Global forces and the European brewing industry
Mike Blee
This case is centred on the European brewing industry and examines how the increasingly competitive pressure of operating within global markets is causing consolidation through acquisitions, alliances and closures within the industry. This has resulted in the growth of the brewers’ reliance upon super brands.

In the mid 2000s the major centre for production of beer in the world was Europe; its production was twice that of the USA, which in 2003 was the world’s largest beer-producing country. In the alcoholic drinks sector beer sales are dominant: total sales across the world accounted for 74 percent of all alcoholic purchases (Euromonitor 2002). Although the European market as a whole is mature, with beer sales showing slight falls in most markets, Datamonitor 2003 reported that the alcoholic beverage sector grew at an annual rate in value terms by 2.6 per cent year between 1997 and 2002.
Table 1 European beer consumption by country and year (000 hectolitres )
|Country | |1980 |1997 |1998 |1999 |2000 |2001 |2002 |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Austria | |7651 |9145 |8736 |8810 |8762 |8627 |8734 |
|Beigium | |12945 |10243 |10011 |10203 |10064 |9986 |9901 |
|Denmark | |6698 |6165 |5707 |5562 |5452 |5282 |5200 |
|Finland | |2738 |4170 |4084 |4087 |4024