Metro Cash & Carry increases investment in Mekong Delta

German-invested wholesale chain operator Metro Cash & Carry on Wednesday started work on a wholesale center in An Giang Province, Metro’s second in the Mekong Delta after the first in Can Tho City.

The new center in Long Xuyen City brings to ten the number of its wholesale facilities nationwide, including three in the southern trading hub HCMC.

Representatives of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam and guests break ground for the Long Xuyen wholesaler center in An Giang Province.

Covering more than three hectares, the US$17 million Long Xuyen wholesale center will open this year to offer professional customers of An Giang Province and the Mekong Delta over 25,000 food and non-food items.

The center will create more than 400 new jobs including 250 direct jobs and indirect jobs of service partners such as security and cleaning. It will also provide a positive stimulus for the consumer goods industry as up to 95% of the goods will be procured in Vietnam, according to the company.

“Metro recognized the potential of the Mekong Delta region when we opened our first Cash & Carry wholesale market in Can Tho City in 2004. With more than 17 million agricultural producers, the Mekong Delta region has become the biggest fresh food supplier of our Metro Cash & Carry wholesale system. We have successfully set up win-win relationships with our local farmer suppliers. We provide training and knowledge transfer enabling them to produce the better and safer products that Metro’s business customers and indeed all the consumers of Vietnam require,” Randy Guttery, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam, said in a statement.

“Today, we see plenty of new opportunities for our Metro Cash & Carry wholesale network from the emerging Mekong Delta region. Core customers of our modern wholesale business are emerging everywhere in this region.”

The trade and services segment of An Giang Province last year was over VND34.5 trillion, according to provincial vice chairman Vuong Binh Thanh, who added that a Metro Cash & Carry wholesale center would contribute to the growth of the province.

Metro Cash & Carry is implementing a group wide quality management system from ‘farm to fork’ to offer professional customers efficient logistics and quality assurance systems.

The company establishes modern supply chains and maintains the highest standards in product quality and safety and transport.

Metro Cash & Carry opened its first wholesale center in Vietnam in 2002. Today, the company operates nine wholesale centers in HCMC, Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, Can Tho, Bien Hoa and Dong Nai and two distribution platforms in Binh Duong and Lam Dong provinces.

On Tuesday, Metro Cash & Carry was licensed to set up a facility in Binh Dinh Province. The forthcoming wholesale center will cover three hectares in Quy Nhon City at a cost of US$15 million to open by year-end.

This will be the second Metro Cash & Carry outlet on the central coast after the first in Danang City.

VietNamNet/SGT

Tags: Vietnam retail market