Budweiser (InBev) & Miller (SABMiller) to raise prices

Readd the news and either weep or cheer.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32557991/ns/business-consumer_news/

This happens every year in either October or February. I guess this year they plan on hitting us a month earlier so they can enjoy the full quarter of money.

It's funny, but if I set my prices with another store or stores, its called collusion, and is illegal. Yet strangely, when ever a price hike comes in every distributor seems to have the same price down on all of the products. No collusion there at all!

Don't care what they do. I prefer "City Water" to that insipid shite. Sales down, increase prices...good luck!! Ain't it great that we still have beer barons on the Northside. Best legislation money can buy,.

Up the revolution, and don't forget that they're all foreign owned nowadays. If you really believe in American-made and local, you'll touch none of the macros to your lips, irrespective of price.

From Beer Business Daily:

"Since first BBD reported the colossal weakness in five of the six mega-brands a month ago, the numbers have only worsened. Consider these daunting volume figures for the four weeks ending August 9 in IRI all-scans (food, drug, c-store) released yesterday:

-Overall beer volumes are down 4.1%.
-Bud Light volumes down 8.6%, losing an entire share point. Pricing up 67 cents per case.
-Budweiser down 13.8%, losing an entire share point. Pricing up 78 cents a case.
-Miller Lite down 11.5%, losing 0.6 share, with pricing up 79 cents per case.
-Corona Extra down 4%, flat share, but with pricing down 74 cents a case.
-Heineken down 12.8%, share 0.2, with pricing up 34 cents a case.

Only Coors Light was up, 1.1%, gaining 0.4 share points at 35 cents a case higher pricing. But that volume trend is a marked slowdown from previous periods, and Coors Light could -- I'm gasping for breath -- conceivably go into negative territory next month. The six mega-brands, which represent half the industry volume, lost a collective 2.3 share points. If you extrapolate that trend over the entire industry (which may be conservative given the weak on-premise performance), that means the top six mega-brands are losing about 250,000 case equivalents every sell day.

I haven't seen trends this ghastly since the doubling of the federal excise tax in 1991. And what's amazing is how pricing has held up so far. While there are sporadic deals (and more deals involving sub-premiums), average pricing per case is almost universally up at least 30 cents and in most cases much more than that. And there are already GI letters out their for October. Boston Beer's Jim Koch said recently that the best strategy is to increase prices during economic downturns (when everybody expects you to be down anyway), so that when things get better, you're sitting pretty with a big fat margin.

And yet craft beers and sub-premiums continue to roll. Sub-premiums are up 1.8% despite healthy pricing of north of 50 cents a case. Leading the way are Key Light and Bud Ice. Crafts are up 12%, gaining 0.6 share points. It's a two-legged stool out there, with the very cheap and the very expensive leading the way.

Beer Makers Plan More Price Boosts

Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2009

8/26/2009 8:54:04 AM





By DAVID KESMODEL



The nation's two largest brewers by sales are planning a new round of price increases this fall despite flat volumes, in a sign of their growing clout.



Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the largest U.S. beer seller by revenue, and MillerCoors LLC will increase beer prices in the majority of their U.S. sales regions, the two companies said Tuesday.



"We do plan on taking prices up in the fall on the majority of our volume in the majority of the U.S.," said David Peacock, president of Anheuser's U.S. division. "The environment is very favorable, we think." Retailers informed of the proposed changes generally agree with the increases, he said.



MillerCoors also said it will raise prices. "We have seen very strong pricing to date this year, and we are projecting a favorable pricing environment moving forward," said Brad Schwartz, a vice president at MillerCoors, a joint venture of SABMiller PLC and Molson Coors Brewing Co. He declined to provide specifics.



The two companies, which account for about 80% of U.S. beer sales, increased prices at about the same time last year. Mr. Peacock said pricing decisions are still being made, but the Leuven, Belgium-based maker of Bud Light and Stella Artois likely won't raise prices more than it did last fall. At the time, its prices rose about 4% in most U.S. markets, according to industry newsletter Beer Marketer's Insights.



Some retailers are unhappy with the increases. "This is the blow-back from not having enough competition," said Michael Binstein, chief executive of Binny's Beverage Depot, a 22-store Midwest liquor-store chain. The increases, he said, will raise the average price for a 12-pack by about $1 a package in the Chicago area, citing data from distributors.



Too high increases, and the brewers risk losing sales to smaller rivals, said Dinesh Gauri, assistant professor of marketing at Syracuse University. But "with 80% market share, it's pretty easy for them to raise prices without seeing too many volume decreases," he said.



Both U.S. giants have reported strong profits this year, in part by raising prices to offset flat volumes.



MillerCoors's adjusted income rose 27% in the first six months of this year from a year ago. Anheuser's North America division posted a 29% gain in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in this year's first half. (See related.)



Overall U.S. beer volumes are declining at the sharpest rate in more than a decade. In the first half of this year, sales from distributors to retailers fell 0.9%, and shipments from brewers to distributors fell 1.3%, according to the Beer Institute, an industry group. Anheuser recently began offering $2 rebates in several states on its economy brands.



