China: Tsingtao to build 3 new plants by 2008

The leading Chinese beer maker, Tsingtao Brewery, partly-owned by Anheuser-Busch, is expecting an extra production capacity of 1 million tons by early 2008 thanks to 3 new plants in Shandong, Sichuan and Shaanxi, Chinese press reports posted on August 20th.

The brewery expects its sales to grow by 20% per year from 2008-2013 on building new plants and add more production lines.

Tsingtao Brewery has 50 plants in 20 provinces across China. The firm produced 4.5 million tons of beer in 2006 and hopes to increase sales of its trademark Tsingtao brand by 17% this year.

Tsingtao Brewery is responsible for more than half of China's beer exports and will be sponsoring the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

22 August, 2007