Chinese injection press maker Haitian International Holdings said Aug. 1 it has restarted its Vietnam assembly plant. The company had shut down operations there in mid-May in the wake of rioting in Vietnam that damaged hundreds of foreign-owned factories and killed several people.
Haitian said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it reopened the factory in Binh Duong, near Ho Chi Minh City, in mid-July.
“The board is pleased to announce that the Vietnam factory had resumed its normal operation in mid-July 2014 after the incident of anti-China protests and riots in Vietnam in May,” it said. “No material damage had been caused to the Vietnam factory during the aforesaid incident and there was no death or injuries to staff at the Vietnam factory.”
Haitian, based in Ningbo, China, had said in May that the Binh Duong factory accounted for less than 1 percent of its total output in 2013, suggesting that any effect on the company's overall business would be minimal. It closed the facility May 14 out of concern for the safety of its staff.
Rioters stormed foreign-owned factories in Vietnam in May, following demonstrations against the Chinese government for putting an oil-drilling rig in waters claimed by both countries.