Sidel opens South Africa office

Packaging equipment supplier The Sidel Group has created a subsidiary in South Africa to provide expanded service to its customers from the Southern part of the African continent.

The new Sidel South Africa office in Johannesburg will open will on October 12.

“Sidel has been present for 30 years in South Africa, through our agent. Now is the time to go further,” said Mart Tiismann, Sidel president and CEO. “Establishing our own local company is a first step in strengthening our local presence for greater responsiveness and stronger support to our local customers.”

The Johannesburg-based company will support all countries in Southern Africa, including Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Sidel says Southern Africa represents a growing market in all types of beverage businesses that Sidel serves, including carbonated soft drinks (CSD), beer, and converters. According to England-based market research firm Euromonitor, 3.5 billion liters of beer and 4 billion liters of CSD were consumed in South Africa in 2009. Looking forward, forecasts for 2010 to 2014 point to a compound annual growth rate for beer of 5.4 per cent, while for carbonated beverages it’s expected to be 1.6 per cent.