Craft brewing is rapidly expanding but consolidation is growing the share of larger players in the market.
According to findings by Euromonitor released this week, the top five brewers increased their share of world beer volumes by seven percentage points between 2011 and 2016, achieving a 53 per cent share by the end of this period.
Consolidation was driven by the acquisitive expansion of the leading players.
Heineken bought out FEMSA in Mexico in 2010; SABMiller acquired Australia’s Foster’s Group in 2011; and A-B InBev purchased Grupo Modelo in 2013.
A-B InBev’s acquisition of SABMiller has given it a 26 per cent share of the global beer market.
This raises Heineken into second place with a 10 per cent volume share, but considerably extends the gap between the two leading companies.
