HUACHEN FEED Co. Ltd. Brings Best Products to Farmers

To better understand the operations and strategies of HUA CHEN Group in Chu Lai Open Economic Zone in Quang Nam province, VIB Forum Magazine's Anh Khoa interviewed Hua Chen general director Kang Yin Ping.

Can you introduce your company to our readers?

Huachen Feed Co. (VN) specialises in producing advanced feeds for the aquaculture industry and is wholly invested by China's Shanghai Huachen Group with registered investment capital of US$8 million and an annual output of 20,000 tonnes

The company employs both production techniques of the US's Brill Technology and advanced equipment of China to produce high quality feeds for shrimps and other special species according to the needs of Vietnamese farmers. During the design process, we also calculated for project expansion as the demand for our products is on the rise. We only need to assemble another production line to double the current capacity.

The company has a current capacity of 2-3,000 tonnes per annum and has considerably contributed to local socio-economic development and to the expansion of related businesses such as transportation and materials supply.

The company now has over 50 sales agents nation-wide, especially from Quang Ngai to Quang Binh, which supply feeds to shrimp farmers there. Huachen shrimp feeds are highly regarded by farmers.

In 2004, Huachen began to penetrate the greater Mekong Delta market and in February 2004, it set up a branch in Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, the company's products are available in Ca Mau, Soc Trang, Ben Tre, Can Tho and Kien Giang province. The Company is employing highly skilled Chinese and Vietnamese experts with over ten years' experience working in animal feed production.

Can you explain some of the outstanding features of Hua Chen products?

Our shrimp products use 100 per cent natural Chinese medicinal herbs, rarely seen in other products in Vietnam. These herbs assist shrimps' disease resistance and immunity and aid their growth. The shrimps remain free of toxins banned by the Vietnamese Ministry of Fisheries and other nations. Our products are proven to be "green-clean" by the Chinese State.

With regard to management, all stages of our production from material selection, purchase, to production are tightly controlled to guarantee high quality products. Therefore, all our products on the market are guaranteed. Our motto is "feeds to raise shrimps, shrimps to raise men", and consequently we never use harmful substances banned by the Ministry of Health.

Huachen products have arrived late into Vietnam's marketplace. How do you regard the competitiveness of your products?

It is because of our late arrival that we don't support a competition policy which harms shrimp raisers, and we operate on the maxim "co-operation to best serve the fisheries industry and develop the Vietnamese economy".

Currently, senior technical experts of Huachen (VN) are joining forces with fisheries scientists in Vietnam to engage in research on a Fisheries Ministry-backed "clean-green" project on raising ponds. Mr. Nguyen Chinh, Huachen (Vietnam) senior technical expert, has been sent to raising areas to introduce new techniques. Via this project, water quality will be adjusted and improved with no harm to the environment. Step by step, the quality of shrimps raised in Vietnam under the Huachen program will become highly competitive in the world market.

What are the long-term strategies of Huachen in Vietnam?

China Shanghai Huachen Group mainly focuses on property trading. Around ten subsidiaries are engaged in activities such as architecture and construction, electronics, thermal electricity, transportation and others, and Huachen Co. (VN) is the eleventh of the Group. In the near future, Huachen (VN) will set up a self-contained fishery project, which will encompass tasks such as feed production, breeding raising, breeding and feed supply, harvesting and processing. The new facility is expected to cover five hectares. We are also carrying out a new project in Binh Minh Industrial Zone in Vinh Long Province.

Huachen wants to co-ordinate with managers, banks and locals to set up a reliable community to supply shrimp feeds for farmers facing capital shortages, to improve their standards of living.

Huachen (Vietnam) shrimp feed production factory is the first project of the China Shanghai Huachen Group in Vietnam, and is a pilot for further investment in the country in other industries. We have a long-term strategy in Vietnam.

Quang Nam Province and Management Board of Chu Lai Open Economic Zone are allowing Huachen to carry out two new projects. The first one is a 39-ha eco-tourism site in Tam Tien Village and the other is 240-ha China Industry Park in Tam Anh Industrial Zone.

The two projects have received land lease licences from the Management Board of Chu Lai Open Economic Zone and are expected to be strategic sources of income for Huachen Group in Vietnam. Later, Huachen (Vietnam) will become the investor of the Park to call other Shanghai investors into Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, like the second Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Zone in Vietnam.

We will continue to work with the Management Board of Chu Lai Open Economic Zone to hold investment promotion activities in Shanghai in the same way that Huachen helped Quang Nam Province to successfully organise two investment promotion conferences in Shanghai.