Beer market remains stable in 2016, volume stays at 15.8 mln hectoliters

The beer market remained stable in 2016, with the volume remaining stable at 15.8 million hectoliters as well as consumption per capita, which stood at 80 liters. Romania is thus ranked seventh among European countries, Julia Leferman, general director of the Brewers of Romania Association said in Wednesday.

“Beer production represents a real stimulus for the economic growth of Romania, by creating jobs at a national level, generating added value through all related activities and important contributions to the state budget and by means of taxes. The beer industry generates over EUR 500 million to the state budget directly and through related activities.”

According to Leferman, there are numerous ways the beer industry impacts in a positive way on the Romanian economy, and the trigger factor is represented by the national character of the beer industry. Thus, the share of local beer exceeds 97 percent of domestic consumption, and 70 percent of ingredients used in making beer come from Romanian agriculture.

As a consequence, this creates over 10,000 jobs in agriculture, given that one job in the beer industry generates two jobs in agriculture. The beer industry has a significant influence on the degree of occupation of the workforce, by creating, nationwide, directly and indirectly, approximately 85,000 jobs.

“Unlike previous years, the lack of fiscal pressure and fiscal predictability the beer sector and other sectors enjoyed allowed the market to evolve naturally and to bring their contribution to national economy. We salute this fiscal stability and believe that it is the essential factor to stimulate market development given that we are talking about an extremely competitive market,” Leferman said.

We believe Romanians have an inclination towards better quality products, a tendency to move towards premium and to focus towards better quality products and can be a trend in consumption options, the Brewers of Romania Association head said.

Beer exports in Romania’s case recorded in 2016 a slight increase, with 0.08 million hectoliters, reaching a total of 0.42 hectoliters. Imports recorded a slight year-on-year increase of 0.09 hectoliters to a total of 0.44 hectoliters. Countries that exported beer in small quantities in Romania were Germany, Hungary, Poland, France, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, namely countries with a beer culture and an important local production.

Beer industry representatives hoped that in 2017, consumption will grow slightly, but this depends on more factors. “We hope for a small increase in 2017, but it depends on a lot of factors: fiscal predictability, weather conditions or the way beer consumption will evolve throughout the year,” Brewers of Romania Association president Shachar Shaine said.