Brewing on the rise
pp. 30-31 · Read in the full issue
SOUTH PACIFIC brewing has
expanded rapidly in recent
years, with beer being pro duced in many territories that once imported almost all their needs.
Now Western Samoa and Papua New Guinea are both to have new breweries one in Apia (an ex pansion of a local soft drink bot tler) and one in PNG, which will involve a major investment by a Danish brewing company.
Western Samoa Breweries Ltd, which produces the Vailima export lager and San Miguel under li cence, is to be joined in the local
market by Apia Bottling Company
(ABC). The latter company, found ed in 1966, has supplied Western Samoa with soft drinks, extract cor dials, party ice and fruit juice, as well as exporting purees from pas sionfruit, mango, papaya and bana nas. It had tried to start a brewing
operation in 1968 but the then gov ernment had refused a licence, says ABC general manager Mr Dick
Carpenter.
Current growth in the local mar ket has provided an opportunity for a second brewery, ana the mini
brewery (which is oeing imported
from the USA) can turn out six brews a day, each of which will pro duce 2400 litres. About 70 per cent of the output will be in the form of
lager beer in medium and large bottles, with draught beer available
in kegs.
Because all the bottles are sold on a returnable basis, Apia Bottling will be confining its sales to the domestic market. Mr Carpenter says the company will be selling a traditional beer without additives or sugar and will promote it as a
quality product. The brewery was
Purchased from Red Hook Ale rewery in Seattle, and will initially
employ about 20 people.
The agreement to permit the construction of a brewery at Kero wagi, in the Simbu Province of Papua New Guinea, was due to be
signed in early May. The Danish
company Danbrew Consult will put up most of the Kl 7 million cost of the new Highlands Brewery while each of the provinces involved (Southern Highlands, Simbu, East ern Highlands, Enga and Western Highlands) will each pay K 300,000.
There had previously oeen differ ing opinions about whether the brewery should go ahead; for ex
ample, Southern Highlands Pre
mier Yaungtine Koromba had pre viously opposed any rush decision on the establishment of the brew ery, as had Egna premier Ned Laina. The reluctant premiers accepted the argument that they would need other Highland pro vinces to support future projects in their areas.