Soft drink market thirst

September 24, 2012 | 14:33

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Leading domestic soft drink maker Tan Hiep Phat Group has a thirst to battle foreign-invested firms in the ready-to-drink tea market.

It has just started construction of its $71 million Number One plant in northern Ha Nam province four months after it kicked off a $91 million plant covering 27 hectares in central Quang Nam province’s Chu Lai Economic Zone.

The Ha Nam plant will have an annual output of 600 million litres per year including two phases, with the first stage of production expected to be operational by the end of 2013. Tran Phuong Uyen, deputy director of Tan Hiep Phat Group, said that the group’s two plants would turn out non-alcohol beverages with natural origins that reinforce the group’s soft drink market position. The Ha Nam plant will supply mainly northern provinces, while the other will supply Danang and central-western highland provinces.

“The capacity of our existing plant in southern Binh Duong province is 1 billion litres per year, and the new ones are expected to increase Tan Hiep Phat’s capacity to 2 billion litres per year,” said Uyen.
Tan Hiep Phat continued to lead ready-to-drink tea in 2011 with 41 per cent share of off-trade value sales. The group launched its massively successful energy drink Number One, followed by Zero Degree green tea, Dr Thanh, Barley Lemon Green Tea and Laser.

Vietnam’s consumption of non-alcoholic beverages rose 3.7 per cent year-on-year in 2011, while the consumption of carbonated and non-carbonated products grew 12.2 and 18 per cent, respectively, signaling positive growth for the beverage market amid the economic slowdown.