Beer sales turned around in 2018 after eleven years of decline

Russia | The Russian brewer Baltika, which is owned by Carlsberg, estimates that after eleven years of steady declines, the beer market grew 3 percent in 2018. In the previous year, beer consumption dropped between 4 percent and 5 percent.

The uptick in sales was helped by favourable weather and the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia.

As AB-InBev/Efes, ranked number two in the market, promoted its brands massively, Baltika managed to increased organic sales by only 2 percent. But it remained market leader with a share of around 30 percent, it was reported. Its market share declined slightly in the fourth quarter, though, as a result of price increases which “triggered some discussions with a large customer, … who had some issues with that,” Carlsberg said on 6 February 2019.

In the non-alcoholic beer segment, Baltika’s market share is more than 50 percent. In 2018, sales of non-alcoholic brands grew 38 percent, boosted by Baltika 0, the leader in this segment, growing 35 percent.

Still, beer sales in 2019 could remain flat with a slight negative bias, according to Carlsberg’s forecast. “We remain cautious on the Russian market and don’t want to make too precise predictions. So let’s say the market is around flattish,” Carlsberg’s CEO Cees ‘t Hart said.