Carlsberg UK and Molson Coors have become the first national brewers to announce their annual wholesale price rises for next year, with an average increase of at least 6p per pint.
Carlsberg UK has announced price increases on its own produced and wholesale products of between 3.8% and 4.2%. The new prices will come into effect from 6 January. The company said it “cannot go into details across the board”.
The percentage increase will vary brand by brand but it will add an average of 6p per pint - not including VAT - to the wholesale price of Carlsberg lager.
Molson Coors (UK & Ireland) has also said it will be raising its wholesale selling prices on all draught products by about 5p per pint (not including VAT). This is an average increase of 3%, which will amount to £14.95 per barrel for Carling. These will take effect on or after 13 January.
A Carlsberg UK spokesman said: “We have regretfully informed our on-trade customers that we will be increasing prices on own produced and wholesaled products with effect from 6 January 2014. The price increase reflects the rising costs of production, energy and fuel.
“We are fully aware of the challenging market for our customers and have absorbed as much cost as possible to ensure the price increase has been kept to an absolute minimum. Therefore we firmly believe we remain competitively priced for our customers. We are equally committed to adding genuine value to our customers’ businesses through our evolving brands portfolio, excellent service levels, our own logistics operation and unique business support schemes like ‘We Deliver More’.”
Simon Kerry, finance director of Molson Coors (UK & Ireland), said: “The increase is due to rising input prices that affect all brewers. At Molson Coors, we have continued to work hard to cut costs associated with the production and supply of our beers in order to keep the level of increase to a minimum. We continue to take the long term view, investing to deliver great customer service and well supported beer brands.”
