Vietnam’s leading shrimp exporter, Minh Phu Seafood, is planning to build another cold-storage facility in southern Vietnam to serve its business growth, the company's chairman and CEO, Le Van Quang, told SeafoodSource on 9 April.
Currently, Minh Phu has a storage facility of 50,000 pallets in the Minh Phu Hau Giang plant, and now wants to build another one with capacity of 30,000 or 50,000 pallets in its Minh Phu Ca Mau plant. The company is in discussions with its strategic investor, Japan’s Mitsui & Co., on the proposed project, Quang said, without saying when a final decision will be made.
Last year, the Japanese company spent USD 153 million (EUR 141 million) to acquire a 35.1 percent equity interest in Minh Phu. Two officials from Mitsui have been appointed to Minh Phu’s board of directors, with one of them holding the position of company’s deputy general director.
Last week, Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said a number of seafood companies in Vietnam are planning to construct new cold-storage facilities in response to a pinch in storage capacity for their products. The companies are seeking long-term loans with preferential interest rates to build facilities with a minimum capacity of 5,000 pallets each.
Commenting on the VASEP’s recommendations, Quang said it will take time for banks to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed projects. Therefore, construction of the planned facilities will possibly take time.
But Quang said given the financial strength of Minh Phu, the cold-storage project that Minh Phu and Mitsui are considering may not depend on any credit package.
On 25 March, Minh Phu’s board of directors approved a plan to increase the charter capital of its subsidiary Minh Phu Kien Giang by VND 380 billion (USD 16.2 million, EUR 14.7 million) to VND 820 billion (USD 34.8 million, EUR 31.8 million) to invest more in its large-scale farming area in southern Vietnam to increase the share of its own supply.
