Ethiopia: United Beverages launches new Anbessa beer

There is a new beer on the horizon in Ethiopia. United Beverages has launched a new brand –Anbessa beer, the New Business Ethiopia reported on May 4.

This is a partnership between the Mauritius-based United Africa Beverages Company and Kangaroo Industrial Group. The partnership was speculated to start a new beer since 2016, when United made its entry to Ethiopia, building a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Modjo.

With an estimated investment outlay of USD 88 million, this is a noted investment and give confidence to the fast growing beer market in Ethiopia.

According to United Beverages, the new plan has the capacity to brew 1.6 million hectolitres and the packaging capacity of 800,000 hectolitres.

Unique to the Ethiopian market, the company started a teaser campaign and there was much discussion about it on social media. The company claims to use half locally sourced raw and packed materials for the production of Anbessa and plans to increase that to 100 percent in the “near future.” It employs over 240 people at its new plant.

Currently, Ethiopia’s total beer consumption stands at 12 million hectolitres per year with per capital consumption estimated to be around nine litres.