Samsung Vietnam says no cuts in jobs, exports this year despite Note 7 woes

Samsung Vietnam will maintain its current staff numbers and its exports target in 2016 despite the parent company scrapping its flagship Galaxy Note 7 phone following a series of battery fires.

Samsung Electronics finally pulled the plug on the new Note 7 phone on Tuesday, less than two months after its launch, dealing a huge blow to the business as a result of unresolved safety concerns, local media reported Thursday.

However, Samsung Vietnam, which employs around 110,000 people in Vietnam, said it has no plan to lay off employees in 2016 as a result of the parent company's crisis.

The company predicted the value of its exports would grow further compared to that of 32.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

"The Note 7 incident may not bring about any significant impact on our exports in 2016. In fact, this year's exports turnover is expected to increase," Samsung Vietnam said in a statement.

Samsung is a major investor in Vietnam. Several Samsung phone factories in Vietnam have combined investments of about 7.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Phones exports are significant to Vietnam's exports, with the value of 2015 shipments up by 27.8 percent year-on-year at 30.17 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 19 percent of the country's total exports, according to Vietnam Customs.

In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam's phone shipments increased by an estimated 8.6 percent on the same period last year to 24.96 billion U.S. dollars.

The value of exports from Samsung's factories in Vietnam's northern Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh provinces could rise to 34.7 billion U.S. dollars this year, making up about one fifth of Vietnam's total exports, Nguyen Mai, president of Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises told Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper on Thursday. Enditem