COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Carlsberg expects the Chinese beer market to stay gloomy in the second half of the year due to weak consumer sentiment, the Danish brewer’s CEO said on Wednesday.
“There’s no doubt that the Chinese market is tough. It declined 5% in the first half of the year, and we don’t see that improving in the second half,” CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen told journalists in a call.
“Bigger stock levels across the industry and weak consumer sentiment means that we are cautious going into the second half,” he said.
Carlsberg’s sales volumes grew 3% in China in the first six months of the year, and its market share grew to 9%, Aarup-Andersen said.
On Tuesday, Carlsberg reported weaker-than-expected sales for the second quarter but lifted its full-year operating profit growth outlook.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Anna Ringstrom)
