European Drinks soon to enter beer market

European Drinks Group will enter the Romanian beer market in about two months, with the construction works on the brewery (approximately 1 million hl in capacity) almost over, Ioan Micula, European Drinks chairman, told Ziarul Financiar. The building of the brewery began last year and Micula Brothers’ entry on a market already numbering almost every major international group in this field is that kind of event that may change the structure of the market. The annual beer consumption in Romania reaches 11 – 11.5 million hl a year. If it wants to use the entire productive capacity of the factory, European Drinks needs to attain 9%-10% market share, given that no surge in consumption is anticipated for this year. The growth estimated for 2004 is of only several percentage points. “We don’t estimate to be very quick in attaining the maximum productive capacity, because competition is fierce. We are counting on the success of our policy to provide high quality at low prices, though, as it has already turned out to be successful on other beverage markets in Romania, ” Micula said. ZF