Business News

Foreign investors carried out 1,815 capital contribution and share purchase transactions in Việt Nam in the first seven months of 2026, with total capital exceeding $6.5 billion. While the number of transactions fell 8.4 per cent year-on-year, their value rose 61.6 per cent. Rather than investing from scratch to build new production facilities, many foreign investors are choosing to acquire stakes in existing Vietnamese companies as a faster way to establish a foothold in the market.

Asia remained Việt Nam’s largest export market, accounting for 45.5 per cent of total market share, with exports to the region increasing 11.3 per cent year on year. Việt Nam’s agricultural, forestry and fishery exports totaled nearly US$49.3 billion in the first eight months of this year, up 7 per cent year on year, maintaining growth momentum despite divergent trends among major product groups.

Việt Nam's seafood exports rose by 6 per cent in August compared to last year, supported by strong demand from mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, which helped offset weaker shipments to the US. Seafood exports reached over US$1.1 billion in August, taking total exports in the first eight months of this year to $8 billion, up 11.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

In the first eight months, durian export revenue was estimated at $1.95 billion, of which exports to China alone fetched $1.85 billion or 95 per cent. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is completing the remaining procedures in an effort to raise durian export revenue in 2026 to at least the level recorded last year, at US$3.85 billion, or potentially higher, around $4 billion, Deputy Minister Đặng Ngọc Diệp said.

According to Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance, by the end of August, the city disbursed VND85 trillion ($3.26 billion) in public investment, equivalent to 57.7 per cent of the plan. Hoang Vu Thanh, director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance, said that the eight-month performance showed positive improvements in both absolute value and the disbursement rate compared to the same period in 2025, rising from 44.1 per cent to 57.7 per cent, an increase of 13.6 percentage points.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Finance, total foreign direct investment (FDI) registered in Vietnam reached $40.63 billion as of August 31, up 55.4 per cent year-on-year. All three components – newly registered capital, additional capital injected into existing projects, and foreign investors’ capital contributions and share purchases – recorded increases.

Hà Nội's State budget revenue reached an estimated VNĐ521.3 trillion (US$20 billion) in the first eight months of 2026, completing more than 80 per cent of the full-year target, supported by strong contributions from private and foreign-invested enterprises. According to the Hanoi Statistics Office, total State budget revenue collected in the capital by the end of August was equivalent to 80.2 per cent of the annual estimate and up 8.9 per cent from the same period in 2025.

Việt Nam exported an estimated 6.03 million tonnes of rice worth nearly US$2.91 billion in the first eight months of 2026, down 5 per cent in volume and 10.7 per cent in value year-on-year, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. However, rice export prices have shown signs of recovery since July. The average export price in July reached $511 per tonne, up 5.8 per cent year-on-year, marking the first annual increase this year.