GraceKennedy Limited says it will increase its prices on non-alcoholic sweetened beverages by an average of nine per cent, effective Friday, May 1.
In an April 24 notice to its Jamaican retail partners, the company said the upcoming price adjustments were in response to the Government’s Special Consumption Tax on sugary drinks, set at 22 cents per gram of added sugar, and which will take effect on the same day.
“The increase in non-alcoholic sweetened beverages has become necessary due to the introduction of the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) by the government based on sugar content. As a result, we are unable to absorb the additional costs at this time,” GraceKennedy said.
The company told The Gleaner that the increase also took into consideration the “broader cost pressures, such as increases in raw materials, packaging, and logistics”.
“While the adjustment communicated is approximately 9 per cent on certain non-alcoholic sweetened beverages, this represents an average and does not apply to all Grace beverage products in this category,” it said.
“We recognise the impact of any price change on our retail partners and consumers, and we approach these decisions carefully. While we have seen price increases in some inputs, we have not passed on the full extent of these increased costs to our customers. Our focus remains on maintaining affordability where possible, while ensuring the continued availability and quality of our products.”
The company is the second manufacturing and distribution conglomerate to announce price increases to non-alcoholic sweetened beverages in response to the sugar tax.
The Wisynco Group announced its increases , with some items seeing a hike of more than $200 and others are set to rise by over $1,500, in a notice to its customers on April 22. The price adjustments will also take effect on May 1.
“We have no choice but to pass on these new taxes, which become effective May 1, 2026,” Wisynco said in the notice.
Chairman of Wisynco Group, William Mahfood, who had described the tax as “effectively a tax on poor people”, told The Gleaner that the timing of its implementation could not be more inconvenient.
The Government has estimated that it will earn $10.1 billion from the tax.
“The tax is in many ways coming at a time that is very very challenging because there is going to be increases coming at consumers due to the war in Iran, all of the Middle East challenges, oil prices…so it’s very unfortunate first of all that the tax is such a prejudicial tax in that it only applies to one class of products, and also it is a tax that is going to be most challenging to the most vulnerable consumers,” he said.
The company also cited a rise in the Environmental Protection Levy by the Government and rising raw material costs as another reason for the price adjustments.
Regarding the Environmental Protection Levy, a rate of 0.85 per cent is applied, which is expected to generate $3.6 billion in revenue.
– Sashana Small
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