S P Brewery, Papua New Guinea’s major brewer, possesses one of the country’s strongest consumer brands.

S P Brewery started in 1951 and launched S P Lager the following year. These days it is majority owned by Singapore-based Asia-Pacific Breweries Ltd, which also owns Tiger Beer. Minority shareholders include PNG’s two largest superannuation funds, POSF and NASFUND.

‘Our aim to be the leading supplier of quality beer brands in the South Pacific region,’ says S P Brewery’s Finance Manager, Chew Wei Leong. While PNG itself is the major market for the brewery’s three highly drinkable brands—S P Lager, South Pacific Export Lager and Niugini Ice—the company is also looking further afield.

‘We do now look forward to opportunities in the South Pacific,’ says Leong. ‘We already ship beer to the Solomon Islands.’

Leong sees the current major competition coming from local spirits producers and even those tempted by dubious home brewing methods rather than imported beers, which are considerably more expensive due to heavy excise duties.

Leong says S P is also preparing itself for more competition with reductions in excise duty on imports expected in coming years. He believes S P will be ready for the change and have a competitive advantage: ‘Papua New Guinea is a large country. You do need that local knowledge for distribution.’

As with many beer brands, marketing is key to its continued success. S P sponsors PNG’s popular rugby league competition (the S P Cup) and many other sporting and cultural events. ‘SP is very much a part of the country,’ says Chew.

This article originally published in Business Advantage PNG 2006