Good morning, and thank you for waiting. We would like to welcome everyone to Ambev third quarter 2022 results conference call. Today with us we have Mr. Jean Jereissati, CEO for Ambev, and Mr. Lucas Lira, CFO and Investor Relations Officer. As a reminder, a slide presentation is available for downloading on our website, ri.ambev.com.br, as well as through the webcast link of this call. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in a listen only mode during the conference presentation. After Ambev's remarks are completed, there will be a question and answer session. At the time, further instructions will be given. Should any participant need assistance during this call, please press star zero to reach the operator.
Before proceeding, let me mention that forward-looking statements are being made under the safe harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Ambev's management and on information currently available to the company. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors could also affect the future results. I would also like to remind everyone that, as usual, the percentage changes that will be discussed during today's call are both organic and normalized in nature. Unless otherwise stated, percentage changes refer to comparisons with 3Q 2022 results.
Normalized figures refer to performance measures before exceptional items, which are either income or expenses that do not occur regularly as part of Ambev's normal activities. As normalized figures are non-GAAP measures, the company discloses the consolidated profit, EPS, operating profit, and EBITDA on a fully reported basis in the earnings release. Now I will turn the conference over to Mr. Jean Jereissati, CEO for Ambev. Mr. Jereissati, you may begin your conference call.
Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings call for the third quarter of 2022. Following a great first half of the year, I'm happy with our performance in Q3. Brazil's momentum continued to increase, not only in beer, but also in NABs. As a result, we are on track to deliver, as in some of our international operations. This quarter was marked by two themes that we have been talking about since the beginning of this year. First, how the consistent implementation of our strategy is the key to continuous improvement in our operating and financial performance. Second, how macro volatility continues to bring several challenges in the short term.
The good news is that we managed to deliver once again, led by net revenue per hectoliter growth, continuing to pick up as the year progresses, and volumes growing despite a very difficult comp in Brazil beer, showing strong execution and resilient elasticities. In fact, our commercial initiatives continued to yield results across most of our markets. Consolidated volumes grew 1.3% in the quarter, exceeding 46 million hectoliters. Once again, an all-time high volume performance for a third quarter. Not only consolidated volumes performed well. Premium brands gained weight in 9 of our 10 top beer markets. At least 85% of our customers in Brazil, Argentina, in revenues at the consolidated level, and organic EBITDA grew double digits once again.
However, macro conditions and the persistent high inflation in some of our international markets are not only impacting the consumer, but also our supply chain, especially in the countries with less flexibility in capacity and logistics like Chile, Canada, and the Dominican Republic. Not only commodities were more expensive, but also oil prices hiked, raising inbound and outbound transportation costs. Therefore, results in our international operations were rather mixed. We saw a good resilience in LAS. Canada declined year-over-year, but continues to improve performance sequentially. CAC is the region that suffered the most. Let's start with CAC. The volume downside was mostly driven by the Dominican Republic and Panama. In the Dominican Republic, bottle supply issues were solved, but demand didn't pick up as fast as we expected because of high inflation rates pressuring consumption.
In Panama, we witnessed a tough industry driven mostly by our large-scale protest against rising prices, which halted the country for more than a week in late July. Lastly, weather was significantly impacted by Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Fiona in the end of the quarter. Our costs were impacted by the high inflation, as the region is dependent on imports. We are now adjusting ourselves, the production plans, and we will continue to invest on our brands and work to develop a sustainable industry. Not everything was bad news there this quarter. Premium brands gained weight across most of the markets, driven by Corona and Michelob ULTRA. Except for Panama, there was no significant change in sequential market share in our main markets. Marketplace net revenue grew in the 20s, driven by both Dominican Republic and Panama. That said, we need to do better there.
Turning to Canada, industry improved versus last quarter, but it's still negative versus a weak comp, as last year, COVID restrictions were still in place. Volumes grew over 3%, driven by estimated market share gains in beer and a rebound in the Beyond Beer industry from a weak performance last quarter. Premium brands gained weight and share in their segments, driven by a good performance of Corona and Stella Artois. Finally, in LAS, volumes grew 4.5%, driven by Argentina, where industry grew versus last year, and we estimate to have gained market share driven by our premium brands. Bolivia is recovering from the COVID impacts. However, industry in Chile and in Paraguay declined, impacting volume performance. Nevertheless, core plus mix continued to gain weight in both countries. Marketplace continues to progress in Argentina and was fully rolled out in Paraguay. Now, moving into Brazil.
