China: Carlsberg opens 100,000 hl craft beer plant

Carlsberg Beer Anhui Co, a wholly owned unit of the Danish brewer, has opened on Wednesday a 100,000 hl craft beer plant in Tianchang, in the province of Anhui in East China. Carlsberg has invested CNB 110 million (USD 15.6 million) to serve the high-end beer market  of China as well as the rest of the Asia Pacific region with products like 1664 Blanc, Greenberg and Brooklyn.  Next to the premium beer offerings the company also plans to produce its medium range beer brand Tuborg at the new plant.

The brewery will fill Carlsberg’s DraughtMaster, a one-way plastic keg with a volume of 20 liters which was first presented in 2016 and which was introduced in the last two years in several markets in Western Europe and China (inside.beer,28.2.2019).

While the overall beer market in China is shrinking for the last five years, imported and craft beer is on the rise. Although craft beer’s overall share of the Chinese beer market is still only one percent, annual growth rate has reached 40 percent and experts see a continuation of the trend for at least another five years.

Managing director of Carlsberg China Chee Kong Lee pointed out that Carlsberg sees a huge potential in the premium beer market and is therefore trying to adapt and optimize its product portfolio accordingly. With the new brewery Carlsberg wants to satisfy the increased demand for higher priced specialty and craft beers and tries to reduce carbon emissions through an improved and eco-friendly production.

When presenting the third quarter results, Carlsberg’s CEO Cees ’t Hart stressed again the importance of the beer market in China to the Danish brewer.“We are very pleased to be able to deliver a second upgrade this year due to solid earnings performance in Western Europe and China,” he said in October (inside.beer, 28.10.2019).

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