Thai Nguyen Iron & Steel plant

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Thai Nguyen Iron & Steel plant, also known as TISCO, is a blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) steel plant operating in Thanh Pho City, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam.

Location

The map below shows the exact location of the plant in Thanh Pho City, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam:

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• Location: Thanh Pho City, Thai Nguyen District, Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam
• Coordinates (WGS 84): 21.557484, 105.872800 (exact)

Background

The Thai Nguyen Iron & Steel plant was established in 1959 in the country's first industrial zone. It produced its first iron in 1963 and started operations as an integrated steel plant.

The plant has been struggling to follow through with a 500ttpa expansion project for over 15 years, but due to legal and implementation issues, progress has been stalled.

The plant is in danger of going bankrupt due to its growing debts and unstable capital structure. The company also has bad debts of almost VND852 billion ($36.7 million). TISCO's expansion project, which began in 2007, has been delayed several times and is one of many state-owned projects that have suffered significant losses and violated laws. TISCO has asked for help from authorities but has not received any assistance, according to the company's board.

In 2021, the Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel JSC proposed the resumption of the project, and promised to operate it effectively after a few years, ensuring job for employees and avoiding losses in State capital. On 31 July 2022, the Prime Minister of Vietnam visited the plant to inspect the progress of the second phase of the Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Plant extension project (TISCO 2).

The company has also faced legal troubles; in 2019, former executives of Vietnam Steel Corporation and Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel JSC were arrested for mismanagement that caused major losses in a $344 million steel project. Four of them were accused of violating investment regulations and mismanagement of public assets, one was accused of violating investment regulations. They stood trial in 2021 and many were sent to prison.

Environmental Compliance

In 2021, the company was fined VND565 million (around $24,500 USD) by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Binh Dinh province. The plant was found to be releasing wastewater containing unacceptable levels of pollutants into the surrounding environment. The company was ordered to undertake steps to address the pollution in addition to being financially penalized. The company has faced similar environmental violations in the past, leading some to demand stricter measures to prevent future pollution.

Plant Details

Table 1: General Plant Details

Phase	Plant status	Announced date	Construction date	Start date	Iron ore source	Coal source
Main plant	Operating	–	1959-06	1963	Trai Cau Iron Mine; Phuc Ninh Iron ore mine; Quy Xa Iron mine	Phan Me coal mine
Expansion	Construction	2007-09-27	2017	–	–	–

Table 2: Ownership and Parent Company Information

Phase	State-owned entity status	Parent company	Parent company PermID	Parent company GEM ID	Owner	Owner company PermID	Owner company GEM ID
Main plant	Partial	Viet Nam Steel Corp [65.0%]; Thai Hung Trading JSC [20.0%]	5000054945 [65%]; unknown [20%]	E100001012497 [61.1%]; E100001012496 [20%]	Thai Nguyen Iron And Steel Joint Stock Corp	5000050455	E100000130922

Table 3: Process and Products

Phase	ISO 14001	Main production equipment	Detailed production equipment
Main plant	yes	BF, DRI, EAF	3 BF; DRI (# unknown); EAF (# unknown)
Expansion	–	BF, BOF	BF; BOF (# unknown)

Table 4: Crude Steel Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

*Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.

Phase	Capacity operating status*	Basic oxygen furnace steelmaking capacity	Electric arc furnace steelmaking capacity	Nominal crude steel capacity (total)
Main plant	operating	–	260 TTPA	260 TTPA
Expansion	construction	500 TTPA	–	500 TTPA

Table 5: Crude Iron Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

*Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.

Phase	Capacity operating status*	Blast furnace capacity	Nominal iron capacity (total)
Main plant	operating	300 TTPA	300 TTPA
Expansion	construction	580 TTPA	580 TTPA

Table 6: Upstream Products Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

Phase	Sinter	Coke
Main plant	120 TTPA	130 TTPA
Expansion	41 TTPA	–

Blast Furnace Details

Table 7: Blast Furnace Details

Unit name	Status	Announced date	Construction date	Start date	Current size	Current capacity (ttpa)	Decarbonization technology	Most recent relining
1	operating	unknown	1960-09-02 00:00:00	1963-11-29	120 m³	150	unknown	1971
2	operating	unknown	unknown	1964-09-23	100 m³	150	unknown	1971
4	construction	2007-09-27	2007-10-01 00:00:00	unknown	500 m³	580	unknown	unknown

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Steel Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.

Resources

• Company website