Nonalcoholic beverages delivered another stellar quarter in what had been a great year for the team. Volumes grew over 10%, resulting in estimated market share gains. Our portfolio is very well-positioned to serve consumer needs, with energy drinks growing almost 50%, the health and wellness brands over 30%, and the premium growing 10%, with a highlight to Pepsi Black that now represents approximately 10% of our cola brands. BEES is allowing us to serve a higher number of customers to NABs, 6% more than last year. Talking about beer, as we lapped over a very tough comp, volumes were flat in the quarter, but 35% above 2019. On a twelve-month rolling perspective, 13 million hectoliters above the same period of 2019.
In terms of segments, premium led the growth with our highs, and we continued to invest behind developing our core plus brands like Brahma Duplo Malte and Spaten. Numbers of fans and brand health of focus brands continued to improve versus last year, and revenue per hectoliter grew 17%, driven by disciplined revenue management initiatives and brand mix impact. Finally, EBITDA in Brazil Beer grew almost 18% organically, with margins expanding by 20 basis points. Our performance in Brazil gives us confidence that we enter the summer season ready to deliver on FIFA World Cup. This event is always an important moment to connect with our customers and clients, especially in Brazil. Our team has been preparing for the event, and I believe this year's World Cup can be better than we had in 2018.
First, because this year it will take place in the end of the year during our summer season, which is the peak consumption season. Second, because our business is much better prepared than last time around. Since the beginning of last year, I have spent each earnings call talking about our transformation journey, starting with cultural evolution across the organization, then moving the technological capabilities that we have been building through Zé Delivery and BEES, and also the step change in our logistics footprint and service model. Finally, the evolution of the brand building strategy. During this year's Investors Day, we unveiled our Ambev as a platform framework. I would like to use it, that same framework, to explain how each of the five pillars will come to life during the FIFA World Cup. First pillar, brands for each and everyone. Our brands are healthier than ever.
If we compare to 2018, our premium brands grew year-to-date about 4%, segments grew approximately another 5 million hectoliters. We're gonna use the World Cup to support four main brands, Brahma, Budweiser, Mike's, Guaraná, and on top of all that, Zé Delivery. Second pillar, first to lead the future. Our innovation as a mindset is a reality now. More than 25% of the volume growth compared to 2018 came from innovation, brands that didn't exist in Brazil back then. Third pillar, a toast to our customers' success. These allow us to interact more frequently with our customers. Orders delivered on time and in full will be key for their business during peak days. Also, we now offer on average more than four delivery dates per week per customer, a number that is 64% above 2018 levels.
Fourth pillar, experiences that come to you. Zé Delivery has evolved significantly since 2018. It is now available in almost 300 cities, covering more than half of Brazil's population, who can order beverages and other products from the convenience of their homes during and after the World Cup games. We just announced that Zé Delivery is the official sponsor of the Brazilian soccer team, a big move for Zé. Fifth pillar, finally, together for a better world. 100% of our beers in Brazil for this World Cup are now made with 100% of renewable electricity. The event itself, but to deliver loved brands, quality products, unparalleled services, and memorable experiences to our customers and consumers in order to create a longer-lasting effect going forward, moving into 2023. We are very excited with what Q4 can bring.
Not only do we want to deliver a strong finish to the year, but we also are looking ahead and working towards starting 2023 better positioned. 2023 will certainly bring challenges and risks, but also opportunities. After all, we are living in a more uncertain and volatile times. With a business that is over 80% located across Latin America, we are no strangers to volatility, macro challenges, and inflation. We will continue to focus on the things we can control. From my perspective, what matters the most is that since 2020, we are building a business that is fundamentally better, improving results consistently year after year. First, we turned around volumes, then cash flow, then return on invested capital. More to do still, but I have no doubt we are on the right track, and I'm proud of what the team has accomplished so far.
With that, let me hand over to Lucas.
Thanks, Jean. Good morning, good afternoon to everyone. If Brazil was the main highlight of our operational performance, that was also true from a financial perspective. It's great to see Brazil driving once again the improvement in Ambev's overall results. Brazil's top line grew nearly 20% in the quarter, with net revenue per hectoliter growing almost 17%, while volumes were up 2.4%. This growth led to around 24% EBITDA increase, with gross margins flat and 100 basis points of EBITDA margin expansion. Although input cost pressure remained an issue, thanks to higher commodity inflation, cash COGS per hectoliter for Brazil Beer, excluding the sale of non-Ambev marketplace products, grew a little over 18%, thus within our guidance.
