A new brewery – a so-called green field brewery – was inaugurated today in the Qinghai province in the Western part of China. The brewery has an initial capacity of 0.6 million HL beer and will ultimately reach one million HL. The total investment amounts to USD 15 million.
Owners of the new brewery are Carlsberg (33.33 %) and its partners: Lanzhou Huanghe Enterprise Co. in the Gansu province (33.33 %), Qinghai Biological & Industrial Park Development & Construction Co. (16.67 %) and the Danish government via The Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries (16.67 %).
In the Qinghai region - population around five mio. - the present beer-consumption is around 15 litres per capita (below national average of 22 litres per capita) and is expected to increase with the improving economy. On top of this companies in Qinghai are attracting more and more people from other provinces, which is expected to increase beer consumption.
"There is no brewery in the Qinghai province, and being the only brewery there will give the JV competitive advantages, such as lower transportation costs. And for mainstream beer generally local people prefer beer from their own province. Our JV partner Lanzhou Huanghe Enterprise Co. has already established a strong level of presence in Qinghai, estimated to have a market share of 70 %, and the new brewery will further strengthen the JV's position in Qinghai," CEO Michael Fredskov Christiansen, head of Carlsberg China-business, says.
Including the new brewery in Qinghai Carlsberg now runs 13 breweries in China – either fully owned or joint ventures.
(See attached graphic in the right column 'Carlsberg's breweries in China').
For further information contact:
Media:
Jens Peter Skaarup, + 45 40 94 14 17
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Mikael Bo Larsen, + 45 33 27 12 23