E-Malt.com News article: Mexico: FEMSA to invest US$ 392 million in new brewing plant and glass bottle facility

Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. ("FEMSA") announced a US$ 392 million investment for the construction of two new plants in Meoqui, in the northern state of Chihuahua in Mexico: US$ 275 million for a brewery and US$ 117 million for a glass bottle facility, according to company’s press release, November 7.

In a first stage, the new brewery will have annual production capacity of 5 million hectoliters, an increase of 15% over FEMSA Cerveza's current capacity in Mexico. The first stage of the glass bottle plant will have installed capacity of 700 million bottles per year, an increase of 54% over current levels. The investment will be made during 2008 and 2009, and both plants are expected to begin operations in 2010.

In a second stage to be launched to the extent required based on the evolution of our own demand trends, we anticipate the ability to make an additional investment of approximately US$ 315 million for incremental capacity of 5 million hectoliters per year for the brewery and a doubling of capacity in the glass bottle facility, reaching an installed capacity of 1,400 million glass bottles per year. These projects will allow our Mexico and export beer operations to continue to grow at a rapid pace going forward.

The new, state-of-the-art beer and glass bottle operations will create 1,350 direct new jobs and we estimate that it will create approximately 4,000 indirect jobs, while approximately 1,500 workers will take part in the construction.

FEMSA is the leading beverage company in Latin America. It controls an integrated beverage platform that comprises Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the region; FEMSA Cerveza, one of the leading brewers in Mexico and important beer exporter to the United States; and Oxxo, the largest and fastest growing convenience store chain in Mexico with over 5,200 stores.


09 November, 2007