Nestlé Lanka invests Rs.2bn to expand manufacturing capacity of Nestomalt and Milo

From left: Nestlé Lanka Factory Manager Technical Pierre Emmanuel-Morin, Member of Parliament Anura Priyadarshanayapa, Industries and Plantations Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Nestlé Lanka Managing Director Jason Avanceña, Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Dominik Furgler and Board of Investments Director General Renuka Weerakone.
Pix by Pradeep Pathirana 

From left: Member of Parliament Anura Priyadarshanayapa, Industries and Plantations Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Nestlé Lanka Managing Director Jason Avanceña, Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Dominik Furgler and Board of Investments Director General Renuka Weerakone

Nestlé Lanka reaffirms its commitment towards Sri Lanka by investing over Rs.2 billion in its state-of-the-art factory in Kurunegala by building a new vacuum band dryer. 

Aimed at expanding the capacity of its manufacturing facility for malted food, this investment further strengthens the company’s efforts of positively impacting Sri Lanka and its people.

Having started its operations in 1984, today, Nestlé Lanka’s Kurunegala factory manufactures over 90 percent of Nestlé products sold in the country, employing strict quality controls. Standing by the country and its people for over 115 years, the ‘Good food, Good life’ company has become an integral part of Sri Lankan lives and contributes to the livelihoods of more than 25,000 Sri Lankan dairy and coconut farmers and out-growers and provides direct employment to over 800. Over the last five years, the company has consistently invested in the country, amounting to over Rs.6.6 billion.

First of its kind in the local food and beverage industry, the Swiss-designed vacuum band dryer adopts the latest technology and helps the company deliver more of its much-loved brands – Nestlé Nestomalt and Nestlé Milo enriched with Iron and Vitamin D*.

An event was held yesterday to commemorate the inauguration of this project, by laying the foundation stone of the building, which will house the new vacuum band dryer. Held at Nestlé Lanka’s Kurunegala factory, the event was graced by Industries and Plantations Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Dominik Furgler, Member of Parliament Anura Priyadarshanayapa and Board of Investments Director General Renuka Weerakone along with officials from Nestlé Lanka.

Nestlé Lanka Managing Director Jason Avanceña said, “Although this is a challenging time for all of us in Sri Lanka, we believe in the country’s resilience, potential and its future wholeheartedly. We reaffirm our commitment to Sri Lanka and we will continue to invest in our facilities and bring top Swiss-designed technology to cater to the different needs of our consumers in Sri Lanka. On behalf of Nestlé Lanka, it is a great pride for me to announce this investment and expansion of our malted food category.” 

“This investment is testament to our unwavering commitment towards the country and cements our deep roots with Sri Lankans for over 115 years.  We hope to positively contribute to our consumers and communities through this investment, by increasing the production capacity of two of our biggest brands – Nestlé Nestomalt and Milo. We are also happy to share with you that this investment would also allow us to explore the opportunity of expanding our exports to several new markets, beyond the 50 countries we are currently serving, helping us contribute to the generation of foreign currency inflow,” he added.