The beverage manufacturer launched its most modern line for candocking cans at its plant in Sonsonate.
The Central America Bottling Corporation (cbc), the largest exporter of the sector in El Salvador, has earmarkedabout $100 million to strengthen its production capacityn in the Salvadoran square.
“We have made investments of about $50 million in the previous five years and we have a similar investment for the next four years,” Cbc’s director of corporate affairs, Rosa María de Frade, told Diario El Mundo.
The cbc plant,Livsmart, located in Sonsonante, is the largest of Guatemalan Grupo Mariposa, founded in 1885 as a manufacturer of artisanal drinks. He is currently Pepsi’s official bottler, with a portfolio that also includes the brands of Petit, California, Gatorade, Pepsi, AMP, Lipton and Aqua.
Livsmart has 16 beverage production lines in PET plastic presentations (transparent bottles), can and tetrapack (ducks). Soon, the company will announce the investment in a new line for filling drinks in cans, which will be the most modern in Central America, Frade said.
With this line of can, imports of Pepsi and Salutaris, as well as from the Beliv portfolio, will be replaced. The company will gradually increase its production capacity to start in 2025 to export from the new plant.
Do we seek to replace imports with local production and even export. We believe that it is very important for El Salvador, for all countries, to strengthen its local production and export capacity, the executive said.
The beverage giant exports from El Salvador to more than 30 countries. The last destinations to join the dispatch route are Spain, Italy, China and Venezuela.
Are Salvadoran iconic brands, such as Petit and California, arrive. In the case of Florida (EE. The nectar Petit is one of the market leaders. They are flavors that have the Salvadoran essence and that are appreciated and recognized in more than 30 countries around the world, said the executive.
cbc distributes the brands of Petit, California, Gatorade, Pepsi, AMP, Lipton and Aqua. /Francisco Valle
Leader of exports
Livsmart has been placed for 14 consecutive years as the biggest exporter of drinks, according to the ranking of exporters prepared by the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists (ASI). “We are talking not only about the volume, but about the emblematic brands and the number of countries we are covering,” he added of Frade.
In the report prepared by the ISA, presented in July 2024, the company detailed that 100 % of the energy consumed by the Sonsonate plant comes from renewable sources as part of its plan to become carbon neutral. In addition, solar panels will be installed in the coming months.
Citing data from the Central Reserve Bank (BCR), the ISA detailed in this report that the gross production of beverage processing exceeded $797 million in 2021, with a growth of 25.9 % and a contribution of 78% to the industrial sector.
At the end of 2023, the beverage sector exported more than $189.4 million, with a growth of $23.3 million (14 %) compared to 2022. 63 per cent of shipments correspond to carbonated drinks and sodas, while 21.6 % is water, mineral water and gassed water. 9.8 % corresponds to juices, 3 % beers, and 9.8 % to coffee-based preparations.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo