SABMiller SAfrica strike ends after pay deal

* Workers end strike, accept 8.3 pct wage increase offer

* Strike had little impact on operations

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A two month-long wage strike by about a third of workers at SABMiller's (SABJ.J) (SAB.L) soft drinks unit in South Africa ended last night after their union signed a new pay deal, a company official said.

The nearly 1,000 striking workers represented by the Food and Allied Workers Union at Amalgamated Beverage Industries (ABI) were due to return to work by Wednesday, ABI managing director John Ustas said in statement issued late on Monday.

The strike had little impact on ABI operations even during the holiday season -- ABI's busiest trading period of the year -- because the company had adopted contingency plans.

"We are most pleased that we have reached an agreement, which ends the strike at ABI," Ustas said.

ABI workers accepted the 8.3 percent wage hike -- well above South Africa's inflation rate of 6.3 percent -- after initially demanding a 9.5 percent wage increment. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Hans Peters)