SABMiller Plc plans to halt investments in about 40 provincial brands owned by its China venture to focus on selling the premium Miller brand for the first time in the world's largest beer market, the company said.

"China's beer market is changing rapidly in terms of taste and consumption patterns," Humor Wang, general manager of Beijing-based venture China Resources Snow Breweries Co, said. The venture, 49 percent owned by the world's third-largest brewer, SABMiller, also plans to focus on marketing its Snow beer, which it now regards as a nationwide brand, he said.

SABMiller, created from the merger of South African Breweries and Miller Brewing Co, has been buying companies since 2000 in emerging markets including China and India, as people in the United States and Western Europe drink less beer. China, where people consume 24 liters of beer on average, compared with 80 liters in Europe, has lured Anheuser-Busch Cos, the world's biggest brewer, Carlsberg A/S and InBev NV, according to Bloomberg News.

London-based SABMiller's Chinese breweries, in 13 provinces mostly along the nation's affluent eastern coast, are owned through China Resources Snow, a 12-year-old venture with Hong Kong-listed retailer China Resources Enterprises Ltd.

The venture plans to expand sales of its Snow brand beer westward through acquisitions and capacity expansion, Wang said.

Beer sales at China Resources Snow rose 32 percent to 4.35 million kiloliters in the first nine months of this year, giving it a market share of 15 percent, compared with 14 percent for Tsingtao Brewery Co, its nearest rival. Sales of Snow beer jumped 91 percent in the same period, accounting for more than half of total revenue.

Source:佚名