Beer turned to the east

Problems with the supply of European beer encourage distributors to rebuild the import range. Thus, one of the largest players in this market, the Moscow Brewing Company (MPK), will start supplying Chinese Tsingtao beer. The IPC can make the brand more mainstream by lowering the price, experts say, but warn that the retail rush for imported beer has passed.

In November, the IPC received a declaration of conformity for the Chinese beer Tsingtao Premium Lager, found “Kommersant” in the register of the Federal Accreditation Service. Products should be supplied in 0.5-liter cans, the batch size is about 41.5 thousand pieces, the declaration says. Tsingtao is considered the most famous Chinese beer. It is produced by Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd, founded by German and British entrepreneurs in 1903. According to its own data, it is in sixth place among beer producers in the world, supplies products to more than 100 countries.

MPK was launched in 2008 by Yevgeny Kashper and Alexander Lifshitz, founders of Ivan Taranov Brewery, which were acquired by Heineken in 2005 for about $500 million. ”, “Trekhgornoye”, etc. It also imports and bottles international brands under license. In 2021, MPK’s revenue grew by 26%, to 32.52 billion rubles, net profit was 1.36 billion rubles.

The company explained to Kommersant that the interest in Tsingtao is connected with the “changing situation on the imported beer market.” According to Kommersant’s interlocutors in the market, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine and the tightening of Western sanctions, beer supplies to the Russian Federation were stopped by producers from Belgium, Holland, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, the USA, etc. According to NielsenIQ, from January to September, the number of positions import beer in retail decreased from 15 to 9 units. According to Kommersant’s sources, the import portfolio of the IPC with brands such as Budweiser, Chimay, Pabst Blue Ribbon could have been noticeably reduced. The IPC does not comment on this. It was deemed premature to disclose plans to import Tsingtao. In Tsingtao Brewery, “Kommersant” did not answer.

According to Kommersant’s sources, smaller companies have been importing Tsingtao so far, and in the center of the country the brand is poorly represented, with the exception of Chinese restaurants.

DV-Import from Vladivostok and Status Group from St. Petersburg, which supplied Tsingtao, did not provide any comments. In general, according to Chinese customs data, interest in beer from China in Russia is growing. In January-October 2022, China supplied 897,000 deciliters of beer to Russia, which is 12% more than a year earlier.

According to a Kommersant source, with Tsingtao, the IPC probably wants to enter a new market segment, and due to the scale of the business, it can reduce the price of the product. Unlike smaller distributors, IPC is also likely to work directly with the manufacturer, he adds. On the online storefronts of WineSteet and WineStyle Tsingtao, a 0.5 liter can is sold for 189–238 rubles.

Stanislav Lisichenko, founder of the China News restaurant chain, says Asian restaurants have always sold bottled Tsingtao. Perhaps the IPC will try to make this beer more of a mass product, he notes.

Igor Khavsky, co-owner of the SWAM Group distributor, believes that when working only with restaurants of a certain format, one cannot count on large sales volumes. And the rush demand for imported beer in retail chains has passed and a significant proportion of foreign brands are now sold at discount prices, he points out. According to Mr. Havsky, in order to establish sales of the brand, it will be necessary to invest a lot in promotion and communication with the consumer.

Acting President of AB InBev Efes Oraz Durdiyev says that imports today seem unstable due to certain geopolitical and logistical difficulties and the company is focusing on localization and launching new products.

Anatoly Kostyrev