Japan’s food giant Meiji to establish subsidiary in Hanoi
Japanese food giant Meiji Co. will set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Hanoi on April 1 to ramp up sales in Vietnam of powdered infant formula milk imported from Japan.
Meiji Food Vietnam has a total capital of about JPY200 million (US$1.8 million).
According to Meiji, Vietnam has about 1.5 million births a year, 70% more than in Japan, and the number is projected to keep growing.
However, the Japanese dairy and confectionery company will continue to ship formula from Japan for sale in Vietnam, with no plans to construct a local factory.
Southeast Asia is a potential market for Meiji. The food segment of parent Meiji Holdings posted sales of JPY6.4 billion in the region in the 2019 fiscal year ended March 2020, up 12% from the previous year.
In Vietnam, Meiji's nutritionists have provided dietary advice to workers at Japanese-owned factories since 2018. The company also sells fortified milk for adults there. It aims to provide nutrition education to 650,000 people in Vietnam by 2030.