InBev canned beer sales up 50%

“The plastic bottled beer market makes up some 50 percent of the total Romanian beer market,” company officials added. They were quoting a study by MEMRB market research company.

According to InBev representatives, the market will keep growing this year, although at a slower rate. They estimate a slight decline in bottled beer sales, and a slight increase in the sale of plastic bottled beer, with higher sales for canned beer, due to the development of key account channels (supermarket, hypermarket and cash&carry).

The most sought after beer will remain blonde beer, but consumers are expected to become interested in dark beer, special flavor beer, and beer with different levels of alcohol, due to increasing purchasing power.

The local beer market exceeded €1 billion and 19.4 million hectoliters in 2007. Main competitors are international players Heineken, InBev, Ursus Breweries, and URBB, with some 80 percent of the market.