An Phat plastics venture abroad with green vision

Green business

An Phat Holdings embraces green production in high-tech and environmentally friendly plastic production.

The Hanoi-headquartered company, with a history of 20 years, has established a strong foothold in the sector, producing from plastic materials and chemicals to packaging and support industries. A milestone came in 2015 when An Phat started pursuing a green development strategy.

By that time, the world had already become more concerned with “white pollution”, which comprises solid waste stemming from the use of various plastics. Plastic is difficult to degrade and dispose of, resulting in major urban environmental consequences.

White pollution has forced European governments to enact drastic measures to limit single-use plastics. Therefore, many major customers of An Phat globally have continuously asked the company to supply biodegradable products, starting with bags, followed by knives, forks, straws, food wrap and the like.

The Vietnamese firm, aware of such huge demand, drew ahead in ambition to gradually develop the biodegradable plastic industry in Vietnam and provide locally-made green products for overseas markets. The company’s introduction of its AnEco brand in 2015 underscored its new product strategy.

"A future circular economy needs the cooperation of each business, every business.

At that time, we clearly understood our role in promoting the development of a new business, which is making environmentally friendly products for both consumers and industrial production. That was when our journey of change began,” said An Phat deputy CEO Nguyen Le Thang Long.

“A circular economy requires the cooperation of each business in a country and of many countries across the world,” he added.

Partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon

Due to Covid-19, online shopping and e-commerce became a booming business. An Phat Holdings took a bold step in riding the new wave, which includes cross-border e-commerce.

In early 2021, AnEco-branded quality biodegradable products started to be available on Amazon, a leading global e-commerce platform that is very strong in the U.S. and one of the largest electronics retailers in Europe.

In the beginning, AnEco was still a new brand on Amazon. “We kept recruiting more and more young employees with e-commerce passion,” said Long.

“We had a team working on U.S. time to serve our customers in that market. Those companies are dedicated to their markets and customers, which is of great value, therefore branding will further develop.”

Thanks to this, AnEco quickly caught up with market requirements, reaping better sales results after a year. The company estimates AnEco sales via Amazon in 2022 were about 15-20 times higher compared to 2021.

Besides sales, AnEco biodegradable products have been awarded different prestigious international certificates of biodegradability like TUV Compost HOME, TUV Compost Industrial, BPI Compostable, and Seedling. In 2022, it was for the first time recognized as a national product brand in Vietnam.

Prior to that, the AnEco brand was successfully registered in the U.S. in March 2021. The solid step forward has helped the corporation strongly develop the brand throughout its North American markets. Having established cooperation with large corporations worldwide, AnEco is among the majors in Vietnam that are leading the national green transformation journey.

Based on the success of AnEco, An Phat Holdings plans similar business expansion for other green product brands under its ecosystem by also riding the wave of booming global e-commerce.

An Phat serves as a good example for other Vietnamese companies to follow in embracing green production, changing themselves amid new global business trends.