Investors pour money into food processing projects

At a conference held recently, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that Vietnam needs to join the top 15 countries with the most developed agriculture in the next 10 years, and that farm, forestry and seafood processing should be among the top 10.

On January 6, Tanifood vegetable & fruit processing plant of Lavifood JSC, became operational after 18 months of construction.

Capitalized at VND1.780 trillion, the 60,000 ton per annum plant is the first one in Vietnam meeting the US’s Lead Silver standard. Pham Ngo Quoc Thang, chair of Lavifood, said with the production line processing different products at the same time, the company can collect up to 80 percent of farm produce from farmers.

Currently, Tanifood collects the farm produce meeting VietGap standard. The first-class products will be exported fresh, while the others will be frozen, dried, condensed or used to make fruit juice.

According to the agriculture ministry, 16 agriculture, forestry and seafood processing plants kicked off in 2018 with total investment capital of VND8.7 trillion.  All the plants are designed to use new technologies that help increase productivity.

In late 2018, Vina T&T started the construction of a fresh coconut plant. Once it is put into operation, slated for 2019, the VND50 billion plant would be able to process 25 million of fresh coconuts a year.

The high demand has prompted Vietnamese to pour money into vegetable and fruit farming projects. Vietnam now has 1.6 million hectares of vegetable and fruit farming area with the output of 25 million tons, but its processing capacity is modest, just 1 million tons.

According to the ministry, Vietnam’s vegetable and fruit exports have been growing steadily by 15 percent over the last five years with export turnover of $3.8 billion in 2018.

“There are 150 processing plants throughout the country. The potential is still very great with 7.5 billion of consumers all over the world,” said Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

While vegetable anf fruits are an emerging sector and Vietnam needs more time to appear in the world’s map, its seafood, pepper and cashew nut products have been well known for a long time.

Vietnam’s seafood industry, for example, exported $9 billion worth of products last year and is among the top 5 in the world. 

Nguyen Thi Hong Minh, former Deputy Minister of Fisheries, said the industry has been developing well because it relies on the private sector, not state owned or foreign invested.

Governor of the State Bank Le Minh Hung has committed to having banks prioritize capital for agricultural production in 2019.

RELATED NEWS

Food processing to take off

Food processing seeks more foreign investment