Anheuser-Busch plans boosting aluminum bottle production

Anheuser-Busch confirmed a $170 million project to expand aluminum bottle production for Budweiser and Bud Light at its Metal Container Corp. facility in Jacksonville, Florida.

The project will create about 75 new jobs at the facility, officials said. The brewer had sought $15 million in state and city incentives for the project. The plan was revealed in May in a project summary for Jacksonville's Office of Economic Development.

“The growing demand for our Budweiser and Bud Light aluminum bottles has helped drive growth and development in Jacksonville," Pete Kraemer, vice president of supply at Anheuser-Busch, said Tuesday in a statement. Anheuser-Busch also operates a brewery in Jacksonville.

In December, Anheuser-Busch announced it would spend $150 million to expand its Metal Container Corp. facility in Arnold, Missouri, adding 70 jobs and doubling the company's aluminum bottle capacity in the U.S. A-B could access up to $1.55 million in tax breaks over six years if it meets job creation criteria, state officials said at the time.

In 2013, Metal Container Corp. completed a $130 million project that added aluminum bottle production at the Arnold plant. Jacksonville will be the company's second facility to produce the aluminum bottles.

Metal Container Corp. operates seven facilities in the U.S. It also produces cans and lids for soft drink companies.

Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev has its North American headquarters in St. Louis. A-B InBev said in June that it would invest $1.5 billion by 2018 to upgrade its U.S. infrastructure by 2018, including the expansion at the Metal Container Corp. facility in Arnold and improvements at the St. Louis brewery.