With China claiming gold for the highest annual consumption of beer and largest market share, there is no denying that the Asia-Pacific region is big business for the world’s top brewers. New forecasts from Allied Market Research predict that the region’s beer market will be worth $202.4 billion by 2020, representing 7.3% growth over the period 2015 to 2020.
China already accounts for 22.4% of global beer consumption with 45.7 billion litres consumed annually and beer making up 75% of all alcohol consumed in the country by volume. One key trend here is the rising interest in premium and imported beers especially amongst the country’s young people. Global beer companies are quickly realising the potential of this category, with Carlsberg acquiring a minority stake in craft beer maker Jing-A brewery earlier this year.
