Carlsberg Ukraine stops beer supplies and sales in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk

Carlsberg Ukraine has stopped beer supplies and sales in the east Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk over the situation in Ukraine’s eastern regions, the company’s press service told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.

“We have stopped supplying and selling beer in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in order not to put our employees at risk,” the beer producer said in a statement received by ITAR-TASS.

Carlsberg Ukraine pledged to resume supplies as soon as the situation in the country’s east gets back to normal though the political crisis in Ukraine certainly has a negative impact on its business.
“The current situation in the east (of Ukraine) is unlikely to produce a positive impact on business of any kind,” the company said in its statement.

Carlsberg-Ukraine runs plants in Zaporozhye, Kiev and Lviv. The brand portfolio includes drinks branded as “Lvivske”, “Baltika”, Carlsberg, Tuborg, Arsenal, Slavutich, Zhigulyovskoye bottled in Zaporozhye, Holsten, "Khmilne”, “Kvas Taras”, Somersby, Guinness, Kilkenny, Harp, Warsteiner and Grimbergen.

According to Nielsen, Carlsberg-Ukraine had the second biggest share (27.9%) in Ukraine’s beer market; its share in Ukraine’s market of rye beer known as “kvas” accounts for 28% in volume terms. Carlsberg Ukraine’s net income stood at 621 million hryvnias in 2013 while its profit was estimated at 3.47 billion hryvnias.

Carlsberg Ukraine is part of the Carlsberg Group, one of the world’s leading ale brewers. Its net profit dropped by 2.4 % to 5.47 billion Danish krones ($1 billion) in 2013. Its revenues grew by 0.1 % to reach 66.55 billion Danish krones ($12.22 billion) last year. Carlsberg Group owns 89.01% of the charter capital of the Baltika brewing company, Russia’s biggest ale producer.