Our beers

Malaysia is rated the second highest excise duty for beer in the world after Norway. Norway's GDP per capita is US$80,000 while Malaysia's is US$7,000. Our income or GDP per capita is certainly not the 2nd highest in the world so in terms of affordability we can least afford a beer. A can of beer in Langkawi is selling at RM1.50 – RM2.00 (so production cost much be less than RM1.00), a can of beer in normal coffee shop here sell around RM6 – RM8.50. That is 4 times the price after tax and earning.

Excise duty for per liter of beer is RM7.40. A can which is 330ml is RM2.45 just on duty alone. while the cost is probably less than 50 cents. 


Duty composition in Malaysia

Beer and stout manufactured in Malaysia are subject to Malaysian excise duty and sales tax.

Excise duty payment is at RM7.40 per litre. There is also an “Ad Valorem” duty payment of 15% on the ex-brewery price for the beer products.

Sales tax is also levied at 5.0% of principally the ex-factory invoice price on all products sold.

The past trend of duty increases for beer and stout in Malaysia

Excise duty was increased in September 2005 by 23.3% and an “Ad Valorem” duty of 15% ex-brewery price was introduced whilst sales tax was reduced to 5.0% of ex-brewery price of the products. The net increase in September 2005 was around 8.0%. There was no duty increase for the year 2006 and years onward.

Next posting on beer: Microbreweries/ Craft breweries

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