Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The Hoa Phat Group has reported some 700 million USD worth of imports from Australia this year, more than double the figure from last year and making the industrial manufacturer the largest Vietnamese client of the country.
More than half of the total import value, or 364 million USD, came from coal, compared to just 115 million USD in 2019.
The group’s purchases of iron ore leapt a whopping 19-times to 123 million USD in the first eleven months of the year.
Hoa Phat bought more coal and iron ore this year to serve production at its iron and steel integrated complexes in the northern province of Hai Duong and the central province of Quang Ngai’s Dung Quat Economic Zone.
Meanwhile, it annually purchases hundreds of thousands of cows from Australia, with its herd now accounting for 50 percent of all Australian-imported cows in Vietnam.
With such soaring import numbers, Hoa Phat is estimated to account for 17 percent of Australia’s total export value to Vietnam, compared to 7.4 percent in 2018 and 7.6 percent in 2019.
It is expected to outlay over 1 billion USD on goods from Australia next year, an annual increase of 40 percent./.
VNA
