PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Dutch brewer Heineken
announced Friday that it is investing $100 million in its Haiti
production plant that makes the popular lager Prestige.
The
relatively large investment is significant because many international
companies have been reluctant to spend money in Haiti because of a
business climate hampered by red tape, allegations of corruption and a
flimsy infrastructure.
But Jose Matthijsse, general director of
the National Brewery of Haiti that Heineken owns, said the Dutch company
is eager to invest more in the Caribbean country because political
stability and cooperation have improved under the current government.
Heineken
purchased the Haitian brewery in 2011, and owns 95 percent of the
company that produces Prestige. The remaining 5 percent is held by
Diageo Ireland, the company that makes Guinness stout.
About
one-fifth of the new investment has already gone toward construction of a
second 24,300-square-foot (2,260) production line that opened December
in the same facility in Port-au-Prince. The addition will allow the
brewery to double output, for 40,000 more cases of Prestige and other
beverages produced every day.
The new production line has also enabled the brewery to introduce a 16-ounce bottle of Prestige.
The
rest of the investment will be used to further increase lager
production, manufacture more bottles and to purchase items such as
trucks and generators.
The brewery has long been limited in how
much lager it produces by the number of the signature amber-hued bottles
available at any one time. People tend to buy the lager in bulk because
it’s cheaper that way, which can delay the return of bottles for
deposit.
Because the bottles can be returned, the brewery has
often limited its past production based on how many containers are
available. Past manufacturing of new bottles has never been enough to
make up for the losses.
"All Haitians know that at times their
favorite beer, Prestige, is not available for consumption," Matthijsse
said. "And that has been a frustration over the past years … So it was
about time that the capacity be increased."
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