SAB won’t be dumping beer after agreement with government

South African Breweries has reached an agreement with government to transport its backlog of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to depots.

The company earlier said that there was a risk of losing 400 million bottles’ worth of beer in current liquid inventory – an estimated 130 million litres. This is because the SAB’s warehouses at its seven breweries are now at full capacity and are unable to absorb anymore capacity.

If the product could not be moved, it would have to be destroyed which would result in an estimated loss of R150 million to the company. This is because the transportation of alcohol products is not allowed under current lockdown regulations.

To overcome the problem, SAB said in a statement that it had reached an agreement with government, which would enable it to transport its inventory over the course of the next few weeks.

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This would also avoid losses in excise tax for the government to the value of R500 million.

“SAB would like to extend its gratitude to the government. This move during these difficult times is a clear indication that we can and should collaborate on solutions that will help protect the livelihoods of the over 250,000 South Africans across SAB’s broad value chain,” the company said.

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