Kerry’s US$36M South African facility to reinvigorate forgotten traditional dishes

10 May 2022 --- Taste and nutrition industry titan Kerry has opened its largest facility on the African continent, a 10,000 square-meters factory constructed with a price tag of US$36 million. The facility is in line with the company’s strategy to provide sustainable food and advanced taste solutions.

“The F&B industry in Africa is bursting with new microtrends – mainly around traditional foods and flavors with a modern taste,” Paul Hewitt, VP for Sub Saharan African Kerry Group, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“These include the rise of smoke-type flavors into snack foods, meats, seasonings, sauces and cheeses, to reinvigorate often ignored or forgotten traditional dishes.”

“More than understanding consumer taste, we are committed to predicting global and regional trends and innovating with our customers. Leading the industry toward the next generation of sustainable African food and nutrition.” 

The facility will advance Kerry’s its F&B production capacity by 40% to 40,000 tons per annum, expecting to reach 50,000 tons in a future expansion.

Local-inspired beverages will be another focus of the facility, reveals Hewitt.

“Tapping into the rich archive of African remedies, the Kerry beverage team has partnered with an energy drink customer to transform traditional African botanical into an accessible, desirable energy drink offering. Shaping functional health to the needs of South Africa consumers.”

Kerry will focus on modernizing traditional food and beverages for local African consumers (Credits: Kerry).Green efforts
Situated in Hammarsdale, this new facility is one of the company’s most environmentally efficient, according to Kerry. With multiple modern features such as low energy usage equipment, solar power generation, waste heat capture and the effective water capture, reuse and recycle. 

Pegged as a “state-of-the-art” manufacturing facility, the plant ensures Kerry can continue to work with customers on offerings that are environmentally friendly and respectful of the planet. This is in line with Innova Market Insights Top Ten Trends for 2022, Shared Planet. 

The South African facility is the latest example of Kerry’s sharpened focus on sustainability.

In January, the company spoke to FoodIngredientsFirst about its latest solutions to enable cleaner label preservation to prevent food waste.

Strengthening logistics
South Africa, is a strategic enclave for Kerry to ship its products across all of Africa. The country is in an ideal position to service East, Central as well as West Africa.

“By manufacturing more products locally, we are more agile to ensure continuous supply and speed to market,” highlights Hewitt.

Kerry is also expanding its development and application center in Kenya to further support customers, specifically in East Africa and the development of sustainable food processing for the continent.

Expanding while pushing-through inflationKerry acquired this February, c-LEcta, a German biotechnology innovation company.
Despite inflation headwinds, the Ireland-headquartered taste and nutrition company continues its international expansion efforts. Its Q1 financial overview reflected a significant increase in manufacturing costs, which resulted in the factory raising its taste and nutrition business prices by 4.6%. Its dairy business in Ireland and the UK increased prices in the double digits, by 18.7%. 

Despite this, Kerry grew its revenue in food-related-end-use markets by 8.1% and is expecting to grow its adjusted earnings per share, in 2022, between 5 to 9%. Especially noteworthy was Kerry’s business performance in emerging markets, where it achieved substantial growth across all regions, with overall volume growth of 14.4%.

One example of this international focus is Kerry’s acquisition of the food manufacturer Almer, a Malaysia-based dairy business, expanding its footprint in South-East Asia. 

Furthermore back in European markets, this February, Kerry acquired 92% of the share capital of c-LEcta, a German biotechnology innovation company working to optimize the bioprocessing and biotransformation to create targeted enzymes and ingredients, expanding its capabilities in the precision fermentation sector.

Earlier in the year, Kerry invested US$90 million in its largest facility in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT) region. Building a 21,500-square-foot facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to produce healthy, well-being and sustainable food in the country.

By Marc Cervera