As economic development and political stability pull more people out of poverty, multinational beer makers are trying to quench their growing thirst for alcohol.

World Cup aside, Africa is attracting attention from global brewers seeking to slake the continent's steadily growing thirst for beer.

Breweries and brands are sprouting from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Juba, Sudan, as multinational giants such as SABMiller, Diageo and Heineken seek to build out long-standing local presences into larger regional ones using products old and new alike. And with good reason: Although hundreds of millions of Africans are still trapped in dire poverty, economic development and political stability have pulled increasing numbers of the rest into higher levels of prosperity and given them the discretionary income that comes with it.

As of the end of 2008, the latest figures available, Africa accounted for about 5% of world beer production, up from 4.4% five years earlier, according to Beverage Marketing Corp., a research and consulting firm. Meanwhile, the share of production in North America and Europe declined.

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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-africa-beer-20100706,0,2381003.story

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