Agricultural services and food conglomerate Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company on Monday in HCM City signed a loan syndication with seven domestic and foreign banks in Viet Nam as part of a plan to expand high-quality paddy production and bring better products to both Viet Nam and foreign markets.

The credit will last three years and is worth US$100 million, Loc Troi said. The seven banks are MB Bank, Kasikornbank, First Commercial Bank, Agricultural Bank of China Limited (Ha Noi branch), China Construction Bank Corporation (HCM City branch), CTBC bank Company Lte and E.SUN Commerical Bank, Ltd (Dong Nai branch), with MB Bank and Kasikornbank serving as the lead banks.

Under the agreement, the credit will be disbursed through supplying Loc Troi seeds, agriculture material and other services to co-operative alliances, co-operatives, production sites and farmers.

The disbursement, the company said, would be done based on the timing of crops and would be digitalised through the company’s applications with friendly interfaces so that farmers could easily track the production process during their crops.

Talking about the credit, Loc Troi’s chairman, Huynh Van Thon, stressed that the co-operation with the seven bank was the first step for further development in the future.

He affirmed that the support from the banks would particularly help fulfil the company's mission of “accompanying farmers to develop together.”

Loc Troi is a big paddy and rice producer in Viet Nam. Currently, the company's products under the brand “Com Viet Nam" rice have been sold in the EU at Carrefour and Leclerc supermarkets. Up to the end of October, about 400,000 tonnes of rice have been ordered.

Established in 1993, Loc Troi has become the leading agricultural services and food conglomerate in Viet Nam with over 3,600 employees. Currently, Loc Troi is the only company that has met the Sustainable Rice Platform’s standards for several consecutive years.

The company is co-operating with many co-operatives and over 200,000 households in order to set up and develop cultivation methods in which they can cut down costs and ensure sustainable development.

The company’s products have received many domestic and international awards. — VNS