Southern Vietnam province hopes to lure FDI for industrial development

The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau plans to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in 110 new projects across various industries, according to local authorities.

In 2024, the Vung Tau town-based $5.1 billion Long Son petrochemical plant, invested by Thailand's Siam Cement Public Company Limited (SCG), is expected to go into commercial operation at the end of the first quarter, with an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons of plastic pellets.

Previously, the $1.3 billion polypropylene plant and Hyosung LPG underground storage complex in Phu My township, invested by South Korea’s Hyosung Vina Chemicals Company Limited, was put into operation.

With a capacity of 650,000 tons of plastic pellets per year, this factory is expected to join the Long Son petrochemical complex to create a new look for the industry in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province with plastic pellets used as raw material to create multi-use products in many fields such as automobiles, textiles, filming, medical equipment, and packaging, as well as in daily life.

As a giant in Thailand's packaging industry, SCG, a member of SCG Packaging, now holds shares in about 20 large and small packaging companies in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Hyosung Vina is a subsidiary of Korean chaebol Hyosung.

Under its commitment, Hyosung Vina will reserve 300,000 tons of quality products for the Vietnamese market at competitive prices compared to existing imported products. Meanwhile, the Long Son Petrochemicals complex will set aside 840,000 tons or 60% of it output for Vietnam. In 2024, Long Son Petrochemicals expects revenue of more than VND33.8 trillion ($1.38 billion) from production while the figure from Hyosung Vina's factory will reach about VND22 trillion ($901.27 million).

Besides the chemical industry, Ba Ria-Vung Tau also hopes to develop the equipment manufacturing industry serving offshore renewable energy.

The province is home to Vietnam-Russia Joint Venture (Vietsovpetro), Petrovietnam Technical Service Joint Stock Corporation (PTSC) and affiliated companies working with onshore oil and gas service systems, high quality human resources and many years of experience in designing, procuring, manufacturing and constructing offshore projects.

In particular, this locality owns the Cai Mep-Thi Vai deep-water seaport system, which is convenient for importing and exporting materials and goods. Therefore, in the long term, seaport development shows enormous potential in attracting investment, thus promoting local economic growth.

The province plans to call for investment in 110 projects in various fields under the provincial master plan for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, which was approved by the Prime Minister at the end of 2023. This plan is expected to be announced by March this year.

The province has also added seven new industrial parks and five industrial clusters to the plan, bringing the totals to 24 and 16, spanning 16,052 hectares and 547 hectares, respectively.

According to the provincial Statistics Office, the province’s 2023 gross regional domestic product (GRDP), excluding oil and gas, was estimated at nearly VND123 trillion ($5 billion), an increase of 5.75% year-on-year. The industry-construction sector expanded 7.69%; services 3.52%; and agriculture, forestry and fisheries 3.48%. FDI attraction reached about $1.4 billion, up 92% from 2022.