Breweries Industry Profile

The US brewery industry includes about 400 companies with combined annual revenue of about $20 billion. The two major brewers in the US, Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser brands) and MillerCoors (Miller and Coors brands), are part of international brewing companies, while The Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) is the leading US craft beer brewer. The industry is highly concentrated: the eight largest breweries account for about 90 percent of industry revenue.

Counting brewpubs and microbreweries, the brewery industry in the US includes more than 1,500 establishments, according to the Brewers Association. Annual brewery production in the US is about 230 million hectoliters, according to the Barth-Haas Group.

Worldwide, breweries produce about 1.8 billion hectoliters of beer annually. The largest international beer makers are Anheuser-Busch InBev (Belgium), SABMiller (UK), and Heineken (the Netherlands).

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

The major driver of demand is consumer leisure activity. The profitability of individual companies depends on marketing, distribution, and operational efficiency. Large companies have advantages in marketing and sales, production economies of scale, and influence with distributors. Small companies can compete effectively by developing specialty products and serving a local or regional market. The industry is capital-intensive: average annual revenue per worker is about $900,000, but is much lower for smaller companies.

Competition among beers is with national, regional, and local brands, and imported brews. Competition also comes from other alcoholic beverages, especially lower-priced wine, and from nonalcoholic drinks.

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