Weak macroeconomy hits Carlsberg volume sales in Vietnam: CFO

A weak macroeconomy and consequentially more price-sensitive consumers have driven down Carlsberg’s volume sales in Vietnam in the third quarter of 2023, said CFO Ulrica Fearn.

The executive made the statement at the Q3 review of the Danish brewer on Tuesday. The whole market had fallen and Carlsberg was not immune to the significate decline. This particularly hurt Carlsberg’s mainstream brand Huda, she noted.

However, Carlsberg’s market share gained in the period. In particular, Carlsberg’s international premium portfolio grew strongly, but not enough to offset the low performance of mainstream beer brands, in terms of volume.

Besides, Carlsberg’s revenue per hectoliter developed positively, thanks to price increases and other factors, the executive added.

In the Asian market, Carlsberg reported year-on-year organic revenue growth of 3.7%, as a result of an organic volume growth of 1.5% and an increase of 2% in revenue per hectoliter.

However, the revenue growth in Asia is negative 9.7% if adversary currency impacts, especially the Laotian and Chinese currencies, are factored in.

Despite a generally declining market in Asia, Carlsberg continued the upward trajectory with higher market share in China, Vietnam and Laos, according to the brewer’s report.

The higher revenue per hectoliter was driven by the solid growth of premium brands in China, India and Vietnam. Notable premium brands of Carlsberg with strong volume growth in Vietnam were Carlsberg, Premium Tuborg, and 1664 Blanc.

Regarding global performance, Carlsberg’s Q3 revenue grew 0.3% year-on-year to DKK20.3 billion ($2.88 billion), while the nine-month figure went up 4.3% to DKK58.1 billion ($8.25 billion).

The revenue per hectoliter growth was 9% in Q3 and 10% in January-September; while the organic volume decline reached 3% in Q3/2023 and 0.6% in the first nine months of this year.