俄烏緊張關係加劇 無奈啤酒商遭殃
Carlsberg and Heineken each reported a softer performance in the region during the second quarter, results that looked especially poor as the World Cup fueled beer sales in Western Europe and other markets.
嘉士伯（Carlsberg）和喜力（Heineken）第二季度在俄烏地區的銷售表現疲軟。而西歐和其他市場的啤酒銷量在巴西世界盃的刺激下大幅增長。受此映襯，該地區的銷售表現就顯得更加不盡如人意。“We believe the Eastern European beer markets will be impacted further as consumers are facing increased challenges,” warned Danish-based Carlsberg Chief Executive J?rgen Buhl Rasmussen. Carlsberg trimmed its expectations for the year, citing the challenges in Eastern Europe.
丹麥嘉士伯首席執行官韋耀國警告稱：“由於消費者正面臨更大的挑戰，我們認爲東歐啤酒市場將進一步受到影響。”慮到東歐地區的形勢，該公司下調了全年的業績預期。Russia is an important market for the beer industry, though the climate there is complicated as Russia’s government has increased excise taxes and banned many forms of alcohol ads. Carlsberg and Heineken are two of the largest players in Russia, one of the largest beer markets in the globe.
俄羅斯政府提高了消費稅以及禁止多種酒類廣告，這些都使得商業環境變得複雜起來，但是對啤酒業來說，俄羅斯依然是非常重要的市場。嘉士伯和喜力是俄羅斯市場上最大的兩家啤酒供應商，而俄羅斯在全球啤酒市場佔據着舉足輕重的地位。
But alcoholic beverage sales in that market have been affected by the government’s efforts to reduce the consumption of alcohol in the country, Euromonitor and others have reported, amid some concerns that overconsumption has hurt life expectancy in the country, particularly for men. Dutch-based Heineken on Wednesday estimated the overall beer market in Russia has dropped 25% the past two years, though it said most of the woes were due to tax hikes.
俄羅斯政府減少酒類消費的諸多措施已經影響了酒精飲料在該地區的銷售。市場研究機構歐睿（Euromonitor）和其他一些機構報道稱，過度飲酒已經降低了俄羅斯人口的預期壽命，特別是男性的預期壽命。總部位於荷蘭的喜力週三稱，在過去兩年裏，俄羅斯啤酒市場整體規模已經下降了25%。不過該公司認爲罪魁禍首是賦稅的飆升。Carlsberg said the value of the Russian beer market slipped an estimated 6%-7% in the first six months of the year, while Ukraine’s beer market was down an estimated 10%. The decline in the Ukraine accelerated in the second quarter, with “significant variances between regions” there, Carlsberg said.
嘉士伯則表示，今年上半年，俄羅斯和烏克蘭啤酒市場規模分別下滑了大約6%-7%和10%，並且烏克蘭市場的下滑趨勢在第二季度有所加速，“地區間的差異非常顯著”。“We have been able to operate our business in Ukraine with limited disruptions, although distribution in some cities in parts of eastern Ukraine has been challenging,” the company said.
“我們在烏克蘭地區的業務受到的干擾並不大，儘管在烏克蘭東部一些城市的配送仍頗具挑戰，”該公司說道。Heineken appeared less affected, reporting volume grew 0.8% in Central and Eastern Europe in the second quarter. That’s still a deceleration in growth from the first quarter, and also underperformed all other markets. Heineken executives told analysts that it was “difficult to access what the geopolitical situation and all the rising sanctions will have on our business,” but said the bigger issue appeared to be tax hikes levied against beer the past five years. The company said in the long term it still sees Russia as “a good market to be in.”
喜力公司受到的影響似乎比較小，其在中東歐地區第二季度的銷量增長了0.8%，但是相比第一季度增速依然有所放緩，並且表現不及其他市場。喜力高層對分析師表示，“很難知曉地緣政治形勢和之後出臺的制裁措施會對我們的業務造成哪些影響，”與之相比，更大的問題似乎是過去五年間啤酒賦稅的攀升。該公司表示，從長遠來看，俄羅斯市場依然“具有很強的吸引力，值得公司堅持下去”。
