The situation of industrial zones in Vietnam is constantly changing. More specifically, from the end of 2024 to the present year 2025, the number of industrial zones across the country and the scale of each facility are expanding, changing continuously and especially attracting many different sources of investment capital, both domestic and foreign. Let’s find out more detailed information with KTG Industrial here!
What is an industrial zone?
Quoted from Clause 16, Article 3 of the Investment Law 2020, an industrial park (IP) is an area with clearly defined geographical boundaries, used for the purpose of building necessary infrastructure to serve the production of goods in the industrial sector.
There are basic types of IPs including export processing zones, supporting industrial zones, specialized industrial zones, ecological industrial zones, high-tech industrial zones and expanded industrial zones.
List of 6 Industrial Zones Vietnam
Vietnam has 6 key industrial zones. The outstanding features of each zone are listed in detail below:
Northern midlands and mountainous regions
One of the most important IPs in the North is the Northern midlands and mountainous region (or region 1). It has an area of up to 15.17 thousand hectares with more than 58 IPs, concentrated in 14 provinces and cities. Including Bac Giang, Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Bac Kan, Hoa Binh, Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Phu Tho, Son La, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang and Yen Bai.
The development direction of this region is sustainable growth with solid infrastructure, meeting the necessary quality criteria. In addition, the proportion of industry in the total GDP of region 1, the main industries in the Northern midland and mountainous region are mineral exploitation and processing, chemical production, agricultural and forestry product production, etc.
According to Resolution No. 11-NQ/TW on “Orientation for socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security in the Northern midland and mountainous region to 2030, vision to 2045”, the Government wants this region to develop greenly and sustainably as well as promote its inherent cultural identities. In addition, the resolution points out the importance of quality transport infrastructure in the growth of economic corridors, high-quality human resources, etc.
The midlands and mountainous areas of the North are gradually changing towards green and sustainable development
Red River Delta
Completely not inferior to region 1, region 2 – the Red River Delta industrial region (including 14 provinces and cities of Bac Ninh, Hanoi, Ha Tinh, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Nghe An, Quang Ninh, Thai Binh, Thanh Hoa, Vinh Phuc) has an impressive growth rate – 7.94% per year (period 2005 – 2020) [3].
Moreover, that region also has an economic scale that increases by 29.4% of the country’s GDP and an average GRDP per capita of 103.6 million VND per year [3]. This is thanks to its convenient location – easy to travel to the North, Central or South and the operating area of 142 industrial parks up to 52.21 thousand hectares with high-class infrastructure.
Unlike region 1, region 2 focuses on developing the economy in a clean and strong direction based on available potentials in terms of geographical location, raw materials, etc. Therefore, most of the industrial parks here belong to the seafood processing industry.
On November 23, 2022, the Central Executive Committee announced Resolution No. 30-NQ/TW until 2030, with a vision to 2045, to help this area develop a strong socio-economic situation while still ensuring safety in terms of national defense and security.
At the same time, Resolution No. 54-NQ/TW of the 9th Politburo and Conclusion No. 13-KL/TW of the 11th Politburo created conditions for the region to develop rapidly, becoming the highest quality education and human resource training center in the country. In addition, Region 2 can completely solve the problem of environmental pollution, traffic congestion and flooding.
The Red River region holds an important economic and cultural trade position
North Central region and Central Coast
Similar to Region 1 and Region 2 in Vietnam, the North Central and Central Coast industrial region has an area of 47.93 thousand hectares, 111 industrial parks gathered from 14 coastal provinces and cities. Including Binh Dinh, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Phu Yen, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Quang Tri and Thua Thien – Hue.
According to the development orientation from the Government, by 2010, the proportion of industry in the total GDP of the region will reach 46 – 47%. Of which, two key industries have impressive proportions, respectively, the chemical industry accounts for 19 – 20%, the agricultural – forestry – fishery processing industry reaches 30 – 40% [2]. Moreover, the Government also recognizes the potential and advantages of the region (especially the marine economy), so Resolution No. 39 is increasingly being perfected to create the most favorable conditions for the region to develop outstandingly.
In addition, the Politburo emphasized the importance of harmonious development between regions. The best solution to this problem is to improve the people’s qualifications, thereby increasing income to catch up with other regions.
The North Central and Central Coastal Industrial Regions are constantly upgrading their infrastructure
Central Highlands Region
Combining the four provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, and Kon Tum, the Central Highlands Technology Region has a GRDP growth rate of 7.21%. Up to now, the industrial area is 3.73 thousand hectares with 17 industrial parks.
