Mozambique — Cervejas de Mocambique (CDM), the Mozambican subsidiary of AB InBev carried out its first production test on its newly constructed factory, signifying its readiness to start operations.

Located in Marracuene district, in Maputo province, on an area of 71 hectares, the brewery becomes its fourth factory in Mozambique with the others are located in Maputo, Beira and Nampula.

Its Construction began in December 2018, with the total investment estimated at US$180 million having a production capacity of 2-million hectolitres of beer a year, with further expansion of the facility in future.

CDM claims that its new factory uses “modern technologies of production, packaging and filling designed to guarantee excellence in the quality of the beers, while at the same time maintaining sustainability of the environment.”

“The new factory is unequivocal proof of our constant concern with the future, with the sustainability of the environment and with the desire to empower the development of the communities and of the country”, declared CDM general manager Pedro Cruz.

In addition to Mozambican beers such as 2M, Laurentina, Manica, Dourada and Impala, CDM also sells such global brands as Corona, Stella Artois and Budweiser.

The new brewery will help meet market demand in a country that saw 20% growth in the first-half of 2018.

According to Global Data figures of 2017, AB InBev controled 99% of the Mozambique beer market through the CDM unit inherited from SABMiller.

However, in 2016 Heineken opened a sales and marketing office in Mozambique which enable it to penetrate the market and disrupt Anheuser-Busch InBev’s dominance in the country.

This saw Heineken, a global leading beer maker, commissioning its first brewery in Mozambique after an investing to the tune of US$100 million in March last year.

Located in the district of Maputo, the new brewery has a production capacity of 800, 000 hectolitres (80 million litres) per year.

The plant will produce four international brands – Heineken, Amstel, Sagres and Strongbow – as well as Txilar, new beer specially made by Mozambicans for Mozambican consumers using locally sourced maize.