SABMiller will expand production of manioc beer

SABMiller, the world's second largest brewery by volume sold, wants to expand the production of manioc beer to more countries in Africa, attracting lower-income consumers.
The British company, which grossed $ 34.4 billion last year, has strong presence in emerging markets. And was the first to launch in the world the manioc beer-or cassava, as it is called in Africa-on a commercial scale.
In Brazil, the Colorado Brewery, Ribeirão Preto (SP), also produces manioc beer since 2007. Named Colorado Cauim, the drink has an alcohol content of 4%. 600 ml bottle costs between $ 12.50 and $ 20.70 in online retailers in Brazil.
In 2011, the subsidiary of SABMiller in Mozambique started production of trademark Impala. This year, it was the time of the launch in Ghana with the Eagle brand. "This is a product that can be very large, and competitors are interested in doing the same," said the Director of operations of the company in Africa and Asia, Hloni Mtsela, in the midst of a beverage tasting on a recent event at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Cassava is one of the most propagated crops in Africa, but continues to be seen as subsistence or emergency product, almost no commercial development. In Ghana, it is estimated that the excess production reaches 40% per year, and lack opportunity for farmers to sell the product. Cassava begins to suffer degradation 12:0 am after being harvested. The British brewery solved the problem with the technology developed by Dutch Agricultural Development & Trading Company (Dadtco). This Dutch company, which blends entrepreneurship and social activity, drew up a mobile machine that launches the industrialization of cassava in the ground even to the farmer, allowing it to be stored for weeks.
"We wanted to make a beer with local product to replace expensive imported malt, and is working," says Stuart Eke, Director of SABMiller in London.
Small producers are assured of purchasing the product, the guarantee of supply and the Government collects more taxes. Mix 70% production of cassava with 30% of imported malt.
In addition to reducing the invoice with the malt, the brewery gets tax reduction in Ghana, for example. Is that beer is usually subjected to 47% rate if you have less than 30% of local content. For beer with more regional ingredient, as the Eagle Lager, the low rate to 10%. With this, the manioc beer costs 30% less than traditional brands. SABMiller says believe that doing so may reduce the consumption of homemade drinks, made without security-a custom still strong in much of the continent.
The taste of the drink is nice. On a late afternoon in Geneva, SABMiller beer presented at an event in the WTO, parallel to the large annual meeting on development aid. The company showed how it works with small farmers to ensure stable production of tens of thousands of tons of cassava per year to this unconventional beer.
After the success in working with 1,500 farmers who guarantee the production of 40 000 tonnes, SABMiller has expanded the business this year to Ghana with almost 2 thousand farmers in the first year.
The slice of cassava beer market is still very small, in little more than a year of its launch, "but is exponential," according to Mtsela, without giving figures to not encourage competitors, he said. The plan is to continue expanding production in more countries, as well as look for other types of beer "unconventional".
Matsela exemplifies that, in 2000, the company launched in Uganda a sorghum beer, to take advantage of the strong local production and cheaper.
In Europe, the existence of manioc beer seems to surprise. "Frankly, I have no idea of expansion opportunities of this drink," says Marco Gulpers, industry analyst at ING Bank.
SABMiller is the second largest brewery in the world, only surpassed by Anheuser-Busch InBev, and 75% of the revenue comes from developing countries. In China, the huge market coveted by everyone, controls 50% of the country's most popular beer, the Snow. And it is in China that expect 19% of its profits by around 2020, compared to 2% today.