Cash SG&A grew about 16% in the quarter, with sales and marketing growing around 13% while administrative expenses grew 13%, mainly due to our investments behind enhancing our technological capabilities. All in all, continuous and consistent progress in our main market. Turning to our operations abroad, the financial picture for the quarter in some markets was certainly not what we would like it to be, particularly in Central America and the Caribbean. Over the last decade, the region went from roughly BRL 200 million of EBITDA in 2012 to almost BRL 4 billion in 2021. Following a strong post-COVID recovery in 2021, 2022 has not been CAC's year.
H1 already faced relevant headwinds, and Q3's financial performance was severely impacted by nearly 20% volume decline, which led to about 13% net revenue decline and 900 basis points of gross margin contraction. While inflation regarding distribution costs and supply chain losses were the biggest drivers behind the higher SG&A. As a result, EBITDA margin contracted nearly 1,500 basis points. On the other hand, despite higher COGS and SG&A levels, LAS posted resilient EBITDA growth driven by Argentina, and Canada showed some sequential improvement. Moving on to cash flow decline versus Q3, 2021. Here, we also saw a similar dynamic to the P&L. Strong cash flow generation in Brazil, resilience in Argentina, but a harder time in important regions such as CAC and Canada.
Despite the lower profit in the quarter year-over-year, cash flow from operating activities before changes in working capital actually improved in the quarter. However, in terms of working capital, some important operational factors played against us in the short term. Receivables in Canada increased given top line acceleration. Inventory levels rose in Brazil given build up during the quarter ahead of Q4 with the FIFA World Cup. Payables in CAC were negatively impacted by the lower production volumes, offsetting the increase in payables in Brazil. Also, it's worth reminding everyone that in Q3, 2021, we monetized over BRL 800 million in Brazilian tax credits related to the ICMS in the taxable basis of the PIS and the COFINS litigation, which was a one-off.
Year to date, cash flow from operating activities is down 20% given primarily our performance in Q1 when we faced, first, higher cash outflows to suppliers given 2021 CapEx calendarization, and second, payment of variable compensation related to our 2021 performance. Finally, normalized profit declined by nearly 14% in the quarter. Despite the EBITDA growth, net finance expenses were higher, mainly because of an increase in carry costs in Brazil and Argentina in connection with our hedging strategy for currency and commodities. Our effective tax rate faced a tough comp because in Q3 2021, we recognized a gain of over BRL 750 million related to a one-off income taxes favorable legal decision by the Supreme Federal Court. Nevertheless, year to date, our normalized profit is up 4%.
Before I close, I would like to invite everyone to attend our ESG day next week on November third, when we plan to share in detail our progress in terms of environment, social, and governance agendas. The idea is to cover how we are trying to build climate resilience along the value chain, how our cultural transformation is enabling change in the company from within. First, Brazil back to bottom line growth. Second, deliver organic EBITDA growth at the consolidated level ahead of the 10.9% organic growth in 2021. Third, do so with a stronger consolidated net revenue and EBITDA organic growth in H2 versus H1, supported by also better cash flow generation and consequently, a better return on investment for shareholders.
Looking ahead, we want to continue to build momentum and pave the way for a good start to 2023. Speaking of next year, we will keep pursuing continuous and consistent improvement in our financial performance by, one, continuing to protect liquidity. Two, improving profitability through increasing our return on invested capital, and improve profitability by also focusing on gross margin and EBITDA margin expansion. Three, delivering strong cash flow generation in order to allow us to not only allocate capital towards organic and non-organic growth opportunities at attractive returns, but also return excess cash to shareholders from time to time. That's it for me. Let's go to Q&A.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press.
My question has to do. Well, I have two questions. One of them is: how can we better understand the discrepancy in trends between soft drinks and beer in Brazil? I mean, with such a strong growth in soft drinks. The second question, I need to give just really quick context about the second question regarding the performance of your brands in the beer portfolio in Brazil. You're seeing high single-digit in premium and also mid-single-digit in core. That means that. You didn't talk about super premium nor value, and the volumes are flat. That means either one of them or the two of them are declining.
Could you expand a little bit more in terms of what you're seeing in terms of the composition of the portfolio, of beers, within the different price points, and how do you see this going forward? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Alan, for the question. First, I'll try to elaborate on soft drinks and beer.
First of all, what we are seeing is that all this transformation that we started, like, three or four years ago with innovation. We brought two more brands that it was Brahma Duplo Malte and Spaten. A lot of things happened.
In between 2019 and today, right? Beer really performed well in this period. If you look at our numbers of beer when we compare with 2019 levels, we are pretty much in the thirties, like 34% above in this quarter, our performance compared with 2019. We unlocked a lot of growth during this time, and we get to an all-time high volumes last year in beer. That's we are so proud that we were able to really get that flat this year because it's really like confirmed all this volumes and transformation during the pandemic and the innovation working and all the in-home.
These volumes of beer, long term, a little bit if you look a little bit further on one, comparing with the previous year, they are very good. We are very. We built this in three years, okay? When we felt comfortable and this was working, so then we really turned around to make NABs work. We are just starting this journey with NABs. We are not there. Our portfolio that Guaraná is performing well, that Pepsi Black is coming. Somehow, we are seeing a resilient industry on NABs as the return to work. It is really helping with the occasions too, right? Industry resilient. Our portfolio very well established, Artisan beer.
We are just starting this transformation on NAB. We foresee that we will be able to outperform the market moving forward. In beer, somehow this was something that we started before.
Can you still?
Beer, I elaborate a little bit on soft drinks and beer. Coming back to beer and talking about portfolio, right? Portfolio, in the end, when we mention the high end, we combined the premium and the high end over there. These numbers that we mentioned to you, they are super premium and premium that are growing high single digits.
Okay.
As the combination. They grew 57%.
Wow.
In volumes that we grew total beer 34%, right? It's a very solid growth. It was a very tough comp on premium and high-end, and they are consistently growing with 16% CAGR in three years. We have a core, very resilient, and we have value regional brands really struggling, right?
Yeah.
It was an important piece of our business. In 2019, we talked a lot about the regional play on affordability play on regional brands. This went down, if we compare with 2019, 50%. What we are really seeing is our portfolio getting better. The core brands, they are resilient. We created this core-plus business that now represents a lot to us. Then high-end and that is premium, super premium is really resilient. What we are seeing is a good shape of the portfolio happening.
Got it. That's very useful. Thank you. Thank you so much, and congratulations again to you on the results.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Marcella Recchia, Credit Suisse.
Hi, Jean, Lucas. Thank you for taking my question. Let me circle back on the international division first. During the second quarter, we had the impression that you were about to see recovery trends there, right? Notably in Central America and the Caribbean. What was missing back there? What's the current outlook ahead, and what has been the main initiatives to stabilize the operations? That's my first question. Secondly, during the presentation, Lucas, you also mentioned improvements in margins and ROIC to be a focus next year. What can be shared about the main levers for that? And if you can share anything or say anything about the cost outlook for next year. Thank you so much.
Hey. Hi, Marcella. Thank you for the question. This is Lucas speaking. In terms of the evolution in CAC from Q2 to Q3 and what we're trying to do to improve performance going forward, I think first it's important to note that in Q2, we also saw a challenging operating environment, not only in the Dominican Republic, but also in Panama for different reasons. In the Dominican Republic, we had a specific issue with a glass supplier, and the good news is that issue was addressed, okay? However, supply chains take time to stabilize, specifically in this region where you do rely on a greater level of imports.
The infrastructure in the region, right, is not at the same level of infrastructure in North America or in South America. It is a more unstable supply chain, and that has proven to be, right, tougher to restabilize post the resolution of the glass supply issue in Q2 than we would have hoped for. Okay? That's the Dominican Republic, number 1. In terms of Panama, the main issue. The two main issues in Panama in Q2 were 1, market share. Okay. There was a market share loss during the first half of the year that we're still working on to try and revert. We also faced supply chain issues. The level of imports in Panama is higher than other markets.
As the supply chain constraints were a factor in the entire region, Panama was not immune. Given the higher weight of imports, volume suffered even more. Going forward, the focus there is also in terms of stabilizing supply chain. Okay. To the second part of your question, what we are doing, first and foremost, the focus is on stabilizing the supply chain. Without product availability, everything becomes much tougher. That's our first priority, to stabilize the supply chain. Then the second priority is really to improve commercial execution, okay.
What I mean by that is, for instance, in countries like the Dominican Republic, and Jean Jereissati alluded to this in his prepared remarks, it's very important in order to reactivate demand at the consumer level, to make sure that we have great price execution with the right SKUs at the right price for the right type of occasions. There's a lot of focus on price execution in a market like the Dominican Republic. We need to make sure that we have the fuller assortment of our SKUs with more coverage because we lost coverage during some degree of coverage during the first half, so we have to recuperate that.
The good news is that sequentially within the third quarter, in July, August and September, we saw improvements not only in terms of price execution, but also in terms of coverage levels for the broader assortment of the portfolio in the Dominican Republic, heading in the right direction. Third, make sure that we continue to invest in developing the marketplace so we can serve customers better, not only with our traditional beverage portfolio, but also other products and services that are of value to our clients. Okay. That's the DR kind of recovery plan in a nutshell. In terms of Panama, I think two main highlights that the team is working on there. First, returnable glass volumes. Returnable glass bottles are a relevant presentation in a country like Panama.
There's a role for returnable glass bottles to play in terms of having the right SKUs at the right price in the right channel. There's a big focus behind RGBs in Panama. Second, marketplace as well. We took BEES to Panama during the course of the year, and so there's opportunity to improve overall performance by serving clients better through the marketplace. Hopefully, I addressed question number one in sufficient detail. Then in terms of margins for the future, right? I think the overall levers haven't changed, Marcella. We still believe that to continue on this journey of improving our profitability, not only in terms of returns, but also in terms of margins, we have to get the top line consistently right.
We've built good momentum in terms of top-line growth over the last, right, three, four years, I think since COVID pandemic lows. I think we've managed to build very good momentum and consistent, for the most part, double-digit top-line growth, overall. We need to keep it up, okay, by balancing, right, volume and also improving net revenue per hectoliter growth. To do that, we have to keep making sure that premium and innovation portfolios remain growing and healthy. We need to support the return of the on-trade. We need to keep focusing behind returnable glass bottles, not only in the out-of-home occasion, but also in the in-home occasion, which there is plenty of opportunity in many of our markets. We consistently try to improve our revenue management, right, market by market.
The arrival of B2B tech capabilities, B2C tech capabilities also give us a better understanding of the client and consumer needs and consumption desires. That makes us potentially smarter in how we can offer better assortment at better prices for clients and consumers. Top line is first and foremost the most important lever to continue on this journey of improving margins. In terms of costs, we will share more during our full year conference call in the beginning of next year. What I mentioned in July stands true in the sense that after three, four years of everything going against us on the cost side, pretty much everything was a headwind.
2023 is shaping up to be the first year in a while where we don't have, right, all these headwinds at the same time. Given our hedging policy, we have a good degree of visibility at this point, right? End of October already, there's still some hedging to be done, of course, but we have a good degree of visibility. The visibility that we have today, subject to Argentine peso should continue to be a headwind, and wheat, barley, which is kind of pegged to wheat prices, should also be a headwind once again. Net-net, a better picture than how we entered 2022, how we entered 2021, how we entered 2020. Obviously, we cannot underestimate the challenges. There's always gonna be risks and challenges in the markets where we operate.
Given the visibility that we have today, the picture certainly looks better than it looked this time last year, okay? That's the update on costs that we can give now, more to come early next year. Finally, on the SG&A side, different levers to pull in terms of sales and marketing, distribution and admin. I think overall, you know how much we focus on making sure that we are as disciplined as we possibly can in terms of the management of our expenses. We're constantly looking for ways to invest better with better returns in terms of sales and marketing.
Distribution, there are efficiencies in things like D2C, which as they scale up, we've managed to get more efficient on the distribution side of D2C in places like Brazil. In admin, we invested a lot over the last few years to build tech capabilities, and so we're constantly looking at ways to be more efficient to keep growing these platforms, but in a more efficient way. We can perhaps discuss in more detail later, but overall, that's what we can share now.
That's very clear, Lucas. Thank you so much. Just a quick follow-up, if I may, on the guidance of having a second half better. Not guidance, let's say ambition, of having a second half better than the first half. How dependent is this ambition on the recovery of the international division?
Jean may want to comment, but I think it's based on what we've seen so far this year. The good news is that Brazil has really carried a lot of improvement for the company at the consolidated level. We see momentum going into Q4 for the reasons that we mentioned in our prepared remarks. We still see good momentum in Brazil. As LAS continues to show resilience, Canada continues to improve sequentially, and CAC starts to rebound, this hopefully will all help us deliver our ambition for the year. I think it's more about Brazil than the international operation. Jean?
If I could add, Marcella, we are confident on that statement. We have really to get better on international operations. I'm thinking more about the long term on this statement. We are confident that H2 will really be better than H1.
Awesome. Thank you so much.
Our next question comes from Lucas Ferreira with J.P. Morgan. Please proceed.
