Malawi: Carlsberg Malawi Brewery Limited deplores the tendency of overcharging the company’s beers

Carlsberg Malawi Brewery Limited says it is deeply concerned with the tendency by owners of drinking joints to overcharge consumers of the company’s beers, a development the company says has negatively affected sales volumes, Nation Online published November 10th.

Most drinking joints in cities and towns charge between K10 and K100 above the recommended retail price of Carlsberg beer brands.

Gwynyth Chisale, Southern Bottlers Malawi Limited public affairs and communications manager, said in an interview yesterday the overchaging tendency has forced consumers not to have easy access to the products.

Chisale said much as Carlsberg cannot dictate on how the outlets should charge, the brewer is appealing to all retailers to charge fairly and follow the recommended prices. “This is not acceptable because even by charging the recommended retail prices of K65 for Carlsberg Green and Brown and K70 for Carlsberg Special and Stout these outlets are already making very reasonable profits. Overcharging by huge margins is simply abusing the prices and ripping off consumers. Moreover, beer is readily available on the market. The supply chain is very effective and efficient. In most cases as well, beer is delivered.

“A charge of K5 more should be accepted. However, some places like hotels may charge even higher because of the nature of business they are in, the quality levels of service standards and the environment the venues offer,” said Chisale.

Most bottle stores in Blantyre, Zomba, Thyolo, Mulanje, Chikwawa, Lilongwe and Mangochi district sell Carslberg Green and Brown at K75 per bottle and Stout and Special Brew at K80. There are also other places where the price goes as high as K120 or K160 per bottle.

Chisale said these developments have bad effects on the business because the outlets stand a chance of losing their clientele who will seek to drink at outlets that are charging the recommended prices.

She said to contain the situation Carlsberg will soon embark on a nationwide tour to sensitise customers on the importance of selling products at recommended prices. Reacting to the news, Blantyre-based imbiber John Msiska applauded Carlsberg for moving in to address the anomaly saying drinking joints have been reaping off consumers.

“This malpractice needs to be checked as some places have no justification for charging above recommended prices,” he said.

A number of beer joints interviewed at random yesterday indicated that the extra charges have become necessary to recover some operational costs which come about because of some value-added services like provision of digital service television to enhance entertainment.
Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) said apart from hotels other players are not justified to overcharge on beer.

CAMA spokesman Burton Phiri said drinking joint operators need to know that since beer is one of the fast selling commodities on the market, they can still make a reasonable profit margin by selling at recommended prices.

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