Japan’s Sojitz enlarges cold chain logistics business in Vietnam

Sojitz Corporation will build a new logistics warehouse to expand its four-temperature cold chain business in Vietnam this month, the Japanese multi-sector business announced on Tuesday.

Sojitz will conduct the move via Vietnam Japan Long An LLC, a newly-established joint venture between Sojitz, Japanese major food distributor Kokubu Group, and local logistics firm New Land Co., Ltd. Sojitz holds a 51% voting right in the joint venture based in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, while Kokubu and New Land hold 44% and 5%, respectively.

The new warehouse will ensure room temperature, fixed (between 10 and 25 Celsius degrees), refrigerated (zero to 10 Celsius degrees), and frozen (minus 25 to zero Celsius degrees). With a total area of 5.8 hectares, the facility has a storage capacity of 39,000 pellets and can house about 70 trucks. The warehouse is about 30 kilometers from inner Ho Chi Minh City, or approximately a one-hour drive.

With the new development, Sojitz, Kokubu, and New Land aim to expand Vietnam’s food value chain by improving cold chain logistics operations. The new warehouses will triple New Land’s existing warehouses, helping the firm manage temperatures across all food products from storage to shipment.

Sojitz attributed the expansion to Vietnam’s economic growth and higher purchasing power, along with the rapid rise of modern retail businesses such as supermarkets and convenience stores, resulting in more demand for secure and high-quality cold chain logistics in the country.

Sojitz and Kokubu first entered Vietnam’s cold chain logistics business in 2016 by cooperating with New Land to establish New Land Vietnam Japan JSC, based in the southern industrial hub of Binh Duong province. The two-hectare warehouse has a storage capacity of 13,000 pellets, can accommodate 50 trucks, and has a convenient location one hour from the under-construction Long Thanh International Airport and Cat Lai seaport, among the biggest container terminals in Vietnam.

Sojitz has 17 joint ventures in Vietnam, including one with Vinamilk, the country's largest dairy producer. This partnership started to build a $500-million complex in Vinh Phuc province bordering Hanoi this March to raise cows and supply beef to northern Vietnam.

The Mekong Delta province of Long An has 24 industrial parks covering 6,000 hectares, of which 4,000 hectares have been leased, the Long An Economic Zone Authority reported in May. Besides, 700 hectares are ready to welcome investors.