Big Brewers report fall in sales in first quarter 2018

Is Molson Coors entering the blame game? Beer sales in the US fell nearly six percent in the first quarter 2018, a bigger drop than in Canada and Europe, where Molson Coors also does business.

Molson Coors blamed the weather for weak beer sales as well as some glitches in its new ordering system at the company’s brewery in Golden, Colorado.

Likewise AB-InBev had to report a decline in volume sales in its biggest market. Sales to wholesalers were down 4.4 percent, with revenue decreasing 2.5 percent in the first quarter.

Of the majors, Heineken was hit hardest. Beer volume at Heineken’s US unit declined by a high single-digit percentage in the same period.

AB-InBev estimated that sales to retailers were down 2.3 percent across the industry in the first quarter.

A weedy explanation, which is beginning to sound more persuasive the more often it is quoted, is that consumers increasingly turn to other alcoholic beverages like spirits and wine.

So how will pundits explain the following? Constellation Brands, which owns Corona Extra and Modelo in the US, reported strong results at the end of March. As did Boston Beer. It saw shipments to wholesalers increase 15 percent over the same period in the prior year.

That’s a bit of a conundrum, isn’t it?