Delta Beverages to charge ‘retailers and wholesalers’ in USD

Delta Beverages has said it will begin charging retailers and wholesalers in hard currency for its products with effect from 4 January 2019.

In a statement, the company says the monetary policy of October 2018 has done nothing to increase access to foreign currency to pay suppliers.

Our business has been adversely affected by the prevailing shortages of foreign currency, resulting in the company failing to meet your orders and in the case of soft drinks, being out of stock for prolonged periods. The new fiscal and monetary policy framework in place since October 2018, does not provide for easy access to foreign currency by non-exporters. The Company has only received limited foreign currency allocations from the banking channels, which have not been adequate to fund the import requirements. Resultantly all our foreign suppliers are unable to continue providing credit or meet new orders as some of them have not been paid for extended periods.

The decision has been underpinned on by four issues:

Our products are fairly priced in USD and have remained largely unchanged since 2013.
The Company has invested in excess of US$600 million in plant and equipment, vehicles and ancillary services since 2009. There is need to protect this investment and ensure sustenance of all value chain partners.
The prices of local materials and services have escalated both in USD and in RTGS (ostensibly in response to the foreign currency exchange rates).
The company does not trade on the parallel or black market and does not subscribe to any exchange rate between the USD and the RTGS or Bond Notes, as they are not currencies.

The company has since published its USD prices: