ZAMBIAN Breweries (ZB) Plc has increased prices of clear beer and other alcoholic beverages with effect from yesterday.
ZB announced increases ranging from 3.6 per cent to 19 per cent in recommended retail prices on clear beer and other alcoholic beverages on its Non-Returnable Bottle (NRB) packs and the sorghum based Eagle Lager.
According to a statement issued by corporate affairs director Luke Njovu, the increases were a combined result of inflation and the 50 per cent increase in excise duty on clear beer from 40 per cent to 60 per cent that the Government implemented as part of the 2014 National Budget.
ZB has until now absorbed the excise duty increase on its non-returnable packs in order to mitigate smuggling that would have resulted from having higher beer prices relative to regional peers.
Mr Njovu said the company has however noted that the increased excise duty has been an added direct cost to the NRB product types and has detrimentally affected company profitability.
ZB managing director, Anele Malumo, said, “In January, we decided to hold prices on our non-returnable packs in order to forestall the smuggling effect that would have resulted from the price increase.
“However, the business impact of that measure has meant that it is no longer viable. We therefore have to pass on this consumer tax that we collect on behalf of Government and also make adjustments occasioned by inflation.”
Employing over 1,000 staff, Zambian Breweries Plc. is the largest beverage company in the country and is a major contributor to economic development and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth through tax remittances and employment creation in its value chain.
Since March 31, 2008, the company has made a total capital investment of $382 million in its operations.
Following its recent US$98 million investment in building a new brewery in Ndola, the company was investing a further US$32.6 million in a Maltings plant in the Lusaka South Economic Multi-facility Zone (MFEZ) as part of its local sourcing barley programme in support of Zambia’s agricultural development.
With the exercise-induced increase in prices on its RGBs, ZB has since January 2014 witnessed a decrease in monthly beer sales volumes from prior levels due to consumer price elasticity.
Consequently, the company anticipates that its total tax remittances to Government would decrease in tandem compared to what it would have paid had the excise rate remained unchanged.
Abakulu bonse ukutemwa ka Larger! Mmmm
kubwalwa twakwaba ubukulu
WHAAAAATT !!!!!! MOBA BAIKILA….. IKATAKO KULI FIMBI NOT KU MUTIMA…KOSWE IWE
How much is Mosi now pa Z ?
Want to become rich quickly in Zambia? Join the clear beer and other alcoholic beverages smuggling movement which will now significantly pick up, more money! more money! More money!
Well we shall start taking on whiskey. Girls no more spin, savanna, hunters, redds, Heineken, Windhoek. It’s whiskey or nothing from me. This also goes to some of you guys who are light weights.
How much is a drink now? Can someone do the maths for me, please…
SIMOMOTELA
THE PRICE OF MOSI / DRINK IS NOW
K7 * 1.19 = K8.33, WITH 19 % BEING THE MAXIMUM INCREAMENT.
ADJUST YOUR WEEKEND BUDGET ACCORDINGLY
THE ACTUAL EFFECT WILL REDUCE COSTS ON THE FOOD BASKET AT HOME.
BEEF WILL BE REPLACED WITH A MEDA OF BEANS AND KAPENTA IN THE DEEP FREEZER.
WHITE MEAT LIKE CHICKEN AND FISH WILL BE REPLACED WITH CABBAGE AND SOYA PIECES.
MILK IN TEA WILL BE REPLACED WITH WATER.
BREAD WILL BE REPLACED WITH PORRIDGE.
TEA LEAVES WITH CHARRED SUGAR…. ETC
@ AAPARATCHIK, thank you my brother. Fortunately or unfortunately I live in diaspora. I buy my 750 ml of black label for 10 rand (about 6 kwacha). I am sorry for them guys back home.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
@Tionge even if they equate the beer price to that of mealie meal we will still enjoy our mosi,just like you will enjoy Nshima even when mealie meal prices are hicked
@spider
In between your mosi and our mealie meal is the difference between your hicked and our hiked.
Are you drunk?
start with 2 shake shake and end with 2 mosi or 2 castle. yasila day.
Kulanwa chabe shake shake,no more mosi
The fact is , pipo will just cut down on food budget and continue guzzling . After all , some places already sell above K10 and still have a lot of customers . But also , the sales of shake shake will go up !
I know this increase in excise duty was planned for in the 2014 national budget. It looks like the old days are not gone when the budget was about upping prices on common items such as beer, cigs, petrol etc. This particular hike in excise duty and other similar measures could actually be counter productive.
If I were ZB or a producer in a sensitive sector, I would de-commission one bottling line each for alcohol and sodas and put expansion on hold and you guessed lay off 500 or so people …
Yeah how about real stimulus measures that can promote balanced growth in all sectors including the beverages. That would not necessarily see prices going up on individual items but promote variety of goods and services as well as rational consumption …
We will start drinking score kanshi
Awe… Ine mwini wake ndidzapitiliza kumwa mowa wamakolo wa 7 days ndi mowa
wa”mwana wagwa mnkhando, amai tilikuseri, phaa gadaa, jolopiko,wasu-wasu,gongo.(KACASUUUUU).
Iwe@Dontcare. Anthu akulu ndi amene afunika kumwa mowa osati bafana. That’s why bafana amasiku ano muonongeka cifukwa coyamba kumwa mowa mukali ana ocepa msinkhu. Ngakhale camba afunika kubema ndi akulu osati anyamata cifukwa anyamata afuntha naco ndikusiya sukulu. Atsikana ndi worse. Malabishiii
KACHASU NJIKATAA, ANSOO….