Still, beer prices in the U.S. have risen faster than other consumer goods. In July, the price of beer, ale and other malt beverages sold for consumption at home rose 4.6% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, consumer prices in the U.S. overall were down 2.1%, the biggest 12-month decline since 1950, according to Labor Department data.



The two brewers are able to boost prices in part because each offers a wide variety of products at different price levels, said Carlos Laboy, an analyst with Credit Suisse. "They have the dominant position in every category of the industry from imports to premiums to discount brands," he said.



The industry consolidated in the last year as Anheuser-Busch was acquired by Belgium's InBev last November, and Miller and Coors combined U.S. operations last summer. The mergers enabled the companies to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in costs, in some cases share brewing operations, and wring lower prices from suppliers.

Another article posted at work:

Anheuser-Busch Pulls Promotions at Some Colleges

Associated Press, August 26, 2009

8/26/2009 9:22:08 AM





By EMILY FREDRIX (AP)



MILWAUKEE — Anheuser-Busch InBev is dropping its "Fan Cans" promotions from communities around the country where colleges have complained that the effort — which sells cans of Bud Light in school colors — promotes underage drinking and infringes on trademarks.



The Federal Trade Commission has discussed the issue with the brewer, both the agency and the St. Louis-based brewer said. Regulators are concerned that cans will be marketed to fans under the legal drinking age of 21, said Janet Evans, a senior attorney at the FTC responsible for alcohol marketing issues.



The industry's regulations require at least 70 percent of an advertisement's audience to be above 21, and Evans said that doesn't happen on college campuses.



"When you've got a college campus audience you've got a very large number of persons who are below the legal drinking age there, and in addition, you've got a population that engages almost exclusively in binge drinking," she said.



She said the FTC could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation, though she did say she was certain Anheuser-Busch would not repeat this effort in the future.



Anheuser-Busch told the FTC the cans would be sold through retailers where purchasers must be 21 or older, said Carol Clark, Anheuser-Busch vice president for corporate social responsibilty.

Still, the company said it is listening to the complaints.



"Certain cans are not being made available in communities where organizations asked us not to offer them," Clark said in a statement.



The nation's largest brewer started the program earlier this month for its flagship Bud Light brand, where sales have been suffering amid the recession. The brand — the nation's biggest — could see its first sales decline in 27 years, according to industry estimates.



The "Fan Can" program puts school colors on Bud Light cans and was launched to coincide with the start of football season — a popular time to drink beer. Anheuser-Busch, which was bought by Belgium-based InBev last year, said the cans have no college logos, names or other identifiers — just 27 color combinations.



The program is nationwide, where the brewer's wholesalers choose to participate. The company estimates half of its wholesalers are participating.



It's also unclear how many schools are objecting. Some 25 colleges represented by Collegiate Licensing Co. have sent the brewer formal letters asking it to stop the program at their campuses, according to the company, which represents some 200 colleges and universities. It declined to name specific schools.

Boston College objected, spokesman Jack Dunn said, by sending sent letters objecting to the use of its maroon and gold coloring to the brewer on its own and through its athletic conference.



The school cited trademark infringement but is mainly concerned about the message the program sends about drinking, he said, and worries drinkers could think the university is involved in the effort.

"We think it's an ill-conceived and inappropriate campaign that runs counter to our collective efforts to combat underage drinking," he said.



Anheuser-Busch told Boston College in a letter earlier this month it stands by its rights to market its product using colors associated with the school.



"Nonetheless, in order to avoid a dispute over the concerns raised by your letter, Anheuser-Busch has decided not to proceed with Fan Cans in such color combinations in your community at this time," according to a copy of the letter the school gave to The Associated Press.



In some cases, such as at the University of Wisconsin, the campaign hadn't even made it near campus yet, but the schools didn't want to wait to tell Anheuser-Busch to drop the program.



"If you don't protect your trademarks, you eventually lose them, so we felt it was important to at least communicate to them that we didn't think it was an appropriate tact," said Vince Sweeney, vice chancellor for university relations at University of Wisconsin.



He said the school in Madison, Wis., received a letter from Anheuser-Busch this week saying it would stop selling the red-and-white cans in the area.



Texas A&M University also received such a letter after sending one of its own. Spokesman Jason Cook said their concern was that people would think the school had licensed the maroon-and-white cans of beer.



The University of Colorado at Boulder objected not only because of concerns about protecting its trademarks but also worries that the effort could jeopardize its relationship with MillerCoors, spokesman Bronson Hilliard said. Coors Brewing Co., half of MillerCoors, is based in nearby Denver.



A dozen schools represented by Licensing Resource Group, including Mississippi State, have either sent letters to the brewer or local distributors asking that the program be ceased in their areas.



Evans, the FTC attorney, said it is difficult to promote drinking on campuses responsibly and this effort is not the way to do it.



"We really wouldn't want them to do this again," she said.