According to The Star, Del Monte Kenya has invested 580 million Kenyan Shillings in a new fresh fruit packing facility which will have a processing capacity of 60 tonnes of fresh fruit per year.
The new facility being constructed within Del Monte Kenya’s plantation, is scheduled to be completed in August 2019 and will expand the company’s production of avocados, mangoes, passion fruits, and pineapple fruit juices.
Managing Director of Del Monte; Stergios Gkaliamoutsas, said, “Del Monte Kenya plans to source fruit from local and regional growers in Murang’a and Kiambu Counties, we will prepare and package the products from the new facility for both local and international markets,”.
Stergios added that, the expansion drive is the Del Monte’s way of celebrating 70 years of operations in Kenya.
Del Monte’s Managing Director; Stergios Gkaliamoutsas said, “From the moment we embarked on our relationship with Kenya, just after the country gained its independence, we have been proud to make investments in the people and prosperity of Kenya as a nation,”.
The new fresh fruit packing facility, is expected to create 200 new jobs.
Del Monte Kenya currently employs over 6,500 employees and creates additional 28,000 jobs indirectly via its activities.
Del Monte Kenya houses half of its workforce within its premises.
Stergios Gkaliamoutsas made it known that Del Monte is supporting the realisation of Kenya’s Big Four Agenda for agro processing, local cultivation, and full value added support for manufacturing and food security, adding that “We are looking forward to continuing to demonstrate the many ways in which Del Monte Kenya can be a valued, respected, responsible corporate citizen of the Republic of Kenya, its economy, and the well-being of all its citizens’’.
