AB-InBev to raise prices next year
As of 1 February 2013, Belgium’s major brewer AB-InBev will increase the price of its beers by EUR 0.02 per glass on average, Belgian media reported in early November 2012. Allegedly, the price hike is due to higher input costs.
The price increase applies to the beers AB-InBev sells in Belgium, whose main brands include Jupiler, Stella Artois, Hoegaarden, Leffe and Belle-Vue.
Pub and bar operators have already complained against the price hike. They point out that in the past year alone prices for coffee (6 percent), cola (9 percent) and water (13 percent) have all gone up.
AB-InBev’s domestic rival Alken-Maes (owned by Heineken) would not say if it will put up its prices too. "We are currently working on the rates for 2013, but that work is still ongoing," a spokesperson for the brewer told Belgian media. Number three brewer Haacht also said that it has not yet decided on any price increase.
But trust them to adopt AB-InBev’s pricing policy in the end after some feigned soul searching.
As BRAUWELT INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL International reminded its readers this past September, AB-InBev was the first to raise beer prices by 6 percent in March. Alken-Maes followed suite a few weeks later. Many smaller Belgian brewers raised prices in July.
