USA: July marks sixth consecutive month of beer shipments decline

July marked the sixth consecutive month that U.S beer companies shipped fewer barrels of beer than they did in 2018. The Beer Institute (BI), citing unofficial estimates of domestic tax paid shipments from Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), reported that shipments declined 2.5%, to 14.8 million barrels, this July, Brewbound said on August 23.

BI chief economist Michael Uhrich attributed the declines to consumers trading up to higher priced offerings, such as hard seltzers and imports, as well as eschewing beer for wine and spirits.

“Because imports and hard seltzers tend to be more expensive, less volume is sold,” he said in an email to BI members.

Year-to-date, U.S. brewers have shipped more than 97.4 million barrels of beer, down nearly 1.7 million year-over-year. January has been the only month in 2019 in which U.S. beer companies have shipped more beer than they did in 2018.