Bourbon Tay Ninh JSC: Dynamic for Integration and Development

Bourbon Tay Ninh Joint Stock Company was approved for establishment and operation at a registered capital of VND1,419 billion on March 23, 2007 by the Provincial People's Committee of Tay Ninh province. The company was formerly the wholly French-owned Société de Bourbon Tay Ninh (SBT). The construction on its sugar plants was commenced on August 29, 2005 and Bourbon Group transferred its entire stake in SBT to Vietnamese partners in October 2010, including Thanh Thanh Cong Production - Trading Joint Stock Company (This is considered a proud milestone for Vietnamese companies), whose shares were floated on the stock market in 2007.

 

SBT’s headquarters and mills are located in a 32-ha campus in Tan Hung commune, Tan Chau district, Tay Ninh province, specialised to manufacture refined sugar meeting European standards. With modern automated machinery and equipment with a daily processing capacity of 9,800 tonnes of sugarcane and a contingent of experienced, well-trained staff, SBT has confirmed its leading position in sugar production field in Vietnam. In addition to main sugar products like GoldSu natural brown sugar, Bonsu ultra-clean refined sugar and RE high-grade refined sugar (stably supplied to high-profile customers like Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Vinamilk). SBT also has by-products, that is, molasses and electricity generated from burnt bagasse heat for internal use and sale to the national grid.

 

To have sustainable development and well-established brand name in the industry, SBT has the right strategies to overcome market challenges. CEO Nguyen Ba Chu said: “At present, the sugar industry is facing certain difficulties, with shrinking material areas, falling domestic sugar prices caused by smuggled sugar and slow domestic sales. SBT is no exception to that effect. However, with sustainability strategies and efforts of sugarcane growers, SBT always ensures profitability for sugarcane growers and farmers, as this will make them devoted to their career. Therefore, the company has applied phase-based positive purchasing policies to ensure benefits and share damage with sugarcane growers, even though this may affect the company's business operations. Particularly, in material investment policy, SBT lends land to farmers for three years (equivalent to VND39 million per ha) and invests VND30 million for young sugarcane and VND20 million per ha for stem sugarcane. And, to enhance productivity for sugarcane growers, SBT coordinates with television stations, information and communication channels to guide technologies and techniques for sugarcane quality improvement for farmers."

Together with scientific and technological solutions, environmental protection and corporate social responsibility help uphold the company's brand name. Therefore, after 18 years of development, with enormous contributions to Tay Ninh province and the sugarcane industry of Vietnam, SBT was honoured with the Third-grade Labour Order by the President of Vietnam in 2013. The company was also ranked among the Top 50 companies in terms of business efficiency.

 

To assert its brand name in the integration process and, above all, ensure social security for employees and sugarcane growers, SBT is planning to invest in ethanol production plants (food-grade alcohol) and boiler upgrading projects. In addition, SBT will invest in seedling sugarcane farms to supply quality-guaranteed young sugarcane to farmers, an effective method to maintain input sources for the future. But, to put these projects into operation soon, the support of all-tier governments, ranging from clearly defined, rapid investment policies to management methods, is necessary for SBT in particular and sugar companies in general to stand by the localities side to maintain the inherent title of "the capital of sugar" of Tay Ninh province.