INDUSTRY NEWS

AFRICA BIG sEvEn

AB7 spotongPartnership spot on!

Africa’s Big Seven (AB7) has partnered with Spotong to give township traders a wonderfulplatform to discover fantastic products with exotic flavours and delicious aromas from around the world and turn them into business opportunities.

Africa’s Big Seven is the continent’s biggest food and beverage trade exhibition and it takes place at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg from 30 June to02 July 2013.

Commenting about the media partnership, Managing Director of Exhibition Management Services (EMS), which is the organiser of the AB7 event, John Thomson said: “We are incredibly excited to have Spotong on board as a media partner for AB7.”

“We are looking forward to welcoming Spotong readers to the show, where they can explore the many wonderful products and business opportunities that AB7 provides every year. In addition, Spotong will have its own presence at the show where visitors can come and meet the team from publishers Contact Media throughout the three-day event.” country’s gross domestic product.

“Spotong readers also want informationabout the latest food and beverage businesstrends and new products from around the world; they also want to network with suppliers, customers and even competitors. This partnership between Spotong and AB7 provides an ideal primary platform for all of these business aspirations,” says Thomson.

The World of Food and Drink at AB7

Partnership to Boost Business

“Spotong readers are dynamic entrepreneurs, business owners and community leaders in many of the townships and informal settlements around the country,” continues Thomson. “They play a major role in the economy as small and medium enterprises, creating jobs and contributing to the Anyone remotely involved in the African food and beverage industry should be involved with AB7, whether as an exhibitor or visitor.“Only at AB7 can you see thousands of products by hundreds of exhibiting companiesfrom 42 countries from around the world, all under one roof,” says Thomson. South Africa’s food and beverage industry saw growthof 6.2%last year, but bar sales, experiencedits highest annual growth rate of 11%. “Paradoxically, spirits such as whisky perform well during tough economic times; in fact whisky is now the fastest growing spirit in South Africaparticularly amongstthe growing black middle class,with a 43.2% market shareworth R6.6 billion last year,” explains Thomson. “Whisky consumption this year is predicted to surpass 35 million litres,so this centuries-old Scottish invention should be a definite ‘yes’ on anystaverns’ shopping list,” adds Thomson.

Spotong readers will receive free tickets to the AB7 event and they should do whatever it takes to get there,” urges Thomson. “It is a wonderful, once-ayear opportunity to discover fantastic products with exotic flavours and delicious aromas from around the world and turn them into business opportunities in Africa.” For more information on AB7 and its exhibitors, contact Lineke van der Brugghen, Exhibition Management Services. Tel: +27 11 783 7250. Fax: +27 11 783 7269. E-mail: admin@exhibitionsafrica.com Website: www.exhibitionsafrica.com

To watch a video of SAITEX and AB7 from 2012, simply go to www.youtube. com and type in the top search window: ‘Saitex& Africa’s Big Seven’.

sAB BUILDs nEW MALTInG PLAnT

The South African Breweries (SAB) will build a R700 million state-of the-art new malting plant in Alrode, as part of its continued efforts to support the local economy and drive job creation. SAB announced that the construction of the new plant will begin this year and is expected to be completed in 2015. The malting plant will be built next to the existing Alrode brewery, with the land having already been secured and geotechnical trials currently under way. The new plant will produce 130 000 tonnes of malted barley a year once it is completed. It will allow SAB to reduce the amount of malted barley it imports and to further its programme of developing the local agricultural sector by supporting small black farmers. SAB Managing Director, Mauricio Leyva said: “The new malting plant will have significant cost saving and growth benefits for SAB. It makes good financial sense to undertake this investment. It will allow us to reduce our exposure to volatile international markets and replace a significant share of our imported malt and barley with local barley.” SAB currently sources about 65% of its barley locally and, once the new malting plant is up and running, this will potentially increase to between 90% and 95%.

“We have been looking at ways to locally source more of our agricultural raw materials,including barley, for some time; building on the work we have been doing with our Barley Breeding Programme and with local farmers to develop competitive local barley varieties. Additional barley trials have been undertaken in the North West and more recently with emerging farmers in Limpopo.” Leyva said SAB will partner with the leading suppliers to ensure an innovative and cost-efficient design using cutting-edge technology. “We will also strive to ensure we maximise local industry involvement in the construction of the new plant in order to help develop the communities in which we operate,” he added.

Executive Chairman, Norman Adami described the new plant as a winwin scenario that showed SAB’s clear commitment to working for the South

SAB Malting Plant in Caledon.

