By David Jones and Tiisetso Motsoeneng
LONDON/JOHANNESBURG, June 17 (Reuters) – An African has to
work three hours on average to afford a beer, compared with 12
minutes for a European, and yet the continent is the global hot
spot for beer growth, such that the world’s big brewers are
struggling to keep pace.
Mark Bowman, Africa boss for global brewer SABMiller
, is building new breweries in Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia
this year and expanding those in a string of other nations.
His African beer volumes, minus the relatively mature South
African market, rose in excess of 10 percent for the last two
years as he siphoned off custom from the homebrew sector, which
is over three times the formal market.
A booming population and above-average economic performance,
backed by buoyant mining and energy industries, are behind the
growth, which is running hotter than in Latin America and Asia.
“Africa remains an extremely attractive place for consumer
goods companies. From a macro perspective, it has a growing
population and is enjoying GDP growth across most markets,”
Bowman told Reuters.
Four big brewers – SABMiller, Heineken, privately
owned Castel and Diageo – control more than 90 percent
of the $11 billion African market, and they are ploughing in
millions.
Beer is the drink of choice in the upmarket suburban areas
of Johannesburg and also in the townships that circle the city,
whether it is SABMiller’s top brews Castle and Carling Black
Label or Heineken’s eponymous brew and Amstel, but price is a
challenge for less well off drinkers.
The unlicensed shebeens in Alexandra township provide a beer
for those returning from work, such as 31-year-old Amstel
drinker Siphiwe Dlamini, a part-time film industry worker.
Continued…
