E-Malt.com News article: Ukraine & Belarus: Ukrainian brewers hope to restore their positions in Belarus

Obolon CJSC, the largest Ukrainian-owned brewery, expects Ukrainian brewers to restore their positions on the Belarusian market now that the country has lifted the restrictions on imports of Ukrainian beer, Interfax-Ukraine reported on May, 7.

“Before the ban, our share of the Belarusian market had been 7.2%, but last year it shrunk to 1.7%,” President of Obolon Alexander Slobodyan said.

According to Obolon data, exports of Ukrainian beer declined by 5.86% to 280.8 mln litres last year, whereas beer imports grew by 81.7%.

“The total export volume dropped mostly because of the sharp decline in shipments to Belarus, which fell by 77% as compared to 2010,” Obolon brewery said.

As previously reported, in December 31, 2010 Belarus not only introduced single-use licenses for imports of beer from Ukraine, but also demanded that Ukrainian breweries increase their beer prices.

09 May, 2012