Beer prices to rise

As the Western world is facing a period of uncertainty due to the unexpected "credit crunch", currencies have weakened, food prices are rising and employment is becoming harder to find.
It was only a matter of time before new Zealand's beer industry was also effected by the weakened economic climate.

New Zealand's Dominion Breweries (DB) have announced that from March 2009, the price of their packaged beer products will rise by up to 5% due to rising glass, aluminum and cardboard costs. That's an extra 10c per bottle in a Monteiths 6-pack, or an extra 30c for a Heinekin at your local pub. All this starts to add up when hosting a family barbecue or buying a round on a Friday night.

DB's biggest rival on the local beer market, Lion Nathan, are yet to comment on whether a similar rise will be seen in their products, but in the current financial climate it looks like there will be more bad news for local beer consumers next March.

On the bright side, with summer just around the corner there will be many beer bargains to take advantage of before the price hike in March.

For full article as it appeared in the NZ Herald click here.