Drinking openly might be a taboo in Malaysia, but teetotallers are not that common...

... judging by this following video of shoppers snapping up cheap Tiger beer in a supermarket in Malaysia pre-Chinese New Year:

Cheap beer

This scene -- with the Tiger beer sales rep carting out cartons upon cartons of Tiger beer down the supermarket aisle, before making way for the shoppers -- is due to the cheap prices.

A carton of 24 cans of Tiger beer was retailing for RM99.88, or S$33.

This means each can of beer is just S$1.38.

Tiger beer, which originates from Singapore, is sold for about S$2.70 per can here.

Malaysia's pre-CNY prices are about half that of Singapore's regular price for Tiger beer.

Cheap beer in Malaysia

And it appears cheap beer is common in Malaysia during this time of the year.

Carlsberg is also going for cheap at the same price:

For Singaporeans thinking about getting cheap beer from Malaysia, you probably can't.

No duty-free concession

According to Singapore Customs, there is no duty-free-concession on liquor products for people arriving from Malaysia.

Customs duty and excise duty will have to be paid.

Beer including ale, of alcoholic strength exceeding and not exceeding 5.8% vol is subjected to both customs duty and excise duty.

The math

Assuming one carton of 24 cans of beer is about 7.5 litres of beer, the math comes up to S$28.50 in taxes.

One carton of beer would then cost S$61.50 (S$33 + S$28.50).

One carton of 24 cans of Tiger beer can be bought in the supermarket in Singapore for less than S$60 anytime.