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

 

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

 

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

 

The localisation rate of spare parts in 2016 touched 51 percent from 2015’s 35 percent, 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 Vietnam and exported to the Republic of Korea and the rest of the world.

 

Hyun said Samsung committed to invest 14.8 billion USD in Vietnam, and so far it had invested 10.1 billion USD. It employed 140,000 labourers in its factories in Vietnam, of whom only 190 are specialists from the Republic of 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 Vietnam’s labour market.

 

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