Beer 333 is a brand of Sabeco

Satraco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sabeco, has announced the results of the bid to seek road transport service providers for 2019.

Saigon Beer Transportation JSC, or Sabetran, which has been transporting Sabeco beer for many years, now is only in charge of carrying goods from the breweries of Song Lam, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Ngai, Quy Nhon, Dak Lak, Nguyen Chi Thanh and Cu Chi.

The transport output of Sabetran this year will decrease by 50 percent compared with last year, and hundreds of workers of Sabetran are facing job loss.

Sabetran is a large transport firm with hundreds of vehicles, including container trailers, specialized vehicles and trucks. A representative of Sabetran said the company has been fulfilling the tasks, and that Sabeco management board’s decision is a big surprise.

However, this is just one of the changes that Sabeco’s new board of management has made.

Many high-ranking executives and personnel in important divisions, from production to distribution and marketing have been replaced. The aim is to improve its operation efficiency.

However, Sabeco’s 2018 financial report that the post-tax profit the brewer made in the year decreased by 11 percent to VND4.4 trillion compared with 2017.

Restructuring the staff and cutting transport output, thus putting hundreds of workers at risk of losing jobs are only two moves taken by the new board of management.

Thanh Nien newspaper cited its sources as reporting that Sabeco is trying to create difficulties for Sagota.

On pre-Tet days, the Sai Gon Beer – Song Hau Trading JSC, a subsidiary of Sabeco, reportedly propped up VND379 million to Sagota beer sales agents in exchange for the agents to lower the selling prices of Sagota owned by the Sai Gon Beer – Binh Tay JSC.

Sabeco asked the sales agents to sell Sagota Lager beer at VND40,000 lower per case, and asked them not to sell Sagota products in order to reduce the presence of Sagota in the market.

Observers said the move by Sabeco aims to eliminate rivals and establish a monopoly in the market.

The Saigon Beer – Binh Tay JSC was once a subsidiary of Sabeco, but is now an affiliated company where Sabeco holds 22 percent of charter capital.

Sabeco’s market share decreased from 46.7 percent in 2012 to 39 percent in 2018. Vietnam consumed 4.67 billion liters of beer in 2018.

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