Wahaha to become global player

Wahaha to become global player

BEIJING: Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., China's largest beverage company, wants to become a consumer goods company of global scale by expanding its brand into new areas such as children's clothing and personal-care products.

In a meeting with reporters at the weekend, company Chairman Zong Qinghou laid out the company's plan to become a diversified consumer goods multinational. He said Wahaha is also planning to open drinks factories in Indonesia and Thailand, probably next year.

"I want to make this company big and strong, and I see that the big companies in the world all have diversified operations," Zong said.

"This year our main goals are to continue to expand our beverage products, and to do well in children's clothing," he said. "In the second half of the year, we will develop some new types of daily-use products, such as shampoo."

He defended the plan to expand beyond the company's core beverage business, arguing that "for fast-moving consumer goods, the sales channels and sales methods are all pretty much the same."

"There still isn't a strong brand of children's clothing in China," Zong said, nothing that while China is a major maker and exporter of textiles and clothing, most of that is done under contract for foreign companies. -- Dow Jones