Mozambique: SABMiller’s Cervejas de Moçambique increases purchases of cassava for brewing

A company hired by Mozambican beer maker Cervejas de Moçambique (CdM) is buying large quantities of cassava in the Muanza district of Sofala province, with a view to using it to make beer, the district administrator João Patrício Geral, was quoted as saying by Macauhub on June, 21.

According to Geral, this is not the first time that cassava producers in the district have been contacted to sell cassava for industrial use, and previously CleanStar had the same intention but for ethanol production.

However, CleanStar would only buy dried cassava, and this is not that case for the new buyer, Dutch Agricultural Development & Trading Company (Dadtco), which, as well as this, will provide competition and drive prices higher.

Geral said that Dadtco also planned to encourage cassava production to ensure it can purchase the product from around 2,000 farmers, and has already installed a machine to process the cassava.

CdM, which is a subsidiary of SABMiller Plc, launched Impala, a new brand of beer made from cassava, in November 2011.

Impala is produced at the company’s factory in Nampula using 70 percent cassava and 30 percent barley, and is the result of several years of research to overcome the challenges of processing and producing beer using cassava as its main ingredient.

26 June, 2013