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London - Chinese beer Snow leapt ahead of Bud Light to become the world's biggest selling beer as China stretches its lead as the largest beer market in the world, according to provisional data from researcher Plato Logic.
Snow, which is brewed by SABMiller and its Chinese partner
China Resources Enterprises Ltd, saw its 2008 sales volumes jump 19.1% to 61m hectolitres putting it well ahead of
Bud Light and sister brew Budweiser.
Belgium-based InBev based in Belgium and brewer of Stella
Artois and Beck's, took over Bud Light and Budweiser brewer
Anheuser-Busch for $52bn in November 2008 to create the
world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Plato lists the top six beer brands as the Snow range of
beers followed by the Bud Light range, including Dry and Ice, at 55.6m hectolitres, Budweiser at 43.4m followed by
AB-InBev's Brazilian beer Skol, Modelo's Mexican beer Corona and the Heineken brand.
The Snow brand has grown rapidly as China overtook the
United States earlier this decade to become the biggest beer
market in the world in terms of volume and is now over 50
percent larger. In 2007, Plato put Snow second to Bud Light and
ahead of Budweiser.
The Snow range of brands accounts for 84 percent of sales at
the China Resources-SABMiller joint venture in 2008, the Chinese group reported in its 2008 results earlier on Tuesday.
However, AB-InBev argued that Bud Light was the world's best
selling beer as a single trademark brand as Snow represents a
family of beer brand that include at least 25 extensions.
It added that the Budweiser family of brands which include
Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Select, Bud Light Lime and others
remain the best-selling family of beers in the world.
"By itself, Bud Light remains the largest single brand in
the world," AB-InBev said in a statement sent to Reuters.
In 2008, AB-InBev said its own beer brands saw sales volumes
fall 0.3%, while its focus brands which include Stella
Artois, Beck's, Budweiser and Bud Light rose some 2.6%,
but it did not give individual brand performances.
- Reuters