Thai Hoa Co. Ltd will begin to operate the biggest coffee processing plant in southern Dong Nai province the middle of next month, able to semi-process 60,000 tons of coffee beans per annum.
The new plant, capitalized at VND50 billion, will use modern technologies from Japan to sort Arabica and Robusta coffee beans, said Nguyen Van An, director of the Hanoi-based company.
“Many types of equipment in our new plant are the first introduced in Vietnam, including a line that sorts coffee beans according to their color,” An said.
The commissioning of the plant coincides with the start of the 2006-07 harvest, and the new facility will help improve the quality of Vietnam’s export-grade coffee, he added.
Doan Trieu Nhan, vice chair of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa) said there were few big coffee processing plants in Vietnam with modern technologies like Thai Hoa.
“By building the biggest coffee processing plant in Vietnam, Thai Hoa has proved that local coffee exporters are now more aware of how to improve the quality of Vietnam’s coffee,” Nhan said.
This is not the first investment by Thai Hoa in the coffee sector.
Late last year, the company built a coffee processing plant in central Quang Tri province costing VND30 billion, which will semi-process Arabica coffee in the province, as well as Robusta coffee imported from Laos.
Thai Hoa is also preparing to start work on a bigger plant in Lam Dong province worth VND270 billion ($17 million), to process coffee bean and instant coffee products.
(Saigon Times Daily)
Vietnamese
