ABL lobbies for tax exemptions

THE Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) could soon brew cassava beer in the country if its negotiation with the government for tax exemptions is successful.

Cassava beer (currently brewed in South Africa by SAB Miller – ABL’s parent company) is a very exciting one to us and we will not mind brewing it in Ghana too,” the Managing Director, Mr Greg Metcalf, said in an interview.

The MD, however, said replicating the beer in the country “will depend on government’s support for it because at the end of the day, the product will have to be affordable to the final consumers.”

He spoke to the paper shortly after members of the International Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) toured a 1,000 hector litre brewing plant that produces ABL’s latest brand of beer – the Chibuku Shake Shake.

Chibuku Shake Shake, SAB Miller’s East African replica in the country, is currently enjoying excise duty due to its 100 per cent use of locally produced materials such as sorghum, maize and guinea corn.

Mr Gregory Metcalf, MD, ABL

“We are already in discussions with the government to see if it can support us with an excise regime to brew cassava beer and make it affordable to the local market,” the MD said but declined to comment on the government’s posture to the company’s request

“Those discussions are still in their early stage s and the government is listening,” he noted.  

Checks at the Trade and Industry Ministry showed that the company was indeed asking for a tax incentive on the commercial consumption of cassava, the main ingredient in SAB Miller’s cassava beer currently brewed and widely patronised in South Africa and other southern African countries.

ABL’s push for an excise duty on the commercial consumption of cassava produced in the country comes months after the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffour, announced in the government’s 2012 Budget Statement that brewing companies that increased their consumption of local raw materials could enjoy tax incentives, including excise on the final goods in question.

At the end, Mr Metcalf said “brewing cassava beer in Ghana will be exciting and we like to do it. That, however, depends on the support we will get from the government”.