manufacturing companies in Vietnam mainly focus on outsourcing activities, the country, with its current advantages, can certainly rise in the value chain of the semiconductor industry./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Exports, in addition to consumption and investment, play a crucial role in propelling Vietnam’s economy beyond challenges, aiming to swiftly revive it.

The latest report from the World Bank (WB) updating Vietnam’s macroeconomic situation in October noted that exports and imports continue to recover, meeting the increasing demand from abroad. Although the export situation has shown signs of improvement since May, the cumulative figure for the first 10 months remained lower than the same period in 2022. However, this indicator shows positive signals, reflecting the high competitiveness of many export goods and services that Vietnam excels in.

Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, acknowledged that by focusing on promoting exports, Vietnam is correct in pursuing a self-reliance policy through integration to increase market share for goods and services shipped overseas, including those with advantages in high-demand global markets.

However, in the long run, Vietnam may lose competitiveness i
n some price-sensitive export sectors, especially in labour-intensive manufacturing or agriculture. This underscores the importance of quickly expanding markets and holding new ones as demand is expected to increase.

To promote sustainable export development and enhance Vietnam’s export competitiveness, Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s Agency of Foreign Trade, held that measures need to be developed to support production, create a sustainable supply, and expand into new export markets. Furthermore, the government needs to continue refining its institutional framework, and strengthen state management in import-export activities to facilitate fair trade and counter fraud.

From a business perspective, Le Tien Truong, Chairman of the Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex), said to enhance Vietnam’s export competitiveness, it is necessary to focus on investing in automation to increase productivity and efficiency, reduce labour costs, and improve the qu
ality and consistency of products.

Businesses also proposed that the government and relevant ministries continue to collaborate with them in exploring new partnerships, markets, and customers through the implementation of trade promotion programmes and the signing of free trade agreements and cooperation protocols. Additionally, they recommended the formulation of policies to encourage the shift towards green and sustainable production./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Japan is the partner that has signed the most bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with Vietnam which open up many opportunities for stronger trade cooperation between the two nations, according to Tran Quang Huy, Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Asia-Africa Market Department.

Trade deals such as the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP), the Vietnam – Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have created an extremely important cooperation framework, contributing to promoting trade, investment and business relations between the two countries in accordance with the principle of mutual benefit.

Notably, Vietnam and Japan have many cooperation opportunities in the fields of trade, technological innovation, digital transformation, and supply chain diversity, Huy said.

The structure of export and import products of
the two countries is clearly complementary to each other without direct competition.

Statistics show that bilateral trade turnover has increased steadily over the years, hitting 40 billion USD in 2020, 42.7 billion USD in 2021, 47.6 billion USD in 2022, and nearly 37 billion USD in the first 10 months of 2023.

Japan is the third largest foreign investor in Vietnam with 5,227 valid projects worth over 71.41 billion USD by October 20, 2023. Meanwhile, Vietnam has 106 investment projects in Japan with a total registered investment capital of about 19.5 million USD.

According to Dang Phuc Nguyen, Secretary General of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association, the Japanese market accounts for about 5% of Vietnam’s fruit export turnover, with a total value of about 150 million USD.

Last year, Japan imported 165 million USD worth of fruits from Vietnam, accounting for 4% of the fruit and vegetable market share. However, Japan’s standards for imported fruit and vegetable are very high.

Currently, a number o
f Vietnamese fruits occupy a large market share and are increasingly popular in the Japanese market such as dragon fruit, mango, durian, coconut, lychee, longan, and banana.

According to Pham Quoc Liem, General Director of U and I Agriculture JSC (Unifarm) in the southern province of Binh Duong, the company exports 10 containers of banana and one container of melon to Japan each week.

However, to enter the Japanese market, agro-forestry-aquaculture products must ensure standards of food hygiene and safety and animal and plant quarantine, and are required to be produced and raised in line with Japanese agricultural standards of GAP, HACCP, and JAS.

Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Japan Ta Minh Duc advised Vietnamese businesses to pay attention to stabilising product quality, and stabilising preservation technology for fruit products exported to Japan.

