VietNamNet Bridge – More and more big guys in the world have announced their direct investments in Vietnam, which, in the eyes of analysts, shows that foreign investors have confidence on the prosperity of the Vietnam’s economy.

Auchan, a French retailer, the rival of the big names like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Lotte, Metro and Big C, has returned to Vietnam with the decision to invest $500 million in the market within 10 years.

The French group once came to Vietnam to seek investment opportunities, but it then gave up the intension to enter the market, shrinking back from the uncertainties relating to the real estate market and the expected profitability.

However, the returning of Auchan shows that the investor has changed its thoughts about Vietnam. The leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment said it welcomes the French investor, adding that the two sides would discuss on the roadmap to implement specific projects.

Australian sources have quoted Panasonic’s executive as saying that the group plans to build a factory making wiring devices and electrical switches in the southern province of Binh Duong.

With the investment capital of yen4 billion, the factory plans to churn out the first products by April 2014. In the first year of operation, the factory would make 27 million wiring products and 12 electrical switches to satisfy the domestic demand. The scale of the factory is expected to be double by 2018, while the products would be exported to Thailand and Japan.

In late March 2013, Panasonic announced that it was moving ahead with the project on a detergent manufacturing factory in Vietnam.

The world’s biggest brewery manufacturer Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), which holds 25 percent of the global market share, is on the doorsteps, preparing to enter the Vietnamese market to exploit the large market with rapid growth rates. The manufacturer would be present in Vietnam by the end of 2014, according to Reuters.

Its big rivals including Carlsberg, Heineken and SABMiller all have been present in Vietnam, either through direct or indirect ways.

With the total population of 90 million people, Vietnam is considered the most attractive market in the region. The market is believed to grow by 10 percent every year in the 2010-2020 period.

In the electronics manufacturing sector, Samsung has begun its construction of the world’s biggest mobile phone factory in Thai Nguyen province.

This is the second mobile phone factory of the investor from South Korea, which plans to use 2,000 workers, and the first part of the project worth $3.2 billion on a high technology complex.

Prior to that, Samsung built a mobile phone factory worth $670 million in April 2009 in Bac Ninh province.

Despite the doubts about the feasibility of the project, the Binh Dinh provincial people’s committee still keeps confidence on the oil refinery project suggested by the Thai investor PTT. If implemented, this would be a mammoth project with the investment capital of $27 billion.

Zone, said he believes in the feasibility of the project after he analyzed the profile of the investor, Thai PTT Group, its financial capability and its way of working.

“If the project is implemented, this would bring a new great opportunity to the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in Binh Dinh province, where the oil refinery would be located,” Ly said.

GDVN