Nigeria Breweries to increase capacity utilization through focus on Agriculture
By Oghale Mafuru
As part of efforts to improve capacity utilization and economic growth of the country, Nigerian Breweries Plc, the country’s largest brewing company, has restated its commitment towards the production of raw materials which will facilitate reduced cost of production.
Speaking during a media parley to mark the 75th anniversary of the company, Head of Integrated Communications, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Uchenna Ibemere disclosed that the company’s investment in the research and production of Sorghum gulped over 20 Billion in 2021, adding that it developed 4 varieties of Sorghum yielding 3.5 tons yield per hectare with high malting and brewing potentials.
According to him, Nigerian Breweries Plc investments also include a fully Malting Plant in Aba, Abia State with capacity to process 35,000tons of raw Sorghum into malted Sorghum among other noteworthy projects.
“We invested over 20 billion naira in the Sorghum value chain in 2021 through direct purchase of commercial and smallholder farming in Nigeria. This is our investment in agriculture business and we are glad we are contributing to sustain productive and capacity utilization in the country,” he said.
Also speaking, Managing Director of the Company, Hans Essaadi, revealed that the company intended to invest significantly in capacity extension to meet its objectives and rising demands in the market noting that the company is focused on creating direct and indirect jobs through its proposed investments and expansion in the country.
In his words, “We have grown with Nigeria and it is clear that moving forward, we will continue to invest significantly in capacity extension to meet our objectives as well as demands in the market. We should expect much of these extensions in the east and northern parts of the country and our majority shareholder, Heineken, is committed to this and this is good as it will bring direct and indirect job opportunities for Nigerians.”
On her part, Corporate Affairs Director, Sade Morgan affirmed that the company had invested N78 billion in cultivating locally sourced materials as well as sorghum and cassava value chain through commercial purchase and smallholder farming in the last five years.
According to her, the company has prioritised import substitution and accretion for foreign reserve with the N78 billion investing in cultivating locally sourced materials adding that the company had attained about 56 per cent in local sourcing of raw materials and 100 per cent backward integration in packaging.
“We have done about 56 per cent in local material sourcing but our packaging material is at 100 percent; the challenge with the raw material is the availability of ingredients that go into making most of our products.
“So, that is an area where we will continue to pioneer as we did with sorghum with backward integration and investing to realise in Nigeria the products needed essentially for our products.
“But for now we want to be able to satisfy our consumers and give them the same quality of beer that they can get anywhere in the world,” Mrs. Morgan said.
While acknowledging the impact of the pandemic on the global economy, Mrs. Morgan said, “We also faced other challenges such as a very competitive operating environment, devaluation, forex scarcity, inflation and affordability. Our priority remained on mitigating the impact of the pandemic on our business, ensuring the health, safety and welfare of our employees, customers and partners while remaining committed to our strategy of delivery improved growth by driving premiumization and deploying cost efficient measures to keep the balance sheet strong and healthy.”
She assured customers, investors and other stakeholders of the company’s commitment to continue to work hard to build on the existing success recorded in the last 75 years.
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