MBL may consider brewery plant

Malawi Beverages Limited (MBL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SABMiller Africa, says its main focus is to establish business in the country, and that plans to build a brewery plant are not in the short term.

“But should there be a need or should the volumes justify for us to set up a plant in the future, that is something we can consider,” said Panashe Maisva, managing director of Chibuku Products Limited (CPL), a company running the MBL business and also another subsidiary of SABMiller Africa.

Maisva was responding to queries from reporters on the company’s performance since it was registered in Malawi a few years back and future plans.

Rumours have been rife that SABMiller Africa was contemplating establishing plant in Malawi.

“You will appreciate that we are not brewing Castle and Miller in Malawi, but the products are all over the world. It does not matter where those consumers are, but so long as there are, brands will follow them,” he said.

MBL has been operational on and off in the country for the past years due to the shortage of foreign exchange that has been hitting the country for the past three years or so making it unable to import their brands.

But Maisva said now that the availability of foreign exchange has improved, it has given them confidence to be formally bringing SABMiller plc products to Malawi.

Commenting on competition, he said there is usually competition all over the world, stressing that in other countries there are many players competing in the beer industry.

“Being the second biggest brewer in the world, we come with a lot of brewing experience to provide high quality products that are coming into Malawi,” said Maisva.

Some of the company’s products include as pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Miller Genuine Draft and Grolsch, as well as leading local brands such as Águila, Castle, Miller Lite, Snow, Tyskie and Victoria Bitter.

SABMiller plc, the parent company of SABMiller Africa, has than 200 beer brands and some 70 000 employees in over 75 countries.

SABMiller plc, registered on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), is a multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

It is the world’s second-largest brewer measured by revenues after Anheuser-Busch InBev and is also a major bottler of Coca-Cola and has operations in across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America and sells around 21 billion litres of lager per year.