Beer Production Report

One of the fastest growing businesses in the world is Beer! In 2011, it rose by another 60 million hectoliters to 1.9 billion hectoliters, and was 38.3% higher than in 2000, according to the annual beer and hops report by Barth-Haas Group.


Although in this case as well growth is being fuelled by emerging economies. In most developed countries, production dropped.
In the US, it edged down 1.6% last year and 5.7% since 1990—despite a significant increase in the population.
In Germany, it stabilized recently, but had plunged 20.5% since 1990.
Production in the UK had skidded 27.5% during that time, though it ticked up last year.
In Japan, production is down 14.7% since 1990, and down 3.6% from 2010, the seventh straight year of declines.
But the rest of Asia is on a binge mission. Well, except India, the only major country that hasn’t yet discovered a taste for beer.
The driver in worldwide beer production growth was China, up 9.3% in 2011, and up an astonishing 600% since 1990. Of the 60 million hectoliters in growth worldwide last year, 42 million where brewed in China.
Vietnam made huge strides; in percentage terms a 2,680% melt-up since 1990.
Beer production also grew in Africa and Latin America.
Russia is a special case: in the Soviet Union in 1990, beer production was zero.
By 1996, Russian beers and Heineken were available, but hard to find in smaller towns or on trains, though vodka (served in water glasses or by the bottle) was everywhere. Since then, Russia has shot up to third place in beer production, knocking off Germany and other countries.





Today, the Czech Republic and Austria are the top two beer-drinking nations in the world with 143 and 108 liters per capita respectively.


 In 2011, 51.8% of the world’s beer was produced by six mega-brewing groups.

In June, ABInBev announced that it would acquire 7th ranked Grupo Modelo, giving the company a 21.5% share of the worldwide market. Without further acquisitions, the top six will brew 54.7% of all beer in 2012.
Germany still has about 1,250 breweries, four times as many as the rest of the EU combined. They range from brewpubs to mega breweries. About half of them are in Bavaria. And there are almost 5,000 brands.

Greece Industrial Production in free-fall

Given the daily protests on the streets of Athens and its austerity measures it is hardly surprising thatthe entire country is practically grinding to a halt with the Greek Industrial Production dropping by 11%.
Mining fell by 6.4pc, manufacturing decreased by 11.3pc, electricity production dropped 12.2pc, while the water supply declined by 6.8pc. Hard to imagine any recovery in this situation.



As for that bailout, even that is no longer certain, the indebted nation is expected to need more help in coming years, with estimates putting the sum at up to €100bn on top of an EU/IMF package granted last year worth €110bn.
Yesterday, the German business daily Handelsblatt quoted a "high-ranking European diplomatic source" who said that approval of a second rescue plan for Greece might be delayed because of resistance within the 17-nation eurozone.
We can easily expect comparable economic data out of the other PIIGS shortly.

Japan factories shutdown starting to affect global production

According to Bloomberg, as of this moment there are 31 companies (see full list below) that have experienced temporary or permanent plant shut downs in earthquake-stricken Japan, resulting in the closure of 150 different facilities.
Aside from the obvious implication when it comes to japanese growth, this can have a serious butterfly effect all over the world as the latestest news from the USA are showing:


Here’s how it’s playing out: Japan still is a major supplier of parts to U.S.-based car factories. It isn’t just Japanese car brands, like Toyota and Honda, which both announced they would temporarily halt production at some plants in the U.S. General Motors has been impacted by the problem, notably furloughing workers in New York state and Louisiana.

It doesn’t take a supply disruption of many car parts to mean that a auto maker has to halt output for an entire plant, at least temporarily. You can’t, for instance, send new cars to the dealership without speedometers installed, even though the rest of the car maybe perfect.



There are two immediate knock-on effects of these production halts. First is that workers are laid off temporarily and have to rely on unemployment insurance instead of full pay. Second, suppliers of all the other parts you need to make a car (those not from Japan) find they have to slowdown production — laying off or furloughing workers.

In short, you get a cascading negative economic spiral. (In particular, look for rising new claims for unemployment insurance.) What happens after that and how long it will last is the bigger question.