August 21 (SeeNews) - Brewer Carlsberg Bulgaria has invested around 2.4 million levs ($1.6 million/1.2 million euro) in its production operations so far in 2014 with the full-year investment spend budgeted to top 10 million levs, the company’s CEO said.
While the broader market is suffering a contraction that has now lasted for two years, Carlsberg Bulgaria is targeting 1.0% growth for its sales in terms of volume in 2014, Dejan Beko told SeeNews in an emailed interview.
The official added he expects the company would increase its market share in terms of volume by one percentage point this year.
Carlsberg Bulgaria’s market share through June 14 stood at 20.3%, which represents an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year, Beko said, quoting data from marketing agency AC Nielsen.
“Having in mind that the market as a whole is shrinking, we have registered an increase in sales on both segments – on- and off-trade. For the past two months – June and July - we have witnessed a growth on the on-trade market of 2.0%, according to AC Nielsen data, which is a positive signal on the backdrop of market trends in the last 12 months,” Beko said.
The company’s sales on the off-trade market are growing at the same pace of 1.0% in the six months through June, the official added.
The share of the off-trade segment in Bulgaria’s total beer market year-to-date is 81.1% compared to 82.7% in the same period of 2013.
In terms of containers, demand on the Bulgarian beer market so far this year is lead by the PET bottles segment with a 63% share, followed by returnable glass bottles with 26% and canned beer with 10%, Beko said, quoting AC Nielsen data.
In terms of year-to-date volume shares by product segment, value-for-money products lead with 55%, followed by mainstream products with 37%, premium brands with 5.0% and sub-premium brands with 3.0%, the official said, adding that the total volume of flavored beer is around 100,000 hectolitres, which is roughly 2.0% of the country’s total beer market.
Carlsberg operates two breweries in Bulgaria, Shumensko Pivo, in the northeastern town of Shumen, and Pirinsko Pivo, in the southwestern town of Blagoevgrad.
The Danish brewer acquired a majority shareholding in Shumensko Pivo in 2002 and, later the same year, in the Pirinsko Pivo brewery. The two breweries merged to become Carlsberg Bulgaria in 2004. The two plants have a combined annual production capacity of 1.8 million hectolitres.
Carlsberg’s main rivals on the local market are Kamenitza, owned by StarBev, Zagorka, part of Dutch group Heineken, and locally-owned brewers Boliarka VT, Britos and Lomsko Pivo.
(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)