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MOHA (Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi) Soft Drinks
Industry SC placed an order to Sidel, a company
based in France, for 6.5 million euros (nine million
dollars) worth of plastic bottle manufacturing
machinery as part of the expansion of its existing
factory. An additional 1.5 million euros (2.08
million dollars) has been allocated for the civil
work of the new plant, which will be constructed in
the factory compound in the Samit area of the Bole
District.
“The money has been availed by Mohammed Hussein Ali
Al-Amoudi’s account outside Ethiopia,” said Getachew
Birbo, CEO of MOHA.
The new machines are expected to be delivered by May
2010. It will be installed at the existing factory
facility.
The factory expansion was planned in response to the
national economic growth and the preference of
consumers in rural areas and large scale farms and
construction projects for plastic bottles, Getachew
said.
The purchase of the machinery was approved by Al-Amoudi,
after he approved the company’s corresponding study.
MOHA already has plastic bottle manufacturing
machinery which manages 2,500 to 3,000 bottles an
hour, according to Getachew.
“The new machine will produce 14,500 bottles an hour
in one, 1.5 and 2.5 litre capacities,” he said. Of
the products 80pcs will be used for soft drinks and
the rest for Kool [brand] water.”
The company’s products include Mirinda, Pepsi, 7 Up,
Mirinda Tonic, Mirinda Apple, Kool and Bure Water.
It has an annual capacity to produce 27 million
crates of soft drinks. Kool is now limited to the
Sheraton and a number of other hotels while the
market for Bure Water is in the Amhara Regional
State and the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz
Regional State. MOHA plans to expand the market for
Kool beyond its current level.
MOHA was established in 1996 by acquiring Pepsi-Cola
plants from the government in the same year at a
total cost of 111.8 million Br (17.5 million dollars
at the exchange rate of the time).
In 2007, the company inaugurated another plant in
Hawassa Town in the Southern Nations, Nationalities
and Peoples Regional (SNNPR) State, which it erected
at a total cost of 127 million Br. MOHA now has four
plants in Dessie, Bure, Addis Abeba and Hawassa. |
Production to skyrocket from about 3,000 to 14,500 bottles
per hour