Belarus: Beer sales down last year due to a decline in imports

The volume of beer market in Belarus shrank 1.5% last year due to a decline in imports, while domestic beer output remained unchanged from 2015, Interfax-Belarus reported on April 5.

“The market wasn’t very good last year, just as the economy in general,” Audrius Miksys, brewery Lidskove Pivo Managing Director, said. “Despite a stagnating market, local brewers managed to increase volumes by 0.1%, but a decline in imports led to an overall market drop,” he added.

Beer sales (including imports) totalled 426 mln litres in Belarus last year.

The Lidskoe Pivo MD said he was glad the import had declined as its share of the Belarusian beer market was “outrageous”.

“I’m an absolute liberalist. In my opinion, all market players should have equal opportunities everywhere, work and try to sell their products on all markets. But the 30% market share of import beer in Belarus is just shameless. This does not exist anywhere else,” he said.

Miksys said the majority of imported beer in Belarus is of Russian or Ukrainian origin and that’s why consumers often don’t perceive it as ‘foreign’ product.

The country’s beer consumption is much lower than in the neighbouring countries – just 40 litres per capita. Miksys said this year the Belarusian beer industry is unlikely to see any significant changes. According to AC Nielsen, total beer sales may drop 3.6% in Belarus this year.