Never mind the world economic crisis: beer consumption in Nigeria is going up. In 2008, Nigeria produced more than 15 million hl beer, up 15 percent on the previous year, says the Barth Report.

The ruling by the High Court in London has granted SABMiller an injunction which stops Kenya’s East African Breweries (EABL), which is majority-owned by Diageo, from purchasing Serengeti Breweries in Tanzania, which is the number two brewer behind SABMiller’s Tanzania Breweries (TBL).

Is a contract still worth the paper it is written on? Clever lawyers would tell you: “no”. Especially if the contract honours a gentlemen’s agreement not to bash each other’s heads in.

SA Breweries said their black staff and retailers would be issued with new shares worth about USD 750 million, funded through dividends over ten years.

The latest Cost of Living Survey by human resources consultancy ECA International says that decent Luanda apartments with water and electricity go for upwards of USD 15,000 (EUR 10,700) a month, a basic meal can top USD 100 easily and imported European cheese sells for over 15 dollars a piece.

The levy imposed on alcohol was implemented on 1 November 2008 after KBL and BBL withdrew their court case against the proposed measure.

In June, SABMiller hope to launch a commercial trial in Angola of a new formulation of its N’Gola brand - one that replaces maize with cassava, a locally grown root vegetable. SAB plans to use cassava – a rich form of starch – to brew a pilsener style lager using 60 percent barley and 40 percent cassava, it was reported.

Malt beverages are a huge success in Nigeria. There are already more than 14 brands in the market. These include Malta Guinness, Maltina , Amstel (NB),Vitamalt, Maltex, Nasmalt, Hi-Malt (Consolidated), and Maltonic (Sona), it was reported. Nevertheless, Heineken was not interested in buying yet another malt beverage brand. Heineken’s aim was to take the brewery off the market, people familiar with the situation say.

SABMiller’s new beverage plant is the first local manufacturing facility in Southern Sudan’s capital city, Juba and has the capacity to brew 180,000 hl of clear beer and 60,000 hl of carbonated soft drinks annually. Up until now, Southern Sudan’s eleven million people only had access to beers and soft drinks imported from neighbouring countries.

The background: Heineken and Diageo bought a stake in NBL in 2003 from Interbrew. Since then they have attacked South African Breweries in neighbouring South Africa with their Windhoek beers.