Sapporo Vietnam Co. Ltd. inaugurated and put into operation a beer factory at the Viet Hoa - Duc Hoa 3 Industrial Park in the Mekong Delta province of Long An on Nov. 24.

Sapporo Vietnam Co. Ltd. is a join venture between the Vietnam National Tobacco Corporation (Vinataba) and Sapporo Holdings Ltd. of Japan .

Covering an area of 6.5 ha, the factory was built at a total investment of 75 million USD. It is capable of producing 40 million litres per year in the first phase and its output is expected to increase to 100 million litres and 150 million litres per year in the next two phases.

This is the third beer factory of Sapporo Holdings, after the two others in Japan and the US .

Tsutomu Kamijo, General Director of Sapporo Holdings, said Vietnam is the third largest beer market in Asia, therefore beer producers are eyeing the country./.