Hi, everybody. Thanks for taking my question. The first one is on your whole per hectoliter pricing. How to think about that going forward, getting into the fourth quarter? First of all, have you done all the necessary adjustments you thought of doing? Is there anything left to be done still? And how to think about the environment in the World Cup? Should it be like eventually some more of a some discounts coming in punctually? How do you see the market, the competition? How to think about pricing in general. The second question about the exact same issue, but looking at the 2023, Lucas was just talking about managing the top line.
With very strong pricing this year, what's the expectation for next year? Do you guys think inflation is something to aim for or just a carryover of the hikes that it is done this year would be enough for you? How to think about the pricing in 2023, please? Thank you.
Okay, Lucas, it's a good and sensitive question, I think, that you are mentioning. Let's see, what can I mention about that? When we started the year, we mentioned that we wanted to accelerate a bit organic growth, that we were more prepared with the momentum that we have in net revenue per hectoliter through this year, because we were structurally better, the portfolio was trading up, the high end is working, and the channels adjustment that we needed to do, it was behind us.
I mentioned at that time that the big question of the year would really be like the volumes, because I was confident on the net revenue per hectoliter based on all the adjustments that we have done on the channels and my portfolio was much better. This, I think, is being confirmed. Somehow, we are foreseeing a better than expected elasticities that we've been able to have really good volumes and with a resilient elasticity. Then we are heading into this Q4, that my big focus is really will be on service level, right? Because I think the demand will be high.
We never had a World Cup in the summer, so we are super prepared to do a great World Cup in terms of consumer bonding. Somehow my mind is really on logistics and service level because my commercial plan is really good. We are really betting on five brands, Brahma, Budweiser, Guaraná Antarctica, Mike's, that is a new one, and Zé Delivery too. Somehow my mind is really there. I really believe that this equation, this elasticity will be very resilient and that doesn't worry me that much. It's hard to mention what's gonna happen beyond that 2023 levels. Somehow we feel that our main market, Brazil, has momentum, right? Somehow consumption has momentum overall.
The unemployment is really low. We are very well-positioned ending the year. We're gonna end because of the World Cup on a strong note. Somehow I think I mentioned what I could mention is that the elasticity has been resilient.
Yeah. Just to add here, Lucas, as I mentioned in the prior answer, to the extent we manage to continue to grow the weight of the core plus within our total mix, premium volumes within our total mix, as has been the case over the last four years. To the extent returnable glass bottles continue to grow their weight, not only because of the recovery of the on-trade, but also starting to grow more and more into the at home occasion. To the extent we manage to innovate, right, in an accretive way, all these levers, they also help net revenue per hectoliter performance, right? Keep the momentum we have been building over the last few quarters. Okay.
Perfect, guys. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Thiago Duarte, BTG Pactual. Please proceed.
Hello and good afternoon, Jean, Lucas and everybody. Yeah, two things on our side here. The first one, trying to think a little bit more longer term and looking at the beer category in Brazil. You know, looking at volumes and per capita consumption, it seems to have recovered really well over the last two to three years. I don't know exactly where we are, but I think we are very close to historical highs in terms of per capita consumption of beer in Brazil. It's also not a secret that AB InBev obviously has repositioned itself, as you mentioned earlier, Jean, since 2019 and partially to foster the industry growth and seems to be working.
My question is really where what do you think it's the long-term potential of the category, considering everything that you are doing to foster growth and innovation? Where you see per capita consumption in Brazil now, and where you think it can get or as high as it can get, you know, looking a few years down the road? I think that's an interesting and important discussion given how strong it has already been in the last couple of years or so. That would be the first question. The second question, it's actually a follow-up to trying to understand a little bit more on the breakdown, the different segments within your volume performance in Brazil beer.
You mentioned premium, you mentioned core, being resilient, premium growing. You mentioned value as declining, but for your portfolio where the core plus has been performing. I think it seems to be a very similar situation in terms of performance per segment relative to what we had in the second quarter. Just wanted to get this final clarification. That would be great to hear as well. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks for the question, Duarte. Let me try to elaborate on the category, right? In a long-term view. What is amazing is that beer is really part of the Brazilian culture, right? It's there, and we feel somehow that that is stronger than ever. Our category, the beer one, has reinvented itself. Like, 10 years ago, we had like pretty much one style of beer that it was like light lagers, right? Somehow like Brahma and Skol, they have like 10 IBU and some type of body. What we have seen is that from the last World Cup, 2019 to today, the market changed so much. We brought so much new news and recipes and innovation and flavors that.
