Greenfield brewery
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r°REIGN EXTRA
In Central Africa, increased political stability and the growing
global demand for the region's raw materials, are driving economic
development. The resulting increase in purchasing power is fuelling
growth of the beer markets of Central Africa and is supporting
the development of an emerging middle class.
These dynamics are helping the Democratic Republic of Congo
to develop quickly and particularly in the province of Katanga in
the south, where new mines are opening, boosting purchasing
power of the local population.
The population of Katanga is approximately 12 million people
and the capital of the province, Lumumbashi, is the largest
city. Although there is higher purchasing power in Lumumbashi,
average beer consumption per capita is only 4.2 litres, compared
with 12 litres in the country's capital Kinshasa. The beer market
is therefore expected to expand rapidly.
It is this economic development which convinced Heineken's
operating business in the country, Bralima, to build a greenfield
brewery near Lumumbashi, with an annual brewing capacity of
about 0.5 million hectolitres. The brewery will supply Lumumbashi
and the Katanga province with Primus and other beers,
considerably improving supply.
Production of our local soft drink plant will also be transferred
to the new brewery. The brewery will employ 'continuous brewing
and fermenting', a state-of-the-art brewing technology,
which enables a 25 per cent reduction in the amount invested
in equipment.
Heineken N.V. Annual Report 2007
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by growth of the Primus brand. In Nigeria, the
combined market share of the Heineken Group
increased 2.6 per cent.
Across the region, volume of the Heineken
brand grew almost 40 per cent to 1.6 million
hectolitres. Volume growth was particularly
strong in Nigeria, South Africa and the Middle East.
Volume of Amstel in the region, excluding South
Africa, grew 8 per cent.
During the year, Heineken expanded several
agricultural projects in the region with the aim of
ncreasing the local supply of raw materials and
-educing dependence on high-priced imported
malt and barley. Heineken is growing part of its
awn grain requirements in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra
-.eone, Rwanda and Egypt, whilst similar projects
are under way in Burundi and the DRC.