Local listed confectionery maker Kinh Do Corporation has revealed a plan to partner with Taiwan’s Saigon Ve Wong Co., Ltd to produce instant noodle products in the third quarter in its continued foray into the food and flavor market.

Through its joint venture with Saigon Ve Wong, Kinh Do will launch spices and instant noodles in the market under the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) form. Saigon Ve Wong will produce instant noodles, rice porridge and pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) for Kinh Do.

A representative of Kinh Do told the Daily on Tuesday that the firm wanted to cooperate with Saigon Ve Wong as the Taiwan firm has many years’ experience in producing instant noodles, whose consumption is growing fast in Vietnam.

As a newcomer on the market, Kinh Do will not compete directly with other brands but will focus on high-end products, said Kinh Do’s general director Tran Le Nguyen in an earlier occasion. Nguyen was confident on the success owing to the company’s wide network with 300 distributors and 200,000 retail stores.

He said the corporation still has room to grow in the domestic instant noodle market whose size is now estimated at around US$2 billion per year.

Statistics of the World Instant Noodles Association show that Vietnam ranks fourth after China, Indonesia and Japan in instant noodle consumption.

Demand of the product on the domestic market, which is now mainly controlled by local Acecook and Asia Food and South Korea’s Masan, surged from 4.3 billion packets in 2009 to 5.1 billion packets in 2012.

Kinh Do also plans to expand its business in the cooking oil and coffee markets by acquiring stakes of two domestic firms, but it has refused to elaborate.

As leader of the domestic confectionery sector, Kinh Do said the market segment now is approaching saturation with little room for expansion, so it is shifting its investments to foods and essential products.