Vietnam's beer firms rush to build factories

Despite ever-growing special consumption taxes on alcoholic beverages and the economic slump, across the country, the number of beer factories keeps on growing.

The investment boom in the beverages industry comes from the increasing enjoyment the Vietnamese find in drinking. Last year, the country consumed 3 billion liters of beer, or 32 liters per person.

Sai Gon Beverages Company (Sabeco), who currently leads the country in beverage production, have been steadily expanding for the past 3 years.

According to initial estimates, of the 24 projects they have invested in, 20 of them have been put into use, giving a production capacity of 1.8 billion liters of beer annually. In 2014 and 2015, the company plans to invest in three additional projects.

The construction of beer factories shows no signs of slowing down and some provinces, including Phu Tho, Nghe An, Binh Duong, are home to many different brands of beer factories.

Beer manufacturing projects invested by foreign firms have entered the local market with giant sums of investment. Recently, the Danish beer firm Carlsberg, joined forces with local enterprises to build factories.
After a period of importing products for domestic consumption, the US-branded Budweiser has begun building a factory in Viet Nam.

Sapporo also plans to expand the factory up to a capacity of 100 million liters a year. Hirofumi Kishi said that his company's factories will also be built in other localities.

According to Viet Nam Beverages Association, beer consumption rates are expected to increase an additional five percent this year regardless of economic slump.