Craft brewers raise market share to 13 percent
Craft brewers seem to pose a serious challenge to the country’s two Big Brewers, Kirin-owned Lion and Heineken-owned DB. New Zealand's largest brewer Lion, with a market share of 46 percent, had to post a 21 percent decline in full-year earnings for the year ending 30 September 2015, as the industry adjusts to a rise in craft beers and people choose to drink less.
Pre-tax earnings fell to NZD 55.6 million (USD 37 million) from NZD 71.2 million, media reported on 9 March 2016.
Sales fell 5.2 percent to NZD 535 million (USD 358 million), while earnings rose 5 percent excluding one-time costs.
Statistics New Zealand said the total volume of pure alcohol sold in the country dropped 4.1 percent in 2015.
To make matters worse, the beer market has turned highly competitive. While overall beer sales have declined 12 percent between 2008 and 2015 and per capita consumption lingers at under 65 litres, off-premise craft beer sales have risen 42 percent between 2014 and 2015.
In actual fact, in merely two years, craft brewers managed to bring up their market share to 13 percent from 9 percent. There are currently over 100 craft breweries in New Zealand, which is not bad for a country of 4.5 million people.
