Beer in France

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Craft beers, Belgian and French regional ales see robust value growth, as beer fairs and beer caves in modern retailers generate excitement among consumers in 2019

Overall volume sales of beer slowed down in 2019 after enjoying what was only a temporary boost from consumers gathering over beer to support the French football team during the FIFA World Cup matches in 2018, and given the ongoing decline in sales of mid-priced domestic lager or bières de luxe, which accelerated over the year. However, there was still slight progression in overall volume and robust growth in value in 2019 thanks to growing demand for a wide and disparate group of beers the French call bières de spécialités – that is, craft beers (local or not), Belgian ales, French regional ales, etc.

While leading players Heineken, Brasseries Kronenbourg and AB InBev take different directions, they all maintain stable value shares in 2019

The leading beer player Heineken focused on the upgraded new positioning of its Heineken flagship brand, sometimes at the expense of in-store promotion and resulting in a lower presence in the most dynamic categories of dark beer and non-alcoholic beer in 2019. So, volume sales were stable over the year, according to Heineken itself.

Local artisanal and regional beer players see the highest volume growth in 2019

Local artisanal and regional beer players did not wait for the invasion of craft Anglo-Saxon IPAs to strongly develop, although many local brewers are only now launching their IPAs too. These players, assembled in the “others” category, posted double-digit volume growth and saw the highest increase in value share in 2019.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

On-trade volume sales of beer are expected to fall by 39% in 2020 in light of the impact of COVID-19. This compares to an expected 1% decline forecast for 2020 during research conducted in May 2019, ie before the spread of COVID-19.

Affected products within beer

On-trade sales of all categories of beer have more or less suffered equally from the lockdowns and impact of the pandemic on tourism inflow. Off-trade sales of low-alcohol beer, a category that has been most clearly trending, saw a significant rise during the initial lockdown period and is set to be thriving in France throughout 2020.

Recovery and opportunities

Off-trade consumption of beer is expected to start slowing down as on-trade consumption proceeds to rise beyond 2021, but the degree to which beer sales improve within the next few years will be almost entirely contingent on whether and how soon travel bans, border closures and other restrictions are lifted and horeca is back in business. The risk of further decline in 2020 will also be increased if an increase in domestic infection rates causes further or longer lockdowns and, more likely, if tourism does not resume and horeca has not reopened over the summer 2020, the key season for horeca owners and beer sales.

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