JLL's report said Vietnam started to open industrial parks in 1986, with total area of only 335ha. After more than 20 years of development, up to now, the country's industrial land area has reached around 80,000ha and become one of the region's major investment attractions.
The reason behind this strong growth is that, according to JLL, Vietnam has had precise directions in building an export-focused economy, offering a plan to establish key industrial and economic zones, and actively participate in free trade agreements (FTAs). The economy benefits from a strong growth, abundant and young and low-cost labor resources.
In the report, JLL also details the situation of Vietnam's industrial zone development by region. Specifically, in 25 Northern provinces, in addition to some foreign investors such as VSIP (Singapore/Vietnam), Thuan Thanh 2 (Taiwan) or Nomura (Japan), domestic corporations run major operations of industrial parks.
Total area of industrial parks in the North is currently 18,900ha with 2.7 million sqm of factory, the average rent is $4.1 per sqm per month, with occupancy rate of 82%.
With the advantage of abundant and young labor force, low labor cost, the Northern region is considered a big attraction for investors who want to move out of the neighboring China market. In addition, the Northern region, led by Hanoi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh, is also considered to be more advantageous than the South in high technology.
Compared to the Northern and Southern regions, the Central Key Economic Region is still in its infancy, with a total area of 17,600ha of industrial park, 229,500m2 of factory, with monthly average rent of $2.9 per sqm.
Domestic corporations are the main investors holding most of operations of Central industrial zones, focusing mainly on light industry sectors such as food processing industry.
In the Southern region, the total area of industrial parks is 44,700ha, with more than 3 million sqm of factory, with an average monthly rent of $3.1 per sqm.
Local investors are also the main operators of most industrial parks in the South. Besides, there are also some foreign investors like VSIP and Amata (Thailand).
