Brazil: Cervejaria Petr�polis is to set two new breweries in the country

Brazilian beer maker Cervejaria Petr�polis Brewery, based in S�o Paulo State, is planning to invest about R$ 600 mln (US$ 273.9 mln) to set up two new breweries, one in Minas Gerais and one in Bahia. Cervejaria Petropolis controls about 5.3% of Brazilian beer market.

Petr�polis Brewery hopes to be Bahia�s third top beer in two years. Nowadays the state�s top beer brand is Nova Schin, followed by Skol and Brahma.

As of December 2005 AmBev was the leader on the Brazilian beer market. Its share in the market increased from 69.1% in November to 69.4% in December. According to ACNielsen, Schincariol remained as number two, but loss 0.4 points on its share to 12.2%. Kaiser gained 0.2 points from 8.5% to 8.7%. Cervejaria Petropolis lost 0.2 points from 5.5% to 5.3%.

If viewed per brand, Brahma continued leading the market, although fell from 19.7% to 19.6%. Nova Schin fell from 11.4% to 11.1%.