Africa – endless possibilities
If the recent scramble for Mr Castel’s brewing empire and the astronomical offers for Ethiopia’s state-owned breweries are anything to go by, the African continent has become the brewing industry’s last frontier. Castel, Heineken, SABMiller and Diageo all stand to profit from Africa’s growth – both in beer volumes and profits. Over the past decade Africa’s economy has boomed thanks to high commodity prices. Add to that relative political stability and a burgeoning middle class – a third of Africans now have between USD 2 and USD 20 to spend a day, says The African Development Bank in a recent and fairly bullish report – and you will understand why many of Africa’s erstwhile monopoly beer markets have fallen one by one as the world’s major brewers have begun to enter each others’ territories.