US: Craft beer industry to grow 8% over the next three years - analyst

Annual figures for sales and production for the US small brewery industry will be released 23-26 March but industry analyst Caroline Levy is predicting 8% growth over the next three years which represents a growth of more than 2.4 million barrels by 2013, Brewers’ Guild of New Zealand reported on February, 4.


The analyst cites various demographic factors contributing to this increase, among which:


• 90% of Americans now live within 50 miles of a craft brewery.


• Over 25% of 21-24 year olds and slightly below 10% of consumers 25-30 years older show an interest in beer with 'flavor'. At the same time, while just 6-7% of adults regularly drink craft beer, almost 60% express an interest in them.


• The number of drinkers aged 21-39 (the demographic segment most likely to purchase beer) will grow by 7.8% by 2020 to over 90 million, nearly tripling from a 2.7% increase from 2000-2010.


Based upon these trends, the ranks of core craft beer drinkers could swell by 40-50% by 2020, to about 29 million (12% of the drinking-age population), Ms. Levy forecasts.

17 February, 2011