Government Halts Permit for Mexican Beer Import Amid Local Brewery Concerns

The Government of Belize has backpedaled on its decision to grant a permit to the Mexican company Goliath, to import Corona Beer in Belize. Local beer producers, Bowen and Bowen and Caribbean International Brewery have been publicly voicing their concerns this week over the permit being granted, due to the impact it will have on their bottom line. Minister of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise, Jose Abelardo Mai, says he was unaware that the permit had been granted until Tuesday, and has since instructed that the permit be put on hold. Mai explained that the technical team at the ministry had set tariff restrictions on the importation that would raise the cost of the Corona beer to over a hundred dollars a case, ensuring that it would not be in direct competition with local beer.

Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise: “My ministry is bombarded with the request for permits daily. Stake, pork, duck, chicken everything, giant shrimp, cheese, milk, everyday we have 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 the relations of WTO but every country puts regulations in place to protect their industries. So the technical team believe by putting in the measures which they put in which is if you want to import this beer you have to label every single bottle marked “Belize Market” and the name of the importer. The technical team believe that it wouldn’t have been possible for him to do that and two when you look at the tariffs that are imposed on 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 we produce in this country and you know my position has always been we need to protect what we grow in this country. So there are two things you either protect it with tariff or don’t give any import permit. Technical team believed that by putting in these safety measures, the importer would not be able to do it. However I have advised the technical team that we should put on hold this import permit because of me like I said my point or my view is I wouldn’t like to give permit to anybody.”

Mai says that if he had known he would have instructed that the permit not be issued but that a greater conversation needs to be had about imported products across the board. He says that if tariff restrictions are in place to protect beer, then considerations need to be made to protect all other products that are locally made.