Romanian beer market returns to growth: up 4.5 percent in H1

Newsroom 12/09/2012 | 11:15

Romanians drank 8.7 million hectoliters of beer in the first semester of this year, up 4.5 percent y-o-y according to the Brewers of Romania Association. The rise in sale volumes was triggered by good weather this summer and the European Football Championship as in the first quarter of 2012 volumes dropped 5 percent, the association previously announced.

The main players on the local market and also members of the association – Bergenbier, Heineken Romania, Romaqua Group, United Romanian Breweries and Ursus Breweries – reported a 5.4 percent increase in volume (7.8 million hectoliters) for the first six months of this year.

“After a long period during which the beer market was strongly affected by an unfavorable economic context, four years since the beginning of the crisis to be more exact, we witness the first growth. This evolution was generated by a series of factors which triggered a pick-up in consumption. High temperatures and the European Football Championship have created a favorable context for Romanians to go back pre-crisis consumption behavior (…),” said Hezy Ovadia, president of the Brewers of Romania Association.

But while good weather continues and this is good news for local brewers, estimations on how the market will evolve by the end of the year are hard to make given the purchasing power variable, said Constantin Bratu, the association’s general director.

Strongly affected by the economic crisis which triggered a major decrease of the Romanians’ purchasing power, the brewing market faced a significant consumption contraction over the past few years, the cumulated decrease in 2009 and 2010 reaching 16 percent. The stabilization signs that were detected during 2011, when the market was flat, were replaced by renewed decline in the first three months of this year.

98 percent of the beer sold in Romania is produced locally.

Simona Bazavan

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