Carew ramps up alcohol production. Not enough, sellers say

The local market cannot balance demand and supply as the import of foreign liquor drops, say Carew officials

Carew & Co, the only licensed distiller in Bangladesh, has ramped up production and saw an increase in sales buoyed by new demand due to curbs on foreign alcohol imports.

But bars and Carew agents in Dhaka complain that they are not getting enough supply to meet the increased demand.

Peacock Bar in Shabagh sold Carew brand liquor in pegs at a higher price on Sunday. Sakura Restaurant and Bar in Shahbagh also complained of limited supply.

"The problem has been lingering for the past few months. We can't supply Carew brand liquor as per the demand," said a cash officer at Sakura without giving a reason.

"To earn every permit, we need to sell seven bottles of liquor a month. Therefore, we need 4,200 bottles of liquor to secure 600 permits per month. But we are getting only 1,000 to 1,200 bottles. That makes the customers unhappy,” said Rana Islam, a salesman at Green Store Ltd, an agent of Carew brand liquor in Kalabagan.

Alcohol consumption in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country, is tightly regulated. According to government rules, different licences, permits or passes are needed to drink, transport or trade in liquor. The policy mentions who can buy alcohol and when and where people can drink alcohol.

Muslims in Bangladesh can only legally drink if they have a licence backed by a doctor who recommended it for health purposes. Per capita alcohol consumption in Bangladesh is about 0.02 litres a year, compared with 9.7 litres in heavier-drinking South Korea, according to data from the World Bank.

Besides the local alcohol made by Carew, bars and restaurants also sell foreign brands. But that comes with more than 600 percent tax.

Some regular drinkers said foreign liquor became even more expensive after the pandemic squeezed supply. Even the warehouses cannot supply foreign alcoholic drinks due to restrictions, jacking up demand for Carew.

Officials in the state-owned Carew & Co said the production and sales increased in the company over the last few years.

The Darshana-based company under Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation is expecting Tk 700 million in profit in the current fiscal year, more than double from a year earlier.

Sales have recently jumped around 30 percent, according to Mosharraf Hossain, managing director of Carew & Co. The company sold more than 5.4 million litres of liquor last year. At least 1.4 million litres of liquor were sold in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, he said.

As the sales of foreign liquor are restricted, more clients are choosing the Carew brand pushing the demand graph higher. But the supply has not gone up accordingly, he said.

Sheikh Md Shahabuddin, general manager (admin) at Carew, agreed. "Most bars were habituated to selling foreign liquor, but now they can't sell it anymore. That's what pushed up the demand for Carew, which is why the bartenders are saying there's not enough supply.”

Bangladesh legally imported 105,000 litres of liquor in fiscal 2020-21, according to the Department of Narcotics Control. But the quantity of foreign liquor is much bigger, according to sector insiders. The import cost increased due to constant raids by the narcotics control authorities, they said.

CAREW & CO: AT A GLANCE

• The company was established in 1938 as a private initiative and had a sugar mill, a distillery unit and a medicine factory under it.

• In 1972, Bangladesh announced Carew as a state-owned company.

• Carew owns nine brands in its portfolio, including Yellow label malted whisky, Gold Ribbon gin, Cherry brandy, Imperial whisky, Zarina vodka and Roza rum.

• The company’s website says it produces more than 3.9 million bottles of “foreign liquor” and 2.6 million litres of “Bangladeshi liquor” annually. All of those are marketed at 13 sales centres across the country.

• A total of 4.2 million litres of liquor were sold in fiscal 2020-21. During the pandemic in fiscal 2021-22, the company sold more than 5.4 million litres of liquor.

• Besides Dhaka, Chattogram and Darshana, the authorities plan to open two more sales centres in Cox’s Bazar and Kuakata to ensure an easy supply of products.