Binh Duong hi-tech agriculture has great potential. As a result, many French agricultural producers have invested in this sector.
Factories worth millions of dollars
On 10 Oct 2017, the first feed additive factory of Olmix Group (France) was inaugurated at Song Than 2 Industrial Zone (Di An Town). This was the first feed additive factory built by Olmix Group in Asia. With a total investment of more than EUR5 million, this was considered as the first step of French investors to conquer the Asian livestock market. At the same time, it opened a prospect of antibiotic-free feed for Vietnamese livestock industry.
The hi-tech agricultural sector of Binh Duong is the advantage in attracting foreign investors.
According to Animal Feed Association, Vietnam's estimated animal feed production in 2016 was at 20 million tons, behind only China (180 million tons) and Japan (24 million tons). However, from 2016, inadequacies in this industry become apparent, when the most market share in domestic feed was mostly imported, the proportion of imports also increased rapidly.
Products of Olmix Asia Vietnam, which are designed and built according to FAMI QS standards, will be packed in sizes of 10kg and 25kg. The factory operates with a capacity of 130,000 liters of liquid and nearly 5,000 tons per year of powdered additives, animal feeds supplied to animal feed factories and farms each year. According to Nguyen Xuan Duong, Deputy Director of Department of Livestock Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the presence of a French feed additive factory in Vietnam would contribute to the development of a typical Asian product line, helping to reduce selling price and contributing to the development of domestic livestock products.
Previously, in the first quarter of 2017, Bel Vietnam Company inaugurated a factory worth EUR12.9 million in Song Than Industrial Zone (Thu Dau Mot City). Bel Vietnam is a member of the Bel Group (France) and is a producer of famous cheese brands such as The Laughing Cow, Kiri, Babybel, Goodi, Regal Picon... Bel Vietnam's factory had an investment of up to EUR12.9 million; employed advanced and modern production technologies; achieved a capacity of 10,000 tons of cheese per year. With the launching of the new plant, Bel Vietnam aimed to bring high-value dairy products to consumers in Vietnam and South East Asia. The capacity of the new factory reaches 3 million pieces of The Laughing Cow cheese / week, the highest productivity of the company up to now.
Bel Vietnam also established a research center to apply local dairy products to develop specific product lines for the Vietnamese and Asian markets. Bel Vietnam's long-term development strategy is to become a product supply center for the whole Southeast Asia. "This is really a very good investment of a French business in Binh Duong agriculture in particular and Vietnam agriculture in general, in accordance with provincial orientation of calling for investment in agriculture," said Tran Thanh Liem, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee.
Expectations of attracting capital from French investors
Bertrand Lortholary, the French Consul General in Vietnam, said that in the agricultural sector, livestock played an important role in both Vietnam and France, but the potential has not been fully exploited. Therefore, this was clearly an opportunity to boost the investment of French businesses in Vietnam in general and in Binh Duong in particular. "Recently, the Vietnamese Government had a move to ban animal feeds with antibiotics. By good technologies, France is ready to go along with the livestock industry and business community while ensuring productivity", Bertrand said.
Nguyen Xuan Duong, Deputy Director of Livestock Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that the Vietnamese Government strongly encouraged the development of processing industry in agriculture. With favorable geographical position, strong industrial development, Binh Duong in the coming time promises to become the destination of investors in this field. France is a country with developed agriculture and modern technologies, should introduce southern provinces, such as Binh Duong, to French investors.
Obviously, with its potential, advantages as well as the right direction from provincial Party and government in the field of hi-tech agriculture, Binh Duong is getting more and more attention of French investors in particular and countries with modern agriculture.
The relationship between Vietnam-France was assessed to increasingly develop in recent years with a wide range of exchanges from politics to trade, investment, and culture-society. However, France is the 15th partner and the 13th exporter to Vietnam, France's market share is quite small, behind Germany and Italy. In terms of investment, France is ranked 16th among the countries investing the most in Vietnam; and 3rd in Europe, behind England and the Netherlands. Notably, in recent years, some enterprises of agricultural processing of France have invested in big factories in Binh Duong and some provinces in the South.
Reported by Khanh Vinh – Translated by Ngoc Huynh
