Russian beer market proved resilient despite covid-19

Russia | Brewer Anadolu Efes said that the Russian beer industry showed improvement during 2020, as the covid-19 related restrictions were relatively light during the summer months. But on the pricing side, competition was very high throughout the past year, which actually boosted volume growth.

Observers suspect that domestic beer consumption rose in 2020 over 2019 because fewer Russians could travel abroad as a result of the pandemic.

Efes owns 50 percent in the AB-InBev-Efes joint venture in Russia.

The Russian beer market was almost flat in 2019 at 77 million hl. Per capita consumption of beer stood at 53 litres. In the first nine months of 2020, AB-InBev-Efes grew its volumes in the low double digits and became the market leader with a market share of about 30 percent, relegating Carlsberg’s Baltika brewery to second place with a market share of 27 percent, per Nielsen data. AB-InBev-Efes also claims to lead in the superpremium and premium segments.

For the full year 2020, Efes saw a slight volume growth in Russia over 2019.

In fact, domestic beer production and sales have increased, despite substantial declines at Heineken, Zavod Trekhsosenskiy, Ochakovo, and key regional breweries, reports say.

Meanwhile, recipients of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine have been advised to abstain from alcohol for nearly two months before and after immunization, the head of Russia’s consumer safety watchdog said.