Steel giant Hoa Phat starts operating $42 mln home appliance factory

Hoa Phat Group has begun production at its new home appliance factory worth VND1,000 billion ($42 million) in Ha Nam province.

The plant, run by Hoa Phat Home Appliance JSC, a unit of Hoa Phat Group, produces air coolers, water and air purifiers with a capacity of about one million products a year.

The construction of the 15-hectare plant in Hoa Mac Industrial Park, northern Vietnam started in late November.

Hoa Phat Appliance is expected to debut its new products from the factory later this year. Later on, it will also produce electromagnetic stoves and infrared cookers.

Hoa Phat Home Appliance aims to become the largest household appliance manufacturer in Vietnam with a revenue of $1 billion by 2030, said its parent company.

Hoa Phat Group, listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange as HPG, is among the largest steel companies in Vietnam by market value. HPG chairman Tran Dinh Long is one of a few billionaires in the country, with a net worth at $1.8 billion as of September 28, according to Forbes.

HPG currently operates in sectors of steel, agriculture, real estate, and home appliances, with steel-related activities accounting for 90% of its revenues and profits. Its output of eight million tons of raw steel a year is the biggest in Southeast Asia, HPG said on its website.

The group's consolidated post-tax profits sank 58.72% year-on-year to VND4,020 billion ($169.6 million) in the second quarter, on revenues of VND37,713 billion ($1.58 billion), up 6.05%.