Executive Director of the Association of Beer Manufacturers (APP), which includes AB Inbev Efes, Baltika and Heineken, Vyacheslav Mamontov told RIA news that reports about a sharp rise in price of drinks are premature. Mammoths denied rumors about the shortage of raw materials from the largest producers and did not consider it necessary to restrict its exports.
“Hot summer in the European part of Russia really led to a low barley crop and some deficiency of malt on the market. At the same time, the members of the APP do not consider the situation of critical and lack of raw materials. Talk about a sharp rise in prices due to barley and malt deficiency. At a minimum premature. This we can declare both the largest Russian brewers, and as the largest producers of malt, “says Mammoths.
Earlier, the Union of Russian Brewers (PSA) sent a letter to the Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustina with a request to introduce quotas for the export of barley and brewing malt and increase export duties on this product. The requirement of the SRP explained the “unprecedented” rising prices for raw materials, which will increase by 2022. According to the Union, large volumes of exports of barley and malt create a risk of deficiency in the domestic market.
Executive Director of the APP said that such measures may have negative consequences for price conditions and competition. Mammoth recalled that such restrictions are absent in most countries of the world, which allows their market to be more flexible and offer consumers a wider product line in accordance with their tastes. The price leap, in his opinion, is partly provoked by Russian legislative restrictions on the malt content in beer – at least 80 percent.
Ministry of Agriculture has already reacted to the statement of the PSA, eliminating the possibility of introducing a separate quota for the export of barley from Russia. According to “Kommersant”, in the summer of 2021, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) began collecting data on the formation of prices for beer in companies in order to identify possible signs of dumping on the market. The newspaper assumes that information may be required by the FAS for the introduction of the minimum retail price of beer.
In addition, the SRP offered the Ministry of Economic Development to increase duty on import of imported beer 55 times. However, according to the Prime Agency, the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov said that the Office does not prepare proposals for new export duties.