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Euromonitor International has predicted that Vietnam’s beer market will continue to grow by 5.6 percent in the next few years, following Laos and Cambodia in Southeast Asia.
According to the global market research company, Vietnam is currently the second biggest consumer of beer in Southeast Asia after Cambodia. In 2009, the country consumed 1.6 billion liters of beer, a surge of 56 percent over 2004.
These days, most of the world biggest beer producers are present in Vietnam, including Budweiser, Sappora, San Miguel and Fosters.
Most recently, Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) from Singapore teamed up with Vietnam’s Saigon Trading Group (SATRA) to set up a joint venture called Vietnam Breweries Ltd (VBL) in central Da Nang City.
Last weekend, the VBL commissioned a production line with the capacity to produce 50,000 bottles of ‘La Rue’ beer an hour.
As one of the first beer producers in Vietnam, right after the country opened up its doors 20 years ago, APB plans to invest US$100 million in Vietnam’s beer industry over the next 18 months.
Japan’s Sapporo also plans to link up with Tobacco Vietnam to produce beer from 2012.
