AB InBev bet on potential in Brazil

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world''s largest brewery, remains convinced of the potential of the Brazilian market, despite the decline in sales of beer in the last two years and of a particularly difficult year in 2016.
The beverage giant based in Belgium has suffered successive years of falling beer volumes in Brazil, with the price per litre is also falling in 2016, when the disposable income retracted and the unemployment rate hit the highest level since 1995.
The company''s volumes in your second largest market increased for the last time in 2014, when Brazil hosted the World Cup.
"When we look at Brazil in a long-term vision, these two bad years don''t change our vision in terms of foundations and pillars that Brazil will continue to be an incredible market for consumer goods companies and beer," said the Chief Executive, Carlos Brito, at a news conference after a meeting of the shareholders of the company on Wednesday (26).
AB InBev, which paid about $100 billion to take on the your nearest rival SABMiller last year, had in your first profit decline in 2016 since your formation for more than a decade, as the economic recession affects Brazil reduced sales of beer more than expected.
Brito said positive factors included population growth and a young demographic, the fact that some regions still had space to recover, the willingness of consumers to buy more expensive premium brands and Brazil''s attractiveness for foreign investors.
Trend
The head of AB InBev said the two-year low did not break the general trend of the Brazil. "It''s like many markets, not a straight line. Sometimes you just have one or two bad years and these fundamentals help again. We don''t panic with one or two bad years because we always have our eye on the long term, "he commented.
The maker of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona discloses its results in the first quarter on May 4.
The competitor Heineken also saw the volumes back in the Brazilian market in the last year. But, even with the difficult scenario, the company recently bought the Kirin Brazil.