Peru: Ambev has said that its battle to show that the Peruvian brewer Union de Cervecerias Peruanas Backus & Johnston SAA, or Backus, has alledgedly abused its monopoly position hasn't been decided yet. Ambev and Backus are in a legal fight that centres around the demand by Ambev to be able to use the bottles that Backus also uses in the local market.

Ambev, which is trying to enter the Peruvian market and break the Backus monopoly, wants to enter into the local bottle exchange system.

However, Backus argues that the existing bottles belong to them and represent a significant investment. On July 7, it was reported that the Peruvian government consumer defense agency Indecopi had ruled that since all the companies that make beer in Peru belong to Backus there wasn't any system to swap the bottles.

However,it was reported today that Ambev has now said that Indecopi is still examining whether Backus is involved in anticompetitive practices. "The (Indecopi) resolution hasn't ended that process," Ambev Peru said, adding that it expects that Indecopi will eventually decide that Backus has abused its monopoly position.

09 July, 2004