Coke’s U-turn: Australian craft brewer Feral will not be sold

Australia | How to explain Coca Cola Europacific Partners’ strategy swings? Only in October 2021 had CCEP announced its exit from beer and cider, which included the sale of its stand-alone craft brewer Feral. The Coke bottler had concluded that achieving scale in beer and cider would require significant investment.

Japan | Kirin Holdings will withdraw from its business in Myanmar and terminate its joint venture with a military-linked partner, it said on 14 February 2022.

Australia | The Australian Hotels Association and the Brewers Association continue to campaign for a cut to the increased excise on draught beer, which came into effect on 1 February 2022. Their campaign is in support of pubs, and clubs, many of which are small businesses that have endured the most difficult trading conditions because of the pandemic.

Japan | It will all end in tears. In December 2021, Kirin filed for arbitration in Singapore to terminate its joint venture with Myanma Economic Holdings (MEHL), a military-controlled conglomerate with ties into industries as diverse as beer, tobacco, transportation, textiles, tourism and banking.

Thailand | Tens of thousands of tourists, escaping the northern winters, are expected to arrive in Thailand as the country reopened to tourists on 1 November 2021 after 18 months of covid restrictions. Vaccinated visitors from more than 60 “low-risk” nations are allowed to enter without having to quarantine.

China | In early November 2021 drinks company Diageo broke ground on its first, USD 75 million whisky distillery in China. It hopes to turn more local drinkers into whisky lovers, in a market that has long been dominated by baijiu makers like Kweichow Moutai.

China | China’s beer production has been on a downward slope since 2013. In 2020, the domestic beer output stood at 341 million hl, which is a 7 percent decline over 2019. If this downward trend continues, the market leader, China Resources beer, which makes Snow beer, will be lucky to achieve flattish volume sales, observers say.

Australia | After it emerged unscathed from the first covid year, Coopers Brewery saw its beer volumes tumble by 8 percent in the July-to-October period this year due to lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne and uncertainty in other markets.

Australia | With big corporations it is always chopping and changing. After a strategic review, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) announced that it will be withdrawing from the Australian beer and cider market. Can it be the same company that only a decade ago made a big foray into beer, following a strategic review?

Australia | As the pandemic and lockdowns take their toll, Southern Bay Brewing has collapsed into liquidation. Southern Bay, which was among the first wave of craft brewers in Australia, has been operating from the regional city of Geelong, 70 km south of Melbourne, for some 30 years. It was previously known as Geelong Brewing Company.