Danish brewer to set up in Naivasha

A Danish brewer and maker of Tuborg and Carlsberg beers is set to invest $45 million (Sh4.5 billion) in a factory in Naivasha.

The Ministry of Trade said on Tuesday that the Danish Brewing Company had agreed to be the anchor tenant at the planned Industrial Park Naivasha and expects that to pull in other investors.

The firm will produce Tuborg, Carlsberg, Holsten, and Kronenbourg beers, as well as Somersby Cider at the factory, whose access has been made easy by the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway.

The brewer recently started aggressively marketing its products in Kenya and production locally is expected to increase competition in the beer market, where East African Breweries Limited and Keroche Breweries are among major players.

“The investment they will bring to the park is valued at $45 million where the company will establish a brewery that – once fully operational – will produce 12-15million cases of beer a year and directly employ 350 Kenyans,” said Trade Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya.

“It will also produce beverages using sorghum sourced locally from their recently launched farmers outreach programme, where they will contract 17,000 farmers.”