Heineken grows beer sales in Romania by 7% while local market plummets

Beer producer Heineken Romania grew its turnover by 7 percent last year in Romania, to around EUR 222 million. “In 2010, Heineken Romania reported a 7 percent increase in turnover compared to 2009, despite the downwards trend of the Romanian beer market. This performance demonstrates that our long term strategy to focus on the market share in value pays off, even during a difficult financial and economic year such as 2010,” said an Derck van Karnebeek, managing director with Heineken Romania. The volume of beer sold by Heineken in Romania grew by 6 percent last year compared to the previous. The company plans to add eight more international brands to its sales portfolio in Romania, starting April this year: Amstel, Birra Moretti, Krusovice, Foster’s, Murphy’s, Strongbow, Sol and Desperados. The company owns four factories in Romania – in Miercurea Ciuc, Constanta, Craiova and Mures and it employs 1,100 people in the country. It sells beer brands Heineken, Silva, Ciuc Premium, Golden Brau, Neumarkt, Bucegi, Edelweiss (import), Zipfer (import), Gösser, Schlossgold, Gambrinus, Harghita and Haţegana. The beer market dropped by 3.5 percent in Romania last year, according to the Brewers of Romania Association. editor@romania-insider.com