Russia: During the fourth quarter of 2004 Russian beer production increased 11.5% versus the same period in 2003. According to the estimations, in 2004 beer output in Russia boosted 12.5% that is above the previous forecast of industry analysts. Business Analitika estimated that in 2004 Russia brewed about 85.20 million hl of beer versus 75.73 million hl in 2003. The highest annual growth rate of beer production in Russia was registered in 1999: 33%. Since then the index was declining down to 7.8% in 2003. Most analysts said that the decline will persists as well in 2004. However, despite different obstacles, 2004 was the most profitable one for the last five years.

The increase was attributed to the leading companies of the Russian beer market: Baltika and SUN Interbrew, whose sales increased by 23% and 22.3% respectively in 2004.