E-Malt.com News article: Australia: Australia’s beer industry sees positive results of 2008

Australians, who abandoned mixed spirits after the Federal Government's new tax last year, appear to be switching some of their consumption to beer, The Age communicated on January, 16.

A report by stockbroker Citi on beverage trends, based on consumption data from ACNielsen, shows beer sales started to turn around in May — a month after the tax in the ready-to-drink category was increased by 69 per cent.

The upturn in beer consumption in Australia is modest, running at a 0.5 per cent gain in volume by the end of last year — suggesting consumption has stopped shrinking, rather than started growing.

The quarterly report on beverage trends by Citi analysts Andy Bowley and Craig Woolford argues the upturn in beer drinking seems to have benefited Foster's Group most, clawing back 1.8 percentage points of market share from under 49 per cent to more than 50 per cent since May.

Citi's work was also slightly hampered by limited availability of Lion Nathan and Coca-Cola Amatil data, due to the former being in the middle of trying to take over the latter.

"Foster's (beer market) share gains have coincided with the change in management adding support to new CEO Ian Johnston's focus on marketing and innovation," said the Citi report.

Low-carbohydrate brand beers, such as Pure Blonde, are still selling well — the Nielsen figures show sales volumes up between 20 per cent and 30 per cent in the past three months — as are the premium and imported beers such as Corona, also in the same percentage growth categories.

For Foster's, which is still a month away from revealing the results of its internal wine review, a recovery in beer might offset mixed trends in wine where the value of exports fell steeply in 2008, although volumes of bulk exports are rising.


16 January, 2009