(Reuters) – Africa’s biggest brewer SABMiller is ratcheting up production of more affordable beers in the continent using sorghum and cassava in place of more expensive barley to drive growth in what is already the group’s fastest growing region.

The London-based brewer’s Africa region – minus South Africa – produces 13 percent of group profits, and strong beer volume and earnings growth is being driven by its biggest markets such as Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana.

A large part of the strategy directed by its African regional managing director Mark Bowman is to make beer more affordable and less of a luxury product than when it is priced at around $1 a bottle across the continent.

“By African standards, beer is expensive so we look at sub-inflation pricing and to develop an affordable category,” Bowman told Reuters.

He says that the outlook for the beer industry in Africa is sound with strong GDP growth of 4-6 percent per annum and population growth of 2.5 percent, and within that framework a low priced entry to beer drinking is extremely important. Click here to read more