ZIMBABWEANS are drinking more beer than they did in 1999, according to shock new statistics from the country’s main beer maker.
The statistics also show that more Zimbabweans are abandoning opaque traditional beer for the bottle.
Delta Beverages, a subsidiary of SABMiller, more than doubled its first-half earnings, as an economic recovery spurred demand for beer and soft drinks.
In the six months leading to September, turnover increased by 51 percent to US$214.5 million while profit rose by 115 percent to US$20 million compared to the same period last year.
Lager volumes surged 48% to724,000 hectoliters, with soft drinks experiencing the biggest leap of 63%. Traditional beer reflected a 4% loss in volumes, with 1,5 million hectoliters consumed.
"Of interest, the level of lager volumes achieved in the six months to September 2010 was last seen in September 1999," said Canaan Dube, Delta’s board chairman.
Delta’s health report reflects the stability achieved over the past year after a unity government ended a decade of hyperinflation and economic crisis.
Zimbabwean companies were battered by the country's economic contraction, and hyperinflation, which reached 500 billion percent in December 2008.
But the formation of a unity government by bitter rivals President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has helped revive businesses by introducing foreign currencies such as the U.S. dollar and South African rand.