STAG
Western Hemisphere
St. Lucia
21
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result of the country's entry into the Euro
pean Community. An agreement was
concluded with a local importer for the
marketing of Heineken beer. The volume
of sales during the introductory year
inspires confidence in the further deve
lopment of sales in this country.
Partly as a result of the introduction of
cans, sales of Green Sands shandy,
produced under licence in Portugal, were
above the 1985 level.
As long as a shortage of hard currency
exists in Eastern Europe, imports of con
sumer goods will have a low priority. This
means that despite our increased efforts
in this area the export volumes will re
main modest for the time being.
Western Hemisphere
The emphasis of the activities in the
Western Hemisphere lies on exports of beer
from the Netherlands to the United States,
Canada and the Caribbean. The enterprise
has a brewery in Canada and also interests
in breweries in Trinidad. Martinique, St. Lu
cia, the Netherlands Antilles, the Bahamas,
Surinam, the Dominican Republic, Haiti.
Jamaica. Brazil. Argentina. Uruguay and
Paraguay. In Costa Rica production takes
place under licence. In some of these coun
tries we also produce soft drinks.
North America
The total beer market in the United States
showed an increase again for the first
time in two years, whilst the import seg
ment, as in the previous year, grew at a
stronger rate than the total beer market.
Despite intensified competition within the
import segment sales of Heineken beer
again increased and the leading position
of this brand in the United States was
maintained.
In this connection we again benefitted
from the vigorous marketing efforts and
continuing commitment of our importer
Van Munching Co. Inc.
Sales of Amstel Light again showed a
strong growth, as a result of which this
brand retained its prominent position.
For the current year, too, expectations
are positive. The market for beers im
ported from Canada showed a decline
in 1986, which also affected the sales of
Grizzly beer produced by our Canadian
brewery.
In Canada our subsidiary Amstel Brewery
Canada Ltd. achieved a slight increase
in sales in a highly competitive market.
The sales of Amstel beer, Amstel Light
and Henninger contributed to this in
crease. Sales of Grizzly and Peroni beer
remained somewhat below expectations.
In the course of the year under review
the 'Steeler' brand was introduced, espe
cially intended for the Hamilton area,
where our brewery is established.
In response to the growing demand for
canned beer, all our brands are now
available in this packaging. The doubling
of capacity in the bottling plant was com
pleted.
Following the sharp increase in imports
of Heineken beer in the previous year,
the volume developed satisfactorily this
year.
Caribbean
With the exception of Puerto Rico there
was a further increase in exports of
Heineken beer and Amstel Light to the
Caribbean. Despite the sharply increased
competition, this favourable development
is due to a revival of tourism, especially
from America, and the undiminished
dedication of our importers.
The increase in tourism has also led to
an improvement in the purchasing power
of the local population in a number of
important markets.
In Puerto Rico there was an end to the
many years of growth for the Heineken
brand, particularly due to the increased
competition. In the past few years
Heineken beer has built up such a sub
stantial position that efforts will now be
made above all to consolidate the market
share.
Both the sales and the market share of
our affiliate National Brewing Company
Ltd. in Trinidad showed a sharp increase
