Larger-scale manufacturers with overseas markets are more likely to move operations out, say observers
[SINGAPORE] The recent moves by two home-grown food and beverage (F&B) firms to downsize their Singapore operations and shift parts of their manufacturing overseas raise questions about whether others might follow.
Tiger Beer maker Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore (APBS) said on Mar 24 that it would phase down large-scale brewing operations in Singapore and move them to Malaysia and Vietnam.
A week later, on Mar 31, beverage brand Yeo Hiap Seng announced plans to consolidate its canned-drink manufacturing in Malaysia.
While it is not new for home-grown firms to expand production beyond Singapore, the latest moves could signal a broader intensification in the regionalisation of the Republic’s F&B sector, say industry observers.
But not all firms are equally positioned to make that leap. Larger manufacturers with significant scale and markets beyond Singapore’s shores are more likely to do so than smaller players.
The Business Times takes a closer look at why this trend seems to be intensifying, and the types of companies that might follow suit.
Navigate Asia in
a new global order
Get the insights delivered to your inbox.
Picking up the pace?
It is not unheard of for Singapore’s home-grown F&B firms to regionalise operations.
Household names, such as Gardenia bread maker QAF and soft-drink manufacturer Fraser and Neave – which formed Tiger Beer as a joint venture with Heineken in 1932 – have long-established production bases outside Singapore, drawn by lower land and labour costs.
