E-Malt.com News article: The Czech Republic & Vietnam: Czech beer becomes increasingly popular with consumers in Vietnam

Czech beer is becoming increasingly popular in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese show a growing demand for restaurants brewing beer under the supervision of Czech brewers, the daily Lidové noviny (LN) wrote on November 27.

Czech brewers have already built around 20 mini breweries in Vietnam, with an annual capacity of several thousand hectolitres each, LN notes.

“Unlike other Asian countries which prefer sweet beer, the Vietnamese drink the Czech type of beer a lot. … This is partly because a number of Vietnamese got used to the European style during their studies or work (in the Czech Republic) and want to have the same after they return home. The number of offers from Vietnam is increasing,” Jan Šuráň, the head of the Czech association of mini breweries, told the daily.

Josef Krýsl, a brewer from Plzeň, western Bohemia, built one brewery in Vietnam several years ago. Now he has received an offer to take part in a project entailing the construction of up to 30 mini breweries, according to LN.

The company LUKR of Krýsl’s brother Luboš and the company Pivo Praha were the first ones to launch the construction of restaurant mini breweries in Vietnam in 2001. They built and put into operation mini breweries in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and near Phan Thiet for the Vietnamese company Hoavien, LN writes.

Interest in Czech beer, particularly lager of the Pilsen type, is growing in Vietnam despite the relatively high prices for Vietnamese customers. A bottle of a premium brand such as Prazdroj or Heineken costs an equivalent of up to Kč 100, LN adds.

According to Marcel Winter, the chairman of the Czech-Vietnamese Society, interest in investments in beer, the most popular drink in Vietnam, will last long. “There is a huge number of brands on the Vietnamese market and large groups as well as private investors are making investments there, mainly those who have experience with our beer,” Winter is quoted as saying.

The largest industrial breweries in Vietnam are fully or partially controlled by the state, but large supranational groups are becoming established in Vietnam as well. The SABMiller group (including Czech brewery Plzeňský Prazdroj), for instance, brews beer in Vietnam in cooperation with Vietnamese company Vinamilk, LN notes.


27 November, 2015