India: SABMiller trying Haywards 5000 and Knockout beers in PET bottles in Maharashtra

SABMiller India is launching Haywards 5000 and Knockout beer brands in one litre PET bottles in Maharashtra on a trial basis, hospitalitybizindia.com reported on June, 8.

“We believe it has the potential to be 20 per cent of our mix in the medium term and 30 per cent in the long term,” TJ Venkateshwaran, Director Sales, SABMiller India, is quoted as saying.

The bottles will mention ‘best used within 45 days from the date of manufacture.’ The beverage in glass bottles can be consumed within six months of the manufacturing date.

SABMiller is the number two beer manufacturer in India after United Breweries (UB). UB sells over 110 million cases a year, while SABMiller’s sales are 55 million cases. The market size is estimated at 250 million cases.

Shekhar Ramamurthy, Deputy President, Marketing, UB Group, said, “We are evaluating the prospect of selling beer in PET bottles. But there are limitations. The reason PET is not common is because it permits ingress of oxygen and egress of carbon dioxide. Beer does not stay stable in this format.”

SABMiller says it has worked round these issues. “We have a global experience of selling beer in PET bottles. We brought that experience to India,” says Venkateshwaran.

Globally, beer in PET bottles is popular in Russia and Eastern Europe. SABMiller sells brands such as Miller Genuine Draft, Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch and Zolotaya Bochka in these markets.

08 June, 2011