2025 was a tricky year for the drinks sector, with consumption slowing due to tax changes. The increase in excise duty on alcohol, followed by the increase in VAT and the general increase in production costs made 2025 a year in which the top management of companies will work to the maximum to find the best solutions to adapt to the current market conditions. However, companies continued to make investments and even transactions. Maspex took control of Purcari Maspex – known for brands such as Tymbark, Tedi and Bucovina, acquired a stake of about 72% of the shares of Purcari Wineries, becoming the majority shareholder of the wine producer. Purcari's founder, Victor Bostan, retains 15% of the shares, over 3,000 institutional and retail investors also remain shareholders of the company. The transaction by which Maspex took over the majority stake in Purcari amounted to approximately 600 million lei. Maspex Romania finished the year 2024 with a turnover of 1.25 billion lei, up by about 9% compared to the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. The producer Ursus continues its investments Ursus Breweries, the largest player on the beer market, owned by the Japanese group Asahi, will invest 15 million euros in the unit in Buzau, the largest brewery in Romania in terms of volumes with a history of 47 years. The factory benefited from major investments in 2006, 2007 and 2009, and recently Ursus Breweries invested 2 million euros in a flue gas energy recovery station at the production unit in Buzău, which reduces its natural gas consumption by 18%. PepsiCo opened a new beverage line at the factory in Dragomireşti PepsiCo, one of the largest players in the food and beverage industry, opened a new line for bottling drinks in cans, following an investment of 8.5 million dollars, in the factory in Dragomireşti-Deal, located in Ilfov county. Thus, following this investment, the factory reached seven production lines and an annual capacity of over 500 million liters of beverages. HEINEKEN made an investment of 11 million euros in Craiova HEINEKEN Romania, the second largest beer producer, is finalizing a new investment of 11 million euros in the Craiova and Ungheni factories. In Romania, the company has three factories in Craiova, Miercurea Ciuc and Ungheni, Mureş county. The factory in Craiova is the largest locally, with a production capacity of 2 million hectoliters per year. In 1970, when it was established, it had a capacity of 400,000 hectoliters. In the factory in Craiova alone, the company has invested over 30 million euros in the last ten years. Dragoş Constantinescu becomes the second most powerful Romanian executive internationally Dragoş Constantinescu has been promoted to the position of CEO of Asahi Europe & International operations, which has operations in the beer sector in several countries, including Romania, after Paolo Lanzarotti decided to retire from executive activity. Thus, Dragoş Constantinescu will lead the European and international operations (with the exception of Japan, Australia and Asia), starting from April 1, 2025. Asahi Europe & International has production units in eight European countries, but also has export activity in 90 markets, according to the data on the Asahi website. Thus, Dragoş Constantinescu becomes the second most powerful Romanian executive in the beverage sector in Europe, after Silviu Popovici, who heads the PepsiCo Europe business, with revenues of over 13 billion dollars in 2023. Alexandrion Group modernizes the factory in Ploiesti Alexandrion Group, the Romanian market leader in the production and distribution of spirits and wines, part of Nawaf Salameh Family Office, modernized the factory in Prahova and put into operation two fully automated bottling lines. The investment amounts to 2 million euros and has led to an increase in production capacity by up to 40%. The announcement comes after last year the company set an ambitious goal for the next ten years, namely to secure 10% of the global production of alcoholic beverages in four categories: brandy, single malt, rum and vodka. At the same time, in 2025, the company expanded. the distribution network in the Baltic countries, through partnerships in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Alexandrion Group is a business founded by Nawaf Salameh. Ursus Breweries has a new president Ursus Breweries, part of Asahi Europe & International and the leader of the beer market in Romania, has appointed Dan Timotin as General Director for Romania, starting on July 1, 2025. He returns to Romania after a period in which he held general director roles in North Macedonia, the Czech Republic and, most recently, in Egypt, previously holding top management positions in Hungary and Poland. Dan Timotin has over 20 years of experience in the FMCG industry, covering various categories such as soft drinks, coffee, beer and premium spirits. In his career, he held successive roles of financial director, sales director and then general director. Along with experience gained through his international exposure, Dan brings a solid perspective and remarkable adaptability to different markets and cultures. The producers of spirits do not want another increase in the excise duty The producers and importers of spirit drinks propose to the government to postpone the additional increase of the excise duty by another 10% from January 1, 2026 until the impact of the increases so far on the budget receipts and on the consumption of taxed drinks can be analyzed. The excise tax was increased by more than 14% in 2025 (Ă4.4% from January 1, 2025 and Ă10% from August 1, 2025), but the budget receipts from excises on spirits decreased. In the first 10 months of this year, revenues from excise duties on spirits are 44.28 million RON (approximately 4%) lower than those recorded in the same period of 2024, despite the cumulative increase in excise duty by over 14.84%, according to the Spirits Romania association. A recent study shows that the black market of spirits in Romania represents approximately 40% of consumption in the last five years. Thus, the industry loses up to 65 million euros annually. The Micula brothers lose the war with the Romanian state The High Court of Cassation and Justice has won the ANAF case, regarding the action by which it blocked some assets of the companies European Food SA and Transilvania General Import Export SRL, in order to ensure that it can recover the sums that the Micula brothers received after they won a case with the state, a case where the European Commission prohibited the implementation of the decision. Basically, the war between the Romanian state and the Micula brothers began in 2005. Then, the owners of one of the largest Romanian groups in the food and beverage industry sued the Romanian state on the grounds that they had violated the Romanian-Swedish bilateral treaty by which mutual investments were protected from certain taxes.
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