The beer market in Morocco started following Ramadan with a bang. And for good reason, consumers thirsty for two sacred months will have to put a little more “chwia” in it (from 50 cts at the source) before enjoying the products of the Société des Boissons du Maroc (SBM) (formerly Brasserie du Maroc).
The latter had warned on the eve of Ramadan of its intention to increase the price of its beer in all its forms, a drink widely consumed in the country. The reaction of alcohol outlets was not long in coming, since they passed on the price increase to their prices. But let it be said, there was only an increase in beers (alcohol of the “poor”) and not in other alcohols, even if certain labels (wines and others) took advantage of this to raise their prices.
As a reminder, the SBM achieved a net result, for the whole of 2021, a turnover of 2.71 billion DH, an increase of 14% compared to 2020.
The SBM will therefore have succeeded in offsetting the effects of Dame Covid. It has also gradually and touristically speaking benefited from the measures to ease the restrictions of the CHR segment (Cafés, Hotels, Restaurants), the SBM Group was pleased to recall. Incidentally, the company indicates that the overall volume of sales of the various activities recorded an increase of 7.5% compared to 2020, under the effect of the strengthening of the beer activity and the wine activity (Castel) and the solid growth in the water business.
In the same year, SBM upgraded its information system, built a water treatment plant used for the brewing activity and bought the company Cépages Marocains Réunis (CMAR) for the modest sum of 346 million DH. And with that, at the end of the 2021 financial year, the SBM group posted a net financial surplus of 661 million DH, once morest 675 million DH at the end of 2020. Here, if not with regard to the stalls at Carrefour, the dispute relating to small delicacies of SBM, between the latter precisely and the signs of the hypermarkets do not seem to be settled yet.
That said, the taxes on alcoholic beverages added to those on tobacco bring in enormously as an internal consumption tax (TIC), and contribute significantly to the State budget. Revenue from levies imposed on the consumption of alcoholic beverages in Morocco, during the year 2021, increased significantly, even and largely exceeding the official expectations included in the Finance Law (LF) 2021. According to the report implementation of the LF for the past financial year, revenues from royalties imposed on alcohol and spirits amounted to approximately 810 million dirhams, once morest 651 million dirhams expected.
The report, published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, indicated last February that revenue from the levy imposed on types of beer amounted to 1 billion dirhams in 2021, when the government planned 800 million. of dirhams. It appears from the figures included in the report that the revenue from the two fees increased by approximately 359 million dirhams. It is therefore clear that the consumption of these drinks has increased considerably over the past year. With an average of more than 3 liters of beer sold per “inhabitant”, it is difficult to claim that the sale and consumption of alcohol, sorry beer, are down in Morocco.
