Pilsner and Pülleken are pulsating: Desire for beer makes Veltins grow by 10.1% in the first half-year

With an output growth of 10.1%, the brewery C. & A. Veltins, Meschede-Grevenstein, has taken advantage of the tailwind from the end of the pandemic and the stable consumer demand in trade and gastronomy to continue its dynamic growth. "The desire for beer is unbroken and possible again everywhere - the market is slowly returning to its usual behaviour", said Veltins' Chief Executive Officer Michael Huber at the presentation of the half-year balance. With an output of 1.71 million hl, the traditional brewer from the Sauerland region was able to grow twice as fast as the overall market in the first six months. "Despite the difficult procurement market, we have reached an all-time high. Never before in the history of brewing has so much beer been brewed within half a year," Huber continued. The pleasing consumer demand for the established brand mix had already led to the private brewery reporting the highest output months in its almost 200-year history in March and May. Above all, Veltins considers the fact that the desire for beer was not diminished at any time to be a pleasing signal of solid market anchoring. The Veltins and Pülleken brands even achieved double-digit growth in the first half of the year.

Confidence in gastronomy and events rewarded by guests
While the German beer market is expected to grow by around 5% in the first half of the year in view of the buoyant return of the draught beer business, the C. & A. Veltins brewery again outperformed the market. According to Veltins, consumers want reliable, tradition-rich brands with regional appeal that provide them with quality enjoyment and a good attitude to life in uncertain times. The Veltins brand grew by 12.7 % to 1.26 million hl and the pale Pülleken by 24.9 % to 124,000 hl, while the Grevensteiner brand lost 15.2 % in the highly competitive speciality segment. The V+ beer mix grew by 3.3%, the non-alcoholic draught range by 5.6%. In view of last year's lockdown in the catering trade, the draught beer business returned to its usual stability with rapid steps. "We have made a tight recovery after the market losses of the pandemic with 77 % of the draught beer volume of 2019," said Dr Volker Kuhl, Managing Director Marketing and Sales of the brewery C. & A. Veltins. In the first half of the year, the traditional company filled 194,000 hl in barrels and expects a far-reaching recovery until 2023. Overall, the two sales channels of gastronomy and retail developed differently, as expected. Just at the beginning of the second quarter, and thus in time for the spring and summer business, the catering and event business had picked up again. "The confidence of all those involved in the market was rewarded by the enthusiastic response of guests in many places, who finally wanted to leave the pandemic behind them," said Dr Kuhl. "The good festival weather on weekends and people's desire to meet each other carried us solidly through to the middle of the year." He added that although the catering industry was still suffering from staffing difficulties and also had to contend with considerably higher operating and procurement costs, guests had accepted the price increases on the menus with understanding.

Return of going out does not leave the trade unscathed
In the national trade, on the other hand, the entire beverage assortment had to accept sales losses of about -5%, as expected, because consumers were on the go again instead of at home. The pan-demic turn towards variety now means that there are no visible variety winners in view of the volume losses in the first half of the year. "This development and harmonisation of sales in both distribution channels was to be expected from the beginning. Therefore, we did not set any priorities during the pandemic, but continued to work the market in gastronomy and retail with all our strength and uniformity," added the Managing Director Marketing/Sales of the brewery C. & A. Veltins.

Extensive precautions taken for lost gas supply
In view of the uncertain gas supply, it is not possible to make a concrete forecast for the second half of the year, said Veltins' general manager Michael Huber. However, the company has taken extensive precautions to ensure production and supply security for a longer period of time. "In view of uncertain supply chains, we have pushed ahead with the stockpiling of new glass, pallets, labels and glue and have even rented storage space for this purpose," Huber continues. Funds of 30 million euros were made available in advance for this purpose. In order to maintain brewing operations in the event of a restricted gas supply, precautionary measures had been taken in accordance with the recommendation of the Federal Network Agency to switch from gas to fuel oil firing in the boiler house within a few hours so that brewing could continue in the brewhouse without interruption. Appropriate tank capacities have been set up especially for this purpose.

Veltins wants to continue on its stable growth path
According to Veltins, the consequences of the pandemic will be overcome more quickly than the effects of the energy crisis, which is an "unfortunate inflationary driver" and could still cause reverberations. However, Michael Huber is convinced that "we will not let ourselves be distracted from continuing our stable growth path". In recent years, the family brewery has succeeded in meeting the tastes and zeitgeist of consumers with successful product launches such as the hel-len Pülleken. "Something like this only succeeds with courage and not by overextending a single brand," says the Veltins general manager. "The seamless transition from the first pandemic crisis to the second energy crisis remains imponderable, but can be mastered with entrepreneurial skill and a sense of proportion!" In view of growing consumer sensitivity, a price increase is not on the brewery's agenda for the foreseeable future. "We don't want to overtax our brand friends, but must once again cut back in this difficult market phase as long as it is economically justifiable," noted the Veltins general manager. The C. & A. Veltins brewery continues to see itself in a stable and profitable position, also in view of the recent growth development. The investments are running according to plan, so that the first of two new bottling plants will be connected to the grid this summer. By the anniversary year of 2024, Veltins will have completed a new bottling centre for bottled beer at a cost of around 100 million euros.