Beer includes fermented beverages made from malt with an alcohol content of more than 0.5% as well as beer mix drinks. Non-Alcoholic Beer (defined as beer with an alcohol content of 0.5 vol% or less) is excluded here but shown as an aggregated part of the Soft Drinks segment in the Non-Alcoholic Drinks category.
Globally, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken, China Resources, Carlsberg and Molson Coors constitute the most important companies in this sector by volume. AB InBev alone today commands a volume market share of more than 30% worldwide after an acquisition spree lasting more than a decade. Together, the five biggest brewers command a share of around 60% of global production highlighting the advanced degree of consolidation and concentration in the brewery industry.
The market for Alcoholic Drinks is structured into retail sales for at home consumption and on-premise or foodservice sales for out-of-home consumption. The at-home market, also called off-trade market, covers all retail sales via super- and hypermarkets, convenience stores or similar sales channels. The out-of-home market, also called on-trade market, away-from-home market or HORECA encompasses all sales to hotels, restaurants, catering, cafés, bars and similar hospitality service establishments. Both the at-home and the out-of-home market are valued at retail selling prices including all sales and consumption taxes. The valuation of the out-of-home segment at retail prices means a significant change of the market definition in comparison to earlier iterations of the Consumer Market Outlook, as out-of-home consumption was valued at wholesale prices before. This means, market totals are not comparable to published data from prior years. The price per unit always references liters as a base unit. One liter of beer roughly equals 2 to 3 glasses (of 0.5 or 0.33 liters each).
