Beer volumes down but beer sales up
The Beer Institute on 13 February 2012 released new data that show retail beer sales rose more than 2 percent in 2011, highlighting beer’s continued strength within the alcohol beverage sector. While U.S. beer production, according to the Beer Institute, was down 2 percent, sales revenue, in both the on-premise and off-premise sector, was USD 98 billion last year.
Market research company Nielsen said the increase in sales revenue can be attributed to the high-end beer business, aka consumers trading up. The sale of imports, crafts and above-premium beers sold off-premises was up nearly 3 percent.
Restaurants and pubs did better than supermarkets. Total on-premise sales (ie pubs) increased more than 3 percent to exceed USD 55 billion in 2011. Off-premise sales (ie supermarkets) also saw an uptick last year, growing slightly under 1 percent to more than USD 43 billion.
These results underline that, whilst the beer market is declining in terms of volume, there continues to be value potential in U.S. beer. In a report released by the Dutch Rabobank ("Best of Times, Worst of Times - Global Beverage Outlook 2012") on 13 February 2012, the U.S. market "is forecast to account for 12 percent of the growth in global beer sales by value this year."
