- The viability of the brewing sector was discussed because of the pandemic, the measures taken and the day after the lockdown.
- Three new member microbreweries joined the Association, increasing the number of members to 18 in total, breweries and microbreweries from all over Greece.
During the Annual Tactical Gen. Assembly of the Hellenic Association of Brewers, first time organized online, members discussed the unique situation that the brewing sector is facing because of the pandemic of Covid-19 and the necessary measures that need to be taken, both by the companies and the government, in order to assure the viability of the sector in the immediate future.
During the conversation, it was mentioned that the brewing sector was included in the affected sectors due to the economic lockdown and on the support measures that this entails.
The severe reduction of turnover that the sector faced, as a result of the HORECA lockdown, the small shift of the on trade market to retail and the gradually slow restart of the tourism market, have created severe problems for which the brewers submitted their demands to the competent ministries for extra support measures, the most important being the following:
– Immediate reduction of excise duty, closer to the European average, as after it as doubled in 2016, it is the 5th highest in Europe, after the Scandinavian countries and the United Kingdom.
– Extension of payment of VAT and excise duty after 25/06/20 for all the businesses in the brewing sector and not only for the tax warehouses, in the context of equal tax treatment of similar businesses.
– Reduction of 25% for VAT which is paid on time and applies to other companies, to apply to breweries, as well, in the context of equal treatment of taxpayers by the Greek government.
– Possibility to regulate payments of VAT and Excise duty to customs in installments, as applies for the rest of the companies in terms of their obligations to the Tax office.
– Compensation of excise duty refunds and destructions of expired products, as due to the lockdown there will be significant amounts of products that will have been expired in the horeca outlets.
– Reduction of income tax pre-payment of affected businesses
– Immediate implementation of the digitization of state services to breweries, indispensable for the reduction of bureaucracy which the industry faces daily.
Finally, all members agreed upon the need to speed up the consultation to change the legal framework of the brewing sector.
All the above, are considered of high importance for the viability of the breweries, especially for the microbreweries, which faced a rapid development in recent years and are now at risk of financial suffocation due to their dependence on sales in the local market.
During the Gen. Assembly three applications of new members were accepted, increasing the number of members of the Association to 18 in total.
The President, the Βoard and the rest of the members of the Association welcome their new members:
Microbrewery Local streets beer
Kavala’s microbrewery
Achaikos Zythos -Toul’s Brews
The Hellenic Association of Brewers, having completed 16 consecutive years of uninterrupted and combating intervention in the brewing industry, expresses through its Board, the optimism that with the collectivity of the industry, the open dialogue, the collaborations and the intervention in Public Administration, additional perspectives are created for the development and improvement of the operating conditions of the breweries, the workforce and the market in general.
