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South Africans seemingly drank their problems away during the first quarter of 2023, with global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev reporting record volumes locally.
The brewer said a 20% revenue growth in the sales of its flagship Carling Black Label beer was behind its success in SA, which along with higher prices, helped contribute to the group growing its revenue 13.2% to $14.2 billion (about R260 billion) to end March.
Overall volumes increased 0.9%, falling in North America, South America as well as Europe, Africa and the Middle East overall, but they leapt 9% in the Asia Pacific Region.
This was in contrast to its other major African beer market, Nigeria, where beer volumes dropped by approximately 20% in the period.
"Industry performance was impacted by a temporary lack of local currency limiting the ability of consumers to purchase goods," said AB InBev, echoing the currency shortages reported by other Nigerian operators such as MTN and Nampak.
"Our performance was led by Carling Black Label, the number one beer brand in the country, which delivered over 20% revenue growth," said AB InBev in a statement on Thursday. "Our premium, super premium and beyond beer portfolios all delivered double-digit increases in revenue."
The South Africans joined global beer drinkers who consumed increasing volumes of beer brands Stella Artois, Budweiser and Corona and helped AB InBev report a $1.3 billion in profit during the quarter ended March 2023, up from $1.2 billion the previous quarter.
