The Bel Group has opened a 10,000 square-metre factory in Vietnam to ramp up the production of its cheese brand, The Laughing Cow, for Southeast Asia.
The new plant enables the French food giant to produce an additional three million single-serving portions of its marquee brand each week, which represents a doubling of its output for the region. Product is to be exported to the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand, as well as serving the Vietnamese market itself.
The Bel Group began building the factory, which employs 120 people, in the summer of 2015. The Laughing Cow commands an enormous 85% market share in Vietnam for its segment.
Company chairman and CEO Antoine Fiévet, said, “The Laughing Cow is an iconic brand here, and I am delighted that we are strengthening the group’s presence in this country to supply Southeast Asian markets."
The CEO added that Bel’s international business model "helps balance our growth opportunities and risk, while serving to locate our production facilities closer to consumer markets.”
In a related story, Vietnam is forecast to be the fastest-growing convenience market in Asia by 2021.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
