Castel Set To Harvest First Wine Crop

Privately owned French wine company Castel expects to produce its first wine crop in Ethiopia in 2010 after planting vines spanning about 125 hectares in May 2008. Castel expects to begin construction work on a production and bottling plant this year with the investment coming on stream in 2011. Although low disposable incomes dictate that the formal wine industry remains a peripheral contributor to alcoholic drinks volumes across most of Sub-Saharan Africa, bracketed together, Castel's target markets, which in addition to the populous Ethiopia (about 90mn) include Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, provide a significant and arguably underserviced market for wine.

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