World's largest iron ore, nickel producer wants to expand business in Vietnam

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked Vale Group, a multinational Brazilian corporation in the fields of metals, mining, and logistics, expand business in Vietnam.

At a meeting with Daniel Guardado, business development general manager at Vale Group, on Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Vietnamese leader said that Vietnam is entering a new stage of development.

"The country is developing many large projects, especially high-speed railway projects and urban railways, so the demand for iron ore is very large. In addition, the country has a great demand for other types of ore such as copper to serve future development," he said.

In addition to supplying ore, the Prime Minister suggested that Vale Group cooperate with Vietnamese economic groups to invest in the fields of mining and metallurgy; develop strategic material supply chains to serve the renewable energy sector and high-tech manufacturing; and support and work with Vietnamese enterprises to build multinational economic groups.

Chinh is paying a visit to Brazil to attend the 2025 BRICS Summit and have bilateral activities in the country from July 4-8, at the invitation of Brazilian President Lula da Silva.

Vale Group is the world's largest producer of iron ore and nickel. It also produces manganese, ferroalloy, copper, bauxite, kaolin, and cobalt.

In response, Daniel Guardado said that he highly evaluates the economic development in Vietnam.

The group has been cooperating very efficiently with Vietnam's Hoa Phat Group in exporting iron ore, the government's news portal quoted Guardado as saying.

The executive noted that Vale Group wishes to expand business activities together with Vietnamese partners, contributing to the growth of both economies and expanding to cooperation with partners in the region from Vietnam.

Vietnam and Brazil upgraded their relationship to a Strategic Partnership in November 2024.

PM Chinh said the parties are promoting negotiations to soon sign the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and South American trade block MERCOSUR, as well as with Brazil and the Vietnam-Brazil Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.

He asked Brazilian corporations, associations, and business federations to contribute to faciliating these agreements so that they could be signed soon, creating better conditions for companies to do business.

In addition to mining, Vale Group also operates nine hydroelectric power plants and a large network of railways, ships and ports used to transport its products. It currently has operations in 30 countries.