Excises drive Alexandrion to exports

Alexandrion Group, the maker of Alexandrion brandy, plans to export nearly 25 million euros’ worth of its products a year in order to offset the negative effects on the domestic market of the increasing of excises from 280 to 450 euros per hectolitre. “This increase in excises will eliminate domestic producers from the Romanian market and will clearly favour importers, meaning the only chance for domestic players to survive will be to export heavily. Romania is today being pushed into becoming a market of imported beverages,” says Nawaf Salameh, chairman and shareholder of Alexandrion Group, whose beverages division is one of the market leaders thanks to annual revenues of nearly 30 million euros. He says he has started an aggressive export campaign to be able to compensate for the losses on the domestic market. ZF