Things looking up for beer industry

The global beer industry received a double-dose of positive news this week as two of the world’s biggest brewers announced rises in volumes for the first three months of 2011.

SABMiller, the world’s second-biggest brewer, beat forecasts with a 3% rise in beer volumes in the first three months of 2011, led by emerging markets in Africa and Asia as all its regions except the United States saw growth.

The maker of Miller Lite, Peroni and Grolsch said that underlying beer volumes for its full-year through March were up 2%, while price rises pushed its annual revenue up 5%.

Like most of its rivals, SABMiller is facing higher costs for commodities such as barley, wheat and corn and said its raw material costs increased moderately in its second half, although they were marginally lower for the full year.

Meanwhile Heineken earned more than expected in the first quarter after increasing beer sales across all regions and continuing with its cost-cutting drive.

The Dutch brewer said growth was strongest in Africa and the Middle East, though increased sales in the UK, France and the Netherlands also aided growth in the more mature western European market.

The company owns the Heineken and Amstel brands – Europe’s number one and number three beer brands respectively – did admit that an increased marketing spend for the year could impact profits, particularly in western Europe.

Heineken said volumes rose 5.5% on a like-for-like basis to 33.8 million hectolitres.– representing the first such increase since the end of 2008.

It also reported a recovery in the Russian market, which suffered following the introduction of a tripling of beer duty at the start of 2010.

Alan Lodge, 20.04.2011