Brewers call for TrenStar keg inquiry

Pressure is mounting for an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) inquiry into TrenStar, the country's largest keg supplier. The calls come after TrenStar, which controls more than 65% of the nation's kegs, announced massive rises in the charges levied on small and regional brewers as we reported last month.

The firm charges every time a keg is filled.

However, smaller brewers claim the price now being demanded is "probably around six times" what TrenStar charges its biggest customers - S&N, Coors and Carlsberg.

Increases like that do smack of monopolistic power and shows there is the need for more competition​Camra chief executive Mike Benner.

Jeremy Mitchell, marketing manager for St Austell, said the brewer was facing a rise from £1.75 to £6 per firkin (9 gallons), equivalent to an increase of nearly 6p per pint. The brewery uses its own kegs for deliveries within its southwest heartland and TrenStar for national distribution of its flagship brand Tribute.

Mitchell said: "I think initially we'll just have to absorb the increase, which is non-negotiable and comes at our busiest time. The potential exists for the OFT to investigate." ​

Camra chief executive Mike Benner said: "Increases like that do smack of monopolistic power and shows there is the need for more competition."​

Palmers of Bridport, Dorset, has seen prices of £2.00 to £2.30 rise to between £6.00 and £6.60.

Sales and marketing director Cleeves Palmer said: "The increases are loaded against small family-owned brewers like us." ​

TrenStar managing director Stuart Facey denied the firm was using its power to inflate prices.

He said: "We've had prices that have been too low for those businesses. People may think the rise is unreasonable, but it is the true price and we are not the only one charging these prices."​

Facey added: "We don't have a fixed pricing style - it depends on the size of the business. What we charge for someone using 10 kegs per week is obviously going to be higher than someone using 10,000 - that's common practice in the business world."

Facey maintained the rises had primarily been forced because of the high number of containers lost or stolen.

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