Keroche Breweries has embarked on the construction of a KES 2.5 billion brew plant in Naivasha as part of its expansion plans.
This is one of the moves by the company to double its market share, a goal it expects to achieve once the project is done.
The Prime Minister Raila Odinga is expected to lay the foundation stone for the plant on 14th of November.
According to Keroche CEO Tabitha Karanja, their production is expected to rise ten times in a year.
Karanja said that the construction of the multi-million plant is underway and would be complete by December 2013.
She added that the ultra-modern and automated plant would have the potential to produce 600 000 bottles per day.
“Currently we are producing 60 000 bottles per day and once this plant is ready we shall be producing 600 000 bottles,” she remarked.
The total production capacity is expected to rise to 250 hecto-litres daily and up to 1million hecto-litres yearly.
Karanja expressed optimism that the market demand will rise to 20 per cent by 2014.
“Currently, our beer market is around three percent and we expect this to hit twenty percent come 2014,” she emphasizes.
She has hopes that Barclays Bank will fund the plant, which would be the second largest in the country after Kenya Breweries Limited.
Karanja said that their market share has continued to rise mainly among Summit consumers despite the challenging circumstances and bills such as the unpopular ‘Mututho law’ .
Karanja also promised that the investment will create over 100 new professional jobs in addition to the existing 250 jobs.
Early this year, the company opened a KES 500 million spirit plant that has a capacity of producing 10 000 750 ml per hour.
Karanja also noted that the company plans to capture 30 percent of the spirit market share in the country.
Karanja termed their journey as long and challenging, noting that 99 percent of the spirits in the country are imported.
“The alcoholic act forced us to lay off some workers and the move to give us six months to change from plastic to glass bottle affected us,” she said.
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