Irrawaddy/AFP-Apr 4
For years, Myanmar Beer dominated bars and supermarket shelves, its Japanese backing a sign of the economic liberalization washing into the Southeast Asian country after the military relaxed its iron grip on power in 2011. But after the generals ousted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February last year, many turned their backs on the brew, along with a host of other goods made by companies linked to the armed forces, from soap to coffee. As anger seethes at the military’s crackdown on dissent—which a local monitoring group says has killed more than 1,700 people—establishments still serving the beer have faced more serious consequences. In early March, bombs were set off outside two Yangon bars and a restaurant in second city Mandalay that were still selling the beer, according to local media. Drivers transporting the beer in the rural central plains have also been stopped by local anti-coup groups and their cargoes trashed, according to local media reports. Myanmar Brewery—the firm run by Kirin and military conglomerate Myanma Economic Holdings—enjoyed a market share of nearly 80 percent, according to figures published by Kirin in 2018. Following months of Covid- and coup-related disruption in 2021, its year-end operating profit was just 6.6 billion yen (US$54 million)—compared with 13.8 billion yen the previous year. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/military-linked-myanmar-beers-sales-tumble-amid-boycott.html
