How Romania went from 125 breweries to less than 20 in 15 years

The figures of the past year in this industry show that almost 520 people have been made redundant, three traditional breweries of Hateg (Hunedoara), Azuga (Prahova) and Blaj (Alba) and another two small ones of Galati and Ialomita have been closed. Thus the number of beer production centres fell by another five facilities, while in 2008 around 20 of the 125 breweries active in 1994 were still operational in Romania, according to the Brewers of Europe Association data. How did this happen?

"Investors came here and saw an above-the-average beer consumption and a population of 21 million people. Consumption is high in Hungary as well, but the country does not have as many inhabitants. Moreover, here large producers battled for the leading position on the market and tried to seal as many acquisitions as possible, while small brewers sold their businesses owing to opportunities and the economic boom registered until 2008," explained Shachar Shaine, chairman of United Romanian Breweries Bereprod (URBB), the producer of Tuborg and Carlsberg, with 81m-euro turnover in 2009.

In the wake of takeovers, in Romania more than 95% of the business is now operated by five or six players, while the number of small brewers is very low.

Nevertheless, Shaine says there is still the possibility that the number of breweries would go up through the development of some regional breweries, a market segment that has not seen any investments in recent years.