Beer companies decry high tariffs

In a letter dated November 27, 2014 addressed to the Minister of finance with expansion to the Presidency of the Republic, the three brewing companies in Cameroon decried the'unrealistic' increase in the rate of the excise duty on alcoholic beverages (this tax is no less intended to discourage the consumption of products which are not indispensable), in 2015 finance Bill declared at the National Assembly.

In fact, the upward facing trend of the tax imposed on importers of products such as cigarettes, liquor and other so-called luxury products; beer companies are likely to increase by 40%. A situation against which the breweries of Cameroon (SABC) of the french group Castel, the British group Diageo Guinness and the Cameroon Union of breweries controlled by Cameroonian billionaire Fosso Kadji fear will collapse their business in 2015.

Indeed, Cameroon is a very profitable market for beer companies. For example, despite the decrease in 2011 in which they had reached 45.2 billion FCFA (about € 68.7 million), the net result of the Brasseries du Cameroun amounted to 26.9 billion francs Cfa in 2013 (EUR 41 million). The shareholders of the Cameroon beer market shared 25 billion Cfa francs in respect of dividend last year.

Visiting Cameroon in August 2014, Andy Fennel, president of the Africa regional of the British group Diageo, said that Guinness Cameroon is "our 4th largest market in the world. In Africa, Cameroon is also the 2nd largest market for Diageo, behind Nigeria, with its market of more than 120 million consumers, against 20 million for Cameroon.