Food & beverage lines — our lead industry, in every market.
Food & beverage equipment is 37–54% of serviceable Chinese machinery imports in every one of our six core markets 2024 · UN Comtrade — the only category with universal demand. It's where most first lines happen, and where ours are commissioned to rate.
From raw ingredient to sealed carton.
Filling & packaging
Liquid and dry filling, capping, labelling, cartoning and shrink-wrapping — the highest-demand category in all six core markets, and the usual first line.
Bottling & beverage
Water, juice and carbonated beverage lines — from water treatment through blowing, filling and packing, commissioned as one system.
Dairy
Reception, pasteurisation, filling and cold-chain interfaces — sized honestly for your milk supply, not for a brochure.
Bakery & snacks
Mixing, forming, baking/frying and packaging lines for bread, biscuits and snack products.
Processing lines
Sauces, condiments, and shelf-stable foods — process, fill, seal, and code, with hygiene design your inspector will accept.
Not sure what fits?
Start with the product and the volume. The free feasibility call turns it into a line specification and a budget band.
Because a food line that stops is stock that spoils.
Food & beverage punishes downtime harder than any other industry we serve. That's why every line comes with a wear-part kit specified at purchase, parts on our one-week channel, hygiene-conscious commissioning, and operators trained before we leave your floor.
And because compliance pressure is real — from Ghana's FDA enforcement to every market's labelling rules — we commission to standards your inspectors recognise, and document everything at handover.
Bottling line prices across our six core markets.
Pricing a water bottling machine in Nigeria, Ghana or Zambia? The ex-China band is set by line speed, not by country — the landed leg and the compliance path are what differ. All figures USD, on a 600ml PET basis.
| Tier | Speed (600ml basis) | 2026 equipment band | What it really is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry line | 2,000–4,000 bph | US$150–400k | Rinse-fill-cap block with simple labelling and packing — the honest first line |
| Mid-speed plant | 6,000–12,000 bph | US$400–900k | Full automation, in-line blowing an option — the regional-brand tier |
| High-speed plant | 18,000+ bph | US$1M+ | A project class of its own |
Apply ×1.25–1.45 coastal / ×1.45–1.60 landlocked landed-and-installed, and treat water treatment as part of the plant, not an accessory. Sachet water — the volume format in Nigeria and Ghana — is covered on those country pages: Nigeria · Ghana. Line-speed engineering is in the bottling line sizing guide; bakery and bread line bands are in the bakery equipment guide; cold stores and freezers in the cold room guide; single fillers and monoblocks are priced in the filling machine guide; for South Africa specifically see water bottling plant cost in South Africa.
Eight food and beverage situations, by scenario
The situations we are asked about most in this industry, with the realistic tier, the 2026 USD band and the markets where each fits. The full map, with the conditions every line must meet and the guide that prices each situation, is at lines by scenario; the sixteen-country view is at production lines by country and line.
| Scenario | Realistic tier | 2026 band (USD) | Fits best in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sachet or pure-water business | Bottling tier, not a single filler | 150–400k equipment | Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal |
| First bottled-water plant | 2,000–4,000 bph | 150–400k; 6,000–12,000 bph 400–900k | Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Ethiopia |
| Second product on the floor | Automatic monoblock | 13–60k | Every market with a water plant |
| Bakery outgrowing single machines | Semi-automatic line | From 80k; entry sets 15–45k | Urban markets everywhere |
| Cold chain for a processor | Chiller room; blast freezer if frozen | 15–38k installed; blast from 60k | Every exporter |
| Recover a stopped line | Recovery or used equipment first | 60–250k; used 40–60% of new | Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique |
Bands are indicative equipment capex in USD unless stated as landed and commissioned; they are the same bands our price guides and country pages publish. Machinery is priced in US dollars and the local-currency cost moves with the exchange rate.
What do you want to fill, pack, or bottle?
Product and volume — that's all a first conversation needs.