Beer out of recession

The domestic beer market showed signs of a rebound up at the end of last year, with December bringing a increase of almost 25%, a three-year monthly high, but also a hope for brewers that consumption would not decline any further.

The fourth quarter, with a 3.6% increase, was the second consecutive quarter in the black, shows a ZF survey based on National Statistics Institute (INS) data, so that beer “has got out of recession” before the Romanian economy.

In 2010, the beer market dropped by 3%, a development that can be viewed as good after 2009 had witnessed an almost fourfold decline. Thus, total sales fell below 17 million hectolitres, and reached 16.6 million hectolitres, according to ZF calculations. In value, against an average price of 2.8 lei per one litre of beer, players in this industry had cumulated sales of 1.1bn euros last year.

Shachar Shaine, former URBB general manager, says the late 2010 trend is partly accountable by the fact that the similar period of 2009 was extremely weak, so there was room for growth.