August 8, 2014

Kirin Beer University Report
Global Beer Production by Country in 2013

Global Beer Production Reached a Record High in 2013, Marking 29 Consecutive Years of Growth. Asia Remained the Largest Beer-producing Region for Five Years in a Row.

Kirin Brewery Company, Limited (President and CEO: Yoshinori Isozaki) operates the “Kirin Beer University”, a virtual university on the Internet. It was established in July 2001 to inform the customers of the pleasure of beer and its background. The various faculties and facilities—available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—show how to enjoy delicious beer and offer an interesting stock of knowledge about beer.

The report for 2013 publishes the details of global beer production of the major countries and regions based on the findings obtained from questionnaires sent to various brewers’ associations around the world, as well as the latest industry statistics available overseas. Kirin has been tracking the data of the global beer production since 1974.

Main Topics

In 2013, the global beer production reached 192.94 million kiloliters, up 0.7％ from the previous year, marking 29 consecutive years of growth.

By region, Asia, where beer production in 2013 jumped 3.9％ year-on-year, remained the largest beer-producing region in the world for five consecutive years, capturing a 34.0％ share of global production. Africa, which produced 6.0％ more beer in 2013 than in 2012, came in as the fifth-largest beer-producing region with a 6.9％ production share of the global market. These two regions contributed to the growth in global beer production in 2013. Both Asia and Latin America have continued to increase the production for 36 years and 11 years in a row, respectively.

China produced 4.9％ more beer in 2013 than in 2012, remaining the world’s largest beer producer for 12 consecutive years. The United States, where the annual beer production dropped 2.5％, came in second, and Brazil, where the production fell 2.0％, took third place. Japan remained in seventh place, producing 1.0％ less beer than in the previous year. Germany came in fourth for the first time in six years, overtaking Russia.

In 2013, the global beer production reached about 192.94 million kiloliters, an increase of about 1.25 million kiloliters from 2012, which is equivalent to about 156 Tokyo Domes if the stadium was a beer mug with a capacity of about 1.24 million kiloliters. The global beer production has continued to increase for 29 consecutive years since 1985.

2013 saw an annual growth of 0.7％, a slight increase from the previous year.

1. Global Beer Production by Region in 2013 (Table 1)

Beer production in Europe, North America, and the Middle East declined in 2013, while other regions increased.

Asia, where the volume of beer production in 2013 jumped 3.9％ from 2012, remained the largest beer-producing region in the world for five consecutive years. China, Vietnam, South Korea, and India enjoyed robust year-on-year increases of 4.9％, 5.0％, 3.0％, and 2.1％, respectively, driving the overall growth of beer production in Asia for the year.

Latin America, where annual beer production increased for 11 consecutive years, was the third-largest beer-producing region in the world in 2013 with an annual growth of 0.8％.

Africa, which came in fifth, increased its beer production for 13 years in a row. The year-on-year growth of 10.4％ in Nigeria contributed to the region’s 6.0％ annual increase in beer production in 2013.

2. Global Beer Production by Country in 2013 (Table 2)

China produced 4.9％ more beer in 2013 than in 2012, and remained the world’s largest beer producer for 12 consecutive years.

Germany, where beer production fell 0.3％, came in fourth for the first time in six years, overtaking Russia, where beer production fell 8.5％.

Among the top 25 beer-producing countries in the world, four countries showed an increase in beer production for more than 10 years – Nigeria (15 years), Vietnam (13 years), China (12 years), and India (11 years).

Japan remained in seventh place, producing 1.0％ less beer than the previous year.

3. Global Beer Production in 2013 in Comparison to 2003 (Table 3)

The difference in global beer production from 10 years ago was about 51.07 million kiloliters, or 36.0％ of the beer produced in 2013.

Compared to 2003, China showed the highest growth in the volume of beer production with 21.08 million kiloliters, followed by Brazil with 4.94 million kiloliters, and Vietnam with 2.08 million kiloliters. In terms of growth rate, India (3.3 times) grew significantly, followed by Nigeria (3.1 times) and Vietnam (3.0 times).

The top 10 countries remained the same as that of 2003, and three countries not ranked in the top 25 countries in 2003 moved their way up – Vietnam went up from 27th in 2003 to 13th in 2013, Nigeria from 29th to 15th, and India from 36th to 20th.

The Kirin Group is committed to creating a new beverage culture side by side with our consumers, and fostering well-being and prosperity among people and societies.

• Note: Production volume in Japan combines beer, Happo-shu (low-malt beer), and “new genre (non-malt beer)”.
  Among the countries whose previous figures were revised for this year’s report, the revised figures are used to calculate year-on-year changes.
• Source: Questionnaires sent by the Kirin Institute of Food and Lifestyle to the brewers associations in major countries; The Barth Report Hops 2012/2013 published by the BARTH-HAAS GROUP

Table 1: Global Beer Production by Region in 2013

■ Beer Production, Year-on-Year Change, and Production Share by Region

■ Global Beer Production by Region (％) in 2013

Table 2: Global Beer Production by Country in 2013

Table 3: Global Beer Production by Country in 2013 in Comparison to 2003