Vietnam Dairy Products (Vinamilk) and its member company Vietnam Livestock Corporation (Vilico) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan’s Sojitz Corporation and the People's Committee of Vinh Phuc Province on a US$500-million beef project in Vietnam.

An overview of the signing ceremony. Photo: Vinamilk

The exchange between the parties took place at Vietnam-Japan Investment Promotion Conference with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s attendance on his official visit to Japan. It demonstrates the robust growth of trade cooperation between the two countries in animal husbandry which both countries have strengths.

The MoU establishes a joint venture for beef production-processing-distribution in Vietnam and for export. In the next phase of cooperation, the joint venture will develop other protein-based products with deep processing technology.

The first phase of the project is expected to become operational in 2023 with a capacity of approximately 30,000 cows per year and a closed modern processing facility, invested with approximately VND3 trillion ($132.2 million).

At the signing ceremony on November 24 in Japan, Trinh Quoc Dung, General Director of Vilico and Executive Director of Vinamilk's Material Area Development, said authorities of Vinh Phuc Province have created favorable conditions for the joint venture in investment licensing procedure.  

“This project is expected to lay a solid foundation for new development of the livestock industry and the processing of safe and high-quality meat products in Vietnam in the coming years,” Dung said.

Ryutaro Hirai, Vice Chairman of Sojitz Corporation, said: “With the goal of building a stable food supply system in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, we will work with strategic partners to boost trading activities, combining the strengths of Vilico and Vinamilk with our know-how.”

Through the establishment of this joint venture, the Japanese investor hoped to provide safe and reliable high quality beef products to the Vietnamese and Japanese markets and export Vietnamese beef products to potential markets in the future, he said.