Zimbabwe commissions $40 million Pepsi plant

Indian soft drinks manufacturer, Varun Beverages today commissioned its $40 million Pepsi manufacturing and bottling plant in Harare.

The company, which is the largest bottler of PepsiCo products outside the United States, began producing carbonated PepsiCo products – Pepsi, Mirinda Orange, Mirinda Fruity, Mirinda Green Apple, Miranda Pineapple, Mountain Dew and Seven-Up at the plant in March this year.

The plant, one of the few positives for Zimbabwe’s struggling manufacturing sector, produces 400 PET units of beverages per minute and is already at full capacity.

PET is polyethylene terephthalate – high gloss, crack-resistant transparent plastic used largely in making carbonated beverage bottles.

Ravi Jaipuria, the founder of RJ Corp which owns Varun Beverages, told journalists that the plant employed 350 Zimbabweans, with hundreds more in the downstream industries.

At least 50 percent of the production will be exported to countries in the region, he added.

To complement its investment, Jaipuria said he had plans to invest in potato finger chips production in the country.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who presided over the commissioning, called for more incentives and lower taxation to attract more Foreign Direct Investment into the country.

Jaipuriya is one of India’s wealthiest businessmen, with a net worth estimated at $1.67 billion.- The Source/Own

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