Alcohol levy: Consumers desert local brews for imports

Briefing the media on the company's interim results for the half-year ended 30 September 2010, Matshela said that due to the unfair implementation of the alcohol levy which has made imports more affordable than locally-produced alcoholic beverages, their market share and profits continues to slide while the expected increment in the alcohol levy will see more consumers desert KBL and BBL beverages but not necessarily stop alcohol consumption. "I believe for the alcohol levy to serve its intended purpose, it must affect all the sellers in the same way. For some time now, we have been engaging the government to make them understand that the implementation of the levy gives an unfair advantage to importers," he said.

Because the levy is collected at the point of entry of imports, it is charged on cost, insurance and freight of import while it is charged on ex-factory selling price for KBL and BBL.