By Ian Neubauer
The maker of Budweiser has stood by a statement that its Bud Light is still the best-selling beer in the world, saying claims it has been outsold by a little-known Chinese brand are incorrent.
Star Breweries, a joint venture between the Chinese Government and UK brewing giant SABMiller claims its Star Beer is now the best-selling brand in the world, with volume sales of 61 million hectoliters in 2008.
Belgium brewer ABInbev, which last year bought the US company that manufacturers the Budweiser family of beers, refuses to disclose the breakdown per brand of volume sold.
ABInbev also refuses to comment on independent market research that estimate around 51 to 52 million hectolires of Bud Light was sold globally in 2007.
However, ABInbev spokesperson, Gwendoline Ornigg, told TheShout today (Mar 16) the figure presented by Star Breweries does not refer to a single brand and was therefore misleading.
“Snow represents a family of beer brands that includes at least 25 individual extensions such as Snow Draft Beer, Snow Super-Premium and Snow Original Malt. Combined, these extensions make up the total volume for the Snow family of brands,” Ornigg said.
“[But] Bud Light, the world’s best-selling beer, is a single trademark brand. As its own individual brand, Bud Light only competes in a single price segment within a market.
“The Budweiser family of brands, which include Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Select, Bud Light Lime and others, by far, remains the best-selling brand family in the world. By itself, Bud Light remains the largest single brand in the world,” she said.
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