Beer is booming - 2 billion hectolitres to be sold worldwide in 2013

Growth in volumes is expected to continue to be a feature of the global beer market for many, many years to come, according to market researchers. The simple reason is that worldwide per-capita consumption is still below 30 L.

Beer is continuing to boom with the world beer market set to exceed 2 billion hectolitres for the first time ever in 2013. The growth is not even all over the world, but even regions where the beer market is stagnating or shrinking new and interesting opportunities still abound.

Canadean, for example, is predicting that between 2009 and 2015 the world beer market will have grown by 2.8% per year on average. For Asia, Canadean is forecasting an annual average increase of 5% for the same period. These British market researchers also predict an annual rise of 5% for the African beer market, 3% for South America and 5.5% for the Middle East. For Eastern Europe their forecast is a rise of only around 1.5%, and, for North America, even lower, at only 0.5%. For Western Europe, Canadean is even predicting a small decline. As growth hotspots, they have identified Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Angola and India, some of which will see double-digit increases.

China soon to represent one quarter of the world beer market

The market researchers at Euromonitor come to similar conclusions. In the period from 2011 to 2016 they are expecting the strongest expansion, with rates of around, or even higher than, 10% in India and Iran. The fastest growing volume markets, they predict, will be China and Brazil, both growing at around 5% per year. However, the markets in the US, Russia and Germany, they say, will probably shrink by around 0.5 to 1.5% per year.

This strong growth in the Asian markets, says Canadean, means that in 2015 around 40% of the world’s beer output will be brewed in this region. For many years now the Asian market has been dominated by China, which Euromonitor sees as reaching 624 million hectolitres by the end of 2015. In other words: in just a few years’ time, China will be accounting for at least one quarter of the world beer market and it will then be at least twice as big as the number two, the US.

USA demonstrates the potential of craft brewers

For some time now the US has been demonstrating the power of specialist beers - the ‘craft brewers’ movement started out there and has been very popular. According to the Brewers Association, in 2012 this segment saw volumes increase by 15% and monetary value by 17%. In 2011, the rises were 13 and 15% respectively. In total, the craft brewer segment in the overall US beer market in 2012 accounted for 6.5% by volume and 10.2% in monetary value. This success story is even more notable when you consider the number of brewing facilities in the US: in the 1970s there were only 89 in the entire country, but now that figure is 2403 - with 2347 of them being brew pubs, microbreweries or regional craft breweries.

Germany: faint blossoming of interest in specialty beers

In the stagnating or shrinking traditional beer markets, such as the US and Germany, there is, however, an interesting trend: the increase in craft beers and specialty beers. According to GfK ConsumerScan, beer demand in German households fell by 0.2% in 2012. The value of beer purchases, by contrast, rose by 0.4%. This shows therefore that the consumer is basically willing to spend more on beer, a theory supported by the development in the price classes for 0.5-litre returnable beer crates, according to statistics gathered by GfK. The only clear increase in a year-on-year comparison 2011/2012 was seen here in the €13 and over segment, from 13 to 16%.

Admittedly, this is only a faint blossoming, the German market in 2012 having, in fact, trended downwards. According to the German Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt - Destatis), year-on-year beer sales fell by 1.8%, or 1.8 million hectolitres to 96.5 hectolitres of beer. There was no end to this trend in 2013, either: in the first quarter German beer sales dropped a further 4.3% as compared to the same period last year.

See it all at drinktec

The world beer market - interesting for its increasing segmentation - will be covered in full at drinktec 2013, from micro to global brewers, and right across the spectrum from raw materials and process technology to packaging and marketing.

The new Innovation Flow Lounge (IFL) in which attention focuses entirely on marketing, is looking at the subject of beer in its program for the first day of the show. IFL partner Krones is sending its expert Charles Schmidt to talk about ‘The power of social media’. And ‘With hops to the top’ is the title of a talk by Stephan J Barth, Managing Director of the Barth-Haas Group.

The first day of the show in the drinktec forum will be dedicated to beer. ‘German beer - fit for the future? Risks and chances’ will be the question posed by Peter Hahn from the Deutscher Brauer-Bund. Small and medium-sized companies should make a note of the lecture by Jürgen Nordmann from Störtebeker Braumanufaktur, who will be speaking about ‘Strategy options for medium-sized breweries in a declining beer market’.

On the second day of the show, the winners in the ‘European Beer Star’ competition, one of the world’s most prestigious beer awards, will be offered for tasting.

And on the Sunday before drinktec opens, the World Beer Sommelier Championships will be held and the winner crowned in the exhibition halls in Munich. Also at drinktec 2013, there are two more hotspots for brewers from all over the world: The Brewers Meeting Point, held in Hall B1 in cooperation with the Bayerischer Brauerbund. One of the attractions here is the chance to take part in exclusive beer samplings. The other hotspot is the Craft Brewers Lounge in Hall A5. Here, European brewers can meet up with and talk to members of the US Brewers Association. All of which adds up to many good ‘beery’ reasons to visit drinktec 2013!

At drinktec, manufacturers and suppliers from all over the world - global companies and SMEs alike - meet up with all sizes of producers and retailers of beverages and liquid food products. At this event, manufacturers present the latest technology for processing, filling, packaging and marketing all kinds of beverages and liquid food - raw materials and logistics solutions included. The themes of beverages marketing and packaging design round off the portfolio.

drinktec 2013, which takes place at the Messe München exhibition centre in Munich, from 16 to 20 September 2013, is expected to attract over 1400 exhibitors from over 70 countries and approximately 60,000 visitors from more than 170 countries.

Further information: www.drinktec.com.