New steel complex levels up Hoa Phat

The Hoa Phat Dung Quat iron and steel production complex is located in the central province of Quang Ngai

Within the local steel industry, Hoa Phat Group, which was listed on the Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange, is the first to succeed in shaping up a closed steel production chain starting from the ­upstream stage.

At its Hoa Phat Dung Quat iron and steel production ­complex in Vietnam’s central province of Quang Ngai, Hoa Phat has been pumping ­capital into ­installing a state-of-the-art closed blast furnace production line. It will be capable of turning out high-quality steel using square billets, as well as hot- and cold-rolled steel, pipes, ­galvanised steel, and steel wire ropes using flat billets.

Valued at VND52 trillion ($2.26 billion) in total investment value, the complex ­encompasses a deepwater port system that is accessible to up to 200,000 dead-weight-tonnage vessels to ­conveniently transport input materials and output products to many markets in Vietnam and abroad.

The project is divided into two phases. Phase 1 has ­finalised 95 per cent of its work items and has an annual ­production capacity of two ­million tonnes, including one million tonnes of long ­construction steel and one ­million tonnes of premium-quality long steel items.

Phase 2, which is 60 per cent complete, aims to annually turn out 2-3 million tonnes of hot-rolled flat steel.

This is the very product line that has brought Hoa Phat its special comparative advantages, helping the group to become self-reliant on its core material sources to feed production needs without reliance on imported sources, thus perfectly matching the strict product requirements of Vietnam’s major export markets.

From the first quarter next year, Hoa Phat will be providing the market with hot-rolled flat steel products. Meanwhile, the complex will reach seamless production in mid-2020. With its Hoa Phat Dung Quat complex, the group becomes one of only two hot-rolled coil steel producers in the country.

Tran Tuan Duong, CEO of Hoa Phat Group, said, “In the near future, Hoa Phat Dung Quat’s steel products will be superseding the domestic steel industry’s imported hot-rolled coil steel volume. The move is of great significance to local companies producing roofing iron and coated steel products for big export markets which require strict product origin adherence like the United States.”

Hoa Phat is always consistent with the strategy on maintaining its number-one position in terms of market share in Vietnam, in parallel to constantly diversifying products and export markets.

Through getting hold of its material sources for the production of high-quality steel items, Hoa Phat has eminent advantages to boosting export to a raft of potential markets, including the US, the EU, the ASEAN, and other Asian markets.

The Hoa Phat Dung Quat iron and steel complex aims to secure a spot among the world’s top 50 steelmakers.

The sophisticated features of the state-of-the-art and environmentally-friendly equipment and technology, being imported from world-leading producers, make it possible to produce coke coal with dry coke technology that helps to completely recover heat and exhaust gas and make full use of byproducts for electricity generation and production. All water being used in the process gets recycled and reused in a closed loop, without being discharged into the environment.

In the first half of 2019, Hoa Phat Group supplied more than 1.34 million tonnes of construction steel, a 22.9 per cent jump on the previous year. The group has exported 123,500 tonnes of products to different markets, a 35 per cent rise compared to 2018. Its main export markets are Japan, Australia, and the US, as well as ASEAN members such as Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos.