MIAMI, United States. — The company Royal Swinkels Family Brewers, the second largest brewer in the Netherlands, and the Belgian conglomerate AB InBev, the world’s largest manufacturer, are in a legal battle for their participation in the Cuban market, according to the Dutch chain. RTL Netherlands.
The confrontation has its origin in the decision of the Cuban regime to revoke the exclusive right of AB InBev to manufacture and sell beer on the island for a period of 30 years.
The information highlights that the permit in favor of AB InBev was issued in 2002 and suspended in 2019. In this sense, the void left by the Belgian conglomerate has been filled by Royal Swinkels Family Brewers, a manufacturer of beers like the Dutch Bavaria Bier.
Although the Dutch brewery has been exporting its product to Cuba since the 1980s, in recent years it has expanded its business on the island.
reports appeared last year in different portals indicate that the company from the Netherlands and the state-owned Cuba Ron were developing a brand of beer for the Cuban market called Parranda, which would already be being marketed.
Royal Swinkels Family Brewers’ moves have been closely watched by AB InBev, which, according to RTL Netherlandshas initiated a triple arbitration case in protest for the lost rights and against the expansion of the Dutch brewery in Cuba.
AB Inbev maintains that the Dutch brewer acted illegally by taking advantage of the violation of the right of exclusivity by the Cuban regime and demands compensation from Royal Swinkels Family Brewers for participating in the construction of a brewery in the Special Development Zone Mariel (ZEDM), west of Havana, and by other businesses developed on the Caribbean island.
The lawsuit imposed by AB Inbev was made public today after the East Brabant District Court issued a partial verdict in the case. The court ruling notes that Royal Swinkels Family Brewers owns a 60 percent stake in the Cervecería Cubana joint venture through its Spanish subsidiary. However, the court assured that it had no jurisdiction over the revoked rights of the Belgian conglomerate and assured that “it is a decision of the Cuban State.”
It should be noted that, for many years, AB Inbev operated on the Island through a joint venture that was responsible for manufacturing Cristal and Bucanero beers, the national brands with the highest sales in the country.
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