Weather is unpleasant for the beer-sales in Germany
Despite the cool weather and less visited beer gardens the beer-sales have increased by 1.0 per cent in the first half of 2011. Due to summer temperatures during the months April and May it was possible to compensate the stagnation of the first quarter, but the actual summer leaves much to be desired.
What does this mean exactly? Compared to the previous year where the per capita consumption had been on the lowest level so far, beer storages and breweries were able to increase the sales by 0.5 million hectoliter in the first six months of 2010. According to the Federal Statistical Office this would be 49.5 million hectoliter in total. It seemed that the Germans developed a bigger appetite for beer but then came July.
Weather is unpleasant for the business
With its rain, thunderstorms and all in all cool temperatures the summer month spoiled the slight increase in sales for the beer garden owners. It is expected that the rest of the year will be just as difficult for the German brewers. This forces the breweries to grant more discounts and sell at lower prices. The pressure in the battle for consumers increases so the breweries have to react now.
Pressure by increasing prices
But how should they react to this? As the prices for raw materials are increasing this is no easy task for the breweries. Within the last months the prices for brewer’s barley have increased by approximately 60 per cent and for brewer’s wheat even by 140 per cent. Moreover additional burdens are lurking around every corner. Since not only the prices for raw materials are increasing but also the energy costs.
Event-based consumption
It seems that there is no quick way out of this dilemma. And especially small and medium-sized breweries must now fight the struggle for survival if they do not want to be taken over by big brewery chains. Meanwhile also the beer mixtures on which they did have high hopes in previous times do not help. In 2010 their market share dropped to only four per cent. Additionally the changed drinking patterns of the beer fans have a negative effect on the sector. Beer is increasingly consumed on event basis and unfortunately real events are missing this year. The only ray of hope was the women soccer World Cup but if this was sufficient to motivate the consumers has yet to be confirmed.
Highest sales in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia
The only positive message is that nevertheless 85 per cent of the beer brewed in Germany is be also consumed in Germany. Here the biggest sales were in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria. And also the export might be interesting since 14.7 million hectoliter have been exported after all, with an increasing trend. Conclusion: Higher prices for the chilled beer after work are likely in to be unpalatable to beer fans in the future.
