Beer sales increased to over 230 million litres in June, compared with the same time last year, which means Romanians spent over 200 million euros on buying beer in the first month of the summer.
The growth rate registered in June may appear low taking into account the month's high temperatures, or considering the almost 40% and 42% increases registered in January and March respectively; however, figures are relatively high considering that in the last two years without any world or European football championships, beer consumption decreased by more than 10% in the June-July period compared with the "football years".
Therefore, the hot weather makes 2007 the first year where sales of beer increased by more than 10% in June without any major football championships being held. In comparison with 2005, another year without any major football competitions, sales of beer in the hotel-restaurant-catering sector fell by 38% during the June-July period, according to AC Nielsen data, against 2004, when Portugal hosted the European Football Championship.
"Football competitions definitely boost beer consumption because they create opportunities for people to get together, yet this is not the only factor that influences beer sales," explains Edwin Botterman, chairman of Heineken Romania and the leading player on the beer market, which registered a gross business in excess of 200 million euros last year.
He believes this year's market growth is not the result of high temperatures alone.
"In my opinion, an increase in the volumes sold is a result of the country's economic growth and the purchasing power of the people. You cannot separate a rise in temperatures from an increase in purchasing power, because both are responsible for the growth of the market," said Botterman.
Figures also reveal that Romanians drank more than 9.5 million hectolitres of beer in the first half of the year.
Taking into account an average shelf price of 2.8 RON per litre of beer (0.90 eurocents), the sales of beer exceeded 870 million euros in the first half of 2007.
"The market could reach approximately 1.2 billion euros by the end of 2007. Around 7.2 million hectolitres of beer were sold in the first five months of this year, an increase of 21% against the same time last year," added Botterman.
PET-bottled beer also continued to gain ground in the first five months of this year, with PET sales currently accounting for 44% of the market compared with the 41.2% at the end of 2006. At the same time, sales of bottled beer dropped to 47.6%, thus accounting for 45% of overall beer sales at the end of May, according to Heineken representatives, as quoted by the AC Nielsen research company. Another category witnessing a growth was canned beer accounting for 9% of the market, compared with 7.6% at the end of 2006.
The warm weather has also started to influence sales of draught beer, which despite witnessing a decline in sales over last few years, is now beginning to experience a rise this year.
Beer market
Heat is not the only factor responsible for the growth of the market; the improvement of the purchasing power of the consumers contributed to it, too
Romanians drank over 9.5 million hectolitres of beer in the first five months
The market could reach a value of 1.2 billion euros by the end of 2007
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