No maltery for Heineken

Artist's impression of the new Heineken brewery.

The original report, published by the Sowetan and carried by I-Net Bridge and Bizcommunity.com, stated that Heineken director for business and legal affairs Peralt van der Merwe said the company was negotiating with a major corporation to build the barley malting plant.

In a statement sent out today, Heineken has refuted this, saying it will not build or be investing in a maltery in South Africa.

However, a major South African investment group is planning to build a maltery in proximity to the Sedibeng brewery, and this consortium will be the owner of the plant, not Heineken.

Heineken has confirmed that it is in talks with this investment company about a minimum volume take-out guarantee from the soon-to-built maltery.

In the statement, the brewer said that with its new brewery currently being built, it will need malt for the beer production. Where possible, the company's aim is to support the local economy/environment. By buying malt from a soon-to-be built local maltery, it would be supporting this aim. Being able to buy malt locally is also more sustainable; it is more efficient (less travel and packaging), ensures quicker delivery and in line with this, it secures a good quality of the end product.