With a market that moves about 100 million bottles on average per year, the marketing of brandy in the country will enter a new era after the Constitutional Court knocked this week the rental monopoly on this liquor and force departments to let the brands of other regions in their territory.
Although taxes for liquors in some regions constitute up to 40% of the income, the views found on this occasion are focused on profits, since for some, there are brands that have a clear domain and power of production , which would put the smallest regional firms against the ropes.
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However, on the side of those who celebrate the decisionit is argued that it was a necessary measure not to restrict the market, since the introduction permit was a norm that they consider to undermine the free development of companies and the decision of consumer decision.
IMPULSE TO INNOVATION
For Luis Fernando Mejía, Executive Director of Fedesarrollo, the Court’s ruling will mark a starting point for liquorras to bet on the development of attractive products and positioning strategies that will result in a varied and competitive market, which will help grow to grow The departments.
“The court ruling allows to expand the choice of consumers and promote greater competition, which will promote innovation of new and improved products. In the balance between protecting the monopolistic income of the departments and guaranteeing the freedom of choice of consumers, the sentence was inclined to This last option. From Fedesarrollo, we consider that this decision is successful, ”said Mejía.
Tolima’s red lid.
Tolima governorate
This whole story began with a lawsuit against the restriction imposed by the Directorate of Revenue and Tax Management, attached to the Ministry of Finance of Cundinamarca, to the yellow of Manzanares to be marketed in the department, arguing that it was necessary to protect the departments that They produce brandy.
The High Court indicated that the prosecuted measure “does not meet the suitability requirement” And finally, “it found that the accused provision completely restricts the freedom of choice of consumers who inhabit the departments in which the demanded power is exercised, since it absolutely restricts the possibility that they freely choose between different suppliers which brandy wishes to consume ”
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An anti -technical measure
Pablo Felipe Robledo, former industry of industry and commerce and author of the lawsuit, spoke with portfolio about the Court’s decision and stressed that he protected the free competition and rights of consumers, who can now choose the brandy of their preference.
“What happened before is that in some departments where it had been established That safeguard, consumers were forced to take not the brandy we wanted to take, but the brandy that the governor wanted us to take. Then, the Constitutional Court, with this decision, protects free economic competence and consumer rights, ”he said.
Colombian brandy
Source: Taste Atlas – Official page
Regarding what could happen in the market, Robledo explained that the tax implications of this decision would be positive for the departments, since with the elimination of restrictions, an increase in the sale of brandy would come, which will generate more income from taxes for taxes .
“The departments that have a liquor and produce brandy, because they have to put the batteries to have competitive products to compete with all the brandy, because it can no longer be a stroke of the governor, to eliminate from the competition so that their company Licorera fishing with dynamite. Now they have competition and They will have to generate a product that manages to conquer their pocket and the heart of Colombians, ”he said.
To better explain its decision, the Court clarified that liquor taxes continue to belong to the departments, but the market does not and due to this, the governors cannot prevent the commercialization of certain brands with decrees or regulations and that any brand can circulate without Restrictions
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The departments are ready
As soon as the ruling was known, Dilian Francisca Toro, governor of Valle del Cauca, He assured that he respects the ruling of the Constitutional Court to allow the free circulation of brandy in Colombia and that they will be worked on to be up to the height of what he described as a new was the liquor sector.
“We assume the challenge with determination. Now we prepare to compete in the national market, strengthen our industry and bring the taste of our brandy throughout the country. We know that this change, in principle, impacts our departmental income, but also opens new opportunities, ”he said.
The brands of brandy red nectar and green nectar, debut in Antioquia.
Private archive
That said, he added that “the Licorera del Valle already reinvents itself, enters a restructuring process and we will work on its transformation to continue being leaders. To the Vallecaucanos tell them that, today more than ever, it is time for us to support ours: we consume our brandy; With your purchase we are supporting the resources for the health and sport of our department. ”
Meanwhile, the Manager of the Liquor Factory of Antioquia, Esteban Ramos Maya, stressed that they are ready to reach new markets as important as the Cauca Valley, Nariño, the department of Cauca, Boyacá, Tolima, Huila, among others.
“We are market leaders, we have 56% of the brandy market in Colombia, with 105 years of experience and high quality products. So we are ready to face this new challenge from the liquor factory and leverage all health, education and culture projects for the department of Antioquia and for the rest of the country’s departments, ”he said.
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Currently, the Antioquia liquor factory is the largest producer of brandy in the country, with its iconic Antioquia brandy, while the Liquor Industry of the Valley has managed to position its white brandy of the Valley and recently launched the brandy origin of the Valley.
The Liquorera Industry of Caldas, recognized by its brandy Crystal, also competes in the market with the Yellow Apeardiente de Manzanares and the Liquor Company of Cundinamarca, producer of the Aguardiente Nectar, commitment to innovation in distillation with continuous processes that optimize the quality . This, Without leaving aside the industries of Tolima and Boyacá, which are also part of the market.
