Keroche Breweries has embarked on a Sh2.5 billion expansion of its Naivasha brewery. This is party of the company’s plans to boost its market share to 24 per cent by 2014.

The ultra-modern plant, which is expected to be ready next December, will increase the firm’s production capacity to 600,000 from the current 60,000 daily.

Managing director Tabitha Karanja said yesterday the Prime Minister Raila Odinga will lay the foundation for the project on November 14. She said the plant will have a production capacity of 250,000 hecto-litres quartely and a and upto 1 million hecto-litres annually.

“Currently our beer market is about three per cent and we expect this to hit 20 per cent in 2014,” she said. Karanja said Barclays Bank will give credit for the plant, which will be the second largest in the country.

She said the firm has weathered the many challenges including the ‘Mututho law’, to grow, adding that its Summit brand is the most successful.

Karanja said the investment will create more than 100 new professional jobs in addition to the existing 250. “We are committed to producing high quality beers to every corner of this country despite facing various challenges,” she said.

Early this year, the company opened a Sh500m spirit plant with a capacity to producing 10,000 bottles of 750ml per hour. During the launch, Karanja said the company wanted to capture 30 per cent of spirit market share.

She said despite the challenges, she was ready to compete in the spirits market with 99 per cent imports. “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.

Source : nation.co.ke