Hoa Phat takes a measured route to pig expansion

While some of Vietnam’s largest pig producers are accelerating capacity expansion, Hoa Phat Agriculture is taking a more measured route.

BAF Vietnam aims to sell more than 1.2 million pigs in 2026, up 60% from last year, while expanding its farm network. Dabaco, meanwhile, is developing several new pig projects as it works toward a target of more than 2 million finishers annually before 2028.

Hoa Phat Agriculture (HPA) is expanding too, but its management has explicitly rejected a race for scale.

The company said livestock production remains cyclical and exposed to unpredictable risks. Expanding too quickly may increase those risks and hurt margins.

Instead, HPA plans to reinvest progressively, targeting annual capacity of 900,000 commercial pigs by 2030. It also plans a third feedmill with annual capacity of 300,000 tons, which would lift its total feed capacity to 1 million tons/year.

The approach comes despite pigs being HPA’s strongest business. In 2025, pig production generated 41% of the company’s revenue and 67% of its after-tax profit. HPA sold more than 380,000 commercial pigs, up 5.9% year-on-year, as well as nearly 280,000 breeding pigs.

Growth without contract farms

How HPA expands is also notable.

Unlike some integrated producers that use contract farms to expand production capacity, HPA says it will not rent outside farms because of biosecurity risks. New capacity will instead come from company-built farms, giving HPA direct control over production and disease prevention.

Its Long Ha 2 farm, with capacity for 46,800 pigs per batch, is expected to begin selling pigs later this year. Other farms planned under its 2030 expansion program are expected to receive pigs from 2027-28.

The company also controls breeding, feed production and farming internally, which it says allows it to manage around 70% of input costs across the chain.

Traders remain the route to market

Despite its industrial production scale, HPA’s commercial pigs still reach the market through a familiar Vietnamese channel: traders.

In 2025, the company sold more than 380,000 commercial pigs. HPA said traders purchase its entire commercial pig output daily and it has not experienced difficulty selling its pigs.

Meanwhile, the company continues to invest in the upstream side of its pig business. Alongside new farms, HPA plans to expand feed production, with its third feedmill scheduled to begin construction in 2029.

Its next pig farms under the 2030 expansion plan are expected to start receiving animals from 2027-28 as HPA works toward its target of 900,000 commercial pigs annually.