SABMILLER CLOSE TO BULL-SNOWING A-B?

Snow beer may have surpassed Tsingtao, partly owned by A-B, as China’s number one selling beer. Sales volume of Snow rose by almost 50% in China, likely exceeding Tsingtao, while volumes grew 26% in the past year. In a joint venture with China Resources Enterprise, SABMiller’s Snow brand makes up 13% of the highly fragmented Chinese beer market. They are currently under construction with a new brewery in Harbin that will provide an annual production capacity of 230,000 kiloliters and put them head to head with Tsingtao. In a recent interview with Reuters, Andre Parker, managing director for SABMiller Africa and Asia, said that its beer sales in China are expected to grow by double-digit percentages in coming years, ahead of the market rate of between 5% and 8% annually.