Alcohol, Baltic Export, Estonia, Financial Services, Markets and Companies

According to the CEO of Pühaste Brewery Üllar Kaljurand, the craft beer trend is still on the rise globally, and purchase of new equipment is necessary to bite a bigger piece of the growing market. "In order to increase exports, we need to buy an automated can filling and packaging line and a centrifugal separator that would allow us to increase production capacity, as well as equipment required for brewing alcohol-free beers," said Kaljurand who sees growing demand for alcohol-free drinks amongst  customers.

The producer points out that canned beer is becoming more popular in the world due to its smaller ecological footprint and better taste quality. "A craft beer buyer is a conscious consumer who is able to value both the taste and the environmental impact of their consumer habits. As per taste of the beverage, canned packaging provides a better oxygen barrier and protection from UV radiation. Also a can is lighter, which means they are lighter to transport and in addition to that - most of the aluminium packaging is recycled," explained Kaljurand. Pühaste's distributors in Russia, Spain and the UK are already increasingly asking for canned products and similar signals have been coming from Germany, Portugal and Canada.

In five years, the small Pühaste brewery has greatly expanded its network of partners to a global scale and now the brewery cooperates with small breweries from Norway, Russia, Holland, Denmark, the USA, the UK, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden and Spain. "Provision of services to foreign B2B partners and finding additional ones remains definitely in our business focus. Also we have managed to conclude contracts with leading suppliers, which in turn allows us to rely on stable quality and prices of raw materials," said Kaljurand. Pühaste is looking for new markets first and foremost in Japan, the USA, South Korea and China.

The increasing popularity of alcohol-free beer is no longer news – according to a research by Global Market Insights, within next 6 years its market share will increase by 7% annually. Kaljurand is convinced that market potential of alcohol-free drinks is massive: "If in addition to beer we manage to produce kvass, lemonades and other soft drinks based on malt and other natural ingredients, the potential will be huge as it opens such markets as Malaysia, Indonesia and the entire Arabian Peninsula," said Kaljurand.