Coca-Cola Vietnam, one of the two leading carbonated beverage producers, has launched Georgia Coffee Max coffee. Positioned as a mid-tier product with the price equal to sidewalk coffee, Georgia Coffee Max is expected to help change Vietnamese consumers’ habit and familiarize them with a convenient way of drinking.

At a supermarket on Quan Hoa street in Cau Giay district in Hanoi, canned coffee products are displayed together with carbonated beverage and energy drink products.

The coffee products bearing the brands of Birdy, Nescafe, Highland Coffee and My Café were seen among tens of other beverage brands.

A saleswoman said this kind of coffee sells slowly compared to other beverage products.

The canned coffee market started 10 years ago when Ajinomoto, a Japanese brand, brought Birdy coffee to Vietnam.

One year later, or in 2009, Nestle also joined the market when setting up a canned coffee mill in Dong Nai province.

At the same time, Vinamilk showed the plan to build an instant coffee mill. The market received two new names – Tan Hiep Phat’s bottled milk coffee and Highland Coffee’s canned food.

Nevertheless, despite the popularity of the brands and ad campaigns, the sector quickly fell into oblivion.

In 2013, Trung Nguyen, the enterprise of Dang Nguyen Vu, called the ‘Coffee King’, launched bottled and carton fresh coffee into the market. However, the product line disappeared from the market just two years later.

Only a few brands still exist in the market, namely Pepsi Co, Highlands Coffee, Nestle, Ajinomoto and Coca-Cola. However, though there are few competitors, and the market remains unattractive to investors. 

An analyst said that Vietnamese say it has the sweetness of sugar but lacks coffee flavor. Coffee with additives is more familiar to Vietnamese.

The customers that the products target, or traditional coffee drinkers, like coffee with strong flavor.

A representative of Coca-Cola said at the product launching ceremony that the canned coffee market is still large enough for new players.

Vietnam is the second biggest coffee exporter in the world. It exports nearly 2 million tons of high quality coffee beans each year and imports 60,000 tons of processed coffee from Brazil, the US and China. Ninety percent of its exports are raw materials.

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