State-owned Ha Noi Beer and Beverage Corp (Habeco), the largest brewery group in northern Vietnam with a market share of 80%, last weekend reportedly opened a new brewery in the northern port city of Hai Phong. The new $23 million plant is said to have a production capacity of 50,000,000l of beer per year.

In January 2011 Ha Noi-Vung Tau Brewery Co, a joint venture between Habeco and Carlsberg AS opened a brewery in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The $42 million plant in Ba Ria-Vung Taucan produces 50 million litres of Ha Noi and Carlsberg beers annually, and was said to double its capacity later.

Vietnam is one of the largest beer markets in the Asia-Pacific region and is said to have one of the highest growth potentials in the region. According to figures from the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade, 2.38 billion litres of beer was consumed in the country in 2010, 19.8% up from 2009. It is expected to reach 2.8 billion litres this year. Vietnam posted total beer output of 349 million liters in the first four months of this year, up 8.1% compared to the same period in previous year. Of the total output, State-owned breweries accounted for 59.3%, foreign-invested breweries for 29.3% and local private breweries for the remaining 11.4%.

According to Vietnams Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa, the Vietnamese beer market is set to “become more and more competitive as more companies enter the fray”.