One more for the boys...

With per capita consumption at around 81 litres and a market size of 114 million hl in 2008, Russia today is the fourth largest beer market in the world by volume after enjoying significant growth in beer sales in the past decade. Although Russia’s beer market is expected to contract between 10 percent and 13 percent this year according to Carlsberg, international premium brands that are locally produced, in particular, have grown in popularity in Russia. Despite this year’s tax-induced decline the international beer category shows signs of continuing expansion in the coming years.

With the support of a new Russian team based in Moscow, Molson Coors will manage the marketing and advertising of the Coors Light brand, while Moscow Brewing Company (MBC), Russia’s leading importer of beer with a new state-of-the-art brewery in Moscow, will brew and distribute the brand.

Moscow Brewing Company (MBC) was founded in 2006 with an initial investment of reportedly USD 200 million. The company’s beer and beverage plant was commissioned in October 2008 and is located in Mytischi, Moscow Region.

The initiator of the project and one of the financial partners is the Russian investment fund Detroit Investments. Another financial partner is Sberbank of Russia. Apart from manufacturing beer brands such as Mospivo, Germany’s discount brand Oettinger, Cervena Selka and Zhigulevskoye, the company acts as a distributor for international beer brands such as Krusovice, Budweiser, Clausthaler, Erdinger, Kirin, and Newcastle.

The initial production capacity of the brewery is 1.7 million hl annually and gradual expansion could reach 6.0 million hl.

In 2009, MBC ranked 12th on the Russian market with a market share of 0.4 percent in value terms, based on data from Business Analytica.