Steel major Hoa Phat proposes $4.3 bln projects in Central Highlands

Hoa Phat Group, Vietnam’s largest steel maker, is proposing to invest about $4.3 billion in four factories in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong.

These projects, set to be located in Dak Song district, include aluminum, aluminum electrolysis, and ore refinery factories, with an annual capacity of 2 million tons, 5 million tons, and 500,000 tons, respectively. The fourth is a 1,500MW wind power plant in Tuy Duc district.

The plants are expected to contribute about VND3 trillion ($131.06 million) per year to Dak Nong’s budget and generate thousands of jobs, according to the group's calculations.

Hoa Phat in late March disclosed its intention to invest in seaport infrastructure, deep-water ports, and steel plants in Quang Tri Southeast Economic Zone in Quang Tri province, central Vietnam.

The steel giant last month embarked on constructing its $3.7 billion Dung Quat 2 iron and steel project in Quang Ngai province, near Quang Tri. The factory is located on 280 ha next to the group’s Dung Quat 1 complex in Dung Quat Economic Zone. Operational in the next three years, it will produce 5.6 million tons of hot-rolled coil (HRC) per year and create 8,000 jobs.

Hoa Phat has proposed several new large-scale projects for the coming years in Dung Quat such as the 312 ha Dung Quat 3 iron & steel complex, with an annual capacity of 5.6 million tons, a 330 ha iron alloy project, an 800 ha industrial park, a 113.5 ha port and logistics area serving Dung Quat 3, and satellite projects.

The group reached a record revenue of VND150,800 billion ($6.59 billion) in 2021, 65% higher than in 2020. Profit after tax hit VND34,520 billion ($1.51 billion), up 1.56 times from the previous year. These figures respectively exceeded 26% and 92% of the corporation’s planned revenue and profit for 2021.

Hoa Phat provided the markets with 8.8 million tons of steel products in 2021, up 35% from 2020. Its monthly sales volume topped 1 million tons for the first time in March 2021.

The corporation is the largest steel producer in Southeast Asia with major export markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Cambodia. Its complete construction steel products are expected to grow over 20% this year against 2021, according to a corporate release.

Hoa Phat acquired the Roper Valley iron ore mine project in Australia last year. The project is estimated to contain 320 million tons of reserves, with an annual mining capacity of 4 million tons.

Its other main business lines involve interior decoration items, office equipment, real estate development, and agriculture.

Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of Hoa Phat Group, is the third richest in Vietnam and 1018th globally, with $3.1 billion in total assets, according to Forbes’s real-time billionaires list on Tuesday.