Just over a year ago, Coca-Cola opened its concentrate plant in Liberia, Guanacaste. This Friday, July 23, the company announced that it has generated 130 jobs for Guanacastecans and is also exporting to a new destination: Peru.
From the plains of Guanacaste, the company exclusively produces 11 families of concentrates and beverage bases for the Peruvian market, including its iconic Coca-Cola drink and its different versions, Frugos, Fanta, Sprite, Powerade and Dasani, among other
This plant for concentrates and beverage bases already operates at 100%, and from Liberia, it exports to Peru, Central America, the Caribbean, and partially to Chile and Mexico. In addition, it still has the capacity to grow and serve new markets in the future, explained the manager, Eduardo Carvajal.
At the end of the current year, it is projected that the Peruvian market will be 28% of the plant’s total production volume and 23% of its sales, so this destination will be key in the company’s operation.
From the beginning of 2020 to the present, production volume in Liberia has doubled, allowing them to surpass the promise of hiring 100 people.
The company has hired 130 people, the vast majority of them from the province, explained William Segura, public affairs manager for the Coca-Cola Company for Central America. In addition, it’s a plant with gender parity among everyone on the payroll, including managerial positions.
The people hired come from La Cruz, Santa Cruz, Cañas and Bagaces, explained the manager. The company has also called on those who moved away to the Central Valley to return to Guanacaste and develop professionally at the Liberia plant.
At the moment, the profiles of hired personnel include manufacturing operators, engineers, microbiologists, industrial chemists, business administrators, accountants and human resources specialists, among others.
In addition to these direct jobs, the company would generate more than 1,000 indirect jobs thanks to connections with production sectors in the province, according to estimates by the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives (CINDE- Coalición Costarricense de Iniciativas de Desarrollo). This would take shape in the medium term, Segura affirmed.
This is the company’s most modern production plant. It currently has 18 concentrate factories around the world, including in the United States, Brazil and Ireland.
Contribution to the Export Market
Exports of syrups and concentrates for soft drinks went from generating $450,000 in 2019 to $27.8 million in 2020, according to data from the Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER- Promotora de Comercio Exterior). Much of this growth is purportedly linked to growth in Coca-Cola exports from the plant in Liberia, the company asserted at a press conference on July 23.
As of May 2021, this foreign trade segment has accumulated $17 million in exports nationwide.
The behavior of exports this year fills us with optimism. This reflects that, despite the pandemic, our export sector is distinguished by its innovation and resilience. Proof of this is this consolidation of the Coca Cola plant in Liberia,” said the Minister of Foreign Trade, Andres Valenciano.
Coca-Cola ranked first in exports in the food industry nationwide and third in goods, according to data from PROCOMER’s 2020 ranking.
The announcements made by the company are good for formal and quality employment, and for trade balance,” said President Carlos Alvarado. “Despite the pandemic, we have many reasons to think that very soon, if not in the present, we can see prosperity in the province,” he added.
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