Food & Beverages
The North West’s varied and plentiful agricultural production supports a lively food and beverages sector.
The North West’s rich agricultural bounty makes it a natural site for producers of food and beverages. The fact that a huge market for finished products lies close by in the densely populated province of Gauteng is an additional incentive to manufacturers. Food, beverages and tobacco products account for almost a fifth (19.5%) of total manufacturing production in the North West, second only to non-metallic
mineral products.
Sunflower-seed crushing and refining takes place at Lichtenburg where Epko has one of the country’s biggest operations. Citrus and other fruits produced in the north-eastern parts of the province make it ideal for fruit-juice production. Magalies Citrus operates on a farm and plant near Brits, while Juice for Africa has its headquarters in Klerksdorp.
Rustenburg has a variety of food and fruit-processing concerns, including the processing plant of one of South Africa’s biggest chicken processors, Rainbow Chickens.
Potchefstroom is another centre with a thriving food and beverages component. One of United National Breweries’ eight national plants is based in the town, UNB Tlokwe, and it produces a range of popular sorghum beers under labels like Ijuba, Joburg Beer and Country Brew. Giant food producer Tiger Brands produces its King Korn sorghum products in Potchefstroom and the city has various other cereal and soya protein producers.
One of the southern hemisphere’s biggest diversified agricultural and agri-processing companies is Senwes. From its headquarters in Klerksdorp, the company controls silos with a capacity to store 4.6 million tons, which is more than a quarter of South Africa’s commercial capacity. About 30% of the country’s oil-seeds and grain passes through the company’s systems in the course of an average year.
Klerksdorp is also the location of one of the three maize mills that Sasko operates in South Africa and a distribution centre for Coca-Cola. Other Coca-Cola distribution outlets occur in Rustenburg, Carletonville and Mafikeng.
