VietNamNet Bridge – The volume of imported wine going through the ports in HCM City is soaring these days, just three weeks before Tet. The Tet wine market has been dominated by hundreds of imported wine products.

Despite the high tariffs, more and more foreign wine and brewery products have been arriving in Vietnam. These luxury products have become more and more popular in Vietnam’s market.

Imported wine to drink, and to give bosses as Tet gifts

There are a dozen wine shops located just on a short stretch of Nguyen Thong Road in district 3 in HCM City. Most of the products available at the shops are imported wines. Mai Khanh is displaying a lot of Tet gift baskets, and each of the basket features a bottle of foreign wine imported from Australia or France.

Do Thi Khanh, a saleswoman, said that dinner wine is selling very well. Popular products are priced at 450,000-500,000 dong per bottle, while luxury products, selling at 1.5-2.5 million dong per bottle, have been ordered by many companies as gifts for Tet.

Khanh Sang, the owner of a wine shop on Nguyen Thong street in District 3 in HCM city, said that products priced at 500,000-1 million dong are the best sellers this year. The more expensive products priced at two million dong or more also have customers. Â Some people have even ordered products priced at 10 million dong per bottle. (In Vietnam, the people with a monthly income of 10 million dong are considered high income earners).

Supermarkets have also reported that foreign products have been selling very well despite high prices. At Big C Hoang Van Thu Supermarket, R brand alcohol, priced at 750,000 dong per 750 ml bottle, has been selling very well. According to Duong Quynh Trang, PR Manager of Big C Supermarket Chain, said that the products with different brands C, J and R, priced at several hundreds of thousands of dong to 4-5 million dong per bottle, are the best sellers.Â

A lot of alcohol products are also displayed on the shelves of Co-op Mart which have prices between 200,000 dong and 7 million dong

A representative of T Distribution Company in HCM City, a company specializing in importing and distributing import alcohol products, said the company is importing hundreds of kinds of foreign products and distributing them to supermarkets, retail shops, restaurants and hotels. He said that Vietnamese people tend to favor foreign wine, therefore, the volume of orders has increased 10 fold compared to the previous months.

Dao Quang Vinh, a well known distributor of foreign wine in HCM City, also said that he has sold 200 bottles of luxury alcohol products priced at 3-4 million dong per bottle over the last month. “Even luxury products priced at 10-15 million dong have been ordered by some retail shops. The volume of alcohol products we import the month of Tet is double that in other months, about 6000 bottles,” he said.

Foreign beer flooding domestic market

Like other alcohols, beer products have been arriving continuously. Urbanites tend to prefer foreign products, though imports are much more expensive, at tens of thousand dong per bottle, while domestic products are priced at 7000-8000 dong per bottle only.

Retailers say the products with Leffe, Corona, Asahi, Bitburger are the most popular products on the market. German Bitburger beer first appeared in Vietnam in August 2009, and now it has been available at all supermarkets and retail shops. Leffe beer priced at 65,000 dong per bottle, Royal Dutch at 21,500 dong per 500ml can, and OEI Stinger at 30,000 dong per 330ml can, have been favored by Vietnamese drinkers because of  an unfamiliar taste.

Though Heineken brand beer is now produced in Vietnam, imported Heineken beer products are still selling well. According to Pham Dinh, a big distributor in HCM City, people would choose the imports from the Netherlands if they plan to give Tet gifts, because the imports are always more expensive and considered more luxurious.

According to the Saigon Port’s Customs Sub-agency, the volume of alcohol and brewery products will increase further towards Tet. In 2010, 1,660,000 bottles of alcohol and beer were imported through the port.

C. V