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The company’s general manager for marketing and corporate affairs, Mr Themba Sibanda, said production volumes of the one litre “Shake Shake” had been reduced to 20 percent of normal as the company could not source enough packaging material.
“We have not suspended production but merely reduced it as a result of the shortage of packaging material from our supplier company Conipak in Zambia and Malawi. This means that there will be one litre product shortages in the market since we are operating at 20 percent capacity,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said there were paper shortages not only in the region but throughout the world resulting in challenges of paper imports from abroad.
“We are facing shortages in the region of packaging material which is affecting the production of the traditional beer.
Our executive team has already engaged Conipak to come up with measures to solve the problem so as to keep up with delivery deadlines of packaging material,” said Mr Sibanda.
The company gets its packaging material from Conipak based in Malawi and Zambia, which is the largest supplier of conical shaped packaging material used to store traditional beer.
“Our teams are working hard to increase the production of two litre calabash product in order to close the market gap.
“We are aware of the challenge we are facing since shake shake is in a different segment from the two litre calabash since it has a unique market appeal,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said the Ingwebu Breweries sales and revenue would take a dip in the coming months due to the market gap created by the shortage of Shake Shake, a product which is in high demand.
Shake Shake gets its name from the vigorous shaking the pack must undergo before the drinker can enjoy the beer.
“As things stand, we can expect paper supplies to normalise before November.
“We hope to increase production before the festive season commences so as to maximise sales,” said Mr Sibanda.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter