Over 100m-euro FMCG markets dominated by Romanian brands

On FMCG markets worth over 100 million euros, where competition is at its tightest, more than half the top-ranking brands are Romanian ones. Long-established Romanian brands boast a clear-cut dominance on the beer, mineral water, oil and charcuterie (sausage segment) markets, even faced with sharp competition from multinationals, which have much larger promotional budgets. Surveys conducted by Nielsen research company in the first half of the year reveal that the five best-selling brands (in terms of value) on these four markets are Romanian, but only half of them belong to Romanian-held companies. The rest have either been taken over by multinationals from local entrepreneurs or have been developed by international players only in Romania, in order to better match the market’s demand. One example of a Romanian brand, which became a part of a foreign company’s portfolio is Timisoreana, the best-selling beer in Romania. The brand was taken over in 2002 by SABMiller, and is now the South African company’s growth driver on the Romanian market.