Domestic sales in the brewing and soft drinks industry, 1 January - 30 June 2003

Press release 7 August 2003

Domestic sales in the brewing and soft drinks industry, 1 January - 30 June 2003

Increased private imports clearly influence beverage sales

Domestic sales in the brewing and soft drinks industry during the first half of 2003 were lower than the year before, as expected. Cold weather in the early summer does not fully explain the drop in sales. Constantly rising private imports from countries with lower beer tax lie in the background.

The Finnish brewing and soft drinks industry's domestic sales during the first half of 2003 totalled 400.8 million litres. Sales of beer, cider, long drinks, soft drinks and mineral waters fell by 16.8 million litres or 4.0% compared with the year before. Up to the end of April sales remained nearly at the same level as in 2002, but the difference continued to increase in May and June. The drop in sales was partly due to cooler weather than the year before and was undoubtedly influenced by the upswing in travel to Estonia in May.

Domestic beer sales totalled 193.1 million litres up to the end of June. This was 7.8 million litres or 3.9% less than the year before. Sales of strong beer fell by 9.4% while sales of medium-strength beer fell by 5.5 million litres or 3%.

The effect of the weather was visible particularly in sales of cider, which positive sales of long drinks did not offset. Cider sales totalled 21.7 million litres or 12.4% less than the year before. Long drink sales rose by 7.9%. The 0.8 million litre increase in long drink sales
did not make up for the 3,1 million litre drop in cider sales, however.

Sales of soft drinks and mineral waters also showed the effect of cold weather. Sales of soft drinks totalled 145.8 million litres during the first half of 2003 and sales of mineral waters totalled 29.2 million litres. Sales of soft drinks were down by 5.4 million litres or 3.5% compared with the year before. Sales of mineral waters were down by 1.3 million litres or 4.4%. Statistics only include sales by members of the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry.

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Managing Director Risto Saarinen, Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry, tel. +358 9 1488 71 (switchboard)

The Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry promotes the interests of producers of beer, cider, long drinks, soft drinks and mineral waters in Finland. Its members are Oy Hartwall Ab, Olvi Oyj, Pirkanmaan Uusi Panimo - PUP Oy and Oy Sinebrychoff Ab. The Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry operates in connection with the Finnish Food and Drink Industries' Federation and represents one of the largest branches of industry in Finland.