ETHIOPIA – United Beverages SC, a joint venture between family-owned Kangaroo Industrial Group and United Africa Beverages Company in Ethiopia, has launched a new beer brand dubbed Waliin.
The new premium lager beer is currently available for sale in selected cities of the country.
United Beverages SC, which started its operation 3 years ago in Mojo town of Oromia State, with a capital of over €88 million, has a brewing capacity of 1.6 million hectolitres and a packaging capacity of 800,000 hectolitres.
The new plant features modern technology with its production system fully integrated with SAP technology, featuring waste management and treatment plant that seeks to enhance highly efficient operations in the facility.
The brewery currently uses 50% locally sourced raw and packed materials in its manufacturing plant and plans to use 100% local sourcing in the near future.
The newly launched Waliin Beer joins the Anbessa Beer brand that was launched in 2019, boosting its competitive edge in the Ethiopian beer market, dominated by players such as Heineken Ethiopia, Habesha Breweries, BGI Ethiopia and Komari Beverages.
According to a recent analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 on the Ethiopian beer market by Market Research, the market retail price which was US$1.07 billion in 2015 is expected to reach US$3.12 billion by 2025, increasing at a CAGR of 10.25% per annum for the period 2020-2025.
This, according to the report is a decline compared to the growth of about 12.82% per year, registered in 2015-2019.
The average consumption per capita in value terms reached US$11.03 in 2015, expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.05% per annum in the next five years.
In the medium term by 2025, the indicator is forecast to slow down its growth and increase at a CAGR of 7.74% per annum.
One of the most important trends on the beer market is the shift in consumer preference towards low and non-alcohol beers, as well as craft beers.
Earlier this year, Komari Beverages introduced hard seltzer into the Ethiopian market with the launch of new liqueur brand dubbed Arada.
Produced at its newly built US$12m alcohol manufacturing company, Arada is a sugar-free cocktail drink coming in three different flavours i.e., apple, pineapple and lime with a 5% alcohol by volume.
It is packaged in an artistic bottle, aimed to mostly attract the youngsters who are by far the biggest consumers of hard seltzers across the globe, looking for an alternative light alcoholic beverage.
Other than consumer’s shifting towards low alcohol drinks, there has been a rise in premiumization of the drinks, with the beer makers focusing more on quality instead of quantity.
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