In recent years, Viet Nam has been a lucrative market for many Japanese investors. — Photo vovworld

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Many Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consider Viet Nam an attractive investment destination, according to a survey by Japan's Shoko Chukin Bank.

The survey, which was conduced in January, found that 40.7 per cent of 3,750 respondents had plans to invest in Viet Nam.

Nearly 12 per cent of firms surveyed said they had invested in overseas markets, mainly in precision mechanical manufacturing, transportation machinery, information technology and non-manufacturing industries.

In recent years, Viet Nam has been a lucrative market for many Japanese investors.

Showa Denko Corporation has decided to build a factory to produce safe vegetables in the northern province of Ha Nam, with total investment capital of US$1 million.

The factory, to be built in Duy Tien District's Dong Van II Industrial Zone, will apply a cultivation system that uses LED lighting instead of sunlight. It is expected to produce its first products by the end of this year.

During a meeting with the provincial People's Committee yesterday, the corporation's director General Daiken Murakami, said Ha Nam was the most suitable location for the factory because of its investment policies, transport network and geographical position.

If the experiment was successful, the corporation would expand its production scale, he said.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Japanese investment capital in Viet Nam reached $295 million in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 16 per cent of the total foreign direct investment registered in the country.

As of March, 2015, Japanese businesses had pumped more than $37.49 billion into 2,584 projects in the country, ranking second among the 101 countries and territories investing here. — VNS