Australia | 2020 may turn into craft brewing’s “lost year”, but Australian craft brewers remain upbeat. They think they are in a “largely strong” position, heading into the antipodean summer, while building on the trends that have emerged since the pandemic broke out.

Australia | Adelaide-based Coopers brewery is crediting a consumer trend towards local beer brands, and its shrewd move to more canned products, for a 3.9 percent rise in volume sales in its 2019-20 financial year, ended 30 June.

Australia | After having offered its underperforming dairy unit to nearly everyone for two years, Japanese brewer Kirin finally found a buyer: On 26 November 2020 media reported that Kirin will sell its Australian beverage and dairy subsidiary to the local dairy company, Bega Cheese, for USD 412 million. 

Japan | Japanese beverage group Kirin Holdings said it is halting dividend payments from its beer joint ventures in Myanmar to local partner Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company (MEHL).

India | Carlsberg’s CEO Cees ‘t Hart called India’s market environment “highly uncertain” and “volatile” after posting a 30 percent volume decline in the country, which it blamed on the market struggling socially and economically.

Asia | For the first nine months of 2020 the world’s leading brewers all reported beer sales to have declined in their Asian markets, albeit to varying degrees. AB-InBev saw the steepest drop: -14.1 percent to 77.6 million hl. Heineken reported a 9.7 percent drop to 20 million hl, whereas Carlsberg saw an 8.5 percent decrease to 28 million hl.

Australia | One day Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) was in the news over rumours it will buy Asahi’s sell-off brands, the next day it was the target of a takeover offer itself.

Australia | When Asahi proposed to acquire market leader Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) from AB-InBev in 2019 for USD 11 billion, the regulator would only approve of the deal, if Asahi divests two of its beer brands and three of its cider brands.

Australia | Lion announced plans to close Adelaide’s 160-year-old West End Brewery in June 2021, with the loss of up to 100 production jobs. The Kirin-owned brewer described the closure as a “sad day for the West End team, Lion and South Australia”.

Vietnam | It wasn’t covid-19 that has hit Sabeco, the country’s major brewer, hard, but tough drunken-driving penalties, which were introduced in January 2020. Beer consumption dropped 23 percent in the first half of 2020, and is only recovering slowly. It stood at 46 million hl in 2019, up 7 percent from 2018.