Japanese food giant chooses Vietnam for ready-mix flour production

Japanese food giant chooses Vietnam for ready-mix flour production

Showa Sangyo – the Japanese company credited with inventing the world’s first tempura flour – has launched a $21 million factory in Ho Chi Minh City, positioning Vietnam as a core market for expansion across ASEAN.

On April 22, Showa Sangyo International Vietnam Co., Ltd. announced the establishment of its plant at Phu My 3 Specialised Industrial Park in Ho Chi Minh City.

The facility began operations at the end of the first quarter of 2026, covering more than 1.3 hectares with a total initial investment of about $21 million.

The Vietnam facility is positioned as a key production hub for premixed flour in ASEAN, serving not only the domestic market but targeting expansion into neighbouring countries.

Maruyama Shinji, chairman and general director of Showa Sangyo International Vietnam giving remarks at the ceremony. Photo: Showa Sangyo

Maruyama Shinji, chairman and general director of Showa Sangyo International Vietnam, said the company chose Vietnam for its young population, rapidly growing middle class, diverse cuisine and vibrant food market, where quality demands are increasingly high.

“Vietnam is also identified as one of the company’s strategic key markets in ASEAN,” he said.

Since launching the world’s first tempura flour product in 1960, Showa Sangyo has developed grain processing technologies for more than 60 years.

At its Vietnam plant, the company will leverage this strength to produce premixed flours for fried foods such as tempura and karaage, thereby delivering higher value-added solutions to the food and beverages sector and food processing industry.

In the future, the company plans to expand into the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment with packaged product lines tailored specifically for Vietnamese consumers.

The firm targets output of about 1,000 tonnes of tempura flour in its first year, along with several thousand tonnes of other product lines.

Alongside production, it also emphasises sustainable development, focusing on food safety, environmental protection and local workforce development.

According to the National Statistics Office, in the first quarter of 2026, Japan invested approximately $191.3 million in new projects in Vietnam, accounting for 1.9 per cent of newly registered foreign direct investment and ranking among the top five countries and territories in terms of new investment.

As of the latest quarter, Japan also ranked among the top three in terms of active foreign-invested projects in Vietnam, behind South Korea and Singapore, with 5,760 valid projects and total registered capital exceeding $79 billion.

Meanwhile, the Japan External Trade Organization reported that exports of agricultural, forestry, fishery and food products from Japan to Vietnam rose from about $200 million in 2013 to about $570 million in 2024.

The number of Japanese restaurants in Vietnam also grew from around 680 in 2015 to approximately 2,500 in 2022. This helps explain why an increasing number of Japanese companies are setting up factories in Vietnam.

VIR