Heineken's R3.5 billion Sedibeng brewery, which will produce Heineken, Amstel Lager and Windhoek Lager for South African consumption, was officially launched yesterday.
There are also plans afoot to construct a malting facility, the third in the country. Competitor SABMiller owns the other two malting facilities.
Peraldt Vandermerwe, the director of business and legal at Heineken International, said a malting facility, which could cost between R500 000 and R550 000, with the capacity to produce malt from between 50 000 tons and 100 000 tons of barley a year, was on the cards but that this would be officially announced only once its partner in the project was ready. He characterised the partner as "very local".
Vandermerwe said the announcement was likely to be made in the next three months.
"A detailed study is taking place to decide whether to place the facility next to the brewery or near the barley source," Vandermerwe said.
Heineken currently imports 40 000 tons of barley from the Netherlands a year, as the only two malting facilities belong to SABMiller.
Construction of the Sedibeng brewery began in 2008 and was completed last July, three months ahead of schedule. It is 75 percent owned by Heineken, with beverage company Diageo holding the remaining 25 percent stake.
The brewery will be managed by an independent team in association with Brandhouse Beverages, which is a joint venture between Heineken, Diageo and Namibia Breweries.
Amstel is among the most popular premium beers in South Africa and accounts for 28.5 percent of this market, while Heineken's share is 13.1 percent.
Gerald Mahinda, the managing director for Brandhouse, said the company's strategy to grow market share in the tightly contested market would continue to be consumer driven. "We will continue to create new markets and new exciting brands," he said.
The decision to construct the brewery was taken three years ago, after SABMiller relinquished the Amstel rights to brand owner Heineken. Local production of Amstel and Heineken will fully replace imports of these brands.
The brewery, with an initial capacity of 300 million litres, is already being expanded to further increase capacity by 100 million litres by September in anticipation of growing demand for the premium brands.