The Union of Russian Brewers (PSA) wanted to establish a minimum retail price for beer, writes Kommersant. With the appropriate initiative, the organization appealed to the government and personally to the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov.
The letter sent to the head of the Ministry of Finance says that an unhealthy situation has emerged on the domestic beer market. Large manufacturers are actively dumping – cutting prices in the fight for market share and sales growth. At the same time, such a policy is often not available to small and medium-sized companies, since it can lead to unprofitableness.
The PSA proposes to set the minimum retail price for one liter of beer in a can or bottle at 110 rubles and at 90 rubles per liter of beer in PET packaging. When selling for bottling, the minimum price should be 85 rubles per liter, according to manufacturers.
The commission of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE), which got acquainted with the proposal, opposed the initiative, pointing out that it was of a non-market nature, “creates unreasonable restrictions and leads to the destruction of healthy competition.”
The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs also noted that the price of beer has been growing steadily in recent years, mainly due to an increase in excise taxes. At the same time, the introduction of the minimum retail price can limit the company in the flexibility of the pricing policy, in particular, make it impossible to provide discounts.