Global beer market to grow by 2 pct in 2015 - Plato

BRUSSELS, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The global beer market is set to grow by around 2 percent this year as China recovers from a sharp slowdown, beer market specialists Plato Logic said on Friday.

The world market expanded by less than 1 percent last year due to lower or muted consumption in four of the world's five largest beer markets, which account for more than 50 percent of all beer drunk globally.

Of the five, consumption in China was essentially flat, and a further decline occurred in Russia, which banned sales of beer at roadside stalls and kiosks at the start of 2013.

The United States and Germany registered low growth. Consumption in Brazil increased thanks to its hosting the soccer World Cup.

"We currently project that China will resume mid-single-digit growth, where each percentage point of growth now has a 0.25 percent impact on the global top-line figure," Plato Logic said in a statement.

In 2013, the global market grew by only 0.2 percent.

The big four brewers, AB InBev, SABMiller (LSE: SAB.L - news) , Heineken (LSE: 0O26.L - news) and Carlsberg (LSE: 0AI4.L - news) , retained a combined market share of over 50 percent last year, when Heineken lager overtook Carlsberg's Baltika as Europe's leading brand.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Liisa Tuhkanen)