We maintained ourselves culturally relevant, like on the context of the new generation in Brazil. Somehow beer category is healthy in Brazil, and we believe that is being resilient. This year it was like a year that we're questioning, but industry shows that is there, right? We have this question. We have this view that a way to. There are two main engines of growth of the Brazilian beer industry: frequency going up is still low when we compare with mature markets. We have this new occasions at home being created like that's really the residual was there after the pandemic, and then the bars came back. We still have a lot of opportunities to grow on North, Northeast, and Midwest, right?
There are areas that are below average of the Brazilian country. Beer somehow, as the income go up and this equation of affordability and beer, we still have plenty of room. If you go countryside of Brazil and we see that like if you do your birthday, it's still not affordable for you to buy beer to give in your party to everybody. We still see that per capita consumption has room. On top of that, we are working on Beyond Beer. There is a round of growth that we really believe we're gonna have, that will be very good for us in the future. Mike's is a brand that we are elevating during the World Cup really to hijack together the Budweiser initiative.
Budweiser and Mike's will be together, talking about the World Cup. Somehow there is a big category that is really resilient and still has space for growth in the long term. This was the first question. The second question was about the portfolio. Thiago Duarte, in the end, we made a conscious call to take some resources and some affordability of Bohemia that it is in the core plus segment. It was for us and really concentrate on Spaten and Brahma Double Malte, so the two main brands over there. I still believe we can have. We should bring more innovation in the segment. But when we put all these things together, Bohemia really is a drag.
When we put Bud, Brahma Duplo Malte and Spaten together, they are pretty much growing high single digits combined and still growing with a lot of room. We are very excited about the Oktoberfest that we did with Spaten. It's doing very well. Brahma Duplo Malte is healthy, helping the mother brand Brahma. That's an avenue of growth that is there, and we are working on it.
Thank you, Jean Jereissati.
Our next question comes from Carlos Laboy, HSBC.
Substantial portion of your portfolio, right, is now core plus and premium, just to stay with this topic, a little bit. Can you give us a sense of what you've learned from your market maturity model about where you are in terms of exposure to core plus and premium and where it can go? What are maybe some of the examples of growth and how high core plus and premium can go? While you're at it, can you give us an update on Spaten, which falls in that core plus category? You just went through Oktoberfest. I know that you were planning to do some big things with that brand this past month. Any update on that? Any learnings that you took from that experience would be helpful. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you for the question, Carlos Laboy. What would be successful in terms of portfolio ten years from now, we mapped a lot the market maturity that we learned with other countries. We studied a lot Mexico, we studied China, we studied what's going on in U.S. for us really should do the right moves and really get a better portfolio with ability to win, with winnability, right? It was clear for us that where we were in the stage, we were like betting on high-end for sure, but there was a core plus segment over there that should be developed faster than the long-term bet on the high end. It was a completely open space that we saw in our portfolio, so we really went on that direction.
We believe somehow that it's very underdeveloped today, when we see countries like China, U.S., it really has a full potential of beyond 20% of the industry, and it was pretty underdeveloped. Then we went over there, we looked at what we could do, and then we had the combination of line extensions with new brands that is now in place. We have Brahma Duplo Malte, we have Spaten, we have more to come on that segment. But we are happy with this performance that we are having. If we, I was using sometimes the comparison of 2019, sometimes the comparison with the World Cup that we had in 2018.
Somehow the corporate segment, there is 5 million hectoliters, new 5 million hectoliters when we compare one World Cup to the other, one World Cup. That was really a work that we are doing. We really believe it can be 20% of the industry. Spaten is doing amazing. Spaten is a brand that we just started, and it's really. There is this great taste that it was like Brazilians really love the quality of the product and how it's a combination that is a little bit strong and easy. It's hard to translate, but it's a brand that like everybody that drinks loves, has a great history. Then we brought all this heritage to work.
In Munich, and it was just mind-blowing. Everybody is kind of in love, everybody that get in touch with the history of the brand, with the liquid and the concept of what we are doing is really excited about. It's a big avenue of growth there. It's growing very fast and we are expanding. Still a lot of distribution to do, still a lot of brand to build still, but it's really doing very well. I think these were the two questions, right? About the market maturity and specifically about Spaten. It's doing very well.
Yes. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Ricardo Alves, Morgan Stanley.
