SAB completes R825 million brewery expansion in South Africa

On Monday (28 November), the South African Breweries (SAB) presented its R825 million expansion of the Prospecton Brewery in Durban, which aims to boost local job creation and stimulate economic activity in South Africa.

The SAB hosted KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and MEC of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Siboniso Duma as the CEO Richard Rivett-Carnac unpacked the impact of the multi-million rand investment, which was pledged at the South African Investment Conference in March 2022.

The Prospecton Brewery expansion will include a new ‘Flavoured Alcohol Beverage Blending Plant’, which will bring with it direct full-time employment for 56 people with new skills development drives aimed at upskilling workers on new processes.

The expansion is expected to create 25,000 additional jobs throughout the value chain, procure 28 additional local suppliers of goods and services, and generate R4.4 billion in additional GDP for the economy.

“The additional capacity due to the expansion will result in a significant about of jobs in the province over the long term in areas such as transport, retail, and agriculture,” said Rivett-Carnac.

He added that SAB employs 572 workers in the province, of which approximately half work at the Prospecton Brewery. SAB’s operations support over 17,000 jobs in Kwa-Zulu Natal, equivalent to around 0.7% of provincial employment.

In his presentation, Rivett-Carnac said the project would help sustain domestic production capacity at SAB while promoting revenue generation through sourcing local goods and services.

“We anticipate this expansion to increase demand for raw materials, labour, utilities and equipment within the brewery, thus stimulating economic activity in our country and the province,” he said.

This investment coincides with a further R270 million the company invested into its Ibhayi Brewery in the Eastern Cape, which brings SAB’s total South African investment commitment to R4.5 billion – adding impact to an industry that already contributes R43 billion in tax and accounts for 1 in every 66 jobs in the country.

“These investments help us uplift the province and the communities that we serve. By investing in our brewery, we can increase our capacity and increase our tax contribution as well as our workforce,” said Rivett-Carnac.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube at the @SABreweries multi-million rands expansion project, R825 million investment into KZN #KZNRising #GrowingKZNTogether pic.twitter.com/CQHM3rMy0b

— KZN Provincial Gov (@kzngov) November 28, 2022

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