Dear Investors and Newsletter Readers,
As part of our continuing on the ground research, please find below our travel report for Vietnam.
Vietnam
Ruchir Desai, Co-Manager of the AFC Asia Frontier Fund, traveled to Ho Chi Minh City last month to attend an investor conference. All photos are by Asia Frontier Capital.
Vietnam – In a sweet spot
It was that time of the year again when we visit Ho Chi Minh City for an annual investor conference which we have been attending since 2014. Last year, I wrote that participation at the investor conference was the highest it has ever been. However, given the correction in the Vietnamese stock market since its high in April 2018 there was less exuberance this time around. That is not necessarily a bad thing for us – the lesser the crowd the better.
Having said that, Vietnam is still one of the most favoured markets amongst frontier investors given its robust economic growth, stable macroeconomic outlook, ability to attract foreign direct investments and now an increasing consensus that the country is expected to benefit from the trade tensions between China and the U.S. There is already some anecdotal evidence that Vietnam is benefiting from this trade tension as most industrial park companies we have met with have spoken of more inquiries from manufacturers looking to relocate from China into Vietnam. This trend is also evident from the Hong Kong-based garment and textile companies we meet with who have moved a majority of their production base from China to Vietnam and other lower cost locations over the past few years.
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