Ba Ria – Vung Tau Attracts Investment to Build Logistics Center

In order to promote the development of seaports, Ba Ria – Vung Tau is calling for investors in the field of logistics to come and build logistics centers.

Being the only deep-water port in Vietnam, in the near future, Cai Mep – Thi Vai port will be planned to become the national southern gateway port.

This will be a large center of regional ports. However, the operation of logistics enterprises in Ba Ria – Vung Tau is quite discrete, not yet being organized into a unified network.

The operation of the logistics service centers will bring more sources of goods to the port. This reciprocal relationship is not only creating incentives for the South East region to develop, but also generating revenues from the export activities.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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M&A Activities in Vietnam in Recent Years

Vietnam’s population is more than 90 million people so that foreign investors are looking at Vietnam as a fertile ground to expand their market by M&A deals.

Accordingly, along with the process of restructuring the economy and international integration of Vietnam, in recent years, merger andacquisition (M&A) activities have been fairly active, in which many major transactions involving Thai enterprises.

In 2009, the total value of M&A transactions in Vietnam reached 1 billion USD then in 2015, the number is 5 billion USD. Particularly for the first 6 months of 2016, the value of M&A in Vietnam has exceeded 3 billion USD, in which it took place in such sectors as retail, commodities and real estate…

Thailand, Japan and Singapore are still the major buyers in Vietnam market. While Japan invests in companies in aviation, petroleum and pharmaceutical sectors, Singapore emerges with commercial real estate projects. Lastly, Thailand continues to focus on the retail segment with the goal of expanding the market.

Head of M&A transactions last year is the retail sector and consumer goods, accounting for 38.46% of the total value. In particular, the scale of 2 M&A deals from Thailand accounted for 24.8% of the total value of 2015 and the first half of 2016. This shows the trend that retail businesses at home and abroad continue to explore the market with more than 90 million people of Vietnam. Recently, Thailand’s major corporations continuously acquired large supermarket chains such as Metro, Big C…  Singha has also become a strategic partner of Masan with investment value of 1.1 billion USD.

According to experts, there is a great competition in the business sector of Thailand and Japan when investing in Vietnam because Vietnam market has now fully matured and become more attractive. On the other hand, the market of Thailand and Japan has begun to saturate.

Especially, there is a wave of M&A of Thai investors in Vietnam in order to expand the market for the “Made in Thailand” products. While Thailand’s population is about 50 million, the size of Vietnam’s population is almost double – over 90 million people.

With many innovations in policy such as the Investment Law and the Enterprise Law, the process of international integration will create opportunities and new playing field for the M&A transactions to boom.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Vietnam Tourism Industry

Vietnam is a country with abundant and diverse tourism potentials. For Vietnam’s economy, tourism is a key economic sector, plays an important role in the development of the country.

The tourism industry continues to bring potential revenue stream for Vietnam. In the context of the accommodation need is constantly increasing, many new projects will join the market within the next ten years.

According to statistics, the hotel industry in Vietnam has recorded impressive growth in quarter 1 of 2016.

According to the Tourism Authority of Vietnam, Vietnam has welcomed nearly 108,750 Russian tourists in quarter 1 of 2016, increase by 13.5% over the same period last year. Experts said that thanks to the loosen visa policy of the Government, Vietnam is considered as a safer destination for Russian tourists compared to other traditional tourist destinations.

In fact, the hotel industry of Vietnam is just in the early stages of the long developing way. In recent years, Vietnam is considered a leading tourism destination for seasonal tourists and who love exploring cultural values.

Currently, Vietnam is increasingly known as an international tourism destination with favorable climate, rich culinary, beautiful beaches, diverse cultures as well as facilities to meet international standards for foreign tourists.

With the expansion of the international airport, improved infrastructure, better quality hotels and entertainment facilities, Vietnam is gradually becoming a great alternative destination than Thailand and Malaysia.

According to statistics, since January 2016 to May 2016, Vietnam has welcomed nearly 3,248,634 international passengers, increases by 17.8% over the same period last year, with the largest number of visitors coming from China and Korea.

Notably, Quang Binh and Ninh Binh are emerging tourist destinations that recognized increasing visitor arrivals.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation.  Our services are as following:

• Market Entry
• Tax Advice
• Legal Advice

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Coastal Shipping in Vietnam

1.Coastal shipping competition

According Maritime Bureau, in 2015, although business activities of coastal shipping enterprise still had some difficulty, the total output reached 118.7 million tons, increasing 9.5% compared to 2014.

A Deputy Director of Vietnam Maritime Bureau, Mr Bui Thien Thu said that domestic shipping had taken charge of 100% of the domestic demand of coastal shipping. The domestic container ships has increased to 39 ships, a total increase of freight load is 200% from 2013 to 2015. The coastal shipping routes has transported 6.1 million tons of cargo including coal, slag, stone, rock, metal, fertilizers, cement, ore, fuel oil …

In 2015, output of goods in Vietnam’s seaport system continues an impressive growth, estimated at 427.3 million tons, rising 14.6%, in which the container reached 12 million TEUs, rising 15.5% compared to 2014.

