Hoa Phat Group on November 25 stated that it is completing necessary procedures for land clearance and implementation of projects in Hoa Tam Industrial Zone (IZ), belonging to Nam Phu Yen Economic Zone (EZ) in Phu Yen province. One of them is the Hoa Phat Steel Production Complex.

Notably, the major products of this complex are high-quality steel for mechanical engineering, such as rail steel, plate steel, structural steel, shape steel, and special bar quality (SBQ) steel.

According to Hoa Phat, in October and November 2024, its president Tran Dinh Long and a team of technology experts visited major rail steel production mills in Europe.

Hoa Phat’s executives learned how to arrange technical equipment for steel mills, how to organize production, and how to follow quality inspection procedures.

This included the preparation of clean raw materials from iron ore, and vacuum refining of metals for the highest purity and removal of harmful gas impurities; online quality control systems, and ultrasonic testing (UT) equipment for internal rail defects (Ultrasonic testing); and rail straightening systems. All these ensure the highest quality of products.

Hoa Phat said it has started negotiations, collaboration, and technology transfer with global leading rail steel manufacturers and suppliers of steep rail equipment production, who have partnered with Hoa Phat for many years.

Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel has also cooperated with the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) to organize in-depth training courses on high-quality steel products, with focus on steel for automotive tires; electrical engineering steel (silicon steel); and rail steel for high-speed trains.

Prior to that, Hoa Phat Group committed to supply a sufficient volume of 6 million tons of various steel types for the North-South high-speed railway project, especially high-speed rail steel and high-strength prestressed steel, with international quality standards meeting technical requirements. The group promises to deliver products on schedule and stresses that the prices are very competitive compared with imports.

After reporting revenue of $4 billion in the first nine months of the year, Hoa Phat Group (HPG) recorded a significant increase in after-tax profit for the third quarter in 2024.

The group's after-tax profit jumped 51 percent compared with the same period last year, from VND2 trillion to VND3.022 trillion. The steel manufacturer’s profit in the first nine months increased by 2.4 times to VND9.210 trillion, equal to 92 percent of the annual targeted profit.

This is an encouraging result for the Vietnam's leading steel company in the context of rising steel prices and increased steel demand. Currently, steel brings 85 percent of HPG's profits, followed by agriculture.

In terms of revenue, Hoa Phat got over $34 trillion in the third quarter, up 19 percent year-over-year (VND28.766 trillion). As such, in the first nine months of the year, Hoa Phat reported over VND105 trillion in revenue, ($4 billion), a 23 percent increase year-over-year (VND85.431 trillion), or 75 percent of the 2024 plan.

The group paid VND10,000 billion to the state budget in the first nine months of 2024, which was even higher than the amount of the entire 2023.

Hoa Phat once faced a challenging 2022 when business results plummeted. In 2022, Hoa Phat reported revenue of VND142.77 trillion, down by VND8,095 billion, or a 5 percent decline year-over-year. Consolidated after-tax profit was VND 8,444 billion, down VND26,077 billion.

In 2023, Hoa Phat reported revenue of VND 120.355 trillion and profit of VND 6,800 billion in profit, a decrease of 16 percent and 19 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year. The 2023 profit was equal to 85 percent of the plan and lower than that of the same period of the previous years, primarily due to a 22 percent reduction in steel profit.

HPG is gathering strength to build Hoa Pha tDung Quat 2 steel complex with the designed capacity of 5.6 million tons of hot rolled coil steel a year.

The nation’s largest steel manufacturer is facing great challenges from Chinese imports.

 According to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), China has increased its exports in recent years due to the domestic demand decrease.

China's rapid increase in low-cost steel exports to many regional markets over the past two years has led to an increase in protectionism worldwide, while global steel prices are likely to remain low.

Chinese customs agency reported that China’s finished product exports in August increased by 21.3 percent over July and 14.7 percent over the same period last year to 9.5 million tons.

Tuan Nguyen