Heineken opens brewery in Myanmar

Heineken opened a brewery in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, formerly Burma, this weekend. The construction of this brewery cost nearly 54 million euros, Het Parool reports. The brewery complex employs more than 200 people and will produce 330 thousand hecto-liters of beer per year. Heineken runs the complex in cooperation with the local brewer ABC. There are more than 53 million people living in Myanmar, making it a potentially significant growth market for Heineken. Heineken planned to open a brewery in the country in 1996, but withdrew at the last moment due to the controversial military dictatorship in the country. Now that the political situation has improved, and major Western companies are returning, the Dutch beer manufacturer decided to take the leap.