AB InBev's largest brewery in Asia begins production

FUZHOU, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The world's top brewer AB InBev opened a new brewery Wednesday, with an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of beer, in Putian city in east China.

The Fujian Province plant is believed to be AB InBev's largest facility in Asia, and can produce 160,000 cans of beer an hour, the brewer said.

According to Jean Jereissati, president of AB InBev's Asia Pacific North, the new plant will meet rising demand for high-end beers, and the brewer is confident in the local market.

"The new factory is not just a production facility," Jereissati said. " It will also be a tourist destination, because we will build a beer garden and a craft brewery to produce the liquid just for people who come here to see."

The Chinese market is traditionally dominated by domestic brewers such as Snow, Tsingtao and Yanjing, which produce low-price beer, but recent years have seen rapid growth in more expensive international brands and a decline in cheap domestic brands.

China is the world's largest beer market, with annual beer consumption amounting to 25 billion litres in 2015, twice as much as in the United States, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.

AB InBev has a diverse portfolio of beer brands including international brands such as Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois, and leading Chinese brands such as Harbin and Sedrin. Enditem