Wilmar International has teamed up with leading local retailer Saigon Co-op to form a joint venture for a multimillion-dollar sauce making plant in Vietnam, the Singaporean agribusiness group announced Tuesday.

Wilmar International holds a 51 percent stake, worth around US$13 million, in the joint venture that will establish the Nam Duong International Foodstuff Corporation to overtake a project to build the $25.6 million sauce factory in Ho Chi Minh City.

The new facility, to be located in the outlying district of Nha Be, will take over the current operations of an existing Saigon Co-op factory to manufacture sauces and condiments sold under the Nam Duong brand, according to Wilmar.

The plant’s products will serve both domestic and export markets.

Established in 1951, Nam Duong is amongst the leading brands for sauces and condiments in Vietnam, which include soy sauce, chilli sauce and tomato sauce.

These products are also currently being sold in export markets such as the U.S., Canada and Europe and are favored by overseas and Vietnamese consumers.

Nam Duong International Foodstuff Corporation will leverage Saigon Co-op’s strength in distribution and Wilmar’s experience in manufacturing operations as well as its research and development in food technology and also tap the agribusiness group’s global network for export sales, according to the Singaporean firm.

“The combination of Saigon Co-op and Wilmar Group’s strengths in the Nam Duong International Foodstuff Corporation joint venture will be a milestone in the Vietnamese consumer market,” Saigon Co-op general director  Nguyen Thanh Nhan said.

Saigon Co-op boasts the most extensive modern retailing network in Vietnam and has intimate knowledge of Vietnamese consumers’ taste and preferences, whereas Wilmar is experienced in the manufacture and distribution of food products globally, Nhan elaborated.

The cooperation is also expected to “increase the reach of the Nam Duong brand and grow their sauces and condiments business significantly,” according to Ray Chew, country head of Wilmar’s business operations in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Saigon Co-op is well known for its wide and varied distribution channels, including the Co.op Mart supermarket chain, Co.op Food convenience stores, Co.opXtra hypermarkets, Ben Thanh Store, the Co.op Store chain, and the SC VivoCity complex.

In 2015, Saigon Co-op was conferred Vietnam’s Leading Retailer Award and was listed among the “Top 200 leading retailers in the Asia Pacific” by Retail Asia Publishing and market research group Euromonitor.

Wilmar International, founded in 1991 and currently Asia’s leading agribusiness group, is ranked among the largest listed companies by market capitalization on the Singapore Exchange.

Its business activities include palm oil cultivation, oilseed crushing, edible oils refinement, sugar milling and refining, specialty fats, oleochemical, biodiesel and fertilizer manufacturing, and grain processing.

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