The retail market of BinhDuong province has become a magnet for foreign direct investment (FDI),as seen in the boom of supermarket and trade centres invested byoverseas firms in the southern province.
Inmid-November, Lotte Group, one of the leading retailers in theRepublic of Korea, opened a shopping centre at The Seasons UrbanArea, Lai Thieu ward, Thuan An town.
Built on a21,300 sq.m land lot, the 30 million USD Lotte Mart Binh Duong alsoprovides restaurant and entertainment services, an ice skating rink and acinema besides shops and supermarkets.
Earlier,in late March, the Big C Di An supermarket and the Green Square TradeCentre became operational in Dong Hoa ward, Di An town after one year ofconstruction.
In October last year, the Big C Binh Duong supermarket opened in Hiep Thanh ward, Thu Dau Mot city.
According to statistics from the provincial People’s Committee, 43percent of newly-registered FDI in Binh Duong (about 500 million USD)this year is not poured into industrial zones but trade centres.
The Japanese retailer Aeon was licensed to build a trade centre nearthe Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park I (VSIP I) in Thuan An townin March this year. The project has a total investment of up to 95million USD and covers an area of six hectares.
Thetrade centre is expected to open in October next year, offering not onlymade-in-Vietnam products but also Japanese brands for the first time,said Oyama Nagahisa, Aeon Group’s Vice President and CEO of SoutheastAsia business.
In addition, work on the 500 billionVND (23.8 million USD) Prince Town Trade Complex will begin soon, saidthe project’s investor, adding that this is a multi-function complexcomprising restaurants, hotels, banks, supermarkets and recreationalcentres.
According to Le Viet Dung, Deputy Directorof the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, with theappearance of a number of big faces, Binh Duong’s retail market has seenstrong growth in recent times.
Experts said BinhDuong’s population of over 1.7 million, more than 17,000 domestic andforeign businesses operating in the province, and its annual revenuesfrom retail sales and services totaling 90 trillion VND (4.3 billionUSD) are factors prompting investors to come to the province.
Binh Duong is now home to eight supermarkets and seven trade centres.Under its supermarket and trade centre development plan, the provincewill have 17 supermarkets and 20 trade centres by 2015 and therespective figures for 2020 will be 24 and 37.
Since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organisation, the local retail sector has seen rapid development.
With 1,500 trillion VND (71.4 billion USD) in revenues from retailsales and services in the first seven months of 2013, a year-on-yearincrease of 12 percent, the Vietnamese retail market remains anattractive and potential destination for investors.
The country strives to have up to 1,300 supermarkets and 180 trade centres by 2020.-VNA
