South Korea’s Taekwang Industrial Co. will become the first Korean company to establish a fertilizer manufacturing plant in Vietnam. The company said that it held a groundbreaking ceremony for the plant in Hiep Phouc Industrial Park in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday. It will invest about $60 million to build the factory on a site of 90,000 square meters to produce compound fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK).

The plant aims to have an annual production capacity of 360,000 tons, and is scheduled to start operation in September 2017 upon completion of the construction.

Compound fertilizer is the fertilizer that contains two or three essential plant nutrients - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The use of compound fertilizer is growing around the world as it offers advantages of convenience in the field, economic savings and ease in meeting crop nutritional needs compared to the single-nutrient fertilizer.

Taekwang Industrial and its chemical unit Huchems Fine Chemical Corp. set up Korea-Vietnam Fertilizer Co.(KVF) in Vietnam in May last year in hopes of developing a fertilizer business in the country. Taekwang holds a 51 percent stake in KVF while Huchems owns a 49 percent stake.

Huchems will be in charge of operation and management of the plant while Taekwang will be responsible for sales and marketing by utilizing its network it has established over the past 22 years in Vietnam.

“Once completed in 2017, the factory is expected to account for 9 percent of the entire NPK compound fertilizer production in Vietnam,” said Choi Gyu-sung, president and CEO of Huchems. “We expect the plant to generate 150 billion won ($13 million) in sales a year,” he added.

“Taekwang’s successful operation in Vietnam over the past 22 years has been contributing to the country’s economic development by creating jobs and boosting exports,” said Park Yeon-cha, chairman of Taekwang Industrial. “We will continue to make contributions to agriculture development in the country by producing and distributing high quality fertilizer,” he added.

By Yoon Jin-ho

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]