Beer Import Tax Falls Sharply, International Brewers Rush To Vietnam Market

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HeineKen has "hidden trouble"

Although the dominant market in Vietnam is still domestic beer,

Data from Vietnam's alcohol, beer and Beverage Association (VietnamAlcohol, BeerandBeverageAssociation) show that HeineKen occupies 70% of Vietnam's high-end beer market. Recently, the group exported 650 thousand cases of beer from Vietnam to Vietnam, which caused controversy in Holland's beer industry.

Although a document signed by LeDanhVinh, acting Minister of Vietnam's Ministry of industry and trade, said that the beer would be used mainly for marketing and market research, traders and market observers said that HeineKen's 20 cans of 330ml beer per box had already been produced in Vietnam.

Hu Zhiming, an Import Beer dealer in TranHuy, said that in fact, HeineKen's 330ml cans of beer had been produced in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese market only needed to import 500ml cans and two bottles of HeineKen beer in 250ml bottles.

The figures of Xigong port show that the value of HeineKen beer imported by Vietnam beer company (VietnamBreweryLtdCo) is 195 billion Vietnamese Dong (US $10 million 200 thousand), with a value of 300 thousand Dong Dong.

A domestic brewery producer said it is obviously illogical to import such a huge quantity of HeineKen as marketing and market research, because HeineKen has been firmly established in the Vietnamese market in the past 10 years.

Because HeineKen has dominated the high-end beer market in Vietnam, he believes that the beer must be used for commercial purposes, because consumers are still more interested in imported products even for popular brands.

At present, although the capacity of some domestic breweries in Vietnam has not been fully utilized, the supply of domestic beer has far exceeded the market demand.

According to the association's data, Vietnam's per capita beer consumption is about 28 liters per year.

At present, there are about 350 breweries in Vietnam, and almost every province has breweries.

But only more than 20 plants have annual production capacity of more than 20000 klitres, 15 plants have annual production capacity of 15000 KL, and more than 260 plants can produce articles from China.

International brewers salivate

Insiders say that the import tax on beer has dropped sharply, making many foreign beer companies watch the Vietnamese market.

At present, beer imports are not subject to import quotas as other products.

In addition to HeineKen beer, other imported beers are also entering the Vietnamese market.

Hu Zhiming, a CatLaiPort official in Tailai, said that Vietnam now has 3 categories of taxes on imported beer: import tax 47%, special consumption tax 45% and value added tax 10%.

The special consumption tax is the largest tax category, with a tax rate of 75% in 2009 and 30% in 2012.

At a food and Beverage Fair held in Hu Zhiming recently, many foreign beer producers came to the exhibition to look for Vietnamese distributors to enter the market.

For example, Australia's Lucky beer is actively seeking cooperation with distributors in Hanoi and Da Nang to enter supermarkets, hotels and hotels in both places.

The Belgian Leffe beer, which aims at the high-end market in Vietnam, has been sold in supermarkets and retail outlets in the Hu Zhiming market. The price of 330ml beer is 66500 Vietnamese Dong (35 thousand US dollars). The same size of HeineKen beer is 12500 Dong Dong.

There is also an imported beer brand Hoegaarden330ml, which is priced at 66000 Dong Dong.

Imported brands such as Corona and Budweiser are very popular in many pubs and hotels.

Data show that up to this year, 33842 bottles (40140 bottles) of beer imported from Tailai port were worth 282661 US dollars, an increase of 55.2% over the same period last year.

Imported beer mainly comes from Mexico, Belgium and Germany.