South Africa | Beer lovers will be euphoric: After nine weeks of near-total lockdown, alcohol sales were permitted on 2 June 2020 again, but for home consumption only, and under strict conditions on specified days and for limited hours.

South Africa | The nation entered into lockdown on 27 March 2020. All are expected to stay at home for three weeks while breweries are shut down.

South Africa | It came as a shock to craft brewers that as of 27 March 2020 they are not allowed to brew or to sell any beer for three weeks. Having suffered through the recession of 2019 already, it is feared that once the lockdown is lifted many will struggle to remain in business.

Angola | Africa’s richest woman is in trouble, and so is her brewery. The local beer maker Sodiba may soon face insolvency, following the seizure of the assets of Ms Dos Santos and her husband, the company’s sole shareholders, Angolan media reported in February 2020.

Nigeria | Africa’s most populous country is a prime example as to how to bring a profitable beer market down. Since 2013, its beer profit pool has shrunk to less than a third of what it used to be. Only Nigerian Breweries (NB) is making any profit. The others must be loss-making.

Ethiopia | Beer sales have more than doubled between 2014 and 2019: from 5.6 million hl to 13 million hl, says GlobalData. But last year’s blanket ban on alcohol advertising could hamper future growth. Not least, it will make it harder for new entrants to draw attention to themselves.

South Africa | AB-InBev is installing solar panels at its South African breweries in a push to gain greater independence from the state-owned utility firm Eskom, which struggles with blackouts.

South Africa | It’s a shame. SAB’s World of Beer museum is no more. Opened in Johannesburg in 1994, its last tour was conducted on 30 September 2019.

South Africa | In early September 2019, AB-InBev’s local unit SAB has won regulatory approval to take over the distribution of Guinness – under the condition that if a secret threshold of Guinness sales is reached, it will have to be brewed locally.

South Africa | Heineken has embarked on a USD 70 million expansion of its Sedibeng brewery in a bid to ramp up capacity to meet the growing demand for its products. The expansion will take Sedibeng’s annual capacity from over 5 million hl to 8.5 million hl by 2020.