Meta Abo Brewery is located in the town of Sebata, 27 km from Addis Ababa. The brewery was established in 1963 by the Ethiopian Government and Ethiopian private nationals as a share company with a starting capital base of 2 million Birr. Initially, the production capacity of the brewery was 50,000 hl. per annum. In 1970 the first expansion program took place, and the annual production capacity was raised to 120,000 hl. Later on, in 1980, the second expansion program was carried out. As a result of this program, the attainable production capacity reached 350,000 hl. Meta has been transformed into a share company with 83.28 million Birr paid in share capital as at December 31, 1998. The company has 83,284 ordinary shares with a par value of Birr 1000.00 each fully owned by the government.
It is the only brewery which gets water from a big reserve of soft spring water (locally known as holy water of St. Abo). The spring water meets the international brew standard to be used without any treatment.
The brewery produces bottled and draught beer. Bottled beer is supplied to all markets in the country, while draught beer is supplied to the city of Addis Ababa and the towns located within 120 km from Addis Ababa. The brewery has a liaison office and distribution center in Addis Ababa. The total land holding of the brewery is 369,000 m 2 of which 25,000 m 2 is a built-up area. A car park, recreation and horticultural farms occupy the major part of the brewery's premises.
In 1998, Meta Abo Brewery produced and sold 365,000 hl. of bottled and draught beer worth Birr 195 million. In the same year, it made a profit of Birr 39.74 million.The brewery supplies 55% of its product to distributors and 45% to retailers. Distribution outside Addis Ababa is made through agents.
The brewery distributes draught and bottled beer to Addis Ababa using its own truck fleet.The brewery's major raw materials are malt, hop extract, hop powder, and other chemicals. Except the hop extract, powder and chemicals that are imported from abroad, the major raw material, malt, is obtained from Assala Malt Factory at a distance of 200 km from the brewery. Bottles, corks and crates are obtained from factories located in Addis Ababa.
