Lam Son Sugar Joint Stock Corporation (Lasuco) | Introduction
Introduction
Lam Son Town
Tho Xuan District
Tho Xuan
Vietnam
Telephone: (84) 37 83325784
Fax: (84) 37 83409284
Web site: http://www.lasuco.com.vn
Employee-Owned Company
Incorporated: 1979
Employees: 1,386
Sales: VND 600 billion ($40.6 million)(2002)
NAIC: 311312 Cane Sugar Refining; 311330 Confectionery Manufacturing from Purchased Chocolate; 312130 Wineries; 312140 Distilleries
Lam Son Sugar Joint Stock Corporation, or Lasuco, is the leading sugar producer in Vietnam, and is also one of the leaders in that country's slow shift toward a market-driven economy. As such, Lasuco is the largest of Vietnam's formerly government-held companies to be privatized. Lasuco operates two sugar refineries, with a total capacity of nearly 6,500 tons per day, or 100,000 tons per year, fed by farmers throughout the mountainous Lam Son region in northern Vietnam. The company has played a primary role in shifting the region from subsistence farming to the profitable planting of sugarcane, and continues to support farmers through: technological services, such as the introduction of new, higher-yield seed types; and financial support, including loans underwriting farmers' preparation, seed, planting, fertilizer, and labor costs. In addition to sugar refining, Lasuco has been branching out in an effort to make full use of sugarcane. In addition to its two sugar refineries, Lasuco operates two alcohol production facilities, the first manufacturing 1.5 million liters of molasses-based alcohol per year, and the second with a capacity of 25 million liters per year for the export market. Moreover, its Dinh Huong confectionery factory produces more than 5,000 tons of candy and cookies each year. The company also produces more than 800,000 liters of draft beer and 600 tons of glucose per year. In the early 2000s, Lasuco began branching out beyond sugar-based products. The company has encouraged the introduction of dairy cattle herds in the region—using the leftover sugarcane leaves as fodder—and produces more than 30,000 tons of fodder per year in its own production facility. The company also operates a milk processing plant, and has been introducing a new crop, pineapple, to support its fruit juice concentrate plant. Nearly all of the company's production is for the domestic market; nonetheless, Lasuco began exporting for the first time in 2003 and plans to boost exports to 30 percent of sales in the future. Lasuco is led by Le Van Tam; farmers form a large part of the company's shareholder base.