Vietnam: one of three strategic markets of Japfa

Arif Widjaja, general director of Japfa Comfeed Vietnam

Japfa Vietnam recently put its sixth feed mill into operation in Binh Dinh province. How do you evaluate its position in the development strategy of Japfa in Vietnam?

We have just inaugurated a new feed mill in Nhon Hoa Industrial Park in the southcentral coastal province of Binh Dinh that cost more than $13 million in total investment value with the designed capacity of 180,000 MTs of animal feed per year.

This is our sixth feed mill in Vietnam. The completion of this project is truly important to Japfa Vietnam as we not just put a feed mill into operation, it attests to Japfa’s commitment for constant development despite the disruption of COVID-19 pandemic and African swine fever. It also helps to emphasise our vision of market positioning in the feed and animal agriculture industry in Vietnam.

Along with the other five, this sixth feed mill will facilitate the accomplishment of key targets in both the short and long term, such as obtaining one million MTs of feed in 2020, occupying approximately 5 percent of the country’s market share and maintaining an average growth of 12 percent per annum in the forthcoming years.

The Japfa Vietnam’s sixth feedmill has been constructed in an area of 7 hectares that cost a total investment capital of about $13 million

Japfa has been present in Vietnam since 1996. What were the company’s major achievements in these nearly 25 years?

After a quarter century of development, Japfa Vietnam – part of Japfa Limited (Indonesia) – has built a solid position as one of the leading players in the animal feed, livestock, and food technology industry in Vietnam.

In addition to these six feed mills, we possess a network of more than 300 professional poultry and swine farms, more than 20 meat shops serving fresh meat and processed food products under the Japfa Best brand. More importantly, we have successfully completed a closed process in the Feed-Farm-Food value chain in Vietnam.

We are also ambitiously targeting two million MTs of feed in the next five years, affirming Japfa’s position as one of the leading feed and animal agriculture producers in Vietnam.

If Japfa wants to double its current capacity, your company must definitely invest in building new factories. What is Japfa’s investment strategy in the coming time?

To reach the target of more than two million MTs by 2024, we plan to expand and build more feed mills in the near future. Specifically, in 2021, we will increase the capacity of the feed mill in Vinh Phuc province and look for new locations in the south to build new factories. We have just signed an MoU for an investment in a $230 million livestock project in Binh Phuoc province with implementation in two phases. The first phase will run from 2021 to 2023 and the second phase from 2023 to 2025.

Japfa Vietnam kicked off a high-tech fattening swine farm in Binh Phuoc province in October

As you said, in addition to the animal feed mill, Japfa Vietnam has a chain of poultry and swine farms across the country. In your upcoming plan, does company intend to expand this chain of farms, especially to open food and meat stores?

With the goal to bring safe, high-quality fresh food to Vietnam market, in addition to animal feed production, Japfa Vietnam is investing heavily in the development of swine farms. In October, we kicked off a high-tech fattening swine farm in Binh Phuoc province, which was reportedly one of the biggest single fattening swine farms of the country with the total investment capital of $22 million. Located on an area of 40 hectares, the farm is capable of raising 48,000 fattening pigs and estimated to supply more than 14,000 MTs of live pigs per year.

In addition, we understand that the demand for clean, high-quality, clearly sourced food from consumers in major cities of Vietnam is increasing. Therefore, we have just introduced to the market more than 20 stores of clean meat and processed food products under the Japfa Best brand. We plan to increase the number of meat shops up to 40 this year and continue to expand to Hanoi in 2021.