Vietnamese people spent up to USD4bn on beer in 2017 alone, according to a workshop on November 8 held by the Ministry of Health.
The beer consumption per capita, aged 15 years old and over, increased from 3.8 litres during the 2003-2005 period to 8.3 litres in 2016. Vietnam was the world’s 64th biggest beer-drinking country, 2nd in Southeast Asia and 3rd in Asia, after Japan and China. The beer output increased from 2.8 billion litres in 2012 to over 4 billion litres in 2017.
“Vietnamese are spending USD4bn on beer last year, about 7% of the state revenue,” Quang said.
Quang said beer addiction can cause a huge financial burden on average families besides health issues and is one of the causes of poverty. He admitted that they had faced various pressures while drafting the law on alcohol harm prevention from both public health and economic problems.
“Alcoholic beverage companies contribute VND50trn to the local economy. However, the state also has to spend VND65trn on dealing with the consequences,” he said.
Reports from the Cancer Research Institute show that alcoholic beverage is the main cause of 6 common cancers whose direct and indirect cost reach up to nearly VND26trn. They also warned about other consequences such as domestic violence and social disorder.
The NA Committee on Social Affairs agreed that the authorities must tighten control over advertisements to limit access to the alcoholic beverage.