Efes beer sales drop

Efes: global volumes down almost 5%

Brewer blames soft Russian market and excise hikes

Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes saw its global beer volumes slide 4.7% in 2011, partly due to falling sales in Russia.

Gloomy figures just published by the brewer reveal that it sold 23m hectolitres last year, compared to 24.2mhl in 2010.

In Turkey, where Anadolu Efes is the market leader, sales volumes dropped by 0.8% to 8.4mhl. There was some good end-of-year news: despite a simultaneous price increase and duty hike, Q4 sales volumes rose by 1.4% to 2.0mhl.

Anadolu Efes’ beer volumes outside of Turkey (almost two-thirds of total volumes) also suffered, sliding 6.7% to 14.6mhl. Russian sales, which make up around 70% of non-Turkish volume, were “soft”, said the brewer, and accounted for the entire decline. It noted that tighter regulation, poor weather conditions and increased competition hurt sales in the country, which is Efes' largest market overall.

Unspecified sales volume increases were recorded in the three other imarkets where Anadolu Efes has smaller brewing presences - Kazakhstan, Georgia and Moldova.