Drink manufacturers hurry to scale up investments VietNamNet Bridge – New investors have been flocking to Vietnam, while existing investors have been expanding their business in the country after realizing the great potentials of the market. Foreign investors show big interest in Vietnamese market Vedan Vietnam, known as a seasoning powder manufacturer, has gradually set a foot on the drink market after marketing Thien Tra brand drink. The move by Vedan Vietnam to jump into the drink market has been cited by experts to prove that the drink market remains very attractive in the context of the economic downturn. Meanwhile, Taiwanese Uni President Vietnam has purchased all the stakes of Vietnamese Tribeco Binh Duong to take over the company. Japanese Kirin, the bottled fruit juice producer, after a successful operation period in Binh Duong province, has lately decided to increase its chartered capital by 15.8 million dollars which would serve the plan to scale up the production. The drink market has been seething recently also because of the moves by the two giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. In a working visit to Vietnam some days ago, Muhtar Kent, President and CEO of Coca-Cola stated that it would pour another 300 million dollars to Vietnam in the next three years to serve its plan to push up investment to commence from 2013. The senior executive of Coca-Cola believes that Vietnam remains a very lucrative market, where the consumption level is just 20 percent of the average level in the world. The announcement about the new investment deal by Coca-Cola was made just some days after PepsiCo, its biggest rival, announced the establishment of a strategic alliance with Japanese Suntory Group in Vietnam. With the move, Suntory would hold 51 percent of PepsiCo’s stakes in Vietnam and PepsiCo holds the other 49 percent of stakes. This means that PepsiCo would still be in charge in marketing activities and improving the drink brands in the market with 80 million consumers Nguyen Van Viet, Chair of the Vietnam Alcohol, Brewery and Soft Drink Association, the non-alcoholic market has witnessed the steady growth rate of 20 percent over the last five years, the highest growth rate in the world. Viet also affirmed that the Vietnamese market has great potentials with every consumer drinking 20 liter of non-alcoholic bottled products a year, just a half of the average level in the world. Domestic investors gear up for struggle Tan Hiep Phat has decided to set up two new factories to make 40 different drink products of the group in the central region – Number One Chu Lai (600 million liters a year) and in the north – Number One Ha Nam (950 million liters). A senior executive of Tan Hiep Phat said the two new factories would help the group cover the central and northern markets. At present, it has to carry products from the factory in Binh Duong to the markets for sale. Vinasoy, known as a soya milk brand, owned by the Quang Ngai Sugar Company in August kicked off the construction of its factory in Bac Ninh province in the north, which, once operational, would have the capacity of one billion cartons of products a year. The investor said that it now strives to reach out to the northern market. Experts believe that the non-alcoholic drink market would continue growing. However, it would be not easy to set foot on the market, where many giants have been present. The giants are ready to pay big money to advertise their products and develop their distribution networks. Therefore, the ones with weak financial capability would not find their room in the lucrative market. TBKTSG