The South Sudan Beverages Company Limited, SSBL says it may close down its production in March.

The firm could also lay off a majority of its employees due lack of access to the US dollars.

In a statement to Eye Radio, SABmiller plc, the mother company of SSBL, says the firm has been unable to buy raw materials due to limited access to the US dollars.

It says the company has decided to wind down production operations once its existing stock of ingredients runs out; based on existing levels, the last brew is expected to be bottled and leave the brewery in March.

The company says it is likely to close down its operations and use the factory site in Juba as a depot for the distribution of imported beverages from neighboring Uganda.

“Unless and until the situation significantly improves, it is likely that SSBL’s brewing and bottling operations will be mothballed and the site will be run as a depot,” partly read the statement.

SSBL says the scaling back of their operations will directly affect 237 employees and indirectly affect thousands of other individuals and businesses.

It says it is monitoring the situation intensively. South Sudan has been facing shortage of the US dollars since the outbreak of the conflict in 2013.

The drop in oil prices in the world market has also reduced foreign exchange for the government, which relies mainly on oil proceeds.