Castel inaugurates US$29M distillery in Côte d’Ivoire to cut import dependency

CÔTE D’IVOIRE – Castel Group has inaugurated a new distillery at the SUCAF Côte d’Ivoire site, a subsidiary of Groupe Somdia, representing a €27 million (US$29.4 million) investment to produce edible alcohol from locally sourced molasses.

The facility will produce up to 12 million litres of edible alcohol annually, using molasses from domestic sugar production.

Consequently, Castel aims to reduce dependence on imported alcohol and strengthen local industrial integration. The distillery will create approximately 100 direct jobs and 300 indirect positions, with particular attention to hiring young Ivorians.

“This is an important step for the group, but also for our vision of industry in Africa: producing locally, making the most of available resources, strengthening sectors and creating more value as close as possible to the territories,” Castel’s CEO Gregory Clerc announced.

The inauguration illustrates the company’s commitment to entrepreneurship and local development across the continent.

Castel’s history in Côte d’Ivoire runs deep. Solibra CI, the group’s local beverage unit, currently employs more than 2,000 direct staff and serves more than 100,000 points of sale nationwide.

In addition, the new distillery marks a complementary chapter, bridging Castel’s traditional beverage operations with Somdia’s broader agro-industrial ambitions.

For West African stakeholders in the fresh produce and logistics sectors, this move signals several trends. First, local processing of agricultural by-products into high-value inputs reduces reliance on volatile global supply chains.

Second, vertical integration from sugarcane to edible alcohol creates a predictable demand for local farmers, thereby stabilizing rural economies.

Third, import substitution for alcohol previously shipped from Europe or Asia cuts freight costs and leads times by weeks.

Industry data indicate that Côte d’Ivoire imported approximately US$85 million of industrial alcohol in 2025. Therefore, Castel’s new distillery could replace up to 40% of that volume within two years, preserving foreign exchange and providing a template for other Agri-processors across Francophone Africa.

Furthermore, the facility demonstrates how beverage multinationals can pivot from bottling imported concentrates to building genuine local manufacturing ecosystems.

For investors, the lesson is clear: agro-industrial integration reduces risk, secures the supply, and builds durable competitive models.

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