Bralirwa, Rwanda’s main beverages producer, has increased prices for some of its soft drinks. The new price changes will affect the 30cl and 50cl RGB (glass) products, as well as 30cl PET (plastic), the company said in a statement released yesterday.

The 30cl bottle of soda for all its existing flavours will now cost Rwf350 effective today, up from Rwf300, while 50cl Coca-Cola (glass bottle) is at Rwf500 from Rwf450, and the 30cl (plastic bottle) will now cost Rwf450 from Rwf300 previously.

The company attributed the increment to high cost of production. "We have decided to increase the retail prices to cover the rising cost of input and business operations. We had maintained these prices for the past four years,” said Yvette Ntagozera, the firm’s soft drinks brand manager.

Prices for the other range of the soft drinks were not increased. She re assured customers that the company is preparing a solid communication plan to inform them about the new trends. "We have also distributed new tariff lists with the recommended retail prices to all relevant outlets in the various sales channels. We would, therefore, want to urge retailers to respect recommended prices,” said Jonathan Hall, the Braliwa managing director.

Last week the company announced it had posted a 6.2 per cent growth in net revenue during the first half of 2016. The firm’s net revenue rose to about Rwf43 billion between January and June from Rwf40.5 billion during the same period in 2015. Its gross revenue was at Rwf65.6 billion compared to Rwf62.2 billion last year.

The increase was attributed to the growth in sales and volumes, especially for soft drinks. The beverage firm pushed 888,000 hectolitres during the reporting period, a growth of 3.5 per cent from 858,000 hectolitres last year. However, Rwanda’s main producer and seller of beverages firm dropped byf 82 per cent in profit before tax.