The international beverage group Royal Unibrew brings all its Estonian business activities under the local brewery Tanker Brewery. The change strengthens Tanker’s positions and ability to compete in the Estonian beer market.
Royal Unbrew Eesti OÜ will be merged with Tanker Brewery OÜ from 1 January 2023. In addition to the handicrafts and premium beer produced and sold under its own brand, Tanker will also market other brands in the Royal Unibrew Estonia portfolio so far, the best known of which are Heineken, Pepsi and Cido. The tanker will also take over all Royal Unibrew Estonia contracts and employees. Ranner Kuningas, the former head of Royal Unibrew Estonia, will become the CEO of the company.
Marius Valdas Kirstukas, Head of Royal Unibrew Baltics, explained that Royal Unibrew’s strategy is to give local brands and companies the opportunity to thrive in all markets. “We operate similarly in other countries in the region where the group’s local activities are concentrated under a local company. Royal Unibrew Eesti was still a distribution company focused mainly on developing global partnerships with Heineken and Pepsico. The purchase of local producer Tanker Brewery allows us to strengthen our positions as the 3rd player in the Estonian duo beer market. Our goal is to strengthen Tanker and we are aiming for the long-term goal of achieving a position on the Estonian market among local brewers comparable to the two largest ones,” explained Kirstukas.
Tanker Brewery CEO Ranner Kuningas said tanker started investing successfully in local brewery and brand development as early as 2022. “We invested approximately 400,000 euros in the equipment of the brewery in Jüri to meet the increased demand, also ensure the highest quality standard and bring a new, more sustainable returnable cask packaging format to the market. In addition, we invested more than 500,000 euros in the business development of the Tanker brand, including the launch of new products,” explained Kuningas.
The tanker significantly strengthened its market position in 2022 and increased its market share by more than 3 times. The recognition of the tanker brand among Estonian beer drinkers more than doubled to 72 per cent, and 21 per cent of beer drinkers have tried tanker beer according to studies.
