Denmark Is Vietnam’s Biggest Investor In The First Half Of 2022
Lego signed an agreement with VSIP to build its factories in Vietnam. | Source: VGP
Vietnam received a total foreign direct investment of $14.03 billion in the first half of 2022, led by Denmark, data from the Foreign Investment Agency show.
The European nation has injected a total of $1.32 billion for six projects so far, with its biggest investment going to its Lego factory in the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park. The Danish toy company is opening a $1-billion factory in the first half of 2024, which is also expected to generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs for the Vietnamese.
Danish investors mostly focus on processing industries in Vietnam with 44 projects and $393.68 million (data up to November 2021). Last year, 18 out of 63 provinces received investments from Denmark. The central province of Hue led with five projects worth more than $173 million.
In second place is Singapore, with $1.15 billion in total investment. Singapore had consistently topped FDI to Vietnam in the past years. For the first ten months of 2021, total FDI contributions stood at $6.77 billion, accounting for nearly 32.5% of outside investment in the country last year.
China and Japan rank third and fourth, respectively, with investments amounting to $629.3 million and $432.3 million. South Korea completed the top five highest foreign investors to Vietnam with $330.9 million.
Despite being fifth in terms of investments, South Korea has the highest number of newly-registered FDI projects in Vietnam from January 1 to June 20, 2022, with 160 projects. Singapore has 99, closely followed by China with 97 projects. The fourth and fifth positions are Japan with 82, and Hong Kong with 45 projects.
The report shows that despite the fall in newly-registered FDI in the first six months, the rate of decrease has gradually improved compared to the first few months of 2022.
From January to April, investments from foreign countries dropped drastically, but in May and June, the investments increased 12.8% and 14.6%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.
In terms of values, investments poured into Vietnam this year are on the rise but the speed is not up to expectation.
However, as Vietnam further relaxes its COVID policies and strives to keep trade flow steady, the country is expecting to see improvements in the second half of 2022.