Dutch beer giant Heineken recently released their 2022 report, showing that volume had returned to pre-pandemic levels, driven by a strong showing in Asia.

While all regions continued to grow, the Asia Pacific region outperformed them all as sales there surged by 29% in 2022. These numbers came on the heels of the region emerging from COVID restrictions, pointing to Asia’s recovery as a key driver of Heineken’s success last year.

Buoying this Asian-led recovery was Singaporean brand Tiger’s global sales rise of 40%, marking 2022 as Heineken’s Year of the Tiger (beer), and Heineken Silver performing particularly well in China and Vietnam. The latest addition to Heineken’s line extension also doubled its volume worldwide as it was rolled out to new markets globally.

Heineken Silver has made a big impact since it’s launch in the region (Photo: Heineken)

Globally, Heineken outperformed the total beer market by a wide margin, with the charge led by its premium portfolio. Total beer volume was up 6.9% across the company’s beer brands. Their premium beer volumes were up by 11.4% and Heineken Original and Silver beer were up by 12.5%. The Asian Pacific region’s affinity for Heineken came on full display as a whopping 33.4% growth was registered in this segment.

The result was revenue growth of 30.4%, to €34,676 million. The full 2022 financial report can be found on their website here.

Speaking on Heineken’s performance, Heineken’s chairman and CEO Dolf van der Brink commented, “I am pleased that we delivered a strong set of results in 2022 in a continuously challenging and volatile environment, growing ahead of the beer category in the majority of our markets.”

He also stated that its November 2022 forecast of operating profit rising by a mid-to high-single-digit percentage in 2023 remains.

“We will continue to invest, whilst staying disciplined on pricing and costs. Our outlook, as shared on 30 November 2022, remains unchanged,” added van der Brink.