U.S. Food & Beverage Industry to Commence $1.9 Billion in Third-Quarter Construction

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Manufacturers of food and beverage products and food distribution facilities in the U.S. plan to invest more than $1.9 billion to build new facilities or expand existing plants in the next three months. Industrial Info is currently tracking more than 100 active capital projects in the Food & Beverage Industry that are scheduled to commence construction between July and the end of September. Individual project values range from $500,000 to $136 million.

Construction starts will be most active in July, in which 43 projects worth slightly more than $778 million are planned to begin. Figures for August show 32 planned projects valued at $443 million, and September shows 35 Food & Beverage Industry projects worth $748 million planned to kick off.

From a regional standpoint, the Southeast market region ranks highest in terms of investment value, with more than $388 million tied to expansion plans. The Great Lakes and Southwest regions round out the top three with estimated expenditures of $342 million and $336 million, respectively. Plans are being developed for a new $20 million egg laying and packing facility in Texas.

Investments in warehouse and distribution facilities tally up to $359 million, or 18% of the total expenditure for the quarter. General Mills (NYSE:GIS) (Minneapolis, Minnesota) will begin construction in August on a $36 million distribution center in Indiana. The 1.5 million-square-foot dry goods facility is scheduled to be operational at the end of 2012.

The aggregate of planned expenditures for the beverage segment is slightly more than $170 million. Brewery owners plan to invest more than $65 million to build new breweries and increase production at existing facilities.

According to Randy Godet, Industrial Info's VP of Research for the Food & Beverage Industry, "Projects are advancing from the planning phase to the construction phase at a higher rate compared to the past one to two years, when a large number of pre-construction projects were either delayed or outright cancel prior to the start of construction."

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