Vietnamese exporters should not increase prices too much to avoid losing competitiveness as inflation in Japan is very low, Minh said.

Trade experts predicted
that cooperation between Vietnam and Japan will be supported more as businesses from both sides are exploiting advantages and tax incentives from FTAs such as CPTPP and RCEP.

Vietnam has been an attractive destination for Japanese businesses thanks to its market size and growth potential, stable political and social situation, and high-quality human resources, they stressed.

A 2022 survey report of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) shows that 60% of Japanese firms plan to expand operations in Vietnam in the next two years.

Insiders said this will be an important motivation to promote stronger trade exchange between the two sides in the coming time./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

HaNoi Midnight Sale, a large-scale concentrated promotion event that took place in the capital city from November 24-25, attracted about 2.4 million shoppers who enjoyed more than 3,000 promotion programmes worth over 25 trillion VND (1.03 billion USD), up 20% over last year’s edition.

This year, it drew about 200 businesses, trade centres and producers, and fashion brands. There were over 10 million visits to the online shopping website.

A highlight of the event is a flash sale display area at Big C Thang Long supermarket with the participation of nearly 20 brands offering discout of up to 70%.

A representative from Big C stated that the supermarket experienced a significant spike in visits, almost 230% higher than on other days of the week. Online shopping through the Zalo app also doubled. Key discounted items such as groceries, fresh produce, fast-moving consumer goods and non-food items were in high demand.

The Winmart chain also reported a 140% increase in sales and visits compared to other days of
the week.

Japan’s AEON reported that sales and foot traffic at AEON Mall Ha Dong and AEON Mall Long Bien malls increased by nearly 200% during the three-day event. The website and mobile app traffic for shopping also nearly tripled compared to regular weekdays.

According to a representative from the BRGMart supermarket chain, they saw a sale increase of over 130%. BRG’s shopping website saw approximately double the usual shopping traffic.

The HaNoi Midnight Sale event concluded the Hanoi concentrated promotion programme, which took place in May, July and November, with more than 2,000 outlets engaging all economic sectors, aiming to stimulate consumption, reduce inventories, and contribute to promote Hanoi’s economic growth./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The northern province of Bac Ninh reported 100% in the rate of online business registration applications in November, leading all localities across the country in the field, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

In the month, the number of newly-established firms in the province reached 293, up 7.3% year on year, with a combined registered capital of over 4.5 trillion VND (185.64 million USD), a surge of 71.6%.

In the January-November period, the rate of online business registration applications in Bac Ninh reached 99.98%, ranking second in the country. In this period, the province saw 3,190 new businesses, a year-on-year rise of 30.8%.

To date, Bac Ninh has hosted 22,128 businesses with total capital of nearly 389 trillion VND, including 18,048 operating firms with combined capital of nearly 357 trillion VND./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Deputy Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade Le Hoang Tai and Pascale Delcomminette, CEO of Belgium’s Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX), on November 27 signed a letter of intent (LOI) to initiate cooperation in trade promotion between the two sides.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Hanoi, Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam Karl Van Den Bossche expressed his delight at the visit to Vietnam by an economic and trade delegation from the Wallonia region, adding that through this trip, he expected increases in Belgium’s exports to Vietnam and vice versa so as to balance the two-way trade.

Tai said that Belgium is running 88 projects worth 1.1 billion USD in Vietnam, and the country is also Vietnam’s sixth biggest trading partner with total trade revenue of 4.73 billion USD last year. Meanwhile, Vietnam is Belgium’s second largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

According to the official, the signi
ng of the LOI was considered as the first brick in building a firm foundation for the bilateral collaboration, thus helping to strengthen connectivity and open up new cooperation opportunities.

For her part, Delcomminette said that the delegation comprising representatives of 20 companies and organisations from the Wallonia region is paying a working trip to Hanoi from November 27-28, and will visit Ho Chi Minh City from November 29-30.

The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has opened up more chances for cooperation, thus showing great potential from the Wallonia region and the opportunities that Vietnam brings to businesses of the two countries, she added./

Source: Vietnam News Agency