Using high-tech from KHS, AB InBev subsidiary Cervejas de Moçambique in Mozambique has now built the biggest and most modern brewery in Africa. The heart of the system is what the customer claims to be the fastest returnable glass line on the continent, whose successful installation and commissioning neither a catastrophic tropical cyclone nor the raging corona pandemic were able to prevent!

The two KHS Innofill Glass DPG ECO fillers at the new production site in Marracuene form the hub of the impressive new line.

In large swathes of Africa beer has long been made from local crop cassava. Home-brewed, it takes on a variety of forms, usually cloudy, without any foam to speak of and with a chunky consistency – almost like liquid muesli and by no means to everyone’s taste. The first brewery to have risen to the challenge of making a drinkable beer from the plant also known as manioc or yuca is Cervejas de Moçambique or CDM. In 2011 the company launched one of the first commercial cassava beers in Africa to market under the brand name of Impala. 70% of the starch used comes from the root vegetable instead of from wheat or barley malt. A long development phase ultimately produces a beverage that is yellow and fruity and slightly cloudy in the glass. With its white head of foam it looks like a normal lager and has a surprisingly refreshing taste.

Impala has proved a roaring success for CDM in a number of respects: by procuring local ingredients, the brewery secures the livelihood of small farmers in the region and creates lots of jobs in agriculture. The state honors this commitment – as it does the fact that the beer produced is a professional substitute for the harmful own brews concocted by its citizens. Thanks to a lower tax rate, the new beer can be sold for about 30% less than the usual price. With more than a million bottles sold per annum, this has helped to make Impala a huge success – one that has long been emulated in a number of other African countries and by various breweries.

In addition to showing innovative spirit, CDM also sets great store by tradition. Privatized in 2005 during the restructure of the market economy in a country previously under socialist rule, the company now unites all of Mozambique’s established beer brands in its portfolio. This primarily includes 2M brewed since 1950, the name of which is reminiscent of French president Patrice de MacMahon. In 1875 he acted as mediator in the conflict between Portugal and England over what is now the capital Maputo and is accordingly admired in this Southwest African country. Laurentina, the first beer ever brewed in Mozambique in 1932 – and still a regular award-winner – is another running favorite. With a turnover of around €300 million (in 2021), the brewery now largely owned by the AB InBev Group is by far the largest local beer producer and market leader.

New site with potential

This status has been earned by CDM’s consistent strategy of growth and continuous increase in capacity. Not so long ago in 2010 a third factory was opened in Nampula in the north of the country in addition to the existing facilities in the capital Maputo and Beira further north up the coast. Just eight years later the foundations were laid for a further greenfield project in Marracuene a few kilometers outside Maputo. Here, production started up with a capacity of 1.6 million hectoliters a year. In view of the fast-growing population and increasing demand for high-quality beer, this rapid development has not yet come to an end, however; the production site has been designed in such a way that it can be easily expanded over the coming years to cope with a capacity of six million hectoliters.

The heart of the new location is a returnable glass line from KHS, on which up to 80,000 550-milliliter bottles per hour can be filled – the format that accounts for about 95% of total sales. This line capacity is extremely high for the African continent, explains Tobias Zeimentz, who as key account manager at KHS is responsible for customer AB InBev the world over. “In this region it’s rare to find more than 40,000 bottles per hour being processed.”

International KHS network

CDM was in a hurry to get its new plant finished. In order to meet the ambitious schedule and supply the various components as quickly as possible, KHS called on its international network. The conveyors thus came from Mexico and the sedimentation tanks from South Africa. The line was to be installed by engineers from Ukraine, Turkey, Mexico and Germany. KHS colleagues from Brazil were then to train personnel on the new machinery as they can communicate with the Mozambicans in their mother tongue Portuguese without any loss of communication. Already at the offer stage the teamwork was excellent: the necessary internal and external coordination processes were triggered in good time and everyone was confident that the formidable timeline could be kept to.

Things did not quite turn out as expected, however. In March 2019 the country was hit by Intense Tropical Cyclone Idai that inflicted heavy damage; over 1,000 people died and almost a million were made homeless. According to estimates by the World Bank, the devastation in Mozambique and the less severely affected neighboring countries of Zimbabwe and Malawi totaled about €1.7 billion in cost.

The region close to the capital was also impacted by this natural catastrophe, resulting in delays to the CDM schedule. The production shop could not be finished on time to accommodate the machines ready for installation. KHS reacted spontaneously and flexibly by making partial deliveries wherever possible. Installation then started in October 2019, although much of the production shop was still little more than a shell. From this point forward, however, all of the deadlines could be met and all those involved were happy. Everybody ultimately had every reason to celebrate when in February 2020 the first bottle was filled on the line.