Nestle has confirmed that it intends to continue to invest in growing its business in the Egyptian market, where it expects to report double-digit growth in 2016.
The company has invested around EGP100bn (US$12.8bn) in Egypt over the past five years and a spokesperson for the group told just-food that it anticipates “similar investments” in the coming years. “This proves Nestle’s commitment to the Egyptian market and the importance of its large scale labour and consumer potential. For Nestle, Egypt is and will continue to be an important centre for trade and production,” the spokesperson explained.
Nestle’s investments in Egypt have spanned “multiple fronts”, with the largest share of spending going behind building out manufacturing and distribution. The company has built three “state of the art” factories, where the group produces and packs products in the culinary, confectionery, chocolate powder, infant cereal, ice cream and wafer categories.
This spending pattern – with a focus on manufacturing and distribution – is likely to continue over the next five- to ten-years, the spokesperson revealed.
Nestle, like other companies operating in Egypt, has had to grapple with a shortage of forex. Nevertheless, the company has been able to expand its operations over the past year, the spokesperson said. “With our business model whereby we export and locally source a considerable amount of raw and packaging material, we have managed to grow our businesses in 2015 and have not been forced to reduce our scope.”
In the coming year, the spokesperson confirmed that Nestle anticipates further growth from its Egyptian business. “The company has been doing well, and we expect our numbers in 2016 to be even better with our upcoming initiatives, continued innovation and market developments and we are expecting double digit growth.”
