OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2009. Belarus may increase beer excise tax rates, Belgospischeprom concern chairman Ivan Danchenko told reporters.

“We are working on a mechanism to cover Belsolod’s losses. One possibility is to raise excise tax rates,” Danchenko said.

He referred to the global drops in malt prices when explaining Belsolod’s difficulties.

According to Danchenko, Belarusian breweries will not be affected by the increase in excises, as they will be buying cheaper malt. The change will only affect importers.

The concern has drafted a proposal to raise excises, but it has not been approved yet.

After Belsolod doubles its capacity to 130,000 tonnes annually upon completion of upgrade, it will export up to U.S. \\$30 million worth of malt annually starting 2010.

Belarus’ OAO Belsolod, the country’s only producer of malt, reported a 22.7% decrease in output in January-October 2009 over the same period of 2008 to 54,180 tonnes.