Faiza Tehseen

Securing a competitive market share for local brands in the food and beverage (F&B) industry is crucial for industrial growth in Pakistan. “To achieve this goal, it is important to present and display quality local F&B brands at each and every sale outlet across the country. This can be made possible only by strictly enforcing the relevant laws,” said Isphanyar Minoo Bhandara, Chief executive Officer (CEO) and owner of Murree Brewery Company Limited.

Talking to WealthPK, he said the presence of a variety of national and international F&B brands in the market is important. “It not only creates healthy business competition but also accelerates the economy in multiple ways, i.e., revenue generation and job creation.”“It is also a bitter fact that sometimes we strategically stop the promotion of our competitors’ brands. This strategic attack, which is a kind of monopoly creation, deprives other market players of showcasing their products.

Ours is a consumer economy (CE) that gives liberty to the end user to choose from a variety of products. Shelf shows play a vital role in CE. Many Pakistani brands are proven to have superb quality as compared to their international counterparts, but they are strategically stopped to get showcased at prominent outlets, i.e., shopping malls, restaurants, and luxury hotels. It causes the loss of customers and brand recognition.

If qualitative Pakistani brands are deprived of being presented on the shelf, then how will our local industry grow? Unfortunately, despite having laws to discourage this type of monopoly, many multinational brands are overshadowing the market of Pakistani F&B products. They call it marketing but we call it corruption,” Isphanyar Bhandara explained.

He said they had time and again requested the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) to check this type of smart strategic monopolisation, but to no avail. Bhandara continued: “In order to promote growth in our F&B industry, it is important to provide a level-playing field for both Pakistani and foreign brands.”

Speaking to WealthPK, Raja Ataul Noor, director of marketing of Shezan International (F&B company), said that ensuring equal opportunities provided under the law is very important for Pakistani F&B brands to get a competitive market share in the presence of foreign brands.

“Despite meeting all quality and standard requirements, the Pakistani F&B products are still overshadowed by multinational brands in the local market. The main cause is smart monopolisation in the name of outlet/shelf hiring. In this situation, it is very important for the CCP to make it mandatory for all selling outlets throughout the country to ensure the presence of quality local brands at their shelves. Their hiring must be made conditional with the presence of local brands,” stressed Ataul Noor.

Talking to WealthPK about the legal approach to breaking the monopoly of any brand and to providing equal opportunities to all manufacturers/producers, regardless of whether they are national or international, high court advocate Muhammad Awais Mughal said that Monopoly Restrictive Trade Practice Ordinance (MRTPO) was established in 1970 and Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) was created under it. “The MCA was responsible for implementing and enforcing the administrative laws for economic development and growth.”

He said the MCA was renamed in 2009 as Competition Commission of Pakistan, and in 2010 MRTPO was made an act of parliament. The lawyer said there is still a need to improve/amend the law according to modern marketing techniques and strategic operations to protect the rights of individual businesses. CCP is an independent quasi-regulatory/judicial body responsible for ensuring healthy competition among companies for the core economic benefit of Pakistan and its people.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk