around 900,000 USD has been spent since the beginning of this year to
import the drink, according to the HCM City Customs Department.
No Coca-Cola products were imported into Vietnam last year.
Martin Gil, general director of Indochina Coca-Cola and chief
representative of the brandname in Vietnam , said consumption of
their products in the local market was growing faster than expected, so
several firms chose to import some to meet demand.
The
three Coca-Cola plants in the country produce a total of 608 million
litres and the company is installing two more production chains in its
factories in Hanoi , and upgrading facilities in HCM City and Da
Nang .
"The imports will be fully stopped at the end of
next year when we complete improvement of our production capacity," Gil
told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
In fact, imported
soft drink is much cheaper than local products. Each imported box of
Coca-Cola costs around 80,000 VND (4USD) (after taxes), half the retail
price in the domestic market.
Apart from Coca-Cola, the
Red Bull energy drink is also imported from Thailand , despite the fact
that it is also produced in Vietnam./.
