August 26, 2019

 

New Hope completes construction of first overseas swine farm in Vietnam

 

 

China's top feed producer, New Hope Liuhe (000876.SZ), said on Sunday it had completed construction of its first overseas swine farm in Vietnam, Reuters reported.

 

The company sees potential demand growth in a major market severely affected by African swine fever (ASF).

 

The swine farm in Binh Phuoc province, which has an annual production of 300,000 head, is one of three that New Hope Liuhe, the agribusiness subsidiary of New Hope Group, invested in recently in Vietnam (/contents/04-30-2019/e5973b1f-c85f-4b0c-8c27-10d675eb826c-0001.html).

 

From November, the farm is expected to start building an inventory of 13,500 Hypor-breed sows from Hendrix Genetics.

 

"For pig farming, every disease is both a challenge and an opportunity. Similar to what is happening in China, African swine fever disease will accelerate the consolidation of the pig farming sector," said Liu Zhong, general manager of New Hope Liuhe's overseas swine sector.

 

New Hope has equipped its latest swine farm with multi-layered sanitisation and disinfection systems and animal waste treatment facilities worth RMB20 million (~US$2.8 million), part of its upgraded biosecurity efforts.

 

The company also plans to build a feed mill on the Binh Phuoc farm to lower the risk of exposing feed to viruses in the open air and during transport.

 

Liu said New Hope Liuhe has solid experience in preventing ASF in China that can be easily applied as it expands into swine production overseas.

 

The new farms expand New Hope's footprint in Southeast Asia on top of its existing eight feed firms in Vietnam, which sold more than 700,000 tonnes of feed in 2018.

 

New Hope says the Binh Phuoc farm will help it increase sales by 90,000 tonnes of swine feed annually in Vietnam.

 

The new investment also comes as New Hope increases swine production in the China market, with the goal to be among the top three producers in the country by 2022.