The most important role of this region is to be a “connecting gateway” for economic, political, cultural, social, environmental, defense, security, and foreign affairs domestically and internationally. Currently, the Central Highlands technology zone is targeting renewable energy, agricultural processing, mineral exploitation and processing (especially bauxite), tourism development, etc.
In particular, according to statistics by 2023 (after 1 year of implementing Resolution No. 23-NQ/TW), the economic scale of the Central Highlands region reached 416.5 trillion VND, equivalent to 4.01% of the country’s GDP. In addition, the Central Highlands is the region that plays a key role in the production and export of agricultural products with a total export turnover of about 2.82 billion USD, accounting for 5.6% of the country’s agricultural exports (in 2021). Notable among them are coffee, pepper, rubber, etc.
The Central Highlands is the region that focuses on growing and exporting agricultural and forestry products
Southeast region
One of the important industrial regions in the South of Vietnam is the Southeast region. On an area of 59.01 thousand hectares with 127 industrial parks, region 5 includes 8 provinces and cities including Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, Lam Dong, Ho Chi Minh City and Tay Ninh.
With timely support from the Government, in 2020, this region quickly owned an industrial product output that increased 4.9 times compared to 2005 and 2.6 times compared to 2010. This has affirmed the importance of the Southeast region when contributing 32% of GDP to the whole country in parallel with 44.7% of total revenue to the state budget [3].
By October 2022, Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW on socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security in the Southeast region was issued with the goal of developing into a region with the highest growth rate by 2030. Accordingly, the key industries are agriculture, logistics, oil and gas exploitation and processing, etc.
All industrial zones in the Southeast region are oriented towards sustainable development according to the Government’s policy
Mekong Delta region
The last industrial zone in Vietnam is the Mekong Delta region with 13 provinces and cities: Can Tho, Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Hau Giang, An Giang, Soc Trang, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau. The area of the area is up to 27.74 hectares for 103 industrial zones.
Most of the enterprises here mainly operate in the aquaculture and fishing industry. After many years of completion and development according to Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW dated April 2, 2022, the region will reach a GRDP of 5.47% in 2023.
In addition, Vietnam’s strategic vision to 2030, vision to 2045, the Mekong Delta will become a civilized ecological region, with stable and sustainable growth. Above all, this region must still bear the cultural identity of the river region. By the end of 2045, this industrial zone will develop comprehensively in many aspects of ecology, culture, development level, etc.
The Mekong Delta develops aquaculture and seafood processing industry
Development Orientation for Industrial Zones in Vietnam
According to a report from the Department of Economic Zones Management, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam officially has 431 industrial parks and export processing zones established and put into operation with a total area of about 132.3 thousand hectares (data as of the end of July 2024). This opens up new opportunities for Vietnam when it can attract a huge amount of domestic and international investment capital (accounting for about 35 – 40% of the total registered FDI capital of the whole country). At the same time, it supplements extremely important human resources for investment in socio-economic development of the country [4].
However, to “retain” this source of capital in a stable manner, of course, Vietnam must constantly innovate in the way industrial parks are operated. Specifically, in recent times, the Vietnamese Government has transformed the operating model of industrial parks from traditional to ecological industrial parks, aiming at green development. Thanks to the support of major organizations such as the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the implementation of this form of industrial park is increasingly successful.
Accordingly, Decree No. 35/2022/ND-CP dated May 28, 2022 of the Government (formerly Decree 82/2018/ND-CP) fully mentions the information needed to successfully implement green industrial parks:
- Policies to support and cooperate in developing ecological industrial parks.
- Procedures, procedures, and documents for registration of certification of ecological industrial parks and ecological enterprises.
- Orientation for planning and construction of new ecological industrial parks.
- Social security conditions (such as housing, schools, hospitals, etc.) for workers working in industrial parks [4].
Not only that, there are also some other important development orientations of Vietnam in the era of industrialization and modernization:
- Taking advantage of the potential of the 4.0 industrial revolution by proactively applying advanced technology to save human resources and time in production.
- Improving the efficiency of attracting and cooperating with foreign investment according to Resolution No. 50-NQ/TW.
- Achieving the proportion of processing and manufacturing industry in GDP to reach 50% by the end of 2025.
- Completing institutions and policies to ensure stable operation of industrial parks and economic zones.
- Prioritizing economic restructuring and innovating parallel operating models towards industrialization of the country in harmony between regions, industries and occupations across the country.
- Selecting and diversifying types of industrial parks.
- Upgrading infrastructure and promoting production to ensure synchronization and harmony in terms of economy, society and environment at each facility.
Above is the situation of industrial parks in Vietnam until the end of 2025. Hopefully, investors and business owners have fully updated the latest information about each prominent industrial zone in Vietnam, thereby having a reasonable capital investment plan.
