Domestic beer production declined in 2006 but consumption increased
It is hard to understand why it takes the Italian brewers Association, Assobirra, so long to publish its 2006 figures. After all, the association has only seven members: two maltings, Heineken Italia, Peroni (owned by SABMiller), Carlsberg, Theresianer and InBev. It should be pointed out that InBev is an importer in Italy.
A quick survey at Pianeta Birra revealed that all believe Italian beer consumption to have risen to perhaps 30 litres thanks to the still growing popularity of imported beer brands. Among imports, value brands from the Netherlands and from central and eastern Europe seem to have risen significantly, which means that volumes of Italy’s major value beer producer, Castello/Pedavena, ought to have dropped slightly.
When the total consumption figures will finally be released, they will show an increase of 6 to 8 percent over 2005, the year InBev was not a member of Assobirra. Hence its volumes did not appear in the official statistics.
In 2006, the northern Italian Pedavena Brewery, which was closed briefly at the beginning of the year, was sold by its parent Heineken to a group of Italian distributors. The transaction price was not disclosed.
The distributors already own another former Heineken brewery, the Castello Brewery in the nearby provinve of Udine, where they brew an estimated 600 000 hl of beer, mainly for the value price segment. The latest project at Pedavena is the launch of a beer brewed in the Italian tradition with local ingredients and water from the Dolomites. The beer will be introduced at the TUTTOFOOD exhibition for the on- and off-premise sector in Milan from 5 to 8 May 2007.
