As many as 59.5 per cent of Japanese firms in Vietnam made a profit in 2022, up 5.2 percentage points from a year earlier, according to a survey released by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Hanoi on February 13.

According to the survey of about 4,400 Japanese businesses operating in Asia and Oceania, including 600 in Vietnam, the rate in Vietnam is a little bit lower than that in other countries in the regions.

In their business profit outlooks for 2022, the non-manufacturing sector reported a profit-making rate of 57.6 per cent on average. The rate for finance and insurance, education and healthcare, and agriculture was 100 per cent. The thresholds in transport, real estate, ICT, mining and energy, and retail were 81.5 per cent, 57.1 per cent, 52.9 per cent, 50 per cent, and 25 per cent respectively.

In Singapore, the rate of profit-making Japanese companies stood at 73.5 per cent. The same data for Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines was 73.2 per cent, 63.8 per cent, and 60.3 per cent.

The proportion of loss-making Japanese enterprises in Vietnam was 20.8 per cent, down 7.8 percentage points on-year. Meanwhile, the rate was 10.8 per cent in Singapore, 13 per cent in Indonesia, and 17.7 per cent in Thailand.

Takeo Nakajima, chief representative of JETRO Hanoi, said that despite the challenges, Japanese firms plan business expansion in Vietnam over the next 1-2 years to tap into the growth potential in the local market.

Accordingly, 54.4 per cent of Japanese firms in the manufacturing sector said that they will expand their investment and business activities in Vietnam, up 2.7 parentage points from the previous year, while the figure for the non-manufacturing sector was 65.9 per cent, up 7.2 percentage points on-year.

Vietnam Investment Review