2,500 Retailers Petitioned Against Beer Sales Ban

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As many as 2,500 beverage sellers in Bali signed a petition against the ban on minimarket and retailers to sell alcoholic beverages. Frendy Karmana, chairman of the Class A Alcohol Beverage Distributors Association (ADMA), said that the signed petition had been submitted to the Bali's Department of Trade and Industry as well as to the Regional Representative Council.

Trade Minister Regulation No.6/M-DAG/PPER/1/2015 on alcoholic beverages is prohibits minimarkets and retailers to sell class A alcoholic drinks, including beer. The ban, scheduled to take effect on April 16 this year, is expected to lower the income of some 55,000 small traders in Indonesia.

Frendy said on Tuesday that these retailers could lose a potential profit of Rp125,000 per crate if the rule was enforced.

In Bali, alcoholic drinks and liquor are usually distributed to consumers by retailers. Of the five million beer cans and bottles released to the market each month, most of them are sold in minimarkets or shops.

Seventy-two percent of Bali's liquor consumers are foreign and domestic tourists.

Multinational brewers Heineken and Diageo had asked the government to postpone the ban.

"The ones that will be hit the most by the policy are small distributors," said Sanjeet Aujla, an analyst at Credit Suisse Bank of Singapore, as reported by The Financial Times, Sunday, April 12.

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