By Annette Shailer, editor Beer & Brewer
Victoria’s Hawthorn Brewing Company has signed a Chinese distribution deal, which will see its Pale Ale available across five provinces in Southern China from late July.
The deal comes after 12 months of planning and negotiations, including research trips to China to assess market opportunities.
China is the largest beer consuming nation in the world, yet imported beer still accounts for a fraction of this market and is dominated by European and US brands
“With the burgeoning middle class, there is real demand for premiumisation, and craft beer certainly ticks this box with mass appeal to this growing Chinese consumer bracket. Couple this with the high regard Chinese consumers have for Australian products and the opportunities are exciting,” said Hawthorn co-founder and managing director Peter Willis.
“We have worked very closely with our distributor to ensure that our products have consumer appeal, including adopting a Chinese name for the brand and altering the label to enhance the Australian providence of the beer.
“China has proven to be a very challenging market to enter, with many administrative hurdles to negotiate, however we are finally there and very excited about the prospects of launching in such a large market”.
Hawthorn hopes to expand its Asian presence, with talks underway in other local markets including northern China, Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.
Hawthorns already exports international to the UK and France.
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