The high temperatures, the tens of millions of euros spent on promotion, as well as over 125 available brands have brought beer consumption over the summer period to 700 million litres, with registered sales worth 500 million euros.
Over the three summer months, beer sales almost equalled the level registered for the first five months of the year. "The summer months account for 36-38% of our annual beer sales, however this year saw a big sales boom in the first quarter, when sales of multinational companies increased 37%," says Constantin Bratu, general manager of the Romanian Brewers Association, which includes Heineken Romania, Ursus Breweries, InBev Romania and United Romania Breweries Bereprod (URBB), the bottler of Tuborg and Carlsberg.
In the summer of 2005, beer consumption amounted to 5.5 million hectolitres, however, in June-August this year, the market surpassed the 7 million-hectolitre mark, an over 27% rise, according to data from the Romanian Brewers Association.
"Sales of the four multinational companies on the beer market (members of the Romanian Brewers Association) increased 17% between June and August this year, to 5.5 million hectolitres," says Bratu.
In 2005, the leading beer producers sold 3.8 million hectolitres of beer, with this year's target (5.5 million hectolitres) representing an almost 45% increase.
According to data from the leading beer producers, the market could reach 18.4-19.4 million hectolitres this year, i.e. a consumption of 85-90 litres of beer per capita. The beer market is one of the few markets to match the European consumption average, with Romanians consuming around 81 litres of beer per annum. "Data from the first nine months of the year indicates that the market is maintaining the same growth rate registered over the last few years, with new brands (both imported and locally produced) also expected to see a rise in consumption over the next few years," adds Bratu.
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