Cold shower for brewers in September after summer growth

Beer sales dropped by 15% in September from a year ago, in line with ZF calculations based on data provided by the National Statistics Institute (INS).

Thus, after two summer months, July and August, when consumption rose for the first time after October 2008, beer industry companies again faced falling consumption.
After a good summer, when high temperatures and aggressive promotion campaigns brought increases of 6-7%, in September the bad weather and other season specific expenses were the main factors that triggered the consumption decline.
Nevertheless, in July-September period sales registered a slight increase, after seven quarters of declines in a row.
“I believe the falling beer consumption in September 2010 was brought by several factors, including the VAT hike that started to be felt more strongly during this period, the school start, which brought expenses in families’ budget, as well as expenditures for winter preparations. Families have less cash, this is why they are spending less to buy this type of products,” said Shachar Shaine, chairman of United Romanian Breweries Bereprod (URBB), the producer of Tuborg and Carlsberg beers.