Much less beer was exported to Africa than Europe. And it mostly went to just two places: Egypt and South Africa. You may be spotting a trend here. Both locations had a considerable British military presence. I'm starting to wonder now if most British beer exports were being consumed by service personnel.
The only exception to this seems to be foreign East Africa, which is in place number 3. What would that cover? I guess Somalia, German East Africa and Mozambique. None of those sound like places likely to take much British beer. Especially odd, as fuck all beer was going to British East Africa. Far less than to Ascension and St. Helena, two tiny islands. Mauritius is another small island taking quite a lot of beer.
Again, I'm shocked at how little Scottish beer there was. Its share of 15% was double that of exports to Europe. But way below its 25% share of all exports. Where was all that Scottish beer going? Only South Africa was receiving about the average amount.
UK Beer exports to Africa in 1898 | ||||||
Destination | From England. | From Scotland. | From the U.K. | |||
Quantity. | Declared Value. | Quantity. | Declared Value. | Quantity. | Declared Value. | |
Barrels | £ | Barrels | £ | Barrels | £ | |
Egypt | 22,305 | 59,450 | 1,134 | 4,544 | 23,439 | 63,904 |
Tripoli and Tunis | 28 | 78 | - | - | 28 | 78 |
Algeria | 2 | 8 | - | - | 2 | 8 |
Morocco | 85 | 288 | - | - | 85 | 288 |
West. Africa, Foreign | 181 | 651 | - | - | 184 | 651 |
Western Africa, British | 1,702 | 6,060 | - | - | 1,702 | 6,060 |
Ascension & St. Helena | 1,395 | 4,120 | - | - | 1,395 | 4,120 |
British Possessions in South Africa | 19,959 | 71,077 | 6,030 | 22,383 | 25,989 | 93,400 |
Eastern Africa, Foreign | 1,906 | 8,355 | 454 | 2,124 | 2,360 | 10,479 |
Eastern Africa, British | 103 | 506 | - | - | 103 | 506 |
Abyssinia | - | - | 18 | 82 | 18 | 82 |
Madagascar | 49 | 143 | - | - | 40 | 143 |
Bourbon | 18 | 62 | 86 | 402 | 104 | 464 |
Mauritius | 1,639 | 5,007 | 881 | 2,751 | 2,520 | 7,758 |
Total | 49,372 | 155,805 | 8,603 | 32,286 | 57,969 | 187,941 |
Source: | ||||||
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, June 15th 1899, page 344. | ||||||
Note: | ||||||
Year ending 30th September 1898. |
4 comments:
We always hear that German brewers eventually displaced the British in export markets and that it was because lager beer was more stable, but I'm wondering also if their beer was just more to the taste of the local populations.
I'd be curious if those odd numbers for some locations just reflect waystations.
I know in the present day if a US company ships goods to Mexico or Canada for processing and then those goods are shipped back to the US, they can be counted in both the export and import numbers even though the net result is zero.
I just want to know who the lucky person in Algeria was to get 2 whole barrels, probably to himself, for just £8.
Not as much of a culture of export grade lager than ale or stout.
Oscar
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