Taiwan & Vietnam: Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corp to debut in Vietnam with three beers in October

Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corp (TTL) is to make its market debut in Vietnam by introducing three beers in October, as the company taps into the Southeast Asian market in line with the government’s New Southbound Policy, Taipei Times reported on July 28.

The overseas expansion follows its entry into the Philippine market in January. Its previous expansion in Southeast Asia was in Singapore in 2011, the company said.

“We are accelerating our pace to expand our reach in Southeast Asia,” TTL vice president Chang Lei-min told reporters on July 26 after the opening ceremony of the Taiwan Expo in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam is the biggest market for beers in Southeast Asia and the third-largest in Asia. The nation’s beer consumption reached 3.8 billion litres last year, TTL said.

As international and domestic beer companies are boosting their presence in Vietnam, TTL selected three products — Golden Medal Taiwan Beer, Taiwan Beer Sweet Touch and its pineapple flavored beer — to differentiate itself from the competition, Chang said.

“We have not seen fruit-flavored beer in [Vietnam]. This is an opportunity for us to grow in the market,” he said.

TTL will gradually increase its product portfolio in the Vietnamese market, he said.

The company aims to sell 380,000 tonnes of beer annually and secure a 1 percent share of the market in three years, he said.

TTL products will be sold at similar prices to those of Heineken or Budweiser at NT$30 to NT$35 per can, he added.

The company will choose a local distribution agent early next month and start product shipments to Vietnam in early October, he said.

TTL plans to outsource production to a local brewery next year at the earliest and is also considering setting up a local brewery in the longer term to save on taxes, he said.

As Vietnam is part of the ASEAN Free Trade Area, TTL plans to establish a subsidiary in Vietnam next year to be able to export its products tariff-free to other ASEAN members, company president Tseng Chun-kai said in May.

28 July, 2017