China: Carlsberg to set up join venture in western China

Danish brewer Carlsberg A/S and a Chinese partner will invest 500 million yuan ($65 million) in a venture to produce a local brand of beer, the Chinese company said according to Reuters, May 31.

Carlsberg and Lanzhou Huanghe Enterprise Co, based in western China's Gansu province, will set up a brewery in Lanzhou to make Huanghe Beer, an official at the company's board office told Reuters.

A number of global brewers have moved into China's competitive and fast-growing $11 billion beer business, including InBev and Anheuser-Busch.

The plant has yet to be built as the companies are awaiting government approval, the official added.

Carlsberg had said on Wednesday that it hoped construction of the facility would kick off soon.

"After the plant is built, it will raise our annual production capacity from 400,000 tonnes now to as much as 800,000 tonnes," said the Lanzhou Huanghe official, who declined to be named.

Lanzhou Huanghe mainly sells its Huanghe, or Yellow River, brand of beer in western Gansu and Qinghai provinces and the neighbouring region of Ningxia.

Carlsberg told Reuters in November that it would boost investments in China, where it aims to grow by about 15 percent per year, and would invest about $530 million to $880 million in total to expand in Asia in the next three years. ($1=7.6478 yuan)

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