United Breweries targets 25% share in imported beer market
BENGALURU: United Breweries Ltd, the maker of King fisher beer, is in the process of introducing five imported beer brands from its Dutch parent Heineken NV in India, challenging Anheuser-Busch In Be v—the market leader for imported beers.
UB has introduced these brands—Sol, Edelweiss, Affligem, Dos Equis and Desperados—in select markets a month ago andi snow expanding to other markets, marketing head Sam ar Singh Sheikhawat said. “We are very hopeful that with these five brands, we will have a solution for a consumer set who is looking for these offerings and did not find an answer in the UB portfolio. There is a growing market for this, a profitable market.”
UB—India’s largest beer maker—aims to capture a fourth of the country’s imported beer market with these five brands, Sheikhawat said. Before these five brands were launched, UB had no presence in that market.
The new brands are expected to help UB expand its portfolio, enter a fast-growing segment, and partially offset the slow down in the wider beer market. Of the five beers, Sol will take on Corona from Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Apart from Corona, which has a market share of around 49% in imported beers, Anheuser-Busch InBev also sells Hoegaarden (about 27%) and Stella Ar to is (5%) imported beers in India.
Heineken owns a 43% stake in Ben gal ur u-base dUB. Anheuser-Busch InBev operates as Crown Beers India Ltd.
According to UB, the market for imported beers is a tiny one, with almost a million cases selling every year. However, it is growing in double digits while the beer market is stagnant. It has expanded from 650,000 cases to 950,000 cases between 2013 and 2016, according to a combination of the company’s internal estimates and customs data.
Imported lager was a three-million lit re market by volume in 2016, according to data from Eu rom on it or International. The total beer market clocked volume of 2.92 billion litres in 2016. UB’s new beer brands will be priced between ₹240 and ₹290 a bottle.
They will be available in markets like Delhi, Mumbai, Ben gal u ru, Goa, Chen nai, and Hyderabad.