Local firm milks massive dairy farm opportunity

TH Group is due to join hands with Russian authorities in order to construct the world’s largest dairy processing plant

This project, expected to cover 140,000 hectares, will be 2.32 times bigger in capital and 3.78 times bigger in area than the group’s existing $1.2 billion, 37,000ha project operating in the central province of Nghe An’s Nghia Dan district.

If this project comes to fruition, it would be the biggest of its kind in the world. TH Group is currently working with Russia’s authorities on this project.

According to their plan, the project will include three stages, spanning from 2015 to 2025.

Specifically, the first stage, from 2015-2016, is expected to see $386 million invested in an area of 20,000ha. It will be focused on constructing three clusters of dairy farms, auxiliary facilities, an office area, workers’ housing, and a fresh milk processing plant with a daily capacity of 800 tonnes.

This stage will likely have 50,000 cows, of which 21,600 will be milked.

The second stage, from 2017-2019, will see the construction of another six clusters of dairy farms with each cluster having three farms, auxiliary facilities, and another fresh milk processing facility with a daily capacity of 1,700 tonnes.

With the total investment capital expected to be $796 million, this stage will likely have 100,000 dairy cows, with 43,200 milked, and will cover an area of 40,000ha.

TH Group will build the third stage from 2020-2025, including another 12 clusters of farms, auxiliary facilities, and another mega fresh milk processing facilty. This stage, expected to cost $1.592 billion, will cover 80,000ha, raising the total area to 140,000ha for the three stages.

This stage will consist of 200,000 cows, including 86,400 milked. This will raise the total number of cows for the three stages to 350,000 including 151,200 milked.

The mega fresh milk processing facility will cover 1,000ha, including office buildings, warehouses, workers’ housing, a sports area, and a commercial display area.

This facility will have capacity of 3,400 tonnes per day, raising the total daily capacity of the project’s three stages to 5,900 tonnes.

The project plans to use the world’s most modern technology, imported from Israel.

All the milk products will be marketed in Russia, a country of 150 million people, where only 18 million tonnes of milk are currently produced. This project will supply nearly 50 per cent of the nation’s demand.

The total number of employees needed for the whole project is expected to be about 6,000.

At a July meeting in Moscow attended by Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Nguyen Thanh Son and leaders from the TH Group, Moscow’s leaders said agricultural development, in particular, the dairy industry, would enjoy major incentives and support from Russia’s government.

Recently, the Asian Record Organisation officially recognised the group’s $1.2 billion dairy cow and fresh milk production project in Nghe An as “The largest concentrated hi-tech dairy farm complex in Asia”.