SABMiller Africa opens new beverage plant in Sudan

JUBA - SABMiller Plc, the world’s third- largest brewer, plans to build the first ever brewery in southern Sudan, a region which spent more than two decades fighting for independence from the mainly Muslim north.

The $37 million brewery, in the region’s capital of Juba, will start brewing operations in February, with the production of soft drinks starting “shortly thereafter,” London-based SABMiller said in statement on its Web site dated Dec. 10.

Southern Sudan became a semi-autonomous region in 2005 after signing an accord that ended a 21-year civil war between the north, where it’s illegal to sell alcohol, and the mainly Christian south.

The region, which splits revenue from the country’s oil fields with its northern neighbor, will hold a referendum in 2011 that may lead to full independence.

The brewery will have a total capacity of 180,000 hectoliters (4.8 million gallons), said David Raad of David Raad & Associates, who spent two years helping SABMiller with the project, by phone from Juba today.

The market for beer in southern Sudan is currently served by imports from Uganda and Kenya. Demand is growing and SABMiller “wanted to get in early,” Raad said.

The plant will create 200 direct jobs and have the potential to create as many as 6,000 indirect employment opportunities, he said. The brewery may also help Southern Sudan diversify its economy of 13 million mostly rural subsistence farmers away from oil, which accounts for 90 percent of government revenue.

SABMiller is planning further investment in the region next year to boost output, it said, without giving details.

Mark Bowman, managing director SABMiller Africa, said: "We are committed to delivering high quality and affordable products while delivering consistent growth in a country like Southern Sudan, which has immense potential."

(BLOOMBERG & OTHER AGENCIES)