(Photo : Snow Beer)

Euromonitor International, a London-based market intelligence firm, announced that China's beer market, the biggest in the world, last year remained dominated by Chinese brewers, with China Resources Enterprises leading the market.

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The London-based research company said China Resources Enterprises, which makes Snow beer, holds 21.7 per cent market share in the China's beer industry. It is followed by Tsingtao Brewery Co with 15.7 per cent market share.

China Resources has a 51 per cent share in CR Snow, the largest brewing company in China and a joint venture with SAB Miller.

Singtao Beer, produced by Tsingtao Brewery, had been the best selling beer in China for eleven consecutive years but was overtaken by China Resources' Snow beer. Snow beer is currently the biggest-selling beer in the world by volume.

Ranked third is Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co with 11.7 per cent. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest brewer in the world, is ranked fourth with 11.4 per cent followed by Henan Jinxing Brewery in the fifth spot with 3.4 per cent, the Euromonitor said.

Coming in at the sixth place with 2.6 per cent share of China's beer market last year is Carlsberg, a Danish brewing company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Carlsberg Greater China Head Soren Ravn, however, expressed optimism tha tits 5 per cent sales growth in the first six months of the year in China will be sustained all throughout the year.

The Copenhagen-based company said it will boost premium brews in China, the world's biggest beer market, this year as it seeks to increase sales in the country.

Ravn said Sales of Carlsberg's premium brands, including Carlsberg Light and Tuborg, are increasing twice as fast as its local brands.

The Carlsberg China official said the company continues to look for available opportunities to expand in the country even as it already has stake in 40 breweries in the mainland. Ravn, however, refused to divulge further details about its expansion plans.