The global healthcare group Sanofi is planning to build its third pharmaceutical plant in Vietnam, which is the group’s second most important market in Asia.

The President of Sanofi’s Global Operations, Hanspeter Spek, stated this during his recent visit to Vietnam.

Sanofi’s third plant is likely to be built in Ho Chi Minh City . Work will begin this year and the plant is expected to become operational by 2015.

Sanofi’s first two plants, also in Ho Chi Minh City , are now running at maximum capacity, but they have not been able to keep up with the demand for their products.

Currently, 80 percent of Sanofi’s products manufactured in Vietnam are sold in the domestic market, the rest are exported to other Asian countries.

Sanofi is one of the world’s leading healthcare groups. In 2011, the group posted a revenue is 34 billion EUR.-VNA