E-Malt.com News article: Kenya: Tusker beer sales up 60% despite tax increase

Sales figures of Tusker beer, the most important brand of East African Breweries have defied recent increases in excise duty on beer and rose up due to an on-going promotion and World Cup related expenditure, Standard Media reported on July, 7.

According to Martin Nyongesa, the sales manager at one of the country’s largest beer distributors, Rwathia Distributors, consumption of Tusker has gone up by almost 60%.

"Ordinarily we sell up to 2,500 cases of beer, but since the advent of World Cup, we’ve been doing about 4,000 cases a day," says Nyongesa, who attributes the massive increases in sales to higher circulation of Tusker.

Nyongesa says the increase in sales began immediately after the launch of a promotion dubbed ‘Tusker 50 Mili ya Mafans,’ which seeks to reward consumers with cash and prizes worth over Sh50 million (over USD 600 thousand).

"The promotion has helped increase the numbers for Tusker. Other brands like Guinness have also seen significant increase in consumption, but Tusker has been phenomenal," says Nyongesa.

Not long ago, it was widely believed that beer makers and consumers would be the main losers in the 2010/11 budget, after Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta increased excise duty on malt and non-malted beer from Sh54 and Sh45 per litre, to Sh65 per litre and Sh55 respectively.

This saw a marked rise of the recommended retail price of beer with that of Tusker climbing from Sh85 to Sh90. Some outlets even went above the five-shilling margin and instead increased prices by bigger margins.


07 July, 2010