A US$2.4m export-based wood processing factory will be built in central Vietnam.

Development of the facility, licensed by Quang Ngai Province and expected to be the largest of its kind in central Vietnam, will be in two phases, with the first ending in 2004 and the second between 2006-7.

The first stage, costing US$1.34m, will see the 35,000m2 factory roll out wood shavings and plywood planks.

Plant machinery will be imported from Taiwan, while the workforce will total about 400.