The monthly import in alcoholic beverages in July this year went down by 15 per cent while the non-alcoholic beverages registered a decline of 72.2 per cent, a report by the Namibia Statistics Agency has shown.

The report seen by Nampa on Tuesday said the country imported 22 780 hectolitres of non-alcoholic beverages in July 2021 compared to 81 958 hectolitres in June 2021. South Africa was the main source of imports accounting for 81.3 per cent followed by Botswana at 13.7 per cent and Germany with 3.7 per cent.

“On the demand side, 39 184 hectolitres of alcoholic beverages were imported in July 2021 compared to 46 100 hectolitres in June 2021, and the main supplier of the alcoholic beverages in July 2021 was South Africa accounting for 97.6 per cent of the import,” said the report.

Namibia during the month of July exported 458 hectolitres of non-alcoholic beverages compared to 1 121 hectolitres that were exported in June; about 64.4 per cent of the beverages were exported to Mauritius followed by Zambia at 26.1 per cent while 4.1 per cent was exported to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For the month of July, Namibia exported 9 889 hectolitres of alcoholic beverages compared to 45 101 hectolitres in June. South Africa received 69.2 per cent of the alcoholic beverages exported followed by Botswana at 9.8 per cent and Zambia at 8.8 per cent.

The alcoholic beverage index registered a monthly decline of 27.2 per cent in July 2021 compared to an increase of 7.7 per cent recorded for the preceding month, while a reduction of 17.9 per cent was recorded year on year.

The non-alcoholic beverage index monthly production declined by 37.5 per cent in July 2021 from a growth of 65.0 per cent registered in June 2021, while on an annual basis, the index went down by 46.5 per cent.

The report said the total alcoholic beverages produced in July 2021 was 121 074 hectolitres compared to 166 308 hectolitres produced in June 2021, while the total non-alcoholic beverages produced in July 2021 stood at 41 232 hectolitres compared to 65 994 hectolitres produced in June 2021.

“The declined volume production recorded in non-alcoholic beverages is attributed to the maintenance on the production lines as well as stock build-up in June, and the decline in volume production recorded in alcohol beverages is attributed to reduced demand due to the restrictions of alcohol sales as part of the measures to fight COVID 19,” explains the report.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency