Soft drinks scarcity hits Malawi market
The country has started experiencing a shortage of soft drinks a situation which has forced some retailers to increase the selling price.
For the past four weeks there has been shortage of soft drinks such as Fanta, Sprite, Ginger, Cherry plum and other products.
Carlsberg Malawi Corporate Communications Officer, Towera Pilling, has not responded to the questionnaire sent to her as per request when Nyasa Times called for an explanation from the company on the situation.
A spot survey in some wholesale and retail shops like Mc Cornell, PTC, Shoprite among others within the country cities and townships revealed that there is acute shortage supply of soft drinks on the market.
Some shops are only stocking one type of soft drink while others are completely out of the stock. The most available drink is Coca Cola.
Some of the retails shop owners described the situation as threatening, saying if not quickly checked could leave the county in similar situation experienced last year where there was scarcity of drinks on the market.
“It seems it is becoming a trend for the suppliers to be failing to produce enough every hot season. But the funny thing is that the drinks are in huge supply in winter and come summer, there is little or no supply and this affect our businesses,” lamented Peterson Maotcha a soft drink retailer in the city of Blantyre.
Another retailer, Isaac Mphinda complained that the scarcity is forcing them to travel long distances in search for the drinks.
“I have to travel across the city in search for drinks, and in most cases it is only Coca Cola which is available. There is a need for the suppliers to improve the situation otherwise it is getting worse by day,” Mphinda said.
Some weeks ago, Carlsberg officials told Minister of Labour John Bande when he visited the company’s offices that the strike at Blantyre Water Board where workers disconnected water supply and lack of enough bottles was affecting the production of drinks.
