South Korea: Oriental Brewery to raise prices for some of its beers

Oriental Brewery (OB), Korea's largest brewer, said on March 21 it will raise prices of some beers next month to reflect higher raw materials costs, The Korea Times reported.

The retail prices of its major beer products, including Cass and Hanmac, will go up by an average of 2.9 percent on April 1, the company said in a press release.

"High exchange rates have continued for some time, pushing up a variety of raw material prices," it said, referring to the weak won against the U.S. dollar.

But the company will freeze the price of its 500-milliliter Cass canned beer as it is the most popular beer item sold at convenient stores, it said.

Previously, OB raised the prices of its major products by an average of 6.9 percent in October 2023.

OB, wholly owned by Belgian brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev, accounts for about 50 percent of the local beer market.

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