Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd has warned of a hike in beer prices next year due to rising production and operation costs.
Managing director Soren Ravn said the Denmark-based brewer had increased its beer prices by 3% this year, but it was “barely catching up with inflation”.
“Raw material prices, especially for key ingredient barley, are expected to increase between 35% and 40% in 2012,” he told reporters during a roundtable dialogue Wednesday, 7 September.
“We are sitting on a ‘time-bomb’ next year with raw material prices rising strongly. The local beer market is slowing, there are rising raw material costs and operating cost inflation; 2012 has lots of concerns,” he added.
Ravn said the cost of aluminium for producing cans rose 27% this year, while the cost of natural gas and power increased in May and July, respectively.
Despite the tough operating environment, Ravn said Carlsberg Malaysia would still be able to achieve its earnings and beer sales targets for 2011.
For the first six months of this year, the company’s net profit jumped 16.5% to RM79.96 million from RM68.66 million a year earlier on higher revenue of RM752.73 million.
He said besides increasing beer prices, the company is looking at other aspects such as product mix, global rebranding and efficiencies at the brewery.
