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20112012201320142015572427999611283894616308924578347924558343901Against a challenging economic backdrop and several years of gradual contraction, the volume of can fillings in Greece rallied in 2015 to post an impressive upsurge of 10.9%.The driving force behind this growth was a huge increase in beer can fillings, with volumes increasing by almost a quarter (24.6%) to 427 million. While much of the expansion has been attributed to growing exports the can has also performed well in the domestic beer market, backed by aggressive marketing campaigns by market leaders. Despite retail prices for beer being among the highest in Europe, domestic beer sales grew during 2015, with the can continuing to enjoy a strong share of the take-home market. They have proved particularly popular in hard discount channels, which offer more competitive pricing, with many of these private label cans imported to meet demand. Recently, however, this trend has been slowly changing, with an increase in the number of locally-filled private label beers.GREECEBEVERAGE CAN FILLINGS RALLY IN GREECE AS VOLUMES SURGE, DESPITE HIGH RETAIL PRICES AND ONGOING ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY BEER SOFT DRINKSCAN FILLINGS FOR BEER AND SOFT DRINKS, 2011-2015 (MILLIONS OF UNITS)MARKET SNAPSHOT• Total beverage can fillings surge as soft drinks and beer sectors both expand • Growing exports help offset shrinking domestic sales• The can maintains its strong visibility within the Greek marketBEER - SHARE OF MARKET BY PACK TYPE, 2015 (VOLUME) 36% Cans 58% Refillable glass 6% Non-refillable glass SOFT DRINKS - SHARE OF MARKET BY PACK TYPE, 2015 (VOLUME) 31% Cans 7% Refillable glass 2% Non-refillable glass 60% Non-refillable PET999MTOTAL CAN FILLINGS UP 10.9%572MSOFT DRINKS CAN FILLINGS UP 2.5%427MBEER CAN FILLINGS UP 24.6%A YEAR IN NUMBERSAs part of its global Cities of the World campaign, Heineken launched a series of limited-edition cans featuring the names of Greek cities, including Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras and Heraklion. Backed up by smart advertising and promotions urging consumers to “break from their usual routines and make the most out of their cities”, the campaign aimed to increase Heineken’s appeal to contemporary, city-dwelling men. As well as being emblazoned with city names, the limited-edition cans featured a new design that gave greater prominence to Heineken’s iconic red star, while toning down the brand’s trademark green in order to put greater emphasis on the aluminium packaging.CITY SLICKERSGreek soft drinks fillings also grew in 2015, with volumes rising by 2.5% to 572 million. As with the beer sector, the export market has proven to be the motivating factor, with Coca-Cola Hellenic and PepsiCo both increasing their export volumes to countries such as Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania.Despite continuing austerity measures by the Greek government, an unstable political and economic situation and shrinking disposable incomes, the performance of the country’s can market offers reasons for optimism.EUROPEAN CAN MARKET REPORT 2016 65COUNTRY REPORTS