July’s shipments of 14.8 million barrels brings year-to-date totals to 97.4 million barrels, down 1.7% from a year earlier.
Beer Institute chief economist Michael Ulrich estimates consumer retail spending on domestically produced beer was down 0.2% in July.
July’s decline in domestic shipments was driven primarily by consumers trading up to imports and FMBs, including hard seltzers, he says, “as well as trade out to wine and hard liquor. Because imports and hard seltzers tend to be more expensive, less volume is sold,” he adds.