Carlsberg proposes a $65 million investment in its biggest Asian brewery in Vietnam

Carlsberg plans to invest about $65 million in its Phu Bai Brewery in Hue, Vietnam, between 2026 and 2031, marking a new proposed round of spending at what the brewer says is its largest beer production site in Asia just over a year after a major expansion there.

The Danish company disclosed the plan on Oct. 21 in a corporate statement issued during Vietnam’s state visit to Denmark. Carlsberg said Chief Executive Officer Jacob Aarup-Andersen presented letters of intent to the chairmen of the People’s Committees of Hue and Da Nang, outlining the group’s investment and development intentions for the two cities over the 2026-2031 period.

The Hue project would focus on further modernizing manufacturing at Phu Bai Brewery, accelerating digitalization and green upgrades, strengthening supply-chain capabilities, and improving product quality and food safety, according to the statement. Carlsberg said the next phase would also target advanced production technology, smarter operations, better resource efficiency, and more renewable energy use.

The company framed the announcement as an intention to invest, not as spending already carried out. Carlsberg did not say whether the full amount has been formally approved, and it did not provide a timeline for individual projects within the 2026-2031 window.

The proposed $65 million would follow a much larger project completed recently at the same site. In August 2025, Carlsberg inaugurated a nearly $90 million expansion at Phu Bai Brewery that increased the plant’s annual production capacity by more than 50%, the company said at the time. The new plan is $25 million lower than that earlier phase, or about 27.8% less. If the second phase goes ahead in full, the two rounds together would amount to roughly $155 million.

Carlsberg did not disclose the brewery’s current annual capacity in hectoliters, and it did not say how much additional output the new investment might create. That leaves open whether the next phase is aimed mainly at efficiency and technology upgrades or whether it would also materially increase production volumes again.

The investment plan underscores Vietnam’s growing importance inside Carlsberg’s Asian manufacturing network. Phu Bai Brewery is in Hue, a centrally administered municipality in central Vietnam that has become one of the brewer’s key industrial bases in the country. Carlsberg said the next phase would further strengthen Hue’s role in its regional production system.

The announcement came during a state visit to Denmark by Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam, from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21. Carlsberg said Aarup-Andersen took part in business discussions tied to the visit and used the occasion to reaffirm the group’s long-term commitment to Vietnam, where it has operated for more than three decades. The company described Vietnam as one of its key growth markets.

Carlsberg also outlined separate plans for Da Nang, though it did not assign a dollar figure to that part of the effort. In its statement, the brewer said it wants to expand its business presence there through commercial development, digital transformation, operational modernization, and more efficient logistics, while continuing environmental and community programs with local partners.

The company’s statement linked the Vietnam plans to broader themes of sustainable growth and industrial competitiveness. That language reflects a common corporate approach in manufacturing investment announcements, but the practical details remain limited. Carlsberg did not identify specific equipment purchases, production lines, energy systems, or supply-chain projects that would make up the proposed spending in Hue.

Carlsberg is headquartered in Copenhagen and is one of the world’s largest brewing groups. Industry supplier BarthHaas ranked it the fourth-largest brewer by volume in 2025, at 99 million hectoliters, though the ranking notes that some company volumes may be estimated. That scale gives added weight to the company’s decision to keep expanding in Vietnam, especially at a site that it now describes as its biggest brewing facility in Asia.

The timing is notable because the brewer is returning to the same plant soon after a major capacity increase. A second planned investment so close to the 2025 expansion suggests Carlsberg sees room to deepen its manufacturing footprint in central Vietnam even after boosting output there by more than 50%. For now, however, the company has presented the Hue project as a letter of intent, and not as completed or fully detailed capital spending.