Scotch Shortage Pleases Chavez as Tipplers Blame Currency

[naaman fletcher]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who declared an economic war against bourgeois comforts, is winning one for the socialists in his battle against the nation’s most popular spirit: Scotch whisky.

Chavez’s shutdown of the unregulated currency market is reducing shipments and sales of whisky and pushing up prices by almost 50 percent as companies including Diageo Plc and Pernod- Ricard SA struggle to obtain dollars for imports.

“We’ve only been receiving 5 percent of the whisky that we requested in the last month and a half,” said Fernando Soto, president of retailer Licores Mundiales. “The distributors are restricting supply to avoid a more difficult situation; they’re buying time to resolve the currency issue.”

By taking control of the foreign exchange market, Chavez is limiting a Venezuelan favorite. Venezuela is the largest market for Scotch whisky in Latin America and the sixth-biggest global importer by value, according to the Scotch Whisky Association in Edinburgh. The nation, with a population of 28 million, brought in more of the liquor last year than all of Brazil, with 205 million residents.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-06/scotch-shortage-pleases-chavez-as-venezuela-tipplers-blame-currency-crisis.html