Simonds Farsons Cisk will invest €27 million in a new beer packaging facility with the aim of trebling its exports.
Chairman Louis Farrugia said the project, which will start in April, is expected to be concluded within two years.
Once completed, Farsons would have invested €80 million over the past eight years, following the opening of the new brewhouse last year.
Mr Farrugia was speaking during a visit by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and parliamentary secretaries for the economy and planning Edward Zammit Lewis and Michael Farrugia.
“We have been totally committed to investing in new facilities to ensure we remain competitive and grow our businesses in our own and other markets,” he said, adding the investment would help Farsons meet its objective of increasing exports of beer and non-alcoholic products.
He said the new facility would allow the company to increase its exports to 17 per cent from the present six per cent of production by 2020.
Farsons last year had one of its best years for exports, sending 371 containers of beer and soft drinks to markets in Europe, the US, Africa and Asia.
Dr Muscat welcomed the new investment and praised the company for thinking outside the box to remain competitive.
He said the government was committed to ensure Maltese companies were competitive. Two ways it was doing so was by cutting bureaucracy and by reducing power tariffs for industry by a quarter next year.
Farsons chief executive Norman Aquilina said the company would soon export its products to Greece, China, Hong Kong and Singapore while the popular soft drink Kinnie was being produced in Australia under licence.
Kinnie’s main export markets included Libya, the Netherlands and Russia and the product would be exported to the Czech Republic and Poland soon.
He said it was also planning on increasing exports to Italy, the company’s strongest market, which last year received a container every week of products all over Italy.
Mr Aquilina said that, with a turnover of €77 million, the company also sought to increase its energy efficiency investing €3 million in photovoltaic panels and a water treatment plant.
By the end of this year, Farsons expected to halve its energy costs for every litre produced.
Mr Aquilina said the new packaging facility was “critical” as it would allow the company to operate more effectively and efficiently. Concurrently, it will be investing in training and increasing the skills of its 800-strong workforce.