Belgium: Alken-Maes to close its Opwijk brewery

Alken-Maes N.V., Belgium's second largest brewery group, announced on January 19 the decision to shut down its Opwijk brewery (Flemish Brabant), LaLibre reported.

The last several years saw the exports of the Abbey beer Affligem increase so much that the company’s production capacity in Opwijk is unable to meet the demand, the company said.

“Affligem is a strong brand which we are very proud of. However, we have to unfortunately admit that the Opwijk brewery is no longer able to produce in a durable and efficient way the volumes which need to be increased on a regular basis. For instance, the Opwijk site needs 40% more water to produce a litre of beer than our Alken brewery,” CEO Annick Vincenty said, adding that the group was aiming to achieve carbon neutral performance by 2030 at the latest.

The brewery in Opwijk will thus close its doors by August 2022. Its activity will be taken over by the brewery in Alken.

The 11 employees of the site will likely be relocated to other positions within the company, the company said.

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