Beer for the price of vodka: the authorities are depriving Ukrainians of the last joys of life
Kyiv, January 16 (PolitNavigator, Alexander Semenyuta) – With the advent of the new government, the cost of bad habits for Ukrainians is becoming increasingly higher. Manufacturers are protesting: the classification of beer as alcoholic beverages and the introduction of an excise tax on retail sales are the next steps towards the destruction of the brewing industry, reports 112.ua.
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“The market will fall at an even faster rate, which will provoke the closure of individual production sites, job cuts both in the beer business and related sectors of the economy,” says Evgeniy Shevchenko, General Director of Carlsberg Ukraine. Shevchenko notes that the last increase in excise tax by 42,5% in May 2014 led to an increase in the price of beer and, accordingly, significantly affected sales volumes. “Over the three quarters of last year, the company’s sales fell by 12% compared to the same period in 2013, and production capacity was loaded at an average of only 63%,” says the CEO of Carlsberg Ukraine.
According to the executive director of Ukrpiv, Igor Tovkach, the industry’s decline at the end of last year was about 14%. Production volumes, according to preliminary estimates, have been reduced by 35 million decaliters to 240 million decaliters, and capacity utilization is only 52% of the industry average. “I think the idea of equating beer with alcoholic beverages is premature,” says Tovkach. He recalled that the issues of limiting the consumption of beer, as well as alcohol, were settled back in 2010.
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