Nestlé Brazil expands with beverage factory

Nestle continues to invest in Brazil with the opening of a new CHF83 million (EUR67.2m) beverage factory in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The factory, located in the city of Tres Rios, will create more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs. It is Nestle’s 31st factory in Brazil and its third in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The new factory in Tres Rios will supply Rio de Janeiro and the states of Minas Gerais, Esperito Santo and Sao Paulo. Ivan Zurita, CEO of Nestle Brazil, said at the opening ceremony: “This factory will allow us to supply the market in Rio de Janeiro and the states of south east Brazil even more efficiently.”

Initially the new factory in Tres Rios will produce UHT milk for Nestle’s Ninho and Molico brands, and soy-based product Sollys. It will start to produce Nescau ready-to-drink chocolate milk in 200ml and one litre formats in 2012. Production lines for Nestle Fast, a ready-to-drink beverage range sold under the brands Alpino, Nescau, Neston and Molico, will also be introduced next year.

When fully operational, the factory will have a total annual production capacity of 124,000 tonnes. The factory will receive around 200,000 litres of milk per day from about 400 local farmers. Nestle is a major milk buyer in Brazil, purchasing 2.2 billion litres in 2010. Its supply network includes more than 40,000 direct and indirect milk producers.