Competition in Myanmar’s fast-growing beer market is growing. On Wednesday, Hiroshi Fujikawa, CEO of Myanmar Brewery Ltd. (MBL), the country’s largest beer firm with 80% of the market said that he hopes to double current sales figures for all MBL brands in five years, according to a Broun News report on 23 October.
Myanmar’s beer market experienced doubled-digit growth in 2015, driven by foreign investment, Fujikawa added. And there is tremendous room for further growth, Myanmar drinks an average of 6 litres of beer per capita each year, compared to 36 to 40 litres per capita in China and Thailand, said Birgitte Weeke, marketing director for Myanmar Carlsberg.
According to Euromonitor, the value of Myanmar’s beer market will double from an estimated $375 million this year to $675 million in 2018.
MBL is still the industry leader, but its future success is not guaranteed to hold at this level. Unfortunately for the brewery, in August it lost the rights to produce two of its most well-loved brands: ABC stout and Tiger beer. Heineken, which opened its own brewery in the country in July and holds the licenses to produce both brands, exercised its contractual right to terminate MBL’s licenses to brew and sell those brands in the country.