Booze set to be on a high

There is bad news for tipplers in the state.  They will have to pay more  from August 1 as the Excise Board has permitted a six per cent increase in the prices of liquor and wine.

The Kerala Bottlers Federation (KBF) had put pressure on the government to hike the prices following inflationary costs of raw materials, packing materials and labour cost.

They had even threatened to stop supplying liquor to the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC), if their demands were not met.

Sources from the Excise Commissionerate said that one bottle of liquor costing `300 will increase to `320, as the price will be rounded off.

There will be a slight increase from the six per cent as the prices of liquor are fixed on the denomination of `5 and `10.

However, beer manufacturers in the state are a worried lot as the price hike is not applicable to them.

During the last six years, beer price was hiked to three per cent, whereas for liquor it was increased to 12 per cent.

They pointed out that liquor prices were increased twice in the last six years.

Sources in the beer industry said that they will also approach the government for a reasonable hike in prices as the manufacturing units are facing severe crisis due to the increase in prices of raw materials and labour cost.

KBF president Vijayakumar said that they had been demanding a hike in liquor prices for the last two years.

During 2009-10, a marginal increase of four per cent was allowed by the government.

The KBF had demanded a 10 per cent hike and now the government has given sanction for an increase of six per cent.

Distillery owners say that the hike is not reasonable and may lead to the non-availability of low-cost liquor in the state.

According to Vijayakumar, when one litre of spirit reaches the distillery it costs `52.

With the huge increase in the price of spirit, the distillers are not able to manufacture the low-cost liquor.