Taekwang Industrial to crack open Vietnamese fertiliser market On July 20, Korean-owned Korea-Vietnam Fertiliser Co., Ltd. (KVF) organised the ground-breaking ceremony of its $60 million compound fertiliser production plant in Ho Chi Minh City’s Hiep Phuoc industrial park. According to newswire Pulsenews.com.kr, the construction is expected to start operation in September 2017. The plant will be equipped with modern technology lines imported from Spain, and will have a designed capacity of 360,000 tonnes of compound fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium per year, which will be exported to Southeast Asian countries, primarily to Japan and South Korea. KVF is a joint venture between Taekwang Industrial Co., Ltd. (Taekwang Industrial) and its subsidiary Huchems Fine Chemical Corporation. The mother company Taekwang holds a 51 per cent stake and Huchems the remaining 49 per cent. Once the plant comes into operation, Huchems will be in charge of the operation and management of the plant, while Taekwang Industrial will be responsible for sales and marketing. “Once completed in 2017, the plant is expected to account for nine per cent of the entire NPK compound fertilizer production in Vietnam. We expect the plant to generate 150 billion won ($13 million) in sales a year,” said Choi Gyu-sung, president and CEO of Huchems. Taekwang Industrial also plans to implement a $171 million shoe-manufacturing factory in 2B Hung Phu industrial park in Cai Rang district of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho. The factory covers an area of 62 hectares, 52 hectares of which houses the production area, while the remaining 10 hectares is set aside as a service and commercial area and warehouses for lease. The investor is completing the necessary procedures to implement the project and expects to carry out the land clearance in the upcoming months.  The factory’s construction is divided into three phases. The first phase’s construction is expected to kick off in 2016 and last until 2019, and the second and third phases are to be finished by 2022 and 2025, respectively. The factory constructed during the first phase will start operation in the first quarter of 2017, while the second phase will be inaugurated in 2020, and the third phase in 2023.  Once the factory comes into operation, it will have a total capacity of 100 million products per year and create 30,000 jobs. By Ha Vy, VIR