E-Malt.com News article: United States: Total beer sales, imported beer shipments drop in January

U.S. beer shipments declined in the last four months as retailers reduced stock levels in the recession and imports of Heineken NV and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s European brands plunged, Sanford C. Bernstein was cited by Bloomberg on March, 17.

The total amount of beer sold in the U.S. in January fell 1.7 percent from a year earlier, extending a 0.5 percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2008, the brokerage said, citing Beer Institute figures.

Imported shipments dropped 6 percent in the last three months of the year and plunged a “whopping” 13 percent in January, Bernstein said.

“This decline was primarily driven by imports truly falling off the edge of a cliff; for once the cliché is justified,” Trevor Stirling, an analyst at Bernstein in London, said in a note on March, 17.

Americans are buying cheaper beer at discount supermarkets and choosing to drink at home to save money, causing imported brands to lose sales at their traditional strongholds in bars and restaurants. AB InBev said on March 5 U.S. shipments of its imported European beer brands, which include the Beck’s label, fell 20.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Heineken’s imported beers saw sales by volume drop 8 percent in January, driving total shipments for the company’s U.S. unit, which also distributes the Dos Equis and Sol beer brands, down 2.1 percent, Bernstein said, citing Nielsen data.

“As the credit crunch turns to full-blown recession,” and consumers change their purchasing habits, “the impact is even greater for imported brands,” Stirling said.


18 March, 2009