Suntory Beverage & Food will invest almost ¥100 billion ($87.7 million) over the next five years, adding new soft drink production lines in Vietnam as it seeks to increase its overall capacity in the country to 200 million cases a year.
The company will install up to four new lines in its existing facilities across Vietnam – and will, in particular, use the investment as a means of expanding its presence in the northern and central parts of the country.
It would add to Suntory’s performance in the south of the country, where it already has a strong sales set-up.
Vietnam is an important market for the Japanese drinks maker; in 2015, it recorded net sales in Asia of ¥181 billion ($1.58 billion), of which the Vietnamese market accounted for roughly 40%. The continent is Suntory’s third most lucrative region, too, trailing only to Europe and Japan.
According to Euromonitor, volume sales were 4.6 billion litres in 2015 and the market grew at a rate of nearly 20%, in stark contrast to Japan. Suntory’s home market – and still its largest in terms of sales – recorded only nominal growth.
In its annual report, Suntory said that its operation in Vietnam was ‘continuously growing’, and hinted then that it would ‘engage in initiatives to strengthen our business foundation, including [investing in] production structures, as we aim to further accelerate growth’.
The latest injection in its Vietnamese production lines are the latest step in that process.
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