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| A customer picks up a bottle of 40240 Dokdo soju from the refrigerator at a convenience store in Seoul on Jan. 19. Courtesy of BGF Retail |
By Kim Jae-heun
Brewers and distilling companies here have decided to freeze the prices of their alcoholic beverages for the time being due to government interference. This is all part of the government's campaign to curb inflationary pressures, according to industry officials Wednesday.
The country's largest liquor firm HiteJinro said Monday that it has no plan to increase the price of soju, or Korean distilled spirits, for some time.
"There are several factors that push us to increase the price (of soju and beer), but we are not considering it so as to lessen the burden on consumers and restaurant owners in the current economic slump," a HiteJinro official said.
Oriental Brewery (OB) also said it will freeze the price of its beer products.
"Despite the government's decision to raise the tax on beer, we will not increase our products' prices," an OB official said.
Earlier in January, the government revised the Enforcement Decree of the Liquor Tax Act to increase the tax rate on beer by 30.5 won per liter and 1.5 won per liter of raw rice wine from April.
This has led many to predict that breweries would increase the prices of their products significantly.
Liquor firms, which are not targeted in the tax rises, also sought to increase the price of their soju products as they were facing increased costs due to logistics and labor.
As consumers' concerns grew over possible price hikes for soju and beer, the government decided to take preventive action in regard to the companies.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho attended the plenary session of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee on Feb. 22 and asked for the cooperation of liquor firms and breweries.
"The government asked the industry to actively cooperate in order to stabilize the price of soju and other alcoholic beverages that people enjoy on daily basis," Choo said.
HiteJinro and OB have said that they accept the government's request to cooperate.
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