Vietnamese agriculture giant enjoys a highly fruitful year

HAGL's bananas displayed on supermarket shelves. Photo by VnExpress/Phuong Dong

Agriculture giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai sold fruit worth $125.05 million in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 80 percent.

The fruit sales of VND2.9 trillion ($125.05 million) accounted for 54 percent of the corporation’s revenue, according to Hoang Anh Gia Lai JSC’s (stock code: HAG) consolidated financial statements for 2018.

Other agricultural products like chilli and pepper also contributed VND550 billion ($23.71 million) in revenues.

Meanwhile, revenues from cattle raising fell 83 percent to VND126 billion ($5.43 million); and that from rubber plantations fell 24 percent to VND345 billion ($14.87 million).

The corporation recorded VND5.4 trillion ($232.83 million) in total sales last year, an increase of 11 percent over the previous year.

Last year, HAG’s subsidiary Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agriculture JSC (HAGL Agrico) invested VND976 billion ($42 million) in 5,300 hectares of land in Cambodia to grow bananas for export to China in response to rapidly rising demand.

HAGL used to be a leading property developer in Vietnam, but restructured itself in 2010 to focus on agriculture, rubber and livestock farming.