Huanlejia Food to build $18.4 mln coconut processing plant in Vietnam

Chinese firm Huanlejia Food plans to invest $18.4 million to build a coconut processing project in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, according to a Huanlejia filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SHE) submitted on Monday.

Huanlejia Food, listed on SHE as 300997, says the facility in Ben Tre province will produce various coconut-related products, including coconut water, fresh coconut meat juice, and desiccated coconut. These products will be sold in Vietnam and exported to China and other markets.

The Monday filing shows that the coconut processing factory will cover an area of almost 32,400 square meters. Construction is expected to take seven months, including design, construction, equipment procurement, and trial tests.

Of the total investment of $18.4 million, more than $4.8 million will be for land and construction costs, and almost $9 million for equipment investment and installation.

The Chinese canned fruits and beverages producer will carry out the overseas investment by setting up a subsidiary in Hong Kong, which will then invest VND66.6 billion (almost $18.4 million) to set up another unit in Vietnam to manage and operate the project. The Hong Kong subsidiary’s name is Happy Home (Hong Kong) International Holdings, while that of the Vietnamese subsidiary is Happy Home (Vietnam) Industrial.

Ben Tre is known as Vietnam’s land of coconuts as the Mekong Delta province is the country’s largest coconut-growing area.

As of the end of May 2023, the total area of coconut trees in the province was 78,195 hectares, up 1.25% (about 950 hectares) from a year earlier, according to the Ben Tre Department of Statistics.