Supporting local agriculture and long-term economic growth
From left to right: Millicent Maroga – Corporate Affairs Director at HEINEKEN Beverages, Jeremy Antier – Managing Director Soufflet Malt South Africa, Al Bukhari Fournier – CFO of Soufflet Malt, Thierry Blandinieres – Invivo Group CEO, Johan Van Zyl – Supply Chain Director at HEINEKEN Beverages, Senior Manager, Programme & Strategic Projects at HEINEKEN Beverages, Guillaume Couture – President of EMEA
A key component of the investment is its focus on farmer development and inclusive participation.
Since 2018, Soufflet Malt and Heineken Beverages have been working with both commercial and emerging farmers to build a reliable local barley supply.
This groundwork has included agronomy programmes offering training, mentoring and commercial support to help farmers adopt best-practice methods and consistently produce high-quality barley at scale.
Through a partnership with Heineken Beverages and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), emerging farmers will also have access to funding for agricultural equipment.
Heineken Beverages managing director Jordi Borrut said the malthouse demonstrates the brewer’s global Brew a Better World 2030 strategy in action.
He said sourcing barley locally and producing malt alongside the brewery would reduce imports, cut transport emissions and build a more resilient, lower-carbon supply chain, while supporting local agriculture and long-term economic growth.
The IDC said the investment would help deepen South Africa’s agricultural and industrial value chains while enabling black emerging farmers to participate meaningfully in high-value markets.
The development is expected to contribute to job creation and rural development, particularly in barley-producing regions such as the North West.
The choice of Midvaal as the site for the R2 billion facility is also notable. The local municipality is widely regarded as the best-run in Gauteng, having maintained a clean audit since the 2019/20 financial year.
According to the Auditor-General of South Africa, Midvaal has achieved clean audits for eleven consecutive years, an uncommon level of consistency in local government.
A clean audit means the municipality’s financial statements contain no material errors and that its reporting is compliant with legislation, providing a measure of how well it manages public funds and basic administration.
Midvaal forms part of the Sedibeng District Municipality and is home to just over 112,000 residents across towns including Meyerton, Randvaal, Daleside, Henley-on-Klip, Walkerville and De Deur.
