Carlsberg Sees Its Beer Sales Jump Thanks To Asia

Asians love beer and Carlsberg loves Asia…

Here’s the deal

Copenhagen-based Carlsberg reported a 9% jump in first-quarter sales on Thursday, partly buoyed by Asian drinkers switching to more expensive beers, according to Reuters.

Carlsberg, the world’s third-largest brewer behind Anheuser Busch InBev and Heineken, grew its Asian sales by 28% in the first quarter which ended March.

“We had a good start to the year, with particularly strong volume growth in Asia and continued solid progress of our craft and specialty, and alcohol-free portfolios,” Chief Executive Cees‘t Hart said in the statement.

In an effort to help recover from a decade of weakness in its key market Russia, Carlsberg has taken major cost-cutting measures since Hart took over in 2015. And last year, the Danish Brewer returned to sales growth for the first time in three years.

Carlsberg reported that its price mix (an indication that the company sold more of its premium beers), was positive across all regions, particularly in Eastern Europe.

The company, which did not disclose earnings figures, expects its operating profit to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2019, well below last year’s 11%.

The brewer is still losing market share in Russia, where its Baltika beer continues to struggle especially in light of the increased pricing which as of the first three months of 2019, has not helped the brand return to profitability.

Carlsberg, which has been investing in its premium offerings worldwide, hopes to build on its growth success in Asia.

Last March the global brewer acquired a minority stake in Jing-A, an enormously successful Chinese craft brewery, known for its use of Chinese ingredients such as red rice koji, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorn. And althogh the financial terms of that deal were not disclosed, it marks Carlsberg’s growing interest in the small but increasingly dynamic Chinese craft beer market.

China, already the world’s biggest beer market according to Euromonitor International, drank 25 billion liters of beer in 2015, almost twice that of the US.