May 22, 2006

Gannon to set up US$10 million dairy factory in Vietnam

US food production company Gannon Group has announced plans to set up a US$10 million dairy factory in Vietnam.

The factory would be producing milk bearing the Milky US trademark and would be sited on a 50-hectare plot in Tan Duc Industrial Park in southern Long An province. Annual production is estimated at 30 million litres with inputs mainly from New Zealand.

Some of the dairy products include Milky US yoghurt with fruit flavours, nutritious powder and fruit juice. Milky US has a network of 30 major distributors in the region south of Da Nang city.

Gannon said that Vietnam is expected to be the group's second fastest growing market, after China.

In 2004, 80 percent of the milk in Vietnam is imported. Vietnamese imports of dairy products reached US$122 million in 2003, mainly from New Zealand.