Dabur to build beverage unit in Sri Lanka

Indian fast-moving consumer goods company Dabur plans to construct a Rs700m ($14.04m) facility to manufacture fruit-based beverages in Gampaha, Sri Lanka.

Dabur India CEO Sunil Duggal said that the demand for the company’s fruit-based juices and beverages under the ‘Real’ brand has been reporting strong growth.

"As continued high growth is also expected in the future, we are setting up this new facility to augment our production capacity for fruit-based beverages," Duggal said.

Taking advantage of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, the company plans to use the new plant to cater the south Indian market.

The new facility will be export-orientated and will produce 2.8 lakh cases of fruit-based beverages every month, each of which will consist of 12 one-litre packs.

The facility, which will span over 50 acres, is expected to start operation iby September 2012.

Currently, Dabur has 17 manufacturing facilities in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Dubai, Egypt, Turkey, Ras-al-Khaimah and Nigeria.