This Beer Day is celebrated worldwide on August 2, and in Mexico, there are reasons to celebrate this industry, which generates around 700,000 direct and indirect jobs through 31 breweries in the country.
Although the Mexican economy is experiencing a difficult time, which includes commercial tensions with the United States amid the ratification of the new USMCA, the dynamism for the beer industry continues, especially as far as exports are concerned, according to organisms involved in the subject.
“We bring great dynamism, American consumers are very fond of Mexican beer, so we keep growing. We were not affected by the treaties … What has helped is the preference and market penetration and marketing campaigns of the different beer brands, ”said Maribel Quiroga, general director of Cerveceros de México, in an interview with Forbes Mexico.
In 2018, the industry exported 40 million hectoliters of beer, which meant a growth of 19% compared to 2017, according to said agency.
The main countries to which Mexican beer is exported is the United States, with 29 million hectoliters last year, that is, almost 74% of total shipments from the national territory; followed by China with 1.7 million hectoliters or 4.2%; United Kingdom, 1.3 million hectoliters or 3.3%; and Australia, with 850,000 hectoliters or 2.1%.
Mexico has 31 plants located in Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Baja California Norte, State of Mexico, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Querétaro, Nuevo León, Puebla, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Sonora, Veracruz and Zacatecas.
In March 2019, Grupo Modelo inaugurated in Hidalgo its eighth beer production plant in the country, with an investment of 14,000 million pesos, to make 12 million hectoliters per year, in addition to starting to manufacture global brands such as Michelob Ultra and Stella Artois
Meanwhile, Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma – Heineken started production of its plant in Meoqui, Chihuahua, in February 2018.
How much does the Mexican beer industry produce?
For the first four months of 2019, the production of this beverage reached 39.4 million hectoliters, the same level as in the same period last year, Quiroga added.
Beer exports reached 13.6 million hectoliters from January to April of this year, which meant an increase of 10% compared to the same period of 2018, according to data from Cerveceros de México.
“We expect to close with figures higher than last year. The dynamism of the industry is due to the opening of new plants, also to the expansion of both commercial and artisanal production lines … Large companies have decided to bet on Mexico in terms of investment, technification and training in the field and for farmers, as well as in the beer culture, because we must remember the privileged geopolitical position that our country has, ”he said.
In 2018, Mexico registered a beer production of 120 million hectoliters, which meant a growth of 9% compared to 2017.
China produced 440 million hectoliters last year; the United States, 217 million hectoliters; Brazil, 140 million hectoliters; and Germany, the country to which the Mexican market exceeded in 2016, had a production of 92 million hectoliters.
Recently, brewer representatives held meetings with Alfonso Romo, head of the Office of the Presidency, and with Graciela Márquez Colín, secretary of Economy, to boost the industry.
Source: forbes mx
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