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| Business |
| MDL gears up for competition |
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by
Rankin Nyekanyeka, 10 March 2004
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17:18:35
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Malawi Distilleries Limited’s monopoly as the giant spirit distilling company in the country, has slowly been going down because of cheaper products mainly from Zimbabwe which have flooded the market.
And on the local scene, new players in the industry have also come up and now have a share of the market.
Naturally, one would have expected MDL to be shaken by these developments. But general manager John Mbendela seems not disturbed at all but rather happy that finally they have competition.
“The competition is healthy for us, otherwise we would be complacent. We need competition,” he said.
Mbendela, however, is concerned about the influx of cheap spirits imported by informal traders and on sale usually on the sides of streets or shop verandas.
“Alcohol is an expensive product. Coupled with import duty, excise duty and surtax, these products are supposed to be expensive, yet we find these colleagues undercutting us and we wonder if normal procedures of paying duty are followed,” he says
But Malawi Revenue Authority public relations and tax payer education manager Kitty Chimseu rules out smuggling saying that her organisation has been confiscating a substantial quantity of spirits whose duty has not been paid.
She, however, cannot tell whether those who pay duty pay the right amounts for it, saying some of those dealing in informal cross-boarder trade have a “ tendency to underdeclare the value of their goods”. The confiscated lot is then sold on auction.
Another issue worrying Mbendela is consumer safety.
“These spirits are food. If anything goes wrong where would liability go? Who would the people go to?” he wondered.
Mbendela observes that some of the products are clearly marked ‘not for sale outside this country’
“You, therefore, wonder why such restrictions, how the products find themselves here and how safe the people who drink it can be,” he said.
Despite all these setbacks, MDL boasts of trust by consumers and reputable organisations.
In September last year, the company qualified for ISO 9000 standardisation.
“It’s an indication that whatever we make meets international standards,” said Mbendela.
Perhaps MDL’s biggest pride is its licence to distil Smirnoff Vodka, the biggest Vodka in the world. Its licences are issued sparingly and the procedure to get one is tedious. For this reason, in Africa apart from Malawi, it is only South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria that made it.
“To get the licence and continue distilling it for the past 10 years is an indication that we’re doing it right,” said Mbendela.
MDL has a wide diversity of products and boasts 13 different spirit brands to cater for all tastes and classes of people. These range from coffee liquer (Mulanje Gold) for the high group to Kadamsana for the low category.
“We promise to continue providing excellent service, but we wish the playing ground were level,” concluded Mbendela.
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