SABMiller expands its African beer market

SABMiller has announced plans to expand its African beer brand, Chibuku, into 10 countries across the continent.

The expansion will create 200 new jobs and will support a further 1,500 through supply and distribution.

The company claims that moving into the 10 new countries will mean that the beer’s volume across Africa will be well over 500,000 hectolitres.

Mark Bowman, managing director of SABMiller Africa, said: “We have been investing heavily to grow capacity and stay ahead of demand across Africa.

“The expansion of our Chibuku operations illustrates how we are driving our affordability strategy, product innovation and maintaining momentum behind our ‘Farming Better Futures’ programme through this continued investment.”

Chibuku is a traditional African opaque beer, created using maize and/or sorghum, depending on local tastes. The beer ferments in the packaging, increasing from a 0.5% ABV on its first day to a 4% ABV on day five. Given its short shelf life, the beer must be brewed and consumed locally.

SABMiller launched Chibuku Super in September, which is a lightly carbonated and pasteurised beer, so it has a fixed alcohol content of 3.5% ABV and in July SABMiller launched a spicy beer in India dubbed “Indus Pride”.