Plans to build a $104 million container plant in Hoa Phat is on track

An employee makes records of steel products at a factory of Hoa Phat. Photo courtesy of Hoa Phat

Steel giant Hoa Phat Group has received a permit to build a VND2.4 trillion ($104.64 million) container manufacturing plant in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

According to VN Express, the plant, when complete, will have the capacity to produce 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (standard size) a year. After the first phase, the plant will be able to make up to 200,000 units a year.

Chairman Tran Dinh Long said earlier there is high global demand for containers, but 90 percent of them are made in China.

But Hoa Phat has two advantages that could help it compete with Chinese manufacturers: its own hot-rolled coil steel plant that has proven successful in making the metal box, and cheaper labor in Vietnam.

The company in April established a container company with charter capital of VND3 trillion to oversee this endeavor.

Hoa Phat Group posted its highest ever quarterly profit in the second quarter at VND9.7 trillion, tripling year-on-year.

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