Pointing to statistics which show that high-income consumers are the most likely to regularly drink more alcohol than the government’s recommended weekly limit, SABMiller said a minimum price of 45p per unit would impact on lower-income responsible drinkers more.
Mike Short, SABMiller’s senior vice president of industry affairs, said: “There’s a lot in the government’s alcohol strategy which we agree with, for example local authorities being given more power to deal with anti-social drinking and a greater focus on targeted prevention programmes.
“As a brewer we also recognise the importance of our role in promoting sensible drinking, particularly when it comes to the responsible marketing of our products. However, we cannot support an unfair and ineffective policy which will be yet another tax on low-income responsible drinkers.”
In addition to concerns about its effectiveness as a policy, SABMiller also believes that government intervention in the market will have a number of unintended consequences for consumers.
Gary Haigh, managing director of Miller Brands, SABMiller’s subsidiary company in the UK, said: “If minimum pricing comes in, consumers, particularly those with a limited budget, will be faced with far less choice when they look at the supermarket shelves.
“‘Own label’ products are likely to disappear because they can’t compete at the same price against branded products and producers who import into the UK could pull out because it’s no longer a competitive market. It could also make things even worse for our great British pub heritage. It’s already been badly affected by the trend towards at-home drinking and if people have a set budget they’ll have less to spend in the pub.”
Source: SABMiller
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