The Spanish brewer Hijos de Rivera, better known under its brand name Estrella Galicia, announced this Thursday to spend BRL2 billion (about USD 360 million) for the construction of its first brewery outside of Spain. The brewery will have a final capacity of 3 million hl of beer which will be executed in two steps of 1.5 million hl each. After finishing the first phase of construction by the end of 2023, the Brazilian production site will be only slightly smaller than the original brewery in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain.
The new brewery will be located in Araraquara, 270 kilometers north -west from the city of São Paulo. In 2017, the Spanish brewer already signed a letter of intent to build a BRL 100 million (USD 31 million) brewery in Pocos de Caldas in the southwestern state Minas Gerais in Brazil.(inside.beer, 14.7.20217).
However, after Brazil’s largest privately owned brewing group Grupo Petrópolis announced to build a brand new USD 200 million brewery in the same state, Estrella Galicia withdrew its plans and looked for a new location. (inide.beer, 26.3.20219)
This time the plans seem to be more serious. Ignacio Rivera, the CEO of Corporación Hijos de Rivera, presented this project at the Palacio dos Bandeirantes, the official seat of the state government in São Paulo accompanied by local authorities including the governor of São Paulo, Joao Doria.
Rivera reaffirmed in his speech the company's firm commitment to the community, which in this case will materialize in the creation of 400 jobs in the new facilities. "The start-up of our factory in Brazil is a dream come true and a historic milestone for our company that we hope will decisively boost our future development in the Americas," he said.
The brewery will focus on sustainable production with zero carbon emissions and works to develop non-packaged beer options, in line with its production in Spain. “In Spain we already develop beer without packaging” and “of course that will be developed here in Brazil. Sustainability is part of our strategy,” reaffirmed Rivera.
