FDI disbursement tops $8b first nine months

Vehicle parts production at the Taiwan-invested Viet Nam Precision Industrial No1 Co in northern Vinh Phuc Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

HA NOI — Disbursement of foreign investment during the first nine months of this year surpassed US$8 billion, an increase of 4.8 per cent year-on- year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

However, the disbursement which hit $800 million in September was $50 million lower than that of the previous month, and far behind the average disbursement rate of about $900 million for each month since the beginning of this year.

During the nine-month period, the nation attracted $12.19 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), 87.3 per cent of the amount during the same period last year. Earlier, the country had set a target of drawing $22 to $25 billion in FDI this year.

Up to 720 new projects were licensed during the period, worth a combined $11.4 billion, an increase of 37.3 per cent over same period last year.

There was a decline in additional investment to existing projects, the FIA said, adding that 153 projects had registered to increase capital by a combined $783 million, only 13.8 per cent of the same period last year.

An FIA representative yesterday refused to make further comments on the drastic decrease.

Netherlands was the leading source of foreign investment in Viet Nam, investing $2.2 billion, followed by South Korea with $2 billion and the US with $1.87 billion.

The processing and manufacturing sector held the lion's share of FDI, gobbling up $3.65 billion, or 30.2 per cent of the registered total.

Business advantages were described as one of the main reasons for the large influx of FDI into the sector. The foreign-invested sector posted a nine-month export turnover of $27.4 billion, a year-on-year rise of 26.5 per cent or equivalent to 53 per cent of the country's total export value.

Meanwhile, FDI in the electric and gas production and distribution sector reached $2.94 billion, accounting for 24 per cent of all FDI.

With a high average investment capital of $150 million per project, the real estate sector ranked third in FDI attraction with $2.75 billion, making up 22.6 per cent of the total.

The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau was the top destination for foreign investment, attracting $2.23 billion. It was followed by the northern province of Quang Ninh with $2.15 billion, HCM City with over $1.8 billion and central Nghe An Province with $1 billion. — VNS

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Agricultural exports climb 20%

Workers sort pineapples for export at the Dong Giao Food Export Co in the northern province of Ninh Binh. Agricultural export turnover in the first eight months of the year increased by 20 per cent to US$1.2 billion. — VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung

HA NOI — Agricultural exports totalled US$12.2 billion in the first eight months of this year, an increase of 20 per cent compared to the same period a year ago, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced.

Exports totalled $1.75 billion in August alone, the ministry said.

The growth was attributed to a surge of 16.6 per cent in farm products, which totalled $6.5 billion during the period; 13 per cent in seafood products, which earned $2.95 billion; and a whopping 40 per cent in forestry products, which raked in $2.28 billion.

Higher export prices drove up totals across the board, with some key products seeing a reduction in export volume but an increase in export value, said the director of the ministry's Statistics and Informatics Centre, Nguyen Viet Chien.

Coffee exports, for instance, fell 3.1 per cent in volume but saw a year-on-year increase of 4.7 per cent in value, totalling $1.2 billion. Pepper also declined 2.9 per cent in export volume to just 94,000 tonnes but surged 35 per cent in value to $312 million.

Meanwhile, rice exports rose 8.2 per cent in the first eight months of the year to 5 million tonnes, earning $2.4 billion, and increase of 12.8 per cent in value, as natural disasters and the loss of crops in China and African countries gave an opportunity to Vietnamese rice exporters, Chien said.

Cashew prices also spiked during the period, rising 18.7 per cent to $5,392 per tonne, and lifting export value by 25 per cent to $656 million, Chien said. Export volume of cashews also rose by 5.3 per cent to 120,000 tonnes, he said.

Tea was another success story, with exports increasing 2.5 per cent in volume to a total of 85,000 tonnes, and 15 per cent in value to $124 million, as the quality of Vietnamese tea improved to reach international standards, said Viet Nam Tea Association chairman Doan Anh Tuan, who noted that tea prices have risen 12 per cent since a year ago to $1,430 per tonne.

Leading export markets for Vietnamese tea included Pakistan, Russia and Taiwan, he added.

Exports of wood products were driven by the economic recovery during the period, according to Chien, who noted that exports climbed by 35.8 per cent in value to $2.3 billion.

Chien predicted that agricultural exports overall would easily exceed the target at $16 billion set for the year. — VNS

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