CAPE TOWN - Earlier this week we had covered SAB beginning the dumping of around 130 million litres of beer due to lockdown regulations prohibiting transportation of alcohol.
The issue arose when batches of beer nearing end of fermentation needed to be bottled, however the SAB breweries throughout South Africa had reached their on-site storage limit and needed to transport already bottled stock to another storage facility to clear space and continue further processes.
Although the company had requested permission from the government to transport the on-site stock to another storage facility, it appeared that they had not received the go-ahead as photographs of an SAB brewery in Pretoria had surfaced showing the dumping being carried out.
With lockdown also restricting the sale of alcohol, the news had many South African beer lovers disturbed and sharing their thoughts on social media. However, there is good news for those that found the images difficult.
Beer drinkers look away now. SAB has begun dumping beer. 25 thousand litres went down the drain in PTA today. Unable to sell or move current stock, SAB could dump over 130 million litres. pic.twitter.com/BicgC29aFJ
— Vumani Mkhize (@VumaniMkhize) May 8, 2020
SAB has reached an agreement with the government to transport their packaged stock currently stored in manufacturing plants to another storage facility said SAB in a statement.
“To overcome the problem, SAB has collaborated with government and reached an agreement which will enable the company to transport its beer inventory over the course of the next few weeks and to avoid losses in excise tax for the Government to the value of R500m.”
SAB continues by expressing their gratitude for the permission granted by the government and points out how it has positively affected the livelihood of over 250 000 South Africans working across the SAB chain.
This may be good news for many beer enthusiasts across South Africa especially as lockdown level 3, which may be implemented end of May for certain provinces, allows the sale of alcohol although under specific restrictions.
As level 4 continues, sale of alcohol will remain prohibited.
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