The beverage industry continued to grow over the first seven months ofthis year despite the difficult economic time that has resulted in manyother kinds of companies struggling or going bust.

According to the Chairman of the Vietnam Beer, Alcohol and BeverageAssociation, Nguyen Van Viet, the beverage industry has seen ayear-on-year growth of 9.1 percent, much higher that the 5.8 percentgrowth recorded in the rest of the processing and manufacturing sectorduring the period.

It has produced over 1.6 billionlitres of beer, an increase of 8.9 percent compared to last year. Themajority of the market share is still controlled by the Sai Gon, Alcoholand Beverage Corporation (Sabeco), the Hanoi Beer, Alcohol and BeverageCorporation (Habeco) and the multinational breweries Heineken andCarlsberg.

Sabeco and Habeco produced 778.8 millionand 373.2 million litres of beer respectively, up 8.2 percent and 10.4percent, while the other companies made up the other 478.6 millionlitres, up 8.8 percent.

In the reviewed period, non-alcoholic beverages also witnessed an impressive growth.

Vietnam ’s annual per capita consumption of soft drinks has alsorisen sharply in recent year, from three litres in 2007 to 23 litres atpresent.-VNA