Vietnamese firms pour more investments into developed countries

NutiFood Sweden AB Dairy Factory, located in southern Sweden, has been operational since May 2019. Vietnamese firms have become more attracted to offshore projects in developed countries

Statistics from the Foreign Investment Department, with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, revealed that a total of 117 outward investment projects whose value reached more than US$307 million were licensed between January and September this year.

Also, 27 operational offshore projects saw their capital rise by an additional US$124 million.

Overall, Vietnamese firms poured more than US$431 million into projects overseas during the nine-month period, compared with the year-ago figure of some US$330 million.

Vietnamese investors have a long history of making significant investments in neighboring countries, such as Laos and Cambodia, or in other developing countries in Africa. They are mainly involved in agriculture, forestry and mineral mining.

However, the situation has changed over the last two years as their outward investment has now spread to other nations, particularly to advanced economies.

The data also showed that Vietnamese firms invested in 30 countries and territories over the nine-month period. Australia attracted the lion’s share of investments, at more than US$140 million, accounting for 32.6% of the total.

The United States came next, with US$59.8 million for 20 projects, or 13.9%. Other destinations for Vietnamese investments were Spain, Cambodia, Singapore and Canada.

Most of the overseas investment was in the wholesale and retail trade at US$110.6 million, or one-quarter of the total. Following this was the science and technology sector with US$83.3 million, or 19.3%.

The agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector, which is traditionally preferred by local firms investing in projects abroad, was ranked third, at some US$64 million, or 14.9%.