E-Malt.com News article: Namibia & South Africa: Namibia Breweries Ltd. has no plans to move beer production to South Africa yet

Namibia Breweries Limited has no plans to move beer production to South Africa as the water crisis around Windhoek becomes more serious, The Namibian reported on May 13.

NBL managing director Wessie van der Westhuizen told The Namibian this week that as of 1 April, the company has managed to comply with the 30% water consumption reduction as per the City of Windhoek’s request.

“While further investments and initiatives are well on track to achieve the 70% saving by the end of July 2016, our application to drill a third borehole off site from the NBL premises was rejected by the City of Windhoek, which obviously puts strain on the 70% target. However, we are busy with the next round of negotiations with the city,” Van der Westhuizen stated.

In addition to the two onsite boreholes, Namibia Breweries has invested in a pre−water treatment plant.

“The NBL will see no additional volume migration to Sedibeng (in South Africa), other than what is stipulated in the contract. It is still our objective to become self−sufficient in water. Therefore, there are no additional migration plans at this stage, subject to approval from the City of Windhoek to drill additional boreholes,” he said.

Additional volume migration to Sedibeng will only be necessary if the NBL does not receive approval to drill additional boreholes.

He noted that the current boreholes which the company is extracting water from are not linked to the acquifer supplying the city with water.

“It would be ideal for the NBL to have access to unutilised water sources as opposed to relying on the city, hence our ongoing discussions with the city for access to additional boreholes. Please bear in mind that for every cubic meter of water we can extract at our cost, we can give back a cubic meter of water to the city to be made available to the rest of Windhoek,” explained Van der Westhuizen.

Poor rainfall seasons over the past three years resulted in limited water inflows into the key national dams that supply the central region of Namibia with water.

According to IJG Securities, current forecasts suggest that without inflows, by September 2016 all of the key dams providing water to Windhoek will have run dry.

According to NamWater, the levels of the three dams supplying the central areas with water were between 4% and 22% in mid− April.

IJG estimates that Namibia Breweries produces 1.6 million hectolitres of beer per annum at the Windhoek brewery, with the total Namibian beer market at approximately 1,3 million hectolitres, of which the company has a market share of 87%. Approximately 470 000 hectolitres of beer produced locally are exported to South Africa.

This week, the Namibia Bottling company, which produces Coca−Cola products in Namibia, said it will stop producing can products in Namibia due to water use restrictions in Windhoek as a result of drought.

Managing director Frik Oosthuizen said can products will be imported from South Africa. The company has stopped producing returnable glass products at its Windhoek plant, he added.


13 May, 2016