According to a disclosure on October 15, 2026, Duc Giang Chemicals (DGC, HoSE) has revised the schedule for Project No. 1 at Nghi Son: the caustic soda and PAC units are to start up in Q4 2026, while the whole project runs from Q1 2027. By June 30, 2026, DGC had invested more than VND 1,200 billion in the project. For anyone holding the stock, the question is less how many months late the plant is than how far the money already spent sits from the point where it starts producing revenue.
This post walks through the project milestone by milestone, from the original plan to the latest decision, with the capital committed at each step.
What the project makes and how big it is
Project No. 1 is part of the Duc Giang Nghi Son Chemical Complex, located in Dong Vang Industrial Park, Nghi Son Economic Zone (Thanh Hoa). The investor is Duc Giang Nghi Son Chemicals Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of DGC. The Thanh Hoa provincial People's Committee approved the project on June 11, 2020, with total investment of VND 2,400 billion.Người Quan Sát
Design capacity is 151,000 tonnes of chemicals a year, including 50,000 tonnes of caustic soda, 15,000 tonnes of HCl acid, 30,000 tonnes of PAC, plus chlorine compounds and a phosphorus-based product group.Người Quan Sát These are basic chemicals used in water treatment, petrochemical refining, paper and metallurgy. Project No. 1 is only the first stage of the complex, which has total planned investment of about VND 12,000 billion across three stages.VietnamFinance
For the capital of Project No. 1 alone, sources give two different figures. In September 2025, DGC raised the project's capital to VND 2,900 billion to add a second phase producing more chemicals and batteries.Doanh nhân Pháp luật Yet reports on the October 2026 revision still cite VND 2,400 billion.Tin nhanh Chứng khoán Published sources do not explain the gap, so this post keeps both figures rather than picking one.
The original plan: groundbreaking in Q4 2024, operation in Q1 2026
Under the original plan, the project would break ground in Q4 2024 and start operating in Q1 2026.Tin nhanh Chứng khoán In practice, construction began in February 2025, a few months behind schedule from the very first step.Người Quan Sát
By the September 2025 capital increase, Phase 1 was described as expected to start operating in Q2 2026.Doanh nhân Pháp luật That date has also passed with the plant not yet running.
The July 2026 delay: reasons outside the construction site
On July 16, 2026, DGC's board approved a resolution amending the investment registration certificate, moving completion and start-up from Q1 2026 to Q4 2026.VietnamFinance
The reasons the company gave relate to equipment supply chains. According to DGC, China has tightened export controls on titanium-based materials (sheets, pipes, fittings) and corrosion-resistant lining materials the production line needs. Obtaining export licences for these items takes three to six months.VietnamFinance In addition, transport rules require some chemicals used in anti-corrosion construction to move by sea rather than road, which lengthens transit times.
The same revision added H3PO4, PCl3 and PCl5 to the product list alongside H3PO3, with combined capacity for the four products capped at 10,000 tonnes a year in H3PO3 equivalent.VietnamFinance Total capacity of 151,000 tonnes is unchanged.
The October 2026 revision: two separate dates
According to the disclosure on October 15, 2026, DGC issued a resolution amending the investment policy and investment registration certificate for Project No. 1. The resolution records the addition of three products: H3PO4, PCl3 and PCl5. The company says this does not change scale, capacity or the number of machines, because PCl3 and PCl5 are intermediate products already present in the process.Người Quan Sát
The more important change is the operating schedule. Equipment installation and trial runs are to finish in Q4 2026. The caustic soda and PAC units are to start operating in Q4 2026 itself,Người Quan Sát while the whole project runs from Q1 2027.Tin nhanh Chứng khoán
Compared with the July delay, this is a smaller step back, and it has two layers. The two main units keep their Q4 2026 date, and the rest of the plant slips by one more quarter. Reports from October 15 and 16 give no separate reason for splitting the dates. The most recent reason the company has published remains the Chinese supply controls and transport changes cited in July.
By mid-August 2026, the project's infrastructure and utilities were complete and machinery installation had reached 90%.Người Quan Sát The remaining equipment must be installed before the project can run trials by year-end.
How far money runs ahead of revenue
Setting disbursed capital next to the schedule makes the picture clearer. At the start of 2026, DGC had invested VND 718.58 billion in the project.Tin nhanh Chứng khoán By March 31, 2026, the figure was VND 944.5 billion, per DGC's Q1 financial statements. By June 30, 2026, it reached VND 1,213.47 billion.Tin nhanh Chứng khoán
In Q2 2026 alone, nearly VND 270 billion was added, and across the first half the capital committed rose by almost VND 500 billion. The reviewed half-year financial statements show construction in progress at the complex of VND 1,221.4 billion, up 70% from the start of the year and close to the figure disclosed for the project.Người Quan Sát
Measured against VND 2,400 billion, the amount invested by June 30 is about half the project's capital. Measured against the VND 2,900 billion approved in 2025, it is roughly 42%. Either way, most of the money sits as unfinished assets. It has produced no revenue yet, and under the new schedule the first unit will not run until Q4 2026 and the whole plant not until Q1 2027.
Set against what DGC shareholders already know
The delay comes just as DGC's existing business is weakening. In the first half of 2026, revenue was VND 4,540 billion, down 20.4% year on year. Net profit after tax was VND 862.71 billion, down 50.1%. Gross margin fell from 34.4% to 20.8%.Tin nhanh Chứng khoán
According to the company's explanation since Q1, input costs such as sulphur, electricity, coking coal and ammonia have all risen. Mine site 25 had to be suspended to assist an investigation, forcing DGC to rely entirely on imported and purchased ore.VietnamFinance
Auditor UHY issued a qualified opinion on the 2026 half-year financial statements.Tin nhanh Chứng khoán The reason is that DGC disclosed on March 17, 2026 and July 23, 2026 that several key members of its leadership had been prosecuted; the case is under investigation with no formal conclusion. The auditor could not determine whether the matter would require any adjustment to the financial statements.
To be clear: no source has linked the Nghi Son delay to the leadership case. The only reason the company has given for the schedule changes is export-controlled materials and altered transport routes. The two issues should be read as separate layers of risk.
In the market, DGC shares have fallen 51.2%, from VND 67,060 (March 12, 2026) to VND 32,750 in the October 15, 2026 session.Tin nhanh Chứng khoán
Two milestones that will show whether the new schedule holds
Under the new schedule, Project No. 1 will contribute little revenue to DGC in 2026. The earliest contribution, if any, would come from the caustic soda and PAC units in the last few weeks of the year. DGC's profit through the end of Q1 2027 therefore still rests mainly on its phosphorus and existing chemicals businesses, the very segments under cost pressure. The conclusion of this post is that the project is not a source of revenue for at least the next two quarters; that view changes only if one of the two milestones below comes out differently.
The Q3 2026 financial statements are due soon. The number to watch is construction in progress at Nghi Son as of September 30. If it keeps rising sharply as in Q2, the site is still moving at the pace needed for trial runs. If it barely moves, the remaining equipment is likely still waiting on licences.
An announcement of trial runs at the caustic soda and PAC units in Q4 2026. This is the first date the company set that has not yet slipped. If Q4 passes without these two units running, the Q1 2027 date for the whole project loses its footing. If they run on time, the story shifts from "when will it be finished" to "how much capacity is running".
Until one of these milestones is answered, the more than VND 1,200 billion at Nghi Son remains money spent, not yet money earned.