But their plans were knocked off course by bad weather and inflation. Now they seem at risk of stagnating again in 2025, with U.S. President Donald Trump's trade tariffs in focus. VOLUME GAME Siphelele Mdudu, investment analyst at Matrix Fund Managers, which invests in beer stocks, said it was not sufficient to deliver growth based on price increases alone. "Eventually you are going to drive your consumers to alternative products," he said, adding the beer was fundamentally a "volume game". Mdudu and Daniel Isaacs, equity analyst at AB InBev shareholder 36ONE, said a key factor in AB InBev's decline in Brazil was pricing: AB InBev hiked prices earlier than rival Heineken, which benefited as a result.