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Published on April 25, 2008

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation

 

He said that adding to the poor market sentiment is the lacklustre local economy while foreign investors have not yet fully recovered their confidence.

Thailand's beer market grew between 6.5 and 6.8 per cent last year in term of sales.

"We have already increased the price of our Leo Beer by Bt12 per dozen bottles since the first quarter this year. The price increase is due to the continuous increase in petrol prices which causes higher manufacturing and distribution costs of more than 15 per cent," said Piti, adding that the price of Leo Beer was now between Bt407 and Bt412 a dozen.

He said that the major production ingredients of malt, hops, and yeast were becoming short in supply as they have been heavily bought and stocked by beer producers in China who want to supply their beer during the peak selling season of the upcoming Olympics.

There are more than 2,000 beer producers in China.

"We have witnessed a huge increase of Leo Beer sales by about 14 per cent in the first quarter as our sales agents, who had been previously informed about the price increase, have stocked the beer to benefit from the old price," said Piti.

He said that the market share of Leo Beer has increased from 39 per cent last year to 40.3 per cent in the first two months of this year.

"We will focus on exports of Leo Beer this year, particularly in neighbouring markets in Asia such as Cambodia," Piti said. "Our Leo Beer exports jumped 105 per cent in the first quarter this year. We also have a plan to export our Leo Beer to Europe in the next six months.

While Singha is positioned as the original Thai beer, Leo will serve as an alternative beer for foreign customers."

Piti said the company was making a study of a new sub-brand product for Singha beer which would cater for the super-premium beer segment. The new product, which will be launched by the end of this year, would follow the new super-premium beer trend that is happening in Japan.

Singha Corp yesterday announced the launch of its big annual campaign for Leo Beer. Entitled "Sexy Leo Girl Season 3", the five-month campaign is set to discover this year's new Sexy Leo Girl to serve as the beer's new brand ambassador. It also aims to tighten the bond between Leo Beer and its target consumers.