“Restaurant sales have gone down by as much as 50 percent due to different factors like shortage of cooking gas, power cuts and decline in people´s spending power due to problems seen in the real estate sector,” said Tejendra Nath Shrestha, president of Restaurants and Bar Association of Nepal (REBAN). [break]
According to REBAN estimates, restaurants consume around 30 percent total alcohol sales.
Sudhar Pradhan, president of Federation of Liquor´s Association of Nepal, said liquor sales have gone down by around 50 percent due to anti-drink and driving campaign launched by traffic police.
“The government should create a standard on drink-driving so that it does not affect people who have consumed alcohol within the limit set by the government,” Pradhan added.
Other traders echoed Pradhan and said the government should either set the limit or tell the liquor industries to shutdown as the campaign has inflicted heavy loss on them.
“Liquor sales used to hit peak during winter and wedding seasons. But overall sales dropped by almost 40 percent this year,” Arjun Bhandari, managing director of Ray Global Trading - the sole distributor of Mark Davidson wines for Nepal, said.
“The situation has become so worse that party organizers are returning almost 60 percent of their orders because people are reluctant to consume alcohol because of police´s strick check-up.”
According to traders, liquor sales use to increase by almost 30 percent during winter, wedding season and major festivals. If the police clamp down continued, the sales won´t revive, they said.
Amit Goswami, CEO of Nepal Distilleries - the manufacturer of Khukuri Rum, said though the market of rum has not dropped, demand for other liquors has dropped sharply. “The government should fix minimum prescribed parameters for drivers so that liquor sale is not affected and people become social drinker, Goswami added.
Lata Ram Prasai, a dealer of Khukuri Rum, also said the demand for rum has not dropped much because most of the people prefer to enjoy the drink at home.
Traffic police arrest and slap a fine of Rs 1,000 on drunk drivers.
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