Formosa Plastics Group, a Taiwan-based conglomerate, announced plans to increase its investment in a proposed stainless steel mill in Vietnam. The investment, totaling around $3.125 billion, would go toward constructing a facility with an annual capacity of two million metric tons.
According to published reports, FPG recently announced plans to build another stainless steel mill, this one in China.
Combining the two facilities will allow FPG to compete with Taiwan’s largest stainless steel maker E United Group.
The Taiwanese company notes that it hopes to start construction on the stainless steel mill once it completes the first phase of its planned carbon steel mill in Vietnam, which gives Formosa Plastics an opportunity to access Southeast Asian markets.
FPG had planned to set up a massive steel mill in Vietnam in two stages. After deciding to set up a stainless steel plant in a third construction stage, the group will see total investments exceed the earlier projected amount of $8.75 billion. At that time, the group will see total production capacity reach 50 million metric tons per year, surpassing that of China Steel Corp.