THE Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) is looking into a possibility of expanding its beer market to all East African Community (EAC) member states and beyond.
The company’s Sales and Distribution Director, Mr Nicholas Brooks, said in Dar es Salaam early this week that the plan has been on the drawing board for sometime now.
“We have been looking on how we can sell and market our products at the Great Lakes Region but also overseas. It’s something we are looking at and it may start this year if all goes well”, he said.
He said that the company is also intending to launch a new product to cater for low income consumers. In the past, TBL had been exporting its beer brands to Kenya, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where it recorded a good sales performance.
Mr Brooks said that the company’s popular brands such as Kilimanjaro Premium Lager and Safari Lager have a special niche not only for the diaspora but also for other people who want to taste interesting refreshing beers.
“We want to test if TBL beer brands are suitable for other markets” he said. However, he said it was tough to export beer to overseas market due to different laws and regulations.
TBL is part of SABMiller, which is the second largest world’s brewer. “We would like to ensure that the exports represent the beer brands that represent the products we make. We don’t want to export anything, which is not going to make a big impact.
So we are looking on how we can meet the laws and as well as get good partners who will sell our products”, he said. Currently, Brooks said that the company is supplying beers to Kenya and Uganda to its sister firm, Nile Breweries Limited.
On his part, the Marketing Director, Mr David Minja, said that the company plans to launch its new brands and also strengthen the available products to make them competitive in the market.
He said that the marketing budget has increased to 8 per cent to enable the company handle the growth trend. He said that TBL was planning to launch variety of its new brands and also strengthen the available brands just to make them competitive in the beer industry.
According to him, TBL is planning to launch new beer brand — Eagle Lager, which would be sold at affordable price.
Meanwhile, SABMiller has announced that it will become a co-sponsor of the David Astor Journalism Awards Trust, the UK based charity which aims to promote, strengthen and support independent journalism in Africa.
Established in 2006, the Trust runs an awards programme in East Africa, searching and investing in exceptionally promising young African print journalists working in English.