Watercom invests in two PET lines from KHS

With consistently high annual growth rates of five to almost eight per cent since 2000, Tanzania is one of the most dynamic markets in sub-Saharan Africa. The population of the East African country is growing rapidly, as is the urban middle class - especially in the urban regions. This holds opportunities, especially for the food and beverage industry, which has been expanding for years.

One of the large corporate groups is the Oilcom Group, which is based in the former capital Dar es Salaam. A few years ago, Oilcom added water to its portfolio with the Afya brand. This market is developing rapidly, in no other African country today is more packaged water drunk per capita than in Tanzania. The specially founded subsidiary Watercom focuses on high quality and sees the use of modern high-tech from Europe as a unique selling point.

„The country is a hugely important market for us. Over the past two years, we have sold most of our lines here in the East Africa sales region - both to large companies and to smaller suppliers who are increasingly entering the market. PET lines are particularly in demand: plastic bottles are the most affordable for local consumers. As is common in Tanzania, beverage producers are striving for a high degree of self-sufficiency by not only producing the containers themselves, but also preforms and caps, for example.“

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Denise Schneider-Walimohamed, Managing Director of KHS East Africa

Watercom installs the first KHS line for water and carbonated soft drinks in 2017. It can fill up to 40,000 bottles per hour with a volume of 0.5 litres. The line comprises all components from the syrup room to the stretch blow-mould filling block and labeller to the packer and palletiser. The latter are rather unusual in Africa, where palletising is usually done manually, if at all, due to low personnel costs and lower line outputs. As an additional service, the experts from the Bottles & Shapes service programme contribute a material-saving bottle design for various formats, which makes a significant contribution to branding.