Japan eyes farm, retail sectors

Viet Nam’s retail, distribution and agriculture production sectors, along with the real estate market, are attracting more interest from Japanese investors in 2011, domestic investment funds say.

Japanese companies were investing heavily in foreign countries because of their unstable domestic market, and Viet Nam was one of their priority choices, said deputy director of the Sai Gon – Mekong Joint Stock Company Ho Van Tuyen.

Tuyen said that his company was in talks with a number of Japanese companies who were interested in investing in Viet Nam.

He also added that those companies had a special interest in the retail, distribution and agricultural sectors.

In an interview with domestic media, chairman of the Sai Gon Invest Group Dang Thanh Tam said that Japanese companies would invest strongly in Viet Nam this year.

Tam said that the Japanese Prime Minister had mentioned Viet Nam many times at a recent APEC forum at which Tam himself participated in 20 meetings with Japanese companies.

He added that he was regularly receiving leaders of large Japanese companies, showing the interest they had in the Vietnamese market.

Japanese companies have already started to infiltrate the market. Mini Stop, a famous Japanese convenience store chain, has already formed an agreement with Viet Nam’s Trung Nguyen Group, and branches of Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd in HCM City and Ha Noi have been allowed to increase their capital from US$15 million to $133.5 million, a move appreciated by local investors.

This was evidence that a fresh wave of Japanese investment would be arriving in Viet Nam soon, said an investor. — VNS

Tags: vietnam retail industry, Vietnam retail market