A Vietnamese consumed an average of 22 litres of beer in 2008, standing just behind the Thais in Southeast Asia , according to the Vietnam Association of Beer, Alcohol and Beverages.

The information was unveiled on September 15 by the Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Beer, Alcohol and Beverages, Nguyen Van Hung, who announced a festival of Vietnamese drinks 2009 to take place in Hanoi from September 25-27.

In a report on Vietnam’s food and drink in the first quarter of the year, the Business Monitor International Ltd. (BMI), a global business consultancy company, pointed out that in Vietnam beer sales will remain the primary driver for the drink industry as it accounted for almost 97.9 percent of alcoholic drinks sales in 2008.

The BMI forecast that beer sales is likely to experience the strongest growth of 48.6 percent during the 2008-2013 period due to the high levels of investment from local players and expansion-oriented multinationals.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the beer, alcohol and soft drinks industry made up 21 per cent of the total production value of the country’s food and drink sector and 4.56 per cent of the nation’s industrial production value. It has enjoyed rapid growth at an average of 20 per cent annually.

MoIT said that during 2005-2008, the sector invested 27.2 trillion VND (1.53 billion USD) in production, with 55.8 percent going into the making of beer, 36.7 percent for soft beverages and 6.06 percent for alcohol and spirits.

The country’s leading brewer Saigon Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Sabeco), which holds up to 35 percent of the national beer sales, is increasing its beer production in order to reach an output of one billion litres in 2010 from 933 million litres in 2008.

Seizing 15 percent of the market share, the Hanoi Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Habeco), plans to double its beer output in 2010 from 370 million litres in 2008.

Many of the world’s big beer and alcoholic and beverages corporations over the past years have made investments in Vietnam , including Carlsberg, Heineken, Tiger and San Miguel. US brewery giant Anheuser-Busch confirmed that it was to unveil its flagship Budweiser beer brand in the Vietnamese market./.