Russian brewery, Baltic Beverage Holding (BBH), has claimed that its brand, Baltika, is now number two best-selling beer in Europe after Heineken. BBH is a Russian-based brewing joint venture between Carlsberg and Scottish & Newcastle (S&N). “Baltika had achieved sales volumes just in excess of 900 million litres in 2002, putting it ahead of the Heineken-owned brand, Amstel, into the number two spot,” BBH's managing director, Christian Ramm-Schmidt, said.

Although Heineken remained the clear European best seller with volumes of 12.65 million hl in 2002 it would not be impossible for Baltika even to close that gap, Christian Ramm-Schmidt, said.

Meanwhile, Heineken noticed that its sales are better spread over the whole region whereas Baltika sales were concentrated in Russia where it had benefited from consumers switching from drinking vodka to drinking beer.

In CIS (countries from the former Soviet Union) and Baltic States BBH controls 15 breweries. In Russia it holds 33% of beer market.

20 March, 2003