Coca Cola is planning to set up a $ 70 million new factory in Ethiopia as it celebrates its 60th anniversary in the country. According to Burno Pietracci, general manager of the East and Central African Franchise, the Coca Cola Company has decided to expand its outlay and promote Ethiopia as a destination for other potential foreign investors.
The beverage firm and its shareholders are also planning to invest USD 300 million in the country in the coming five years. The new plant will have a manufacturing capacity of 70,000 cases per day.
The company broke ground on the new plant on June 20. Located in the town of Sebeta, 25 kilometers from Addis Ababa, it will be the biggest bottler and the fourth of its kind in Ethiopia once it is finalized early next year.
The fifth plant is planned to be set up in Hawassa, capital of the Southern Regional State.
The first Coca-Cola bottling plant was established in Addis Ababa in 1959 with a capacity of bottling 36,000 plastic bottles (PET) per hour, while the second was installed in Dire Dawa in 1965.
Reports said that East African Bottling Share Company (EABSC) launched “vision 2020” where it will become energy self-sufficient; and during the same year, the company set plans to reach 100 million unit cases, that will put Ethiopia on par with Egypt and South Africa.
Coca Cola entered the Ethiopian market in 60 years ago and the company is currently stated to employ 2,200 local jobs.
Ethiopia has become a haven for most foreign investors with many companies relocating their manufacturing plants from countries such as Turkey, India, and China to Ethiopia.
