New €27 million packaging facility announced at Farsons

Farsons, this morning, announced that they will be investing €27 million on a new beer packaging facility, which should be completed by April 2016.

The news was announced at a press conference this morning at the Farsons Brewery in Mriehel in which the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was present, along with parliamentary secretaries Michael Farrugia and Edward Zammit Lewis.

Explaining that with this new facility Farsons will be trebling its exports, Chairman Louis Farrugia said that the purpose of the project is to ensure that Farsons remained competitive by "servicing the local market with packages that are relevant to contemporary consumer preferences."

Furthermore, he said that this would allow the company to increase its exports of beer and non-alcoholic products to nearby markets.

"Our market has and will primarily remain the local one but we are hoping to expand our exports from 6% to 17% by the year 2020 and this will certainly help in this regard," Farrugia said.

On his part, the company's CEO, Norman Aquilina, said that the new facility will have the capacity of filling beer and soft drinks at three times the current rate.

Aquilina said that the new project will bring about "improved quality and productivity along with increased efficiency" and stressed that the benefits the project will create include a reduction of handling costs and improvements in storage conditions and computerization of inventory control.

"This bold investment is critical to Farsons' vision and export led strategy as it will primarily provide the company with the right cost structures to operate and compete more effectively and efficiently on both the local and international market," he said.

"In recent years, this company has taken various strategic decisions to make our brand more competitive, and this is one such strategy," he said.

Citing the fact that last year proved to be one of the most productive years for Farsons, Aquilina said that the company was hoping to make Cisk and local soft drink Kinnie regional brands, as well as local.

Main markets for Kinnie include Libya, the Netherlands and Russia with the company planning to ship its first containers to the Czech Republic and Poland in the coming years.

On his part, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat praised Farsons for its "ambition" and said that this project was "very good news" for the local economy.

"Much like the government, this company is showing that the vision must not only be local or European, but one of an international kind," he said.

Muscat said that it would have been easier for Farsons to remain "in the comfort zone" and remain content with its profits but he commended the Group for showing great courage and for being innovative.