An imposing View of Southern Sudan Beverages factory in Juba. [ ©SSBL]
JOHANNESBURG, 20 August 2010 (Reuters) - The decision to lift capacity to 350,000 hectolitres from 180,000 when the Juba-based brewery opened in May 2009 also suggests confidence in the stability of the south, which is likely to vote for independence in a January referendum.
"Many people questioned our logic in building not only the first brewery that southern Sudan had seen for 50 years but also the first manufacturing facility in Juba," said Ian Alsworth-Elvey, managing director of Southern Sudan Beverages Ltd (SSBL).
"However, the business has had a very warm welcome to the country and our beer, soft drinks and water brands have found real traction with consumers," he said.
With its $37 million investment, SABMiller is the largest non-oil investor in the southern part of Africa's biggest country, whose prolonged North-South civil war only ended in 2005. As many as 2 million people were killed.
The peace deal provided for the predominantly Christian and animist south to hold a referendum in Januray 2011 on seceding from the Arab-dominated north.
Mutual distrust is hampering negotiations on how to share Sudan's billions of dollars of external debt and the revenues from oil fields in the south.
The worst case scenario could see the two sides resuming hostilities, with disastrous consequences for east African countries such as Kenya and Uganda, which have benefited from Juba's oil-fuelled boom of the last five years.
The main competition for SSBL's distinctive White Bull lager comes from imported bottles of Tusker, brewed by neighbouring Kenya's East African Breweries, a unit of Diageo, the world's largest drinks group. (Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by David Cowell)