INBEV, one of the largest producers of beer in the world and a leader in sales in Bulgaria, this week celebrated 10 years in the country.
The company operates on the Bulgarian market through Kamenitsa AD and is one of the largest investors here. It owns Kamenitsa and other local brands like Astika, Bourgasko Pivo, Pleven and Slavena, and sells Stella Artois, Beck’s and Staropramen (also produced locally) on the Bulgarian market.
In its first 10 years in Bulgaria, InBev has introduced a series of innovations and varieties of beer entirely new to Bulgaria, and developed the beer market as a whole, the company’s country manager and board chairman of Kamenitsa AD, Andreas Seemuller, told a news conference on June 14.
Beer consumption in Bulgaria dropped by 8.3 per cent in the first five months of this year, because of the cool weather and the 50 per cent excise duty imposed from the beginning of 2005.
Sales of beer were 140 000 to 150 000 hectoliters less than at the same time last year, Seemuller said.
However, he expressed hope that in the summer months to come the consumers would “rediscover their favourite drink and the beer market will reach the volume of sales typical for the hot season”.