Samsung continues to increase investment in Vietnam, while Lotte Duty-Free expands in the country
As TopForex.trade reports, Samsung Group will add more investment to Vietnam, which is their global handset manufacturing hub, said Samsung Vietnam CEO Choi Ju-ho.
Samsung Vietnam’s total exports reached $34.3 billion in the first half of 2022, up 18% from last year.
The company is constantly increasing its investments in Vietnam. In 2022, Samsung continued to make investments, including about $1.2 billion for the Samsung Electro-Mechanics Vietnam plant in Thai Nguyen Province. By the end of 2021, Samsung’s total investment in Vietnam was $18.2 billion, and the figure is expected to exceed $21.5 billion by the end of 2022.
Samsung also plans to support Vietnamese enterprises to improve their global competitiveness in all processes, such as research and manufacturing, with a focus on bringing them into Samsung’s supply chain and other international networks. When our Vietnamese suppliers become stronger, that means Samsung will become more powerful.
In addition to taking care of its corporate social responsibility to the Vietnamese government, Samsung is always looking for ways to improve Vietnam's national competitiveness in a big way.
As a result of these efforts, the total number of Samsung’s Vietnamese suppliers, both Tier-1 and Tier-2, is about 250 enterprises. Among them are 52 Tier 1 suppliers. Samsung continues to work on constantly increasing the numbers.
Samsung Vietnam is working on a national project to help about 50 domestic businesses build "smart factories" that will help them make more. They are supported in the transfer of expertise and experience in the development of smart factories, thereby increasing production capacity to global Samsung standards.
What are the Samsung Group’s future plans for Vietnam?
Vietnam is not just a trading partner but also an additional economic partner for Samsung.
Over the past three years, the pandemic has caused many difficulties, but with the support of the Vietnamese government, Samsung is gradually coping with everything, increasing investment, and thereby contributing to the country’s economic recovery after the pandemic. Samsung won't change how it invests in Vietnam, so it will keep making more investments there.
Samsung and Viet Nam’s Corporate Social Responsibility Measures
Samsung understands the importance of Vietnam as a leading exporter and a company loved by the general public, and to this end, it also focuses on educating future generations of Vietnamese. The Samsung Innovation Campus 2022–2023 was just started by the company. Its goal is to teach students basic skills in software like programming, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.
Also, interestingly, the company runs the Solve for Tomorrow competition as a playground to encourage students to think creatively and apply STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) knowledge to find solutions to social or local problems.
In addition, Samsung has built Samsung Hope Schools in four locations in Vietnam and is making efforts to give every child in these schools the opportunity to join extracurricular activities after regular classes.
Meanwhile, Lotte Duty-Free expands in Vietnam
South Korea’s Lotte Duty-Free is expanding into Vietnam with a new store in Da Nang, which it sees as the basis for maintaining its leading position in Southeast Asia.
Lotte Duty-Free opened its first store downtown in Vietnam on Tuesday. The store is in Da Nang City on the Central Coast.
This is its fourth store in the country, which the retailer entered in 2017 with the first opening at Da Nang International Airport. Lotte Duty-Free was the first Korean duty-free operator to do so.
Lotte Duty Free plans to open a store in downtown Hanoi next year as part of what the retailer calls the Lotte Duty Free Belt, which covers the Asia-Pacific region.
The newest store in Da Nang is the largest of the four Lotte Duty-Free stores in Vietnam. VVMall at My Khe Beach, a popular tourist spot in Da Nang, has a store that is 2,000 square meters and has over 200 brands of cosmetics, perfumes, wines, spirits, jewelry, watches, chocolates, sweets, clothing, and more. Recommended Vietnamese foods include pearls, coffee, tea, and local produce.
Lotte Duty-Free said that Vietnam was its "forward base" to go after the duty-free market in Southeast Asia as a whole. As Vietnam's tourism market recovers to pre-Covid levels, a big travel store in downtown Da Nang expects to make over 50 billion won (nearly $38 million) in sales each year.
The Korean store already has locations at Da Nang International Airport, Cam Ranh International Airport in Nha Trang, which is also on the Central Coast, and Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi.
The retailer was not present at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern economic hub. The second in Cam Ranh opened in 2018, followed by a third in Noi Bai in 2019.
