(Business in Cameroon) - Today, November 15, 2019, Cameroonian minister of industry Dodo Ndocké is inaugurating the new facilities of local glass-making company SOCAVER in Douala, the country's economic capital.

A subsidiary of SABC group, leader of the brewing market in Cameroon, SOCAVER invested the tune of XAF5.3 billion for the renovation of its number 2 oven, and construction of a PET preform production workshop.

“With this investment, SOCAVER now has a workshop with two preform production lines with a capacity of 300 million preforms per year. This will enable the production of bottles of different sizes and colours  (35 cl, 100 cl, 150 cl, etc.),” SOCAVER explains.  

“This investment, made in a difficult context, is part of SOCAVER's strategic plan launched in 2018 by the general management, in order to make the company a real expert in packaging (Ed.note: glass bottles, plastic crates, and preforms), oriented towards a greater diversification of its businesses,” the company adds.

By launching the production of PET preforms, SOCAVER, the only glass factory in the CEMAC Zone, is thus completing its range of products (glass and PET) to satisfy the PET beverage (soft drinks, mineral water) segment’s packaging needs in Cameroon and neighbouring countries such as Equatorial Guinea, Chad and the Central African Republic.

In addition, thanks to its crate production workshop created in 2014, SOCAVER, the company 28% owned by the Société Nationale d'investissements (SNI) and private Cameroonians, also has an annual production capacity of 2 million plastic crates (12 and 24 holes). At the same time, with the renovation of furnace No. 2, SOCAVER’s yearly glass melting capacity has increased from 32,500 to 38,500 tonnes.

Brice R. Mbodiam