January 31 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian brewer Kamenitza AD boosted its sales volume by 11.1% last year, the company's general manager said on Tuesday.
Last year, the company posted higher sales against a flattish broader market, Dragan Radivojevic told SeeNews on the sidelines of a news conference of the Union of Brewers in Bulgaria (UBB). Because of legal restrictions, he declined to provide a figure for the company's sales volume in 2011.
According to UBB data released on Tuesday, Bulgaria's top five brewers sold a combined 4.84 million hectolitres of beer last year, nearly unchanged from the 4.815 million hectolitres sold in 2010.
UBB data covers the business of Kamenitza, owned by StarBev, Carlsberg Bulgaria, part of Danish brewer Carlsberg, Zagorka, part of Dutch group Heineken, as well as locally-owned brewers Boliarka VT and Lomsko Pivo. The five brewers account for over 85% of the domestic market.
Radivojevic declined to make projections about the company's sales in 2012. He, however, said exports may increase by up to 10%.
Kamenitza exports about 25,000 hectolitres annually with 90% of the volumes shipped to Macedonia and Albania. Sales in Albania stand at some 6,000 hectolitres. "As you see, a rise by some 10%, even though a big success, is not that impressive in terms of the company's overall sales volume," Radivojevic said.
The beer market in general is very traditional and dominated by local brands, and the potential for exports is limited, he explained. Not surprisingly, Kamenitza's other foreign markets are the U.S., Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus where there is a large Bulgarian expat community.
Kamenitza operates breweries in Haskovo and Plovdiv, both in the south of the country.