Carlsberg: beer prices set to rise

Rising input costs will mean the price of Carlsberg will have to increase next year, the Danish brewing giant has warned.

The warning came as Carlsberg announced beer volumes increased by 1% to 89.7m hl for the nine months to 30 September, with an organic volume development of -1% in a "challenging" market.

Net revenue increased by 2% to DKK 46.7bn with a -2% organic net revenue development. Net profit was DKK 5,050m (DKK 3,219m in 2009).

"While we see signs of market recovery in the important Eastern Europe region, market conditions remain challenging in several Northern & Western European markets and looking forward, we will be impacted by rising input costs and will therefore have to increase sales prices," said chief executive Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen.

In Northern and Western Europe, Carlsberg gained volume and and value market share by around 0.5% in a beer market down 2%, with the UK one of the driving forces.

Carlsberg volumes in the UK increased by a mid-single digit percentage for the nine months to 30 September. It said the overall UK market had declined 3.5% but it had managed to grow its market share in both volume (up 15.7%) and value.

"The channel shift from on-trade to off-trade continued and the Group gained share in both channels," it said.

"The Carlsberg brand family is the largest off-trade beer brand in the UK."