Friday 17 November 2017

UK beer exports 1900 - 2016

Another boring numbers post. Feel free to skip it if you prefer those word things. Though I will be throwing in a few of those as well.

I've accumulated some impressive sets of numbers over the years. Especially about British brewing. Mostly they're from the Brewers' Almanack and its successor, the Statistical Handbook. I've got a fairly complete set of most numbers for the 20th century, though there are a few gaps.

The longer the set, the more useful the numbers, I generally find. This lot certainly offered up some surprises. The biggest being that since 1987 UK beer exports have been greater than ever before.

For most of the 20th century, beer exports were in the range 300,000 - 500,000 hl per year. But over the last couple of decades this has shot up to several millions of hectolitres annually. Unfortunately, I don't know which specific beers are being exported. Though given the numbers, most of it must be being produced on an industrial scale.

Good news? I guess so. But there's a huge problem looming on the horizon. Because guess where most of those exports go: EU countries. 63% of exports in 2016. I'm surprised no-one has mentioned this yet. All I've heard are the supposed opportunities that Brexit offers brewers. I suspect that the opposite is more likely to be the case. Be interesting to see what the numbers look like in five years time.


UK beer exports 1900 - 2016
year hl year hl year hl
1900 798,057 1945 213,478 1969 617,139
1905 798,057 1946 306,721 1983 749,544
1910 934,360 1947 179,498 1984 857,557
1913 1,066,657 1948 335,655 1985 984,000
1915 787,485 1949 415,927 1986 1,011,230
1920 519,063 1950 362,023 1987 1,145,000
1922 427,001 1951 450,763 1988 1,231,675
1923 421,339 1952 437,600 1989 1,335,443
1924 429,872 1953 466,320 1990 1,624,000
1925 436,852 1954 405,906 1991 1,842,767
1926 483,584 1955 368,902 1992 2,100,000
1927 452,931 1956 390,937 1993 2,100,000
1934 353,976 1957 391,824 1994 3,200,000
1935 381,055 1958 406,988 1995 3,019,000
1936 531,977 1959 349,168 1996 3,654,000
1937 557,669 1960 364,123 1997 3,290,710
1938 460,338 1962 463,128 1998 3,853,530
1939 464,740 1963 586,923 2000 3,646,600
1940 436,579 1964 623,189 2010 6,789,100
1941 369,129 1965 600,578 2014 5,241,900
1942 155,139 1966 538,643 2015 5,649,600
1943 175,143 1967 484,883 2016 5,974,500
1944 126,992 1968 556,979
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1928, p. 115
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 57
Brewers' Almanack 1962, p. 57
Brewers' Almanack 1971, p. 54
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1988” page 17
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1990” page 17
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2003, p. 21
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2005, p. 17
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2011, p. 17
Statistical Handbook of the British Beer & Pub Association 2017, p. 15 - 16

3 comments:

InSearchOfKnowledge said...

Not only which beers, but also to where?

Here in Belgium I do not see much British beers. In Ostend, in a small shop specialised in UK food stuffs, they have four kinds. On Walcheren, in Oost-Souburg, at the Drankgigant, they offer some Uk beers, but half of them are of UK rockbands, which is also not a big selection.

Neither in Delhaize or AH (Holland and Belgium) I don't see British beer at all (Irish, yes).

Maybe lager exports to France?

Sokratees9 said...

Interestingly the number start to go up after joining Europe. I still don't know why we're leaving...

And yes, I like to read stats to support my view, like every other person out there!

Anonymous said...

I never understood why British brewers didn't benefit more from the big jump in demand in the US for craft beers. At this point the market is pretty saturated, and demand tends toward super hoppy IPAs, but 20 or so years ago the US market was a lot more wide open, and I would think brewers like Fullers and Samuel Smith could have made a fortune.

Today where I live I would guess Belgians outsell British beers two to one, at least.I think the opportunity is probably lost unless tastes change radically, but it didn't have to be that way.