Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) said the new facility, which reportedly cost US$22.1m, brings to five the number of dedicated animal feed factories the company now has in that Southeast Asian country, all of which it gained when it acquired Neovia earlier this year.
The plant in Ha Nam, the building of which Neovia announced in 2017, has three production lines, targeting the swine, poultry and rabbit sectors.
ADM animal nutrition president, Pierre Duprat, said the new production site allows the agribusiness player to further strengthen its industrial and commercial coverage in a key feed market.
“Vietnam is a vibrant market in the region and is one of the ASEAN countries with an excellent economic growth rate,” he said at the plant’s opening ceremony, as reported by local media, Vietnam News.
“With a population of nearly a hundred million people, Vietnam is one of the world’s top pork consuming countries, ranking second in Asia, and it has the fifth largest feed market,” he said.
He noted also that livestock producers in Vietnam are gradually shifting from small-scale to larger-scale operations and industrial farming.
Strategic location
The new plant is strategically located near northern Vietnam’s key farming region and close to port facilities, said the company.
Built on 4.6 hectares of land, the new facilities include a production area, three warehouses for storing raw materials and finished goods, offices, and a loadout bay with ample space for customer trucks. The latest technology has been installed - there is modern pneumatic transfer of raw materials to avoid cross-contamination and handling of bags, automatic control, a biomass boiler to provide a renewable energy source, automated micro-dosing to ensure accurate nutrient content in products and an automatic bagging line and palletizing robot to meet high quality and traceability standards, said ADM.
ADM currently employs 900 people in Vietnam and, along with the five production sites, it has two R&D centers, nine logistics platforms and one analytical laboratory. The company is engaged in five main activities there including complete feed production, aquaculture, pet food, premix and additives and ingredients.
Expansion
ADM has been expanding its presence in the animal nutrition space in recent years.
Besides its acquisition of Neovia, it has built and renovated three specialty animal nutrition plants in China, and four in the US. It has also acquired pet treat manufacturer Crosswind Industries, and expanded pet food ingredient manufacturing capabilities in North America. It also entered into a partnership with China-based Qingdao Vland Biotech Group and built a research lab in California to develop and commercialize feed enzymes.
Moreover, it bought UK based Protexin, a provider of probiotic supplements for a variety of markets, including aquaculture, equine, livestock and companion animals, as well as human wellness products.
