Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, said it would today fire up the second blast furnace at its Vietnamese venture, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業), marking the completion of the first phase of its construction of the steel mill.
The blast furnace was approved by the Vietnamese authorities last week, the group said in a statement yesterday.
The first furnace began production last year.
The firm forecast its Vietnamese unit would generate US$2.5 billion in revenue this year, with an expected sales volume of 4.65 million tonnes of steel products.
That would translate into about 1.27 percent of Vietnam’s GDP this year, up from 0.45 percent last year, the group said.
The investment by Formosa Ha Tinh Steel is the largest foreign direct investment in Vietnam and also the biggest integrated steel mill in Southeast Asia, the group said.
The steel mill produced 1.6 million tonnes of steel last year and sold 1.37 million tonnes, the group said.
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