How can we explain the increase in the price of “La Belle Cabresse”, the only rum from Guyana?

Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health. And you may have noticed, the price of a local bottle of rum has skyrocketed in recent years. “La Belle Cabresse” now sells for 12.50 euros. Its price has doubled in ten years.

For customers of the new Saint-Maurice distillery boutique, “It’s not a problem.” “I did a little comparison with bottles sold in Guadeloupe, where I am from, and we are really on the ropes, assures a customer of the distillery, Patrice Niavet. There may be a difference on certain bottles, but 12.50 euros sold in rum shops is correct.

Watch the report from Guyane La 1ère:

“La Belle Cabresse” now sells for 12.50 euros.

According to these customers, the price is even justified. Since its birth in 1981, “La Belle Cabresse” has remained the same, an agricultural rum. A name that some of its competitors, sold in Guyana, have lost.

“The glass costs more, the cap costs more, the cardboard costs more, the aluminum of the cubicle costs more, everything is more expensive and without changing the product”, explains Raphaël, also a customer of the Saint-Maurice distillery.

The former director, Ernest Prévot, fought against West Indian rums when they were sold at ridiculous prices in Guyana. In 2015, the region decided to protect the Saint-Laurent distillery by increasing the import tax to 20%. “A breath of air” for the family business which then begins to increase its prices.

In 2024, price is no longer a barrier, notes Ernest Prévot, the former boss who became an advisor to the GBH group. “There was an example of 485 bottles of 16-year-old rum coming onto the market and despite the price at 180 euros per bottle, everything was gone in two weeks, he says. The price is one thing for the consumer, it is not within everyone's reach, but there is also a pride in saying “this is the rum from Guyana!”.

On the production side, the floods of 2021 and 2022 disrupted the 2023 season. Production was divided by three and supply was unbalanced.

The buyer hopes to go from 3,500 tonnes of cane worked in 2023 to 14 000 tonnes in 2025.

“The future of “Belle Cabresse” is already to meet local demand which is very strongremarks Ludovic Jacob, director of the Saint-Maurice rum factory. Above all, it’s also about exporting this brand and the know-how of Guyanese rum internationally.”

According to him, this requires getting noticed and moving upmarket. Under these conditions, the price also increases in value.