African society. “It will allow us to drive even higher local sourcing of barley which will, in turn, help drive the empowerment of small farmers in some of the most poverty stricken areas of SA,” says Adami. SAB says its annual spend on raw agricultural materials in South Africa is about R2 billion. Each year, the company says it buys more than 1.8 million tons of barley, Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) free maize, hops, apples and grapes to ensure a secure, diversified and sustainable supply chain. SAB says it is committed to local procurement and agricultural development by supporting small-scale and emerging Black farmers, and it also supports several projects such as the barley and GMOfree maize farmers in Taung, in the North West, and the farming of GMO free yellow maize by local farmers in KwaZulu-Natal.

More than 90% of SAB’s total purchases are purchased from South African companies, and this investment will take SAB’s local procurement spend to between 93% - 95%.

WhatisMalting?

Malting is a process where barley is allowed to germinate to a degree and then gets dried. This is done by soaking barley seeds in water for several days, allowing them to germinate and sprout. The germination process is stopped after about five days by fanning the grains with hot, dry air in a kiln. The roots are removed, the malt cools down and is allowed to rest for about three weeks, after which it is ready for brewing.Malted barley is a critical component of beer brewing. SAB currently has two malting plants, one at Caledon in the Western Cape which malts about 180 000 tonnes of barley a year and an existing old plant at Alrode which malts about 40 000 tonnes a year. Caledon Malting plant in Cape Town is the biggest malting facility in the Southern Hemisphere. SAB’s involvement in malting began after the construction of the malting plant at the company’s Isando Brewery in the late 1950s, resulting in an increased involvement in local malting barley development programmes. The existing Alrode plant is about 40 years old and coming towards the end of its economic life. The company announced that the old plant will be decommissioned once the new plant is fully operational.

The 1970s marked SAB’s first serious attempt to move local production of malting barley towards a degree of self-sufficiency. In 1972, SAB acquired Nasionale Mout’s sorghum plant at Alrode and converted it into a barley plant, quadrupling its processing capacity in 1978.

AvAnsA knoW YoUR BAnknoTEs

Counterfeit banknotes can have a crippling effect on a business. The key to avoiding the effects of counterfeit banknotes is to check all of the notes before accepting them as legal tender. Installing a desk top counterfeit detector at the point of sale can be a cost-effective counterfeit detection method. Most money counting machines have built-in counterfeit detection. The level of detection differs from product to product but common features include Ultraviolet ink, magnetic thread and size detection.

Ultraviolet

Old South African ‘big five’ series notes have multi coloured fluorescent markings that can be seen when the note is places under a UV light. The new Mandela notes do not glow under a UV light. Unfortunately many of the counterfeit notes that have been circulated recently in South Africa have ultraviolet markings and therefore products that only have UV detection will not register them as counterfeit.

Magnetic thread

The banknote is scanned during the counting process to ensure that there are magnetic properties to the paper. This is one of the most reliable security features for South African currency as it is very difficult for counterfeiters to copy. When looking for a money counting machine, it is highly recommended that you choose a product with the magnetic function.

Avansa Business Technologies is the global industry standard and leading manufacturer and marketer of business technologies at affordable prices in South Africa.

For more information email Darian Liprini at dliprini@avansa. co.za or call 086 144 4497

sA Whisky Market on the Rise

According to the Scotch Whisky Association, which is based in the UK, exports of the golden liquid to South Africa have been declining. In 2010, they stood at R1 951 billion; in 2011, they dropped to R1 911 billion. The most recent fi gures have shown a 16.4% fall in imports to R633 million for the period January to July 2012, compared to R756 million for the same period last year. According to the SA Wine Industry and Information System, whisky is the fastest growing spirit in the country particularly amongst the growing black middle class, with a 43.2% market share worth R6.6 billion last year. The Nielsen research reported Bell’s, Johnnie Walker, Firstwatch, Black & White and J&B as the top sellers. South Africa’s fi rst single grain whisky, Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, won the award for the World’s Best Grain Whisky at the annual Whisky Magazine’s World Whisky Awards this year. Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky became the fi rst South African whisky to be awarded this coveted accolade, ahead of those from traditional whisky-producing countries such as Ireland, Scotland and the USA.

