Possible further price rises at Coors
The chief executive of Coors has refused to rule out further significant price increases in addition to the 3p it added to the wholesale price of a pint at the end of September.
Speaking exclusively to thepublican.com, Mark Hunter said that, while the 3p increase was a "one-off", Coors' annual inflationary price increase is due to take place in the first quarter of next year and executives are "currently reviewing when and how much that will be".
The price rises, also introduced recently by other major brewers including InBev, Carlsberg and Marston's, were unavoidable and caused by inflations in input costs, according to Hunter.
He said: "We are doing a good job of managing our costs down, going through a significant process of downsizing financial functions.
"However, while we are doing that we are being clobbered by input costs and inflation, the like of which we have never seen. Through to 2009, we are going to remain in an environment of very challenging market conditions.
"We are working hard on hedging the price, but there is only so much we can do."
Hunter added he believed licensees should pass the price rises onto consumers and not try to absorb them - pubs should put the price of a pint up by four to seven pence, he said.
InBev increased its wholesale prices by 3.3 per cent on September 15, Marston's will put up its prices by four per cent on October 2, and Carlsberg by 2.3 per cent on October 6.
