Interflour unveils new malt production plant in Ba Ria-Vung Tau

Interflour Group aims to replace malt imports in Vietnam, while at the same time striking a bridgehead to Southeast Asia and Asia

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The construction of the Intermalt factory has been finished at the end of 2016 and has now officially commenced production. The facility sits alongside the Interflour Cai Mep Port in southern Vietnam, providing unrivalled access to barley shipments. Intermalt is also one of the biggest projects at Cai Mep Industrial Zone.

Under the plan, the plant boasts a capacity of 110,000 tonnes per year with investment capital of $70 million at the early stage of the operation. In the second phase, the firm will inject another $50 million to boost the capacity to 220,000 tonnes per year.

James Kirton, general director of Intermalt Vietnam, said that the firm chose Vietnam to establish its first malt factory in Southeast Asia to tap into the country’s potential food and beverage market. "We see the increasing demand for malt in the confectionery, biscuit, energy drink, and milk sectors. On top of that, we bank on Vietnam’s booming beer market to fill in a gap in malt supply," he said.

Another malt production project was established in the north, but it only meets 10 per cent of the domestic demand. Therefore, Vietnam has to import 400,000 to 450,000 tonnes of malt per year, mostly from European countries and Australia.

The presence of Intermalt aims to meet the urgent demand of brewers in the country, such as Heineken, Carlsberg, Sapporo, SAB Miller, Habeco, and Sabeco. Intermalt also plans to export malt to other countries in Southeast Asia as well as Asia.

Intermalt is one of the big investment projects of Interflour Group in Vietnam. Its first project was Interflour Vietnam with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes of flour per annum and a modern agricultural port located at Cai Mep Industrial Zone. The recent project is the second flour mill in Danang.

With the Intermalt project, Interflour Group has increased its total investment capital to $170 million in Vietnam. As one of the biggest flour mill corporation in Asia with the capacity of around two million tonnes per year, Interflour Group currently owns many food factories across Asia, from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, to Vietnam.