Yoghurt will re-map dairy market  The Vietnamese yoghurt market in 2012 was worth VND5.7 trillion, while the figure is expected to soar to VND12.4 trillion in 2013. This is the most attractive market segment of the dairy industry. Vinamilk, the big guy A report of Vinamilk, the biggest dairy producer in Vietnam, in 2012, it earned $180 million from exports. Especially, yoghurt products reportedly had the highest growth rate of 99 percent over 2011. Vinamilk is believed to lead the yoghurt market, holding 90 percent of the market share. The figure remains doubtful in the eyes of many people, who believe that Vinamilk has a lot of powerful rivals such as the Dutch Friesland Campina (Yomost), Kinh Do (Well-Yo), IDP (Love in Farm), Yogus (Dalatmilk). About 10 other foreign brands have also been available on the market, including Ferman Milch Geister and Kids Mix. Nguyen Trong Tan, Director of Landtabrand, a branding consultancy firm, believes that the 90 percent of market share of Vinamilk truly reflects the current situation in the market: the sales of Vinamilk’s products are always the biggest at supermarkets. A report of Vinamilk shows that by the end of 2012, the dairy producer had had 200,000 retail points nationwide and 250 exclusive distributors. Kinh Do Group, in order to boost sales, also made heavy investments to develop the distribution networks. However, it had had only 30,000 retail points and 83 distributors by the same time. Especially, Doanh Nhan Saigon newspaper has quoted its sources as saying that Vinamilk has got the right to provide yoghurt products to a lot of schools in HCM City. Will the yoghurt market be restructured? Tan, while affirming that Vinamilk now holds 90 percent of the yoghurt market, said this does not mean that there is no room for other dairy producers in the market. He said that the sales of dairy products have slowed down in the economic difficulties, but yoghurt products still could see the impressive growth rate of 25 percent in 2012. This has been explained by the fact that this remains a new market segment, while dairy producers still have many opportunities to develop new kinds of products. Yoghurt is believed to be the most profitable production sector for dairy producers. Therefore, it is understandable why Vinamilk’s rivals all attempt to use their yoghurt products to re-divide the market shares. Vinamilk states that its products don’t contain preservatives and the products are made under the natural fermentation. However, these are also the things TH Milk and IDP cite when talking about their outstanding features of their products. What will be the competitive edges of the products, then? Tan noted that Ba Vi and Moc Chau brand products target certain customers, therefore, their market coverage would be limited. Ba Vi, for example, mostly serves the northern market. Kido has bought stakes of Nutifood and Tribeco in a plan to jump into the yoghurt market. It can also take full advantage of the 100,000 existing retail points of the Kinh Do Group. However, analysts have noted that Kido has been focusing on the high grade yoghurt market segment and the market for children. Meanwhile, yoghurt only brings 4 percent of the total turnover of Kinh Do, which is equal to the turnover from snacks and just a little higher than candies. As such, it’s very likely that VInamilk would be standing firmly at the Number 1 position in the immediate time. DNSG