C.P. Vietnam Corporation: For Professional, Modern Agriculture

C.P. Vietnam Corporation (CPV) was delighted to receive the “Vietnam Golden Agricultural Brand” Award 2017 for its C.P. Binh Duong animal feed plant in late July. This was the second straight year C.P. Vietnam Corporation was presented this ward. To learn more about this prominent business, we have an interview with Mr Boonlap Watcharawanitchakul, Senior Vice President of Aqua Feed Business of C.P. Vietnam Corporation. Hoang Lam reports.

Inheriting a solid foundation from C.P. Thailand Group, what has C.P. Vietnam Corporation managed to achieve since it started operations in Vietnam?
C.P. Vietnam Corporation is a member of C.P. Group (Charoen Pokphand Group), which was founded in 1925 in Bangkok, Thailand. C.P. Group is now one of leading industrial, agricultural and food processing firms in Thailand.

C.P. Group entered Vietnam in 1993 with a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City. C.P. Vietnam Co., Ltd was founded in 1993 in Bien Hoa 2 Industrial Park, Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai province and was renamed to C.P. Vietnam Corporation in 2011. C.P. Vietnam is engaged in industrial - agricultural business according to the Feed - Farm - Food model. During 24 years in Vietnam, we have set great store by applying standard systems and advanced technologies to production in Vietnam.

Defining that “good product quality is the foundation for existence and development”, all inputs for feed production have clear origin and quality assurance. Currently, C.P. Vietnam Corporation has nine animal feed and fish feed production plants in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Tien Giang, Can Tho, Ben Tre, Dak Lak, Ha Noi and Hai Duong which manufacture animal feeds, poultry feeds and aquatic feeds.

The Can Tho City-based plant produces fish feeds, which are supplied to the Mekong Delta and the entire nation as well. We are glad and proud to contribute to agricultural and fishery development achievements of Vietnam in general and Can Tho City in particular, help form a modern, professional agriculture, generate jobs and increase incomes for local farmers. We always integrate business operation with environmental protection and social responsibility; maintain a sustainable living environment; and develop local communities. These are top concerns of every member of C.P. Vietnam, from high-ranking leaders to factory works.

In addition to its focus on feed and stock development, how has C.P. Vietnam invested in technological breakthroughs to supply better products for customers and farmers?
Since its inception, C.P. Vietnam has always given top investment priority to technological breakthroughs, especially when climate change is increasingly affecting aquaculture.

One of most remarkable milestones of C.P. Vietnam is the successful transfer of CPF Combine Programme shrimp farming, including CPF-Green House, CPF-Turbo Programme and 3C Programme (clean breed, clean water and clean pond bed in shrimp farming). This has brought greater success to shrimp farmers attempting to prevent and control disease outbreaks, particularly EMS (early mortality syndrome), which hit major shrimp producers in the world hard.

Inheriting and promoting shrimp farming programme results, the company has also applied and expanded the CPF Turbo Programme in fish feed production in a bid to bring good, safe products of clear traceability and competitive price. The programme has produced impressive initial results.

In the context of growing competition in the Vietnamese livestock market under international economic integration, how has C.P. Vietnam endeavoured to develop its brand name?
C.P. Vietnam develops its operations based on its core values of three benefits: Benefit for the country, benefit for people and benefit for the company. We not only supply high-quality products which are made according to sustainability processes, traceability and safety standards of domestic and international agencies, but we more importantly introduce farming solutions to help farmers reduce costs, increase earnings and achieve sustainable development.

The C.P. Vietnam brand is built from the business history of C.P. Group of Thailand, from the two-decade development history of C.P. Vietnam and from our short-term and long-term business results. I think we can achieve desirable business performance and brand reputation only when our partners work effectively. Therefore, we always try to improve our performance to enhance competitiveness to meet demands of the market and our partners.

Could you please briefly introduce C.P. Vietnam Corporation’s development orientation in Can Tho City?
We have just completed technological upgrading and modernisation for our Can Tho feed plant in a bid to improve and stabilise feed quality. Besides, we have regularly updated information on the market and livestock development to regulate production, upgrade machinery and expand production capacity.
In the next 2-3 years, our priority is to apply technically advanced farming programmes to help farmers to reduce costs and increase profitability.

We have been active in Can Tho for a long time and we thus have a lot of cooperation opportunities with local authorities. Can Tho City officials attend all major events of the company like Red Journey Programme, C.P. Vietnam Family Day and Career Festival. Especially, the municipal government always strives to share and actively cooperate to tackle emerging business difficulties against enterprises. The active response and support of the city’s leaders have partially improved the investment and business environment and won the trust of enterprises and investors.

Personally, I think that economic integration is a good opportunity for the business community and livestock farmers in Vietnam in general and in Can Tho City in particular to open the market and have an opportunity to learn to boost production capacity, improve product quality and reduce production costs. However, opportunities are always coupled with challenges and risks if enterprises and farmers do not upgrade technology and improve business performances. Therefore, farmers, traders and agents need to prepare well in all aspects to compete more effectively.

Mr Boonlap Watcharawanitchakul