East African Business Week (Kampala)
Edris Kisambira
26 November 2007
Britania Allied Industries Limited have expanded production capacity three-fold at a cost of US$9 million to address galloping demand for their products in Uganda and the adjacent markets of East Africa, DR Congo and southern Sudan.
Britania Industries, part of the House of Dawda group of companies makes the very popular Splash juice and are into biscuits and confectionaries.
The expansion in capacity at Britania means the Ntinda-based firm will require more fruits (passion fruits, mangos, oranges and pineapples) to operate optimally - some opportunity for the farmers.
"We have a lot of fruit we are buying. But the expanded capacity means we will be looking to buy more fruit," Mr. Hasmukh Dawda, the chairman House of Dawda said. "We are exporting Splash and it is doing very well. We have tripled capacity to address the growing demand."
Today, the company exports juice to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, DR Congo, Burundi and Southern Sudan. Of the $9 million investment, some $2 million went into improving packaging, which is at par with international standards.
Dawda said both the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) markets are expanding and that the expansion that Britania has just invested in will stand the company in good stead.
Uganda is proving to be a gateway to the Great Lakes region markets and with a favourable investment climate, existing manufacturers are expanding capacity or building entirely new plants while new investments are coming on board. Britania's expansion according to Dawda has turned the House of Dawda into the largest confectionaries and juices maker in the region, having acquired Kenyan confectionaries firm, House of Manji in 2003.
Britania has doubled capacity for its biscuits and confectionaries arm of the business while capacity for juice has been increased four times from 500,000 litres of Splash juice to 2 million litres. The expanded plant has a production capacity of 8 million litres of juice.
Britania is also looking at exporting its Splash juice to the European Union and the US, having applied to the US Food and Drug and Administration for clearance. While the markets demand for these products, Dawda said there are challenges like transportation from the sea for some of the company's inputs like packaging material, which is imported from South Africa.
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