Ethiopian-U.S. investors plan $37 milliion brewery

EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, more beer is what the people of Ethiopia need now. What a bunch of idiots.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A newly established Ethiopian-U.S. investment group said on Tuesday it was building a $37 million brewery at Maichew, in the northern Tigray region.

Michael Gebre Mariam, chairman of the Ethio-American Investment Group, told reporters production would start by the end of 2010, and that the facility would have the capacity to produce 30 million litres of “Raya Beer” every year.

He said the site had been chosen because of a suitable water source nearby, and that the company planned to grow barley on 15 hectares of land it bought adjacent to the brewery.

The Ethio-American Investment Group, which has its headquarters in Duluth, Georgia, was set up this year by 25 Americans of Ethiopian origin, he said.