Romanians drink 3 pct less beer in H1 on low purchasing power

Newsroom 01/10/2013 | 12:26

Some 8 million hl of beer were sold in Romania in the first semester of this year, down 3 percent y-o-y, according to the Brewers of Romania Association whose five main members – Bergenbier, Heineken Romania, Romaqua Group, United Romanian Breweries and Ursus Breweries – account for over 90 percent of the beer sold in the country.

“Given that the population continues to hold a low purchasing power, the capricious summer this year and higher excise taxes, the fears we had at the beginning of the year regarding the evolution of sales were, unfortunately, confirmed,” said Andrew Highcock, the association’s president and also president of Ursus Breweries.

He explained that as last year, the market’s evolution was mostly driven by circumstantial factors. Such factors led to a favorable context in the first semester of 2012 which in turn generated higher sales, whereas in 2013 the market went down.

Overall, the association doesn’t expect the trend to change and predicts that this year’s sold volumes will be below the 18.2 million hl reported in 2012.

With 98 percent of the beer drunk in Romania being produced locally, the Romanian beer industry is an important player in the local economy, according to the association. Since 2007, the beer industry has generated EUR 4 billion to the state budget, said Constantin Bratu, the association’s general director.