Situated on a campus of nearly 70 ha in Tang Loong Industrial Park, Bao Thang district, Lao Cai Iron and Steel Plant was inaugurated and put into operation on September 21, 2014 after three years of design, construction and equipment installation. By design, the facility will produce about 2,000 tonnes of pig iron a day used for manufacturing steel billets used for rolled steel production in Lao Cai province. In the second phase, the designed annual output will be doubled to 1 million tonnes of steel which will be sold in Lao Cai province and Northwest region and exported to other countries. Planned to employ nearly 600 workers, the plant is expected to pay VND700 billion of tax a year to Lao Cai province, equal to a quarter of the province’s current tax revenue.

To overcome production and business difficulties, the company has adopted competing measures to reduce input prices, extraction and processing costs in Quy Xa ore mine; cooperated with researchers to work out perfect blending formula for iron ores in Quy Xa mine, sought measures to reduce material and fuel consumption; revised technical and economic norms and indicators. The company also boldly sped up market researches and searched for customers to boost consumption, launched thrift exercising movements, and reduced all kinds of company-wide expenses. With these efforts, VTM’s iron and steel plant is being operated as designed.

The steel supply will be still in excess in the coming time. Domestic firms will have to compete more strongly with rivals from Russia and China. This will place enormous pressures on domestic steelmakers as well iron ore producers amid falling prices. Before this reality, VTM will continue to apply multiple management and technical solutions to lower product costs; study market information to work out appropriate steps and measures to build sustainable relationships with input suppliers and seek strategic customers to expand sales.
N.Nga