The cider production might be handled by one of the four plants of the company in Miercurea Ciuc, Craiova, Constanta and Ungheni, according to the same source. Heineken officials did not return ZF’s calls for comment on the cider production in Romania. They therefore did not say if they planned to use one of the already existing brands in Romania or a new one.
Heineken started the cider market in Romania about a year ago when it introduced the Strongbow brand made in Bulgaria. It then added a second brand, Old Mout. Still, Heineken has not revealed any information about the sales results or about development plans so far.
Sales of cider stood at more than 515,000 liters last year, according to Euromonitor data. At an average price of 15 to 17 lei (EUR3.37 to EUR3.8) per liter, sales of cider stood at RON8 million to RON10 million last year, ZF has calculated.
Romania’s cider market started to develop last year, so consumption per capita is far behind other countries’. It continues to grow, as shown in the latest report of Heineken, which says that Heineken’s cider sales volumes doubled in Romania, Ireland and Czech Republic compared with the year-ago period.
While Heineken was the first to sell this type of beverage in Romania, rivals were quick to follow suit. URBB (Tuborg) introduced Somersby and Ursus Breweries introduced Kingswood made in the Czech Republic. Local producers like Zarea introduced Dacic, entrepreneur Alan Clark introduced Clarks and then Daniel Guzu launched ‘Ana are’. (EUR1=RON4.4488)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)