Price rise on Coca-Cola products affect traders

Some businesspeople have said their sales have gone down since Carlsberg Malawi increased the price of non-alcoholic beverages by 25 percent.

Amosi Pias, a business person at Ginnery Corner in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, said the increase came at a time when most Malawians are already grappling with the rising costs of living resulting from the devaluation of the kwacha.

“This is the second rise this year alone. Initially, we were selling the non-alcoholic beverages at K80 per bottle, then it rose to K100 and now it is at K120.

“The challenge is that prices of so many other things have gone up, yet people’s salaries have not changed. As a result, some people are foregoing the beverages, causing our business to suffer,” he said.

Carlsberg Malawi corporate communications officer Towela Pilling said the recommended retail price for a bottle of Coca-Cola products is K100 and before the increase, it was at K80.

Despite the recommended prices, most traders are selling a bottle of Coco-Cola products at K120 instead of K100.

Pilling said the price adjustment is mainly due to rise in cost of imported raw materials.

“We increased prices of Coca-Cola products due to the continued depreciation of the Malawi kwacha following the May 12 devaluation and subsequent flotation of the [same].

“The devaluation continues to negatively impact on our input materials such as concentrates which are imported,” she said.

Life has become so unbearable for many Malawians with the rising cost of living which was largely buoyed by the devaluation and its subsequent flotation.

The past few months have seen prices of essential goods and services rising; electricity tariffs climbed by 63.25 percent in May and have risen again from an average of K16.05 per kilowatt hour to K22.78 per kilowatt hour as the maximum; water tariffs rose by an average of 39 percent, housing rentals went up by an average of between 25-30 percent, school fees have almost doubled, and so did the prices of many other groceries, among other things.