This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 19, 2020 - February 25, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Heineken Malaysia Bhd has confirmed that it is going to increase the prices of certain selected products come March 1, due to rising operating costs.

The selective price adjustment, it said in a statement, applies primarily to products that are in the keg format.

“We wish to clarify that the selective price adjustment applies primarily on the keg format. In Peninsular Malaysia, there is no increase in price for cans and bottles format for Heineken®, Tiger, Tiger Crystal, Guinness, Apple Fox, Strongbow Gold Apple, and Anglia Shandy. In Sabah and Sarawak Malaysia, there is an adjustment for quarts (big bottles) for selected brands only,” it said.

It further clarified that the price of its Paulaner beer is only adjusted by 6.5% and not 20.25%, and that there is no price increase for Heineken.

The Edge Financial Daily reported yesterday that the brewer, which last raised the prices of its beers by up to 5% last April, was going to raise prices for selected products on March 1 due to rising costs.

Last December, Heineken managing director Roland Bala had hinted that the brewer would increase its prices if necessary, and very selectively, when asked if there would be another round of price increase.

Shares of Heineken closed eight sen or 0.27% at RM29.66, valuing the company at RM8.96 billion. Over the past year, the counter has surged some 36.7% from RM21.69.