Email

Print

Would you pay over $100 for a case of Mexican Corona beer? Well, Bowen & Bowen and the Ministry of Agriculture are hoping you won't.

Yesterday we told you that GOB green lit a permit for the importation of Corona beer. It's caused major concern for local breweries, like B&B and Caribbean International.

When we brought their concerns to Minister Jose Mai today, he explained that he didn't know about the permit until this past Tuesday, and that he believes it shouldn't have been given at all.

He added though that, to be fair, if permits are being granted for cheese and meats, then beer permits must be considered, especially with what he calls a "tariff barrier" to de-incentivize it.

However, he told us that in the meantime, they're planning to put a pause on the permit.

Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"The director explained to me that they have been in consultation with the CEO and Customs for a very long time because people have been applying for permits. My Minister is bombarded with the requests for permits - steak, pork, duck, chicken, everything, shrimp, cheese, milk, everyday we requests for import permits. There are some in Cabinet who believe that we should do away with the license regime because it's against the policies and regulations of WTO. But every country puts regulations in place to protect their industries. So the technical team believe that by putting in the measures that they put in, which is, if you want to bring in this beer, you will have to label every single bottle marked Belize market and the name of the importer. We know, well, the technical team believe that it wouldn't have been possible to do that one, and two, look at the tariffs that are being imposed with importation of beer, it would have been extremely high so the importer would have had to sell a case of beer for $135 so we knew it wouldn't be competition for the local product. My personal view on this, we should protect every single thing we make in this country and you know my position has always been, we need to protect what we grow in this country.

"I have advised the technical team that we should put on hold this import permit because, for me, like I said, my view is that I wouldn't like to give permit to anybody.

"I believe that maybe we should have waited and not give it at all but that would have to go for everything, you cannot do that only for one product, you do it for everything.

"So do we apply the rule to everybody or half apply it to some and to some not. So this is what we are battling with everyday but I've asked my CEO, I've advised my CEO and the director of Supplies Control that we should put this on pause because we do not want to be seen as a ministry that supports foreign products.