High ranking officials visit TH Group

“The project has helped give people here a better livelihood,” said Luu during his visit. “It is a great example of hi-tech applied to agriculture. It is an example policymakers can follow towards further improving Vietnam’s agriculture and defining policies for national development.”

“We hope that TH will develop into a major group throughout Southeast Asia and that many more projects like this will be built in Vietnam,” he said.

The group’s chairwoman Thai Huong said that in the early stages of the project, actually 92 per cent of milk products in Vietnam were imported from overseas.

“Now this is down to 72 per cent, thanks to our efforts,” she said.

The group is expecting revenue of $190.48 million this year and over $238 million next year.

At the dairy, many people who used to be local farmers are now working the machines. 80 per cent of the 1,400 employees are from the local area.

Established in 2009, the $1.2 billion state-of-the-art ranch and dairy boasts 45,000 dairy cows with a production capacity of over 400 tonnes of fresh milk every day.

The factory’s first stage has an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes and the second stage, expected to be completed in 2017, is planned to boost that figure to 500,000 tonnes. The dairy is expected to boast 137,000 cows by the second stage and by 2020 that number could rise to 203,000.

Processing and packaging chains are monitored by the latest technologies from Siemens, Danfoss and Grundfoss.

Thanks to the dairy’s emphasis on hi-tech production, annual income per hectare has increased tenfold to a current VND70 million ($3,333). A single hectare of land devoted to commercial sorghum, an important ingredient in some cattle feeds, can bring in VND1.5 billion ($71,428) per year.

Under its development plan, TH Group will have expanded its total land use in the area to 37,000 hectares by the time the full $1.2 billion investment is completed by 2020. The first phase cost the company $400 million and utilizes 8,100 hectares.

Previously the dairy has been visited by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung and former State President Nguyen Minh Triet, as well as a number of ministers and many local and foreign experts. All of them also highly valued this project.