Japanese firm lines up $100m plant

BINH DUONG (VNS)— Maruzen Foods Corporation, a leading food and beverage producer in Japan, will enter Viet Nam with a plant in Binh Duong Province’s My Phuoc 3 Industrial Zone.

The corporation, which received an investment certificate from the southern province yesterday, said it is all set to build the VND2.2 trillion (more than US$100 million) plant.

“This will be our fifth plant. The project in Viet Nam plans to produce materials for beverage companies and making non-spirit beverage products such as canned fruit juice as well as soft drinks for Vietnamese consumers,” executive director Toshiyuki Hayashi told Viet Nam News.

He said they hope to complete construction of the plant this year and have its first products come out from the beginning of 2014. All the machines and technologies used at the plant are from Japan and the most advanced ones in their fields, he added.

“Initially, we will produce material for Japanese beverage companies. After that, we will make products with our own name to serve Vietnamese people. Currently, in our plants in Japan, we are trying to make some products to find the most suitable taste for Vietnamese people,” he said.

He also said that the corporation had visited many provinces in the region but settled on Binh Duong because it had a good investment environment. Moreover, it had many fruit gardens that can supply the plant with plenty of raw material for production.

Provincial authorities welcomed the project as an important one that would help achieve this year’s target of attracting $1 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Moreover, it will help consume fruits grown in the province and generate jobs for local residents, they said.

In the first two months of this year, Binh Duong attracted FDI worth $365 million. — VNS