The global beer market contracted slightly in 2023: The total output volume of the 40 biggest brewers worldwide fell by 2.2 percent to roughly 1.62 billion hectoliters. The preponderance of the brewing groups leading the rankings is particularly striking: The top 3 – AB InBev, Heineken and China Res. Snow Breweries – alone jointly account for more than half the beer output of the top 40 brewers. This is one of the facts contained in the “Top 40 Breweries” ranking list published in the BarthHaas Report Hops 2023/2024.

There was little movement in the rankings of the 40 biggest brewing groups in 2023. A new entry in 37th place is the French group Financière ACP with the combined output of Brasserie St. Omer and Goudale. It replaces the Vietnamese group Habeco, Hanoi, whose output declined sharply in a difficult market environment.

Buying and selling activities in 2023 were focused on regional breweries. The Danish brewing group Royal Unibrew acquired a brewery in San Giorgio di Nogaro, Italy, from Birra Castelo and the microbrewery Nørrebro Bryghus in Denmark. Carlsberg bought the Waterloo Brewing Company in Canada, and Heineken took over the Distell Group (South Africa/Namibia).

Brewing groups withdrew from the Russian market more or less voluntarily, either through forcible nationalization, as in the case of Baltika, or through sale at a token price (Heineken). AB InBev sold its stake in its joint venture in Russia to its Turkish partner Efes.

In the USA, AB Inbev sold eight (craft beer) breweries along with all the respective brand rights to Tilray, a company that had previously focused on marketing cannabis and is now diversifying into alcoholic beverages. The major brewers’ interest in the craft segment abated noticeably, with several of them disposing of or closing recently acquired breweries while they turned their attention back to the premium and mass-market brands. 

The BarthHaas Report 2023/2024 will be published in full on July 16.

SOURCE: BarthHaas (Press Release)
PHOTO CREDIT: BarthHaas