In welcome news for Asia’s beer industry, recently released data shows the region is leading the world in beer production growth.
There was a 1.1% increase in Asia’s beer output between 2018 (604,916m hl) and 2019 (611,740m hl), beating global growth of 0.5%, according to the Barth Haas Hops Report 19/20.
2019’s change of fortunes was a welcome change from 2018, an annus horribilis that saw an estimated -8.9 % reduction in beer output by Asia’s brewers.
Three Southeast Asian countries drove the bulk of the region’s beer production growth in 2019. Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand respectively saw production increases of 5m hl, 3m hl and 2.4m hl each.
Despite cultural, economic and regulatory differences, the three ASEAN members’ beer markets share similar traits: vigorous domestic competition, a growing supply of premium offerings (including craft beer) and increasing appetite for export.
The region’s top five markets by beer output – China, Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines – remain unchanged, though Chinese and Japanese brewers both saw notable production decreases.
Asia put on a good showing brewery-wise, too: three Chinese breweries (CR Snow, Tsingtao and Yanjing) and Japan’s Asahi clocked into the world’s top ten brewers by volume output.
Beyond the headlines, Barth-Haas also revealed some unlikely bright spots in the region’s beer growth.
Pakistan saw a spectacular 233.3% increase in beer production output, despite serious socio-political challenges and a reduction in per capita spending on alcohol & tobacco.
Although it is technically illegal for Muslims in Pakistan (around 96% of the population) to drink alcohol, rules are not always strictly enforced and the CEO of Murree, Pakistan’s largest and oldest commercial brewer, “majority” of their customers are Muslims.
Bhutan’s beer industry continues to go from strength-to-strength with an 11.1% increase in brewing output, in part powered by the growth of craft breweries like Ser Bhum, Namgay Artisanal Brewery (who organise the Bhutanese Beer Festival) and Red Panda.
The growing role of craft beer in markets like Bhutan and Vietnam isn’t occurring in isolation: it is part of a transformation of the global beer industry.
In a recent interview, Barth-Haas’ Managing Partner Stephan J. Barth shared that craft grew to 3.4% of global beer production in 2019 from 3.2% in 2018.
While this increase may seem marginal, Mr Barth shared that a 1% increase in growth in global craft beer production translates into a 10% increase in hop usage – a boon for hop growers and merchants and a positive sign for all players in the global beer industry.
Unless otherwise noted, all data in this news report is sourced from Barth-Haas’ Hops 2019-2020 Report.
