Starting out trading machinery
Trần Đình Long was born on 20/2/1961 in Hải Dương, and graduated from the National Economics University. In 1992, together with his friend Trần Tuấn Dương, he founded Hòa Phát Equipment and Spare Parts Company, specialising in trading machinery and construction equipment. From there, Hòa Phát gradually expanded into many fields: furniture, steel pipes, air conditioners, paint, containers, following the multi-sector business model that was fairly common among Vietnamese private enterprises in the early period of opening up.
Why is the timing of 1992 important for a private enterprise?
1992 fell right after the Law on Companies and the Law on Private Enterprises took effect, creating for the first time a clear legal framework for non-state enterprises. A private company at that time, if it wanted to survive, had to arrange its own capital, find its own market and bear its own risks, with no subsidised support. The fact that Hòa Phát stood firm from a small starting point such as trading construction machinery shows that this was a period of accumulating capability and capital, not yet a period of making a mark on the industry.
From multi-sector to steel: how did the turning point happen?
The turning point came when Hòa Phát moved into producing construction steel, a field that gradually became the pillar, accounting for most of the group's revenue and profit. This is the difference from most private enterprises of the same period, which usually stayed with trading or processing, because steel production requires very large investment capital and a long payback cycle. In 2007, Hòa Phát Group was officially established on the basis of merging its member companies, and HPG shares were listed on the Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange. He held the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors throughout this process.
What did the listing of HPG in 2007 mean?
The listing took Hòa Phát from a family business to a public company model, required to disclose its finances and subject to investor scrutiny. This was the condition for raising capital for the large-scale steel projects that followed, and at the same time forced the management apparatus to professionalise. For a heavy manufacturing group, the ability to access capital through the stock market is a decisive factor in the speed of expansion.
The Dung Quất complex and the title of steel king
The decision to invest in the Hòa Phát Dung Quất integrated steel complex was the biggest step in his career, turning Hòa Phát into the largest steel producer in Southeast Asia with a capacity of about 16 million tonnes per year, among the 30 largest steel enterprises in the world. Thanks to that position, the business world and the press call him the steel king of Việt Nam.
Why is Dung Quất seen as a big gamble?
Dung Quất is a project that integrates the entire chain from liquid iron to finished steel, rather than only rolling steel from externally purchased billets as many other producers do. Mastering the first stage helps Hòa Phát control costs and be proactive about raw materials, but it also places the group before the risks of the steel price cycle and a very large capital burden. Output milestones such as 1 million tonnes of liquid iron per month, as recorded by the press, are an indication that the project has operated according to design.
Position in billionaire rankings
In June 2023, thanks to a run of gains in HPG shares, he at one point overtook Phạm Nhật Vượng to become the richest person on the Vietnamese stock market by the value of directly held shares. According to domestic billionaire rankings and Forbes in recent years, he has frequently been in the group of the 2nd or 3rd richest people in Việt Nam, with assets fluctuating around 2 to 3 billion USD. Two ways of measuring need to be distinguished: a position on the stock market reflects the value of directly held shares at a point in time and can reverse very quickly, while Forbes' ranking is calculated on total assets and is more stable.
What is a firm record, and what is a way of speaking used by the press?
His date of birth, 20/2/1961, follows Hòa Phát's own listing prospectus; some compilation sites give 22/2/1961 without citing a source. His native place, school, the year the company was founded, the year the group was founded and the year of listing are consistently repeated by many domestic sources. The title of steel king and the saying that Hòa Phát did not choose the easy path are ways of speaking and ways of expressing things used by the business world and the press, not official titles. The capacity figures and rankings in the steel industry are data published by the enterprise and the media, and can change over time.
What role does he still hold at Hòa Phát?
To date, he still holds the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hòa Phát Group, directly running projects to expand steel capacity and moving into new sectors such as agriculture, real estate and containers. The expansion beyond steel shows a long-term strategy based on the industrial and domestic consumption value chain, rather than clinging to a single product.