Beer – a diverse market calls for customised solutions
In 2007 the global beer market had risen to just under 1.8 billion hectolitres (hl), mainly due to increased sales in the newly industrialized countries. Just under half of the total increase of 91 million hl at that time was accounted for by China, the nation that has produced the most beer every year since 2002, and this took its share of global beer production to 22 percent. Other countries with high rates of increase in production were Russia, Ukraine, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Vietnam.
China: diminishing profits
Although beer production in China is expected to continue to grow significantly in the future, too, rising production and raw material costs are leading to reduced profits. At least 70 percent of business in the People’s Republic is done in the low-price segment, where the tough competition and price-conscious customers mean that increased costs can only be passed on to a limited extent. Also, China is regionally a very disparate market, so while analysts currently see great growth opportunities in the north-west and in central China, albeit mainly in the low-price segment, the more affluent conurbations – led by Beijing – are considered to be almost saturated.
Flexible, efficient, large, small
The product and packaging portfolio of a brewery will therefore become increasingly variable – flexibility is the in thing. And there will also be more emphasis on working more efficiently, all over the world in fact. In future every residual product or by-product will be used, to increase the efficiency of the overall process.
Whether breweries are big or small, locally-, regionally- or globally-oriented, as long as they are focused on the future drinktec 2009 will have raw materials and technical solutions to interest them all.
In the Forum Programme on Wednesday 16 September a series of talks for the brewing industry, ‘What’s new in the brewing process’ is taking place in Forum 2 in Hall B1. For further details on the speakers and the titles of the individual talks, go to “Supporting programme” at www.drinktec.com.
