Heineken, the Dutch brewery company, has received the delivery of huge fermentation tanks for the brewing plant it has been constructing in the Kilinto area, Akaki Kaliti District, Fortune reported.

The six large fermentation tanks manufactured by Lehui -a Chinese manufacturer are the first shipments, Fortune learnt. Two other shipments of tanks are expected to arrive in March.

Heineken joined the Ethiopian beer market in 2011, after acquiring the Bedele and Harar breweries for a total of US$ 163.4 million from Ethiopia's Privatisation & Public Enterprise Supervising Agency (PPESA).

The ground at the Kilinto site, where the factory is being constructed, has already been cleared for installing the tankers.

“The tankers will be installed soon,” Nebat Suker, Corporate Relations manager at Heineken, told Fortune.

When completed, by the end of this year, the US$ 156 million brewery plant which rests on a 25ha plot, will have the capacity to produce 1.5 million hectolitres a year to become Ethiopia’s largest brewing plant.

Source: Fortune