Ball Corp. has announced it has signed an agreement with its joint venture partner Thai Beverage Can Limited to build a beverage can manufacturing plant in Vietnam.
The plant will be located in the Tan Uyen district in Binh Duong province. Ball will hold about a 50 percent economic interest in the joint venture facility facility, which is expected to begin production in the first half of 2012.
“The growth of the middle class in Southeast Asia and the preference of consumers there for beverage cans, continue to increase demand for our containers,” said Raymond Seabrook, Ball’s executive vice president and chief operating officer of global packaging.
The region’s beverage can market is projected to grow more than 15 percent annually over the next several years, Seabrook said.
Ball has operated a joint venture beverage can plant in Thailand with Thai Beverage Can Limited since 1996.
The plant will have an initial annual production capacity of 850 million cans and will primarily use equipment relocated from other Ball facilities.
The total value of the joint venture, including contributed equipment by Ball, is about $45 million.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
