Clausthaler non-alcoholic beer in India; aims 90% market share

New Delhi, Feb 10 (UNI) Targeting the growing non-alcoholic beer (NAB) segment, Dalmia Continental today introduced Clausthaler beer with expectations of capturing a major market share in the country.

''The current market for non-alcoholic beer is worth Rs 10 crore and is growing at 150 per cent annually. We expect to capture a 90 per cent market share with Rs 57 crore worth of sales in the next three years,'' Dalmia Chairman V N Dalmia said.

The company expects sales worth Rs 6.5 crore in the first year of operations with a market share of 64 per cent and increase it to 81 per cent with sales of Rs 21 crore in the second year, he added.

The NAB segment has been growing steadily with a growth of 36 per cent in 2007 with 36,289 cases, up from 4,356 cases in 2003.

Mr Dalmia expects the demand to touch 84,289 cases by 2010.

Clausthaler, owned by Germany's Radeberger Gruppe, is a leading name in the NAB segment and exports to over 50 countries.

''We are especially targeting the people who do not drink beer due to religious or health reasons. All those who could not consume alcohol, be it children or those who had to settle for carbonated drinks, can go in for NAB,'' Mr Dalmia said.

The company will also spend about Rs 11 crore over the next three years for promotion and marketing of the products. It is also looking at bringing a lemon-flavoured NAB, under the same brand.

A major share of the sales will come from the retail sales, ''but we will also target institutions like hotels, restaurants, bars, the armed forces etc,'' he added.

Radeberger Gruppe has 13 breweries in Germany but does not plan on setting up any facility here.

The drink is priced at Rs 54 for a 330-ml can. ''It will be introduced in the country in a phased manner, starting with metros,'' the chairman said.

Beer sales in the country are forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.2 per cent to 2011. Besides the increase in sales, the number of brands is also expected to increase in the near future, with existing players like United Breweries and SABMiller expanding their ranges, and new players like Anheuser-Busch, Carlsberg and InBev setting up production facilities.

Though the beer market has grown at rate of 27 per cent in the last year, it holds only four per cent of the total alcohol beverages market in the country, with 130 million cases.

The per capita consumption of beer in the country is only 0.6 litres, while in the US and China, it is 70 litres and 23 litres respectively.

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