BusinessSri Lanka's beer industry will regain market share from hard liquor following a more favourable tax regime for the segment announced in the 2018 budget, according to Fitch Ratings. The budget reduced excise taxes on strong beer by 33 per cent and raised that on hard liquor by 2 per cent, effective immediately. The market share for beer fell to 14 per cent from 27 per cent over the same period,” it said. Fitch expects beer to regain market share lost to hard liquor during the last two years, when frequent tax increases on beer eroded its price advantage. “We expect sales volumes of hard liquor market leader Distilleries (DIST) to drop, as consumers substitute strong beer for arrack, the most popular hard liquor in the country.

Source: Sunday Times November 15, 2017 05:03 UTC