Binh Phuoc
Vietnam's rubber and cashew capital with 247,000 hectares of rubber and 150,000 hectares of cashews, processing 70% imported raw materials as domestic supply lags behind 1,400+ factory capacity.
Binh Phuoc exists because Vietnam's southeastern red basalt soils proved ideal for two industrial tree crops—rubber and cashews—that now anchor the country's processing supremacy in both commodities. Located 110km from Ho Chi Minh City, this province of 6,880 square kilometers hosts the nation's largest rubber plantation (247,000 hectares) and cashew cultivation (150,000 hectares), making it the factory floor for Vietnam's agro-processing export machine.
The formation story is French colonial plantation agriculture scaled to industrial dimensions. Michelin established rubber estates here in the 1920s; post-independence, the state expanded cultivation across the province's laterite plateaus. Cashews arrived later as a smallholder crop but exploded with global demand. Today Binh Phuoc accounts for nearly 50% of Vietnam's cashew area and leads the country in processing capacity—though a structural problem emerges: local raw material supplies meet only 30% of processing demand.
The 2024 industry metrics reveal Vietnam's cashew export record: 730,000 tonnes worth $4.37 billion nationally, surpassing the previous 2021 record of $3.63 billion. Binh Phuoc's 1,400+ processing plants form the core of this network. The province has secured Vietnam's only geographical indication for cashew—legal recognition of terroir-based quality. Meanwhile, 300,000 tons of dried latex flow annually from rubber trees into the VRG Dongwha MDF factory (1,000 m³/day capacity), a Korea-Vietnam joint venture.
FDI has followed the commodity infrastructure: 413 projects worth $4.25 billion across 13 industrial parks with 69% occupancy. The 2025 completion of the HCMC-Thu Dau Mot-Chon Thanh expressway will cut logistics time to ports, while the Chon Thanh-Dak Nong expressway connects to Long Thanh international airport.
By 2026, Binh Phuoc faces a scaling paradox: processing capacity far exceeds domestic supply, requiring 70% raw material imports from Africa, Cambodia, and Indonesia. The province that once grew everything it processed now depends on global supply chains for inputs. This vulnerability—success breeding dependence on competitors—defines the next developmental challenge.