(Yicai Global) July 28 -- The Asia-Pacific subsidiary of Belgian beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev saw business improve in most parts of China last month, after being affected by recent outbreaks of Covid-19, as consumer demand remains strong, the brewer said today.

China sales volumes sank 5.5 percent in the first half from the same period last year due to logistical and other disruptions between mid-March and May, which dragged down the country’s overall revenue by 3.2 percent, the Hong Kong-based firm said in its semi-annual report. However, as conditions improved, the sales volumes of its Premium and Super Premium lagers bounced back in June.

Profit soared 10.6 percent to USD575 million in the six months ended June 30, while revenue gained 2.7 percent to USD3.5 billion, largely due to the company’s premiumization strategy, Bud APAC said.

“We continued to see improvement in China in early July, even though there were a few sporadic outbreaks in the last couple of weeks,” Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chair Jan Craps said at the earnings call. “We can see that the government is addressing the situation with targeted control measures and balancing this with economic and social development,” he added.

Bud APAC continues to make strides in digitization in China and extended its business-to-business wholesaler and customer engagement platform “BEES” to more than 55 cities in the first half, attracting over 30,000 monthly active users, it said.

Editor: Kim Taylor