Romania: Beer sales fall by 5% in 2022

The volume of beer sales in Romania fell by an annual 5% in 2022, reaching 15.8 million hectolitres, amidst a challenging economic context marked by record inflation and the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine, the Brewers of Romania Association said.

Members of the brewers’ association invested 78 million euro ($85.4 million) in 2022, while cumulative investments since the birth of the association in 2004 reached 1.88 billion euro, the association said in a press release on April 6.

In 2022, only 10% of beer sales were attributed to the entertainment, hospitality and restaurant (HoReCa) sector, up one percentage point since the previous year, but failed to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

“After four years in which the beer market remained stable, it is the first time that we are witnessing a decrease in the annual volume of beer consumed in Romania,” Julia Leferman, general manager at the Brewers of Romania Association, said.

In addition to existing economic constraints, which led to a 60% increase in production costs, fiscal pressures also mounted, affecting beer producers, Leferman added.

Local beer production accounted for 97% of domestic consumption in 2022 and imports grew by an annual 0.3 million hectolitres, reaching 0.72 million hectolitres. Exports totalled 0.52 million hectolitres, after also rising by 0.3 million hectolitres.

The number of brewers in Romania declined for the first time, tallying 90 in 2022, compared to 93 in 2021.

The non-alcoholic beer and non-alcoholic beer mix segment reached a record annual market share of over 5% in 2022. Lager beer continued to top the list of Romanian preferences, accounting for 93.4% of the sales volume, while specialty beers and the aromatised alcoholic beers and mixes category had market shares of 1% and 0.5%, respectively.

A third of consumers favoured glass packaging, while 24.8% preferred cans. Only 3.2% of consumers opted for kegs. Sales of PET plastic bottles decreased by almost 3 percentage points on the year and were the only segment to record a drop, despite being the choice of 38.7% of consumers.

The members of the Brewers of Romania Association - Bergenbier, Heineken Romania, Ursus Breweries, United Romanian Breweries Bereprod, Martens, Clinica de Bere and Scorilo - supply over 80% of the beer consumed in Romania, while employing over 6,000 people within eleven breweries, of which two are micro-breweries. The members of the association contributed a total of 286 million euro to the state budget in 2022. Their cumulative contribution over the last nineteen years exceeds 4.7 billion euro.

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