Heineken Far East: A closer look
In 1979, Heineken Far East Pte. Ltd. was incorporated as the Export Office for the Heineken Group
in the Asia-Pacific region. At that time Malayan Breweries Limited, which is known as Asia Pacific
Breweries today, was the only brewer of Heineken beer in Asia, and Heineken® was a little-known
brand compared to Becks and Carlsberg.
World of Heineken 39 winter 2008/2009
At that time, export markets such as
Hong Kong, the Indian subcontinent,
Brunei, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and
the US Military in Japan and Korea were
the most significant takers in a market
of approximately 60,000 hectolitres per
annum.
Several opportunities for expansion
were recognised as Vietnam needed
barter trade and South Korea and
China were opening up to foreign beer
imports.
The company's area of responsibility
included all Asia-Pacific countries
without local Heineken production,
excluding the export offices in South
Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Over the years, several markets have
locally produced Heineken® including
Malaysia in 1985, Vietnam in 1992,
Thailand in 1995, New Zealand in 1996,
Australia in 2004, China in 2004 and
Indonesia in 2005.
Today, Heineken Far East serves India,
Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
the Maldives and Bhutan on the Indian
subcontinent, as well as the Philippines,
North Korea, Mongolia, Afghanistan,
Cambodia, East-Timor and Laos in
the rest of Asia. It is responsible for
the duty-free segment in Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei,
and covers Guam, Fiji, Tonga, the Cooks
Islands, Samoa, Kiribati, the Solomons,
Vanuatu, Wallis and Micronesia in the
Pacific.
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