Last month, just-drinks met Oliver Braun, the export and international sales director for Krombacher. Here’s a closer look at the German brewer:
- Founded in 1803, Krombacher has always been in private hands. Since 1922, ownership has been held by the Schadeberg family
- Krombacher’s brewery is located in the town of Kreuztal-Krombach, 80km east of Cologne in the state of North Rhine Westphalia
- As well as its namesake beer brand, the company is also responsible for the production and sales of the Schweppes, Orangina and Dr Pepper soft drinks brands in Germany
- In 2013, total group sales rose by 2% year-on-year, hitting EUR671m (US$839m). Brand Krombacher accounted for EUR567.7m of the sales, with the soft drinks stable posting EUR84.4m
- The flagship Pils variant dominates the company’s beer portfolio: last year, it accounted for 4.4m of the 5.75m hectolitres of beer produced by Krombacher. However, Pils volumes were flat in 2013. Radler is the second largest beer, with volumes last year of 435,000 hectolitres. Alkoholfrei (333,000 hectolitres), Weizen (241,000 hectolitres), Fassbrause (85,000 hectolitres) and Dunkel (50,000 hectolitres) complete the range
- In its domestic market, Krombacher is the market leader in the German Pils, the German non-alcoholic Pils, the German radler and the German non-alcoholic radler segments
- According to trade association Deutscher Brauerbund, the company leads the overall German premium beer category, with Bitburger coming in second, 1.5m hectolitres behind. Krombacher is double the size of the number three brand, Warsteiner, which had volume sales last year of 2.76m hectolitres
- The Krombacher brand is a strong sponsor of sport in Germany, particularly of soccer (it is an official partner of the Bundesliga) and ice hockey. It also sponsors television coverage of Formula One in the country
- Internationally, the company exports to 60 countries. Italy leads the way, accounting for 22.6% of the 190,000 hectolitres sold abroad last year. Spain is the second largest export market, with 15.3% of total foreign sales, while Russia is third with 8%. The UK, the US and China each account for around 4% each of export volumes
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