24 Mar 2011

Beer dispute between brewer and supermarkets

12:27 pm on 24 March 2011

Australian supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, have fallen out with the nation's biggest beer brewer.

Foster's decided to temporarily halt supplies to the supermarkets, after it heard they wanted to sell top-selling brands, such as VB, for below cost.

The brewer says the supermarkets were engaging in loss leading behaviour, where they sell a product at a loss to attract customers, who might also buy more profitable items.

The supermarkets deny they were planning to sell the beer at below cost.