VietNamNet Bridge – Policymakers differ on whether to develop the domestic beer market because of varying figures about beer consumption in Vietnam.

An independent survey organization earlier this year released a report showing that Vietnam ranked first in beer consumption in Southeast Asia and was the third biggest beer consumer in Asia, behind China and Japan.

The organization said 3 billion liters of beer were consumed in Vietnam in 2013, worth $3 billion.

However, the Vietnam Beer, Alcohol and Drinks Association (VBA) disputes this finding.

It says that very Vietnamese consumes an average of 5-7.4 liters of alcoholic drinks a year, a fairly average level compared with the 10-12.4 liter levels in other regions. In Europe and North America, the figure is over 12.5 liters per annum, according to the 2014 WHO (World Health Organization) report.

Under these figures, Vietnam would rank behind South Korea, Laos, Japan, Thailand and just above Cambodia.

VBA also quoted an international report as saying that Vietnam was not a big beer producer. It ranked 52nd in the world in 2013 in beer output per capita, with 34.3 liters per capita, a very low level if compared with Dominica, which tops the list of the biggest manufacturers with 5,049.6 liters. China, which ranks the 49 in the list, produced 37.3 liters per head.

An analyst pointed out that the statistics in the two reports do not count consumption of imported beer products, and therefore, do not truly reflect the real consumption in Vietnam.

In reply, VBA said that imports hold only a modest market share in Vietnam, because most of the big foreign beer manufacturers have set up breweries in Vietnam that produce beer.

The Ministry of Health believes that Vietnamese consume too much beer and alcoholic drinks, and have proposed a higher luxury tax on the products. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and Ministry of Finance (MOF) do not agree.

Pham Dinh Thi from MOF cited a report from the General Statistics Office (GSO) as saying that beer consumption in Vietnam in 2013 was 32 liters per head, which is modest compared to per capita of 159 liters for Czech, and 110 liters for Germans. Asians also consume a lot of beer: Japanese 44 liters a year, Chinese 40 liters, South Korea 38 liters and Thailand 34 liters.

The figures are nearly the same as figures in the report released recently by the MOIT’s Institute for Industrial Policy and Strategy, which says per capita consumption is 30 liters of beer every year.

Nguyen Van Viet, chair of VBA, said the average beer consumption per capita in Vietnam is at a low level compared with other countries.

Kim Chi