Hi, Jean Jereissati, Lucas Lira. Thanks so much for the call. I wanted to go back quickly on the World Cup question and the potential impacts. Should we be aware of any major mix effects, both in terms of you know, channel penetration products, you know, brands, when you go back and you look at your performance in World Cups, historically speaking. Any kind of even if you cannot mention numbers, you mentioned, yeah, it's kind of a delicate question, but if you can, you know, talk in terms of qualitatively speaking, what the World Cup has meant for you in terms of revenue management, historically speaking. Also when you're thinking about SG&A, if there's some of the lines that you have to focus a little bit more on marketing.
Just some qualitative comments on that as you go into the fourth quarter. Second question probably for Lucas. When we look at the FX derivatives line, the BRL 1.1 billion number, it is explained as you mentioned in the release by the higher hedge carrying cost. But when you look at the 69% number or the cost that you mentioned for Argentina, based on the numbers that we see from July through September in the country, we actually thought that that would have been higher. Good to see that number.
Just wanted to get your thoughts on if the move from the second quarter of 65% to the third quarter around 69%, if you know there was anything specifically that you guys did to control or if maybe we should see higher costs going into the fourth quarter. Any kind of color that you could provide because it came in below what we expected, the 69% cost, even though the BRL 1.1 billion increase on a sequential basis. Any thoughts there, any color would be helpful. Thank you.
Okay. First question, Ricardo. World Cup. Yeah. I mentioned how we are excited about. I didn't mention in the beginning, but like, we are really launching Bud Zero. That will be the innovation of the liquids that we have in the market. It really looks like a Budweiser. This is one thing that I would like to mention. Talking about World Cup, in the end mix. The World Cup should be accretive overall, right? Because there is a scale is one thing that is relevant. The size of the occasion somehow and the fixed costs, so somehow scale helps us. There is a big piece of it that happens in on-trade, out-of-home occasions with draft, with RGBs.
Somehow, of course, everything goes up, but somehow I mix wise, I'm more on the positive scenario than in the neutral one. When you talk about SG&A, specifically sales and marketing, I think one thing to mention is that we started the World Cup already, so we kind of front-loaded a bit of sales and marketing in this quarter in Q3 to really get prepared for the conversation on the World Cup and the production costs and some media. There is a little bit of front loading also. There is a piece of the World Cup that is already in my numbers.
Moving into Q4, somehow what we decided is to continue to invest in beer volume in soccer countries like Brazil and Argentina, but then really optimize the footprint that is not that much into soccer. That is pretty much our international operations, but Argentina. Okay. Somehow I don't see an issue. I see SG&A coming back to mean even during the soccer passionate about countries. Okay.
Let me take the second question, Jean. Thanks for the question, Ricardo. In terms of the losses on derivative instruments, two impacts, two effects in the quarter. You mentioned Argentina, but there was also an impact in Brazil because the carry cost in Brazil year-over-year went from around 5% to nearly 10% over a larger exposure base. That in and of itself also has a relevant impact in the higher costs associated with hedging in Brazil, number one. Number two, in terms of Argentina, we also saw a spike in the carry costs. Last year in Q3, it was around on average, right? It was around 40%-ish, and this year it was around on average, like 70% for the quarter.
If you look month by month, you look towards September towards the end of the quarter, it was north of 100%. So the cost to hedge keeps getting higher and higher. That's something that we track and monitor very closely. As you remember, our hedging policy is such that we say we remain hedged on average 12 months ahead. The reality is that pursuant to the policy, we have a window, a range to work with that goes from 10 to 14 months out. From time to time, we do take views if and when we feel that there's opportunity or more risk or the cost is higher in the short term.
I think the important thing to keep in mind, Ricardo, is really the range that we typically work with. We're always monitoring very closely how attractive or not it is to hedge at a given point in time pursuant to the policy.
Very clear, Lucas. Thanks for that, and thanks for Jean as well.
Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like now to invite Mr. Jean Jereissati for any closing remarks. Please proceed.
Okay. Thank you very much all analysts and everyone who joined the call. Thanks for your time and attention. To wrap up, I realized that we have been doing. We are really confident on delivering H2 better than H1, and we remain on track in terms of our main ambition for the year is really to get Brazil back to bottom line growth, to have the consolidated organic EBITDA growth ahead of the organic growth that we had in 2021, and having an H2 better than an H1, and to improve our ROIC. We will continue vigilance on the short-term volatility and on cost pressures. Hope you will all you enjoyed this event, and I really looking forward to see you in our ESG day next week, and have a great day.
Thank you. The conference call for Ambev is now ending. Have a great day.