Carlsberg reports 5% decline in China beer sales, anticipates further decline in 2025

DENMARK – Carlsberg has reported a 5 percent decrease in beer sales in China for the first nine months of 2024 and anticipates a further decline in the market in 2025. 

Despite the dip in volume, CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen expressed optimism about Carlsberg’s relative performance within the shrinking market and outlined the company’s strategy to focus on growth in China’s major cities. 

“This year, the market in China will be down quite significantly, as you’ve seen so far,” Aarup-Andersen commented. “Next year, we do expect the market to perform a bit better, but we are not expecting the market to go into positive growth.” 

Aarup-Andersen highlighted that the Chinese beer market’s performance largely depends on potential stimulus efforts by Chinese authorities. “If they go for bigger and more impactful stimulus, it could impact the market versus what we’ve seen this year.” 

Carlsberg’s nine-month financial report indicated a 3 percent increase in revenues on an organic basis, with volumes up by 0.8 percent despite the challenging consumer environment and weather-related issues.  

In the third quarter alone, Carlsberg saw a 1.3 percent organic revenue rise, though underlying volumes dipped slightly by 0.2 percent. Aarup-Andersen pointed to a mixed performance globally, with positive results in most markets offset by volume decreases in China, France, and the UK. 

Premium international brands showed resilience amid the headwinds. Carlsberg brand sales grew by 11 percent, with other brands such as Brooklyn (up 9%), 1664 Blanc (up 8%), and Somersby and Tuborg both up 2%.  

In the UK, Carlsberg faced a different set of challenges with lower sales in its ale portfolio and some earlier supply-chain disruptions. However, rising sales of Brooklyn, which Carlsberg sells under license, helped mitigate these impacts. 

Carlsberg is expanding its portfolio in new markets as part of its growth strategy. Last month, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) set a December deadline for its review of Carlsberg’s acquisition of soft drinks company Britvic. 

The CMA said it has until 18 December to decide whether it needs to “refer the merger for a phase 2 investigation”. 

Additionally, Carlsberg recently entered a significant partnership with PepsiCo, marking Carlsberg as PepsiCo’s official bottler in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan starting January 2026.  

“Our partnership with PepsiCo will expand further with two additional markets coming on board from 2026, indicating the long-term potential in our collaboration,” Aarup-Andersen said. 

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