Japanese retailer Aeon to build mall in Vietnam’s Nam Dinh province

An Aeon mall will be built in the northern province of Nam Dinh per a memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday by the Japanese retail giant and provincial authorities.

Nam Dinh will facilitate studies and location surveys carried out by Aeon and its partners as also assist with preparations related to the technical and social infrastructure for the project.

Aeon Vietnam executive Hagino Tatsuya highlighted Nam Dinh’s advantages, including a prime location with proximity to key areas of the Red River Delta, rapid economic growth, and support from provincial authorities.

Nam Dinh Chairman Pham Dinh Nghi said an Aeon mall would grow contribution of the service-commerce sector to the provincial economy.

So far this year, the province has attracted over $400 million in FDI, thanks to investments in transport infrastructure and other areas, he added.

There are six Aeon Mall outlets in Vietnam: two each in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; and one each in the southern province of Binh Duong and northern city of Hai Phong.

The company plans to expand the network to 25 in Vietnam by 2025, with new malls planned in the provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Hai Duong, and others.

Its first outlet in Dong Nai province, a manufacturing hub in southern Vietnam, is set to be built late this year.

The retailer has so far invested more than $1.18 billion in Vietnam, Aeon Group executive chairman Akio Yoshida said at a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Japan’s Hiroshima last May.

Vietnam has become Aeon's largest foreign investment market, and Japan’s largest retailer plans to continue its expansion in the country, he added.

Aeon Vietnam earned operating revenues of JPY7,155 million ($48.3 million) in the first half of fiscal year 2023 (March-August 2023), up 20.7% year-on-year. The retailer said its operating income in Vietnam for the six-month period rose 36.6% to JPY1,992 million ($13.4 million). The figure was the company’s highest among ASEAN members and the second-highest overseas market, only behind China.

Nam Dinh is emerging as a manufacturing center in northern Vietnam, besides Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Thai Nguyen.

In the year to September 20, the province attracted $320.3 million of FDI, the 15th-highest figure among FDI recipients nationwide and up 672% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. So far, Nam Dinh has attracted $3.94 billion in 137 FDI projects, ranking 26th nationwide in terms of value.

In August, Taiwan's housewares maker JiaWei said it would invest $100 million in building a plant in the province. Also in August, Sunrise Material, a Singapore-based polymer food packaging company, revealed its plan to develop a $100 million factory.

In May, Nam Dinh granted an investment certificate for Apple supplier Quanta Computer to build a $120-million factory, the Taiwanese firm's first in Vietnam and ninth worldwide. The plant, located in My Thuan Industrial Park, is set to manufacture 1.3 million laptops and desktop computers in 2024, 2.6 million in 2025, 3.6 million in 2026, 4 million in 2027, and 4.5 million in 2028.