The larger share of the investment will be in Rosslyn, already home to SAB's biggest packaging line.
Anheuser-Busch-owned South African Breweries (SAB) will invest ZAR 2.8 billion ($206.9 million) in expansions at its Alrode and Rosslyn breweries.
Both breweries will benefit from new packaging lines that work with returnable glass, able to produce up to 45,000 bottles – in both 660ml and 750ml formats – every hour. The packaging lines take up 4,500 square metres of floor space and will increase SAB’s capacity by 400 million litres a year.
The Alrode packaging line will be online by August, with the Rosslyn line set to follow in October. The investment will not only make both lines more efficient, it will help create jobs and contribute to a sustainable future through increased bottle recycling.
SAB has also ordered 4 million new plastic crates and 48 million locally produced returnable glass bottles as part of the investment.
ZAR 1.5 billion ($110.8 million) will go to SAB’s brewery in Rosslyn, in Pretoria, including a state-of-the-art brewhouse that will be operational in the first half of 2018. The brewhouse will be capable of producing 14 different brews – each with a capacity of 75,000 litres a day.
The remaining ZAR 1.3 billion ($96.1 million) will be used to construct a greenfield malting plant at the Alrode brewery, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The installation will expand SAB’s malting capacity from 110,000 to 150,000 tonnes of malt per year, meaning almost all of the company’s malt is manufactured in South Africa.
That last investment will create 28 jobs on its own, and the investments as a whole are expected to create 70 new positions.
SAB’s brands include Castle lager, dubbed South Africa’s national beer.
SAB said that it was ‘committed to a sustainable South Africa’, and was creating opportunities for both individuals and businesses to help achieve it.
Ricardo Tadeu, SAB and Anheuser-Busch zone president for Africa, said: “We strive to create a growing world where everyone has the opportunity to improve their livelihood.”
The brewer, which produces beers including the local Castle lager, was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller before its mega-merger with Anheuser-Busch.
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