Tuborg's producer: We avoided a sales decline on a market that fell 15%

United Romanian Breweries Bereprod (URBB), producer of Tuborg beer brand, reported a 15% market share increase in terms of volume in 2009, to 9.5%, with company representatives saying sales are similar both in terms of volume and of value to those recorded in 2008. Tuborg's producer, with 93 million euros in turnover in 2008, is therefore the first company in the beer industry not to report a sales decline in the year when beer consumption was down by at least 15%, according to the latest available data. "Although this was the most difficult year for most industries, we boosted our sales, seeking to ignore the financial crisis. We continued to promote our brands, and improved our distribution system," said Shachar Shaine, president of URBB. So, on a market put at 16-16.5 million hectolitres of beer last year, Tuborg sold 1.6 million hectolitres of beer, according to ZF calculations, having boosted its marketing investment budget by 15% in RON compared with last year, according to company representatives.