US imported more than 42 million hl beer in 2019

USA | President Trump may plug “America first”, but when it comes to choosing a beer, American folks turn a deaf ear. Beer imports rose 1.8 percent in 2019 to reach 42.5 million hl, the Beer Institute, an industry body, reported on 5 February 2020.

Mexico continues to trump all other countries. Beer imports from Mexico rose 2.9 percent to reach about 30 million hl. This makes the Netherlands a distant number two as it only shipped 4.8 million hl beer across the Atlantic. Volumes declined 5.3 percent over 2018.

Belgium ranked third with 2.6 million hl, an increase of nearly 12 percent. Canada, in fourth place, exported 1.5 million hl to the US, down 4.4 percent, followed by Ireland with 1.2 million hl, up 3 percent.

Imports from Germany, in sixth place, were 723,000 hl, down 9.4 percent, ahead of Italy at 340,000 hl, up 48 percent. Jamaica, ranked eighth, shipped 130,000 hl, a decline of 24 percent. Poland was at ninth place and the United Kingdom at tenth. Both managed to sell about 120,000 hl in the US, although registering declines of 11 percent and 6.5 percent respectively over 2018.

The top ten importing countries, out of over 100, represented nearly 98 percent of total beer imports.

The imports’ share of domestic beer consumption, is 18 percent.