Brewers Association expects 300 brewery closures in 2019
USA | Even with New Belgium’s volumes deleted from the Brewers Association’s table, the industry organisation expects craft beer volumes to have grown about 4 percent or 1 million barrels in 2019.
Between 2016 and 2019, craft beer growth has slowed and volumes have grown at single-digits only.
As says Forbes magazine, the US craft brewing segment will total about 27 million barrels (31.5 million hl), up from 24.3 million barrels in 2015.
The BA’s figure excludes all craft beer that is made by large corporations, like AB-InBev, Heineken (Lagunitas) and Mahou San Miguel (Founders), because their owners produce more than 6 million barrels annually.
Big Brewers lead craft beer sales
Irrespective of the BA promoting independent craft brewers, in 2018 already, brewers MillerCoors and AB-InBev had higher retail dollar sales from their craft beer brands than Boston Beer, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, according to data published by the Craft Brew Alliance.
Making matters worse, craft beer sales have slowed at a time when more than 8,000 craft breweries are competing for consumers’ attention and money.
Forbes points out that in an effort to stoke growth, some craft brewers have turned to non-beer products, like hard seltzer, canned cocktails, or hard kombucha, while others have scaled back distribution to focus on local markets and taproom sales.
Meanwhile, the BA estimates that a record number of 300 breweries will have closed in 2019, up from 219 in 2018, says Forbes.
All this has left beer company executives pondering how to move forward in times of uncertainty.
