Heineken’s planned tie-up with CR Enterprise, valued at over USD three billion, has received mixed reviews so far. After years of declining beer volumes, China is a very competitive market, characterised by low prices and margins. Industry observers estimate that operating margins (EBIT) are around six percent at CR Beer, while they amount to 15 percent at Heineken and are as high as 30 percent at AB-InBev.

Two in need clinched a deal. The transaction, which has been discussed for months, was finally confirmed on 3 August 2018, when the world’s number two and three brewers, Heineken and CR Enterprise (CRE) – the parent of CR Beer – said they plan to establish CBL, a new holding entity, in which Heineken will have a 40 percent stake, valued at USD 3.1 billion. The holding will control CR Beer, the leader in the world’s largest beer market – China. Its main brand is Snow.

Australia’s big retailers will probably cry blue murder behind closed doors now that AB-InBev’s unit ZX Ventures has acquired the local online beer retailer BoozeBud. But there is nothing they can do about it. The transaction was announced on 1 August 2018.

Seemingly unhappy with Kirin’s efforts to market Budweiser in Japan, AB-InBev has decided to take the brand into its own hands from 2019. It has cancelled its licensing partnership with Kirin, which has produced and sold Budweiser domestically since 1993, media reported in July 2018. Allegedly, Kirin has struggled to increase the sales of Budweiser. Instead, it has focused on bolstering the sales of its own beer brands.

China Brew China Beverage (CBB) is Asia’s leading platform for the beverage and liquid food industry covering raw materials, processing, filling & packaging, and logistic products. This number one event features customized solutions for the booming South-East Asian region. It targets the specific needs of the market by matching supply and demand.

On 25 June 2018, the CEO of the Australian Beverages Council, Geoff Parker, and the Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, announced that Australia’s major soft drink companies had signed an agreement to reduce the sugar in non-alcoholic drinks by an average of 20 percent, in a move aimed to tackle the country’s obesity crisis.

Independent craft brewers have set themselves a lofty growth target: they seek to control 15 percent of the beer market by 2015, up from nine percent today. If the US can serve as an example, the target appears not all that ambitious considering that the current level includes all the “crafty” beers too. Australia’s 520+ indies only account for two percent of beer sales.

Several countries already have them and soon Australia will have one as well: an incubator brewery, that is, built specifically for start-ups, contract and gypsy brewers, including publicans seeking to create their own branded beers without wanting to invest in a brewery of their own.

At the end of May 2018, Coca-Cola launched its first alcoholic drink, Lemon-Do, which is, as the name suggests, a lemon flavoured alcopop. Coke calls the fizzy drink “unique” in the company’s 125-year history because it contains alcohol. The three Lemon-Do alcopops range in alcohol content from three to seven percent. Packaged in cans, they aim at a growing market of younger drinkers, especially women.

The Japanese Beer Market

Prolonged weakness | Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Japan. Though, the overall beer industry is registering decline in volumes year after year for a number of reasons. The first brewery to serve the Japanese market was founded in 1869 in the international port town of Yokohama by a foreign businessman. After changes in ownership in 1888, the brewery started producing Kirin-branded beers. BRAUWELT International presents an overview of one of the largest Asian beer markets in this article.