Beverages industry punch drunk

Jo-Maré Duddy – With Covid-19 measures ravaging production and export earnings of the entire beverages industry in the country, investors should expect no fizz in NamBrew’s annual results which will be released today.The heavyweight on the Local Index of the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) last week warned that it expects the operating profit for the year ended 30 June 2020 to be between 25% and 35% lower compared to its 2019 financial year.Namibia Breweries reported an operating profit of about N$651.9 million for its 2019 book-year.In its trading statement on the NSX, NamBrew last Thursday attributed the expected “substantial decrease” mainly to “the ban on alcohol sales in Namibia and South Africa as part of both governments´ efforts to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus”.Intoxicating dataThe latest figures of the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) confirm that lockdowns, border closures and Covid-19 measures in general had a massive impact on the production of all beverages by all manufacturers in the country.According to NSA sectoral reports, a total of 1 598 347 hectolitres of beverages – alcoholic and non-alcoholic – were produced by the local industry in the first six months of 2020. This is a drop of 539 961 or 25.3% compared to the same half-year in 2019.Production hit the bottom of the barrel in April when the industry only produced 103 963 hectolitres of beverages, nearly 71% down from April 2019. In July – the latest sectoral report – 224 599 hectolitres were produced in total, nearly 20.3% less on an annual basis.Export droughtThe NSA’s index for alcoholic beverages has been recovering since its record low of 8.6 basis points in April. In May it was 16.9, followed by 63.3 in June. July’s index came in at 87.3, which means July’s production was still 12.7% below the 2015 basis year. In July 2019, the index for alcoholic beverages was 116.3 basis points.Covid’s economic onslaught has equally hit the export of beverages by the local industry.NSA trade reports show that the industry exported only N$44 million worth of beverages in the second quarter of this year – April, May and June. Compared to the same quarter in 2019, this is a slump of N$348 million or nearly 89%.In July – the latest NSA trade report – beverages to the tune of N$27 million were exported, a tumble of 71.7% compared to July 2019.

Beverages industry punch drunk

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-19

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Beverages industry punch drunk

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-19

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