Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on April 22 cut the ribbon to inaugurate
Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk)’s new powdered
milk factory in the southern province of Binh Duong.
Built at a cost of nearly 2 trillion VND (96 million USD), the 60,000
sq.m factory is capable of producing 54,000 tonnes of formula a year.
It is expected to help stabilise the price of domestic formula, while
giving customers access to high quality and cheap milk products.
The new factory will bring Vinamilk closer to its 2017 revenue target
of 3 billion USD and becoming one of the world’s 50 largest milk
producers.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, PM
Dung praised Vinamilk’s efforts despite numerous difficulties in the
country and the world.
He described the company as a bright
light in the national economy with total revenues of 27.3 trillion VND
(1.3 billion USD) in 2012, up 23 percent over the previous year, and a
pre-tax profit of more than 6 trillion VND (288 million USD).
Dung stressed that the operation of the new factory reflects Vietnam
’s determination to realise its milk industry development plan in line
with the Government’s policy of encouraging food and milk processing
for domestic consumption and making full use of local resources.
Milk consumption in Vietnam grows by 20 percent every year.
However, local producers only meet 25 percent of domestic demand for
fresh milk and 30 percent of powdered milk.
The country annually spends 850 million USD importing dairy materials and products.
To meet domestic demand, the Government has set a goal of producing
1.9 billion litres of fresh milk and 80,000 tonnes of formula per year
by 2015.
On the occasion, Vinamilk presented the
first 10,000 formula tins produced in Binh Duong, worth a total of 1
billion VND, to local disadvantaged children.-VNA