E-Malt.com News article: Hungary: Brau Union Hungaria Breweries Plc. dominates 30% of the domestic beer market

In an effort to produce beer of the highest quality, Brau Union Hungaria Breweries complies with the latest standards and applies a Quality Control System compliant with localised Hungarian Standard (MSZEN) ISO 9001:2001, and runs an MSZEN ISO 14001-compliant HACCP-integrated Environment Management System, The Association of Hungarian Brewers (AHB) published in its 2005 Annual Report.

In 2005, a new Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) system from Japan was also introduced to further improved quality and production efficiency.

Brau Union Hungaria Breweries is operating in Hungary as an affiliate of the international Heineken Group. The history of the Group and the famous Dutch Heineken beer dates back to 1863, when its founder Gerard Adriaan Heineken purchased the largest brewery in the Netherlands, known as De Hooiberg (the “Haystack”). With a mission to brew the best quality beer in the world, Mr. Heineken and his colleague, Dr. Elion (a former student of Louis Pasteur in Paris) developed the famous A-yeast. This yeast still guarantees the special unique flavour of the beer today and has contributed to making Heineken the “most international” beer of the world, marketed in 175 countries.

The Hungarian member of the Group, Brau Union Hungaria Breweries also has more than hundred years of history, having celebrated its 110th anniversary in 2005. The company has two brewery plants in Hungary: Sopron and Martfu produce top-quality beer with sales dominating about 30 percent of the Hungarian beer market in 2005. The operation in Sopron is renowned to have been the first in Hungary to combine state-of-the-art equipment and technology with hundred years of tradition.

The brewery in Sopron was established by brewers from Brno and local traders in the region under the name of First Sopron Brewery and Malt Factory, with a mission to diff use the traditions of Czech brewing in Hungary. Since 1992, the company has been operating under the name of Sopron Brewery Joint Stock Company, with its majority stakes acquired by BBAG Austria. The years following its privatisation were characterised by a global technical rollout programme to raise the brewery’s technical standards to world class, but the development still continues.

The other brewery of Brau Union in Martfu is among the youngest brewers in Hungary. The idea of establishing a brewery dates back to 1981, when the plant was jointly formed by 28 farmers’ cooperatives and state farms in Eastern Hungary to resolve the shortages in beer. The brewery finally went into production in 1985 near the city of Szolnok. Later, the brewery was transformed into a joint stock corporation, and in 1991 the majority of its stocks was acquired by Brau AG Union Goss-Reininghaus Osterreichische Brau AG from Austria. In 1997, the operation in Martfu was merged with the Sopron Brewery retaining the name of the latter. On 1 January 1998, the name of the company was changed from Sopron Brewery to Brau Union Hungaria Breweries to mark its affiliation to the concern. At the end of 2003, Heineken N.V. purchased the Austrian BBAG Group, and the Hungarian operation thus became a member one of the world’s most dominant and successful conglomerates, with the ability to integrate the multinational corporation’s well established and efficient procedures in its local operations.

Both operations in Hungary have undergone major modernisations lately. Billions of Forints have been invested in upgrading production and packaging infrastructure and on quality control. As a result of these investment and modernisation efforts, the annual production capacity in 2005 topped 1.5 million and 720 thousand at the Sopron plant and the brewery in Martfu, respectively.

Brau Union’s best known brands are Heineken and Gosser in the Super Premium category; Kaiser, Amstel, Steffl and Zlaty Bazant in the Premium category; Soproni, Soproni Kinizsi, Talleros and Sarkany in the light beer category; and Schlossgold and Buckler as alcohol-free products. The company is also marketing specialty beers like Amstel Bock, Gosser Ice, Kaiser Dark and Edelweiss wheat-beer.


26 July, 2006