Bottoms up: Ho Chi Minh City listed among cheapest places for beer

Foreign tourists celebrate the new year of 2015 with a local beer in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach

Beer drinking fans have one more reason to celebrate tonight.

Ho Chi Minh City has been ranked among six cities worldwide with the lowest beer prices, according to the 2015 Beer Price Index.

Here, one can easily get a cold beer for US$0.97 at the supermarket or $2.58 at bars, which translates to an average beer price of $1.78 for a 33cl beer, according to the survey of 75 cities around the world conducted by the travel search engine GoEuro.

A BMI report released last month found that rising incomes and young populations are boosting beer sales in much of developing Asia, while the market in much of the developed world including the US and Western Europe have lost their froth in recent years.

With low beer prices, drinking has been on the rise in Vietnam and being attributed to the high number of traffic accidents with about 24 deaths daily, prompting the Ministry of Health to propose a late night booze ban in April.

According to the Health Strategy and Policy Institute, alcohol consumption worldwide has remained unchanged at 6.2 liters per person per year for the last 15 years.

However, annual alcohol consumption in Vietnam has increased by more than 150 percent, from nearly 4 liters per person in 2003-2005 to 6.6 liters now, above the global average.

In the GoEuro survey, Ho Chi Minh City is the cheapest place in Southeast Asia and the second cheapest across Asia for a cold beer.

The cheapest cities for beer are Krakow (Poland), Kiev (Ukraine) and Bratislava (Slovakia), where a 33cl beer costs between $1.66 and $1.69.

In Vietnam, with $10, one is able to buy six cold beers but can not afford two in Geneva, the most expensive place for beer in the survey where beer prices are around $6.32. The city is followed by Hong Kong and Tel Aviv with almost similar high prices.

The beer price survey combines data from 75 cities around the world, including the five most commonly imported beers as well as the main local beer.

Bottoms up: Ho Chi Minh City listed among cheapest places for beer

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