They signed an agreement on May 12 in HCM City to build a US$30 million plant at the Viet Nam Singapore Industrial Park in the northern province of Bac Ninh to develop new noodle varieties and also produce Kinh Do’s products.

Ve Wong now produces Kinh Do (KDC)’s products at its HCM City plant, but its current capacity, which KDC refused to disclose, is not enough to meet demand.

KDC executives said their first instant noodle products hit the market five months ago and had become very popular with consumers.

The company will hold a 49 per cent stake in the new plant and Sai Gon Ve Wong, 51 per cent.

It will have a capacity of 6 million packets of noodles a year initially, when it will produce only instant noodle and spices, before doubling it in the second phase when it will also make instant porridge and other kinds of instant noodles like pho.

It will make other instant foods in the third phase and sauces in the last.

KDC said more plants would come up in other locations as part of its efforts to become one of the top three instant noodle producers in the country.

Sai Gon Ve Wong was not a direct competitor, it added.

KDC, a giant confectionary producer, last year diversified into instant noodles, coffee, and cooking oil.

In the middle of last year it sold 80 per cent of its snack business to an US firm.

Sai Gon Ve Wong is known in Viet Nam for many instant products it sells under the Aone brand name.