HPG General Director Tran Tuan Duong briefed the delegation on his group’s achievements in 2011 and market predictions in 2012.

Despite having to cope with the global economic downturn, HPG’s revenues reached nearly VND18,120 billion last year, 3.5 percent higher than the set target and 25 percent higher than in 2010, Duong said.

HPG’s steel production sector alone surpassed all the set targets and contributed 79 percent of the group’s total revenues and 75 percent of its profit.

Although Vietnam’s construction steel market fell in 2011, HPG’s market share increased from 12 percent in 2010 to 13.3 percent in 2011, with output reaching near 100 percent of factory capacity.

Hiroshi Hiramoto, Managing Director of the Japan Securities Institute (JSI) and a representative from the Japanese delegation, said Japanese investors admire the excellent performance HPG has recorded over the past 20 years and praise its status in the Vietnamese market.

According to Hoa Phat, many Japanese companies are currently keen to invest in the Vietnamese market and HPG is one of Vietnam’s major companies whose trademark is promoted in different ways in the Japanese market to boost investment cooperation in the future.