Italy: Beer sales in large-scale retail distribution up 18% between 2014-2017

Beer sales in the large-scale retail distribution channel in Italy grew by 18% in the period 2014-2017, boosted by the nascent craft and specialty beer movement, ESM reported on June 20.

The figures come from a study on the Italian brewery sector published by the Osservatorio Birra, prepared by Althesys on behalf of the Birra Moretti Foundation.

Beer accounts for 1.2% in value of the average total monthly food expenditure of Italian families, compared to 2% for coffee, 2.2% for water and 2.9% for wine, the study found

The increasing popularity of beer in Italy is mainly due to their increased presence in large retailers (supermarkets and hypermarkets), which has grown by +40% in the past 20 years.

Last year, beer sold in the retail channel (58.8% of the total) amounted to 9.2 million hectolitres and €1.6 billion in revenues (+19.8% in volume and +31.8% in value compared to 2010).

Craft and specialty beers represent a mature market in Italy, accounting for around 1.5 million hectolitres and a value of €466 million.

From 2010 to 2017, craft beer sales in the large-scale retail trade grew by +49.5% in volume terms and by +69.7% in value.

Lager-style beers also registered double-digit growth (+15.2% in volume and +21.4% in value), confirming positive growth for the entire sector.

Over the past decade, beer consumption increased by 34%, while per head consumption per year is practically unchanged at 31 litres (compared to 30 litres a decade ago).

However, the Italian average is less than half of the European average and well behind the top beer consuming nations - Germany (105 litres per capita), Austria (103), Ireland (98) and Spain (84).

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