Coopers Brewery has announced that its beer sales have risen 8.3 per cent to 69.7 million litres in the 2012-13 financial year and that its products now account for around 4.5 per cent of the total Australian beer market.
According to the company, sales have grown 9.8 per cent annually on average for the past 20 years in what it describes as one of the longest periods of sustained growth in the company’s history.
Coopers’ managing director, Dr Tim Cooper, said he expected the company's share of the market to continue to grow over the coming years.
“In the recession of 1992-93, Coopers’ total sales fell to 10.8 million litres, our lowest level since 1985,” he said.
“However, by the late 1990s, we were in danger of outgrowing our Leabrook brewery, resulting in us developing the new brewery at Regency Park, which was officially opened in November 2001.
“The Regency Park brewery has since provided us with the efficiencies and capacity to fuel our continued expansion,” said Cooper.
Cooper said that the brewery had absorbed the federal government’s most recent excise increase for packaged beer, representing about 12 cents a carton for normal strength beer, which came into effect on August 1, rather than passing it on to consumers.
Coopers is currently in the process of further expanding the brewery, including the installation of a second bottling line which was expected to be in operation by November this year.
The second line will be dedicated to Coopers’ traditional products, including Pale Ale, Sparkling Ale, Mild Ale and Stout, which make up 80 per cent of production.
The existing line will then be used for the other beers produced at Coopers, including lagers and the international brands Sapporo and Carlsberg.
Coopers continues to boost its share of the Australian beer market.
