Fuchs Group inaugurated its expanded production facility in South Africa after shelling out €26 million to add new equipment to existing facilities. The company hopes it will strengthen its position in applications such as automotive, mining, industrial and specialty applications.
Competition for market share in South Africa is stiff. In the automotive lubricant segment, which is the largest, Castrol, Shell, Engen and Chevron (trading as Caltex) are the top-selling brands in the country.
Fuchs entered South Africa in 1992 and now generates sales of €125 million (U.S. $131 million) from its operations in the country. The company opened a grease plant in 2018, then bought an adjacent lot into which it expanded.
The initial expansion phase in 2022 included a new warehouse and offices. The second phase included a blending plant that increased production capacity by more than 40%, increased storage capacity and added three filling lines.
“The expansion enhances our production capacity, efficiency, flexibility and ability to deliver high-quality products to our customers,” Paul Deppe, Fuchs’s managing director for Sub-Saharan Africa, said in a press release.