Beer producer Constellation Brands has announced that it will invest $1bn in the expansion of a production facility in Mexico.

The investment will increase the capacity of the plant, in the northern state of Coahuila, from 10m to 25m hectolitres. The expansion will allow the brewer to continue driving growth within the Mexican beer category in the US market, pushing the value of the country’s beer exports – currently $1.5bn – increasingly higher.

Constellation operates a number of well-known beer brands in the region, including Corona Extra, Corona Light and Modelo Especial.

“As more consumers in the US have turned away from longtime favourites such as Budweiser and Coors, Mexican beers have enjoyed a boost and now account for 15% of US sales,” said Forbes Magazine’s Nathaniel Parish Flannery.

Constellation Brands vice president of external relations Edgar Guillaumin said: “Imported beer and craft beer is growing a lot in the US. We want to promote Mexican premium brands in the US market, so we will concentrate on beer, where we have aggressive growth plans.”

Earlier this month, we announced that Dutch brewing giant Heineken was investing $470m in a new production facility in the north of the country – its seventh in just five years – to meet increasing domestic demand for brands such as Sol, Indio and Tecate.

Source | FoodBev.com