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Malaysia’s businessmen believe in Vietnam’s outlook
Many Malaysians doing business in Vietnam expressed their belief in their operations in the Southeast Asian country although current difficulties like high inflation.
Quek Kar Loon, chief executive officer (CEO) of the GPRO Technologies Bhd was quoted by Malaysia ’s The Star as saying that his company was in Vietnam since 2004 and he believed “there is still tremendous potential for business growth in this country.”
He admitted to the current inflationary pressure, but affirmed the GPRO Technologies Bhd will gradually increase its workforce in Vietnam to cater to the growing textile industry.
“As an information technology solutions provider for the textile and apparel industry, we grow in tandem with them,” he said. Currently, about 20 percent of the company’s net profit comes from Vietnam .
Meanwhile, Jimmy Cheah Eng Chuan, managing director of the Furniweb Industrial Products Bhd, said that his company’s operations in Vietnam are now “doing okay despite inflationary pressures.”
He said the Furniweb Industrial Products Bhd’s plan to venture into upstream activities moving on as it still believed in the country’s potential for growth.
But he recommended the government to work on controlling the high inflation in the country or else things will get tougher, although labour cost in Vietnam is still relatively competitive as compared with other countries.
Tan Ang Meng, CEO of the Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, affirmed that his glass manufacturing plant in Vietnam is doing “quite well”, and he has not felt any negative impact given the current inflationary pressure and weak currency there.
However, Edward Yip, corporate affairs senior manager of the Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, said given the current challenging environment in Vietnam , his company has to be extremely careful in its investment plans.
“We remain open to the idea of venturing into Vietnam but are waiting for things to stabilise there,” he said, hoping that a correction should take place over the next couple of years after which the economy will start to grow at a steady pace again.
The Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd plans to go into the technical rubber products sector in Vietnam and ride on a possible construction and automotive boom thereafter.
VNA
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