Malawi Cheers as Sorghum Carton Company Sees Success

A returnable bottle experiment in Malawi led to sorghum’s success for packaging supplier Nampak Malawi. The packaging supplier has the country’s leading producer of sorghum beer, Chibuku Products Ltd (CPL), on their books.

CPL has a market share of 99%, making Nampak Malawi one of the biggest players in Malawi’s packaging industry, according to FoodForAfrika.com.

According to Chrissy Nyirenda, commercial manager of Nampak Malawi, they have been their carton supplier of choice for their products for much of their shared history.

“If CPL sneezes, Nampak catches a cold – that’s how deeply intertwined each of our business interests are,” says Nyirenda.

Carton packaging celebrated

Nampak Malawi’s conical carton packaging solution for CPL’s fresh sorghum beer product, Chibuku Shake Shake, was recognised as a finalist at the AfriStar 2022 Awards.

“We as Nampak visited the different bars and beer halls to talk to customers about the returnable bottles, and they were deeply unhappy with the packaging choice,” shares Nyirenda.

Exploring sustainable solutions

Under previous ownership, CPL decided to test the feasibility of a returnable plastic bottle solution as an alternative to one-way cartons.

“The previous owners saw this as an alternative to one-way cartons that would allow the business to save on packaging costs by reusing the same bottles over and over,” explains the situation.

However, the challenges that emerged during the trial were unforeseen.

Back to basics

“The low sales and customer feedback told us that the market wanted Chibuku Shake Shake to return to cartons,” Nyirenda states, emphasising the impact of consumer perception on the decision to revert to carton packaging.

“The turnaround has been positively overwhelming, and we couldn’t have asked for a better result. Brewery sales are now trending towards an all-time record high,” expresses Nyirenda.