Page 58 - FoodFocusThailand No.161 August 2019

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Started from Scratch...

To Be the Special “Cambodia Beer”

The First 100% Khmer Owned Brewery

The alcoholic beverage industry in the ASEAN region is growing strongly in the past few years, especially in
the beer industry that has grown 6% from 2013-2018. However, the growth of the beer market in Asia Pacific
region has started to slow down by 1% in the same period. This trend has showed that the ASEAN economy is
tending to be more urbanized. The beer consumption which reflects the behavior of higher-income population
is also increasing dramatically. As a result, it is not surprised that we can see many faces stepping into the beer
industry in ASEAN both local and international companies. In this visit, Food Focus Thailand Magazine will bring
all readers to know Khmer Beverages (KHB), a giant company in Cambodia that turns themselves to the beer
industry. We will see how the company that is a 100% Khmer owned brewery and started everything about beer
from “zero”, has push themselves and their famous “Cambodia Beer” to be the number one beer in the country.

Khmer Beverages is a subsidiary of Chip Mong that has been choice in Cambodia. It was in early 2017 that Khmer Beverages then started
in the construction, real estate and textile industries as well as to abandon its one-brand-only strategy and launched a dark stout. This was
familiar with the food business, for instances, sugar, cooking oil and the third and biggest expansion step that again the management opted for
snacks, for a long time. Mr.Peter Leang, Board Member of Khmer German solutions . With completion of all new kits in 2017 with the non-
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Beverages has told us about how the company got into the beer alcoholic beverage line separately installed, the company can still well
business that … maintain the highest standard and quality of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic
Chip Mong has started a new business by being an importer for beverages as usual.
beer from abroad for selling in domestic market. However, the Currently, the beer products produced besides the “Cambodia Beer”
outcome has not so successful as expected due to both price and include Barrley Black Extra Stout Beer and Kudo Lager Beer. Meanwhile,
popularity factors conditions which are very varied. Imports for sale the non-alcoholic beverages include Wurkz Energy Drink, Ize Cola, Ize
are; therefore, quite a problem. Yet, with the high determination Lemon, Fruit Punch, Joop Asian juice, and Cambodia Water have also been
while it has foreseen the opportunity to engage the local beer market developed. All of which are well-received in Cambodia’s market. The total
in Cambodia, Chip Mong decided to open Khmer Beverages in production capacity rose up to 7 million hectoliters per year divided to the
2009, which is ready to build a brewery for beer production to serve beer output for 5 million hectoliters and the non-alcoholic beverage for
the domestic market right away. In 2011, the first factory was 2 million hectoliters, making Khmer Beverages as the beer market leader
completed and ready for production. At that time, there are two in Cambodia.
breweries owned by two European owners while Khmer Beverages, Khmer Beverages’ expectations are significantly higher for the
the new comer, is 100% Khmer owned. diversification of its product range to cover soft drinks as well. Entering the
Started from Zero… soft drinks market is yet another major milestone for them. The company at
that time was also targeting a market share of 45% to be reached by 2022 .
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With the passion in beer but did not have any experience in the It is not least the 29 exclusive beer distributors located all over the country
field, Mr.Peter decided to explore the beer industry at the Research who will make sure this benchmark is attained. “Having a good team is
and Teaching Institute for Brewing (VLB) in Berlin where he extremely important. We look after our customers, we want to learn from
completed his apprenticeship as a “brewmaster”. them and improve our performance on a daily basis,” is how the company
By the end of 2011 the first brewery construction phase was emphasize for distribution partners. Likewise, the company also expects
finished and operated. “We launched our Cambodia Beer brand to precisely the same from its suppliers. “You can buy good technology, but
the Cambodian market on the first day of 2011. The date was you can’t buy a good relationship with your partners .”
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deliberately chosen to stress our goal of becoming number one on Chip Mong wouldn’t be what it is today if those responsible didn’t come
the local beer market” Mr.Peter stated in the article “From Cambodia up with a steady stream of fresh ideas. The Khmer Beverages project has
for Cambodia ” hardly been successfully completed, and now something new is planned
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Khmer Beverages was then ready and began its production with after gaining some valuable experience with products based on water, a
three German turnkey lines : a canning line, a glass line, and a keg production operation for whiskey in the vicinity of its brewery which expects
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system. Incidentally, just six months after starting up Khmer to invest around 40 million USD . For as the businessman says: “People
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Beverages is already Cambodia’s number two brewery. Further aren’t going to stop drinking.”
increases in capacity are planned up to 2017 when the company is At present, Khmer Beverages is not only the number 1 beer brewer in
reckoning on an output of four million hectoliters of beer. Cambodia, but also produces a variety of non-alcoholic beverages. Although
Over 90% Sold in Cans the major market is still in the domestic, the proportion of exports and
Right from the start, Khmer Beverages relied solely on the overseas marketing have increased considerably because this brewery is
Cambodia brand, a pale lager with 5% abv. Over 90% of it is well equipped with state-of-the-art technology and its high production capacity
nowadays filled in cans. Beer in cans is well-known and a popular will be able to serve much higher demands in the future.

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