A view of VSIP Bac Ninh (Photo: Internet) Foreign investors arehunting out industrial land lots to expand their operations in the country.Most of them operate in the electronics, semiconductors, textiles, and solarenergy sectors.
Remarkably, QuantaComputer reached a deal with Nam Dịnh province in April to build a 120-million-USDfactory in My Thuan Industrial Park.
Boltun Corporation andQST International Corporation followed suit with an investment of 165 million USDin Bac Tien Phong Industrial Park.
The quest for land lotswas more arduous in the South as most of the lots in industrial parks had beenoccupied. Notably, the industrial parks in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinceshad reached 95% in occupancy rates.
The rising demand forindustrial real estate has given a big boost to the segment of ready-builtfactories. Many lessors in the North have taken one step ahead by building moreready-built factories to cater to the growing need for facilities.
Cold storage warehousesare another category of facilities coming back in favour recently. However, thesupply of cold storage warehouses remains tight as their construction requiresso high an initial outlay that few lessors can afford.
Thomas Rooney, SeniorManager of Industrial Services, Savills Hanoi, said Vietnam had spent around5.8% of its GDP on facilities. The effort significantly improved the country'strans-provincial ties.
Part of the money wentto 12 projects of the North-South Expressway, whose construction began inJanuary this year. The projects would go through 15 provinces and act as acatalyst for local economic growth.
The senior manager alsosaid labour costs in the country were increasing but very slightly. Althoughthe costs remained modest in comparison with those in other regional countries,the shortage of well-trained workers discouraged many investors.
He urged the Governmentto take active measures to expand its skilled labour pool, thereby staying onpar with other regional countries in attracting investors.
He also said theSocio-Economic Development Strategy for 2021-2030 would serve the country wellin improving access to education and training, but it takes time for thestrategy to take effect. A better workforce can not be achieved overnight.
Trang Bui, Country Headof Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, was concerned that the global economicinstability and falling consumption would gradually dent the demand forindustrial real estate, weighing on facilities for lease.
She forecast that theindustrial real estate market would lose steam for the rest of 2023 as a resultof the weakening demand. Lessees would become more cautious with money, leadingto fierce competition in price among lessors.
She reckoned that therent of ready-built factories would either level off or plunge owing to thesurge in supply and drop in demand. However, the same doesn't go for land lots,whose rent would remain high regardless./.
VNA
