On Monday, Venezuela Government inspectors accompanied by National Guard troops arrived at two beer plants operated by the country’s largest private company, Empresas Polar, to determine if there really was no imported malted barley to brew. Empresas Polar closed down its brewing operations, which provided 40% of the company’s sales and produces 80% of the beer consumed in Venezuela, because it wasn’t receiving the dollars it needed from the government to pay for imported barley. The beer plant closings have led the company to lay off 6,500 workers who produced Solera, Polar Light and other well-known beer brands with another 3,500 soon to be without work.
It should be noted that a bottle of Polar, which sports a polar bear on its label, costs 14 cents at the black market rate but $15 at the official exchange rate that is rarely used.
The second-largest beer producer in Venezuela, Regional Beer, is so small it would only be able to replace up to 20% of the market’s beer supply at full production speed while the country’s tropical climate is inhospitable for growing Barley in large quantities. As the media notes, beer now joins hundreds of medications, birth control pills, breast implants, and most foods on the list of items Venezuelans either have absolutely no access to or must toil on six-hour grocery lines to acquire in rationed portions.
In a quote that could have been lifted from an Ayn Ran novel, President Nicolás Maduro has said in public comments:
“Whoever stops a plant, an industry, a factory will be punished by law. Plant closed, plant reclaimed by the working class.”
See Beer Here? Venezuela Officials Check If Empresas Polar Really Ran Out of Barley, Venezuela’s Largest Beer Producer Shuts Down and Beer shortage for Venezuelans proves tough to swallow. In addition, check out our list of the few remaining Venezuela ADRs here and our Latin America ETF lists.
Similar Posts:
- Disorderly Venezuela Default on an Argentina scale is Almost Inevitable (FT)
- Venezuela Hits Corporate Profits at These US Companies (Reuters)
- In Socialist Venezuela, Hungry Soldiers are Stealing Goats (CNBC)
- Venezuelan Opposition Threatens Country Won’t Pay Goldman Sachs’ $2.8B Bond Deal (CNBC)
- Why Venezuela Can’t Be Like Colombia (RealClear World)
- Thanks to US Pressure, Maduro’s Reckoning is Coming (The Hill)
- Venezuela is Borrowing Money at Any Cost (WP)
- Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) Now Verges on Collapse (NYT)
- In No Good Hands: The Venezuela Crisis and Consequences for South America (Moody’s Analytics)
- Why Have Venezuela’s Elites Stuck by President Nicolás Maduro? (NYT)
- Venezuela – A Multi-Bagger Recovery Play?
- Venezuela Seizes General Motors’ Assembly Plant (NYT)
- Mexico Closed End Fund Stock Picks (Early 2023)
- New Fragile Five Facing a Forex Crisis: Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Ukraine & Venezuela (Institutional Investor)
- Prudent Ways to Invest in Frontier Markets (WSJ)
