De Heus seeks to build agri chain in central Vietnam province Gia Lai

The De Heus-Hung Nhon joint venture is eyeing investing in a series of large-scale projects involving livestock farming, processing, and raw materials development in Gia Lai province.

Gia Lai People's Committee Chairman Pham Anh Tuan on Monday met executives from Vietnam's Hung Nhon Group and Dutch giant Royal De Heus to discuss cooperation plans and the expansion of high-tech agricultural projects in the province in the 2025-2030 period.

The De Heus-Hung Nhon JV is currently investing around VND1 trillion ($37.93 million) in the DHN Gia Lai high-tech livestock farm in Gia Lai's Ia Le commune, per European technological standards.

Construction began in May 2024, with phase one already in operation, and the full project expected to be completed and operational by Q1/2026.

Once fully operational, the farm is expected to provide the locality and the central and Central Highlands regions with about 24,000 high-quality breeds each year.

To support disease-free raw material areas for local livestock development, De Heus has also operated a feed mill at An Nhon Industrial Park in Gia Lai since 2015, with a capacity of 150,000-200,000 tons per year.

The company plans to expand and add new projects to meet rising livestock production demand and help farmers market their products.

Under its plan, the De Heus-Hung Nhon JV seeks to raise total investment in Gia Lai to about VND2.8 trillion ($106.2 million).

The future projects will be designed to meet international standards and export requirements for the EU, Japan, South Korea, and the Middle East.

Gia Lai has significant potential for corn cultivation, and the two companies are currently purchasing about 100,000 tons annually, valued at $23-38 million.

The JV has asked provincial authorities to support policies and procedures to accelerate the development of large-scale corn-growing areas through linkages with local agricultural cooperatives, ensuring stable supply, traceability and sustainable livelihoods for farmers.

To optimize costs and supply high-quality feed to its farms and export markets, the JV also plans to build another feed mill in Gia Lai, seeking about 5 hectares of land in an industrial zone for a project worth roughly $30 million.

Hung Nhon separately plans to invest in additional high-tech breeding farms for poultry and pigs, proposing 25-50 hectares of land for projects with total investment of $30-38 million.

Gia Lai Chairman Tuan said Gia Lai fully supports high-tech, integrated production chain projects. He noted the province lacks large-scale slaughtering, processing and feed facilities, and encouraged the companies to study investments in major processing plants linked to raw material areas and export markets.

Hung Nhon Group, headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, specializes in high-tech livestock farming, mainly in the Central Highlands and southeastern Vietnam. The group operates across large-scale animal husbandry, feed production, biological products, and ISO- and GlobalGAP-compliant processing.

De Heus, a global feed producer, has been a pioneer in developing integrated agricultural value chains and export-ready livestock and aquaculture products. Since its entry into Vietnam in 2009, De Heus has steadily built a strong presence across Asia. It now operates 23 factories in Vietnam, including 14 ones acquired from Vietnamese conglomerate Masan.

De Heus and Hung Nhon Group plan to invest VND10 trillion ($380 million) to develop a high-tech agricultural ecosystem in Tay Ninh province, southern Vietnam between 2025 and 2030.

The investment was discussed during a meeting on October 20 between company executives and Nguyen Van Ut, Chairman of the Tay Ninh People’s Committee. It will fund a network of 12 projects spanning raw material production, breeding, farming, processing, and exports.