World: Beer output decline in 2016 less sharp than expected

As a result of information belatedly received from various countries and corrections made known to the Barth-Haas Group after last year’s report went to press, the 2015 beer production volume figures required some adjustment. Accordingly, the year-on-year decline in output amounted to only slightly less than 2 mln hl, or 0.1%, to 1.96 bln hl, the company said in its latest report.

Compared with the output volume in 2015, world beer production in 2016 fell by 3.5 million hectolitres, or 0.2%, to 1.957 bln hl which was less sharp a fall than expected, the Barth-Haas Group said.

The most important beer-producing nations are China, the USA, Brazil, Mexico and Germany. In terms of global beer output, they account for a combined share of 52%.

The output in Europe remained stable, with the countries in the European Union achieving a slight increase (among them Italy, with +1.5 mln hl, and Spain, with +1.4 mln hl), while the output in the rest of Europe fell slightly (for example in Ukraine, with -1.5 mln hl).

In America there was a decline in beer production of just below 7 mln hl. While the countries of North and Central America/Caribbean posted an increase in their output (among them Mexico, with +7.9 mln hl), the countries of South America saw their output fall by 12 mln hl (among them Venezuela, with -10.2 mln hl, and Brazil, with -5.2 mln hl).

In Asia, both Vietnam (+4.1 mln hl) and the Philippines (+2.4 mln hl) posted strong growth, while China’s output fell further (-11.6 mln hl).

In Africa, growth continued to slow down with an increase of only 2.2 mln hl, the Barth analysts reported.

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