World: Top 3 brewers performance differs from region to region

As beer volumes continue to struggle overall, RMI Analytics’ latest report provides insights that go a bit deeper into the regional level for the world’s top 3 brewers.

Beer volumes for AB InBev vary rather widely from the tough performance in North America to good results in Asia Pacific. The US Bud Light situation has dragged down North American results and related more to a market share swing than a regional drop in volumes. The Asia Pacific results indicate good volume growth in India, China, and South Korea. The Middle Americas are mostly unchanged while South America and Europe/Africa are down less than 2% so far this year.

Heineken’s struggles in 2023 have been mostly across the board, with the lone exception being steady volumes in the Americas which have brought some relief to the company. Additionally, the investments in Heineken Silver can continue to build on its presence in the Americas. The flagship brand, including Heineken 0.0%, is helping reach consumers in new and creative ways around the globe, the analysts said.

Carlsberg has performed well in Asia Pacific (similar to AB InBev) while Europe has been a struggle due to the impact of the pandemic on the on-trade channels. Despite this, Carlsberg has managed to deliver a resilient performance in Europe by focusing on e-commerce and off-trade sales. The challenging European market is similar for both Carlsberg and Heineken, while AB InBev performed better but still volumes are down slightly.

The RMI analysts point out the brewers’ wide variability in performance does not provide a clear vision to the prospects for beer recovery in 2024 – it certainly looks like more variability can be expected.

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