Nairobi Bottlers Limited (NBL) is set to launch a new plastic bottling line plant on Wednesday 11th July 2012 in the company’s Embakasi Premises. The market giant projects that the new plant will be capable of producing 7 million cases annually, 2 million more than the current plant that churns out 5 million cases. However, local manufacturers of plastic bottles said the prices of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) a raw material for plastic bottles had increased 74 per cent from $1150(Kshs 95000) per tonne to $2000(160000) per tonne in the last 12 months.

The growth of NBL has been sustained and unprecedented, thus leaving the company with a rather steep supply deficit, given that the company is Kenya’s sole national producer of PET bottled beverage. This is what forced them to temporarily import Dasani from Tanzania to satisfy the intense consumer demand in the local market.

To respond to this situation, NBL has invested Kshs 1.26 billion in acquiring and commissioning a new bottling line. The capital investment is part of a larger Kshs 4.2 billion budget for the current financial year. This is projected to strengthen the company’s position, with the ability to serve the constantly rising consumer demand notwithstanding.

The Minister for Trade Moses Wetang’ula is expected to preside over the inauguration of the $ 15(Kshs 1.26 Billion) line.

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