Officials warned Monday that Vietnam’s recurring power disruptions have damaged industrial parks in northern provinces where Foxconn and Samsung operate plants due to a heatwave and increased demand.
EuroCham, representing European companies in the country, wrote to the industry and trade ministry on Monday asking for swift action to address the frequent and unscheduled power disruptions.
Two local investment officials, who were not authorized to speak to the media, said some industrial parks in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang had been experiencing blackouts.
“We are working with EVN later today to discuss the situation and possible measures to limit the impacts,” one official said, referring to Vietnam’s state utility, Electricity of Vietnam.
Samsung Electronics (005930. KS), Foxconn (2317. TW), Canon Inc (7751.T), and Luxshare (002475. SZ) produce in the provinces.
“Vietnam’s industry ministry should take urgent measures before the country’s reputation as a reliable global manufacturing hub is undermined,” EuroCham Vietnam vice chairman Jean-Jacques Bouflet told Reuters on Monday, adding that power interruptions severely affected industrial activities.
State media reported that EVN’s northern unit would cut power to Canon’s factory in Bac Ninh from 8:00 am local time on Monday to 5:00 am on Tuesday, as well as at least five industrial parks and several villages in the province.
Whether other companies were affected was unclear. The firms and EVN did not immediately react to inquiries.
After first-quarter growth fell to 3.3% from 5.9% in the fourth quarter, the outages threatened to weaken the economy because of sluggish export market demand.
More than 11,000 enterprises have agreed to reduce use and turn off street lights to keep the national electricity grid working.
At a weekend government meeting, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai stated that “power shortages for households and businesses at certain locations at certain time” would remain.
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