Samsung’s meal supply arm opens new logistics center in Vietnam

Welstory, the meal supply arm of South Korean chaebol Samsung, has opened a new logistics center in Vietnam’s northern province of Bac Ninh, featuring a cold chain system.

In a Thursday announcement, Welstory said the new 2.7-hectare facility can maintain the freshness of food, while the cold chain system can ensure safety and quality. With the move, Welstory aims to serve more orders from local customers as the facility is located in a major industrial park in Bac Ninh province, one of Vietnam's industrial hubs.

Welstory entered Vietnam in 2014 and launched its first facility at a Samsung factory in the northern province of Thai Nguyen. In September 2017, Welstory establish a 5,600-square meter local distribution center in Bac Ninh with a cold chain food distribution system to deal with the tropical climate. By the end of 2020, Welstory had expanded its Vietnam businesses to 63 kitchens.

Welstory now provides 300,000 meals daily to 50 business sites in Vietnam.

Samsung committed to further investments in Vietnam

Samsung is committed to investing $1 billion more in Vietnam yearly, CFO Hark Kyu Park said to Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at a Thursday meeting. The investment aims to expand the number of Vietnamese vendors in Samsung’s supply chain, as well as pushing workforce training in Vietnam.

The number of level-1 and level-2 Vietnamese vendors in Samsung’s supply chain has gone up from 25 in 2014 to 309 at present, the CFO said.

For his part, PM Chinh urged Samsung to help more Vietnamese businesses join its supply chain; cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in workforce training; invest more in research & development; and utilize Vietnam as a key manufacturing hub in line with Vietnam’s free trade agreements, such as the CPTPP, EVFTA, and RCEP.

Samsung is currently the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, with total registered capital of $22.4 billion.

Major Samsung factories in Vietnam reported revenue of KRW81,146.7 billion ($60.83 billion) in 2023, down 11.83% year-on-year; and an after-tax profit of KRW5,263.1 billion ($3.95 billion), down 13.09%.

Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT), headquartered in the eponymous northern province, booked revenue of KRW30,639.3 billion ($22.97 billion) last year, down 15.68% year-on-year. Its after-tax profit was KRW2,240.5 billion ($1.68 billion), down 17.68%.

Samsung Display Vietnam (SDV), located in the northern province of Bac Ninh, posted post-tax profits of KRW1,143.8 billion ($857.5 million) on revenue of KRW24,200.2 billion ($18.14 billion), down 12.14% and 6.11% year-on-year, respectively.

Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV), also based in Bac Ninh, earned a revenue of KRW20,154.1 billion ($15.11 billion) and post-tax profit of KRW1,476.4 billion ($1.12 billion), down 14.84% and 10.31% year-on-year, respectively.

Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex, located in Ho Chi Minh City, saw its revenue fall 1.61% year-on-year to KRW6,153 billion ($4.6 billion), but its post-tax profit rose 4.22% to KRW40.4 billion ($301.7 million).