Wine country Chile develops a taste for beer
Total domestic wine consumption in Chile is more or less stagnant at 17 litres. Statistics shows that average per capita consumption fell over 70 percent from a high of 52 litres per person in 1982 to a low of only 13 litres in 1994. Beer consumption, on the other hand, has been substantially exceeding 27 litres per capita in recent years.
According to research released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chile’s per capita consumption of wine since 1994 has slowly been expanding again and in 2006 was 17 litres per person. This compares to 55 litres of wine consumed in France and 40 litres in Argentina. To increase domestic wine consumption, the Wines of Chile Association has conducted a promotional programme during the past ten years. With an annual budget of approximately USD 700 000 to USD 1 million, their main promotional programme is a “Wine Show and Tasting”, which takes place in different parts of the country.
But despite their best efforts, beer consumption is growing much faster. A recent market study by AC Nielsen showed that beer consumption in 2006 was up 15 percent compared to 2005. Chileans were “downing” 33 litres of beer per person in 2006, compared to 27 litres in 2005. Today, beer accounts for 64.3 percent of all alcoholic beverages sold in Chile. Wine has a 28.2 percent market share and the national choice of strong liquor, pisco, a brandy, has a 5.9 percent share.
AC Nielsen explains the increase in beer consumption with reference to consumer demand for less “alcoholorific” beverages. The trend is supported by booming sales of pre-mixed alcoholic beverages, mostly blending alcohol and fruit juice.
Imported beer brands are competing head on with national brands such as Cristal and Escudo both brewed by CCU. Cervecería Chile, indirectly owned by Quinsa (InBev), which has recently seen its market share rise to 15 percent, is about to include imported brands Stella Artois and Beck’s in its portfolio after the successful launch of Brahma in 2005.
Still, CCU, in which Heineken has a stake, continues to dominate Chile’s beer market with an 85 percent market share according to reports in the local media.
In 2006 CCU said its volume sales of all beverages rose 9.0 percent from 2005. Although CCU witnessed a fall in the amount of wine it sold domestically, total output was up thanks to buoyant beer volumes, which rose 12.9 percent to 4.7 million hl. Nearly half of CCU’s sales by volume come from the production of beer. The rest come from the sale of soft drinks, fruit juices, wine, mineral water and pisco.
Beer consumption in Chile is highly seasonal: AC Nielsen claims that 35 percent of beer consumption occurs between December and February.
