Uzbekistan: New 300 thousand hl beer plant to be built in eastern Uzbekistan

State-owned Mekhnat Uzbek Agricultural Company plans to construct a $15 million brewery in Andijan city in the Ferghana Valley in the east of the country, the Beverage World reported on December, 1.

The company will fund the project from its own coffers and with the help of an $8.2 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The Andijan brewery, located 225 miles east of the capital Tashkent, will have a capacity of 300 thousand hl of beer a year.

The plant is scheduled to go on-stream in September 2011 and start producing soft drinks in its second production phase in 2012.

Mekhnat agricultural firm currently operates a brewery near the capital city of Tashkent. Its Mekhnat Pivo facility produces three brands of beer and has an output of 500 thousand hl per year.

The state corporation doubled its production capacity of beer in 2004 with a $3.7 million loan from the EBRD.

Foreign investors have enjoyed making inroads into the country’s market. Besides Uzbekistan’s own Mekhnat Pivo, the other two largest beer producers are joint ventures with foreign participation. Inter-Rokhat is a U.S.-Uzbek project and Denmark joined forces with the host country to create UzCarlsberg.

03 December, 2010