Phase 2 of Hoa Phat steel integrated complex officially went into operation

On 10/08/2013, blast furnace of Phase II has released first batch successfully, marking the synchronizing production of both phases of Hoa Phat steel integrated complex in Hiep Son - Kinh Mon – Hai Duong province. This is a crucial mark for Hoa Phat Steel Joint Stock Company in particular and Hoa Phat Group in general because from now on, the production capacity of Hoa Phat steel has been raised to1.15 million tons/year. Reporter of website www.hoaphat.com.vn had an interview with Mr. Ho Duc Tho - Deputy Director of Hoa Phat Steel Joint Stock Company for this.

Congratulations to you and and all staff of the company for putting the second phase into production successfully. Can you share something about phase 2 of the complex?

Before implementing the second phase since the end of first quarter 2012, we have accumulated a wealth of experience in the construction and operation phase I. Both phases are similar with items such as blast furnace, iron mixed furnace, basic oxygen furnace, square billet continuous casting machine, sintering, steel rolling mill, and many other support areas. But the difference is capacity of phase II larger with 500,000 tons, while the first phase is 350,000 tons /year.

Thanks to the preparation of infrastructure, human and finance, the company has developed relatively favorable items with the cooperation of the general contractor partner who have strong ability. However, due to some objective factors on the weather and supplying imported materials, our phase II were slower than expected about one month compared with the original plan. However, this is not a problem with a large-scale heavy industrial producing project.

With the efforts of all employees and contractors, on Oct 1st, we began to run hot and phase II was put in stable operation, cast iron quality met requirements for steel making.

In general, how do you assess of the success level of phase II project so far? What is the most importance thing of putting phase II into operation, sir?

For now, we can say the second phase project of Hoa Phat has been very successful. We just took 16 months from signing contract with the general contractor to complete the project, that’s a very short period for a similar scale work.

Phase II blast furnace got in operation is a major success of Hoa Phat Group. It affirmed the right direction in choosing integrated manufacturing technology with large-scale towards to sustainable development ... Phase II contributed to the Hoa Phat steel capacity to 1.15 million tons/year and solidify the position of Hoa Phat as one of three leading steel manufacturers in Vietnam.

The production projects usually need time to prove capacity. According to you, how long does it take for that? When blast furnace 2 can achieve 100% capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year?

We intend to prove capacity in October with a production around 80% of design capacity. From November 2013 to early 2014, we will begin to enhance production. With our available resources, I believe phase II will quickly reach and exceed the design capacity in 2014.

Currently, almost systems are being operated smoothly and properly with the design capacity. In the first time, the company still hires some Chinese and Italian experts who have experiences in steel production in collaboration with Hoa Phat to operate the equipment safely.

In your opinion, what is the expected output of the entire complex in 2013 and specially for the phase II, sir?

As planned, our complex will reach output of about 500,000 tons, of which phase II contributes 100,000 tons steel with quality, high- grade.

Thank you !

Nghi Trần