Brewery Industry in Nigeria

Brewing

Background

The brewing industry is one of the fastest growing branches of Nigerian manufacturing.6 It contributes about 28 per cent of MVA (Manufactured Value Added) and provides direct employment for over 30 000 persons. The indirect employment associated with the industry is close to 300 000 including the firms producing ancillary services. Beer, which is the most common product, is produced in all states of the country except Bauchi, Borno, Gongola, Niger and Sokoto.7 There are now 32 breweries producing more than 40 brands of beer. In addition, there are five brands of stout and five brands of malt drinks. In 1987 an estimated 2 billion litres of beer were consumed in the country.

Production has grown rapidly. In the period 1980-82, brewing was the fastest growing branch of the manufacturing sector. The volume of production in 1982 was five times greater than in 1970. Even during 1982-86, when most manufacturing branches experienced severe difficulties and production levels fell significantly, the industry continued to grow slowly. Production fell marginally during 1987 and 1988 due to restrictions on the import of barley malt and problems associated with the use of locally produced substitutes. During this period, capacity utilization fell to an all-time low of about 30 per cent. Increasing success with local substitutes for barley malt has improved the capacity utilization rate to about 64 per cent in 1991.

The search for local substitutes for imported barley malt involved most of the firms in expensive experiments with research and development departments as well as substantial plant conversion expenses. Their efforts were complemented by the independent research endeavour at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), which, through some of its research report series, demonstrated that lager beer could be produced using sorghum exclusively. Today, most of the more successful firms use maize and sorghum in their beer production...