VINAMILK’S NEW MILK FACTORY CAN MEET ALL VIET NAM DEMAND
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai yesterday attended the inauguration of one of the world's most modern milk factories in Viet Nam.—VNA/VNS Photo The Anh
BINH DUONG (VNS) — Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai yesterday attended the inauguration of one of the world's most modern milk factories in Viet Nam.
The mega-factory is owned by the Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint-Stock Company (Vinamilk) and located in southern Binh Duong Province. Other senior government officials were also on hand at the opening ceremony for the US$115 million factory, which follows the new baby-formula plant that opened in April.
Thanks to modern technology, the plant is expected to contribute to stabilising milk prices in the market and improving nutrition, Hai said. "It should also improve foodstuff safety and hygiene for consumers," he added. Local milk prices will be more competitive compared to other imported milk, he added.
The factory is equipped with the most advanced technology in automation and integration by Sweden's Tetra Pak. Bert Jan Post, executive director of Tetra Pak Viet Nam, said the factory operated on an automatic basis, from the feedstock input to the final product storage, under the control of the central computing system.
This ensures the best product quality and production efficiency. The packaging materials and finished products are handled by autonomous laser-guided vehicles (LGV) systems, resulting in optimal quality control at efficient costs.
In addition, the factory has the first and largest smart warehouse supplied by Germany's Schafer Company. The warehouse is earthquake-resistant and fully automatic.
Mai Kieu Lien, chairman and general director of Vinamilk, said with the most advanced technology globally, the factory was expected to help Vinamilk become one of the 50 largest dairy companies in the world, with revenue of US$3 billion in 2017.
The opening of a $115 million milk factory in southern Binh Duong Province. Developed by the Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint-Stock Company (Vinamilk), the plant is expected to help stabilise milk prices. — VNA/VNS Photo The Anh
The milk factory, covering an area of 20ha at My Phuoc Industrial Park in Binh Duong Province, "can meet the demand of liquid milk for the entire Vietnamese market," Lien said.Capacity upon completion of the first phase will be 400 million litres of milk per year, the equivalent capacity of nine existing factoriess.
Capacity in the second phase will be raised to 800 million litres of milk per year by 2015.
The company targets a growth rate of 10-15 per cent per year for the fresh milk market segment. Vinamilk has five large-scale farms with 8,000 dairy cows which can provide 90 tonnes of milk per day. It has entered into contracts with over 5,000 dairy farming households that own a total of 65,000 cows, supplying 460 tonnes of raw milk per day.
In the future, the company will invest in three more farms in central Ha Tinh (3,000 cows), southern Tay Ninh (10,000 cows) and central Thanh Hoa province (20,000 cows). It is expected to meet the requirements of quality feedstock and contribute to sustainable development of the dairy cow husbandry industry in Viet Nam. Farms are also expected to raise their own raw materials from 30 per cent to 40 per cent.
On the occasion, Vinamilk CEO Lien donated 150,000 boxes of 100 per cent fertilised fresh milk produced by the factory, equal to a value of VND1 billion ($48,076), to 10 provinces that have the highest percentage of malnutrition in children aged below 5. These boxes of fresh milk will be donated through the National Institute of Nutrition. — VNS.