Ho Chi Minh City-based Sabeco, controlled by Thai Beverage, is pressing ahead with a USD 32.4 million (VND 855 billion) expansion of its Cu Chi Brewery despite repeated setbacks in gaining regulatory approval, according to The Investor. The project will increase the site’s annual output capacity from 2.64m hl to 3.5m hl and also includes the construction of rental workshops for production, meaning factory spaces that can be leased to suppliers or related businesses operating on-site.
The 50-hectare facility, designed in 2002 and completed in 2007, currently produces 1.18m hl of bottled beer and 1.46m hl of canned beer per year. With the upgrade, canned output will be raised to 2.5m hl, while bottled beer will be reduced to 1.0m hl. Actual production has lagged behind design capacity in recent years, with 1.79m hl brewed in 2023 and 1.67m hl in 2024. For 2025, Sabeco expects to reach 2.11m hl.
Regulatory approval for the expansion has been elusive. The brewer first filed an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in 2020, but it was returned for revisions. Pandemic disruptions led to delays, and subsequent resubmissions in 2023 and June 2025 were also rejected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, which requested further amendments. The company now expects approvals in the fourth quarter of 2025, with construction running through early 2027.
The expansion comes as Sabeco faces financial headwinds. In the first half of 2025, the company reported revenues of VND 12.62 trillion (USD 482.7 million), down 17% year-on-year, and net profit of VND 2.05 trillion (USD 78.4 million), a 12.5% decline. Shares on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE: SAB) closed at VND 46,600 (USD 1.77) on August 21, down 0.32%.
The push at Cu Chi aligns with Sabeco’s broader ambition to strengthen its technological base and raise Vietnam’s beer industry to global standards. In November 2024, the company inaugurated the SABECO Research and Development Centre (SRC) at its historic Nguyen Chi Thanh Brewery, birthplace of the Bia Saigon brand. The fully automated miniature brewery enables experimentation with new recipes and processes before scaling them to its 26 nationwide plants, a move hailed by CEO Lester Tan as key to innovation and competitiveness.
Sabeco also made a bold strategic expansion in 2024: it launched and later finalized a takeover of Sabibeco. The October 2024 takeover bid—valued at roughly VND 832 billion (USD ~32.9 million) —raised its stake to nearly 60%, making Sabibeco its subsidiary and adding six breweries with combined capacity of 6.1 million hl. This pushed Sabeco’s total production capacity to 30.1 million hl, reinforcing its status as Vietnam’s largest brewer (inside.beer, 29.12.2024).
With nearly 150 years of brewing history, Sabeco’s brand portfolio includes Bia Saigon, 333, Saigon Chill, and other nationally cherished labels. Supported by a distribution network of more than 200,000 retailers, the brewer continues to balance heritage with modernization, aiming to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s leading beer producers.
