Following on from the formation last year of Orion Food Vina in Vietnam, the South Korean Orion Corporation has opened a confectionery plant in the Binh Duong province of the South Vietnam.   

 

 The plant, which cost $40 million, will make the company’s famous Chocopie and Custas cakes in addition to potato chips and snacks.   

 

 Fast growth of the Vietnamese confectionery market has already attracted big players in the global market such as Cadbury Schweppes. The company has signed a distribution deal with Kinh Doh, a domestic producer. Kinh Doh is building a plant in Binh Duong too and is a rival to Orion.   

 

 The Kinh Doh plant is a $24 million development and will produce crackers, cup cakes and layer cakes. It is expected to have an annual turnover of approximately $29 million by 2010. Export business will represent 50 per cent of the plant’s output. The plant will be operational by 2008.   

 

 Orion, however, has a 60 per cent share of Vietnam’s cake market with sales in the region of $7 million. The company’s new plant at Binh Duong is its sixth facility outside of South Korea and will be the main production base for Orion in the region.