Kerala - Kochi

BEVCO beats downturn

KOCHI: The Beverages Corporation (BEVCO), one of the few profit-making public sector companies in the State and a monopoly in liquor trade, sold Rs.41.38 crore worth of liquor for the Christmas festival on December 23 and 24.

This was one-third more than the liquor sales of the same days last year, reflecting a high rate of growth of alcohol consumption in the State. On the two days prior to Christmas last year, Keralites purchased Rs.30.60 crore worth of liquor. The hike also fits well with the double-digit percentage increase in liquor sales registered over the past several years.

The liquor outlet at Chalakudy registered the biggest Christmas sale on December 24, it sold Rs.18.70 lakh worth of liquor. It was followed by Angamaly (Rs.13.75 lakh) and Irinjalakkuda (Rs.11.38 lakh).

The corporation had not expected a big jump in sales this festival season because of the global recession and a drastic drop in the availability of cheap rum, the mainstay of working class drinkers.

N. Shanker Reddy, Managing Director of the corporation, told The Hindu that while the recession was expected to have only a marginal impact on the sales, the supply constraints of cheap liquor was a major bottleneck.

Mr. Reddy pointed out that rum constituted 60 per cent of the IMFL (India-made foreign liquor) sold in the State, while brandy took 30 per cent. Because of the hefty rise in the cost of raw materials, production of cheap rum and brandy (those which cost under Rs.300 a litre) had fallen substantially. While cheap liquor constituted around 40 per cent of the turnover in December last, this December was only a fraction of it.

Mr. Reddy says that in spite of the heavy fall in the availability of cheap liquor it did not affect the turnover. The end result was that the working class drinkers, who opted for the premium brands, ended up paying more.

Christmas-New Year is the second best-selling season for the Beverages Corporation, the first being Onam. On Christmas Eve (December 24) last year, Rs.18.52 crore worth of liquor was sold. On the New Year’s Eve, liquor worth Rs.18.51 crore was sold.

Over the past few years, liquor sales scaled new peaks and Kerala has been on a drinking spree.

During April-November this year, there was a jump of 30 per cent in the sale of IMFL over the corresponding period last year. During the eight months, Rs.2,997 crore worth of liquor was consumed in the State.

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