According to Deputy Director of Bureau Bui Thien Thu, cargo volumes through Vietnam’s seaport system in 2015 in accordance with the approved plan in Decision No. 1037 of the Prime Minister in 2014 was 410 million tons. Thus, the volume outperformed 4.1% in 2015 compared with the initial plan.

However, the goods have been misallocated between different domestic seaports. To resolve this situation, there is a need to improve connectivity transport infrastructure and supporting services to relocate goods in different seaports, while speeding up the relocation of the port on the Saigon River and Ba Son shipyard.

During the year, Vietnam Maritime Bureau has completed the review and adjustment of detailed planning of port group 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, thus managing the system more effectively. The Ministry of Transportation approved this plan.

By 2016, the total output of goods through the port system is estimated to reach 470 million tons (increasing 10% compared to 2015), in which each container is expected to reach 13.3 million, increasing 11% TEUs.

2.Vietnam Government published policy on Coastal Shipping, particular container services

In late May 3/2013, the Ministry of Transport has issued Document No. 128 / TB – BGTVT decision to terminate the operation of foreign fleets in terms of container shipping service in domestic routes, consisting of 20 units with a total tonnage of 500,000 DWT.

The foreign ship owners are not able to disapprove this decision since prioritising domestic fleets is compatible with the Law of the customs, as well as commitments to the world Trade Organization (WTO) on the protection of the members.

From 2013 to 2015, the fleets of Vietnam were given good opportunity to win back market share in terms of the domestic container shipping, which used to belong to the foreign shipping companies (with an estimated value of 1,000 billion / year). There are various container shipping companies gaining loyal leads which ground stable roots for domestic fleets.

Also Vietnam Maritime Bureau in collaboration with Ministry of Transport, Vinalines, Vietnam Ship Owners Association and Vietnamese ship owners operating on domestic routes ensure the limitation of congestion at seaport.

Average freight rates of Vietnamese fleet are offering customer around 5.2 million / 20-foot container for the north – south journey. This price is equivalent to the unit price of the foreign shipping company in 2012.

There have been more Vietnamese fleet being able to operate on domestic routes such as Hai Phong and Cai Lan to HCMC, Ba Ria – Vung Tau and vice again.

3.Vietnam regulations establishing who can and who cannot provide coastal shipping services, particular containers.

To ensure sufficient capacity to meet the demand for domestic container market, in addition to 30 domestic container shipping companies, Vietnam Maritime Bureau has also allowed 8 foreign fleets owned by Vietnamese enterprises to operate on domestic routes.

The biggest difficulty for domestic container shipping companies is that market has not completely recovered. Currently the container shipping companies from the South to the North reach approximately 80% of capacity, while the reverse route only reaches 50% capacity.

In long term, this policy has enabled the Vietnamese fleet to gradually recover from difficult period when all the domestic container shipping belonged to foreign companies.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Game on Mobile Phone Industry in Vietnam

About 3-4 years ago, the world’s game industry is undergoing a very big transformation, witnessing the rise of mobile gaming which outperformed the traditional platforms such as PC or console. In Vietnam, the gaming industry also falls in line with the world trend, many new companies or even large organization had developed mobile game.

In 2015, internet users in Vietnam reached 45 million, accounting for 48.4% of the total population of 93 million. The smartphone users reached 24 million, accounting for 25.8% of the total population, of which 9.3 million of mobile gamers and players loaded fee rate was 45%, reaching ARPPU index (average revenue average per player) is $ 27.71 (619.000 VND).

Until the end of 2015, the number of smartphone devices in Vietnam has reached $37 million, accounting for 52% the total number of mobile devices in the country. It can be seen from the General Statistic Office that from 2012 to 2015, 10 million devices have entered Vietnam’s market each year. Besides, Vietnam’s market has not come to saturation, so the potential growth for mobile gaming devices will continue to stay strong for at least 5-10 more years.

In terms of proportion of smartphone users based on age, the largest groups is from the age of 16-34 years old which accounted for 80% in 2015. In this group, the users from 16 – 24 years old take up to 45%. Besides, it can be noticed a remarkable rise of user groups of the age of 16-24 since this percentage rose from 20% in 2013 to 45% in 2015, indicating a huge change of demand of smartphone and purchasing power of smartphone.

If classifying users according to operating system, Android is still the most popular operating system in Vietnam in 2015 which accounted for 60% of users, followed by the 25% of iOS and Windows phone has the smallest market share of 15%. However, Windows phone showed significant change in 2015 when compared to 2014 (4%).  It indicates the development of a new market alongside iOS and Android. This is a unique point in the Vietnam mobile gaming market compared to other countries.

