Beer exports flat in Missouri

Shipments of beer made in Missouri remained relatively stagnant from 2011 to 2012, as overall U.S. beer exports expanded by more than 3 million barrels during the same period.

But the data, compiled by the Beer Institute, the national trade association for the industry, also show that Missouri’s longterm exports have remained steady even throughout the great recession, when U.S. exports of beer dipped by about 5 million barrels from 2008 to 2009. One barrel is the equivalent of 31 gallons.

During that time, “we saw consumption mirror what we saw in the economy,” Megan Kirkpatrick, spokeswoman for the trade group, said.

Meanwhile, Missouri’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, recently closed its $20.1 billion merger with Grupo Modelo and posted a 2013 first quarter profit of $2.53 billion. Although growing in size, the beer giant has seen its sales volume drop 4.1 percent in the most recent quarter, mostly due to lower sales of its flagship Budweiser and Bud Light brands.

Anheuser-Busch and other Missouri brewers such as Schlafly Beer have faced increased competition for more than a decade. From 2004 to 2011, the number of active brewers in the state more than doubled to 51, according to the trade group. Urban Chestnut, a brewery founded two years ago with a flagship location on Washington Avenue, announced in April it would expand with a $10 million, 70,000-square-foot brewhouse in the Grove.^[1]

Beer consumption remained flat in Missouri from 2011 to 2012, industry data shows. Since 1994, beer consumption in Missouri has fallen by more than 1.5 gallons per capita. North Dakota ranked first in consumption with nearly 46 gallons per capita in 2012.

References

1. ^{^} $10 million, 70,000-square-foot brewhouse in the Grove. (www.bizjournals.com)