Vietnam’s manufacturing growth robust but heavily reliant on FDI

Manufacturing activity in the first half of 2018 expanded by a strong 13.02% but such growth was greatly dependent on foreign-invested enterprises, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said.

A TV manufacturing factory of Samsung
A TV manufacturing factory of Samsung

According to Pham Dinh Thuy, head of the GSO’s statistics department, foreign-invested enterprises remain a major contributor to job creation, exports and government revenues.

He predicted that manufacturing activity would slow down in the second half of the year due to the slower-than-expected output of electronics, computers and optical devices, as the Korean manufacturing company Samsung is expected to cut its production and exports.

Metal production is also projected to slacken off due to a lesser impact from Formosa’s steelmaking activities.

The company from Chinese Taiwan is expected to have its output increase by 220% this year but its output growth in the first six months of 2018 was already 706%.

The generation and distribution of electricity is also forecast to grow at a slower pace in the latter half of the year due to weaker consumer and industrial demand.

The Vietnamese economy grew by 7.08% in the first six months of 2018, its best first-half performance since 2011, with industry and construction increasing by 9.07% and contributing 49% of the overall growth.