Beer price to come down by ₹20 per can from today in UP
Beer price will come down by ₹20 per can from Thursday, the only brew to buck the trend of rising prices of liquor in many years in the state
Beer price will come down by ₹20 per can from Thursday, the only brew to buck the trend of rising prices of liquor in many years in the state. What’s more beer sellers would get ₹3.10 more per can of beer.
However, despite sweltering heat, beer sellers aren’t expecting substantial increase in footfall in vends.
They feel the move isn’t enough to cut the gloom despite increasing temperature when usually people beat the heat with chilled beer cans.
Fresh surge in Covid cases in the state is giving them jitters as many of them are still haunted by memories of 2020 when corona ate not just their profits, but in many instances, “left them with virtually nothing.”
“People used to hang out with chilled beer cans in summers. So, the timing of the move to cut pricing and raise our profits would have been perfect had it not been for fresh surge in corona cases. Now, the fear is that the surge in infections would make people go slow on cold, chilled stuff and if that happens, it will mean things were back to square one,” said Kanhaiyalal Maurya, general secretary, UP Liquor Sellers’ Association.
The fact that they would save more on each can they sell too isn’t enough cheer for them.
“We would get ₹3.10 paise more from Thursday. The slashing of prices per can by as much as ₹20, a first in a long, long time, is also expected to push up sagging beer sales in the state,” he said.
Between April to November 2019 the beer sales that were approximately 27.08 crore bottles in the state fell sharply in the same period in 2020, majority of which was consumed due to COVID-19 induced lockdown and post-lockdown restrictions, officials said. The beer sales thus came down sharply in 2020 with just about 17.28 crore bottles being sold.
“It’s true that we advise people against having things that are cold, straight out of fridge in any case. During Covid times we have been urging people to have steam, have more of lukewarm water,” said Dr RK Verma, a plastic surgeon admitting that low beer sales could be due to Covid fear.
