Ethiopia: Raya Brewery Share Company set to launch new brand by 2015

Raya Brewery Share Company, a new brewery established by BGI Brewery of St. George Beer and 2,440 shareholders, is set to launch its new brand, Raya Beer by the new year 2015, said company officials.

Atakilti Kiros, CEO of Raya Brewery, told journalists at a gathering to hand over certificate of ownership to shareholders at Elelye Hotel on November 25, that the factory with an estimated cost of 1.7 billion birr ($85 million) will be able to produce 600,000 hectolitres or 180,000 bottles annually.

“The first construction footing started last November, and in the current state with all machineries installed, 98 percent of the work has been completed,” stated Kiros, adding that testing of the various alcoholic products to be put to the market has already started.

The shareholders contribution is 600 million birr ($30 million) including BGI with 42%, while the rest was obtained in the form the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) loan.

However, he acknowledged that several challenges will remain for the brewery industry and particularly for Raya, which needs 36 different brewery and Packaging materials, with most coming from abroad at the expense of hard fought foreign currency.

The Raya Factory is located near the northern city of Maichew, 665 north of Addis Ababa in Tigray Regional state.

According to 2009 study by Access Capital Share Company, Ethiopia’s beer consumption at that time stood at 4 litres per head, in contrast to Kenya’s 12, Nigeria’s 53 and South Africa’s 59.

Besides Raya Beer, there are currently two other local breweries, Habesha and Zebidar, which plan to soon enter into the beer market. Currently the market is dominated by the British firm Diageo which acquired Meta Beer, Dutch company Heineken which has acquired Harar and Bedele, BGI Ethiopia, the distiller of Saint George beer, as well as the ruling party-affiliated Dashen Brewery.

28 November, 2014