February was the slowest month, when beer sales fell by more than 11%. This is the first time since October 2010 when the market witnessed a double-digit decline.
January and February were extremely difficult months for the entire economy because the snowfall paralyzed entire sectors and only the Easter probably helped sales pick up somewhat.
The cold shower of February had come after the beer industry had shown its first signs of stabilization at the beginning of the year. After two years of decline in a row, sales stagnated last year, helped by the autumn months.
Under the circumstances, brewers prepared new products for the Easter, but the market also received a boost from a deal.
In April, investment fund CVC Capital partners, which owns brewer StarBev, sold the company to the Canadian-held Molson Coors Brewing Company, in a EUR2.65 billion deal. StarBev has operations in nine countries in the region and its Romanian business, Bergenbier, is among the largest.
Despite the decline compared with the boom period, Romania remains among the top ten beer drinkers in the EU.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)