Carlsberg's new clean-look can highlights "purity"

The new-look can is already available in Germany

Carlsberg has launched a "clean-look" can as it looks to differentiate its namesake lager brand in an increasingly competitive market.

The minimalist can is already on shelf in Germany with other markets looking to roll it out as well, Carlsberg said. It was designed by Danish design house Kontrapunkt, which said the new look emphasises the "purity and quality" of the product.

"With more and more brands on the shelves and increased competition from new regional breweries, German consumers found it increasingly hard to separate the wheat from the chaff," Kontrapunkt said. "The can represents the beer's uniqueness and communicates the brand's pioneering craft beer heritage."

In Carlsberg's most recent FY results, released in February, volumes in Germany declined.

The brewery's overall volumes have dropped sharply in the past few years as consumer demand in its key Russian market fell amid economic sanctions in the country. Carlsberg has been forced to close breweries in Russia, while also cutting back in the UK after losing shelf space in leading supermarket chains.