The current situation in China, where most parts of the country is on lock-down, will make a short-term hit on Carlsberg’s sales. But despite the uncertain future the Danish beer giant said February 4, 2020 that a change of strategy for China as a result of the coronavirus outbreak was not on the table.
“Short term we might have a bit of an issue or at least an impact on the business, but longer term we don’t see any issue,” said Cees ´t Hart, CEO of Carlsberg, during a conference call.
Carlsberg’s Chinese market consist largely of sales in karaoke bars and restaurants – and these are significantly impacted by the Chinese shut-down due to the coronavirus outbreak. But Carlsberg’s sales in China also saw a 19% increase in 2019 and therefor outweighs the current lack of sales.
“We will not change our outlook on China, nor our current programme”, Hart added, referring to the beer giants strategy of expanding to 40 Chinese major cities by the end of 2020. Currently Carlsberg has entered 35 Chinese cities since 2017.
Source: Reuters
