Decreasing sales figures of beer mixes

Some years ago beer mixes like V+, DiMix or Schöfferhofer Grapefruit experienced a significant hype in Germany. In 2010 the official sales figures decreased for the first time. They lost about 2.7 percent. But you cannot really rely on these figures.

The producers of beer mixes have been spoiled with increasing sales figures until the year 2010. Last year the sales figures from the official statistics decreased by 2.7 per cent for the first time ever. However, not all beer mixes were recorded in the beer statistics – approx. 15 – 20 percent is missing. This was the result of a review of the official figures performed by the magazine Brauwelt. Obviously some breweries do not declare their mixed beer beverages correct in their tax declaration. For example, beers mixed beverages which are sweetened with sugar have to be mark with an “M”. By the addition of sugar the amount of original wort changes and the beer is therefore placed in another tax class. The “M” in the tax declaration should ensure that these beverages are added to the beer mix beverages.

Corrected figures

It seems that some breweries do not follow this rule and so there are 15 – 20 percent of the correct total amounts of mixed beers missing in the statistics. In order to get a correct figure, Brauwelt asked 15 breweries which sell more than 20.000 hl per year about their actual mixed beer sales. The result: According to Brauwelt the sales figures of mixed beer beverages declined from 2009 to 2010 by 112.000 hl. An explanation for the strong decline is that AB-InBev (Beck’s etc.) has lost about 100.000 hl. In addition an exchange between the Carsberg-Holsten-Group and the Oettinger-Group took place since the brewery in Braunschweig got a new owner.

Moreover the brand Beck’s Green Lemon strongly decreases. Brauwelt suggests that this is due to the fact that the figures reported by the Satirical Office for Lower Saxony and Bremen did increase slightly to about 200.000 hl. This led Brauwelt to the conclusion that the “Green Lemon”-beer are still not reported correctly to the tax authority.

Forecast

It seems that the beer mixed beverages found their buyer. A further increase in sales figures is unlikely, except a completely new product is introduced to the market. The producers are still trying new flavour, but the big run on the sweetened or fruity beers appears to be over. And the hot summer that generally increases the appetite for a beer also did not take place so far, so the figures for 2011 are likely to be even lower.