UK: Heineken to increase prices of its draught beer and cider by 6% from September

Global brewer Heineken will be increasing the prices of its draught beer and cider brands by 6% from next month (Monday 5 September), The Morning Advertiser said on August 3.

In an email seen by The Morning Advertiser signed by on-trade director Stephen Watt, it outlined the rise on wholesale selling prices will be duty exclusive and prices on existing packaged products will be held.

The increase was put down to the company dealing with higher costs on raw materials, energy and in its distribution network.

In April this year, the global brewer previously warned it was considering increasing its prices as a result of inflationary pressures and “macro-economic uncertainty”.

The company announced a price rise earlier this year (February) in its 2021 full year results report.

The warning came as the brewer announced its Q1 2022 trading update, which revealed total beer volume grew in the UK, driven by the on-trade recovery.

Responding to the latest price increase, a Heineken UK spokesperson said: “Like many UK manufacturers we are facing much higher costs, including energy and raw materials and throughout our supply chain.

“We are mitigating the risk of cost volatility where we can and continue to look at ways to drive greater efficiency however at the moment, due to the scale of input cost increases, it is necessary to make changes to the wholesale price.

“We continue to do everything we can to help customers during these challenging times.”

This follows official figures that found the average price of a pint is now more than £4 – up 13p since January.

Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) from June 2022 revealed the average price at the beginning of the year was £3.96 but is now at £4.09 – a 3.3% rise.

This is the sharpest rise in recent years as the next largest was in 2003 between January and June, where the price increased by 17p from £2.11 to £2.28.

Since then, 2008 was the next six-month period that saw a large rise where prices rose from £2.65 to £2.76.

In the past decade, January to June 2013 saw an increase of 8p from £3.22 to £3.30 and in 2017, it went from £3.52 to £3.59.

04 August, 2022