Increasing scale and competition for the dairy industry

(Baonghean) - With the investment of two large corporations, TH and Vinamilk, in large-scale, synchronized livestock and milk production projects using modern technology in the red basalt land of Phu Quy and Cua Lo town, the competitiveness of the dairy industry in the market has increased.

Creating the foundation for the development of the dairy processing industry in Nghe An is Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VINAMILK) with its investment in building a dairy factory in Cua Lo Town. With the goal of exploiting fresh milk sources from the construction of a large-scale, modern concentrated dairy farm in Nghia Dan, up to now, after 10 years of operation, Nghe An Dairy Factory has invested in increasing its operating capacity from 15 million liters/year to 75 million liters/year. The efforts in investment and development of the factory have shown that Vinamilk's investment strategy here is effective, in line with the province's investment attraction policy.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Thang, Director of Nghe An Milk Factory said: “Based on the shortcut, Nghe An Milk Factory has invested in building advanced milk processing technology in the world, production machinery and equipment originating from Sweden, Belgium, Germany and some European G7 countries. Therefore, in the first 4 months of 2015, the factory has produced 9,964.87 tons of milk of all kinds and the products favored by the market are sterilized fresh milk, sterilized milk, yogurt and drinking yogurt”.

Milk production line at TH Fresh Milk Factory in Nghia Dan.

At Vinamilk's Nghia Dan dairy farm, there are currently a total of 2,367 cows and each cow is equipped with 2 chips (an identification chip and an active chip) to manage genealogy, health, and milk productivity... In order for the cows to grow healthily in the summer, the farm has installed an automatic fan and misting system, and the cows are fed a mixed ration (TMR) with concentrated feed, supplementary feed, minerals, etc. Therefore, in April 2015, the output reached 766.4 tons of fresh milk, so the farm has provided a stable source of milk for Nghe An Dairy Factory. Recently, Vinamilk's Nghe An dairy farm has been granted the international certification Global GAP (a farm management tool to meet domestic and international market demand for product quality, ensure food hygiene and safety, improve product quality and value, thereby effectively and sustainably using agricultural production resources, protecting the environment, etc.).

Mr. Le Van Dung, Director of Nghia Dan Dairy Farm said: “One of the issues that the farm is very interested in is developing raw material areas to serve feed for the cows. Every year, on an area of ​​130 hectares of corn, new varieties are grown, with good care to ensure 3 harvests per year. In addition, the farm also purchases raw corn from people in districts and towns such as Thai Hoa, Nghia Dan, Quy Hop, Tan Ky, Anh Son, Do Luong, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu and over 50 hectares of grass in Dong Hieu, Nghia Thuan, Nghia Hoa, Nghia Long communes, ensuring 4 harvests per year. Currently, due to hot weather, the raw material areas are being affected in productivity, the farm is taking active solutions to gradually overcome this situation”.

Along with the development of Vinamilk, TH is increasingly affirming the breakthrough development of the dairy industry in Nghe An. The way to choose its own direction is to invest in the world's "back-end technology", so "from green pastures to clean glasses of milk" are all done in a closed, synchronous manner with high technology. TH Group has purchased all the technological secrets and dairy farming techniques from Israel and the world's leading processing processes from advanced countries. Currently, TH has a very professional working system in all stages thanks to being directly managed by multinational companies such as Afikim Company of Israel for herd management and Totally Vets Company of New Zealand for veterinary management. By May 2015, TH's dairy farm had a total herd of 45,000 cows, of which more than half were milking cows (the rest were heifers and calves) and because the number of dairy cows increased rapidly, it helped TH have a high source of fresh milk every year.

In just the first 4 months of 2015, TH's fresh milk output reached 49,686 tons, up 23% over the same period last year, reaching 40,349 tons of fresh milk. Ms. Vu Thi Thu Hang, Communications Director of TH Group, said: "Along with the rapid growth in the number of dairy cows, other important factors contributing to the growth in output are that at TH farms, the dairy cows have adapted to the living environment and the nutritional regime for the cows has been increasingly improved, each day the cows eat from 10 to 16 different types of nutritious food. The management and care of the cows have been applied smoothly with the mastery of equipment, technology and operation by the majority of Vietnamese staff, contributing to improving the health of the cows, maintaining milk production and quality."

While VINAMILK chose to invest in building a milk processing plant first, then building a large-scale farm, TH Group focused on developing a cow farm and then invested in the TH Fresh Milk Factory in Nghia Dan district (operating since July 2013) with the most modern technology in the world and equipped with modern equipment imported from G7 countries and Europe. The entire operating system is implemented according to ISO 9001 standards. The factory's products are manufactured and managed entirely according to ISO 22000 standards to meet the most stringent food safety and hygiene standards. In particular, the factory's yogurt production line applies robot technology, a technology used for the first time in Vietnam, to automate all stages to ensure the integrity of the product throughout the process.

The entire production lines are controlled by the latest software in the world in the milk processing industry of TH Fresh Milk Factory and are currently operating very effectively. Currently, the factory is providing the market with 29 types of milk products and TH products have a high market share in the Vietnamese market. From January 25, 2015, TH Group officially launched the TH true MILK pasteurized fresh milk product with 4 outstanding advantages: made entirely from pure fresh milk of TH farm, without using preservatives. TH commits not to use any preservatives in the product, but uses ESL (Extended Shelf - life) pasteurization technology of the Federal Republic of Germany and uses modern packaging technology, milk is poured under sterile conditions in special packaging with 6 layers of protection to help the product be safe and keep intact its nutritional value and natural delicious flavor.

Article and photos:Hoang Vinh