Distiller of Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, Jeff Green, said: “This isn’t just a win for Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky but for all South African whisky-making. “By taking the World’s Best Grain Whisky title we have amply demonstrated that South Africa can make exceptional whiskies. The 2013 title follows last year’s win by Three Ships 5 Year Old of the WWA’s World’s Best Blended Whisky and puts South Africa as a whisky producing country squarely on the map.” Liquor producer and marketer, Distell, whose portfolio includes Bain’s and Three Ships, contributed R37 billion to the country’s economy, according to its 2012 annual report. Three Ships 5 Year old Premium Select was named the world’s best blended whisky of 2012 at the annual World Whiskies Awards. This was also the fi rst time a South African product captured the title. The limited edition, Three Ships 10 Year Old Single Malt, has, last month, also added gold from the San Francisco Spirits Competition to its collection of medals. Meanwhile Distell Group have recently acquired a top-performing producer of Scotch whiskies, Burn Stewart Distillers Limited, for just over R2.2 billion from the Scottish based CL World Brands Limited and Trinidad and Tobago based Angostura Limited. This will allow Distell to capitalise on the continuing global growth in Whisky consumption and give it access to scarce blended and single malt stocks from prime whisky-producing regions in Scotland, while at the same time enhancing its global footprint. The deal follows an equal partner venture established in 2007 between Distell and Burn Stewart in which the two parties co-owned and marketed three Scotch Whiskies, Bunnahabhain; Black Bottle and Scottish Leader in Sub-Saharan Africa. This year both Bunnahabhain 25 Year OldSingle Malt and Black Bottle took double gold for the second consecutive year at the annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The agreement between Distell, CL World Brands Limited and Angostura Limited involves the purchase of 100% of the equity in Burn Stewart whose portfolio includes three single malt whisky distilleries, a blending and maturation facility, a bottling hall, a dry and fi nished goods storage site as well as in-house marketing and distribution functions. Commenting on the deal, Distell Group Managing Director, Jan Scannell said: “Our acquisition of Burn Stewart is a very signifi cant development for Distell from a strategic perspective but also given the rich and proud history and heritage of the brands involved. This gives us an outstanding foundation from which to build, while cherishing their individual traditions.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

“Bunnahabhain, the Burn Stewart Distillers’ flagship single malt, is made on Islay, considered one of the most prestigious whisky locations by connoisseurs. There are only eight distilleries on the Island, so we are extremely fortunate to acquire this very highly-ranked brand.” Scannell said this acquisition would give Distell a springboard into a country with a growing appetite for other speciality drinks the company offers. “We have acquired a business with a portfolio of strong brands, backed by a sound production and marketing team. Their expertise is integral to the ongoing success of Burn Stewart”, Scannell added.

Managing Director of CL Financial Limited, parent of CL World Brands Limited, Marlon Holder said he was confident that Distell would take Burn Stewart to the next level of its international development. Managing Director of Burn Stewart, Fraser Thornton said the close working relationship with Distell over the past 14 years has amply demonstrated the South African group’s capacity, experience and expertise to strengthen and grow the company. “We have developed solid synergies with a strong cultural fit between our two entities and are enthused by Distell’s plans to recapitalise and advance the business.”

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) data shows that the global whisky market has been one of the fastestgrowing drinks segments and after vodka, is the world’s second biggest spirit category by volume. The most recent SWA figures show that for the past 10 years from 2002 to 2012, sales values rose by 87% to R59.9 billion.

In South Africa, the whisky market represents a value increase of 70% since 2006, according to information published by SA Wine Industry & Information Systems. South Africa is now the sixth largest market for whisky by volume and seventh, by value. In 2009, Distell acquired well-known heritage cognac brand Bisquit from Pernod Ricard.

In the four years since then, it has reestablished the brand as a major cognac player in global markets, building volumes by double digits across a range of developing markets.

WALTA–TheRoad LongTravelled

The apartheid legislations in the past years have excluded the Black community from buying or selling liquor. Image By Courtesy of SA Tourism.

In 1988, the Wattville Taverns Association was formed and due to the political challenges it was subsequently disbanded. But 23 years later, liquor traders in this Ekurhuleni Township converged and formed what is currently known as the Wattville Liquor Traders Association (WALTA) which is an affiliate of the Gauteng Liquor Forum (GLF). According to Mama Martha Mhlope, Wattville resident and tavern owner, who has been selling liquor in this township prior to the dawn of democracy in the country, the formation of WALTA was difficult because of the apartheid legislation that for many years excluded the Black community from buying or selling liquor. WALTA was formed to forge unity among traders, promote awareness on trading within the framework of law as outlined in the Liquor Act and other pieces of legislation that regulated liquor trading in the province and in the country. WALTA Secretary, Cedric Mabasa, said one of their aims was to create a platform to engage various stakeholders within the industry where they would communicate and advise each other on matters affecting liquor trading and the community at large.

Mabasa said amongst their initiatives, the association had recently hosted a liquor education workshop conducted by the Gauteng Liquor Licensing Office, Gambling Authority and representatives from the Department of Justice and SAPS.

He said the workshop was also aimed at removing the negative stigma associated with shebeens and taverns as places where criminals and social malice are bred.

Mabasa was adamant that WALTA was heading in the right direction despite citing some challenges such as reaching out to every liquor trader in the township. Wattville is currently estimated to have more than 250 liquor traders, 33 of them are members of the WALTA. “We’re look forward to grow and we hope with everybody pulling together in one direction there will be a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.