U.S. Beer Shipments Drop Another 8.4%

Beer Institute estimated U.S. brewers tax paid removals in July were 12.8 million barrels, down 8.4% from the year earlier 13,968,083. Year-to-date estimates also are down, to 89.6 million barrels, about 6.8% compared to January through July in 2022.

As dismal as the domestic picture is, imports are a decided bright spot – especially if you are Constellation Brands.  Overall, beer imports rose 8.5% in July from a year earlier, Beer Institute said, to 3.9 million barrels.  On a  year-to-date basis, imports are just over 24 million barrels, up 0.6% compared to the same months in 2022.

For the month of July, Mexican imports were up 13.5% and 3.6% year  to date.  Mexican  imports accounted for 83% of total imported shipments – up 3.6 share points from July 2022.

Imports from most other large beer countries were down, with Netherlands (-15.1%), Canada (-8.3%), Ireland (-2.4%), and Germany (-27.3%). Italy was an exception, up 17.3% compared to July 2022.

Non-alcoholic imports continue to grow, up 20.2% for July and 23.1% year-to-date.