The Excise Department said that beer products produced by some liquor companies are piling up in warehouses without being able to be sold due to the decrease in alcohol sales by about 30%.
As a result, some companies involved in liquor production have been closed for two or three weeks.
Meanwhile, Excise Commissioner General Saman Jayasinghe has told the media that the Excise Department is focusing on increasing the export of locally produced liquor products as local sales have fallen.
The Commissioner also said that the annual export income of Rs.22 billion is expected to be increased to Rs.30-35 billion.
It was said that although the price of ethanol has increased rapidly in the past, the price of ethanol has come down now and that there is a surplus of ethanol in Sri Lanka.
However, the Excise Department said that due to the current economic crisis, there is less motivation to buy alcohol in a background where the prices of all goods in Sri Lanka have increased.
Therefore, the Excise Department has planned several strategies to achieve this year’s revenue target of Rs.214 billion.
Also, they pointed out that there are about 350 vacancies at the department and this lack of staff has hindered the achievement of the target revenue.
