Beer sales in the large-scale retail distribution channel in Italy grew by 18% in the 2014-2017 period, boosted by the nascent craft- and specialty-beer movement.
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 its increased presence in large retailers (supermarkets and hypermarkets), which has grown by 40% in the past 20 years.
Last year, the beer sold in the retail channel (58.8% of the total) amounted to 9.2 million hectolitres and €1.6 billion in revenue (+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 and 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).
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
