Soft drink maker Coca-Cola has three factories in the country, but around 900,000 USD has been spent since the beginning of this year to import the drink, according to the HCM City Customs Department.

No Coca-Cola products were imported into Vietnam last year.

Martin Gil, general director of Indochina Coca-Cola and chief representative of the brandname in Vietnam , said consumption of their products in the local market was growing faster than expected, so several firms chose to import some to meet demand.

The three Coca-Cola plants in the country produce a total of 608 million litres and the company is installing two more production chains in its factories in Hanoi, and upgrading facilities in HCM City and Da Nang .

"The imports will be fully stopped at the end of next year when we complete improvement of our production capacity," Gil told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

In fact, imported soft drink is much cheaper than local products. Each imported box of Coca-Cola costs around 80,000 VND (4USD) (after taxes), half the retail price in the domestic market.

Apart from Coca-Cola, the Red Bull energy drink is also imported from Thailand , despite the fact that it is also produced in Vietnam.

Source: VNA