In terms classification depending on by device users and gender, smartphone devices still dominated completely with 90.3%, while tablet only accounted for 9.7%. In terms of gender, the rate does not differ hugely with 58% male and 42% female.

Smartphone game market value in Vietnam in 2015 reach $ 116 million (2,592 billion VND), the growth rate was 39.75% compared with 83 million dollars (1,854 billion VND) in 2014.

In terms of marketing channel for mobile gamers, social network such as Facebook channel remains an ideal place to promote game which accounted for 45%, followed by the local ad network (Admicro, Nova Ads …) accounting 30%, while Google and PR normally accounts for respectively 15% and 10%. Thus, both domestic companies that wish to penetrate the market will be highly recommended to use the ad unit local to achieve optimum efficiency.

In a paid form of payment, Vietnamese users can mainly use the phone (85%) to pay for the mobile gaming, followed by domestic bank card (10%) and Visa / MasterCard (5%). Thus, the mobile game usually have good links with the network provider of mobile phones in Vietnam. It is due to the fact that the users have not had the habit of using cards.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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COSMETIC INDUSTRY IN VIETNAM

Overview

According to the figure of Nielsen in 2013, the annual turnover of the Vietnamese cosmetics market is around 15 trillion VND (US$704.2 million).  The average per-capita spending was only $4 per person per year, compared with an average of $20 per person in Thailand. This indicates a huge potential for growth of this sector in Vietnam.

According to a report from The Society of Cosmetics of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has more than 400 cosmetics businesses, with 90% of the market share taken by foreign brands. Most of the popular domestic brands, such as Saigon Cosmetic, Thorakao and Lan Hao only achieved low sale volume and mainly export to neighbouring Asian markets.

Consumer behavior

Vietnamese consumers are familiar with Korean brand cosmetics compared with cosmetics from other countries. The market share for cosmetics products by foreign countries is as follows: Korea – 30%, EU – 23%, Japan – 17%, Thailand – 13%, US – 10%, and others – 7%. The Korean cosmetic products are often associated with “brand of youth”, “affordable price”, and “being fashionable”. Vietnamese women often consider American products as “expensive”, “good quality” and “brands for adult” whereas Japanese products as “good quality” and “good value for money”.

The research of Q&Me shows that there is 44% of Vietnamese women usually wearing makeup in which 24% women wear makeup every day, 44% women wear makeup once a week. Thus, it underlines that wearing makeup every day is not popular for Vietnamese women.

In terms of sources for finding information about cosmetic, friends and website are the most popular source. The websites are usually designed for women such as eva.vn, phunutoday.vn …

Domestic enterprises

Since there is a fierce competition of international cosmetic brands, Vietnamese enterprises in cosmetic industry is seeking to export or link with other international companies for new items. However, there have not been a lot of successful business which may include Cosmetics Manufacturing Company Limited Lan Hao (Thorakao), JSC Saigon Cosmetics, JSC Sao Thai Street…

According to Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao – Vice Chairman of HCM City Cosmetics Association, there are a few FDI enterprises stop production chain in Vietnam and moved to Malaysia, Thailand to enjoy preferential policies. Therefore, in Vietnam, the exported cosmetic product to Vietnam significantly increased.

According to Ms. Thao, even though importing and distributing cosmetics or machinery in this industry in Vietnam is the best solution to survive in the market, not many companies choose this solution.

“There are also cases which companies have modern production lines due to the cooperation with pharmaceutical companies to supply to the market, but they do not want to be published. Also some of cosmetics enterprises cooperate with foreign companies to product cosmetic products, but only retain only a few specific products to distribute in the domestic market. There are some small cosmetic enterprises forced to stop operation due to difficulties and fierce competition.”

Many free trade agreements between Vietnam and other countries has signed which put tariffs on exported good to 0% including cosmetic, thus this industry has longer attraction for domestic enterprise to invest in manufacture or production chain.

Majority Vietnamese cosmetic enterprises are still relatively young, thus only able to produce shampoo, shower gel … Most of cosmetic products used in spa are imported. Therefore, it is an opportunity for high-end foreign owned cosmetics brands to compete in Vietnam market. Specifically, cosmetic products which curse/reduce acne and treatment for oily skin, rejuvenate the skin, whiten skin and take care of hair are the best seller products.

According to Phuong Mai JSC, the trend of using natural products with 100% organic (organic) ingredients become the top choice of spa. So if any domestic brands catch up cosmetic this trend, they will succeed in finding a new direction for the cosmetic enterprises to compete in this industry in Vietnam.

Even if domestic enterprises are able to catch up with the current trend, Vietnamese enterprises still need to learn, update technology as well as knowledge and experience from the big corporations with turnover of billions dollars such as Korean business and hundred billions of baht  such as Thailand’s enterprises.

Vietnam enterprises are aware their position in this industry through different beauty exhibition. There have been many exhibitions of the beauty industry took place in Vietnam recently.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation  and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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