United Romanian Breweries Bereprod (URBB), the company that holds the bottling licence for the Tuborg and Carlsberg brands on the Romanian market, saw sales worth 40 million euros over the summer period, almost half last year's turnover. The company posted a 34% increase in beer sales between June and August this year, as compared with last summer.
"Approximately 82% of our sales for this period were registered in urban areas. Bucharest by far leads the ranking of the top beer selling areas, accounting for 22% of overall sales, followed by Moldova with 14%," Shachar Shaine, president of URBB said, quoting data supplied by the research agency MEMRB.
According to estimates made by the URBB president, the company registered sales worth approximately 8.8 million euros in Bucharest alone.
In terms of the rise in the volume of sales experienced on the seaside during the summer months, Carlsberg registered a 20% increase, Tuborg - 16%, whilst sales volumes for Holsten doubled against the same time last year.
The bulk of sales (71%) were made off-premise, whist just 29% were sold on-premise. "On both the on and off-premise segments, our brands saw a 34% increase against the same time last year," added Shaine, who quoted the same market studies.
According to company officials, the biggest sales this summer were registered in August, when URBB posted a 40% surge against August 2006. Between June and August 2007, the beer market witnessed a 46% growth in terms of volume. The volume of canned beer increased by 80%, while bottled beer increased by 25% against the same time last year, according to URBB representatives.
The high temperatures recorded in Romania in the first part of the year boosted URBB sales as early as the first quarter of this year, when the producer registered a 25% increase against Q1 2006, including a 36% surge in March aga
