Interbrew Romania, a branch of InBev, the leader on the world beer market, which produces Stella Artois and Bergenbier brands, in the first quarter of this year posted 34% higher sales compared with the corresponding period of last year.
The pace of growth seen in Romania is more than six times faster than the rate InBev registers globally. According to the Belgian group''s report, InBev ended the first quarter of this year with an increase in sold volumes by 5.4 percent globally, while sales logged in Central and Eastern Europe advanced by only 3.7%, mainly because of the low temperatures registered in Russia and Ukraine.
"Interbrew Romania had a very good start of the year; we enjoyed considerable increase in the sales of all our brands after the first quarter," stated Mihai Ghyka, general manager of Interbrew Romania.
According to the general manager of Interbrew, Bergenbier continued to be the company''s main growth engine.
"Bergenbier sales surged by 49% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period of 2005," specified Mihai Ghyka.
Interbrew''s market share reached 21.8% after the first three months of this year, from 21.5% at the end of 2005.
On the PET beer sector, the company posted a 4% increase in market share through Bergenbier Q-Pack and Noroc brands, to 18.7%, according to the MEMRB, quoted by Interbrew. To strengthen its position on the market, Interbrew one month ago launched a new brand, Lowenbrau, which is likely to attain a 3-5% market share on the PET beer sector.
Company representatives are hopeful that Lowenbrau will account for around 15% in Interbrew''s sales of PET beer on the domestic market by the end of this year.
Romania is the first country in Europe to have received authorisation to produce Lowenbrau domestically, which also happened in the case of Beck''s. In Germany, as well as in more than 50 countries where it is sold, Lowenbrau is not available in PET, but only in bottles and cans.
This year, Interbrew has finalised a seven million-euro investment to acquire a PET bottling and packaging line for the plant in Ploiesti. The line has a bottling capacity of 18,000 two-litre bottles per hour.
Interbrew last year reported turnover worth 140 million euros, 35% higher than in 2004, as sales advanced by 18%, to 2.6 million hectolitres.
The total amount of investments that Interbrew has made in Romania tops 150 million euros, which were mainly aimed at the consolidation of the brands it produces domestically, namely Stella Artois, Beck''s, Bergenbier, Noroc and Lowenbrau. Beside these, Interbrew imports Leffe and Hoegaarden Belgian specialties. dana.ciriperu@zf.ro
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