By Arthur Asiimwe

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's sole soft-drink maker and brewer plans to increase beverage production by 13 percent in 2008 to meet swelling local and foreign demand, its chief executive said on Friday.

"We are not fully satisfying local demand. We are currently working hard to increase capacity in our plants so that the ever increasing demand meets a steady supply," said Door Plantege, CEO of Brasseries et Limonaderies du Rwanda (BRALIRWA).

Soft drink volumes would increase to 420,000 hectolitres in 2008 from 390,000 hectolitres in the previous year while beer would rise to slightly above 700,000 from 600,000, she told Reuters.

Plantege said demand for the company's beer products was increasing in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

The company also wants to enter the Tanzanian market.

The firm is expanding its capacity to ensure a 30 percent rise in volumes during the next financial year, she said.

"We have invested a lot in our bottling capacity and in fermentation capacity. We have also installed a soft drink plant in Gisenyi to meet additional volumes for soft drinks because we have reached the maximum capacity for soft drinks in Kigali."

Plantege said BRALIRWA was still in negotiations with Rwanda's government -- which holds a 30 percent stake in the company -- over a proposed listing on the Kigali stock market .

Heineken owns the remaining stake in BRALIRWA.

The Rwanda government recently took a decision to list shares it holds in private companies on the Kigali bourse.

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