Bottoms up: Vietnamese expected to drink up this Tet

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Vietnam's brewers are gearing up for a massive drink-up this Lunar New Year holidays, or Tet.

Hanoi-based top brewer Habeco plans to churn out 146.8 million liters of beer during the Lunar New Year, up 6.1 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Transport's official mouthpiece Bao Giao Thong.

Meanwhile, beer consumption in Ho Chi Minh City is projected to jump 30 percent (from last year) to around 40 million liters during Tet, according to estimates released by the municipal Department of Industry and Trade.

The cities will provide the country's key booze markets this Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28.

The Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association expects beer production to grow by 25 percent, annually, before hitting 4 billion liters in 2020.

Over the past five years, Vietnam has doubled its consumption of beer to more than 3 billion liters per year. Each Vietnamese person drinks an average of 27.4 liters, placing them squarely in the world's top 25 beer drinkers.

In 2015, Vietnam produced an estimated 3.4 billion liters of beer and 300 million liters of liquor.

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