According to the Euromonitor data, the high company’s share in the beer market does not guarantee a large profit. Thus, Sobeco controls 46% of the Vietnamese beer market, its revenue in 2014 amounted to 30.000 billion dongs and net profit to 4,000 billion dongs. At the same time, VBL controls 18.2% of the market, but its profit is estimated at 6.200 billion dong.
The foreign breweries are focused on such segments of the market that allow getting more profit. For example, the brands Budweiser and Beck’s of a world leader AB InBev are positioned in the premium segment. The company is building a brewery with a capacity of 50 million liters per year in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, a new player in the Vietnamese beer market, the Japanese company Sapporo is changing the focus to the more affordable segment of beer with the aim to increase its share. Mr. Mikio Masawaki, a new CEO of Sapporo in Vietnam, said: “The obstacles in the strategic branding were removed when we became a company with 100% foreign capital”.
The news about the sale of the state share of the Sabeco Company in the amount of $2 billion has forced the world’s leading breweries to involve in the struggle. If VBL and Sapporo have spent a lot of time to build their own system of production and distribution of beer in Vietnam, today there is a great opportunity to buy a 53% of the company’s share to cover nearly half of the market. SABMiller, Kirin Brewery, Asahi Breweries and Asia Pacific Breweries are the main candidates to buy this part of the share.