VietNamNet Bridge – Samsung Viet Nam’s turnover in 2016 touched US$46.3 billion, while its exports reached $39.9 billion, rising 9.9 per cent compared to 2015, despite the Galaxy Note 7 recall.

An assembly line of Samsung Electronics Viet Nam in northern Bac Ninh Province. — Photo: VNA/VNS

Hyun Woo Bang, deputy general director of Samsung Viet Nam, said the company had overcome its difficulties because of the Note 7 washout, thanks to support from the Vietnamese government and concerned agencies.

Viet Nam’s total export turnover in 2016 is estimated at $175.9 billion, posting an 8.6 per cent year-on-year increase, according to data from the General Statistics Office. Samsung accounted for 22.7 per cent of the country’s total export turnover last year; in 2015, it was 20 per cent.

The combined export turnover of Samsung Electronics Viet Nam (SEV) in Bac Ninh Province and Samsung Electronics Viet Nam-Thai Nguyen (SEVT) in Thai Nguyen Province was $36.2 billion. The Note 7 disaster’s impact was insignificant and short-term on Samsung Viet Nam’s business and export turnover in 2016, Hyun said.

The localisation rate of spare parts in 2016 touched 51 per cent from 2015’s 35 per cent, Hyun said. Samsung used 18,000 robots at its factories to produce spare parts. The 3D display screen and key spare parts are produced in Viet Nam and exported to South Korea and the rest of the world.

Hyun said Samsung committed to invest $14.8 billion in Viet Nam, and so far it had invested $10.1 billion. It employed 140,000 labourers in its factories in Viet Nam, of whom only 190 are specialists from South Korea.

The deputy general director proposed that the Vietnamese government implement policies to help FDI companies improve their competitiveness worldwide, and asked for better taxation and non-tax transactions.

The company also asked for a mechanism to allow their employees to work extra hours and limit rapid salary increases to ensure competitiveness of FDI firms as well as attractiveness of Viet Nam’s labour market.

Earlier, Samsung Electronics announced a 50 per cent surge in turnover to $7.8 billion in the last quarter of 2016, courtesy the high sales of semi-conductors and screens.

VNS