The Dutch feed group said the latest feed factory, backed to the tune of US$30m, is located 20km from its existing aqua feed plant in Vinh Long province.
The firm said first phase capacity of the new facility will be 200,000 tons per year and it will supply pig, poultry and cattle production along with other ruminant sectors.
De Heus has also invested in a new port facility the region - in Hau Giang. It said the depot will allow it take advantage of the Mekong’s vital waterway transportation.
“Customers in Cambodia will also be supplied by the new port facility with lower cost and faster delivery,” said the firm.
Factory completion
This month also saw completion of two other factory builds by the Dutch feed giant – one in the Vinh Phuc province, which is 50km from Hanoi and is targeting the aquaculture market and monogastric and ruminant segments, and a smaller, feed facility located in Binh Dinh, in central Vietnam.
With six factories now up and running throughout Vietnam, the Dutch group is said to have a total annual capacity of 850,000 MT.
Amy My, marketing manager, De Heus Vietnam, told this publication last year that level of production would be enough to enable the group meet its goal of being in the top five feed manufacturers in that country.
In terms of compound animal feed, Vietnam has an estimated yearly production output of 11 million MT.
Meat demand
Like in China and other South East Asian markets, population growth, changing dietary habits and rising income have resulted in a dramatic increase for meat consumption in Vietnam. And the US Grains Counsel expects that, by 2020, Vietnam could account for 350 million new middle class households, comprising around 925 million people.
My, speaking to FeedNavigator in April 2014, said De Heus sees huge growth potential, in particular, for the aqua feed market in Vietnam.
Vietnam's aquaculture sector is booming. In the past five years, the number of hectares given over to aquaculture production has risen by nearly 50%, while output has increased 100% annually for the past 16 year.
Aquaculture R&D focus
But fish farmers there, a huge percentage of which are small-scale, face challenges in trying to achieve a high level of sustainability in production and meet international traceability standards as they face a lack of access to finance and technical know-how.
The De Heus marketing manager told us that, as a result, the company had started an R&D project in the Vinh Long province to find new ways of optimizing quality and ensuring sound environmental practices in fish farming, while still delivering in terms of production performance and low costs.
The feed producer also aims to bolster the livestock sector in the various Vietnamese regions it operates in through its on-farm extension services: “Our Dutch specialists visit Vietnam around four or five times a year, mainly supporting the local technical team. They spend a lot of time visiting our customers’ farms, helping them improve their performance, advising them on vaccination programs and generally trying to improve their management skills,” said My