The Ministry of Industry and Trade yesterday affirmed that the ministry has no policy of stamping beer products and that is just a proposal by Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association (VBA).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has no policy of stamping beer products 

The move was made after some media agencies posted information that beer stamping policy might aggravate cost burden on businesses and increase beer product prices.

Previously in 2011, the ministry together with other ministries and agencies studied a project to improve state management ability to beer production and trading to tackle illicit and counterfeit beer, which caused the budget a loss of VND3 trillion (US$132 million) a year.

Of these, Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association (VBA) proposed to stamp all locally made and imported beer products before they are sold in the market. 

This solution will help the state increase budget revenue over VND2 trillion, businesses save costs on label, stamp and design to cope with illicit and counterfeit goods.

However, the ministry has not considered the solution finding it might increase costs for businesses. 

It will study other solutions to ensure legitimate rights and benefits for consumers and businesses instead.

At present, the country has 119 beer production establishments. Each of them produces 20-25 million liters a year. 

Last year, total output reached 3.78 billion liters and budget revenue hit VND30 trillion ($1.32 billion).

SGGP