Russia: Russian beer market is to increase by 5-7% in 2005 compared to 2004, the head of Russian Brewers Association, Vyacheslav Mamontov, announced on January 13 at a press conference. He said that this year will not be an easy one for the Russian brewing industry, “the market is not going to grow so fast like in the mid 90s”. V. Mamontov mentioned that according to preliminary figures, in 2004 Russian beer sales and production increased by 11-12% up to 83-84 million hl. In 2003 Russian brewers registered a 7.3% increase in beer output and produced 75.73 million hl of beer versus 70.2 million hl in 2002. Market analysts had forecasted a 4% rise in Russian beer output in 2004.

According to Russian Brewers Association, about 300 breweries are operating now in Russia. 20 of them are big, the rest are medium and small. About 80% of the enterprises are part of Russian Brewers Association. 10 brewing companies control about 70% of the Russian beer market. The Association said that almost all world’s beer makers are present on the market: Baltic Beverages Holding, Carlsberg Breweries A/S, Inbev, South African Breweries (SAB-Miller), Heineken, Scottish & Newcastle.

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