SABMiller's Chinese Joint Venture CR Snow Breweries Now the Largest Brewer in China
CR Snow’s top ten brands, which include Snow, Blue Sword, Singo and New3star, account for 85% over overall sales, and the Snow brand is now China’s largest.
10/10/06 SABMiller plc, one of the world’s leading brewers, announces that its Chinese joint venture, CR Snow Breweries, has become the largest brewer in China by sales volume and by brewing capacity. In the 12 months to June 2006, CR Snow sold over 45 million hectolitres of beer, of which the Snow brand accounted for 21 million hectolitres. In the first six months of calendar year 2006 CR Snow had a market share of some 15%, ahead of its nearest competitor, Tsingtao.
CR Snow’s top ten brands, which include Snow, Blue Sword, Singo and New3star, account for 85% over overall sales, and the Snow brand is now China’s largest. Snow’s dramatic performance has benefited from CR Snow’s unique integration of a national brand and a national distribution platform.
Between 1998 and 2006 the Chinese market grew at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 8%, to become the world’s largest beer market with volumes of approximately 300 million hectolitres in calendar 2005.
