The small industrial town of Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal is poised to become the coffee capital of southern Africa following a R1.2-billion investment by Switzerland-based multinational Nestle.
Yesterday Nestle SA, which owns brands such as Nescafe, Ricoffy and Cremora, officially commissioned its 90-year-old coffee and beverage factory in Estcourt as part of its R2.9-billion foreign direct investment programme over five years.
The event also marked its 100th year of operations in the country.
The plant is Nestle's biggest investment on the continent. It features a new Elgron 5 dry-spraying machine, the largest in the world, producing about 3.2t of coffee powder an hour.
The investment will increase the capacity of the Nescafe and Ricoffy brands, and meet the growing consumer demand for coffee in the region.
It has eight manufacturing factories in the country.
Nestle's corporate affairs director in South Africa, Ravi Pillay, said: "Today [yesterday] is the culmination of a five-year investment process. Our plan and vision was to increase the capacity and volumes out of our production facilities, including our coffee and beverage factory."
Nestle SA imports its coffee beans from Vietnam.
The R2.9-billion foreign direct investment has been directed to the construction of a water-treatment plant in Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape, an upgrading of the Estcourt coffee processing plant and the installation of the dry-spraying machine. It has created 490 indirect and permanent jobs.
Nestle SA procures about R6-billion worth of local supplies, with 95% of its products locally produced.
The company has created about 6000 jobs.
MEC for agriculture in the province Cyril Xaba said the R2-billion investment is a sign that foreign investors still had confidence in the province.
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